India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s10.18

c8.s10.18

*THE VILLAGE*—The villages were marked out by their natural boundaries, such as (1) forests (*vana*), (2) thickets (*kaṭhina*, IV.4.72), (3) rivulets, (4) hills (*giri*), (5) jungle (*jaṅgala*, VII.3.25) and *prastāra* (rocks, IV.4.72). The village proper consisted of houses, mostly peasant cottages (*kuṭīra*, V.3.88), covered with a roofing of reed and straw (*chhādisheya tṛiṇa*, V.1.13). An individual house (*kuṭī*, V.4.95) sheltering one family (*gārhapata*, VI.2.42) formed the unit of village-life. The entire settlement was called *vasati* (IV.4.104) and a multitude of villages by the name *grāmatā* (IV.2.43). The village depended for its watersupply on wells (*kūpa*, IV.2.73), to which were attached *nipānas* (III.3.74) or water troughs from which cattle would drink. Wells were cleaned by specially trained labourers who acted as dredgers called *udagāha* or *udakagāha* (VI.3.60).