India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s6.t2.4

c8.s6.t2.4

The cooks in the time of Pāṇini derived their names from two factors, firstly from their specialised skill in preparing particular dishes, and secondly from the quantity which they were capable of handling. The first point is perhaps referred to in VI.2.129, in which the names of various classes of cooks are presumed, as *deva-sūda* and *bhājī-sūda*, i.e. cooks attached to temples and those expert in the cooking of vegetables.¹ Even at present the *bhājī-sūda* is a specialist whose services are in demand at the time of big feasts for making vegetables.