India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s2.15

c8.s2.15

The head of the family was called *Vaṁśya* (IV.1.163) or *Vṛiddha* (I.2.65), i.e. Patriarch, and its other members *Yuvan* (Juniors). Pāṇini teaches different suffixes to distinguish the head of the family from its junior members. This distinction between the patriarch and his descendants was expressed by appropriate suffixes, e.g. Gārgya as patriarch, and his juniors as Gārgyāyaṇa. The family or the household was the centre of social life supporting its different factors. These distinctive titles were of real practical value; e.g. a Gārgya as patriarch represented his family in the social assemblies, whereas the junior members called Gārgyāyaṇa would be given the nomenclature Gārgya only when they were admitted to the headship of the family in the absence of Gārgya the elder.