A History of Sanskrit Literature c12.52

c12.52

The *Padapāṭhas* show that their authors had not only made investigations as to pronunciation and *Sandhi*, but already knew a good deal about the grammatical analysis of words; for they separate both the parts of compounds and the prefixes of verbs, as well as certain suffixes and terminations of nouns. They had doubtless already distinguished the four parts of speech (*padajātāni*), though these are first mentioned by Yāska as *nāman*, or "noun" (including *sarva-nāman*, "representing all nouns" or "pronouns"), *ākhyāta*, "predicate," *i.e.* "verb"; *upasarga*, "supplement," *i.e.* "preposition"; *nipāta*, "incidental addition," *i.e.* "particle." It is perhaps to the separation of these categories that the name for grammar, *vyākaraṇa*, originally referred, rather than to the analysis of words. Even the Brāhmaṇas bear evidence of linguistic investigations, for they mention various grammatical terms, such as "letter" (*varṇa*), "masculine" (*vṛishan*), "number" (*vachana*), "case-form" (*vibhakti*). Still more such references are to be found in the Āraṇyakas, the Upanishads, and the Sūtras. But the most important information we have of pre-Pāṇinean grammar is that found in Yāska's work.