India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3.18

c9.s3.18

In the Devapathādi-gaṇa (V. 3. 100) Pāṇini refers to various kinds of routes, e.g. *vāripatha*, *sthalapatha*, *rathapatha*, *karipatha*, *ajapatha*, *śaṅkupatha*, *rājapatha*, *siṁhapatha*, adding two more, viz. *haṁsapatha* and *devapatha*, which relate to air. We get an old record of some of these in the *Mahāniddesa* e.g. *jaṇṇupatha* (correct reading *vaṇṇupatha*—Skt. *varṇupatha*, route through the sandy tract of Sindh-Sagar Doab, leading to Bannu, cf. *Vaṇṇupatha Jāt.*); *ajapatha* (goat-track), *meṇḍhapatha* (ram-track), *śaṅkupatha* (spike-track), *chhattapatha* (parasol-route), *vaṁsapatha* (bamboo-track), *sakuṇapatha* (bird-track, cf. Pāṇini's *haṁsapatha*), *mūsikapatha* ('mouse passage'), *darīpatha* (*cavern-path*), and *vettachāra* (course of reeds) (*Mahāniddesa*, Vol. I. pp. 154-55; Vol. II, pp. 414-15).