India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c14.18

c14.18

There now remains the task of identifying the mass of these names. The names of castes and sub-castes and family surnames in the Panjab offer an attractive field, since they are mostly derived from names of places which were once their home-towns (*nivāsa* and *abhijana*). The human and linguistic material of Pāṇini's time cannot have totally disappeared; its survival in a changed form is the only natural process of evolution. For example, Saharāliye, a sub-caste of the Agrawala community in the Panjab, trace their original seat to Saharālā in Ludhiana Dist., and these may be connected with Pāṇini's Sarālaka (Takshaśilādi, IV.3.93) and its derivative Sārālaka. Similarly Batrā, a sub-caste of the Khattris, points to Vātraka (Rājanyādi, IV.2.53); Chope, a sub-caste of the Aroras, to Chaupayata (Bhaurikyādi, IV.2.54); Balūje, amongst the Aroras, to Vālijyaka (IV.2.54), etc. Archaeological survey and digging may also help to some extent, since geographical places of antiquity often survive as so many sites.