The History of Indian Literature c9.128.2

c9.128.2

Besides, the statement is in itself an extremely indefinite one, the "docteur" in question not being described as a grammarian at all, but simply as a descendant of the Kátya family.²³⁴ Even admitting, however, that the reference really is to him, it would still be in conflict with the tradition—in itself, it is true, of no particular authority—of the Kathá-sarit-ságara, which not only represents Kátyáyana as the contemporary of Páṇini, but identifies him with Vararuchi, a minister of King Nanda, the father of Chandragupta (Σανδρόκυπτος), according to which, of course, he must have flourished about B.C. 350. As regards the age of the Mahábháshya,²³⁵ we have seen that the assertion of the Rája-taraṅgiṇí as to its introduction into Kashmír in the reign of Abhimanyu, the successor of Kanishka, *i.e.*, between A.D. 40 and 65, is, for the reasons above assigned, in the meantime discredited.²³⁶ For the present, therefore, we are without information as to the date of those interpretations, just as we are regarding the date of Páṇini himself. But when once they are themselves in our hands, it will certainly be possible to gather from their contents, by means of the great number of words they contain, a tolerably clear image of the time when they originated,²³⁷ in the same way as we can even now attempt, although only in broad outline, a picture of the time of Páṇini.∗ With regard to the latter, the condition of the text, in a critical point of view, forms a main difficulty.