India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s3.1

c7.s3.1

Pāṇini shows knowledge of the mountainous regions called Himālaya, with its perpetual snow (*himānī*, IV.1.49), its melting (*hima-śratha*, IV.4.29), uplands (*adhityakā*) and lowlands (*upatyakā*, V.2.34). In this connection the expressions Antargiri and Upagiri (with variant forms Antargiram and Upagiram, according to the opinion of *āchārya* Senaka, V.4.112) are especially noteworthy as proper names also known to the *Mahābhārata*, the former signifying Himālaya proper (Antargiri—'Heart of Himālaya'), same as Pāli Mahāhimavant or the Great Central Himālaya including its highest peaks, such as Gaurīśaṅkara, Nandādevī, Kedāranātha, etc., and the latter the sub-Himālayan region of low-lying peaks (Pāli Chulla-Himavant). The *Mahābhārata* also adds Bahirgiri, signifying the outlying region of the Tarāi (Sabhā., 27.3).