Pancha-janah

• According to the Aitareya Brahmana, the pancha-janah include: the gods; the humans; the Gandharvas and the Apsaras; the snakes; and the Fathers. [1]

• According to Yaska's Nirukta, Aupamanyava explains the Rigvedic term pancha-janah as the four varnas of the Indo-Aryan society and the Nishadas.[2] The 14th century commentator Sayana also supports this explanation.[1]

• According to Yaska, the pancha-janah include the Gandharvas, the Fathers, the gods, the Asuras, and the Rakshasas.[1]

According to the 20th century Sanskrit scholars Arthur Anthony Macdonell and Arthur Berriedale Keith, none of these explanations can be regarded as adequate.[1]

• 19th century German Indologists Karl Friedrich Geldner and Rudolf von Roth, the term denotes "all the peoples of the earth", with Vedic Aryans in the middle, and other people in the four directions. Heinrich Zimmer, another German Indologist, has criticized this theory, arguing that inclusion of all of the earth's peoples in this expression is not in harmony with the frequent distinction made between the Aryans and the Dasas in the Vedic texts; that the term -janah is not used for the non-Aryans; that the deities Soma and Indra are mentioned as belonging among the pancha-janah; and that the pancha-janah are mentioned as located on the Sarasvati River.[1]

• According to Heinrich Zimmer, the term pancha-janah denotes the five Vedic tribes: Anus, Druhyus, Yadus, Turvashas, and Purus. Zimmer adds that the term may have become more generic in the later period.[1]