Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.146

v1.c3.s21.146

It is difficult to be certain exactly who a Paṇi was. Roth¹³ thinks that the word is derived from paṇ, ‘barter,’ and that the Paṇi is properly the man who will give nothing without return, hence the niggard, who neither worships the gods nor rewards their priests. This view is accepted by Zimmer¹⁴ and by Ludwig.¹⁵ The latter scholar thinks the apparent references to fights with Paṇis are to be explained by their having been aboriginal traders who went in caravans—as in Arabia and Northern Africa—prepared to fight, if need be, to protect their goods against attacks which the Āryans would naturally deem quite justified. He supports this explanation by the references to the Paṇis as Dasyus and Dāsas. It is, however, hardly necessary to do more than regard the Paṇis generally as non-worshippers of the gods favoured by the singers; the term is wide enough to cover either the aborigines or hostile Āryan tribes, as well as demons. Hillebrandt,¹⁶ however, thinks that a real tribe is meant, the Parnians of Strabo, and that they were associated with the Dahae (Dāsa). Moreover, he finds them associated in one passage¹⁷ with the Pārāvatas, whom he identifies with the Παρουῆται of Ptolemy,¹⁸ and with Bṛṣaya, whom he connects with Βαρσαέντης of Arrian;¹⁹ he also considers that the frequent²⁰ mention of the Paṇis as opponents of Divodāsa shows that the latter was on the Arachosian Haraqaiti (Sarasvatī) fighting against the Parnians and Dahae, as well as other Iranian tribes. But the identification of Paṇi and the Parnians is needless, especially as the root *paṇ*, which is found also in the Greek *πέρνημι*, shows a satisfactory derivation, while the transfer of Divodāsa to the Haraqaiti is improbable. See also Divodāsa and Bekanāṭa.