India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.28

c12.s1.28

*PERSONAL BODY-GUARDS.*—The king’s A.D.C. or staff for the protection of his person (*ātma-rakshitaka*, *Arth.* II.21, p. 42) is mentioned by Pāṇini as *Rāja-pratyenas* (*Shashṭhī pratyenasi*, VI.2.60). *Pratyenas* is mentioned along with *Ugra* and *Sūta-grāmaṇī* in the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Up.* (IV.3.43-44), denoting there a police-officer. ‘The sense must be that of the humbler ‘servants’ of the king’ (*Vedic Index*, II.34). It was a responsible task for which Kauṭilya directs special precautions to be taken. Pāṇini informs us about the status of dignitaries appointed as king’s body-guard. In *sūtra* VI.2.27 (*Ādiḥ pratyenasi*) he explains the formation *kumāra-pratyenāḥ*, *i.e.* a prince serving as an A.D.C. It must have been a position of honour to which princes of the royal blood were usually appointed. An assemblage of princes is mentioned as *rājaputraka* (IV.2.39).