A History of Sanskrit Literature c12.55

c12.55

The first book is an introduction, dealing with the principles of grammar and exegesis. The second and third elucidate certain points in the synonymous *nighaṇṭus*; Books IV.–VI. comment on the fourth section, and VII.–XII. on the fifth. The *Nirukta*, besides being very important from the point of view of exegesis and grammar, is highly interesting as the earliest specimen of Sanskrit prose of the classical type, considerably earlier than Pāṇini himself. Yāska already uses essentially the same grammatical terminology as Pāṇini, employing, for instance, the same words for root (*dhātu*), primary, and secondary suffixes. But he must have lived a long time before Pāṇini; for a considerable number of important grammarians' names are mentioned between them. Yāska must, therefore, go back to the fifth century, and undoubtedly belongs to the beginning of the Sūtra period.