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On the Aindra School of Sanskrit Grammarians, their Place in the Sanskrit and Subordinate Literatures c4: I

On the Aindra School of Sanskrit Grammarians, their Place in the Sanskrit and Subordinate Literatures c4

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English

I

c4.1

In the twelfth century, besides the passage of Vopadeva, already quoted, we have a legend in the Kathāsaritsāgara of Somadeva of Cashmere. In this collection of stories, Kātyāyana the grammarian relates¹ that Varsha had a great many pupils among whom was Pāṇini, who was a sad dunce, and lazy in the service due to his teacher and his wife. Varsha's wife accordingly dismissed him, but he (the story runs) "grieved and desirous of knowledge went for penance to the Himalaya." There, "a new Grammar introductory to all science" was obtained by him from Induçekhara (Çiva) pleased by his stern austerity. "Having returned from thence, he challenged me (i. e. Kātyāyana) to a dispute, and seven days passed since the disputation of us two began. On the eighth day, he being conquered by me, at once a fearful noise was made by Çambhu in the sky. Thus my Aindra Grammar was destroyed on the

c4.2

¹ Ed. Brockhaus, i., p. 31 (Tar. iv., 20-25). This passage has already been quoted by Goldstücker and others.

c4.3

Atha kālena Varshasya çiṣyavargo mahān abhūt |
tatrai 'kaḥ Pāṇinir nāma jaḍabuddhitaro 'bhavat ||
sa çuçrūṣāparikliṣṭaḥ preshito Varshabhāryayā |
agacchat tapase khinno vidyākāmo Himālayam ||
tatra tīvreṇa tapasā toṣitād Induçekharāt |
sarvavidyāmukham tena prāptam vyākaraṇam navam ||
tataç ca 'gatya mām eva vādāya 'hvayate sma saḥ |
pravṛtte cā 'vayor vāde prayātāḥ sapta vāsarāḥ ||
aṣṭame 'hni mayā tasmin jite tatsamanantaram |
nabhasthena mahāghoro hūmkāraḥ Çambhunā kṛtaḥ ||
tena pranaṣṭam Aindram tad'asmadvyākaraṇam bhuvi |
jitāḥ Pāṇinnā sarve mūrkhibhūtā vayam punaḥ ||

c4.4

earth; we all conquered by Pāṇini became stupid again." The story is an absurd one, and is useful only to show that an Aindra school of grammar was known in the 10th century and that it was said to have been superseded by Pāṇini's. It can, however, be traced back to a far older work, the "Bṛihatkathāmañjarī" (from which the "Kathāsaritsāgara" was compiled) of which I discovered some MSS. at Tanjore in 1871, and Dr. Bühler another (in 1872) in Gujarat¹). Every feature of the story, as already told, is to be found here²). The date of the Bṛihatkathāmañjarī is uncertain, but it must be some centuries older than the Kathāsaritsāgara which belongs to the beginning of the twelfth century A. D.³)

c4.5

¹ "Academy" for 15th Sept. 1871, p. 447. Indian Antiquary i., p. 302 ffg.

c4.6

² The text runs (Tanjore, 4880; Upakoçācaritam, çl. 3 ffg.):

c4.7

³ "Kathāsaritsāgara" Ed. Brookhaus, i., p. viii.

c4.8

Hiouen-Thsang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, who travelled in India from 629-645 A. D., mentions the town of Ṣālātura as being distinguished as Pāṇini's native place, and relates a story not quite unlike what has just been given. He says: "Dans la haute antiquité, les mots de la langue étaient extrêmement nombreux; mais quand le monde eut été détruit, l'univers se trouva vide et désert. Des dieux d'une longévité extraordinaire descendirent sur la terre pour servir de guides aux peuples. Telle fut l'origine des lettres et des livres. A partir de cette époque, leur source s'agrandit et dépassa les bornes. Le dieu Fan (Brahmā) et le roi du ciel (Indra) établirent des règles et se conformèrent au temps. Des Ṛichis hérétiques composèrent chacun des mots. Les hommes les prirent pour modèles, continuèrent leur œuvre, et travaillèrent à l'envi pour en conserver la tradition; mais les étudiants faisaient de vains efforts, et il leur était difficile d'en approfondir le sens. A l'époque ou la vie des hommes était réduite à cent ans, on vit paraître le Ṛichi Po-ni-ni (Pāṇini), qui était instruit dès sa naissance et possédait un vaste savoir. Affligé de l'ignorance du siècle, il voulut retrancher les notions vagues et fausses, débarasser la langue des mots superflus et en fixer les lois. Comme il voyageait pour faire des recherches et s'instruire, il rencontra le dieu Tseu-thsaï (Īçvara Dēva), et lui exposa

c4.9

Vyālendradattasahite sarvajñe mayi viçrute |
Pāṇinir nāma Varshasya çishyaḥ sarvajāḍāçrayah ||
tapasā Çamkarāt prāpya navam vyākaraṇam vācī |
dināny ashṭau vivāde me 'prativādisamo 'bhavat ||
mayā jite tatas tasmin hūmkāreṇa vimohayan |
jahāra * * * * pād ai(n)dravyākaraṇasmṛitim || (°naismṛi° MS. a reading which shows that this is a S. Indian MS.). No. 10.281 has the missing syllables supplied by a second hand—no Haraḥ ko(pād).

c4.10

le plan de l'ouvrage qu'il méditait. "A merveille! lui dit le dieu Tseu-thsai; 'vous pouvez compter sur mon secours'. Après avoir reçu ses instructions, le Rïchi se retira. Il se livra alors à des recherches profondes, et déploya toute la vigueur de son esprit. Il recueillit une multitude d'expressions, et composa un livre de mots¹) qui renfermait mille çlōkas; . . . . cet ouvrage est encore . . . . en grand honneur"²).

c4.11

¹ Profr. Max Müller has identified this (in Chinese Tseu-chou, "un livre de charactères") with "Çabdānuçāsanam" the real title of Pāṇini's work. (A. S. Lit. p. 306, n.)

c4.12

² "Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales" by St. Julien i., pp. 125-7.

c4.13

Again in the life of Hiouen-Thsang (by his contemporaries Hoeï-Li and Yen-Thsong) in the account of the learned monk's study of Sanskrit at the convent of Nālanda, we find the following: "Il étudia à la fois les livres des Brāhmanes et l'ouvrage appelé Ki-lun, qui traite des caractères Fan de l' Inde. Leur origine se perd dans l'antiquité, et personne ne sait qui les a inventés. Au commencement des Kalpas, le roi Fan (Brahmā) les expliqua le premier, et les transmit aux Dēvas et aux hommes. Comme ces caractères furent expliqués par Brahmā, on les appela pour cette raison Fan-chou ou Écriture de Brahmā. Le texte primitif était fort étendu et embrassait un million de çlōkas. C'est l'ouvrage qu'on appelait anciennement Pi-kia-lo-lun; mais cette prononciation est incorrecte. Pour être exact, il faut dire Pi-ye-kie-la-nan (Vyākaraṇam), mot que l'on traduit par Ching-ming-ki-lun (Traité mnémonique pour la connaissance des sons). On lui a donné ce nom, parce qu'il renferme, d'une manière fort étendue, toutes les règles de la langue, et sert à les expliquer avec clarté. Dans l'antiquité, au commencement du Kalpa parfait (Siddhakalpa?), le roi Fan (Brahmā) fut le premier à l'expliquer; il comprenait alors un million de çlōkas. Ensuite, au commencement du Kalpa stationnaire (Sthitakalpa?), Ti-chi (Indra) l'abrégea et le rédigea en cent mille çlōkas. Enfin, dans le royaume de Gandhara, de l'Inde du Nord, un brāhmane nommé le Rïchi Po-ni-ni (Pāṇini), de la ville de Tou-lo (Çālātura), l'abrégea encore et le rédigea en huit mille çlōkas. C'est l'ouvrage qui est maintenant en usage dans l'Inde. Dans ces derniers temps, un brāhmane l'abrégea encore, à la demande d'un roi de l'Inde du Sud où il était né, et le rédigea en deux mille cinq cents çlōkas. Cette édition est fort répandue dans les royaumes de frontières; mais les savants de l'Inde ne la suivent point."³

c4.14

³ "Histoire de la vie de Hiouen-Thsang" by St. Julien pp. 165-6.

c4.15

A brief summary of the grammatical system of Pāṇini follows, which is so correct as to show conclusively that the previous passage (given above) may be taken as a fair statement of the Indian notions regarding the origin of the science of grammar as they passed current in the 7th century A. D.

c4.16

Again the Buddhist canonical works of the North mention the Indra Grammar; in the Avadānaçataka it is stated that Çariputra learned it as a boy.¹

c4.17

¹ Burnouf “Introduction” i., p. 456 “à seize ans il avait lu la grammaire d’ Indra et vaincu tous ceux qui disputaient avec lui.” cfr. Lassen’s. I. A.—K. ii., (2nd ed.) p. 477. On the period of this rather late (secondary or Mahāyāna) work see Wassiljew’s “Der Buddhismus” p. 332.

c4.18

In the literature of Tibet, which consists almost exclusively of servile translations of the Sanskrit canonical books known to the Buddhists of N. India in the seventh and following centuries and of compilations from that source, the Indra Grammar is mentioned more than once. Bu-ston states that the first grammar was composed by Sarvajñāna (i.e. Çiva), but this never came to Jambudvīpa. Then Indra compiled the Indravyākaraṇa which Bṛhaspati studied. This was current in Jambudvīpa, but was surpassed by Pāṇini’s work².

c4.19

² Wassiljew in Schiefner’s translation of Tāranātha’s Tibetan History of Indian Buddhism, p. 294.

c4.20

Tāranātha (a Tibetan Lama) compiled in 1608 A. D. a very remarkable history of Buddhism in India, in which he, more than once, alludes to the Indra Grammar, and though the information he gives is clearly secondary, it substantially agrees with what the Sanskrit authors tell us. In his account of Pāṇini (whom he makes out to have lived under Nanda or in the fourth century B. C.), he states that though it is said in Tibet that the Indravyākaraṇa is earlier, this must be held of the region of the gods, and not of Āryadeça. He adds that Pandits say that the Candravyākaraṇa agrees with Pāṇini’s, and the Kalāpa with the Indra Grammar³.

c4.21

³ Tāranātha’s History of Indian Buddhism, p. 48 (Tibetan text) and p. 54 (of Schiefner’s German translation).

c4.22

Again in another place, Tāranātha, after relating a legend about the snake-king Çesha’s explanation of Pāṇini’s work (a legend I have often heard in S. India), goes on to relate that a Brahman named Saptavarman⁴ asked Shaṇmukha (or Kārttikeya) to reveal to him the Indra Grammar, on which the god began: “Siddho varṇasamāmnāyaḥ,” and Saptavarman thereon at once comprehended all the rest. This Sūtra is actually the first of the Kātantra (or Kalāpa grammar), and this grammar is certainly of the Aindra school. Tāranātha makes Saptavarman a contemporary of Kālidāsa and Nāgārjuna¹. In another place a Brahman named Indradhruva is said to have had this grammar revealed to him, and that it contained 25,000 çlokas².

c4.23

⁴ The Sanskrit MSS. appear to have Sarvavarman, but Tāranātha expressly states that this is wrong, as also Içvaravarman.

c4.24

¹ u. s. pp. 60 and 75 respectively.

c4.25

² u. s. pp. 53 and 66. Wassiljew’s “Der Buddhismus,” p. 53, n.

c4.26

The miraculous part of all these legends may be fairly put down to the theological nature of the civilization prevailing at the times the several authors wrote or compiled their books. That Tāranātha had really historical records at his disposal is shown by Profr. Wassiljew in the preface to his Russian translation of Tāranātha³.

c4.27

³ Also translated separately into German by Schiefner. It is necessary to remark that the Tibetan has Tāranātha, and not Tārānātha as one would expect.

c4.28

When we get to the centuries before our era, with one remarkable exception, all mention of the Indra Grammar appears to be wanting. In the third section of this paper, I shall show that Pāṇini really quotes this grammar (or rather school of grammarians) under the name of the prāñcaḥ (teachers); but the only direct mention of the Indra Grammar in the old Sanskrit literature that I can find, is in a quotation by Sāyaṇa from a Brāhmaṇa as yet not identified. This mentions Indra as the original grammarian⁴.

c4.29

⁴ It occurs in Sāyaṇa’s introduction to his commentary on the Ṛig-Veda (vol. i., p. 35, ed. Max Müller) and runs: “Vāg vai parācy avyākṛtā ’vadat te devā indram abruvann imām no vācam vyākurv iti | so ’bravīd varam vṛṇai mahyam cai ’vai ’sha vāyave ca saha gṛhyātā iti tasmād aindravāyavaḥ saha pragṛhyate | tām indro madhyato ’vakramya vyākarot | tasmād iyam vyākṛtā vāg udyata iti.” | Sāyaṇa understands this to refer to grammatical analysis of words, which is the obvious meaning.

c4.30

So much for references which can be shown to be trustworthy, and to belong to tolerably certain periods of Indian history. There are other allusions but of uncertain date and value; such as: “Aindrī vāg iva” in the Bhojacampū (of the 16th century), and “Yathārtham padam Aindrāṇām” in Durgācārya’s Niruktavṛtti.

c4.31

The commentary on the Sārasvatavyākaraṇa also mentions Indra as the first grammarian⁵.

c4.32

⁵ Bombay edition, çloka 2.

c4.33

“Indrādayo ’pi yasyā ’ntam na yayuḥ çabdavāridheḥ |
prakriyāntasya kṛtsnasya xamo vaktum naraḥ katham”||

c4.34

These references are to the old original Aindra Grammar, but there are others which appear to refer to a modern Indra or Jaine-'ndra (as he appears to have been called to distinguish him from the god Indra the supposed author of the Aindra Grammar), who lived some time before the 12th century A. D. Vopadeva, it should be remarked, places him the last of the eight grammarians he mentions¹.

c4.35

¹ This Jinendra is perhaps quoted by Ujjvaladatta in his Commentary on the Uṇādi Sūtras (Pāṇinīya). He must have lived about 1250 A. D. See Aufrecht’s edition, p. xiv.

c4.36

Thus, the references in Jain books to a grammarian named Indra appear to refer to this grammar. For example, the actual grammatical text-book of the Jains which passes under the name of Çākaṭāyana, quotes the opinion of an Indra; the commentary (by Yaxavarman) explains this name by Indra Ācārya, and this is the author of the Jainendra Grammar, in all probability, as he teaches what is directed by this rule².

c4.37

² i. 2, 37 “Jarāyā ṅas Indrasyā ’ci”. C. Jarāçaḥdasya tatsambandhiny anyasambandhini vā ajādau supi pare Indrasyā ’cāryasya matena ṅasādeço bhavati | jarasau jarasaḥ | etc.” The Jainendra Grammar (p. 21 of Madras MS. 1461) has jarāyā ṅas. This passage has been kindly found for me by my friend Profr. Oppert. That the Çākaṭāyana Grammar quotes Āryavajra and Indra (and these only as far as I have seen) was first pointed out by Dr. Bühler, but without mentioning the place (“Orient und Occident”, iii. p. 182). Is this Jinendra the author of the “Nyāsa” a pañjikā on the Kāçikāvṛtti which is also cited by Vopadeva? (Colebrooke’s “Essays” ii., p. 40.)

c4.38

The age and authenticity of this Çākaṭāyanavyākaraṇa are as yet undetermined. Profr. Bühler³ considers it to be the real work that Pāṇini quotes; but the late Profr. Goldstücker was always in doubt about it⁴. If I may express an opinion, it is (as I hope to show) a comparatively modern recast of an old work. Yaxavarman the commentator on the Çākaṭāyana Grammar also mentions an Indra in his preface: “Indracandrādibhiḥ çabdair yad uktam çabdalaxaṇam”; but the age of this author is not known, and this çloka is evidently a copy of Vopadeva’s statement.

c4.39

³ “Orient und Occident” ii., pp. 691 ffg.

c4.40

⁴ “Pāṇini’s Place” p. 153 n. The doubts he expressed hesitatingly here, he stated much more fully in conversations with me in 1869 and 1870.

c4.41

To multiply these allusions (as I believe could be done), would be of no use; for the decisive passages I have quoted, which are from books of widely different times and sects, Brahmanical and Buddhist, and from different parts of India, show that there once existed a Sanskrit Grammar known as the Indra Grammar, and that it was said to have been superseded by the work of Pāṇini; also that it was reputed to have been the earliest Sanskrit Grammar. Indian legends are historically worthless, but the passages I have quoted show that at several distant parts of India, and at remote dates such a book did exist, and that Vopadeva did not retail some idle fiction in mentioning an Aindra School of Grammar. This fact having been ascertained, it is now possible to follow up the clues which I have found to the determination of the works belonging to this school, and to trace their general characteristics.

Cites (12)