The University of Nalanda c13.17

c13.17

Here, it appears, the secondary education of the student, as far as grammar was concerned, came to an end. Thereafter, he was led into more subtle and abstruse works on grammar. These works, though they professed to be commentaries on grammar, dealt with everything under the Sun. Vritta Sūtra, one of the best commentaries on the sūtra of Pāṇini, and evidently a book on grammar, besides minutely explaining the meaning of the sūtra, "exposed the laws of the Universe, and the regulations of gods and men."¹ The same writer continues, "Boys of fifteen begin to study this commentary and understand it after five years." It is difficult to understand what I-Tsing means by this. The student must be devoting his attention to some other works as well, because five years, for the study of only one work, is too long a period.