India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s1.27

c9.s1.27

The Greeks in India were struck with the amazing fertility of the soil (Meg. Frag. I) and the skill of the agriculturists (Arr. *Anab.* V.6). Pāṇini knows of deep ploughing. It was effected by driving the plough twice (*dvitīyā-karoti*), or thrice (*tṛitīyā-karoti*, V.4.58). The *Arthaśāstra* also (II.24, p. 116) refers to ploughing three times (*trīn karshakān*) in heavy rains. Pāṇini also refers to ploughings done more than three times (*Saṁkhyāyāś-cha guṇāntāyāḥ*, V.4.59). To make cultivation more fruitful and intensive it was the custom to plough the same field over again from one end to the other in a reverse direction (*śambā-karoti*, V.4.58; *anulomakṛishṭaṁ kshetraṁ punaḥ pratilomaṁ kṛishat-īty-arthaḥ*). The Greeks testify to the careful ploughing habits of the people in this country (Meg. Frag. I).