India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.s1.t1.4

c13.s1.t1.4

*JANAPADIN*—The territory of the *Jana* became the *Janapada*, whence the original settlers who formed the governing class were called *Janapadins*. In the *Janapada* there came to live also other peoples or aliens who were distinguished from the privileged class of rulers or *Janapadins* proper. The latter were consecrated to rulership and designated as *abhishikta vaṁśya*. In *sūtra* VI.2.34, Pāṇini refers to the *Rājanyas* of the Andhaka-Vṛishṇi *Saṅgha*, and, as clearly stated by the *Kāśikā*, the consecrated Kshatriyas of that confederacy formed the object of the grammatical rule. The evidence of the Lichchhavis of the Vṛiji *Janapada* is well-known; the waters of their *maṅgala-pushkariṇī* were used for the consecration of 7,707 *Rājans* and were closely guarded against others. It is, however, clear that in its later stages the *Janapada*, irrespective of the fact whether it was republican (more strictly oligarchical as in Greece) or monarchical (i.e. *gaṇādhīna* or *ekarāja*, IV.1.168, *vārt.*) consisted of a very mixed population. Patañjali explicitly says that members of the ruling Kshatriya class in the Mālava republic were called Mālavya, and in the Kshudraka Kshaudrakya, but the slaves and free labourers amongst them were excluded from its application.¹ In practice the name of the ruler in a monarchical state and the name of the Kshatriya members who constituted the privileged aristocracy (called *apatya*) were both derived from the name of the *Janapada* (*Kshatriya-samāna-śabdāj-janapadāt tāsya rājany-apatyavat*, *vārt.* on IV.1.168). Thus the king of Pañchāla and a Kshatriya descendant of Pañchāla were both called Pāñchāla.