Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.114

c8.114

Pāṇini, therefore, lived before the fourth century B.C. But it is difficult to accept the statement of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar that he cannot be placed later than the seventh century B.C. A tradition recorded in the Kāvya-Mīmāṃsā, dated about the ninth century A.D., says that the great grammarian won fame in the great centre of learning at Pāṭaliputra, a city founded after the death of the Buddha. Pāṇini knows not merely "the three saṃhitās of the Ṛik, Sāman and Black Yajus," as contended by Goldstücker,³ but also Brāhmaṇas and Kalpas⁴ and refers to Sūtrakāras.⁵ He also mentions the Mahābhārata⁶ which is not recognised in any Sanskrit literary work till after the end of the Brāhmaṇa period, and only in the Grihya Sūtras. Pāṇini's date must, therefore, fall in the age of the latest sūtras.