India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s8.35

c8.s8.35

The *Brahmajāla Sutta* contains a stock list of dress and toileting processes comprising twenty items. (G. P. Majumdar, Toilet, *Ind. Culture*, Vol. I, p. 651). This list agrees closely with the one laid down in Suśruta (*ibid.* p. 653). Of those items Pāṇini refers to mirror, collyrium, garlands, perfumes, shoes and staff. In the *Yājakādi* group (which occurs twice in the *Ashṭādhyāyī*, II.2.9 and VI.2.151), Pāṇini mentions *snāpaka* (barber), *utsādaka* (one who anoints), *udvartaka* (one who rubs the body with emollient unguents) and *parishechaka* (one who sprinkles); and again in the *Mahishyādi-gaṇa* (IV.4.48) *anulepikā* (a female for applying sandal paste after bath), *pralepikā* (a female to apply unguents before bath) and *vilepikā* (a female to apply scented oils, etc.). The *Arthaśāstra* also mentions these personal attendants in the service of the king. (Cf. also the king's toilet in the *Kalpasūtra* which mentions them, *S.B.E.*, Vol. XXII, p. 241 ff.).