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Lord Panini is one of the greatest geniuses to have emerged from the subcontinent of
India who had a formative and sustaining influence on Indian Culture and Civilization.
He ranks amongst Patanjali, Nagarjuna and Tulsidas, men who made an original and
revolutionary contribution to World Civilization.
His grammatical treatise has been rightfully called ‘one of the greatest monuments of
human intelligence’ by the American Linguist Leonard Bloomfield (quoted in ‘Panini: A
Survey of Research, George Cardona, pg 243).
There is much truth in the saying that ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’ and in the
case of Sanskrit Grammar and Linguistics nothing is truer. But what was the necessity?
Being of little pragmatic value, not one of the great ancient civilizations of ancient China,
Middle East, Ancient Egypt, Europe( with the partial exception of Greece ) have
pondered upon the linguistics principles which govern human speech; but Panini’s
Ashtadhyayi is a mine of information on grammar, phonology, semantics, morphology
etc.
The question arises why Panini and other scholars before him were trying to understand
human speech, sound patterns, compounding, tenses, sandhi (euphonic combination),
word roots etc. The answer lies in the Vedas – a set of three, later four – tomes which
were revered as the word of GOD.
The ritual called ‘Yagna’ was the most important religious practice of the ancient Aryans
and was central to the communities’ spiritual and intellectual life. Just as technology and
science are the chief focus of the modern world, Yagna was the chief focus of the ancient
Aryans. This ritual, which is as much part of modern Hindu religion as millennia before,
consists of a fire Altar over which Vedic hymns are chanted to honor the sectarian deities
like Agni (the Fire God), Indra ( God of Material Prosperity and Rain ), Saraswati(
Goddess of Learning ) etc.
It was believed that even a single syllable along with the tones - which disappeared later
and are not seen in any modern Indian language including the Prakrits - ill-pronounced
would gain the wrath of the deities and lead to rebirth in Hell. Making matters worse,
writing down the Vedas was prohibited as was transmitting it to non-Brahmins. The
Vedic meters called Mantras are said to loose their efficacy if they are written down and
must be received orally only from a wise Brahmin Guru.
Mantras pronounced in the prescribed manner unerringly can alter the shape of the
Universe, upset the laws of Karma and bestow spiritual and material blessings like
longevity of life and wisdom to the officiating priest and his client. Besides destroying
enemies and curing illnesses.
A well-known parable in the Mahabhashya commentary relates how the demon Vritra
mispronounced a single tone in the compound word ‘Indra-shatru’ (enemy of Indra)
while offering oblations with the chant ‘indrashatrurvardhasva’ (may (I) - the ‘destroyer
of Indra’ - prosper) thereby altering the meaning to (may ‘Indra, the destroyer’ prosper)
leading to the mantra empowering Indra, the god of the Noble Deities and Vritra’s
slaying by the former.
Nagarjuna, called the greatest Buddhist philosopher, has described his philosophy
Madhyamika as something which misunderstood can be fatal like a snake held from the
wrong end or a mantra mispronounced.
To ensure that posterity does not get a corrupted version of their mantric corpus, the
learned Brahmins tried to ponder on the phonological and grammatical principles which
govern human speech. A pre-paninian grammatical work by Yaska called ‘Nirukta’,
survives which gives us a glimpse of their proto-grammatical musings. Over time
knowledge accumulated, theories refined, more discoveries made, culminating in the
Grammatical system of Panini who derives many of his methods and terminologies from
his predecessor which were doubtless many as he himself quoted around ten ancient
authorities( Sphotayana, Yaska, Galava etc ).
This unprecedented work of Sanskrit Grammar and Linguistics – a fruit of a tradition of
several centuries of grammatical thinking – wiped out without a trace all other parallel
systems of learning grammar of which several comprehensive systems were extant during
Panini’s time and became the sole standard followed ever after. Pundits began saying
‘apaniniyam na prayunjeet’ – Do not use non-Paninian forms.
There is a popular anecdote of the Weight-carrying Brahmin which shows the intolerance
for non-standard usage. An old Brahmin was carrying a very heavy load on his shoulders
and walking when a man sees him and asks ‘Does not that heavy weight hurt you
(bAdhati, wrong usage though intelligible, like saying have you drunken - instead of
drunk- your milk). The Brahmin replied, it does not hurt me( bAdhate, proper usage ) as
much as your bAdhati( wrong form) hurts me(bAdhate).(na tathA bAdhate yathA bAdhati
bAdhate)
The Book Ashtadhyayi is divided into eight chapters -hence the name. Each chapters is
divided into Four Quarters (or Foot like that of mammals) containing unequal numbers of
Sutras – or aphorisms, packed with linguistic and grammatical observation, theories and
rules.
The Entire book is in pithy aphorisms which - besides having a mnemonic value - is a
metalanguage having the structure of algebraic formulas. Brevity is the principal feature
of this work and Panini has gone to such an incredible level in attaining it that this book
is one of the marvels of aphoristic writings in the history of mankind.
It is said of him that the shortening of his text by one syllable in his work gave him the
pleasure of the Birth of a Son. This is in keeping with the Sutra-style of writing which is
traditionally described in the shloka as:
alpakSharamasandigdham saarvatdvishvatomukham |
Astobhamanavadyam cha sutram sutravido viduh ||
More than two-and-a-half-millennia of scholarship has attested that Panini’s sutras have
seldom strayed from any of these aforementioned characteristics.
This treatise is unintelligible without the help of a proper Commentary. Patanjali, some
centuries later, incorporating the scholia (Vartikas) of Katyayana, did this commendable
task in his Mahabhashya. Hence, Proper Understanding of Grammar is believed to be
attained by the diligent study of Mahabhashya and Grammar is also referred to as
Trimuni-Vyakarana or the Grammar of the Three Sages.
Contents of Ashtadhyayi
The following is a topical arrangement of the chapters of Ashtadhyayi:
Book I
(a) the samjna sutras(lexical items) and paribhasha sutras(meta-rules)
(b) rules dealing with extension, atmane-parasmaipada and karakas(Syntax)
Book II
(a) rules dealing with compounding, nominal inflections, number and gender of
compounds, replacements relative to roots, ‘deletion by ‘luk’.
Book III
(a) rules dealing with the derivation of roots ending in affixes ‘san’ etc, items ending
in a ‘kRt’ or ‘ting’
Book IV-V
(a) rules dealing with the derivation of a pada ending in a ‘sup’, feminine affixes;
derivation of nominal stems ending in an affix termed taddhita
Book VIII
(a) rules dealing with dvitva (Doubling) relative to a pada, accent relative to a pada
(b) rules dealing with miscellaneous operations relative to a pada and a non-pada.
(adapted from Prof. Ram Nath Sharma’s ‘The Ashtadhyayi of Panini’)
Panini has divided the Ashtadhyayi into two basic organizational units: the
‘sapadasaptadhyayi’ (the first seven chapters and first quarter of the Eighth) and the
‘tripadi’ (the remaining three quarters of the eighth). These two are blind to the effects of
each other.
Panini has used several ingenious devices to achieve economy of words and syllables,
even phonemes. The foremost amongst these techniques are the Siva-Sutra-pratyahara
system.
If Panini wants to bring up a discussion of say, dipthongs, he has two options, coin a term
for ‘dipthongs’ or list them (‘e’, ‘o’, ‘ai’, ’au’). This can be cumbersome and is done
away with the shorthand notation ‘ec’ which is technically called a pratyahaara and
generated using the afore-listed Siva-Sutras.
To find out what ‘ec’ signifies the first phoneme ‘e’ should be searched amongst the
Column entitled ‘member phonemes’ and it is located at the beginning of Sutra number 3.
The second phoneme ‘c’ should be searched amongst the Column ‘markers or ‘it’s’ and
can be found in the fourth row.
Thus ‘ec’ is a short-from notation for all phonemes between ‘e’ and ‘c’ (‘e’, ‘o’, ‘ai’,
‘au’) not including the markers which are merely indicatory.
Similarly, ‘hl’ means all consonants, ‘jh-y’ all stops etc. In this way tens of pratyahaaras
can be generated though Panini only used forty-two. Thus, Panini was saved from
coining forty-two new terms and also from the awkward way of listing them.
If a list of related affixes are introduced, the initial phoneme of the first item and the
marker-phoneme of the last item in the list will mean an abbreviation for the entire list.
For example, {‘su’, ‘au’, ‘jas’, ‘am’, ‘auT’, ‘zas’…… ‘os’, ‘sup’ } are a set of twenty-one
affixes which denote case relations. ‘su’ of item one and ‘p’ the marker phoneme of last
item ‘sup’ together generate the abbreviation ‘sup’ . Similarly ‘ting’ (‘tiJ’ in HK) is an
abbreviatory term for the eighteen root-affixes {‘tip’, ‘tas’ ‘jhi’ …..’vahi’, ‘mahing’}
generated by using ‘ti’ of ‘tip’ and appended to ‘ng’ of ‘mahing’.
Another abbreviatory rule is given by sutra ‘aNudita savarNasya (1.1.69). Given the sets
of varga-consonants, one can refer to each set by its first-element and the phoneme ‘u’.
Hence pa-varga phonemes ‘p’,’ph’,’b’,’bh’,’m’ are indicated in short form by ‘pu’;
similarly ‘ku’, ‘chu’, ‘Tu’ and ’tu’.
Another technique involves denoting a set of items by their shared common sounds: for
example ‘Ap’ collectively for the affixes ‘TAp’, ‘chAp’, ‘DAp’. Similarly, ‘nI’ for the
affixes ‘nISh’ and ‘nIp’ and ‘nIn’
Yet another method for achieving brevity is ellipsis or stating rules only partially. The
rest of the terms are supplied by words which have already occurred before.
Sentence (a) is complete in itself. To understand (b) we have to borrow the verb ‘give’
from the preceding context. Sentence (c) must borrow both ‘give’ and ‘blanket’ to be
intelligible.
This sutra merely mentions three affixes: ‘tavyat’, ‘tavya’, ‘anIyar’. To complete the
meaning of this sutra we have to refer to preceding sutras:
Panini has used the inflections of the Sanskrit Language to indicate special operations.
Consider
‘lasya’ (3.4.77)
‘tiptas….vahimahing’ (3.4.78)
Hence ‘L’s’ implies that in an operation if we encounter the affix ‘L’ it must be replaced
by any one of {‘tip’,’tas’….’vahi’, ’mahing’}.
Similarly meaningless ablative endings (tasmaditi uttarasya; 1.1.67) imply a left context:
such that in a grammatical operation something applies to what follows and meaningless
locative endings (tasminniti nirdishte pUrvasya; 1.1.66) imply a right context such that in
a grammatical operation something applies to what precedes.
Types of Rules
Traditionally, scholars have classified the Sutras into six types. Panini has not hinted to
any such classification and it is strictly Post-Paninian. However, there are obvious
advantages to it and aid in the understanding of the purport of the Sutra.
Modern Paniniyas have added few more types to the traditional six-fold classification.
(1) samjna sutras or technical rules: rules which assign a term for a given entity. For
example in rule 1.1.1 the term vriddhi is coined meaning the set of phonemes ‘aa’,
‘ai’, ‘au’. They have been compared to the Backus-Naur Notation of Modern
Computer Science.
(2) paribhasha sutras or interpretive rules or meta-rules: rules which provide a check
on the operational rules so that they do not suffer from ‘over-application’, ‘under-
application’ and ‘impossible application’. For example, ‘vipratishedhe param
kaaryam’: when two rules are equally applicable, the rules that appear later shall
apply.
(3) vidhi sutra or operational rules: these form the core of the grammar. All other
rules assist the operational rules. Example ‘vartamAne laT’: To indicate the
present tense, use the affix ‘laT’.
(4) niyama rules or restriction rules: rules which restrict the scope of other rules. For
example, Sutra ‘sheSo ghyasakhi’ (1.4.7) states that terms – other than those
already discussed ending in ‘i’ or ‘u’ are to be considered ‘ghi’ except the word
‘sakhi’.
Subsequent sutra ‘patiH samAsa eva’ (1.4.8) however declares that the word pati
will be termed ‘ghi’ only if it used in a Compound and not independently.
Therefore, the original set of elements which ‘ghi’ would contain has been
restricted by sutra 1.4.8 and therefore 1.4.8 is a niyama sutra.
(5) adhikAra rules or heading rules: these rules are similar to a heading in modern
books. Adkikaras have domains which are not always well defined and only the
commentaries like Kasika and Mahabhashya have to be consulted to understand
their scope. Within the domain of an adhikara, all rules will pertain to it and also
use parts or whole of that rule’s words to complete their meaning (refer to
‘Anuvritti’ above). For example, rule 3.1.91 is ‘dhatoh’ (Verbal Roots). The word
is meaningless unless understood to imply that rules till 3.4.117 are under its
domain and every rule described between 3.1.91 to 3.4.117 is formulated to
describe Dhatus. Also, since rules are only stated partially, the ‘phrase’ ‘dhatoh’
has to be supplied – along with other phrases from other adhikaras which may
come within the domain and extend beyond – to make these rules a complete
sentence.
(6) nishedh sutras or negation rules: rules which negate the provisions made by a
previous Sutra. For example, rule 1.3.3 ‘halantyam’ states that ending consonants
of affixes should be treated as markers, hence disappear. But subsequent rule
1.3.4 ‘na vibhaktau tusmaah’, immediately negates this rule for nominal affixes
whose consonants end with ‘t’, ‘th’, ‘d’,’dh’ ‘n’ ,’s’, ‘m’.
(7) vibhasha or optional rules: Sometimes more than two rules can apply to a given
operation and hence two forms of a word are possible. This is hardly unusual,
because language being a living entity, native speakers take liberties which are as
common in English as Sanskrit. To account for more than two forms of a word,
Panini uses Vibhasha rules to state that alternate forms are also possible. For
example, rule 1.1.31 ‘vibhasha jasi’ states that the set of pronouns catalogued in
the ‘sarva’ group when compounding with other words to become dvandva class
of compounds and related to ‘jas’ affixes will optionally not be considered
compounds.
Three terms, ‘vibhasha’, anyatarasyam’ and ‘va’ are used to indicate optionality.
Panini and all the commentators have given us no indication that they are
supposed to be anything but synonyms. But the modern scholar Paul Kiparsky has
wondered how could this be so, because Panini has vowed to eliminate every
needless extraneous syllable and their must be a deeper reason to suggest the use
of three different terms. Hence he has propounded the hypothesis in his well-
argued study ‘Panini as a Variationist’ that the three terms ‘va’, ‘vibhasha’,
‘anyatarasyam’ refer respectively to three different kinds of options: those that are
preferable(va), those that are marginal(vibhasha)and those that are simple
options(anyatarasyam). If this is true than Kiparsky has shown us something
which twenty-five hundred years of scholarship has overlooked.
(8) atidesh sutras or extension rules: A rule is termed atidesha if it transfers certain
qualities or operation to something for which they did not previously qualify. This
is generally accomplished by the use of affixes ‘vat’/’mat’ ( like).Example: in rule
3.4.85 ‘loTo langvat’( the loT’s are like lang ) loT lakAr affixes are being given
all the attributes unique to lang lakAr affixes. Hence this is an atidesh sutra.
(9) nipAtan or ad hoc rules: Certain nominal and verbal forms are underivable by any
rules. Such forms, Panini accounts by just mentioning them. Such sutras are
termed nipAtan.
’tishThadguprabhRtIni cha’
(2.1.17; all the elements of tishthadgu-group are to be considered avayayibhava)
he merely states that all the thirty-three elements of the ‘tishThadgu’ group listed
in the Gana-Path (Catalog of nominals) are to be considered avayayibhava.
When natives of Sanskrit uses sentences like ‘sah paThati’( he reads) they are, as all the
native speakers of a language, speaking unconsciously. Panini’s Grammatical Engine
generates these correct forms from his rules, similar to how a Computer code using
programmatic instructions generates desired output.
‘paThan’, this is the verbal root as it is listed in Panini’s Dhatu-path and all forms of
‘paThan’ in speech are inflections of it.
1 ‘paTha ‘bhUvAdayo dhAtavah’ (1.3.1)
n’ This sutra establishes that ‘paTh’ is a verbal root. Only now, it is eligible
for Verbal operations.
‘paTh’ + [ l ->
{tip|tas|jhi|sip|thas|tha|mib|vas|mas|ta|AtAm|jha|thAs|athAm|dhvam|iD|vah
i|mahing’}]
And our task is to choose exactly one affix that will append to ‘paTh’ in
place of ‘l’ such that the inflection will take a parasmaipada ending
(which is the ending the given root is assigned in the Dhatu-path Catalog
and also found in Native Speech) and denote third person and single
number.
‘tangAnau-Atmanepadam’ (1.4.100)
‘tang’ –a pratyAhARa formed by the ‘ta’ of the tenth affix and the ‘ng’ of
the eighteenth and last affix ‘mahing’ indicating the last nine affixes –
and the affixes ‘shAnach’, ‘kAnach’ are termed atmanepadam.
Since, ‘paTh’ is a parasmaipada root, it will take one of the first nine
affixes only; and we can now eliminate the last nine affixes which are
atmanepaada.
Similarly, Sutra 1.4.105 states that if the word, ‘me’ is co-referential with
a verb or its meaning is implicitly stated, the six affixes categorized as
‘uttama’ first person) can be used.
Thus, we have further narrowed our search for the correct substituend to:
‘tani-eka-vacahna-dvi-vachana-bahu-vachanAni-ekashaH’ (1.4.101)
Each one of the three members of the triplets mentioned before in 1.4.100
are termed eka-vachana(single number ), dvi-vachana(dual number) and
bahu-vachana(plural) respectively.
Since, in ‘saH paThati’, (He reads) there is only one person, ‘paTh’ must
take an affix denoting Single number. Amongst the three remaining
affixes ‘tip/tas/jhi’, only the first affix ‘tip is in the Column for Single
Number. Hence, paTh will accept ‘tip’ to indicate third person, Single
Number, and parasmaipada ending.
‘kartari shap’
This rule, a direct result of the preceding rule, now mandates that the infix
(vikarana) ‘shap’ must be introduced before the ‘sarvadhatuka’ affix ‘tip’.
8 ‘paTh’ Reinvoking sutra 1.3.3 as in operation # 3, the marker ‘p’ in both ‘shap’
+ and ‘tip’ disappear
‘shap’+
‘tip’
9 ‘paTh’ ‘lashaku ataddhite’ (1.3.8)
+ ‘sha’ This rule identifies the ‘sh’ of ‘shap’ as a marker. Hence the phoneme
+ ‘ti’ ‘sh’ disappears.
1 ‘paTh’ Finally, we are ready to merge the three to form paThati (reads).
0 + ‘a’ + It has been correctly derived using the Grammar Engine of Panini and
‘ti’ corresponds exactly to the manner it is spoken by the natives
1 ‘paThat Reads.
1 i’
Akin to how ‘paThan’ conjugates into ‘paThati’, all nominal and verbal bases inflect and
conjugate. These millions of morphological and phonological forms they assume in
everyday speech (loka) are accounted for in A.’s algebra-like Derivational System
explaining each phonological and morphological change in proper steps by giving
relevant sutras (just as above).
Each and every Sanskrit word or phrase to be considered correct (sadhu) must be
subjected to the aforementioned stepwise process. Only if it confirms to all the rules laid
down will that word or phrase be recognized as correct (sadhu). . And in turn each and
every form generated by his Engine must correspond to the spoken language (loka)
exactly which Paniniyas consider the only valid proof (pramana) of correct speech.
Sometimes, however this is not possible and one word in an infinite set does not yield to
the patterns. Panini takes this into account and creates one unique rule for that one
anomalous word.
For example, rule anudattatangit Atmanepadam (1.3.12) states that verbal roots in the
Dhatu-path (the catalog of all known verbal roots which are around 2000 and is ancillary
to A.) that are marked by the sign indicating low-pitch(anudatta) or have the marker (ng)
appended to them take atmanepada endings.
The verbal root ‘ji’ is not marked with either anudatta or ‘ng’ in the Dhatu-path and in
regular usage does not have atmanepada endings (it takes parasmaidpada endings).
However, native speakers in speech conjugate atmanepada endings if ‘ji’ is preceded by
preverbs ‘vi’ and ‘par’. Panini took this irregular behavior into account and coded rule
viparAbhyAm jeH (1.3.19). Thus, Panini didn’t allow one exception to be missed out
from his comprehensive system.
Panini’s Grammar Engine simulates natural speech in a manner very similar to the
methods of the Modern Discipline of programming. Historians of both Computer
Programming and Linguistics should study Panini and ascertain whether it is appropriate
to recognize him as the Father of these two disciplines.
In English, if I were to make a sentence like ‘John’s book’, it will not make any
difference in the structure of the sentence if I were to say instead ‘Mary’s book’, ‘Lizzy’s
book’, and ‘Antonio’s book’.
However, in Sanskrit the case-ending will differ according to the terminal phoneme of the
nominal stem, as also by its gender and number (singular/double/plural).
*TP -> APICR = Terminal Phoneme - > Altered Phoneme Indicating Case Relationship
Please note: the paradigms shown above are far from being a complete listing of the
known inflections of the genitive case in Sanskrit. The actual number of distinct examples
may run into more than one hundred forms all of which indicate the idea of someone
possessing something, in our case, a book.
Panini provides only one affix for indicating a singular genitive case relationship: ‘nas’
(Jas in HK Scheme of Transliteration). Therefore, it is Panini’s job to formulate a number
of rules that will account for all the ‘x’ number of inflections, the native speakers uses
unconsciously.
In order to achieve this, he must first have an exhaustive listing of each and every known
inflection– in our case the singular genitive – of the Nominal Stems. He has to study this
list and discover the underlying phonological and morphological patterns. Once he has
discovered the patterns, he creates rules. Every exceptional case (apavaada) has to be
accounted for.
The case of the verbal roots and affixes is equally complicated. . Consider the following
in English,
(1) eat -> eats ,
(2) gain -> gains,
(3) offer -> offers,
(4) drink -> drinks,
(5) read -> reads
Unlike English, not one of them terminates analogously. We have endings such as ‘ti’,
‘ate’, ‘ju..oti’, ‘bati’, ‘ati’,’ayati’. One reason for divergent forms is that the verbs belong
to a different gana or group. The Dhatu-Path lists about 1967 verb roots (2014 including
kaNDvAdi roots) divided into 10 conjugation classes (gaNas) to undergo peculiar
operations. Each of these ganas are classified on the basis of distinct augments(‘shap’,
‘shyan’, ‘shnuh’, ‘shah’, ‘shnam’, zero(luk) etc ) that tend to append to the verbal bases
resulting in distinct grammatical operations. These verbal roots interact with the post-
verbal affixes (the set of ‘tings’) which are eighteen in number. These eighteen affixes
get modified in ten ways( 10 * 18 = 180 ) to yield meaning indicating various tenses and
moods, such as past tense ( ‘lan’-lakaar), historical past tense( ‘liT’ lakaar), present
tense( laT lakAr’), imperative mood ( ‘loT’ lakaar).
For example:
paTh* + shap** + tip = paThati; ‘(He) is reading; Present tense
paTh + shap + Nal (modification of tip) = papaTh; He read; Historical Past (for historical
characters like ‘Lord Buddha read’)
paTh + shap + yaasuT + suT = paThet; (You should) read; Injunctive Mood
hu* + shlu** + tip = juhoti; ‘(He) is offering (oblations); Present Tense, Singular, Third
Person
hu + shlu + jhi = juhvati; (They) are offering (oblations); Present Tense, Plural
hu + shlu + mip = juhomi; (I) am offering (oblations); Present Tense, Plural, First Person
hu + shlu + tip = juhotu; (They) should offering (oblations); Imperative Mood, Third
Person
Sanjna or Terms:
Panini has coined several technical terms in his A. which are sometimes meaningful (like
samhita, samprasaran, anunasika) and sometimes meaningless (like ‘ghu’, ‘Ti’, ‘bha’).
Some of these are borrowed from ancient authorities (pUrva-AchArya). He sometimes
defines them; sometimes uses them without explicitly stating their meaning - implying
that the term was in current usage and widely known. And if the term refers to sets of
grammatical items he merely lists the members that constitute that finite set indicated by
the Sanjna. For example,
‘kta-ktavatu niShTha’ (1.1.25) enumerates the two constituents of finite set ‘niShTha’.
niShTha: = {kta, ktavatu}
‘vRddhirADaich’ (1.1.1) phonemes ‘A’ ‘ai’ and ‘au’ are termed VRddhi.
vRddhi: = {‘A’, ‘ai’, ‘au’}
Panini has used more than one-hundred technical terms and the first two quarters of
Chapter 1 concentrate on Sanjnakaran or Terminology-coining.
In English, a statement like ‘Who is going?’ in the speech of some native speakers often
becomes ‘Who’s going’. In Sanskrit, this tendency for phonemes to fuse when in close
proximity is extravagantly copious. Their can hardly be a sentence where at least one
instance of Sandhi is not observable, if not more.
(3) Visarga Sandhi: between Visargas (roughly like the ‘h’ sound in
English) and other phonemes.
For Example in Harih avadat (Hari spoke)
Harih + avadat = Hariravadat
The Visarga sound ‘h’ is transformed into the phoneme ‘r’.
Sandhi can be used to make long strings of compound words and many poets have
exploited this innate potential of their language. Banabhatta, the celebrated court-poet of
King Harshavardhana of Kannauj in his 7th Century Sanskrit Novel ‘Kadambari’ wrote
several pages which consist of what is technically one single word using the principles of
Sandhi and Compounding.
English has numerous compound words like class-room, foot-ball, frying-pan etc. These
have chiefly evolved out of human-usage and are not the conscious coining of linguists.
However, Compounding is peculiar to the idiom of Sanskrit usage. Writers freely use
compound words of their own coining using Panini’s Compounding rules without any
fear of unintelligibility. Excesses of usage for rhetorical purposes are as frequent as with
Sandhi. Compounds are classified into the following four types:
ITARETARA
DVANDVÁ or
SAMAAHAARA
COPULATIVE
EKASHESA
Accusative
Instrumental
Dative
TATPURUSA (Inflectional)
Ablative
Genitive
TATPURUSA or Locative
SANSKRIT DETERMINATIVE NAN (Negative)
COMPOUNDS KARMADHAARAYA
Dvigu
(Appositional)
PRAADI (Prepositional, 1st kind)
GATI (Prepositional, 2nd kind)
UPAPADA (Compounds containing a upapada)
SAMAANAADHIKARANA
(The members --generally two-- are in apposition
BAHUVRIIHI or to one another)
ATTRIBUTIVE VYADHIKARANA
(The members --generally two-- are not in
apposition to one another)
AVYAYIIBHAAVA or ADVERBIAL
.
*from http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/english/sanskrit/sanskrit8intro.html
Discoveries of Sanskrit affixes and their meanings have been instrumental in enhancing
the deeper knowledge of Sanskrit words and have made possible neologisms using the
principles established by P. Panini has described three hundred and seventy-five affixes
of which ninety percent are those classed in krT and taddhita categories.
Sanskrit Affixes
* sh-marked Others
* sh-marked sArvadhAtuka and ArdhadhAtuka krt Affixes, includes the unadi group.
** ArdhadhAtuka affixes which include the Dhatu-affixes
*** sArvadhAtuka which includes tings and the sh-marked vikaranas (augments)
(2) taddhita or Secondary affixes: They also serve to form derived nominal bases but
are appended to substantives to change the meaning of the nominal in different
ways. 1100 rules in the A., covering most of the fourth and fifth chapter deal with
taddhita affixes. The total number of taddhita affixes is two-hundred and
seventeen. Examples are aN, chha, atsuch, kha. etc.
(3) Feminine. Converts a given word from the masculine to the feminine gender.
Examples: TAp, DAp, chap etc.
(4) Ting: These eighteen affixes append to verbal roots and are responsible for verbal
inflections. Example, paTh + si = paThasi (you read).
(5) Sup: These twenty-one affixes append to substantives and are responsible for
Nominal Inflections. Example RAma + TA = RAmeNa (done by Rama).
(6) DhAtu: These affixes form derivative verbs from primitive roots. For example:
"kR" (to do -- a primitive root) can conjugate into ‘karoti’ (does). If you want to
express "a desire to do", Dhatu affix ‘san’ is appended and yields ‘chikIrSati’. (He
wants to do, he desires to do). Other examples are ‘Nich’, ‘yang, ‘san’ etc
Karakas:
Karakas are the equivalent of case relationships and are syntacto-semantic in Panini’s
system. There are six karakas in Sanskrit. These are:
1. kartA Karaka (corresponds to the nominative case)
2. karma Karaka (accusative case)
3. karan Karaka (instrumental case)
4. sampradAna Karaka (dative case)
5. apAdAna Karaka (ablative case)
6. adhikaraN Karaka (locative case)
The genitive (sambaandh) case is not recognized as a Karaka because it does not
directly participate in the action denoted by the sentence.
Post-Paninian Scholarship
The study of Panini’s Grammar had spawned a vast commentarial literature in the past.
The sages Katyayana and Patanjali have been mentioned previously. Katyayana intended
to improve upon some of Panini’s rules where he felt they were inadequate. Inadequacies
could either be due to changes that had crept into Sanskrit over the period of time
between Katyayana and Panini or due to the oversights of Panini himself. Another
purpose was to provide with fresh linguistic insights.
He has merely commented upon 1500 Paninian sutras in about 4000 vartikas (scholia)
which are mostly one-liners. These vartikas are not an independent treatise and are only
found in the commentary of Patanjali, the Mahabhashya, regarded as the second most
important grammatical text after the Ashtadhyayi.
Patanjali has commented upon 1701 sutras in 85 chapters called day-sessions (ahnikas).
The commentary is in the form of a discourse between a student, a teacher’s aide and a
teacher. The Mahabhashya is an extremely elegantly written treatise, composed in a very
simple yet subtle style; and full of charming anecdotes and maxims
Special mention must be made of the Siddhanta Kaumudi of Bhattoji Dikshit written in
the seventeenth century by a learned Brahmin of Maharashtra which revolutionized the
way Grammar was taught in the length and breadth of the entire subcontinent. Following
the ‘Prakriya’ School which emphasizes derivation of correct forms above others and
teaches the A. without regard to its spatial order; it became the most important
pedagogical text and replaced traditional teaching of Grammar through A.
Many modern scholars like Ram Nath Sharma and the Arya Samajis likes Brahma Dutt
Jijnasu and Yuddhishthir Mimansaka consider the SK’s prakriya system unscientific even
unfortunate. The latter have leashed a diatribe of vehemence on its methods and equated
the downfall of Indian Culture with the emergence of the Prakriya Schools in the 11th
Century. The use of mythological paradigms by Bhattoji to illustrate rules has done much
to increase its popularity amongst teachers who consider it a text with a dual aim:
teaching of grammar and inculcating religiosity.
In modern times, some of the world’s most brilliant linguists - both Indian and Western -
have studied Panini and produced a plethora of novel research. Paniniyas such as George
Cardona, Madhav Deshpande, Ram Nath Sharma, S.D. Joshi, Roodenberg, Devashthale,
Ashok Aklujkar etc have written very precise treatises and laid bare all the intricacies of
the technique in English so that a modern student has no longer to depend on his teacher
or a cryptic Sanskrit commentary and can comprehend the intricacies of Sanskrit
Grammar from his reading desk. The research P. has inspired is extremely meticulous,
scientific and detail-oriented. Scholars have written lengthy books to discuss the use and
significance of single words like ‘cha’ (and), the markers (‘The Anubabdhas of Panini’),
the optionality-signifying words( va, vibahsa, anyatarasyam)( ‘Panini as a Variationist’)
etc. There is nothing new in this as from the times of Patanjali itself, exhaustive
discussion on single sutras (example Samarthanhnika: single chapter on Sutra 2.1.1
‘samarthah padavidhi’) was the norm rather than the exception. Modern Civilization with
its rapid means of communications and transmittal of knowledge has catalyzed this
process.
Summing up my paper I would like to mention the A. is not only the most important
means for a proper understanding of the Sanskrit Language and Grammar, its technique is
so interesting in itself that one can study it for the mere pleasure of learning a very
engaging and intellectual system which American Linguist Leonard Bloomfield felt was
‘one of the greatest monuments of human intelligence’ (quoted in ‘Panini: A Survey of
Research, George Cardona, pg 243).