India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s15.t1.15

c8.s15.t1.15

(9) Names of species (*jāti-nāma*) adopted as personal names (*manushya-nāma*, V.3.81), *e.g.* Vyāghaka, Siṁhaka. Besides the suffix *ka*, the other forms were Vyāghrila, Siṁhila (Bühler's *Sanchi List*). This custom of deriving names from animals was unknown in the Vedic period. Pāṇini makes reference to the contemporary ideals of personal bravery in instituting comparisons with the strength of a tiger or a lion (*Upamitaṁ vyāghrādibhiḥ sāmānyāprayoge*, II.¹.56).