[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953) › c4.3 # India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c4.3 India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c4.3 - **Language:** English ### [c4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.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. - [Previous: c4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c4.2) - [Next: c4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c4.4) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c4.3) · Pramāṇa