India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c4.3

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.