[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) › c6.78 # India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c6.78 India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c6.78 - **Language:** English ### [c6.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.78) Some also discuss that the original text of the \*Ashṭādhyāyī\* contained (1) the sign of nasalization marked on indicatory vowels (\*Upadeśe'janunāsika it\*, I.3.²); (2) the sign of \*svarita\* accent to denote \*adhikāra\* (\*Svariten-ādhikāraḥ\*, I.3.11); (3) accentuation of the text as in the case of Vedic works (\*traisvarya-pāṭha\*); and (4) the \*Saṁhitā-pāṭha\* or arrangement by which the \*sūtras\* of each \*pāda\* are read in continuation and are joined to each other by \*Sandhi\*. But there is also the view that these features were not a part of the original text of Pāṇini, but only assumed by teachers. We know that in the case of the nasal and \*svarita\* marks the followers of the Pāṇinīya school now take recourse to oral tradition, to indicate where such marks existed in the \*sūtras\*. This suggests an oral transmission from the time of Pāṇini's \*upadeśa\* or first instruction. The \*Ashṭādhyāyī\* with an accented textual tradition, is not known. Kaiyaṭa is in favour of the hypothesis of \*ekaśruti\* or unaccented text from the beginning. The theory of \*Saṁhitā-pāṭha\* which was being discussed even before Patañjali (\*cf\*. \*Śloka vārttika\* on I.4.56 discussing \*rīśvara\* and \*vīśvara\*, the latter form being possible only in \*Saṃhitā-pāṭha\*, \*Bhāṣya\*, I.340) appears to have been adopted more as a convenient device to get over stray cases of difficulty of interpretation rather than as a textual reality.¹ - [Previous: c6.77](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.77) - [Next: c6.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.79) - [Up: c6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6) ## Cites (1) - [Aṣṭādhyāyī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.astadhyayi-school.astadhyayi.1.3.2) — Pāṇini, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.agrawala-1953.c6.78) · Pramāṇa