India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s5.15

c9.s5.15

(9) *Khārī* (V.1.33). Pāṇini refers to an article purchased for 1½ *khārī* called *adhyardha-khārīka*, and says that in the opinion of the Eastern grammarians *khārī* becomes *khāra* in a *Dvigu* compound (V. 4. 101, *Khāryāḥ Prāchām*). Kātyāyana mentions the latter form in the *vārttika khāra-śatādyartham* (V. 1. 58). It appears that *khārī* was the unit for measuring large heaps of corn, as in the expression *khāra-śatika rāśi* and *khāra-sahasrika rāśi*, heap of corn on the threshing floor weighing 100 and 1000 *khārīs* (*Bhāshya*, II. 353) A *khārī* was certainly a higher weight than *droṇa* as Patañjali would have it (*adhiko droṇaḥ khāryām*, II. 387; V. 2. 73). The *Arthaśāstra* defines *khārī* equal to 16 *droṇas* (II. 19.). In the table of Charaka 4 *droṇas* make 1 *khārī*.