India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c6.19

c6.19

Another epithet applied by Patañjali to Pāṇini is that he is a *Pramāṇabhūta Āchārya* (I. 1.39; I.39), a teacher of the highest authority. He says that Pāṇini approached his task with a full sense of responsibility: 'Purified by the *kuśa* grass held in hand, the *Āchārya* seated himself facing the sun and took infinite pains in composing each *sūtra*. Not one syllable is purposeless there, much less could a whole *sūtra* be' (I.1.1; I.39). This authoritative conception later on became the pivot of the maxim (*paribhāshā*) that the saving of half a *mātra* is regarded by the grammarians to be as gladdening as the birth of a son (*Paribhāshendu-śekhara*, No. 122). Pāṇini adopted the *sūtra* style of composition based on utmost brevity, but not losing clarity. He was the founder of a new system planned with its logical method and scientific technique to solve the intricacies of grammar and reduce them to simplicity and precision as far as possible. He remains eminently understandable in spite of the rigour and conciseness of his work.