India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.35

c13.35

While examining the grammatical data of Pāṇini we have already drawn detailed attention to about half a dozen instances of this spirit of synthesis (*ante*, pp. 352-5). In such controversies as *Mahā-Sāṁjñās* and *Kṛittrima-Saṁjñās*, *Jāti* and *Vyakti*, *Anukaraṇa*, *Upasarga* as *Vāchaka* and *Dyotaka*, *Dhātū* as *Kriyā* and *Bhāva*, *Vyutpatti* and *Avyutpatti* of words, etc., Pāṇini's position is not exclusive, but reconciles the two extremes. In this respect Pāṇini's work can be said to be a true product of its age, the epoch of *Majjhima Paṭipadā*, the best representative of which was another master-mind, the Buddha himself. Those who accepted the path of the golden mean as the ideal course to follow avoided insistence on extreme views, and we actually find Pāṇini avoiding the mistakes of his predecessors like Śākaṭāyana who over-emphasized the verbal derivation of all nouns. Pāṇini presents his material throughout the *Ashṭādhyāyī* with an all-comprehensive outlook and synthesis which made his work so popular and acceptable.