Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c8.13

c8.13

Patañjali mentions an interesting tradition about the Mauryas that they, in need, took to the manufacture of images of deities, and to trading in them as a source of profit (*Mauryaiḥ hiraṇyārthibhiḥ archāḥ prakalpitāḥ*). The images thus fashioned and sold as articles of trade were named differently from the images that were worshipped: e.g., *Śivaka* instead of *Śiva* [Patañjali on Pāṇini, V. 3, 99].