India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s5.16

c12.s5.16

STATE EMBLEMS—*Aṅka* and *Lakshaṇa*. As mentioned in *sūtra* IV.3.127 (*Saṅghāṅka-lakshaṇeshv-añ-yañ-iñām aṇ*), a *Saṅgha* had its *aṅka* and *lakshaṇa*. The *lakshaṇa* denoted the heraldic symbols or marks of a *Saṅgha* which they employed on their coins, seals and banners, etc. Pāṇini himself refers to symbols marked on cattle as *lakshaṇa*. On the tribal coins we find a great variety of symbols and these represent the *lakshaṇas* of the *Saṅghas* which issued them. The *Mahābhārata* takes *aṅka* as a synonym of *lakshaṇa* in describing the census (*smāraṇa*) of the royal cattle by branding them with proper marks (Vanaparva, 240.5). But in Pāṇini's *sūtra*, *aṅka* seems to stand for the legend adopted by the States, like *Mālavānāṁ jayaḥ* or *Yaudheya-gaṇasya jayaḥ*, as found on their coins. *Lakshaṇa* is the same as *lāñchhana* or heraldic crest of later Sanskrit.