Posted on: 23 January 2015

Digital Rare Book:
The Ashtadhyayi of PANINI
Translated into English by Srisa Chandra Vas
Published by Sindhu Charan Bose, at the Panini Office in Benares - 1897
Volume 6
In Sanskrit

Read Book Online:

http://bit.ly/1ySrOHP

Panini was born in Shalatula, a town near to Attock on the Indus river in present day Pakistan. The dates given for Panini are pure guesses. Experts give dates in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th century BC and there is also no agreement among historians about the extent of the work which he undertook. What is in little doubt is that, given the period in which he worked, he is one of the most innovative people in the whole development of knowledge. We will say a little more below about how historians have gone about trying to pinpoint the date when Panini lived.

Panini was a Sanskrit grammarian who gave a comprehensive and scientific theory of phonetics, phonology, and morphology. Sanskrit was the classical literary language of the Indian Hindus and Panini is considered the founder of the language and literature. It is interesting to note that the word "Sanskrit" means "complete" or "perfect" and it was thought of as the divine language, or language of the gods.

A treatise called Astadhyayi (or Astaka ) is Panini's major work. It consists of eight chapters, each subdivided into quarter chapters. In this work Panini distinguishes between the language of sacred texts and the usual language of communication. Panini gives formal production rules and definitions to describe Sanskrit grammar. Starting with about 1700 basic elements like nouns, verbs, vowels, consonants he put them into classes. The construction of sentences, compound nouns etc. is explained as ordered rules operating on underlying structures in a manner similar to modern theory. In many ways Panini's constructions are similar to the way that a mathematical function is defined today. Joseph writes in [2]:-

[Sanskrit's] potential for scientific use was greatly enhanced as a result of the thorough systemisation of its grammar by Panini. ... On the basis of just under 4000 sutras [rules expressed as aphorisms], he built virtually the whole structure of the Sanskrit language, whose general 'shape' hardly changed for the next two thousand years. ... An indirect consequence of Panini's efforts to increase the linguistic facility of Sanskrit soon became apparent in the character of scientific and mathematical literature. This may be brought out by comparing the grammar of Sanskrit with the geometry of Euclid - a particularly apposite comparison since, whereas mathematics grew out of philosophy in ancient Greece, it was ... partly an outcome of linguistic developments in India.

Joseph goes on to make a convincing argument for the algebraic nature of Indian mathematics arising as a consequence of the structure of the Sanskrit language. In particular he suggests that algebraic reasoning, the Indian way of representing numbers by words, and ultimately the development of modern number systems in India, are linked through the structure of language.

Panini should be thought of as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages. The Backus Normal Form was discovered independently by John Backus in 1959, but Panini's notation is equivalent in its power to that of Backus and has many similar properties. It is remarkable to think that concepts which are fundamental to today's theoretical computer science should have their origin with an Indian genius around 2500 years ago.

At the beginning of this article we mentioned that certain concepts had been attributed to Panini by certain historians which others dispute. One such theory was put forward by B Indraji in 1876. He claimed that the Brahmi numerals developed out of using letters or syllables as numerals. Then he put the finishing touches to the theory by suggesting that Panini in the eighth century BC (earlier than most historians place Panini) was the first to come up with the idea of using letters of the alphabet to represent numbers.

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The grammar of lions By Salma Mahmud The aplomb with which the great grammarian Panini met his gory death at the hands of a ferocious lion is a lesson to us all. That ancient collection of animal fables, the Panchatantra, c. 3rd century BC, mentions his death as an accepted fact. There is also a most intriguing fable expounded in The Heartbeat of the Absolute by Osho or Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh Mahesh Yogi, in the 20th century, which describes the same event. Panini was teaching grammar to his pupils in his forest ashram in Taxila, when a roaring lion came bounding up to them. He asked his pupils to listen to the lion's roaring and try to work out its grammatical form. The lion is poised, ready to pounce, the pupils are trembling with fear, and Panini works out the grammatical form of the roar. It is said that even when the lion fell upon him he continued to explain the grammatical form of its roaring. And as the lion devoured him he expounded on the grammatical form of 'The lion kills the man.' Read more: http://bit.ly/15lYI8Z

"Panini should be thought of as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages. The Backus Normal Form was discovered independently by John Backus in 1959, but Panini's notation is equivalent in its power to that of Backus and has many similar properties. It is remarkable to think that concepts which are fundamental to today's theoretical computer science should have their origin with an Indian genius around 2500 years ago." Source: http://bit.ly/1CKcdKJ

Thank you for sharing this.

Panini was cool!

great.

Very great Thank u for sharing this

most inspiring scholar.... Panini the great Indian ......

http://vaeyurutholibangan.blogspot.in/2014/08/tamil-vs-sanskrit-part-ii.html

Greatetest forever Panini !

Gr8

Sanskrit ke grammar ke paraneta Ka samman

Panini Agrees !

Thanks for sharing such a informative article on the great Panini. .

There are wrong perceptions about sanskrit and its grammar. It is well known that Sanskrit never be living language at any time and for any population. Vedic period is imaginative one. It was created by British to please brahmins and accordingly history was created. Sir William Jones boosted Sanskrit as India is sanskrit idiotically. That false notion spread all over world. Now scholars unable to come out of narrow boundary. They glorify sanskrit for their bread and butter. This how Max Muller got prosperity through Sanskrit. He himself mentioned in his biography. What are fault lines about sanskrit. 1. Sanskrit developed in 8th century christian era to standardise all difference as it was oral language for brahmins to chant mantras for mantras and tantras.2. The Aryan community entered India areas after they could not follow their practices after Islamic revolution and dominations at their region during 786 CE.3. What was in Avesta modified as reverse order to form new religious culture 4, Sanskrit was formed during puranas were encouraged to expose so called vedas rig, sama Upanishads .in competition in which Indira was head of heaven.. 5. Panini Grammar was based on Tamil grammar Tholkaapium 6. Panini created language based on sounds of spoken form and complicated the grammar and failed to popularise.7. Only Max Mullar simplified on his own and made it teachable way. otherwise,one must spend their life time about 40 years totally to learn it.8. To counter this argument, one must learn ancient Tholkappium Tamil grammar and tamil ancient literatures.9 Neither Jones nor Max Muller and others were aware of Tholkaappium.in Tamil. 10. Tamil and Chinese are only two languages living ancient and oriental language in the past 2000years of world. All other languages are recent only.11. Sanskrit scripts were derived from Tamil scripts.

Great and nice ..sweet good morning jai hind

IS THE TOTAL VERSION IS AVAILABLE??

As far as I know, Panini was a grammarian. What has he got to do with astronomy or astrology as this stamp suggests?

..."[Sanskrit's] potential for scientific use was greatly enhanced as a result of the thorough systemisation of its grammar by Panini. ... On the basis of just under 4000 sutras [rules expressed as aphorisms], he built virtually the whole structure of the Sanskrit language, whose general 'shape' hardly changed for the next two thousand years. ... An indirect consequence of Panini's efforts to increase the linguistic facility of Sanskrit soon became apparent in the character of scientific and mathematical literature. This may be brought out by comparing the grammar of Sanskrit with the geometry of Euclid - a particularly apposite comparison since, whereas mathematics grew out of philosophy in ancient Greece, it was ... partly an outcome of linguistic developments in India. Joseph goes on to make a convincing argument for the algebraic nature of Indian mathematics arising as a consequence of the structure of the Sanskrit language. In particular he suggests that algebraic reasoning, the Indian way of representing numbers by words, and ultimately the development of modern number systems in India, are linked through the structure of language. Panini should be thought of as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages. The Backus Normal Form was discovered independently by John Backus in 1959, but Panini's notation is equivalent in its power to that of Backus and has many similar properties. It is remarkable to think that concepts which are fundamental to today's theoretical computer science should have their origin with an Indian genius around 2500 years ago."...

Thanks for the response.

If at all you are saying Tamil is easier to learn and is more handier than sanskrut then you are great!!! May be Tamil is oldest language on earth and may be sanskrut has developed from Tamil, it does not make Tamil more beautiful than Sanskrut !!!!

Brilliant post. Thank you.

Great reading!

I completely disagree with Mr.Dorairaj Anandaraj.