Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s13.t1: Types of Boats

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c8.s13.t1

Language
English

Types of Boats

c8.s13.t1.1

| Bhastrā (*inflated skins*) | Piṭaka (*coracle*) |
| Utsaṅga (*cumba*) | Bharaṭa (*float of wood*) |

c8.s13.t1.3

SPORTS (KRĪḌĀ)—The following are some of the sports (*krīḍās*) mentioned by Pāṇini: (1) wrestling, (2) jousts, (3) hunting, (4) dicing, (5) garden pastimes, and (6) musical entertainments.

c8.s13.t1.4

Sport was called *krīḍā* (VI.2.74; IV.2.57). A sportsman *ākrīḍī* (III.2.142), and the different parts of the play had their own names, *e.g.* *anukrīḍā*, *saṁkrīḍā*, *parikrīḍā* and *ākrīḍā* (I.3.21).

c8.s13.t1.5

SAMAJYĀ—Pāṇini refers to *samajyā* (a *saṁjñā* in III.3.99) which Kātyāyana and Patañjali explain as a place where people flock together (*samajanti tasyāṁ samajyā*, *Bhāshya*, II.152). We are indebted to the *Jātakas* for information that the *samajjās* (=*samajyā*) were special gatherings 'where crowds of men, women and children gathered together and witnessed various kinds of shows and performances, like dancing and music, combats of elephants, horses and rams, bouts at quarter-staff (*daṇḍehi yuddhaṁ*) and wrestling.' (R. L. Mehta, *Pre-Buddhist India*, p. 355). The *Vidhurapaṇḍita Jātaka* refers to *samajyā* gatherings of men and women, and seats arranged in tiers upon tiers (*mañchātimañche*, *Jāt*. VI.277). The *samajyā* gatherings formed a regular feature of social life in the Mahājanapada period.

c8.s13.t1.6

Pāṇini also refers to assemblies under the general name of *samavāya* (IV.4.43), which according to the commentators included *samāja*. A cattle-fair was known as *samaja* (III.3.69), distinguished from a human assemblage (*samāja*), as stated above. Pāṇini explains *sāmājika* in two senses: (1) who attends a *samāja* as its member to witness its games, and (2) the convener of a *samāja* (IV.4.43 and IV.4.33, *rakshati* of the latter being taken as aiding a *samāja* by organizing it).

c8.s13.t1.7

*Samāja* and *samajyā* appear to be synonymous terms, the first of wider meaning including religious gatherings also. Aśoka interdicted the popular *samāja* as not promoting morals.

c8.s13.t1.8

*WRESTLING*—Pāṇini refers to the term *saṅgrāha*, i.e. gripping in wrestling (*Sami mushṭau*, III.3.36). Kātyāyana points out that *saṁgrāha* does not mean 'palm-ful' as taken by some. Patañjali's gloss is *mallasya saṅgrāhaḥ*, *mushṭikasya saṅgrāhaḥ* (grip of a wrestler). The *Jātaka* calls a wrestler *muṭṭhika* (*Jāt.* VI.277). Wrestling begins with a challenge (*āhvāna*, I.3.31; *mallo mallam āhvayate*), which is answered by a responsive action (*karma-vyatihāra*).

c8.s13.t1.9

*JOUSTS*—Pāṇini mentions a joust as *praharaṇa-krīḍā*, 'a pastime with weapons.' The name of the sport takes after the weapon used in it as prescribed in the *sūtra Tadasyāṁ praharaṇam iti krīḍāyāṁ ṇaḥ* (IV.2.57). The *Kāśikā* cites as examples *maushṭā* (boxing) and *dāṇḍā* (*lāṭhī*-play). The *Sarabhaṅga Jātaka* describes sports of archery with such feats as arrow-stick, arrow-rope, (*Jāt.* V.130, *sara-laṭṭhi*, *sara-rajju*, *etc.*).

c8.s13.t1.10

*THE EASTERN SPORTS*—Pāṇini knows of the sports of Eastern India (*Prāchāṁ krīḍā*, VI.2.74), for which he frames proper grammatical formations (II.2.17, sport-denoting words form a *nitya* compound, with *ṇvul* suffix). As examples the *Kāśikā* mentions the following: *Uddālaka-pushpa-bhañjikā*, *Vīraṇa-pushpa-prachāyikā*, *Śāla-bhañjikā*, *Tāla-bhañjikā* (*Kāśikā* on VI.2.74, III.3.109 and II.2.17). Rule VI.2.74 regulating the accents in the compound-names of these sports shows that Pāṇini was acquainted with the institutions of social life and national sports of the remote regions of eastern India.

c8.s13.t1.11

*THE NATURE OF EASTERN SPORTS*—Some of these sports relating to the plucking of flowers (*prāchya-krīḍās*) are illustrated in early Indian art. According to Dr. Vogel: "It is interesting that these games are said to be peculiar to Eastern India, as this tallies with the mention of the *Śāla-bhañjikā* festival in Buddhist literature. It is evidently Magadha, the cradle of Buddhism, and the neighbouring countries, that may be taken to have been its home.” (The Woman and Tree or Śālabhañjikā in Indian Literature and Art, *Acta Orientalia*, Vol. VII. pp. 203-204).

c8.s13.t1.12

A graphic account of these popular festivals is found in the *Avadānaśataka*: “Once the Lord Buddha dwelt at Śrāvastī in the Jetavana, the garden of Anāthapiṇḍada. Now at that very time the festival called *Śālabhañjikā* was being celebrated at Śrāvastī. Several hundred-thousands of beings assembled there and, having gathered *śāl* blossoms, they played, made merry and roamed about.” (*Ibid.* p. 201). And again quoting from the Nidānakathā (*Jāt.* I. 52) the description of the *śālabhañjikā* festival celebrated in the Lumbinī garden: “Now between the two towns (Kapilavatthu and Devadaha) there is an auspicious grove of *śāl* trees belonging to the people of both cities, and called Lumbinī Grove. At that time from the roots to the topmost branches it was one mass of full-blown flowers; and amidst the branches swarms of five-coloured bees, and flocks of birds of different kinds, roamed, warbling sweetly. The whole of Lumbinī Grove was like a wood of variegated creepers, or the well-decorated banqueting hall of some mighty king. The Queen beholding it was filled with the desire of disporting herself in the *śāla* grove (*sālavanakīlaṁ kīlitukāmatā*); and the attendants entered the wood with the Queen. When she came to the root of an auspicious *śāla* tree, she wanted to take hold of a branch of it. The branch, bending down, like a reed heated by steam, approached within reach of her hand. Stretching out her hand she took hold of the branch, and then her pains came upon her.” (Cf. Rhys Davids, *Buddhist Birth Stories*, London 1880, Vol. I, p. 66).

c8.s13.t1.13

The motif of the woman plucking flowers from a distended bough is met with on the *toraṇas* of Bharhut and Sānchi in the Śuṅga period and is continued on the railing pillars of Mathurā during the Kushāṇa period. It also appears in a limited number of examples in Gandhāra art of the Kushāṇa age, but the weak treatment of the subject there betrays its having been imported from the East. We have in the *Kāśikā* an example of a game played by people of the North known as *Jīva-putra-prachāyikā*.¹ Vātsyāyana in the *Kāmasūtra* mentions as examples of *deśya krīḍās* (local sports) similar names ending in *aka* suffix, *e.g.* *Sahakāra-bhañjikā*, *Abhyūsha-khādikā* (cited by *Kāśikā*, on III.³.109), *Udaka-kshveḍikā*,² *Bisa-khādikā*, *Aśokottaṁsikā*, *Pushpāvachāyikā*, *Chūta-latikā*, *Damana-bhañjikā*, *Ikshu-bhakshikā*, etc.

c8.s13.t1.14

¹ *Iyam Udīchāṁ krīḍā*, Kāśikā, VI.2.74.

c8.s13.t1.15

² Played in Madhya-deśa according to *Jayamangalā*. It is depicted in the Sigiriya paintings of Ceylon, also called *Śṛiṅga-krīḍā*.

c8.s13.t1.16

A feature of all such sports played by the gathering of fruits or plucking of flowers was that the plucking should be done by hand (*hastādāne cherasteye*, III.³.40). According to this rule the form *pushpa-prachāya* would not be regular unless the plucking was done by hand.

c8.s13.t1.17

HUNTING—Hunting is referred to as *lubdha-yoga* (V.4.126), and a hunter was called *mārgika*, 'one who shoots *mṛigas*,' and a bird-trapper *pākshika* or *śākunika* (IV.4.35).³ Among *mṛigas* the *Kāśikā* includes not only deer, but also big game like the boar. The fowlers are said to have derived their epithets from the names of particular birds trapped by them, as *māyurika*, *taittirika*. Game-shooting was done with arrows provided with barbs (*patra*), and such arrows are noted by Pāṇini to have caused extreme pain (*ativyathana*, V.4.61). He refers to two words in connection with shooting barbed shafts, *viz.* *sapatrā* when the arrow with the barbed end gets stuck inside the body of the animal, and *nishpatrā* when the barbed end pierces the body from one side with such force as to emerge on the other (V.4.61). Wounding an animal in the right flank was known as *dakshiṇermā*⁴ (V.4.126) in the hunter's slang (*lubdhayoga*). It was less fatal than the shot in the left side, and hence the need of the term in the language, for it was of some consequence to the hunter to know whether the game had been pierced in the right or the left flank.

c8.s13.t1.18

³ *Pakshi—matsya—mṛigān hanti*, IV.4.35.

c8.s13.t1.19

⁴ *Irma* denoting 'arm, side, haunches, forequarters' was an old Ṛig-vedic word (RV. VIII.22.4).

c8.s13.t1.20

Pāṇini knows of the habits of big game roaring or yelling at a particular time of day or night (IV.3.51, *Vyāharati mṛigaḥ*), as shown in the expression (1) *prādoshika* (at dust) and (2) *naiśika* (at night). [Cf. Karṇaparva, 31. 40, *krav-yādā vyāharantyete mṛigāḥ kurvanti bhairavam*].

c8.s13.t1.21

The hunters moved with a pack of hounds (*Śva-gaṇena charati*, IV.4.11). Pāṇini's *śvāgaṇika* or *śvagaṇika* anticipates the *śvagaṇin* hunters mentioned in the *Arthaśāstra*, who were employed by the State to keep the pastures free of wild animals and thieves (*lubdhaka-śvagaṇibhiḥ*, II. 29 p. 130). In a Bharhut scene we actually find a hunter attacking his game with hounds (Barua's *Bharhut*, Vol. III, fig. 146).

c8.s13.t1.22

The fisherman is referred to as *mātsyika* and *mainika* (IV. 4.35). His equipment consisted of a net called *jāla* and *ānāya* (III.3.124).

c8.s13.t1.23

DICING (AKSHA-DYŪTA)—Dicing is mentioned as a game from the time of *Ṛigveda* onwards. It is referred to as *aksha-dyūta* (IV.4.19) or simply *dyūta* (III.3.37) in the *Ashṭādhyāyī*. Pāṇini records a grammatical idiom according to which the words denoting the objects with which the game was played were connected with the verb *div* either in the instrumental or accusative case (I.4.4, *Divaḥ karma cha*). For example '*akshān dīvyati* and *akshair dīvyati*' (he plays with dice) were both used, probably from the fact that the game and its accessories of play were both called *aksha*.

c8.s13.t1.24

Pāṇini calls a dicer *ākshika* (*Tena dīvyati*, IV.4.2.). Patañjali says that *kitava* and *dhūrta* formed part of the *Śauṇḍādi* group (II.1.40) and he refers to a practised gambler as *aksha-kitava* and *aksha-dhūrta* (*Bhāshya*, I.390). *Kitava*, 'a gambler,' was an old Vedic word (*Vedic Index*, I.156-7), used also in the Buddhist literature (cf. *asippa dhuttaka* and *sikkhita kitava*, *Jāt.* VI.228; also *Dhammapada*, verse 252) and the *Mahābhārata* (Sabhāparva, 58.9).¹

c8.s13.t1.25

*ACCESSORIES OF PLAY*—Pāṇini refers to two distinct methods of the game, *i.e.*, one played by *akshas*, and the other played by *śalākās* (II.¹.10). A player with the former was called *ākshika* and with the latter *śālākika* (cf. *Kāśikā* on Pāṇini, IV.4.2). The *Arthaśāstra* also refers to both of these, stating that the Superintendent of Dicing shall supply *aksha* and *śalākā* to the players (*Artha.* III.20. p. 198). The *akshas* seem to have been cubical and the *śalākās* oblong pieces marked on the sides with points or numbers. In the representation of the gambling scene at Bharhut the *akshas* are shown as little cubes (Cunningham, *Stupa of Bharhut*, pl. XLV).

c8.s13.t1.26

The manner in which the game was played in olden days differed from that current today. At present only two pieces are used. But in ancient times the number of dice was five, at least so in the Brāhmaṇa period. In the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* it is said that 'he hands to the king five dice, for these are all the dice' (*Tait. Brāh.* I.7.10). These pieces were called Aksharāja, Kṛita, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali (*Vedic Index*, I.3). The game as it was known to Pāṇini must have been played with five dice pieces as the form *chatushpari* 'an unlucky throw by four' (II.¹.10) shows. The *Kāśikā*, Chandra and Kaiyaṭa agree that the game implied in *sūtra*, II.1.10 was *pañchikā dyūta*.

c8.s13.t1.27

*METHOD OF PLAY*—Pāṇini throws light on the method of play in the following:

c8.s13.t1.28

*Aksha-śalākā-saṁkhyāḥ pariṇā* (II.¹.10).

c8.s13.t1.29

¹ '... *kitava* is used here in the usual sense of "gambler" without any special pejorative meaning.' (K. de Vreese, "The Game of Dice in ancient India (The Vibhītaka Game)," *Orientalia Neerlandica, Lieden* (1948), p. 352. The interpretation of *kitava* by "cheat" does not suit the context.

c8.s13.t1.30

The words *aksha* and *śalākā* and the numerals (up to four) are compounded with *pari* to form an *Avyayībhāva* compound, when, as observed by Kātyāyana, the resultant words denote gambler's throws (*kitava-vyavahāra*, *vārt.* on II.1.10). Thus we have the following forms:

c8.s13.t1.31

1. *Aksha-pari*;
2. *Śalākā-pari*;
3. *Eka-pari*;
4. *Dvi-pari*;
5. *Tri-pari*;
6. *Chatush-pari*.

c8.s13.t1.32

The forms were used to indicate a deviation from the winning throw. The *Pañchikā* game was played with five dice or five ivory pieces. When all these five pieces fall with faces turned upward, or all with faces turned down, then the thrower wins the game. But when the fall is otherwise, he loses it (*Kāśikā* on II.1.10). For example, when four pieces fall alike and one is different, the dicer exclaims: *Akshapari!*, *Śalākāpari!*, *Ekapari!*, i.e. missed by a single *aksha* or by a single *śalākā*. The expression *ekapari* was synonymous with *akshapari* and *śalākāpari* as shown in the *Kāśikā* cited in the *Bhāshya* (*ekatve'ksha-śalākayoḥ*, I.379). If the throw fell amiss by two, it was called *dvi-pari*; if 'by three,' *tripari*; and if 'by four,' *chatushpari*. When all the five pieces fell uniformly the throw was called a winning throw of which the technical name was *Kṛita*. The name for the losing throw was *Kali*. According to the *Dhammapada* a deceitful player (*kitavo saṭho*) tries to conceal his losing or *kali* throw (*verse 252*). In the *Bhūridatta-Jātaka-Vatthu*, *kali* and *kṛita* are contrasted (*Kalī hi dhīrānaṁ kaṭam mugānaṁ*, 'Loss to the wise, a gain to the fool,' *J.R.A.S.*, 1892, p. 127; also *Jāt.* VI.228). In the *Chhāndogya Upanishad* (IV.1.4) *kṛita* is the winning throw. In the Sabhāparva (52.13) Śakuni is described by Vidura as *kṛita-hasta*, *i.e.* one who takes a winning throw. Pāṇini also refers to these two kinds of throws:

c8.s13.t1.33

*Kṛitaṁ gṛihṇāti=kṛitayati*
*Kaliṁ gṛihṇāti=kalayati*¹ (III.1.21)

c8.s13.t1.34

¹ The *sūtra* deliberately reads *kala* instead of *kali*, as shown by Kātyāyana's *vārttika 'hali-kalyoratva-nipātanam* (*Bhāshya*, II.28), which says that there can be no desiderative form in *kalayati*, since no one would wish for himself a losing throw.

c8.s13.t1.35

These must have been current expressions used during the progress of the game when a player scored a winning or a losing throw. In the *Vidhurapaṇḍita Jātaka* (545) a graphic description of the gambling scene between the Kuru king and the Yakkha Puṇṇaka is given and there an expression identical with that of Pāṇini is used:

c8.s13.t1.36

*'rājā kaliṁ vichinaṁ aggahesi,*
*kaṭaṁ aggahī Puṇṇako pi yakkho.'*

c8.s13.t1.37

'The king played the losing throw and the Yakkha Puṇṇaka the winning throw.' (*Jāt.* Text, VI. 282; Trans. VI 138). It is stated there that the Yaksha was reshuffling with his miraculous powers such dice as were falling against him. The *bhassamāna pāsaka* (missing dice) of the *Jātaka* correspond to Pāṇini's *ekapari*, etc. It also appears that so long as a player was taking the *kṛita* throw he went on repeating his throws. But after the *kali* throw, the turn went to the other player. When once either Śakuni or Puṇṇaka begins to win deceitfully, he continues to throw the dice up to the end of the game.

c8.s13.t1.38

*WAGER (GLAHA)*—Śakuni opined that dicing, a noble game, was maligned only because of its association with a stake (*aksha-glaha*, Sabhā. 59.8). According to Pāṇini *glaha* is irregularly derived when it relates to the vocabulary of dicing (*Aksheshu glahaḥ*, III.3.70). According to the *Vedic Index*, *glaha* was a later form used in the *Atharvaveda* for *grābha* of the *Ṛigveda* meaning a 'throw' at dice (I.248). This may be its original meaning, but in classical Sanskrit *glaha* always denoted the stake and not the throw (Cf. Yaj. *Smṛiti*, II.199 as rendered by Mitāksharā, *kitava-parikalpita paṇa*; also Sabhā- parva, Dyūta Section where it invariably means a wager). This meaning Pāṇini had in view. Other references in Pāṇini to wager or stake-money are *śatasya vyavaharati*, *śatasya paṇate* (II.3.57), *śatasya dīvyati* (II.3.58), *śatasya pratidīvyati* (II.3.59), all denoting 'he stakes a hundred rupees' in *dyūta*.¹

c8.s13.t1.39

According to the testimony of the Vedic literature, *Jātakas*, *Mahābhārata* (Sabhāparva) and Kauṭilya dicing was a game played in a *sabhā*. The *Arthaśāstra* prescribes 5 p.c. as Government fee to be realised on the amount of wager (*Arth.* III.20 p. 198). This would correspond to *pañchakaḥ* (*pañchāsmin āyaḥ*), cited in the *Kāśikā* to illustrate *sūtra*, V.¹.47.

c8.s13.t1.40

¹ Another sense of all these sentences is: he deals in sale and purchase transactions worth one hundred rupees (*kraya-vikraya-vyavahāra*).

c8.s13.t1.41

*ANOTHER BOARD GAME*—Pāṇini also refers to a game resembling draughts or the Indian *chaupar*, which must have been played on a board (*ākarsha*, V.2.64) divided into squares, and in which the essential thing was the movement of the gamesmen from square to square in accordance with the results of the throw of the rival players. The gamesmen were known as *śāra* and the movement of the pieces as *pariṇāya* (*pari+nāya* in the sense of *dyūta*, III.3.37), *pariṇāyena hanti śārān* (example on Pāṇini, III.3.37), i.e. he hits the rival gamesmen by an encircling movement (*samantan-nayanena*) of his own pieces.

c8.s13.t1.42

*Ayānayīna*, a technical term mentioned in *sūtra*, V.2.9, denoted a gamesman fit to be moved to a square of safety. Patañjali comments on its meaning: 'By giving the sense as 'that which is to be carried to *ayānaya*' the meaning is not made quite clear as to which is *naya* and which is *anaya*.' (To this we reply). "The right hand move is *aya* and the left hand move *anaya*. (The pieces move both right and left with reference to the rival players seated opposite to each other). That square is called *ayānaya* in which pieces coming both from right and left (which virtually means the gamesmen of both players) are not attacked by their rivals. The gamesman that is desired to be moved to such a safe square is spoken of as *ayāna-yīna*, *Bhāshya*, II.373). On each side of the board there are such checkered squares in which rival gamesmen may rest without being attacked. This description holds good in the case of *chaupar* which thus appears to be an old game.

Linked texts (10)