[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953) › c6.85 # India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c6.85 India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c6.85 - **Language:** English ### [c6.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.85) On the other hand the text of the \*gaṇas\*, especially of those which were called \*ākṛiti gaṇas\* (\*i.e.\* of which the list was left open by Pāṇini himself), did lend themselves to later additions. Patañjali distinguishes two kinds of \*gaṇas\*, firstly those fixed (\*paṭhyante\*) by Pāṇini, and secondly those which were only illustrative (\*ākṛiti\*).¹ The process of interpolation must naturally have been more freely operating in the case of groups which were of linguistic importance, as \*Ardharchādi\* (II.4.31), \*Gaurādi\* (IV.1.41), \*Tārakādi\* (V.2.36). On the other hand, \*gaṇas\* containing lists of proper names were comparatively more stable, as they tended to become obsolete in time. Pāṇini's names of \*gotras\* could be verified in the light of lists given in the oldest \*Śrauta-sūtra\* text of Baudhāyana in the \*Mahāpravara-kāṇḍa\*. Groups in which geographical names predominate (e.g. \*Dāmanyādi\* and \*Takshaśilādi\*) can to some extent be verified from the mention of those place-names in old independent sources, as the Pāli literature, the \*Mahābhārata\* and the accounts of the early Greek writers. A large percentage of place-names in the \*gaṇas\* is undoubtedly archaic, and in many cases not traceable outside the \*Ashṭādhyāyī\*. For example, the tribe of the \*Sāvitrīputrakas\* in the \*gaṇa Dāmanyādi\* (V.3.116) must date from Pāṇini himself, as it is unknown in literature except in one passage of the Karṇa-parvan (\*Mbh.\*, 5. 49). At any rate the possibility of fresh accretions to lists of \*janapadas\* and place-names was considerably less after their examination by Patañjali. - [Previous: c6.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.84) - [Next: c6.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.86) - [Up: c6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6) ## Cites (2) - [Aṣṭādhyāyī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.astadhyayi-school.astadhyayi.2.4.31) — Pāṇini, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.85) · Pramāṇa