India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s10.3

c8.s10.3

The *Arthaśāstra* ordains the digging of three moats round the fort, having an intermediate space of one *daṇḍa* (6 ft.) between each other and being fourteen *daṇḍas* (84 ft.), twelve *daṇḍas* (72 ft.), and ten *daṇḍas* (60 ft.) respectively in width (*Arth.* II.23). Thus a total width of 38 *daṇḍas* (218 ft.) represented the *pārikheyī* land round the fort. We are indebted to the commentary on the *Udaya Jātaka* (IV.106) for names of the three moats, *viz.* *udaka*, *kaddama* and *sukkha*, a water moat, a mud moat, and a dry moat. These may be taken to have followed the width given in Kauṭilya. We have discussed in another chapter Pāṇini's *purusha* measure (V.2.38) which according to the *Arthaśāstra* was equal to 5 1/3 feet (*Arth.* Text, II.20, p. 106). Kauṭilya says that depth was measured in terms of this length called *khāta-paurusha*. The examples *dvi-purushī* and *tri-purushī* in the *Kāśikā* on *sūtra* V.2.38 (*Purusha-hastibhyām aṇ cha*) refer to the depth of ditches or moats.