The History of Indian Literature c8.142

c8.142

The extant *Prátiśákhya-Sútra* of the Ṛik-Saṃhitá is ascribed to Śaunaka, who has been repeatedly mentioned already, and who was the teacher of Áśvaláyana. This extensive work is a metrical composition, divided into three *káṇḍas*, of six *paṭalas* each, and containing 103 *kaṇḍikás* in all. The first information regarding it was given by Roth, *op. c.*, p. 53, ff. According to tradition, it is of more ancient origin than the Sútras of Áśvaláyana just mentioned, which only purport to be written by the pupil of this Śaunaka; but whether it really was composed by the latter, or whether it is not much more probably merely the work of his school, must for the present remain undecided. The names quoted in it are in part identical with those met with in Yáska's Nirukti and in the Sútra of Páṇini. The contents of the work itself are, however, as yet but little known⁵¹ in their details. Of special interest are those passages which treat of the correct and incorrect pronunciation of words in general. There is an excellent commentary on it by Úaṭa, which professes in the introduction to be a remodelling of an earlier commentary by Vishṇuputra.—The *Upalekha* is to be considered as an epitome of the Prátíśákhya-Sútra, and to some extent as a supplement to it [specially to chapters x. xi.]. It is a short treatise, numbered among the Pariśishtas (supplements); and it has in its turn been repeatedly commented upon.⁵²