India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.40

c12.s1.40

*DŪTA*—The *Dūta* or emissary was named after the name of the country to which he was deputed (*Tad-gachchhati pathidutayoḥ*, IV.3.85). The term *pratishkasha* also denoted a messenger (VI.1.152). Couriers were called *jaṅghākara* (III.2.21), corresponding to *jaṅghārika* of Kauṭilya (*Arth.* II.1, p. 46). Pāṇini refers to a special term *yaujanika*, to denote a courier travelling one *yojana* (*yojanaṁ gachchhati*, V.1.74), to which Kātyāyana adds *yaujanaśatika*, *i.e.* a courier who is deputed on an errand of a hundred *yojanas*. This is in complete agreement with Kauṭilya who refers to the speed of Mauryan courier service in terms of the distances they travelled from one *yojana* to a hundred *yojanas*. The remuneration prescribed was ten *paṇas* for each *yojana* travelled up to 10 *yojanas*, and thereafter twice as much in a rising scale from eleven to one hundred *yojanas* (*Arth.*, V.3, p. 248).