India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s9.6

c8.s9.6

NIKĀYYA AND NIKĀYA—These are synonymous of *nivāsa*, a dwelling place (III.1.129; III.3.341), and are in this sense peculiarly Pāṇinian words. It is not certain whether they were used to denote only the residence of monks. In the *Manu Smṛiti* we find the word *deva-nikāya* (I.36), taken by the commentators as *deva-nivāsa-sthāna*. *Nikāya* occurs once in the *Yajurveda*, but as the name of a *chhanda* denoting Vāyu (*Śatapatha*, VIII.5.2.5, commenting on *Yaj.*, XV.5). The *Arthaśāstra* also uses *nikāya* once, but in quite a different sense, *viz.* *saṅgha* (Text. II.4, p. 55).