India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.70

c10.s3.t1.70

Grammar is called both *Śabda* and *Vyākaraṇa*, and a grammarian *śabdakāra* (III.2.23) and *vaiyākaraṇa* (VI.3.7). PREVIOUS GRAMMARIANS—The period between Yāska and Patañjali witnessed intensive creative activity in the field of grammar. No less than sixty-four teachers are cited as authority in the *Prātiśākhyas*, *Nirukta* and *Ashṭādhyāyī* (cf. Max Muller, *History of Skt. Lit.*, p. 142, where a list is given.) Yāska regards *Nirukta* as a study supplementary to grammar (*Vyākaraṇasya kārtsnyam*), which position remained unchanged until the time of Patañjali who found grammar to be the foremost of the Vedāṅgas.