India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s12.9

c8.s12.9

Leopard and tiger skins were also in use for special upholstery, the chariots so covered being called *dvaipa* and *vaiyāghra* respectively (IV.2.12). The earliest reference to *vaiyāghra* chariots used in the ceremony of royal consecration is found in the *Atharvaveda* (*Vyāghro adhi vaiyāghre vikramasva*, IV.8.4). It is interesting to note that like *pāṇḍu-kambala* the *dvaipa* and *vaiyāghra* chariots also had become popular in the epics and the *Jātakas*. A verse in the *Vessantara Jātaka* records the gift of 700 such conveyances by prince Vessantara (*Satta rathasate datvā . . . dīpe atho pi veyyagghe*, *Vessantara Jātaka*, VI.503), which the commentary explains as *dīpichamma-vyagghachamma-parikkhitte*.