India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s2.1

c11.s2.1

*THE YĀJNIKAS*—Yāska quotes the opinions of the Yājñikas along with those of the Nairuktas. Pāṇini also refers to the *āmnāya* or tradition of the Yājñikas whose school was called *Yājñikya* (IV.3.129). The Yājñika literature was of remote antiquity. Patañjali refers to difficult Yājñika texts, *e.g. sthūla-pṛshatīm anaḍvāhīm*, which could not be rightly explained without the aid of grammar (I.¹). He also mentions their treatises (*Yājñika-śāstra*, I.9). It appears from the *Ashṭādhyāyī* that the *Yajña* doctrine both in its theory and practice held full sway in his time. He records minute details regarding the peculiarities of pronunciation of such formulas as the Subrahmaṇyā (I.2.37), Nyūṅkha (I.2.34) and Yājyā verses (VIII.2.90). His references relate not merely to academic discussions, but to actual practices of the *Yajña* ritual (*yajña-karmaṇi*, I.2.34; VIII.2.88).