India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s14.58

c8.s14.58

SEASONS AND YEAR—The year is referred to under various names as *varsha* (V.1.88), *samā* (V.1.85; V.2.12), *saṁvatsara* (V.1.87) and *hāyana* (III.1.148; V.1.130), the last word denoting both time and a kind of harvested paddy. The month-name *Agrahāyaṇa* points to its being the first month of the year. Pāṇini also refers to the various terms making up the five-year cycle, *e.g.* *Idvatsara*, *Saṁvatsara*, *Parivatsara* (V.1.91-92). The *Arthaśāstra* mentions the cycle of five years as constituting one *yuga*.