India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s8.22

c8.s8.22

Of ornaments (*alaṅkāras*) Pāṇini refers to *aṅgulīya*, finger-rings (IV.3.62), *karṇikā*, ear-ring¹ (IV.3.65), *lalāṭikā*, ornaments of the forehead (IV.3.65) and *graiveyaka*, torque round the neck (IV.2.96). If we look to the earliest known examples of Indian art we find these three ornaments conspicuously depicted there. The *karṇikā* is represented as the heavy ear-rings worn in cloven ears of men and women; the *graiveyaka*² as the torque, worn in addition to the flat triangular necklace on such statues as the Parkham Yaksha; and the *lalāṭikā* as the round pendant found on the forehead of the earliest female figures as the Yakshī from Dīdārganj, Patna (Bachhoffer, *Early Indian Sculpture*, Pl.9) and Sudarśanā (Pl.19), Chulakokā (Pl.20) and Sirimā *devatās* (Pl.21) from Bharhut. These works of art are no doubt removed in time from Pāṇini, but they represent the earliest specimens of classical Indian art and show an older tradition. The *Jātakas* also mention ear-rings, frontlet pieces and torques round the neck (*giveyya, Jāt.* VI.590).