India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.5

c13.5

PĀṆINI AND THE SOUTH—The agrument that Pāṇini did not know of South India should not be pressed too far. Firstly, Yāska whom even Goldstücker considers prior to Pāṇini shows acquaintance with southern social customs and grammatical usage. As pointed out by Keith, Yāska "already mentions a southern use of the Vedic word *vijāmātṛi* for a son-in-law who pays to his father-in-law the price of the bride (*vijāmāteti śaśvad Dākshiṇājāḥ krītāpatim āchakshate*, *Nirukta*, VI.9; Keith, *His. of Sans. Lit.*, p. 15). Secondly, the Deccan was the home of Sanskrit as early as Kātyāyana's time whom Patañjali regards as a southerner on account of his partiality for the use of Taddhita (cf. *priya-taddhitāḥ Dākshiṇatyāḥ*). Kātyāyana is not far removed in time from Pāṇini. According to Eggeling: 'As regards the dates of Kātyāyana and Patañjali I accept with Professor Bühler and others, as by far the most probable the fourth and the middle of the second century B.C., respectively (*Śatapatha Br.* Intro.). Thirdly, Pāṇini besides referring to the sea and the islands lying near the coast and in mid-ocean, actually mentions that portion of the country which lies between the tropics as *antarayana deśa* (VIII.4.25). It can refer only to the Deccan lying south of the Tropic of Cancer, which passes through Kachchha and Avanti. Pāṇini also knows of Aśmaka on the Godāvarī (modern *Paithaṇa*) which was south of Avanti. He also refers to Kaliṅga on the eastern coast which too lay within the tropics. We thus see that Pāṇini's silence about the south is not quite so absolute as presumed by Sir R. G. Bhandarkar.