Chapter 24.4 - Post-Paninian Grammars

[Full title: Vyakarana-Shastra (grammar) (4): Post-Paninian Grammars]

The Katantra School: The earliest of the post-paninian Schools is, the, Katantra (little treatise)! It is also known by two other

names, Kaumara and Kalapaka according to two traditions associated with its origin. The author of Katantra, Sarvavarman, is said to have propitiated Lord Siva who in turn bade KumaraKarttikeya, his son, to give instruction to Sarvavarman, thus the work came to be called Kaumara. Kumara Karttikeya is said to have inscribed it in the first instance on the tail (kalapa) of his peacock and thus the work came to be called Kalapaka, or because of the incorporation into it of some parts from a bigger treatise, 26 an obvious reference to brevity, for it is the shortest extant grammar. Katantra was composed by Sarvavarman in about the first century A.D.27 for a Satavahana king, 28 as a tradition recorded in an old text would have us believe.29 A Vrtti on it was written by Durgasimha in the eighth century; and on the Vrtti a Nyasa (an elaborate commentary) called Sisyahita, was written by Ugrabhuti in the eleventh century. A number of other commentaries on Katantra were also written. Katantra also appears in Tibetan translation with a supplement and Durgasimha's commentary. Katantra had a considerable influence on the Pali grammarian Kaccayana and also on the Dravidian grammarians, and is still popular in Bengal. Candra Candra Vyakarana by the Buddhist scholar Candragomin (fifth century) is a work longer than Katantra but shorter than Astadhyayi, being three-fourth of the length of the Astadhyayi. It was once popular in the Buddhist regions of Kashmir, Tibet, and Nepal. According to internal evidence, it was composed in about A.D. 470, the reference in the text being to the victory of a Jarta king over the Hunas. 'Jarta' is taken to be a corruption for 'Gupta', and the king was, most probably, Skandagupta. From external evidence, however, its date of composition seems to be A.D. 600, the date mentioned in the accounts of the Chinese travellers. Candragomin, who is also called Candracarya, mentions in the beginning of his own Vrtti on Candra Vyakarana that the special characteristics of his grammar are abrevity, lucidity, and comprehensiveness. He

was also versed in Patanjali's Mahabhasya, and was linked with the revival of its study, as Bhartrhari and Kalhana (12 th cen.) testify. Jainendra Although the Jainendra Vyakarana is considered the work of Jina Mahavira himself , it was actually composed by Pujyapada Devanandin (sixth century). The colophons in the manuscript itself testify to this. It is a sort of condensation of the works of Panini, Katyayana, and Patanjali; it has a recast, meant for beginners, called Panca-vastu. Two recensions of the Jainendra Vyakarana are extant, the northern and the southern. There is wide divergence between the two texts, for the northern recension has about three thousand sutras while the southern has three thousand seven hundred. There are also many variations in expression in the sutras. There are two Vrttis on the Jainendra Vyakarana: the Mahavrtti by Abhayanandin and the Laghu-jainendra by Mahacandra. There is also a Nyasa, Sabdambhoja-bhaskara, by Prabhacandra (A.D. 1075-1125). Sakatayana: The Sabdanusana by Palyakirti (ninth century) now goes by the name of Sakatayana Vyakarana. It was composed during the reign of the Rastrakuta King Amoghavarsa I (A.D. 814-77). The evidence for this is furnished by the fact that he gave the name Amogha to the extensive commentary he wrote on his own work, and also by the actual mention of the name of the king in one of the illustrations.30 Prabhacandra wrote a Nyasa on the Amogha-vrtti. Yaksavarman wrote a commentary, Cintamani on the Sakatayana Vyakarana, in which he alluded to its all-comprehensive nature; the sutras, he said, included what in other grammars would be conveyed by istis (grammatical principles) or by upasamkhyanas (additional grammatical rules). Siddha-Hemacandra: The Siddha-Hemacandra, or simply the Haima Vyakarana, was based on the Sakatayana Vyakarana and was written by Hemacandra Suri for King cc-oJayasimbat Siddharaja. The king procured from Kashmir Delhi Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

eight older works for Hemacandra Suri's use. The Haima Vyakarana is a grammar of Prakrit as well as of Sanskrit; its 3,566 sutras, constituting the first seven adhyayas, deal with Sanskrit grammar. The work is a good manual, practical in arrangement and terminology-an aspect in which it agrees mainly with the Katantra. It omits Vedic grammar and accent. Hemacandra Suri wrote his work in two versions called Laghvi, the shorter, and Brhati, the longer. He also wrote a vrtti on his work, and an extensive treatise called the Brhannyasa. Sarasvatikanthabharana: The most extensive of the grammars is the Sarasvatikanthabharana written by the Paramara King Bhoja (eleventh century A.D.). The total number of sutras in it is 6,421, which is 2,426 more than even the Astadhyayi has. This is because, included in the very sutras are the unadis (the siffix un etc.), the paribhasas, and the ganas (groups of words). The first seven adhyayas of the work are devoted to Sanskrit grammar, while the eighth deals with Vedic grammar and accent. There are three commentaries on it Hrdaya-harini by Dandanatha Narayana Bhatta; Purusakara by Krsnalilasuka Muni; and Ratna-darpana by Ramasimhadeva. Grammars continued to be written in later centuries too, but they could at best find only local acceptance. Of these, the following four are of some importance: Samksiptasara: Kramadisvara wrote the Samksiptasara after 1150. In its first seven adhyayas it deals with Sanskrit grammar, and in the eighth with Prakrit grammar. This work is also known as the Jaumara after its redactor Jumaranandin. In the colophons to many of the manuscripts Jumaranandin is styled Maharajadhiraja. Goyicandra Autthasanika, a later writer, appended supplements to the grammar and wrote commentaries on its sutras, unadis, and the paribhasas. The Samksiptasara, however, was popular only in the western part of Bengal.

Mugdhabodha: Among the works written by Vopadeva (thirteenth century), who flourished under King Mahadeva of Devagiri , was the Mugdhabodha , a small manual on grammar. Many commentaries have been written on it , the best known among them being the one by Durgadasa Vidyavagisa (seventeenth century A.D. ). The Mugdhabodha attained great popularity in Bengal, and it is still in use there. Two other works by Vopadeva are the Kavi-kalpadruma, a work on roots, and a commentary on this called Kamadhenu. Supadma: Written in 1375 by Padmanabha (fourteenth century A.D.), the Supadma Vyakarana was popular in the eastern part of Bengal. Five commentaries have been written on it, including the Panjika by the author himself and the Supadmamakaranda by Visnu Misra. Sarasvata This grammar is traditionally ascribed to Anubhutisvarupacarya, although it might actually have been composed by Narendracarya, Anubhutisvarupacarya being merely a prakriyakara. As Vopadeva does not mention this work, it was probably written after him but before the Mohammedan ruler Ghiasuddhin Khilji (A.D. 1469-1500), since one of his ministers, Punyaraja, wrote an extensive commentary on it called Prakriya. This grammar has been widely commented upon; in fact, it has as many as eighteen commentaries and two recasts. Linganusasanas: Of some grammatical importance are the treatises on gender known as the Linganusasanas. Some of them are ascribed to Panini, Vararuci, Sakatayana and Hemacandra (twelfth century). There are two about whose date and authorship there is no dispute. These are by Harsadeva (A.D. 606-47) and by Vamana (A.D. 800).

References 1. I. 24. 2. VI. 4.7 3. Panini's reference to earlier acaryas in IV. 1.17; IV.1.157; VII. etc. 4. Apisali (VI. 1.92), Kasyapa (VIII. 4.67), Gargya (VII. 3.99; VIII. 3.20; VIII. 4.67), Galava (VI. 3.61; VII. 1.74; VIII. 4.67), Cakravarmana (VI. 1.130), Bharadvaja (VII. 2.64), Sakatayana (III. 4.3; VIII. 3.18; VIII. 4.50), Sakalya (I. 1.16; VI. 1.127; VIII. 3.19; VIII. 4.51), Sphotayana (VI. 1.123). 5. Shastri, M. D., 'The Relation of Panini's Technical Devices to his Predecessors', Proceedings and Transactions of the All India Oriental Conference, 4 th Session, Vol. II, 1928, pp. 465-74. 6. Pawate, I. S., The Structure of the Astadhyayi, Chapters VIII and IX, pp. 93, 109. 7. II. 31.2. 8. Bhartrhari, Mahabhasyadipika, MS., p.30; Punyaraja, Vakyapadiyatika, Benares Sanskrit Series, Benares, p. 383; Nagesa. Mahabhasya Pradipoddyota, Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, 1917, Vol. p. 55. 9. Vide: simho vyakaranasya kartur aharat pranan priyan panineh, Pancatantra, II. 36. 10. Aryamanjusrimulakalpa, p. 427; Kathasaritsagara, I. 4. 11. Cf. itipanini. tatpanini. Paninisabdo loke prakasate... and ... akumaram yasah panineh.-Kasika under the sutras II. 1.6, 13. 12. Keith, A. B., HSL, pp. 423-24. 13. V. 3.69 14. III. 1.26 15. III.2.3 16. Vakyapadiya, II. 4.89. 17. Rajatarangini, I. 176. 18. Being published serially in the Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. 19. The Vakyapadiya of Bhartrhari, University of Poona Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, Vol. II, 1965, Introduction, p. xiii. 20. Sadhu Ram, 'The Date of Bharthari', Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute, Allababad, Vol. IX, Part II, 1952.

An era founded by a Saka king Salivahana approximately A.D. 78. 22. Shrish Chandra Chakravarti assigns Nyasa to A.D. 725-50. See Introduction to his edition of the Nyasa, Varendra Research Society, Rajashahi, 1913, p. 26. 23. ibid., Yudhisthira Mimamsaka places Haradatta Misra in A.D. 1058, vide Samskrta Vyakarana Sastra ka Itihasa , Second edition, Samvat 2020 , p. 473. On the authority of the Bhavisya-purana, Jacobi believes that Haradatta died by about A.D. 878, JBBRAS., Vol. XXIII, p. 31. 24. K. P. Trivedi takes Dharmakirti and Vimalasarasvati to be contemporaries. According to him the Rupavatara and the Rupamala were composed about the same time; vide Introduction to his edition of the Prakriyakaumudi, Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, No. LXXIII, 1925, p. xxxiii. 25. phanibhasitabhasyabdheh sabdakaustubham uddhare, verse 3. 26. Vide Hemacandra: Brhattantrat kala apibati, Yudhisthira Mimamsaka, Samskrta Vyakarana Sastra ka Itihasa, Second edition, Samvat 2020, p. 502. 27. Winternitz, HIL, Vol. III, Part II, p. 439. 28. The king was not well versed in Sanskrit. To instruct him within six months, Sarvarvarman composed Katantra grammar. 29. Kathasaritsagara, I. 6-7. 30. adahad amoghavarso'ratin.