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Gurus Rushi Scientists PANINI

PANINI
Contents
General introduction about Panini and Ashtadhyayi
Date of Panini
About personal life
About Ashtadhyayi
Shiva Sutras
Dhatupatha
Ganapatha
Commentary
Opinions of scholars about excellence of Panini
Ferdinand de Saussure
Prem Singh
Leonard Bloomfield
Comparison with modern formal systems
General introduction about Panini and Ashtadhyayi
Panini was the 4th century BC Sanskrit grammarian believed to have lived in ancient Pakistan.
Panini was one of the foremost grammarians of his times whose Sanskrit grammatical rules are the earliest lessons in the genre of descriptive
linguistics.
Panini is particularly known for his collection of 3,959 rules in his Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi a text consisting of Sanskrit morphology, syntax
and semantics. Ashtadhyayi literally means eight chapters and the text is the basis of the Vedangas grammatical chapter.
In the making of Ashtadhyayi, Panini has also referred to the earlier texts such as Unadisutra, Dhatupatha, and Ganapatha. However, Ashtadhyayi
remains to be the trendsetter in the usage of descriptive linguistics. Paninis Ashtadhyayi - together with the works of his predecessor Nirukta,
Nighantu, and Pratishakyas - form the history of linguistics. Even today, Paninis morphological analysis is believed to be more advanced than
similar Western theories made till the mid 20th century. Again, modern linguistic theories of compounding have also borrowed their noun
compounds analysis from Panini and have also adopted his terms such as bahuvrihi and dvandva.
Modern linguists have confirmed the comprehensive and scientific grammatical theory of Panini as an introduction to Classical Sanskrit which bade
adieu to the era of Vedic Sanskrit.
Date of Panini
Many historians claim Panini to have lived during the 5th century; many others also trace him to the 6th and 7th centuries, corresponding
to Pushkalavati, Gandhara. However, it is certain that Panini lived at the dawn of Vedic period as his grammar purely defines Classical Sanskrit.
Panini is also believed to have lived at either of the following places in northwestern Iron Age India
at Pushkalavati, Gandhara i.e. Charsadda of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan
at Shalatula, situated at the banks of River Indus, near Attock in Punjab Province, modern Pakistan

Paninis vocabulary also infers a lot about the geographical and cultural landscapes of his own surroundings. His grammatical and lexicographic
references to his fellow grammarians also clearly indicate that he was a northwestern habitant.
A verse in the Panchatantra refers to Panini being killed by a lion.
Siho vykaraasyakarturaharatprnmune pine
The Chinese Buddhist scholar to India Xuanzang (or Hsan-tsang), also described Paninis statue to have once existed at Shalatula, his estimated
place of birth.
About personal life
Nothing much is recorded about Paninis family life. As mentioned in the later traditions, Paninis mothers name was Dakshiand. While nothing is
known about his father, some scholars propose that his brothers name was Pingala. He also had a maternal uncle named Vyadi. It may be possible
that Paninis father was called Pani, however this concept has been rejected by most of the scholars.

About Ashtadhyayi
Ashtadhyayi, also means eight chapters or Ashtak, is a grammar defining the syntax and structure of the Sanskrit language. The whole grammar is
compiled into 3959 sutras or aphorisms embracing each and every aspect of the Sanskrit terminology.
The technical meta-language of Panini consists of
syntax,
morphology, and
lexicon
This structure of meta-language is based on a series of meta-rules. These rules are either explicitly mentioned in the text or can be deduced. The
two basic principles upon which the meta-language is based are
non-redundancy, or the principle of economy, and
the necessity of all the rules in the Ashtadhyayi.
The text comprises 3,959 sutras or rules, discussed in eight chapters, each chapter divided into a quarter.
What sets Ashtadhyayi apart from its contemporaries?
Besides defining Sanskrit syntax, Ashtadhyayi differentiates between the language used for classical literature and the language used for speaking
by the people of the time.
Ashtadhyayi is the central and most complex part of Paninis grammar. It is the earliest grammar of Classical Sanskrit which is so complete and
precise in nature.
Below mentioned points briefly describe some important facts about the text content -
It obtains material from the lexical lists - Dhatupatha and Ganapatha as raw material and uses it for generating the grammatical words.
It is highly scientific and standardized.

The concepts of the phoneme, the morpheme and the root are also addressed here.
The author has reached perfection by completely describing the Sanskrit morphology without any redundancy.
Significance of Ashtadhyayi in the recent past
Recently, striking similarities have been found between Paninis grammar and the modern Backus Naur Form (syntax tool of computer
programming languages).
The elementary methods defining syntax for new language creation have been given by many linguistics and computer scientists using
timeless examples from Ashtadhyayi.
A number of research and development centers have also sprung up for bettering the computer and programming languages through the
study of unambiguous structure of Sanskrit grammar.
It is most possible that the there are only two texts which have been passed on to the generations in their raw forms; one is Rig Veda and the
second one is Ashtadhyayi. The text is the non-sacred expression of Paninis original linguistic thought and has no similarities with the works of the
Greek and Latin grammarians. The 20th century scholars Louis Renou (French Indologist) and Jean Filliozat (French scholar on Indian languages)
have also made elaborate efforts in maintaining that Paninis non-sacred linguistic thought was the first of its kind in Indian history.
Paninis Ashtadhyayi is the gateway to the study of famous Indian theologian and philosophers including Shankar, Ramanuja, and Madhva. In fact,
one can say that Ashtadhyayi forms the basis of their thinking.
The format of Ashtadhyayi
The text is divided into two main sections
o Analysis (1 to 5)
o Synthesis (6 to 8)
Synthesis deals with phonology, morphology, and accent.
Analysis deals with roots and suffixes. Roots have two types i.e. verbal and nominal. Verbal roots are again divided into 2 types i.e. simple and
derivative. Nominal roots are divided into 2 types i.e. compound and non-compound. There are 4 main and 2 sub-types of compounds.
Non-compounds are nothing but indeclinable having 4 types.
In suffixes there are 2 types i.e. inflectional and derivational. They are also of 2 types i.e. nominal and verbal. Derivational suffixes are primary and
secondary.
Ashtadhyayi and Associated Text
Paninis Ashtadhyayi has three associated texts.
Shiva-sutras - The Shiva-sutras are a brief but highly organized list of phonemes. Also known as Maheshvara Sutras, these are the main fourteen
verses systematizing the Sanskrit phonemes. Another name of these sutras are akarasamamnaya, meaning recitation of phonemes. However,
they are most popularly known as Shiva-sutras as there were revealed to Panini be Lord Shiva or Maheshwara.
The importance of Shiva-sutras is that in its fourteen initial lines, preceding the Ashtadhyayi, it encapsulates phonemic notational system of the
Sanskrit grammar. Various clusters of phonemes, unfolded in this notational system, has very special position in the Sanskrit morphology and these
phonemes have found its mention all throughout Ashtadhyayi.

Dhatupatha - The Dhatupatha is a lexical list of verbal roots sorted by present class. It is formed by the ten present classes of Sanskrit which are as
follows -
1. bh-daya
2. ad-daya
3. ju-ho-ti-daya
4. div-daya
5. su-daya
6. tud-daya
7. rudh-daya
8. tan-daya
9. kr-daya
10. cur-daya
Ganuapatha - The Ganapatha is a list of groups of primitive nominal stems used by the Ashtadhyayi.
Commentary
After Panini, the Mahabhashya (great commentary) of Patanjali on the Ashtadhyayi, dated to the 2nd century BC, .is one amongst the three most
illustrious works in Sanskrit grammar. It is to be noted that Patanjali played an important role in shaping the Indian linguistic science. It established
a comprehensive system of -
shiksha (phonology, including accent) and
Vyakarana(morphology).
Mahabhashya doesnt talk much about syntax, but elaborately discusses nirukta (etymology), resulting in some wonderful semantic explanations.
People understand his work to be a defense of Panini, whos Stras are significantly elaborated.
Opinions of scholars about excellence of Panini
Paninis work greatly influenced the European linguists in the 19th century.
Franz Bopp, the mid 19th century German linguist, is believed to have introduced Paninis grammar to the west. Bopp was well acclaimed for his
comparative study on Indo-European languages. Subsequently, a wider body of work influenced other notable Sanskrit scholars including Leonard
Bloomfield, Roman Jacobson, and Ferdinand de Saussure. Here is the list of Indian and foreign scholars who gave their opinion on Paninis work.
Frits Staal - Frits Staal (1930-2012), the 20th century scholar of Southeast Asian Studies, thoroughly discussed how many eminent European
scholars contemplated upon Indian linguistic ideas. Staal has also argued that the concept of formal rules in language was first conceived by Panini
and later on proposed by Ferdinand de Saussurein and further worked upon by Noam Chomsky in 1957. It was Staal who first mentioned that
"Panini is the Indian Eucid."

Ferdinand de Saussure - The foundational ideas proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), Swiss linguist and expert in historical linguistics,
also have Indian origins. de Saussures Sanskrit lectures laid the foundations for synchronic linguistics; however, the lectures delivered by de
Saussure, which ran for over three decades, were greatly based on the works of Panini and Bhartrihari. de Saussures has attributed his Indian
influence in his following published works
Published in 1879 - Memoire sur le systemeprimitif des voyellesdans les langues indo-europennes (Memoir on the Original System of Vowels
in the Indo-European Languages). Here, he mentions how Indian grammar has influenced his idea that "reduplicated aorist represents
imperfects of a verbal class."
Published in 1881 - De l'emploi du genitifabsolu en sanscrit (On the Use of the Genetive absolute in Sanskrit), he explicitly refers to Panini as
an influence on the own work.
Prem Singh - Prem Singh has mentioned the influence of Paninis work on Indo-European linguistics in his foreword to the 1998 reprint of Paninis
Grammar (German translation). He simultaneously notes down the subsequent rising of the laryngeal theory. To further quote Prem Singh, "This
type of structural analysis suggests influence from Panini's analytical teaching."
George Cardona - George Cardona, American linguist and Indologist, however, warns against exaggerations of Paninis influence on modern
linguistics. This American scholar was quoted as saying, "Although Saussure also refers to predecessors who had taken this Paninian rule into
account, it is reasonable to conclude that he had a direct acquaintance with Panini's work. As far as I am able to discern upon rereading
Saussure's Memoire, however, it shows no direct influence of Paninian grammar. Indeed, on occasion, Saussure follows a path that is contrary to
Paninian procedure."
Leonard Bloomfield - Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949), United States linguist, wrote a 1927 paper titled "On some rules of Panini". Bloomfield is
called the father of American structuralism who adopted a behavioristic approach to linguistics.
Comparison with modern formal systems
While comparing Panins work with modern formal systems following points can be deduced
Paninis first formal system in grammar is much ahead of the 19th century innovations of Gottlob Fregeand which led to the subsequent
development of mathematical logic.
Paninis auxiliary symbols method is the first to delegate new affixes, mark syntactic categories and control grammatical derivations.
Emil Post reworked on the technique which became the most standard designing method for programming computer languages.
Paninis linguistic apparatus is now the applied Post system which is greatly accepted by majority of the Sanskrit scholars.
Paninis works naturally unfolds context-sensitive grammars with inherent ability to solve numerous complex problems.
Two literary works accredited to Panini, which are now unfortunately lost are -
JmbavatiVijaya It is cited by Rajashekhar in Jahlana's Sukti Muktval, with the mention of one fragment in Ramayukta's commentary on
Namalinganushasana. The title infers that the subject deals with the episode when Krishna wins Jambavati as his wife.
In Jahlana's SuktiMuktval Rajashekhara mentions -

Ptla Vijaya - Ascribed to Panini, Ptla Vijaya is a lost work referred to by Namisadhu in his famous commentary on Kavyalankara
of Rudrat.

Institution: Indian scriptures team

Published On: 20-05-2013
Tags: Panini, Paninis Ashtadhyayi, Paninis grammar, Panini Sanskrit grammar
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