India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s1.40

c9.s1.40

Pāṇini knows of crop-loans and instances *yava-busaka* (IV.3.48), *i.e.* the loan to be repaid when the straw of barley would be available. Patañjali refers to bumper harvests of barley and rice (*Eko vrīhiḥ sampannaḥ subhikshaṁ karoti; eko yavaḥ sampannaḥ subhikshaṁ karoti*, *Bhāshya*, I.230). He also points out that barley was the staple crop of Uśīnara and Madra (Udīchya or Punjab), as rice was of Magadha (*Uśīnarāvan-Madreshu yavāḥ*, *Bhāshya*, I.147; *tān eva śālīn bhuñjmahe ye Magadheshu*, I.19). Barley was so important a crop that its cultivation was guarded by special officers mentioned by Pāṇini as *yavapāla* (*Go-tanti-yavaṁ pāle*, VI.².78).¹