A History of Sanskrit Literature c29.s2.12

c29.s2.12

Our information regarding the personality of Kātyāyana and Patañjali is negligible. Kātyāyana, however, either bore the alternative name of Vararuci or was early confused with a person of that name, and to a Vararuci many works are ascribed, including the first extant Prākrit Grammar, *Prākṛtaprakāça*; book iv of the *Kātantra* and the *Liṅgānuçāsana*²; the *Vārarucasaṁgraha*,³ twenty-five Kārikās on case construction, compounds, verbs, and nominal formation; a lexicon; the Vedic *Puṣpasūtra*; and stanzas of poetry. As Patañjali mentions a *Vāraruca kāvya* we may believe in a poet Vararuci of early date, but we need not identify him with the author of the Kārikās. His identity with the author of the *Prākṛtaprakāça* is most implausible, as the Prākrit of that work is very late in character, and we may assume that the other attributions are of no value. Late tradition makes Vararuci a contemporary of Pāṇini, and also a minister of the Nandas of Pāṭaliputra; Kumāralāta⁴ actually confirms this point, but even if this poet existed, it proves nothing for the grammarian, as Kumāralāta speaks only of a poet. Of more value is Patañjali's proof that Kātyāyana was a southerner.