India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c6.76

c6.76

According to the author of the *Svarsiddhānta-chandrikā* the *Ashtādhyāyī* consists of 3,995 *sūtras*, *i.e.* 3,981 *sūtras* and the 14 *pratyāhāra-sūtras*.¹ Böhtlingk's critical edition contains 3,983 *sūtras*. Dr. Kielhorn after a detailed enquiry into the text of the *Ashṭādhyāyī* came to the conclusion that "the text given in the *Kāśikā-vṛitti* (and that of the *Ashṭādhyāyī* in the editions) contains 20 more *sūtras* than the original text." (*Ind. Antiquary*, XVI.184). This increase is accounted for in two ways, *viz.* (1) by applying the principle of *yoga-vibhāga* or splitting into two what Pāṇini originally read as a single *sūtra*, and (2) by introducing some *vārttikas* as full-fledged *sūtras* in the present text of the *Ashṭādhyāyī*.² There is also evidence of retouching of some of the *sūtras* by introducing into them some words from the *vārttikas*.