The Development of Sanskrit From Panini To Patanjali

Description

The Development of Sanskrit From Panini To Patanjali The work is well planned and systematically executed. The methodology adopted is convincing and the principles followed are sound. It follows the same method as in Dr. S.D. Laddu’s work of the same name but dealing with a different set of primary suffixes, and is, in a way, its continuation. The suffixes in question are classified on the basis of the tenses they are laid down to denote, and, under each, the illustrations are examined with regard to their form and significance. The author is well aware of the difficulties in the sources, namely the Sutras, Varttikas and Bhasya, present in understanding them aright as well as the facilities they present in the matter. The investigation, though confined to a small section of the vast Planiniyan system is thorough and the finding generally acceptable.

It is a rare fortune for the science of language that the features of the Sanskrit language, of the centuries before Christ, when it was a living speech were very authentically observed by such great scholars as Panini, Kätyäyana and other Värttikakäras and Patañjali. A good many forms and expressions of Panini’s times were getting obsolete after sometime, new expressions were arising, while some old ones were undergoing phonetic, morphological or semantic changes. In the words of A.M. GHATAGE (Historical Linguistics and Indo-Aryan Languages, 1962, p. 106); “By the process of additions and reinterpretations, both Kätyäyana and Patañjali have succeeded in extending the scope of Päņini’s rules so as to cover many recent features of Classical Sanskrit, and some others they refused to sanction as authroritative being not used by the Sistas””.

To try to reconstruct a history of the usages in this creative period of Sanskrit is a task very profitable for the historical study of Sanskrit. It is at the same time made complicated by various kinds of difficulties in the way. An objective study of all these is of great value in order to discover the final picture of “development” of the language.”