Why Does the Tradition Approach the Aṣṭādhyāyī the Way It Does? Some Methodological Reflections about Pāṇinian Studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/CIS.28.2026.01.07Keywords:
Pāṇini, Sanskrit grammar, tradition, Mahābhāṣya, vyākaraṇa, paribhāṣāsAbstract
This article starts by summarizing my doctoral work in the field of Pāṇinian studies and uses the same as a pivot to ask the following questions: What kinds of methods, approaches, lenses, and loci have the tradition and subsequently modern scholarship been using thus far to examine Pāṇini’s grammar? What are the advantages and disadvantages of adopting these practices and perspectives? In particular, it seeks to tease out the cultural factors and intellectual attitudes that underlie the methods employed to study Pāṇini’s grammar. It dwells on the role of paribhāṣā literature and jñāpakas, ideas about respect and hierarchy, especially vis-à-vis Pāṇini, Kātyāyana, and Patañjali, commentators’ ways of disagreeing with the author, and the prizing of memorization and complexity in the Indian tradition. It then expounds on the relationship between the past, present, and future of the Pāṇinian tradition. Finally, it outlines the overall outlook of Pāṇinian studies as a discipline and argues that a change in the same will entail better learning outcomes for students.
References
Abhyankar, K. V. (ed). 1962. The Paribhāṣenduśekhara of Nāgojībhaṭṭa (with the commentary Tattvādarśa of MM. Vasudev Shastri Abhyankar). Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
Bhandarkar, R. G. 1972. Ācārya, the Friend of the Student, and the Relations Between the Three Ācāryas. In J. F. Staal (ed.). A Reader on the Sanskrit Grammarians: 81–86. Cambridge–Massachusetts–London: The MIT Press. Reprinted from Indian Antiquary, vol. 5 (1876): 345 –350.
Bronkhorst, J. 1986. Tradition and Argument in Classical Indian Linguistics. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Candotti, M. P., and T. Pontillo. 2018. From Commentary to Paribhāṣās: Kātyāyana and Patañjali vis-à-vis Vyāḍi. In: Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques 72(2): 515 –566. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2018-0013.
Cardona, G. 1970. Some Principles of Pāṇini’s Grammar. In: Journal of Indian Philosophy 1(1): 40 –74. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02346508.
Dīkṣita, P. (ed). 2010. Maharṣipāṇinipraṇītaḥ Aṣṭādhyāyīsūtrapāṭhaḥ. New Delhi: Saṁsk ṛta Bhāratī.
Deshpande, M. 2019. From Pāṇini to Patañjali and Beyond: Development of Religious Motifs in Sanskrit Grammar (26th J. Gonda Lecture 2018).
Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Joshi, S. D., and P. Kiparsky. 1979. Siddha and Asiddha in Pāṇinian Phonology. In: D. Dinnsen (ed.), Current Approaches to Phonological Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press: 223 –250.
–––. 2005. The Extended Siddha-Principle. In: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 86: 1 –26. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41692378
Joshi, S. D., and J. A. F. Roodbergen. 1969 –1986. Patañjali’s Vyākaraṇa-mahābhāṣya: Text, Translation and Notes (9 Vols.) [English translation].
Poona: Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona.
Kielhorn, F. 1876. Kātyāyana and Patañjali: Their Relation to Each Other, and to Pāṇini. Bombay: The Education Society’s Press, Byculla.
––– (ed). 1880 –1885. The Vyākaraṇa-Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali (3 Vols.).
Government Bombay: Central Book Depot.
Pataskar, B. 1985. Utsargāpavāda Relation in the Aṣṭādhyāyī [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Poona: Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona.
Rajpopat, R. 2023. The Evolution of Conflict Resolution Tools in the Early Pāṇinian Grammatical Tradition. In: Bhāṣā – Journal of South Asian Linguistics, Philology and Grammatical Traditions 2(1): 31 –58. https://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2023/01/002
–––. 2025. Pāṇini’s Perfect Rule: A Modern Solution to an Ancient Problem in Sanskrit Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Śāstrī, B. et al. (eds). 1987-1988. Vyākaraṇamahābhāṣya with Bhāṣyapradīpa and Bhāṣyapradīpoddyota (Vols. 1 –6). Varanasi: Caukhambā Saṁsk ṛta Pratiṣṭhāna. Reprint of Nirṇaya Sāgara Press Edition.
Sharma, A., and K. Deshpande (eds). 1996. Kāśikā: A Commentary on Pāṇini’s Grammar (2 Parts). Hyderabad: Sanskrit Academy, Osmania University.
Thieme, P. 1956. Pāṇini and the Pāṇinīyas. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 76(1): 1 –23.
Vasu, S. C. (4d). 1905 –1907. The Siddhāntakaumudī of Bhaṭṭojī Dīkṣita (3 Vols.) [with English translation and commentary]. Allahabad: The Pāṇini Office, Bhuvaneshwari Ashram.
Vergiani, V. (2011). Dealing with Conflicting Views within the Pāṇinian Tradition: On the Derivation of Tyad ṛś etc. In F. Squarcini (ed.), Boundaries, Dynamics and Construction of Traditions in South Asia. London: Anthem Press: 411 –433.
Wujastyk, D. (1983). Do Paribhāṣās Wrongly Immunize Pāṇini’s Theory Against Criticism? In: S. D. Joshi, and S. D. Laddu (eds ), Proceedings of The International Seminar on Studies in the Aṣṭādhyāyī. Poona: Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona: 97 –103.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
