India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s4.20

c7.s4.20

In the *Mahābhārata* Śākala is mentioned as the chief city of the Vāhīkas on the Āpagā river. Patañjali also mentions Śākala as a Vāhīka-*grāma* (IV.2.104; II.294; cf. also *Kāśikā*, IV.2.117). Pāṇini does not explain the derivation of the name Vāhīka. Kātyāyana, however, derives it from *bahis*, 'outside,' with the suffix *īkak* (IV.1.85.5). This seems to agree with the epic description of Vāhīka as the country of five rivers but lying outside the pale of Aryan society (*dharma-bāhya*), devoid of religion (*nashṭa-dharma*) and impure (*aśuchi*) Karṇaparva, 44.7.32).