India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s6.t2.37

c8.s6.t2.37

The grape exported from Kāpiśī was known as *Kāpiśāyanī drākshā* and its wine *Kāpiśāyanam madhu*. Kāpiśī¹ is even today the home of the grape. In ancient days an excellent quality of raisin wine was manufactured at Kāpiśī and widely exported.² Kauṭilya supplies the clue to the name Kāpiśāyana: 'The juice of grapes is termed *madhu*. Its own native place is the commentary on such of its various forms as *Kāpiśāyana* and *Hārahūraka*.' (*Arth*. Trans. p. 145; Text. II.25). Obviously there were two varieties of the grape wine, the *Kāpiśāyana* produced in the region round Kāpiśī in north Afghanistan, and *Hārahūraka* in the south in the valley of the Harahvaiti or Arghandāb.³ The black raisins are still called *harahūrā*, and it is possible that the *Kāpiśāyana* or northern variety of wine was made from green and the *Hārahūraka* or Kandhār wine from black grapes.