Abstract
Sanskrit pāmara and its Prakrit and Modern Indo-Aryan equivalents have a broad semantic field. The meaning of the word ranges from a very negative connotation “a low man”, “an outcast”, “a fool” to a positive term denoting a peasant who is a member of a rural community with full powers. The present paper explores the various shades of meaning of the word and their possible social background. The term first appeared in early mediaeval times and has remained productive in the various Modern Indo-Aryan languages spoken in India. The negative connotations of the word are typical of traditional Sanskrit lexicons, while the positive ones were used by poets and playwrights.
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