India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s3.50

c11.s3.50

Pāṇini also mentions *Niśśreyasa* (V.4.77) which in the *Upanishads* denoted supreme bliss or beatitude into which the soul entered. On the contrary, the word *Nirvāṇa* was also known to the *Ashṭādhyāyī* (VIII.2.50). It denoted something negative, *i.e.* extinction, as of a lamp or flame of fire. The term was possibly associated with Buddhism, as indicated in *Kāśikā's* example *nirvāṇo bhikshuḥ*.