India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.37

c13.37

The literary argument offers a corrective to the extreme views of Goldstücker about the types of literature and literary works known to Pāṇini. Weber's argument for a date after Alexander's invasion based on references to Yavanānī script and to the confederated army of the Kshudraka-Mālavas has been duly answered. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's argument based on Pāṇini's supposed ignorance of the south has also been largely met by the fact that Pāṇini's geographical horizon extended from Kamboja (Pamir) to Aśmaka on the Godāvarī, and from Sauvīra (Sind) in the west to Kaliṅga and Sūramasa (Sūrmā valley of Assam) in the east, and also included that part of South India which lies within the tropics (VIII.4.25) and also some islands situated in mid-ocean.