India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s2.17

c9.s2.17

PĀṆḌUKAMBALA—This blanket was used for the mounting of chariots, which were called *pāṇḍukambalī* after it (IV.2. 11). The *Kāśikā* explains *pāṇḍukambala* as a high class coloured rug used for royal seats (*rājāstaraṇasya varṇakambalasya vāchakaḥ*). The Jātakas mention it as the stuff for covering the throne of Indra (II.188; III.53; IV.8), and the back of a royal elephant (*Vessantara Jātaka*, VI.490), and also add that it was of a bright red colour woven in Gandhāra (*Indagopakavaṇṇābhā Gandhārā paṁḍukambalā*, Ves. Jāt., VI.500). Gandhāra, the home of wool in Vedic times, continued later on as a centre of wool-weaving industry. The *pāṁḍukambala* may be identified with the blankets still woven in the Swat valley, which have beautiful borders of scarlet colour.