India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c6.59
India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c6.59
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c6.59
(9) *PĀṆINI’S MENTAL POWERS*—Yuan Chwang speaks of Pāṇini’s spirit and wisdom, and of his vigorous mind which he devoted to investigate worldly literature (*Siyuki*, I.116). We have already spoken about Patañjali’s tribute to Pāṇini as *analpamati āchārya*, explained by Kaiyaṭa as *medhāvī*, ‘endowed with great understanding and memory.’ We may confidently dismiss the story of Pāṇini being dull at school. Moreover, the information that Pāṇini was extensively informed about men and things from his very birth indicates his inherent practical turn of mind and aptitude for observation amply borne out by the contents of the *Ashṭādhyāyī*.