Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s13.t3.7

c12.s13.t3.7

The most important of these Vārttikakāras is the one known generally as the Vārttikakāra of grammar, viz., Kātyāyana alias Vararuchi. From the literary traditions referred to, we may take him to be a contemporary of the Nandas. He is also the author of the *Vājasaneyiprātiśākhya*, where he deals with the language and the gramm ar ofthe *Vājasaneyisamhitā*, and the Kathāsaritsāgara story too makes mention of his proficiency in the Prātiśākhya taught by Vyāḍi (I. 2. 38). In this Prātiśākhya, Kātyāyana gives a number of criticisms of the relevant sūtras of Pāṇini. In his Vārttikas which number about 4,000, he subjects about 1,500 sūtras of Pāṇini to his critical observations, these comprehending on the whole about 10,000 grammatical points. Kātyāyana was neither hostile to Pāṇini nor rash in his criticism as one might be led to believe from the way Patañjali handles him; the natural phenomena of linguistic change necessitated the compilation of Kātyāyana's corrections and additions. Besides the dicta, Kātyāyana sometimes made his grammatical observations in verses which Patañjali quotes as *bhrājāḥ ślokāḥ* and Kaiyaṭa identifies as Kātyāyana's. As noticed already Patañjali speaks of him as a southerner fond of Taddhita forms, while the *Bṛhatkathā* story makes him a native of Kauśāmbi, an all-round scholar, sometime minister of Nanda at Pāṭaliputra and an incarnation of a Śivagaṇa known as Puṣpadanta. The Buddhistic *Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa* too mentions him as a minister under Nanda.