India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s5.7

c8.s5.7

In the *Ashṭādhyāyī* an individual member of a caste is designated as *bandhu* in relation to his *jāti* (*Jātyantāch-chha bandhuni*, V.4.9). ‘The affix *chha* (*īya*) is added to a word ending in the word *jāti*, when it denotes a *bandhu*.’ The examples are *Brāhmaṇa-jātīyaḥ*, *Kshatriya-jātīyaḥ*, *Vaiśya-jātīyaḥ*. The *Kāśikā* says that *bandhu* in the *sūtra* means an individual; the *jāti* or class is in itself an invisible entity which achieves concrete form only through its component parts or *bandhus*. The term *bandhu* implies relationship, thus pointing to the fact that the *jāti* had evolved out of the common bond of mutual kinship. The word *sabandhu* in *sūtra* VI.3.85, indicates this idea of kinship, (*samāna-bandhutva*) uniting members of one caste.