India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s6.10

c8.s6.10

(iii) *Vyañjana and Upasikta*. Whereas *miśra* articles are mixed at the option of the eater, the use of *vyañjanas* is obligatory to make the food tasteful. Pāṇini takes *vyañjana* in the sense of *upasechana*, (i.e. ingredients of seasoning to improve the taste, IV.4.26, *Vyañjanair-upasikte*), as example of which Patañjali mentions *dadhi* (curds) (*Annena vyañjanam*, II.¹.34) and the *Kāśikā* on Pāṇini II.4.12 mentions both curds and butter (*dadhi-ghṛitam*). The nature of any dish determines whether a particular article bears to it the relation of a *vyañjana* or *miśrīkaraṇa*, i.e. an indispensable or optional ingredient of mixing. For example, the *Kāśikā* takes *ghṛita* as an article both for mixing and for seasoning the food (*Kāśikā* on VI.2.128 and 154).