India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c4: Preface
India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c4
- Language
- English
Preface
c4.1
The book aims at an examination of the geographical, social, economic, literary, religious and political data found in Pāṇini’s *Ashṭādhyāyī*. The subject 'Pāṇini as a source of Indian History,’ was suggested to me by my Professor Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji M.A., Ph.D., while I was admitted to his Ph.D. class in 1929 as a Research Fellow in the Lucknow University. Chs. I—IV of the book substantially represent the Thesis approved by the Lucknow University for Ph. D. in 1941 and Chs. V—VIII for D. Litt. in 1946, with such additions and changes as later research made inevitable.
c4.2
The value of such a study to Indian History can hardly be overestimated. It is due at once to the antiquity of Pāṇini’s evidence, its definite and authoritative character as reliable as the history of India based upon epigraphic and numismatic records, and also to the singular fact in Sanskrit literature that the *Ashṭādhyāyī* is the work of an individual author (like its commentary the *Mahābhāshya*) and not the accumulated result of additions made to it from time to time by generations of teachers and pupils as happened in the case of the literature of Vedic *Charaṇas* or schools.
c4.3
In a study of Pāṇinian evidence the greatest importance attaches to facts recorded in the *sūtras*. As already stated, the text of the *sūtras* with a few exceptions shown by Kielhorn is the same as that handed down from the time of Pāṇini. The *gaṇas* form an inalienable appendix to the *sūtras* and a genuine tradition of *Gaṇa-pāṭha* was known to Kātyāyana and Patañjali who at times have made the inclusion of a particular word in a *gaṇa* the basis of their comments. Unfortunately the present state of the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* has suffered from subsequent interpolations, and although there is much valuable material especially concerning geographical, literary and *gotra* names found in the present *Gaṇa-pāṭha*, it has to be used with proper discrimination. I have always given preference to the *sūtra* evidence, but it does not mean that the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* can be ignored as useless accretion, for without it a substantial portion of the data of Pāṇini's language would remain unaccounted for. The contribution of the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* is of distinct value and its facts when substantiated by Patañjali may be regarded as authentic. In all cases where evidence from the *gaṇas* has been utilized its source is plainly indicated.
c4.4
No scholar of Pāṇini can do without the invaluable help offered by the commentaries, and I must record my indebtedness to Patañjali's *Mahābhāshya* and the *Kāśikā-vṛitti* without which this work would not have been possible. Prof. Max Muller was the first to point out 'that Pāṇini's *sūtras* were evidently from the beginning accompanied by a definite interpretation, whether oral or written, and that a considerable proportion of the examples in the *Bhāshya* must have come from this source (Weber, *History of Indian Literature*, p. 225, f. n.). As an instance we may point out that Patañjali himself refers to a *Māthurī-vṛitti* which as stated by Purushottamadeva in his *Bhāshā-vṛitti* (I.2.57), was a commentary on the *Ashṭādhyāyī*, and was originally taught by oral instruction (*tena proktam, na cha tena kṛitam*, *Bhāshya*, IV.3.101; II.315) and later on compiled in the form of a book. The subsequent commentaries including the *Mahābhāshya* largely drew upon the older material. As Prof. Kielhorn has put it, 'We may, in my opinion certainly assume, that like Pāṇini himself, both Katyayana and Patañjali have based their own works on, and have preserved in them all that was valuable in the writings of their predecessors (*Ind. Ant.* XVI.106). Each case, however, has to be viewed on its own merits, and in the absence of more convincing proof the citations in the *Kāśikā* should not be pressed too far as evidence for Pāṇini's own time.
c4.5
The aphorisms of Pāṇini are rich in historical and cultural material. It has been my effort here, firstly to evolve a classified presentation of the same, and secondly to broaden the scope of its interpretation by focussing on it as much light as was possible from comparative sources, utilising for the purpose the great traditional commentaries on Pāṇini's *Sūtras*, like the *Vārttikas*, the *Mahābhāshya*, the *Kāśikā* as supplemented by the more important subsequent explanations, and secondly early Indian literature both Vedic and classical. In the course of my readings during the last twenty years, with mind constantly switched on to Pāṇini, I found light from many a source—Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain; and thus the work of understanding the true import of the cultural institutions in Pāṇini of which each word dealt with by him is a pointer gradually advanced. Words like *Jaya*, *Ashāḍakshīṇa*, *Rāja-pratyenas*, *Ārya-Brāhmaṇa*, *Ākranda*, *Grāmaṇī*, *Parishad*, *Chhandasya*, *Kāra*, *Haraṇa*—to name only a few out of hundreds—will bear testimony to the success of this method. Thus it has been possible to throw fresh light on a number of Pāṇini's *sūtras* by which their significance has been increased.
c4.6
The Thesis reveals for the first time the deep relationship between the historical background of Pāṇini and Kauṭilya. The close proximity of their vocabulary and numerous items of cultural life common to both are worthy of greater attention, and point to underlying chronological relationships. Pāṇini is closely related in time to Kauṭilya by his numismatic data. It is very significant that there is not a single coin name in the *Arthaśāstra* which would reflect its late character. The numismatic evidence is completely in favour of its Mauryan date. Pāṇini must have preceded him by about a century or so.
c4.7
Reference within brackets are to the *sūtras*, as (I.1.1) denotes the first *sūtra* of the first *pāda* of the first *adhyāya* of the *Ashṭādhyāyī*. For the *Mahābhāshya* text I have used Kielhorn's edition, citing its reference by the number of volume and page; *e.g.*, III.467 directs us to the last page of the last volume of that edition. In all other cases, the name of the author or the work quoted is indicated in a manner clear enough to follow.
c4.8
I wish to express my grateful thanks to all previous writers whose works I have utilized in the preparation of this volume. The immense help and light which I have derived from them are not a mere matter of formal acknowledgment. I owe an obligation to the two volumes of *Word-Index* of the works of Pāṇini and Patañjali compiled by Sridharsastri Pathak and Siddheshwarsastri Chitrao and published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona.
c4.9
It is a pleasant duty to record my deep gratefulness to my Professor, Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji, who prescribed for me this subject and whose constant help has greatly contributed towards the completion and publication of this work. In token thereof I respectfully dedicate this book to him. May this work be a small recompense to him for all the trouble he has taken on my behalf during the last twenty-five years. My sincere thanks are also due to Shri Sampurnananda Ji, Shri Chandra Bhan Ji Gupta and Acharya Narendra Deva Ji who kindly helped me in securing from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh through the Lucknow University a generous subvention in aid of the publication. I am also grateful to the authorities of the Lucknow University for inviting me to deliver a course of lectures in 1952 based on the contents of this book under the Radha Kumud Mookerji Lectureship Endowment Fund of the University.
c4.10
I also thankfully remember the ungrudging help I received from my office-assistants, Shri Jagan Prasad Chaturvedi of the Mathura Museum, Shri Chandra Sen of the Lucknow Museum and Shri Gautam Dev Khullar of the C. A. A. Museum, New Delhi, in typing the Thesis and its finally revised press-copy. Shri G. S. Ramanathan of the office of the Government Epigraphist, Ootacumund, and Shri Ram Shankar Bhattacharya, Banaras, deserve my thanks for kindly verifying the references. I am indebted to my son Shri Skand Kumar, M.A. for preparing the Index and to Shri Bhupal Singh Bisht of the C. A. A. Museum, New Delhi for the Maps.
c4.11
Banaras Hindu University *November 17, 1953*
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V. S. Agrawala The scanned page is completely blank (showing only bleed-through/ghost text from the reverse side, paper aging, stains, and binding marks, with no actual printed text on this surface).