India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s2.29

c9.s2.29

In his comments on the above *vārttika* Patañjali hints at the scale of monthly wages of labourers in his time, e.g. *pañchaka-māsikaḥ*, *shaṭka-māsikaḥ daśaka-māsikaḥ*, i.e., a workman receiving five, six or ten (silver *kārshāpaṇas*) per month. Again, he mentions a labourer working for one *pādika* coin (one-fourth of a *kārshāpaṇa*) a day, *i.e.*, seven and a half *kārshpaṇas* per month (*karmakarāḥ kurvanti pādikam ahar-lapsyāmhe*, *Bhāshya*, I.3.72; I.293). Kauṭilya directs that a *paṇa* and a quarter per month be paid to agricultural labour supplemented with food according to work done (*Arth.* II.24, p. 118). He states that wages in cash were convertible into kind at the rate of 60 *paṇas* per *āḍhaka* (*Arth.* V.3, p. 249). In Patañjali's time also food with clothing was given to *dāsas* and *karmakaras* (*yadetad-dāsa-karmakaram . . . . . bhaktaṁ cha chelaṁ cha lapsyāmhe*, *Bhāshya*, II.36). Pāṇini mentions workmen receiving daily food as *bhākta* or *bhāktika* (IV.4.68). The Jātakas also refer to wages in the form of food, such as *yavāgū* and *bhakta*.