India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s1.17

c8.s1.17

The use of the term Ārya in the expression *Ārya-kṛita* in *sūtra*, IV.1.30, (feminine *Āryakṛitī*, terms which were also Vedic words) had a specific meaning in current speech (*saṁjñā*). The meaning of these terms is best explained by Kauṭilya (Dāsakalpa chapter). Kauṭilya takes Ārya to mean a free man as opposed to *Dāsa* who had lost his freedom, e.g. "The offspring of a man who has sold himself off as a slave shall be an Ārya; on paying the value (for which one is enslaved) a slave shall regain his Āryahood' (*Āryatava*, *Āryabhāva*, *Artha*. Text, III.13). The regulations contained in that chapter aim at humanising the institution of *dāsya* and restoring to the *dāsas* the privileges of an Ārya or 'free citizen.' The linguistic form *Āryakṛita* (i.e. Ārya with the root *kṛi*) is also implied in Kauṭilya's expression, *Dāsamanurūpeṇa nishkrayeṇ-Āryamakurvato dvādaśa paṇo daṇḍaḥ*, *i.e.*, '12 *paṇas* is the fine for not making a slave a freeman (Ārya) even after receiving the proper ransom.' The feminine form *Āryakṛitī* would denote the woman similarly made free, or her daughter who had obtained the status of an '*adāsa*' or '*Ārya*' either through payment of ransom or birth. (Cf. *Artha*. Text, III.13, *Mātā bhrātā bhaginī chāsyā adāsāḥ syuḥ*). Pāṇini uses *dāsī-bhāra* in *sūtra* VI.2.42, as a word with specific meaning (*saṁjñā*). The *Kāśikā* explains it as *dāsyā bhāraḥ*, i.e. the burden of a *dāsī* to be borne (by her master). Kauṭilya states, 'If a pregnant female slave is sold or pledged without any provision for her confinement, her master is punishable.' (*Artha*. Trans. p. 207). This probably explains the nature of the burden implied in the term *dāsī-bhāra* of Pāṇini.