India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s5.78

c7.s5.78

The above accounts of Greek historians do not seem to suffer from exaggeration, as only in the lists attached to the two *sūtras* IV.2.75 and IV.2.80 we have about 500 names, and these may be further augmented if we add the testimony of the other *gaṇas*, as those headed by Suvāstu (IV.2.77), Varaṇa (IV.2.82), Madhu (IV.2.86), Utkara (IV.2.90), Naḍa (IV.2.91), Kattri (IV.2.95), Nadī (IV.2.97), Kāśi (IV.2.116), Dhūma (IV.2.127), Karkī (VI.2.87), Cihana (VI.2.125), etc. This gives us a substantial list of about 750 town names, a case of curious coincidence with Greek evidence. Probably both Pāṇini and the Greek geographers depended on a common source or tradition. The grammatical literature is now a valuable source of information regarding the old and forgotten cities of India. This literature like Yuan Chwang's *Travels* has preserved landmarks in the light of which arahaeological old sites may be verified. It may be further noted that certain names of tribes and *gotras* as recorded in the *gaṇas* (cf. Aśvādi, IV.1.110) point to places with which they were connected.