India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s5.14

c8.s5.14

The word *kulīna*, 'of eminent family,' (IV.1.139) indicated high descent. The epithet *mahākula* was indicative of a still higher family status. Pāṇini refers to the members of these distinguished families as *mahākulīna*, *māhākulīna* and *māhākula* (IV.1.141). On IV.1.139 the *Kāśikā* refers to a member of a superior family of śrotriya Brāhmaṇas as *śrotriya-kulīna*. Manu points out that a *kula* could be improved in its status by the following factors: (1) marriage, (2) study of the Vedas, and (3) performance of Vedic rites, (*Manu*, III.66; 184-186), to which the *Mahābhārata* echoing the same popular esteem for *mahākula* adds *tapa*, *dama*, *annadāna* and *samyag vṛitta* (Udyogaparva, 36.23-29).