History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.322.1

v4.c62.322.1

¹⁸² अष्टशतग्राम्या मध्ये स्थानीयं चतुःशतग्राम्या द्रोणमुखं द्विशतग्राम्याः खार्वटिकं दशग्रामीसंग्रहेण संग्रहणं स्थापयेत् । कौटिल्य II. 1. Vide Dr. Shamśāstri's note on these. स्थानीय has a similarity in sound and meaning to modern *ṭhānā*. Dr. Prān Nāth (in 'Study of the economic condition of Ancient India' p. 26) principally relying on a commentator of the Jain work called Prajñāpanopāṅga (which he misunderstands:) holds that 'grāma' does not mean 'a village', but 'an estate or survey village which can pay 18 kinds of Government taxes'. The learned Doctor says that he consulted many Sanskrit lexicons, but did not find this interpretation in any one of them. That should have induced him to be cautious. But he makes the bold and facile assumption that 'lexicons were compiled from a literary view-point and are not of much assistance as far as the technical meanings of words are concerned'. His great authority, the Jain commentator, says 'गामनिवेसेसु इत्यादि । ग्रसति पुरुषादीन्गुणानिति ग्रामः यदि वा गम्यः शास्त्रप्रसिद्धानामष्टादशकराणामिति ग्रामः'. Dr. Prān Nath's Jain authority is no better than lexicographers and their commentators. क्षीरस्वामी on Amara derives grāma as 'ग्रस्यते भोगिभिर्ग्रामः' i. e. the word ग्राम is derived from the root ग्रस्. The Jain commentator first derives the word ग्राम from ग्रस् and then from गम्. Dr. Prān Nāth forgets that a fanciful or scholastic derivation is not a *definition*.