A History of Sanskrit Literature c29.s2.25

c29.s2.25

Save for Bhartṛhari, Patañjali closes the line of great grammarians. We do not doubt that he drew on the speech of his day; his preface insists on the absurdity of learning words that are not used, and like Kātyāyana he views Pāṇini in the light of a living language. Thereafter use is made of the three great grammarians, efforts are made to explain them, or to re-expound their systems for purposes of more effective exposition, but nothing is done to restate the facts of language with reference to living speech. For reasons which we cannot certainly explain, the authority of Pāṇini and his immediate followers prevailed; deviations from his rules were even in great poets like Kālidāsa deemed to be errors.