India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s12.15

c8.s12.15

A TERM OF CART-WRIGHTS—*Sūtra* I.4.78, *Prādhvaṁ bandhane*, implies several stages in the making of carts and chariots. The idiom *prādhvaṁ-kṛitya*, ‘tying with cords,’ refers to the final phase through which each vehicle has to pass in the process of manufacture before it becomes road-worthy. The carpenter first proceeds to prepare the different parts of a chariot (*rathāṅga*) one by one, as wheel, axle, pole, yoke, etc., and then assembles them together. Patañjali says that the parts of a chariot lying singly are not fit for locomotion and that only when they are assembled as chariot they contribute to movement (*vraja*, to move).³ After the frame-work is ready, the third process is to mount it with upholstery. The fourth stage is that of binding the parts with cords to keep them tight together. This is generally done, not by the carmaker but by the buyer at his place. A cart or chariot, even though all its parts be ready, is not considered road-worthy, unless it has undergone this stage of cording (*bandhana*). Therefore the phrase *prādhvaṁ-kṛitya*, literally 'having made it road-worthy,' has the meaning of *bandhana*. The counter-example *prādhvaṁ-kṛitvā* is derived from a chariot already in use, but which gets out of order and stranded, and then subsequently repaired and put on the road.¹ According to Pāṇini *prādhva* (V.4.85) is that which is 'road-worthy' (*prādhva ratha*, *prādhva śakaṭa*).