An Account of the Different Existing Systems of Sanskrit Grammar c7.4

c7.4

43. The date of Chandragomin.—Chandra, or more accurately, Chandragomin must have lived at least some time before the authors of the Kāśikā, which has borrowed, always without acknowledgment, such sūtras of Chandra as have no parallel either in Pāṇini or in Kātyāyana. This gives us 650 A. D. as the lower limit for Chandragomin. The upper limit is supplied by a vṛtti on the Cāndra sūtras, most probably the work of Chandragomin himself,² which gives the sentence अजयद्गुप्तो(? Ms. जतो or जमो) हूणाच् as an illustration of the use of the imperfect to express an event which occurred within the lifetime of the speaker. This victory over the Hūṇas can refer either to their temporary defeat by Skandagupta soon after 465 A.D., or (less likely) to their final expulsion by Yaśodharma³ in 544 A. D. This gives us 470 as the approximate date for Chandragomin. This result is further confirmed by the fact that Vasurāta the preceptor of Bhartṛhari acknowledged Chandrācārya (Chandragomin) as his master.¹ Chandragomin must have lived therefore at least two generations before the author of the Vākyapadīya. All accounts agree in stating that Chandragomin was a Bauddha. He was one of the laity, and is not to be confused with Chandradāsa who belonged to the order.²