India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s4.68

c7.s4.68

Pāṇini refers to *Taitila-kadrū* (VI.2.42) which is mentioned after *Pāre-vaḍavā*, 'a mare from across the Indus' and may have denoted a tawny-coloured mare of the Taitila country. Kauṭilya refers to horses imported from Taitila (*Arthaśāstra*, II.30). The *Mahābhārata* refers to horses of partiridge colour as *tittirakalmāsha* (Sabhāparva, 28.6; 19) which seems to be an equivalent of Taitila-kadrū. These horses came from the Uttara-Kuru regions (north of Pamīr in Central Asia). The Taitila *janapada* may therefore be looked for in the neighbourhood of that region. But according to medieval lexicons Taitila was synonymous with Kaliṅga (*Nānārthārṇava*, II.891; *Vaijayantī*, p. 37, verse 26) which may be identified with Titilgarh, south of Sambalpur in Orissa. In this case Pāṇini's Taitila-kadrū would refer to some tawny-coloured material produced in Kaliṅga, probably rhinoceros hides, from Taitila.