India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s5.9

c8.s5.9

SAPIṆḌA—It is important to note that the word *Sapiṇḍa* is peculiar to the *Sūtra* literature; there is no trace of it either in the *Saṁhitās*, or the *Brāhmaṇas* and *Araṇyakas*. The *Dharma-śāstra* works explain *Sapiṇḍa* as blood-relations upto the seventh degree on the father’s and fifth on the mother’s side (*Manu*, V.60). Pāṇini refers to the *Sapiṇḍa* institution in the aphorism, *Vānyasmin sapiṇḍe sthaviratare jīvati* (IV.1.165), which states that a great-grandson was called *yuvan* when a more elderly *Sapiṇḍa*, *i.e.* either his uncle or grand-uncle was alive.