Sanskrit Beyond Pāṇini

Pluralistic Perceptions of Grammar in Apāṇinīyaprāmāṇyasādhana

Abstract

The present paper proposes to analyse the arguments contained in the Apāṇinīyaprāmāṇyasādhana of Melputtūr Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa, the scholar poet of Kerala, challenging the orthodox view that the field of Sanskrit grammar is basically trimuni or confined to the discourses of the three sages, namely Pāṇini, Kātyāyana and Patañjali. Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa’s work is a short monograph written in the format of a letter addressed to Vainateya, a grammarian from Cola country, who could not digest the liberties taken by the author with Pāṇinian grammar in Prakriyāsarvasva, his earlier work. It appears that another scholar, called Sudarśana, seemed to uphold Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa’s views. This raging controversy prompted Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa to write Apāṇinīyaprāmāṇyasādhana. In this work, he demonstrates that there is no valid proof to warrant the view that alternate systems propounded by scholars like Candragomin and Bhoja are non-authoritative. He argues that though the Pāṇinian grammar is universally accepted because of its inherent qualities, it does not follow that other systems are worthless as Pāṇini himself refers to other, earlier authorities. Therefore, in true democratic spirit and upholding a pluralistic view of language and grammar, he maintains that if there is some contradiction between Pāṇini and others on specific points, it would be ideal to take these principles as optional. He points out that great authorities like Vyāsa, Śaṅkarācārya and Vidyāraṇya, and poets like Murāri, Sureśvara and Śrīharṣa have occasionally used un-Pāṇinian forms. Thus, through this short treatise, Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa demonstrates that he is a progressive grammarian who accepts accretions and modifications in tradition as language is bound to undergo change. This exchange of views raises interesting questions such as: (i) Is language a monolith to be locked in a specific grammatical system? (ii) Are the innovations inherent in linguistic growth to be denied validity?