Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c4.21

c4.21

Profr. Benfey ("Geschichte d. Sprachwissenschaft" p. 48 *n.* 1) puts Pāṇini's Grammar at about 320 B. C. The latest authority is Profr. Aufrecht who says ("Annual Address" by A. J. Ellis Esq. as President of the Philological Society, 1873, p. 22): "Sanskrit Grammar is based on the grammatical aphorisms of Pāṇini, a writer now generally supposed to have lived in the fourth century B. C. at that time Sanskrit had ceased to be a living language." Cfr. Whitney "Studies" pp. 75-7. Lassen I. A—K i., 866; II. p. 477 (2nd ed.) puts Pāṇini at 330 B. C. If his date be put a little later, many difficulties would disappear. See my "Aindra Grammarians" p. 44. [^2): The passages (text and C. Mahābhāshya) are: (P. iv., i. 49) “Indravaruṇabhavaçarvarudramṛḍahimāraṇyayavayavanamātulācāryāṇām ānuk.” On this sūtra the Mahābhāshya (Benares edition, p. 27 of ch. iv. in Vol. iii.) remarks: “Himāraṇyayor mahattve” | ‘Himāraṇyayor mahattva’ iti vaktavyam | mahad dhīmam himānī | mahad araṇyam araṇyānī || “yavād doshe” | ‘Yavād dosha’ iti vaktavyam | dushto yavo yavānī || Yavanāl lipyām | ‘Yavanāl lipyām’ iti vaktavyam | yavanānī lipiḥ || etc.