The History and Culture of the Indian People v1.c19.s2.20

v1.c19.s2.20

greedy like the wolf, niggardly, of cruel speech, Dasyus, Dāsas of inferior status. They were cattle-owners and notorious cattle-lifters, and in some passages definitely figure as demons who withheld the cows or waters of the heavens. Vala, whom Indra pierced when he robbed Paṇi of his cows, appears to be their patron God. Bṛibu is mentioned as one of their kings. The question of the identity of the Paṇis has not yet been settled with any degree of certainty. The words Paṇik or Vaṇik, Paṇya, and Vipaṇi, found in Sanskrit, suggest that the Paṇis were merchants *par excellence* in the Rigvedic age. The Paṇis have been variously identified with an aboriginal non-Aryan people; with Babylonians (on the strength of the word Beka-nāṭa); with Parnians, the Dahae and other Irānian tribes; and with non-Aryan caravan traders. They might have been the Aryan sea-traders who spread the Aryan culture to the west.