India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s6.2

c12.s6.2

FOUR KINDS OF ĀYUDHAJĪVINS—Pāṇini classified his material of the *āyudhajīvin Saṅghas* under several heads, viz. (1) *Saṅghas* in Vāhīka (V.3.114); (2) of Parvata (IV.3.91) or mountainous country; (3) *Pūgas* organised under their *Grāmaṇī* into some form of *Saṅgha* government (V.3.112); and lastly (4) *Vrātus* living by depradation and violence (V.3.113; V.2.21), and having only a semblance of *Saṅgha*. The most advanced *āyudhajīvin Saṅghas* belonged to the Vāhīka country (V.3.114), which comprised the region from the Indus to the Beas and the Sutlej (Karṇaparva, 44.7; *Hindu Polity*, 1.34). These were the Yaudheyas, Kshudrakas, Mālavas, etc.