India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s3.24

c7.s3.24

DESERT REGIONS—Pāṇini mentions a desert region as *dhanva* (IV.2.121), of which two examples are cited by Patañjali, *viz.* Pāre-Dhanva and Ashṭaka (II.298), and another by the *Kāśikā* as Airāvata. Pāre-dhanva literally means 'across the desert,' which seems to refer to the region called Thar-Parkar to the west of the Marusthala desert of Rajasthan. Āshṭaka-dhanva seems to be the name of the desert region of the Attock district which is called Dhanni, probably from *dhanva*. East Gandhāra included the desert of Attock and the hilly tracts of Rawalpindi called Pṛith *janapada*, both of which are preserved in the joint name Dhanni-Pothowar. The Bhīshma-parva (VI. 7) places Airāvata-varsha beyond the Sītā or Yarkand river in Chinese Turkestan where we may look for Airāvata Dhanva in the desert regions of Central Asia.