A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.s2.17

c7.s2.17

Further information of a precise character is incidentally given us by Patañjali.⁶ He insists that grammar does not exist to create words, but to make clear what are correct uses; in ordinary life (*loke*) a man thinks of a thing and uses the appropriate word without going to a grammar; the words of Sanskrit are of ordinary life (*laukika*). We find a grammarian and a charioteer (*sūta*) engaged in a discussion conducted in Sanskrit, and the latter has decided opinions of his own on the etymology of his designation and on that of the term *prājitṛ*, driver. The norm of speech is that of the Çiṣṭas, and these are people who speak correct Sanskrit without special tuition; the purpose of grammar is to enable us to recognize who are Çiṣṭas, and thus to apply to them to find the correct form of such terms as *pṛṣodara*, which do not fall under the ordinary rules of grammar. The Çiṣṭas are further defined as Brahmins of Āryāvarta, the region south of the Himālayas, north of Pāriyātra, east of the Ādarça, west of the Kālakavana, who are not greedy, who do good disinterestedly, and who store only so much grain as a pot can hold. Other persons may make errors; thus they may pronounce *ṣaṣa* for *çaça*, *palāṣa* for *palāça*, *mañjaka* for *mañcaka*; or they may commit graver errors by using incorrect forms (*apaçabda*) such as *kasi* for *kṛṣi*, *disi* for *dṛçi*, *gāvī*, *goṇī*, *gotā*, *gopotālikā* for *gaus*, or even verbal forms such as *āṇapayati*¹ for *ājñāpayati*, *vaṭṭati* for *vartate*, and *vaḍḍhati* for *vardhate*. But from the Çiṣṭas they could acquire the accurate forms. This suggests a close parallel to modern conditions in England, where an upper educated class sets the norm to all those in lower social classes; the speech of that class is clearly a living language, and Sanskrit was so in much the same sense. The standard comparison of Latin in the Middle Ages is somewhat unsatisfactory; in the earlier period of the use of Sanskrit it is clear that it was much more closely similar to the speech of the lower classes in its numerous varieties than was Latin in medieval Europe. Comparison of Sanskrit with the dialects of the inscriptions of Açoka is significant in this regard; their differences are not essential nor such as to hinder mutual comprehension, and could easily be paralleled in English speech to-day.