TheAṣṭādhyāyī (/ˌæstədˈjɑː(j)i/;Sanskrit:अष्टाध्यायी[ɐʂʈaːdʱjáːjiː]) is a grammar text that describes a form of the Sanskrit language.
Authored by the ancient Sanskrit scholarPāṇini and dated to around 350 BCE,[1] it describes the language as current in his time, specifically the dialect and register of an élite of model speakers, referred to by Pāṇini himself asśiṣṭa. The work also accounts both for some features specific to the olderVedic form of the language, as well as certain dialectal features current in the author's time.
TheAṣṭādhyāyī employs aderivational system to describe the language.
The Aṣṭādhyāyī is supplemented by three ancillary texts:Akṣarasamāmnāya,Dhātupāṭha[A] andGaṇapāṭha.[B][2]
Aṣṭādhyāyī is made of two wordsaṣṭa-, 'eight' andadhyāya-, 'chapter', thus meaning eight-chaptered, or 'the book of eight chapters'.[3]
By 1000 BCE, a large body of hymns composed in the oldest attested form of theProto-Indo-Aryan language had been consolidated into theRigveda, which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, being transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally.
In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, growing concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without 'corruption' led to the rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar. The high point of this centuries-long endeavour was Pāṇini'sAṣṭādhyāyī, which eclipsed all others before him.[4][5][6]
While not the first, theAṣṭādhyāyī is the oldest linguistic and grammar text, and one of the oldest Sanskrit texts, surviving in its entirety. Pāṇini refers to older texts such as theUnādisūtra,Dhātupāṭha, andGaṇapātha but some of these have only survived in part.[7]
TheAṣṭādhyāyī consists of 3,995 sūtras[C] in eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or pādas. There are different types of sūtras, with thevidhisūtra – operational rules, being the main one. The other, ancillary sūtras, are:[8]
TheAṣṭādhyāyī is the foundation ofVyākaraṇa, one of the Vedic ancillary fields (Vedāṅgas),[9] and complements others such as theNiruktas,Nighaṇṭus, andŚikṣā.[10] Regarded as extremely compact without sacrificing completeness, it would become the model for later specialist technical texts orsūtras.[11]
The text takes material from lexical lists (Dhātupāṭha,Gaṇapātha) as input and describes algorithms to be applied to them for the generation of well-formed words. It is highly systematised and technical. Inherent in its approach are the concepts of thephoneme, themorpheme and theroot.[a] A consequence of his grammar's focus on brevity is its highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of modern notations such as the "Backus–Naur form"[b]. His sophisticated logical rules and technique have been claimed to be widely influential in ancient and modern linguistics[c].
Pāṇini makes use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology, and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced.[15][d]
TheAṣṭādhyāyī, composed in an era when oral composition and transmission was the norm, is staunchly embedded in that oral tradition. In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity[17] – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to the emergence of a great number of commentaries[α] of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work.[18][4]
The most famous and among the most ancient of theseBhāṣyas is theMahābhāṣya[e][19] of Patañjali.[20][21][f][g][h] Non-Hindu texts and traditions on grammar emerged after Patañjali, some of which include the Sanskrit grammar text of Jainendra of Jainism and the Chandra school of Buddhism.
In theAṣṭādhyāyī, language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, defines the linguistic expression and a classic that set the standard for Sanskrit language.[23]
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The first two sutras are as follows:
In these sutras, the letters which here are put into the upper case actually are special meta-linguisticsymbols; they are calledIT[iii] markers or, by later writers such as Katyayana and Patanjali,anubandhas (see below). TheC andṄ refer toShiva Sutras 4 ("ai,au,C") and 3 ("e,o,Ṅ"), respectively, forming what are known as thepratyāhāras "comprehensive designations"aiC,eṄ. They denote the list of phonemes {ai,au} and {e,o} respectively. TheT[iv] appearing (in its variant form /d/) in both sutras is also anIT marker: Sutra 1.1.70 defines it as indicating that the preceding phoneme doesnot represent a list, but a single phoneme, encompassing all supra-segmental features such as accent and nasality. For further example,āT[v] andaT[vi] representā[vii] anda[viii] respectively.
When a sutra defines the technical term, the term defined comes at the end, so the first sutra should have properly beenādaiJ vṛddhir instead ofvṛddhir ādaiC. However the orders are reversed to have a good-luck word at the very beginning of the work;vṛddhir happens to mean 'prosperity' in its non-technical use.
Thus the two sutras consist of a list of phonemes, followed by a technical term; the final interpretation of the two sutras above is thus:
At this point, one can see they are definitions of terminology:guṇa andvṛ́ddhi are the terms for the full and the lengthenedIndo-European ablaut grades, respectively.
Markers calledit oranubandha are defined in P. 1.3.2 through P. 1.3.8. These definitions refer only to items taught in the grammar or its ancillary texts such at theDhātupāṭha; this fact is made clear in P. 1.3.2 by the wordupadeśe, which is then continued in the following six rules byanuvṛtti,Ellipsis. As theseanubandhas are metalinguistic markers and not pronounced in the final derived form,pada (word), they are elided by P. 1.3.9tasya lopaḥ – 'There is elision of that (i.e. any of the preceding items which have been defined as anit).' Accordingly, Pāṇini defines theanubandhas as follows:
A few examples of elements that containits are as follows:
Pāṇini'sAṣṭādhyāyī has three associated texts.
TheŚiva Sūtras describe a phonemic notational system in the fourteen initial lines preceding theAṣṭādhyāyī. The notational system introduces different clusters of phonemes that serve special roles in themorphology of Sanskrit, and are referred to throughout the text. Each cluster, called apratyāhāra, ends with a dummy sound called ananubandha (the so-calledIT index), which acts as a symbolic referent for the list. Within the main text, these clusters, referred through theanubandhas, are related to various grammatical functions.
TheDhātupāṭha is a lexicon of Sanskritverbal roots (dhātu) of classical Sanskrit, indicating their properties and meanings. There are approximately 2300 roots inDhātupāṭha. Of these, 522 roots are often used in classical Sanskrit.
Dhātupāṭha is organised by the ten present classes of Sanskrit, i.e. the roots are grouped by the form of their stem in thepresent tense.
The ten present classes of Sanskrit are:
The above names are composed of the first verbal root in each class followed byādayaḥ "etc.; and next" –bhv-ādayaḥ thus means "the class starting withbhū".
The small number of class 8 verbs are a secondary group derived from class 5 roots, and class 10 is a special case, in that any verb can form class 10 presents, then assuming causative meaning. The roots specifically listed as belonging to class 10 are those for which any other form has fallen out of use (causativedeponents, so to speak, and denominatives).
TheGaṇapāṭha is a list of groups of primitive nominal stems (roots) used by theAṣṭādhyāyī.
Examples of groups include:
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After Pāṇini, theMahābhāṣya ofPatañjali on the Aṣṭādhyāyī is one of the three most famous works in Sanskrit grammar. It was withPatañjali that Indian linguistic science reached its definite form. The system thus established is extremely detailed as tośikṣā (phonology, including accent) andvyākaraṇa (morphology). Syntax is scarcely touched, butnirukta (etymology) is discussed, and these etymologies naturally lead tosemantic explanations. People interpret his work to be a defence of Pāṇini, whosesūtras are elaborated meaningfully. He also attacksKātyāyana rather severely. But the main contributions ofPatañjali lies in the treatment of the principles of grammar enunciated by him.
Pāṇini's work has been one of the important sources of cultural, religious, and geographical information aboutancient India, with he himself being referred to as aHindu scholar of grammar and linguistics.[24][25][26] His work, for example, illustrates the wordVasudeva (4.3.98) as a proper noun in an honorific sense, that can equally mean a divine or an ordinary person. This has been interpreted by scholars as attesting the significance of god Vasudeva (Krishna) or the opposite.[27] The concept ofdharma is attested in his sutra 4.4.41 as,dharmam carati or "he observes dharma (duty, righteousness)" (cf.Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11).[28][29] Much social, geographical and historical information has been thus inferred from a close reading of Pāṇini's grammar.[30]
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