India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s3.25

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c11.s3.25

Language: English

c11.s3.25

*DHARMA*—The word *dharma* has a two-fold meaning in the *Ashṭādhyāyī*; firstly *dharma* denoted custom or *āchāra*, as in the *Dharmasūtras* (cf. *Kāśikā* on *sūtra* IV.4.47). That which was in accordance with custom was called *dharmya* (IV.4.92, *dharmādanapetam*). Pāṇini explains *dharmya* as approved by local usage or custom (VI.2.65; cf. *Kāśikā*, *dharmyaṁ ityāchāraniyatam deyaṁ uchyate*). Even the charges levied as legal dues, *e.g.* toll-tax, are called *dharmya*, because they were sanctioned by usage. Secondly *dharma* denoted religious or moral duties, as in the expression *dharmaṁ charati*, *dhārmikaḥ* (IV.4.41).

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Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit