Sarvadarshanasangraha 13.14

13.14

therefore grammar is useless.' Therefore, [only] when they considered it an auxiliary of the Veda did they undertake its study. Hence, modern students would also fail to undertake it. Lest that should happen, the purpose establishing its status as an auxiliary of the Veda must certainly be explained. If they did not undertake it even when the purpose was explained, then, devoid of the knowledge of the correct formation of everyday words, they would incur sin in sacrificial acts; they would fall away from dharma. For this very reason ritualists recite: 'One who has established the sacred fires, upon uttering an incorrect word, should perform the expiatory offering to Sarasvatī.' Therefore, for the sake of explaining the purpose that establishes its status as an auxiliary of the Veda, it is said only as 'Now begins the instruction on words', and not 'Now begins grammar.' And the correct formation of words is the purpose of the science of grammar, because its activity is directed toward that, just as heaven is the purpose of a sacrifice undertaken with heaven as its aim. Therefore, the instruction on words, known by the term 'correct formation' [saṃskāra], is the purpose of the instruction on words.