LOANWORDS IN SANSKRIT 388 It is possible that harimantha- * chickpea ’ has been similarly adapted from Gk. epefiivBos, though if so it has been even more effectively disguised. There is a special class of Greek words occurring as technical terms in astronomical literature. The development of Indian astronomy in the early centuries of the Christian era was pro- foundly affected by Greek astronomy and a considerable number of its technical terms were adopted. Such words are heli- ‘ sun ’, hord ' hour kendra - ' centre of a circle ’ jdmitra-
- diameter ’ (Gk. rjXivs, utpa, Kevrpov, StdpLerpov). Some of these
also were distorted by popular etymology, e.g. hrdroga - ‘ the zodiacal sign Aquarius J (Gk. vSpoxoos). Contact with the Graeco-Roman world introduced one Latin word only into Sanskrit, namely dmdra- ‘ name of a coin * (cdenarius). Following on the Greek invasions the northwestern part of India was the scene of a series of invasions by Iranian tribes, Pahlavas, Sakas, Kusanas and finally Hunas. This state of affairs prevailed during most of the first six centuries of the Christian era, and resulted in the establishment of a number of powerful dynasties of such origin, principally in Northwestern and Western India, but sometimes extending their sway further afield. This resulted in the adoption of a number of Iranian terms, first into Prakrit (principally the North-Western Prakrit), and eventually into Sanskrit. Examples from Indian inscriptions in Kharosthi and Brahrni scripts are horaka- ' donator J , and bakanapati- ' shrine attendant * (Khot. haur hot- ‘ to give Sogdian fiynpt). In the North-Western Prakrit used in Central Asia these are quite frequent. In Sanskrit itself there are a not inconsiderable number which have entered the language at various periods. One of the earliest is lipi ‘ writing J (occurring in Asokan also in the form dipi-) from OPers. dipi-. This word was borrowed at the time writing was introduced into India. Later a word divira- ‘ scribe 1 of the same origin was introduced, though it had restricted .currency. The word mudrd ' seal ’ is likewise attributable to Old Persian, although.it happens not to be recorded in Iranian until later (Pahl. NPers. muhr ), and karsa- 1 n. of a particular weight ' has been con- sidered to derive from OPers. karsa-. Among the other Iranian loanwords the following may be listed : ksatrapa - ‘ satrap ’ used as a title by certain of the above
