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A History of Pali Literature v2.c16: Chapter IX

A History of Pāli Literature v2.c16

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English

Chapter IX

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PĀLI GRAMMARS, LEXICOGRAPHIES, AND WORKS ON PROSODY, ETC.

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Vyākaraṇa is the accepted Indian term to denote a book of grammar. This very term was used to denote one of the six Vedāṅgas, or sciences or treatises auxiliary to the four Vedas. We have in the ancient vocabulary another term to denote another amongst the six Vedāṅgas, namely, the Chandas or treatise or treatises on metre or prosody. The treatises on Alaṅkāra or Poetics were later offshoots of the treatises on grammar. The beginnings of lexicography (abhidhāna) can similarly be traced in the Nigrantha sections of the treatises on exegetical etymology—the Nirukta denoting another amongst the six Vedāṅgas. Corresponding to the Sanskrit Vyākaraṇa we have the Pāli Veyyākaraṇa, counted among the nine types of literary texts or compositions (navaṅgaṃ satthu-sāsanaṃ). But the Pāli term, as explained by Buddhaghosa and other Buddhist commentators, was far from signifying any treatise on grammar. They have taken it to represent that distinct literary type which is characterised by prose exegeses, the Abhidhamma books being mentioned as chief examples of such a type.¹ There is indeed another Pāli word, Vyākaraṇa, which is phonetically the exact equivalent of the Sanskrit Vyākaraṇa, but in Buddhist terminology it means ‘announcement or prediction’. The term ‘Veyyākaraṇa’ means ‘exposition or explanation, the function of which is to make things explicit or clear’. If this term be applied to a treatise on grammar, we can understand that the main function of grammar is to help expositions of texts by clearing up the connections of letters, words, sentences, their sequence, and the rest. The importance of grammar has been sufficiently emphasized in early Buddhism in a verse of the Dhammapada which reads:—

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¹ Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, part I, p. 24. “Sakalaṃ Abhidhamma Piṭakaṃ niggāthaka-suttaṃ....tam veyyākaraṇan ti veditabbam.”

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“Vitataṇho anādāno niruttipadakovido
akkharānaṃ sannipātaṃ jaññā pubbāparānica
sa ve antimasārīro mahāpañño (mahāpuriso)
ti ¹ vuccati.”

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¹ Dhammapada, v. 352.

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In this important dictum a great man or a man of knowledge is expected to be conversant with the rules of construction of sentences, combination of letters or syllables in words, and determination of sequence or syntax. Here the most important term is nirutti which may be taken to mean ‘verbal analysis’, ‘glossology’, ‘use or expression of a language’, or ‘grammatical and logical explanation of the words or text of the Buddhist scriptures’ (Childers, Pāli Dictionary, Subvoce Nirutti). Thus we may understand that the need of grammatical analysis and grammatical treatises came to be felt by the exigency of exposition, and this point has been well brought out in the Nettipakaraṇa (pp. 8-9). Pada, akkara, vyañjana, ākāra, nirutti are the terms that are of use in a treatise on grammar. Saṅkāsanā, pakāsanā, vivaraṇā, and the rest are the terms that are of use in an exegetical treatise. The Netti says “ Bhagavā akkharehi saṅkāseti, padehi pakāseti, byañjanehi vivarati, ākārehi vibhajati, niruttīhi uttānikaroti, niddesehi paññāpeti : akkharehi ca padehica ugghaṭeti, byañjanehi ca ākārehi ca vipañcayati, niruttīhi niddesehi ca vitthāreti.”

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So far as Buddhism is concerned, the development of grammar, lexicography, and works on prosody took place long after the development of literature itself and it appears that no need of a separate book of grammar for the teaching or learning of Pāli was felt so long as India remained the home of the language. There were certainly some codified rules of grammar to which the language of the Pāli piṭakas conformed. It cannot surely be doubted that a wonderful linguistic genius has been displayed in the coinage and manipulation of many new technical terms and expressions which could not have been possible but for a close and intimate acquaintance with the fundamental principles of grammar and phonology. We may venture to suggest that there was no book of Pāli grammar in existence till the time of the three great Pāli commentators, Buddhadatta, Buddhaghosa, and Dhammapāla. All of them appear to have explained the grammatical construction of Pāli words by the rules of Pāṇini quoted verbatim in Pāli, e.g., Sutta Nipāta commentary, Vol. I, p. 23, vattamāna-samīpe vattamāna vacanalakkhaṇa, Pāṇini, III. 3. 131. It appears that Buddhaghosa studied the great grammar of Pāṇini. In the Visuddhimagga (P.T.S. Edition, pp. 491-492, ‘ Indriyasaccaniddeso ’) we read :—

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Ko pana nesam indriyattho nāmāti ? Indaliṅgattho indriyattho; indadesitattho indriyattho; indadiṭṭhattho indriyattho ; indasiṭṭhattho indriyattho ; indajuṭṭhattho indriyattho : so sabbo pi idha yathāyogaṃ yujjati. Bhagavā hi sammāsambuddho paramissariyabhāvato indo, kusalākusalaṃ ca kammaṃ, kammesu kassaci issariyābhāvato. Ten’ ev’ettha kammasañjanitāni tāva indriyāni kusalākusalakammam ullingenti. Tena ca siṭṭhānīti indaliṅgatthena indasiṭṭhatthena ca indriyāni. Sabbān eva pan’ etāni Bhagavatā yathābhūtato pakāsitāni abhisambuddhāni cā ti indadesitatthena indadiṭṭhatthena ca indriyāni. Ten’eva Bhagavatā munindena kānici gocarāsevanāya, kānici bhāvanāsevanāya sevitānīti indajuṭṭhatthenāpi etāni indriyāni.”

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Buddhaghosa goes on to add :—

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Api ca adhipaccasaṅkhātena issariyatthena pi etāni indriyāni. Cakkhuviññāṇādippavattiyam

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hi cakkhādīnaṃ siddhaṃ ādhipaccaṃ, tasmim tikkhe tikkhattā, mande mandattāti. Ayaṃ tāv’ ettha atthato vinicchayo.”

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These explanations of ‘Indriya’ are evidently a reminiscence of Pāṇini, V. 2, 93. “Indriyaṃ indraliṅgaṃ indradṛṣṭaṃ indrajuṣṭaṃ indradattaṃ iti vā.”

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In the grammar of Pāṇini, there is a mention of āpatti in the sense of prāpti and in this sense too, āpatti occurs several times in the Samantapāsādikā. This seems also to show that Buddhaghosa knew of and utilised the work of Pāṇini.

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If Pāṇini had remained the standard grammatical authority with the Buddhist scholiasts who flourished in the 5th or 6th century A.D., the ascription of the first Pāli grammar to the authorship of Kaccāyana or Mahākaccāyana, an immediate disciple of the Buddha, becomes unjustifiable on account of the anachronism that it involves. If any authoritative book of Pāli grammar were in existence when Buddhaghosa and Dhammapāla wrote their commentaries, there is no reason why they should seek guidance from the rules of Pāṇini rather than from those of Kaccāyana. We may indeed maintain that the first Pāli grammar, attributed to Kaccāyana, was a compilation made by some Buddhist teachers of Ceylon and that the ascription of its authorship to Kaccāyana cannot be justified except on the ground that the necessity for grammatical study of the Pāli texts was particularly felt in the tradition of Kaccāyana who even according to Buddha’s own estimate was a past master in the art and method of exegesis or analytical exposition. Even as regards Kaccāyana’s grammar, the unknown Pāli compiler of Ceylon can hardly claim any originality in view of the fact that barring certain special rules introduced to meet certain exceptional cases, the bulk of the treatise is based verbatim on the Sanskrit grammar of Kātantra. The indebtedness of the Pāli grammar to some such Sanskrit authority is frankly admitted in the aphorism, 1. 1. 8. (Parasamaññāpayoge), and clearly brought out in the vutti or gloss of the same :

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“Yā ca pana sakkatagandhesu samaññā ....pajuññate.”

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The next standard book of Pāli grammar to be noted is the Rūpasiddhi or Mahārūpasiddhi based on Kaccāyana’s work. The Bālāvatāra is the second important work that was produced in Ceylon on the lines of Kaccāyana’s work and its only importance lies in the re-arrangement of the aphorisms of Kaccāyana. Passing over the ṭīkās and glosses on Kaccāyana’s grammar, the Rūpasiddhi and Bālāvatāra, we have to mention the Saddanīti and the Mukhamatthadīpanī as the two later grammatical works of outstanding merit.

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The earliest known Pāli lexicography is the Abhidhānappadīpikā which too must stand to the credit of the Pāli scholars of Ceylon. The plan of this lexicography seems to have been conceived on the model of the Sanskrit koṣa of Amarasingha who is taken, for some good reasons, to be a Buddhist by faith. The Abhidhānappadīpikā just like its Sanskrit prototype is a dictionary of synonyms. It is far from having any alphabetical arrangement of words, which was adopted in some later works, such as Ekakkharakosa and the Abhidhānappadīpikā sūci. The beginnings of Pāli lexicography may, however, be clearly traced in the Vevacanahāra chapter of the Nettipakaraṇa and the Peṭakopadesa. The dictionary method of making the meaning of a term or word clear is indeed extensively used in the Pāli Abhidhamma books and in some portions of the nikāyas.

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Pāli literature is conspicuous by the absence of any noteworthy work on Poetics. If there be any such work, we may safely take it to be based on some Sanskrit authority. There are a few Pāli works on metre notably the Vuttodaya and the Subodhālaṅkāra. With regard to all these works on prosody, it may suffice to say that they are far from being original productions.

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The three principal grammarians are Kaccāyana, Moggallāna, and the author of the Saddanīti.

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Kaccāyana’s Pāli grammar¹—Kaccāyana is reported to be the author of the first Pāli grammar called Susandhikappa. There are many suttas in Kaccāyana’s grammar which are identical with those of the Kātantravyākaraṇa. This grammar is said to have been carried into Burma early in the fifth century A.D.

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¹ The oldest and best commentary on Kaccāyana’s Pāli grammar is Mukhattadīpanī written by Ācārya Vimalabuddhi. This work is commonly known as Nyāsa. There is a paper entitled “Note on the Pāli Grammarian, Kaccāyana” (Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1882). The late Dr. Satish Chandra Vidyābhūṣaṇa edited Kaccāyana’s grammar. Mason’s edition of this grammar is noteworthy.

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As helps to the grammar of Kaccāyana, there are Rūpasiddhi², Bālāvatāra³, which consists of 7 chapters, Mahānirutti, Cūlanirutti, Niruttipiṭaka, and Mañjūsaṭīkāvyākhyā.

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² Rūpasiddhi-ṭīkā ascribed to Dīpaṃkara should be read along with the text to get a clear idea of the Pāli grammar. Grunwedel’s Rūpasiddhi, Berlin, 1883, is noteworthy. There are editions containing Burmese interpretations of the Rūpasiddhi (vide supplementary catalogue of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Prakrit Books in the British Museum, p. 442, compiled by L. D. Barnett, 1928).

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³ Bālāvatāra by Dharmakitti; Bālāvatāra, ed. Sri Dharmārāma; Bālāvatāra with ṭīkā, ed. Sumaṅgala, Colombo, 1893. It is a work on Pāli grammar and is the most exhaustively used handbook in Ceylon on the subject. It is the smallest grammar extant and based on Kaccāyana’s work. There is an abridgement of the Bālāvatāra with Pāli sūtras and Sinhalese commentary composed by Revd. Sitinamaluwa Dhammajoti and edited by Jinaratana Thera and D. A. DeSilva, Batuwantudava, second edition, Colombo, 1913. There is a word-for-word Burmese interpretation of the Bālāvatāra, Rangoon, 1915. The Bālāvatāra has been translated into English by Mr. H. T. DeSilva with the co-operation of the Rev. Katane Oopatissa Thera and revised by Woodward, Pegu, 1915.

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As helps to the grammar of Moggallāna, there are Payogasiddhi, Moggallāyanavutti, Susaddasiddhi and Padasādhana⁴ or Moggallāna Saddattharatnā- kara which consists of six sections dealing with sadda, sandhi, samāsa, verbs, prefixes, and suffixes.

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⁴ There is a commentary on Padasādhana, a Pāli grammatical work on the system of Moggallāna, written by Sri Rāhula Thera and discovered by Louis De Zoysa.

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As helps to the grammar called Saddanīti¹, there is only one work called Cūlasaddanīti. The Saddanīti is still regarded as a classic in Burma.

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¹ There is a book named Dhātuatthadīpani, by Hiṅgulwala Jinaratana, which contains a re-arrangement in material form of the roots mentioned in Aggavaṃsa's Saddanīti. Saddanīti, La Grammaire Pāli de' Aggavaṃsa by Helmer Smith in 3 vols. is worth perusal. The date of this grammar is traditionally given as the 12th century A.D. This grammar consists of three parts, Padamālā, Dhātumālā (root numbers) and Suttamālā (sūtra number). It gives many quotations from the Pāli canon as examples of grammatical rules. It is no doubt a standard work on Pāli grammar and philology. It is undoubtedly a scholarly edition prepared by Helmer Smith.

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Among other treatises on Pāli grammar may be counted the following:—

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Sambandhacintā, Saddasāratthajālini (a good book on Pāli Philology), Kaccāyanabheda, Saddatthabhedacintā, Kārika, Kārikavutti, Vibhattyattha, Gandhatthi, Vācakopadesa, Nāyalakkhaṇavibhāvanī, Niruttisaṅgha, Kaccāyanasāra, Vibhattyatthadīpani, Saṇvaṇṇanayadīpani, Vaccavācaka, Saddavutti, Balappabodhana², Kārakapupphamañjarī, Kaccāyanadīpani, Guḷhatthadīpani, Mukhamattasāra, Saddavindu³, Saddakalika, Saddaviniccaya, Bijaṅga, Dhātupāṭha, Sudhiramukhamandana⁴, etc., with their commentaries and supplementary commentaries.

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² It is a grammar for beginners.

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³ It was written by Nārada Thera.

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⁴ It is a work on samāsa of Pāli compound nouns written by Attaragāmavandararājaguru.

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Kaccāyana, as we have already pointed out, is the oldest of all Pāli grammarians. Readers are referred to Kaccāyana's Sandhikappa⁵ (J.P.T.S., 1882).

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⁵ On sandhi in Pāli by R. C. Childers, J.R.A.S., new series, Vol. II, 1879.

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Nepatikavaṇṇanā is a work on Pāli indeclinable participles. Saddamālā is a comprehensive Pāli grammar based on the grammar of Kaccāyana.

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The development of grammar is a comparatively late phase of Pāli literature, as late as the sixth or seventh century A.D., if not later still. Even in the grammar of Kaccāyana, the debt to Sanskrit is freely acknowledged in one of the introductory aphorisms. Uptill the time of Buddhaghosa and Dhammapāla, the Buddhist teachers as already pointed out, followed the authority of the grammar of Pāṇini. It has only recently been detected that the Pāli commentators have freely quoted the rules of Pāṇini in accounting for grammatical formations of Pāli words.

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Abhidhānappadīpikā (by Moggallāna Thera, ed. by W. Subhuti, 2nd edition, Colombo, 1883)¹ and Ekakkhara-kosa² are the two well-known Pāli lexicons. The Abhidhānappadīpikā was written by Moggallāna in the reign of Parākramabāhu the Great. It is the only ancient Pāli dictionary in Ceylon and it follows the style and method of the Sanskrit Amarakosa (vide, Malalasekera, The Pāli Literature of Ceylon, pp. 188-189). This work consists of three parts dealing with celestial, terrestrial, and miscellaneous objects and each part is subdivided into several sections. The whole book is a dictionary of synonyms. The last two sections of the last part are devoted to homonyms and indeclinable particles. This work is held in the highest esteem both in Burma and Ceylon (Ibid., p. 189). Subhuti’s edition of this dictionary with English and Sinhalese interpretations together with a complete Index of all the Pāli words giving their meanings in Sinhalese deserves mention. R. C. Childers has published a very useful dictionary of the Pāli language. In 1921, T. W. Rhys Davids and W. Stede brought out a Pāli dictionary compiled mainly from collection by the former for 40 years which is a publication of the P.T.S., London. Quite recently a critical dictionary begun by V. Trenckner and revised, continued, and edited by Dines Anderson and Helmer Smith has appeared in two parts (1924 and 1929).

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¹ Ferner, A complete Index to the Abhidhānappadīpikā is a useful publication.

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² It is a small work on Pāli lexicography, a vocabulary of words of one letter by Saddhammakitti Thera of Burma.

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The beginnings of Indian lexicons are to be traced mainly in the Nighaṇṭu section of Yāska’s Nirukta. The Nettipakaraṇa stands to the Pāli canon in the same relation in which Yāska’s Nirukta stands to the Vedas. And it is in the Vevacanahāra of the Netti, the chapter on homonyms, that the historians can clearly trace the early model of later lexicons.

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Vuttodaya¹ written by Saṅgharakkhita Thera, Kāmaṇḍaki, and Chandoviciti are Pāli works on metres. Subodhālaṅkāra² is a work on rhetoric by Saṅgharakkhita Thera. Kavisārappakaraṇaṃ and Kavisāraṭīkānissaya are the two good books on prosody.

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¹ Vuttodaya (exposition of metre) by Saṅgharakkhita Thera, J.A.S.B., Vol. XLVI, pt. I, (Col. G. E. Fryer).

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² Analysis and Text of Subodhālaṅkāra or Easy Rhetoric by Saṅgharakkhita Thera, J.A.S.B., Vol. XLIV, pt. I, (Col. G. E. Fryer).

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A number of scholars, both European and Indian, have made a study of Pāli grammars and have embodied their researches in their treatises on Pāli grammars. These treatises are named below:—

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(1) E. Burnouf—observations grammaticales sur quelques passages de l’ Essai sur le Pāli de Burnouf et Lassen—Paris, 1827.

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(2) B. Clough—compendious Pāli grammar with a copious vocabulary in the same language—Colombo, 1824.

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(3) J. Minayeff—Grammaire Pālie, traduite par St. Guyard, Paris, 1874.

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(4) J. Minayeff—Pāli Grammar, a phonetic and morphological sketch of the Pāli language, with an introductory essay on its form and character by J. M., 1872; translation from Russian into French by M. St. Guyard, 1874, rendered into English by Ch. G. Adams, 1882.

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(5) E. Kuhn—Beitrage Zur Pāli Grammatik, Berlin, 1875.

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(6) O. Frankfurter—Handbook of Pāli being an elementary grammar, 1883.

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(7) E. Muller—A simplified grammar of the Pāli language, London, 1884.

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(8) V. Henry—Precis de Grammaire Pālie accompagne d’ un choix de textes Graduis, Paris, 1894.

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(9) Geiger—Pāli Literatur und sprache (Grundriss der Indo Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde).

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(10) E. Windisch, uber den sprachlichen charakter des Pāli, Paris, 1906.

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(11) H. H. Tilbe—Pāli Grammar, Rangoon, 1899.

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(12) J. Grey—Elementary Pāli Grammar, Calcutta, 1905.

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(13) Charles Duroiselle—A Practical Grammar of the Pāli Language, Rangoon, 1906.

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(14) Senart—Kaccāyanappakaranāni (1868-70).

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(15) E. Kuhn—Kaccāyanappakaranae Specimen, Halle, 1869.

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(16) Nyanatilaka—Kleine systematische Pāli Grammatik, Breslau, 1911.

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(17) Grunwedel—Rūpasiddhi, Berlin, 1883.

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(18) Tha Do Oung—A Grammar of the Pāli language (after Kaccāyana), Vols. I, II, III, and IV.

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(19) Subhuti—Nāmamālā.

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(20) Sri Dharmārāma—Bālāvatāra by Dharmakirti.

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(21) H. Sumangala—Bālāvatāra with ṭīkā, Colombo, 1893.

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(22) Chakravarty and Ghosh—Pāli Grammar.

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(23) Pe Maung Tin—Pāli Grammar.
(24) Vidhusekhar Śāstrī—Pāli Prakāsa.
(25) J. Takakusu—A Pāli Chrestomathy, Tokyo, 1900.

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Of all these works on Pāli grammar, Mr. Tha Do Oung has treated this subject exhaustively. The first volume deals with sandhi, nāma, kāraka, and samāsa; the second volume contains taddhita, kita, uṇādi, ākhyāta, upasagga, and nipāta participles; the third and fourth volumes deal with word roots, ten figures of speech and 40 modes of expression, and prosody. Pāli grammar by Muller and Duroiselle are also very useful. Prof. Chakravartty’s grammar is worth perusal. Paṇḍit Vidhusekhar Śāstrī’s work is a compilation and as such it is useful.

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The following are the noteworthy publications: Morris—Notes and Queries, J.P.T.S., 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, and 1891–93. E. Muller—A glossary of Pāli proper names, J.P.T.S., 1888. Morris—Contributions to Pāli Lexicography, Academy, 1890–91. Mabel Bode—Index to Pāli words discussed in translations, J.P.T.S., 1897–1901. J. Takakusu—A Pāli Chrestomathy with notes and glossary giving Sanskrit and Chinese equivalents, Tokyo, 1900. E. Windisch—Uber den Sprachlichen charakter des Pāli Actes du XIVe. Congress Internat des Orientalistes, Paris, 1906. Mrs. Rhys Davids, Similes in the Nikāyas, J.P.T.S., 1907-8 and Mrs. Rhys Davids, Sākya or Buddhist origins, chapter XVII, pp. 314 foll.

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The Dative Plural in Pāli (published in Sir Asutosh Mookerjee Silver Jubilee volumes, Vol. III, Orientalia—Pt. 2, pp. 31–34). It is a valuable paper and should attract the attention of scholars interested in Pāli grammar and philology. Prof. Majumdar has shown in it that in the inscriptions of Asoka and of his grandson there are ten instances of the use of dative plural in ‘Epigraphic Pāli’. These occur not only in one version or at one place but at such distant places as Dhauli, Jaugaḍā, Barābar hills, Nāgārjuni hills, Kālsī, Manserā, and Girnār. In Barābar and Nāgārjuni cave inscriptions the dative is the only form in use showing that the old form was better preserved in the Māgadhī. As for the Rock Edicts some versions use the dative and some the genitive. The Shāhbāzgarhi text is the only version which has not used even once the dative form. Majumdar sums up his argument by saying that we find promiscuous use of the dative and genitive plurals in ‘Epigraphic Pāli’. If the old Buddhist and Jaina texts be carefully examined in this light, some instances of the dative plural will be found in literary Pāli and Prakrit also. When the genitive plural began to be used for the dative plural, their singular forms also came to be confused in use. This confusion in the singular was also helped by the fact that in the language of the later Vedic texts the dative singular of feminine nouns was used for the genitive. But as the dative singular Prakritic form had not been confused in shape with any other form, it lingered longer than the dative plural. Dative singular is almost as common in Asokan dialects as in Sanskrit. It lingered in literary Pāli but died out in the Prakrits of the dramas.

Cites (30)