India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.1

c12.s1.1

*TITLES AND TERMS*—Pāṇini refers to a monarchical state as *Rājya* (VI.2.130), derived from *rājan* or king, as distinguished from *Saṅgha* or Republic. In a well-known passage of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, *Rājya* occurs as one of the several classes of sovereignty to which rulers were consecrated at the time of their coronation (VIII.15). The term *Iśvara* in the *Ashṭādhyāyī* denotes a *rājā* with reference to his supreme power, as in *sūtras* I.4.97, and II.3.9 (*Yasya cheśvaravachanaṁ tatra saptamī*), which relate to grammatical formations for naming the king of a country. In early literature *Iśvara* meant an earthly king and not 'God'. Patañjali cites an old example, *adhi Brahmadatte Pañchālāḥ*, i.e. 'the Pañchālas are under the kingship of Brahmadatta'. In the *Bhāshya*, *rājā* of *sūtra* II.4.23 is taken as a synonym of *ina* and *iśvara* (I.177). The *Nighaṇṭu* makes *rāshṭrī*, *arya*, *niyutvān* and *ina* as names of *iśvara*. Of these *arya* is referred to by Pāṇini as a synonym of *svāmī* (III.1.103). The latter word is derived to denote one who possesses *aiśvarya* or sovereignty (*Svāminn-aiśvarye*, V.2.126). Patañjali points out that the idea of *aiśvarya* is inherent in the word itself and is not the result of any suffix (*nāyaṁ pratyayārthaḥ*, II.400). It appears that *svāmī* implying *aiśvarya* primarily denoted a king.