India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s13.t1.6

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).