A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1316

c5.1316

PĀNINI. The celebrated grammarian, author of the work called Pāninīyam. This is the standard authority on Sanskrit grammar, and it is held in such respect and reverence that it is considered to have been written by inspiration. So in old times Pānini was placed among the Rishis, and in more modern days he is represented to have received a large portion of his work by direct inspiration from the god Siva. It is also said that he was so dull a child that he was expelled from school, but the favour of Siva placed him foremost in knowledge. He was not the first grammarian, for he refers to the works of several who preceded him. The grammars which have been written since his time are numberless, but although some of them are of great excellence and much in use, Pānini still reigns supreme, and his rules are incontestable. "His work," says Professor Williams, "is perhaps the most original of all productions of the Hindu mind." The work is written in the form of Sūtras or aphorisms, of which it contains 3996, arranged in eight (ashta) chapters (adhyāya), from which the work is sometimes called Ashtādhyāyī. These aphorisms are exceedingly terse and complicated. Special training and study are required to reach their meaning. Colebrooke remarks, that "the endless pursuit of exceptions and limitations so disjoins the general precepts, that the reader cannot keep in view their intended connection and mutual relations. He wanders in an intricate maze, and the key of the labyrinth is continually slipping from his hand." But it has been well observed that there is a great difference between the European and Hindu ideas of a grammar. In Europe, grammar has hitherto been looked upon as only a means to an end, the medium through which a knowledge of language and literature is acquired. With the Pandit, grammar was a science; it was studied for its own sake, and investigated with the most minute criticism; hence, as Goldstücker says, "Pānini's work is indeed a kind of natural history of the Sanskrit language." Pānini was a native of Salātura, in the country of Gandhāra, west of the Indus, and so is known as Sālottarīya. He is described as a descendant of Panin and grandson of Devala. His mother's name was Dākshi, who probably belonged to the race of Daksha, and he bears the metronymic Dāksheya. He is also called Āhika. The time when he lived is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been about four centuries B.C. Goldstücker carries him back to the sixth century, but Weber is inclined to place him considerably later. Pānini's grammar has been printed by Böhtlingk, and also in India. *See Goldstücker's Pānini, his Place in Literature.*