India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.t1.49

c9.s6.t1.49

Loans were also named from the amount of interest earned on them, *e.g.* *pañchaka*, *i.e.* a loan earning 5 as interest. Patañjali also refers to 7, 8, 9, and 10 as the amount of accruing interest (II.351). Such loans would come under the system called *daśaikādaśa* by Pāṇini. For example, a loan of ten rupees which would become rupees fifteen after five months was called a *pañchaka* loan; similarly *saptaka*, *ashṭaka*, *navaka* and *daśaka* respectively. These loans applied to agricultural crops, i.e. loans advanced at sowing and repaid at harvesting.