Thegrammar of theSanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominaldeclension, and extensive use ofcompound nouns. It was studied and codified bySanskrit grammarians from the laterVedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), culminating in thePāṇinian grammar of the 4th century BCE.
Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vyākaraṇa, one of the sixVedanga disciplines) began in lateVedic India and culminated in theAṣṭādhyāyī ofPāṇini.
The oldest attested form of theProto-Indo-Aryan language as it had evolved in theIndian subcontinent after its introduction with the arrival of theIndo-Aryans is calledVedic. By 1000 BCE, the end of the earlyVedic period, a large body of Vedic hymns had been consolidated into theṚg·Veda, which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, and was transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally.[citation needed]
In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, there was rising concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without "corruption", which for them was vital to ensure the religious efficacy of the hymns.[a] This 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 which was Pāṇini's stated work, which eclipsed all others before him.[2][3][4]
Pāṇini'sAṣṭādhyāyī,[b] a prescriptive and generative grammar with algebraic rules governing every single aspect of the language, 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[6] – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to the emergence of a great number of commentaries of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work.[7][2]
About a century after Pāṇini,Kātyāyana composed vārtikas (explanations) on the Pāṇinian sũtras.Patañjali, who lived three centuries after Pāṇini, wrote theMahābhāṣya, the "Great Commentary" on the Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vārtikas. Because of these three ancientSanskrit grammarians this grammar is calledTrimuni Vyākarana.
Jayaditya and Vāmana wrote a commentary namedKāśikā in 600 CE.Kaiyaṭa's (12th century AD) commentary on Patañjali'sMahābhāṣya also exerted much influence on the development of grammar, but more influential was theRupāvatāra of Buddhist scholarDharmakīrti which popularised simplified versions of Sanskrit grammar.
The most influential work of the Early Modern period wasSiddhānta Kaumudī byBhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita (17th century). Bhaṭṭoji's discipleVaradarāja wrote three abridged versions of the original text, namedMadhya Siddhānta Kaumudī,Sāra Siddhānta Kaumudī andLaghu Siddhānta Kaumudī, of which the latter is the most popular. Vāsudeva Dīkṣita wrote a commentary namedBālamanoramā onSiddhānta-Kaumudī.
European grammatical scholarship began in the 18th century withJean François Pons and others, and culminated in the exhaustive expositions by 19th century scholars such asOtto von Böhtlingk,William Dwight Whitney,Jacob Wackernagel and others.
The following is a timeline of notable post-Pāṇinian grammatical figures and approximate dates:[8]
The Sanskrit sound system can be represented in a table of place and manner of articulation:[9][10]
| voiceless[α] | voiced[β] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| open | ḥ | h | a | ā | |||||||
| velar[γ] | k | kh | g | gh | ṅ | ||||||
| palatal[δ] | ś | c | ch | j | jh | ñ | y | i | ī | ē | ai |
| retroflex[ε] | ṣ | ṭ | ṭh | ḍ | ḍh | ṇ | r | ṛ | ṝ | ||
| dental[ζ] | s | t | th | d | dh | n | l | ḷ | |||
| labial[η] | p | ph | b | bh | m | v | u | ū | ō | au | |
| fric | unasp[θ] | asp[ι] | unasp | asp | nasal[κ] | semiv[λ] | short[μ] | long[ν][c] | |||
| stops[ξ] | simple | diphth | |||||||||
| vocalics | |||||||||||
| consonants[ο] | vowels[π] | ||||||||||
The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the nearest equivalents in English (as pronounced inGeneral American andReceived Pronunciation or wherever relevant in Indian English), French, Spanish, Russian or Polish, along with approximateIPA values.[11]
(Further information:IPA chart (vowels and consonants) – 2015. andIPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio
)
| voiceless | voiced | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| open | ḥ | h /ɦ/; Eng: ahead | ṃ | a[d] | ā | ||||||
| velar | k /k/; Eng: skip | kh /kʰ/; Eng:cow | g /ɡ/; Eng:game | gh /ɡʱ/; Eng: doghouse | ṅ /ŋ/; Eng: ring | ||||||
| palatal | ś /ɕ/; similar to Eng:ship | c /tɕ/; Eng: reach | ch /tɕʰ/; Eng:cheer | j /dʑ/; Eng:jeer | jh /dʑʱ/; Eng: sledgehammer | ñ /ɲ/; Fre: agneau, Spa:ñ, Rus: осень, Pol: jesień | y /j/; Eng:you | i | ī | ē | ai |
| retroflex | ṣ /ʂ/; Retroflex form of/ʃ/ | ṭ /ʈ/; Ind Eng: stop | ṭh /ʈʰ/; Ind Eng: cathouse | ḍ /ɖ/; Ind Eng:door | ḍh /ɖʱ/; Ind Eng: adhere | ṇ /ɳ/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: morning | r /ɽ/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: morning | ṛ /r̩/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: int'r'sting diff'r'nce | ṝ | ||
| dental | s /s/; Eng:same | t /t/; Fre, Spa:tomate | th /tʰ/; Eng:tip | d /d/; Fre:dans, Spa:donde | dh /dʱ/; Aspirated/d/ | n /n/; Eng:name | l /l/; Fre, Spa:la | ḷ | |||
| labial | p /p/; Eng: spin | ph /pʰ/; Eng:pork | b /b/; Eng: cab | bh /bʱ/; Eng: abhor | m /m/; Eng:mine | v /ʋ/;[e] | u | ū | ō | au | |
| fric | unasp | asp | unasp | asp | nasal | semiv | short | long | |||
| stops | simple | diphth | |||||||||
| vocalics | |||||||||||
| consonants | vowels | ||||||||||
It should be understood that, while the script commonly associated with Sanskrit isDevanagari, this has no particular importance. It just happens currently to be the most popular script for Sanskrit. The form of the symbols used to write Sanskrit has varied widely geographically and over time, and notably includes modern Indian scripts. What is important is that the adherence to the phonological classification of the symbols elucidated here has remained constant in Sanskrit since classical times. It should be further noted that the phonology of modern Indian languages has evolved, and the values given to Devanagari symbols in modernIndo-Aryan languages, e.g.,Hindi, differ somewhat from those of Sanskrit.
The long syllabic l (ḹ) is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its short counterpart ḷ occurs in a single root only, kḷp .[A] Long syllabic r (ṝ) is also quite marginal, occurring (optionally) in the genitive plural of ṛ-stems (e.g.mātṛ,pitṛ ⇒mātṝṇām,pitṝṇām).
i, u, ṛ, ḷ are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably vocalicphonemes: a, ā, ī, ū, ṝ.[14]
a i u·ṇ
ṛ ḷ·k
e o·ṅ
ai au·c
ha ya va ra·ṭ
la·ṇ
ña ma ṅa ṇa na·m
jʰa bʰa·ñ
gʰa ḍʰa dʰa·ṣ
ja ba ga ḍa da·ś
kʰa pʰa cʰa ṭʰa tʰa ca ṭa ta·v
ka pa·y
śa ṣa sa·r
ha·l
Visarga ḥः is anallophone of r and s, andanusvara ṃ,Devanagariं of any nasal, both inpausa (i.e., thenasalised vowel).
The exact pronunciation of the three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. Voiced sibilants, such as z/z/, ẓ/ʐ/, and ź/ʑ/ as well as its aspirated counterpart źh/ʑʱ/, were inherited byProto-Indo-Aryan from Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost around or after the time of theRigveda, as evidenced due to ḷh (an aspirated retroflex lateral consonant) being metrically a cluster (that was most likely of the form ẓḍh; aspirated fricatives are exceedingly rare in any language).[16]
Theretroflex consonants are somewhat marginal phonemes, often being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue aPIE series and are often ascribed by some linguists to thesubstratal influence ofDravidian, or spontaneous internal development from IE[17] or other substrate languages.[16] Loss of l fromFortunatov's law has made some free unconditioned retroflexes like PIE *bʰelsos > bhā́ṣā - bhāsa, PIE *poltos > paṭa - pati. Further solidified by Prakritic and non IA loans like Skr. *pṛthati > Pkt. paṭhati > Skt. paṭhati.
The nasals[ɲ,ŋ] are mostly conditioned allophones of/n/. Phonologically independent /ŋ/ occurs only marginally, e.g. inprāṅ 'directed forwards/towards' [nom. sg. masc. of an adjective], a declension ofprāñc. There are some onomatopoeic words with them likeña, ṅa, ṅu and declensions likeñuṇūṣate./n/ and/ɳ/ are distinct phonemes (aṇu 'minute', 'atomic' [nom. sg. neutr. of an adjective] is distinctive from anu 'after', 'along').[16]
Sanskrit deploys extensive phonological alternations on different linguistic levels throughsandhi rules (literally, the rules of "putting together, union, connection, alliance"), similar to the English alteration of "going to" asgonna.[18] The Sanskrit language accepts such alterations within it, but offers formal rules for thesandhi of any two words next to each other in the same sentence or linking two sentences. The externalsandhi rules state that similar short vowels coalesce into a single long vowel, while dissimilar vowels form glides or undergo diphthongization.[18] Among the consonants, most externalsandhi rules recommend regressive assimilation for clarity when they are voiced. These rules ordinarily apply at compound seams and morpheme boundaries.[18] In Vedic Sanskrit, the externalsandhi rules are more variable than in Classical Sanskrit.[19]
The internalsandhi rules are more intricate and account for the root and the canonical structure of the Sanskrit word. These rules anticipate what are now known as theBartholomae's law andGrassmann's law. For example, states Jamison, the "voiceless, voiced, and voiced aspirated obstruents of a positional series regularly alternate with each other (p ≈b ≈bh;t ≈d ≈dh, etc.; note, however,c ≈j ≈h), such that, for example, a morpheme with an underlying voiced aspirate final may show alternants with all three stops under differing internal sandhi conditions".[20] The velar series (k, g, gʰ) alternate with the palatal series (c, j, h), while the structural position of the palatal series is modified into a retroflex cluster when followed by dental. This rule creates two morphophonemically distinct series from a single palatal series.[20]
A number of phonological processes have been described in detail. One of them isabhinidhāna (lit. 'adjacent imposition'), (also known asāsthāpita, 'stoppage',bhakṣya orbhukta). It is theincomplete articulation, or ""repressing or obscuring", of aplosive or, according to some texts, asemi-vowel (except r), which occurs before another plosive or a pause.[21] It was described in the variousPrātiśākhyas as well as theCārāyaṇīya Śikṣa.[21] These texts are not unanimous on theenvironments that trigger abhinidhana, nor on the precise classes of consonants affected.
One ancient grammarian,Vyāḍi (inṚgveda Prātiśākhya 6.12), states thatabhinidhāna only occurred when a consonant wasdoubled, whereas according to the text of theŚākalas it was obligatory in this context but optional for plosives before another plosive of a differentplace of articulation. TheŚākalas and theAtharva Veda Prātiśākhya agree on the observation that abhinidhana occurs only if there is a slight pause between the two consonants and not if they are pronounced jointly.[22] Word-finally, plosives undergo abhinidhāna according to theAtharva Veda Prātiśākhya and theṚgveda Prātiśākhya. The latter text adds that final semivowels (excluding r) are also incompletely articulated.[23] TheAtharva Veda Prātiśākhya 2.38 lists an exception: a plosive at the end of the word will not undergoabhinidhāna and will be fully released if it is followed by a consonant whose place of articulation is further back in the mouth.[24] TheCārāyaṇīya Śikṣa states that the consonants affected by abhinidhāna are the voiceless unaspirated plosives, the nasal consonants and the semivowelsl andv.[25][f]
Sanskrit inherits from Proto-Indo-European the feature of regular in-word, vowel variations known in the context of the parent language asablaut or more generallyapophony.
This feature, which can be seen in the English formssing,sang,sung, andsong, themselves a direct continuation of the PIE ablaut, is fundamental[g] in Sanskrit both forinflexion andderivation.[28][29]
Vowels within stems may change to other related vowels on the basis of the morphological operation being performed on it. There are three such grades, named thezero grade,first grade, andsecond grade. The first and second grades are also termedguṇa[ρ] andvṛddhi[σ] respectively. The full pattern of gradation, followed by example usage:[30]
| Zero grade | 1st grade | 2nd grade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | ∅ | a | ā |
| Palatal | i/ī y i/ī | e[h] ay ya | ai[i] āy yā |
| Labial | u/ū v u/ū | o[j] av va | au[k] āv vā |
| Retroflex | ṛ r ṛ | ar ar ra | ār ār rā |
| Dental | ḷ | al | āl |
| Zero grade | 1st grade | 2nd grade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | rā́jñ·as | rā́jan | rā́jān·am |
| Palatal | ji·tá- niny·ús iṣ·ṭá- | jé·tum náy·ana- yáj·ana- | á·jai·ṣ·am nā́y·aya·ti yā́j·aya·ti |
| Labial | śru·tá- śṛṇv·é ud·i·tá- | śró·tum śráv·aṇa- vád·ana- | á·śrau·ṣ·am śuśrā́v·a vā́d·aya·ti |
| Retroflex | kṛ·tá- cakr·ús gṛhī·tá | kár·tum kár·aṇa- gráh·aṇa- | ca·kā́r·a kā́r·aya·ti grā́h·aya·ti |
| Dental | kḷp·tá- | kálp·ana- | kā́lpa- |
As per the internal and historical structure of the system, the guṇa grade can be seen as the normal grade, whence proceeds either astrengthening[l] to form the second grade, or aweakening to form the zero-grade. The ancient grammarians however took the zero-grade as the natural form on which to apply guṇa or vṛddhi.
Whilst with the 1-grade-based system it is possible to derive the 0-grades thus:
the approach used by the ancient grammarians does not always work:
To overcome this, the ancient grammarians, while formulating most roots in zero-grade form, make an exception for some, and prescribe a treatment calledsamprasāraṇa on these:
Thus, unlike most others, the root 'svap-' does not hold a 0-grade vowel, and is subject tosamprasāraṇa before the past participle 'sup·tá-' can be formed.[31][32]
Besides *r̥, *l̥, Proto-Indo-European also had *m̥, *n̥,[n] all of which, in capacity of zero-grade vowels, participated in the gradation system. Whilst the latter two did not survive in Sanskrit (they ended up asa instead), their effects can be seen in verb-formation steps such as just seen above.[31][33]
Therefore, it is possible to analogically expand the above vowel-gradation table thus:
| Zero grade | 1st grade | 2nd grade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labial nasal | a ga·tá- | am gám·ana | ām jagā́ma |
| Dental nasal | a ha·tá- | an hán·ti | ān jaghā́na |
The proto-forms of ga·tá- and ha·tá- would thus have *m̥ and *n̥ respectively: *gʷm̥·tó-[o] and *gʷʰn̥·tó-[p]
Sanskrit inherited apitch accent (see:Vedic accent) from Proto-Indo-European, as well as vowel gradation, both of which, in Sanskrit, just as in the parent language, go hand in hand.
As a general rule, a root bearing the accent takes the first (guṇa) or second (vṛddhi) grade, and when unaccented, reduces to zero grade.[34]
The gradation examples given in the previous sections demonstrate several more instances of this phenomenon with verbs.
With nouns, the pattern does not always hold, as even from the earliest stage of the language, there has been a tendency to fix a single form, thus whilekṣam haskṣā́mas (2-g) andkṣmás (0-g),vāc has 2nd-grade forms throughout.[34]
Nouns whose stem vary between strong, middle and weak forms may correspondingly reflect 2nd, 1st and zero-grade vowels respectively. This may not always be matched by the accent:[34]
The above system of accent disappeared completely at some point during the classical stage. It was still alive in Pāṇini's time and even after Patañjali.[q] The author of the Kāśikā commentary (c. 700 CE) declares its use optional, and it might have disappeared from popular speech in the early centuries of the Common Era.[35]
Sanskrit has inherited from its parent the Proto-Indo-European language an elaborate system of verbal morphology, more of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole than in other kindred languages such asAncient Greek orLatin.
Some of the features of the verbal system, however, have been lost in the classical language, compared to the olderVedic Sanskrit, and in other cases, distinctions that have existed between different tenses have been blurred in the later language. Classical Sanskrit thus does not have thesubjunctive or theinjunctive mood, has dropped a variety ofinfinitive forms, and the distinctions in meaning between theimperfect,perfect andaorist forms are barely maintained and ultimately lost.[36][37]
Verb conjugation in Sanskrit involves the interplay of five 'dimensions', number[τ], person[υ], voice[φ], mood[χ] and tense[ψ], with the following variables:[38]
| 1 | 3 numbers | singular[ω], dual[αα], plural[αβ] |
| 2 | 3 persons | first[αγ], second[αδ], third[αε] |
| 3 | 3 voices | active[αζ], middle[αη], passive[αθ] |
| 4 | 4 moods | indicative, optative, imperative, conditional |
| 5 | 6 tenses | present, imperfect, perfect, aorist, periphrastic future, simple future |
Further,participles are considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves.[39] Classical Sanskrit has only one infinitive, of accusative case-form.[40]
The starting point for themorphological analysis of the Sanskrit verb is theroot. Before the final endings to denote number, person etc can be applied, additional elements may be added to the root. Whether such elements are affixed or not, the resulting component here is the stem, to which these final endings can then be added.[41][42]
Based on the treatment they undergo to form the stem, the roots of the Sanskrit language are arranged by the ancient grammarians in ten classes[αι], based on how they form the present stem, and named after a verb typical to each class.
No discoverable grammatical principle has been found for the ordering of these classes. This can be rearranged for greater clarity into non-thematic and thematic groups as summarized below:[43][44][45]
| Root | Treatment | Stem | gaṇa | Conjugation samples[r] | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| √bhū- | [B] | Root accent, gunated[s] | bháv- | First | bháv·a·ti | The commonest of all classes, with nearly half of the roots in the language.[46] |
| √tud- | [C] | None (ending accent) | tud- | Sixth | tud·á·ti | |
| √dív- | [D] | -ya- suffix | dī́v·ya- | Fourth | dī́v·ya·ti | |
| √cur- | [E] | -aya- with root gradation, or -áya- without | cór·aya- | Tenth | cór·aya·ti | Usually to form causatives, not strictly a class per se[47] |
| Root | Treatment | Stem | gaṇa | Conjugation samples[t] | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| √ad- | [F] | None | ad- | Second | at·ti at·tas ad·anti | |
| √hu- | [G] | Reduplication, accent varies | juhó- juhu- júhv-[u] | Third | juhó·ti juhu·tás júhv·ati | |
| √su- | [H] | -no- suffix | su·nó- su·nu- su·nv-[u] | Fifth | su·nó·ti su·nu·tás su·nv·ánti | |
| √tan- | [I] | -o- suffix | tan·ó- tan·u- tan·v-[u] | Eighth[v] | tan·ó·ti tan·u·tás tan·v·ánti | |
| √krī- | [J] | -nā- suffix | krī·ṇā́- krī·ṇī- krī·ṇ- | Ninth | krī·ṇā́·ti krī·ṇī·tás krī·ṇ-ánti | |
| √rudh- | [K] | Nasal infix | ru·ṇá·dh- ru·n·dh- | Seventh | ru·ṇá·d·dhi ru·n·d·dhás ru·n·dh·ánti |
As in kindred Indo-European languages, conjugation is effected across the tenses, moods, voices, persons and numbers stated, yielding, in Sanskrit, a huge number of combinations.[48][49]
| System | Tense | Mood | Endings | Conventional term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Present | Indicative | Primary | 'Present' |
| Optative | Secondary | 'Optative' | ||
| Imperative | Imperative | 'Imperative' | ||
| Past | Indicative | Secondary | 'Imperfect' | |
| Perfect | Past | Indicative | Perfect | 'Perfect' |
| Aorist | Pefect | Indicative | Secondary | 'Aorist' |
| Optative[w] | Secondary | 'Precative' | ||
| Future | Future[x] | Indicative | Primary | 'Future' |
| Perfect | Conditional | Secondary | 'Conditional' |
Furthermore, Sanskrit has so-calledSecondary conjugations:[51]
The non-finite forms are:
Declension of anoun in Sanskrit involves the interplay of two 'dimensions': 3 numbers and 8 cases.[52] Further, nouns themselves in Sanskrit, like its parent Proto-Indo-European, can be in one of three genders.
In addition,adjectives behave much the same way morphologically as nouns do, and can conveniently be considered together. While the same noun cannot be seen to be of more than one gender, adjectives change gender on thebasis of the noun they are being applied to, along with case and number, thus giving the following variables:[53][54]
| 1 | 3 numbers | singular, dual, plural |
| 2 | 3 genders | masculine, feminine, neuter |
| 3 | 8 cases | nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, vocative |
The oldest system of declension was in Proto-Indo-European, inherited by Sanskrit, to affix the endings directly to the nominal root. In later stages, a new system developed wherein an intermediary called thethematic vowel is inserted to the root before the final endings are appended:*-o- which in Sanskrit becomes-a-, producing the thematic stem.[55][56]
Substantives may be divided into different classes on the basis of the stem vowel before they are declined on the above basis. The general classification is:
When the nominal endings are being affixed to a noun of each class, they may undergo, in some cases, some changes, including being entirely replaced by other forms.[57][58][59]
Sanskrit pronouns and determiners behave in theirdeclension largely like other declinable classes such asnouns,adjectives andnumerals, so that they can all be classed together undernominals. However, pronouns and determiners display certain peculiarities of their own compared to the other nominal classes.[60][52]
Furthermore, personal pronouns have an additional dimension not present in the other nominals, but shared by verbs:person.[61]
Pronouns[ακ] are declined forcase[αλ],number[αμ], and gender[αν]. The pronominal declension applies to a few adjectives as well. Many pronouns have alternative enclitic forms.
Derivation or word-formation in Sanskrit can be divided into the following types:[62][63]
Sanskrit inherits from its parent Proto-Indo-European the capability of formingcompound nouns[απ], also widely seen inkindred languages such as especiallyGerman,Greek and alsoEnglish.
However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which has no parallels elsewhere.[64][65]
Words that change no form across cases, numbers, genders are classified asindeclinables[αρ]. Indeclinables may be divided into eithersimple andcompound. The latter is treated underSanskrit compounds and the term indeclinable usually implies only the former type.[66]
Indeclinables can be classified as follows:[67]
In Sanskrit, a preposition[ασ] is an indeclinable with an independent meaning that is prefixed to verbs and their derivatives with the result of modifying, intensifying, or in some cases, totally altering the sense of the roots.[68]
In Sanskrit,adverbs are either inherited as set forms from the parent language or may be derived from nouns, pronouns or numeral.
The typical way of forming an adverb is to simply use the accusative singular neutral form[z] of nouns and adjectives.[69]
Particles are used either as expletives or intensives.[70]
The most common ones are:[71]
The following is an enumeration of the main types of Sanskrit conjunctions:[72]
The main ones in Sanskrit expressing the various emotions are:[73]
A few nouns have only one inflection and thus behave like indeclinables. The most common ones are:[74]
Because of Sanskrit's complexdeclension system, theword order is free.[75] In usage, there is a strong tendency towardsubject–object–verb (SOV), which was the original system in place in Vedic prose. However, there are exceptions when word pairs cannot be transposed.[76]
Notably, Pāṇini did not fix syntax in the Aṣtādhyāyī, as to do so explicitly would be difficult in any language, given several ways of expressing the same idea and various other ways of expressing similar ideas. Thus within the bounds of phonological and morphological definition wrought by Pāṇini, the syntax of Sanskrit has continued to evolve in the course of its productive literary history.[64]
In the introduction to his celebrated translation ofVidyakara'sSubhāṣitaratnakośa,Daniel H.H. Ingalls describes some peculiar characteristics of the Sanskrit language.
He refers to the enormous vocabulary of Sanskrit, and also of the presence of a larger choice of synonyms in Sanskrit than any other language he knew of. Further, just as there exist a vast number of synonyms for almost any word in Sanskrit, there also exist synonymous constructions. In his elementary Sanskrit examinations he would ask his students to write in Sanskrit the sentence 'You must fetch the horse' in ten different ways. Actually, it is possible to write the sentence in Sanskrit in around fifteen different ways 'by using active or passive constructions, imperative or optative, an auxiliary verb, or any of the three gerundive forms, each of which, by the way, gives a different metrical pattern'.
Ingalls writes: 'Every Indian, one may suppose, grew up learning naturally thelanguage of his mother and his playmates. Only after this, and if he belonged to the priesthood or the nobility or to such a professional caste as that of the clerks, the physicians, or the astrologers, would he learn Sanskrit. As a general rule, Sanskrit was not the language of the family. It furnished no subconscious symbols for the impressions which we receive in childhood nor for the emotions which form our character in early adolescence.'[77]
