India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s14.5

c8.s14.5

ORCHESTRA—The idea of having a concert of different instrumentalists was known to Pāṇini. The band was collectively known as *tūrya*, and individual members *tūryāṅga* (II.4.2). In concert two allied instrumentalists were grouped together, and the group was denoted by a compound in the singular number (II.4.2). For example, the set of players on *mṛdaṅga* and *paṇava* was referred to as *mārdaṅgika-pāṇavikam*. The *Kāśikā* adds to this *vīṇāvādaka* (lute-player)—*parivādakam*. Pāṇini refers to *parivādaka* in *sūtra*, III.2.146 without stating its meaning. It appears that *parivādaka* was a player on a stringed instrument. Patañjali, considers *parivādaka* as a lute-player (*Bhāshya*, VII.4.1; III.345; *avīvadad-vīṇāṁ parivādakena*). Pāṇini refers to *vīṇā* in several *sūtras* (III.3.65), and we learn from the *Jātakas* that *vīṇā* formed part of an orchestral band (*vīṇādīni turiyāni*, *Jāt*. III.40).