India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s4.1

c7.s4.1

An important geographical term used by Pāṇini is *Janapada*, which was both a state and a cultural unit, its culture counting more than its geography. Its cultural integrity was reflected and preserved in the manners, customs and above all the dialect of its people. The citizens of the same (*samāna*) *janapada* were called *sajanapadāḥ* (VI.3.85). The *janapadas* known to Pāṇini are the following:—