[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882) › c8.s3.63 # The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.63 The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.63 - **Language:** English ### [c8.s3.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.63) Patañjali shows an intimate acquaintance with the south. As a grammarian he thinks it his duty to notice the lingual usages in the south, and tells us that in Dakshinâpatha the word Sarasi is used to denote large lakes.³ He mentions Mâhishmatî,⁴ Vaidarbha,⁵ Kâñchîpura⁶ the modern Conjeveram; and Kerala⁷ or Malabâr. Patañjali's date, B.C. 150, may now be relied upon. That author notices variant readings of Kâtyâyana's Vârtikas as found in the texts used by the schools of the Bhâradvâjîyas, Saunâgas, and others. Some of these might be considered as emendations of the Vârtikas, though Patañjali's introduction of them by the verb pathanti, "they read," is an indication that he regarded them as different readings. A sufficiently long time therefore must have elapsed between Kâtyâyana and Patañjali to give rise to these variants or emendations. I am therefore inclined to accept the popular tradition which refers Kâtyâyana to the time of the Naudas who preceded the Mauryas, and to assign to him the first half of the fourth century before Christ. In this manner the interval between Kâtyâyana and Patañjali was about two hundred years. Now, Professor Goldstucker has shown from an examination of the Vârtikas that certain grammatical forms are not noticed by Pânini but are taught by Kâtyâyana, and concludes that they did not exist in the language in Pânini's time. I have followed up the argument in my lectures "On the Sanskrit and Prâkrit languages,"⁸ and given from the Vârtikas several ordinary instances of such forms. From these one of two conclusions only is possible, viz., either that Pânini was a very careless and ignorant grammarian, or that the forms did not exist in the language in his time. The first is of course inadmissible; wherefore the second must be accepted. I have also shown from a passage in the introduction to Patañjali’s Mahâbhâshya, that verbal forms such as those of the perfect which are taught by Pânini as found in the Bhâshâ or current language, not the Chhândasa or obsolete language, had gone out of use in the time of Kâtyâyana and Patañjali, and participles had come to be used instead.¹ Professor Goldstucker has also given a list of words used by Pânini in his Sûtras in a sense which became obsolete in the time of Kâtyâyana, and shown what portion of Sanskrit literature did not probably exist in Pânini’s time but was known to Kâtyâyana, and in one case comes to the not unjustifiable conclusion that the time that elapsed between Pânini and Kâtyâyana was so great that certain literary works which either did not exist in Pânini’s time or were not old to him came to be considered by Kâtyâyana to be as old as those which were old to Pânini. No less an interval of time than about three centuries can account for all these circumstances. Pânini, therefore, must have flourished in the beginning of the seventh century before the Christian era, if not earlier still; and against this conclusion I believe no argument has been or can be brought, except a vague prejudice. And now to our point, the Indian Âryas had thus no knowledge of Southern India previous to the seventh century before Christ; they had gone as far as the Northern Circars by the eastern route, but no farther; and the countries directly to the south of the Vindhya they were not familiar with. About that time, however, they must have begun to penetrate still further, since they had already settled in or had communication with the countries on the northern skirts of the Vindhya and Kalinga, and first settled in Vidarbha or Berâr, approaching it still, it would appear, by the eastern route; but in the course of some time more they crossed the Vindhya and settled in Dandakâranya along the banks of the Godâvarî, that is, in Mahârâshtra or the Dekkan. Before B.C. 350 they had become familiar with the whole country down to Tanjor and Madura. - [Previous: c8.s3.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.62) - [Next: c8.s3.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.64) - [Up: c8.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.63) · Pramāṇa