India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s1.t1.8

c9.s1.t1.8

(iv) *Shashṭikā*, ripening in sixty days (*Shashṭikāḥ shashṭirātreṇa pachyante*, V.1.90). According to Kātyayana it was a specific term for rice irrespective of its etymology. Other crops taking sixty days to ripen would not be called by this term. (*Shashṭike saṁjñāgrahaṇam*; also *Bhāshya* on it II.360). *Sānṭhī* (Hindi name of *Shashṭika* rice) was best suited to grow in the Punjab, since it does with but little water. It is a coarse rice, the grains of which aggultinate when boiled (Watt's *Dictionary of Economic Products*, Vol. V, pp. 620-21).