Pāṇini: His Work and Its Traditions

829 Pages·1997·44.521 MB·English

by  George Cardona

PANINI: HIS WORK AND ITS
TRADITIONS
VOLUME ONE
Background and Introduction
Panini
GEORGE CARDONA
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS
PRIVATE LIMITED «DELHI
HIS WORK AND
ITS TRADITIONS
Volume One
Background
and Introduction
Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged
First Published: Delhi, 1988
Second Revised & Enlarged Edition: Delhi, 1997
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 81-208-0419-8
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Introduction to the first edition
This book is the first part of a large study in which I treat
the work of Pänini and Pâninïyas. As a preliminary to this work» I
covered a considerable amount of the secondary literature on the
topic in a bibliographic survey published in 1976: Pänini, a survey
of research (The Hague: Mouton; reprinted 1980, Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass).
In my study, I consider not only Pänini's Astädhyäyi with
its ancillary texts but also a great part of the commentatorial literature
that surrounds this treatise, starting with Kätyäyana's värttikas as
found in the Mahäbhäsya of Patañjali, in order to give a relatively
full picture of the extensive and insightful thinking about language,
centered upon Indo-Aryan languages but of more general interest
to linguists and Indologists alike, found in these and related works.
The projected complete study of which the present volume
is the first part is divided as follows:
I. Background and introduction.
H. Kinds of rules in the Astädhyäyi and how they are related.
HI. Metalanguage: ULI. Paribhäsäsütras ffl.2. Samjnäsütras:
Rules concerning general conventions and classes of elements
other than markers or kärakas [Appendix: Sound classes
recognized in prätisäkhya and siksä works] m.3. Saihjnäsütras:
Markers III.4. Samjnäsfltras: käraka classes.
IV. Affixation rules: IV. 1. Verbal affixes IV.2. Nominal
affixes.
V. Formation of derived bases: V. 1 : Derived verbs V.2.
Derived nomináis: V.2.1. Derivates with krt affixes V.2.2.
Compounds V.2.3. Derivates with taddhita affixes.
VI. Rules providing for augments, replacements, and
accentuation: VI. 1. Verb suppletion VI.2. Iterating padas VI.3.
Base and affix substitution and augmenting VIA Background for
Pänini's phonological sütras: Prätisäkhya rules VI.5. Sound
replacement in general VL6. Accentual rules.
VII. Päninian sütras concerning dialects: VDLL Vedic rules
Vn.2. Others.
vi Plníni
VIIL Syntax and stylistics of the Astldhylyï: VIII. 1. Syntax of
sûtras VIII2. Stylistics VIII.3. Terminology.
In addition, there will be a complete index of Päninian
sQtras and of passages dealt with from works other than the
AstädhylyL As can be seen from this outline, I shall consider not
only works directly in the Päninian traditions but also works of
non-Paninian traditions. Moreover, I plan to devote at least one
separate volume to questions of semantics and "philosophy of
grammar" in general» dealing with issues that have been considered
in treatises such as Bhartrhari's Vakyapadïya, Kaundabhatta's
Vaiyäkaranabhusana and its abridged version, the Vaiylkarana-
bhusanaslra» Nägesa's Vaiyäkaranasiddhlntamanjüsl with the
Vaiyäkaranasiddhäntalaghumanjösl and Vaiylkaranasiddhlnta-
paramalaghumañjüsl, as well as in treatises whose principal concerns
are not strictly grammar.
The bibliography connected with this field is already quite
extensive, as one can readily see even from the sample given in my
Panini a survey of research, and contributions continue to be made
f
year by year. Were I to spend time dealing, even in a fairly
cursory manner, with this secondary literature, I would be unable
to present, in the manner I wish to, my own thoughts about Panini's
work and how it has been interpreted both by Plninïyas and in
various other schools of Indian thought. Moreover, experience has
shown me the wisdom of Hari's
Hence, in my own study I concentrate on the original texts of
Pânini and other Indian thinkers. Done with the appropriate care
and attention to nuances, this is quite enough to occupy a scholar
for a lifetime. I trust, therefore, that readers will not be disappointed
by or take offense at the absence of references to works by other
modern scholars. I trust also that those who are expert in Päninian
grammar will accept the need for beginning a study like mine with
a fairly rudimentary volume such as this: A general background
has to be set forth to allow discussing in detail procedures, principles,
and problems as dealt with by Panini and his successors. The very
Pânini vii
nature of this first volume also has made it inadvisable, in my
opinion, to include in it an index locorum. The extensive cross
references make it possible for the reader always to get back to
where a particular sutra is first introduced and explained, and the
table of contents is sufficiently detailed to allow me to dispense
with a full index. Of course, the explanations given here are brief.
Full discussions of various interpretations, with arguments presented
by various Pininïyas, will appear in subsequent volumes.
Some portions of the complete work outlined above have
been in typescipt and draft form for several years, and I distributed
copies to several scholars in 1969, 1976, 1977, and 1979. I hope
that I shall now be able to complete subsequent parts more quickly,
so that the entire work will be completed in a reasonable time.
I am happy to acknowledge the generous help I have received
in working on this volume and others. Over the years, from 1969
on, I have received financial aid from the American Council of
Learned Societies, the National Science Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Insitute of Indian
Studies, and in 1971-1972 I was able to spend a delightful and
fruitful year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences in Palo Alto. To all of these I express my sincere gratitude.
My former students Madhav M. Deshpande, Jayashree A.
Gune, Peter E. Hook, Dayashankar M. Joshi, Ivan Sag, Elliot Stern,
and Kapil Muni Tiwary have helped me during many discussions
from which I gained insights. My colleague Hans H. Hock read
parts of my work and during the summer of 1978, while I was at
the University of Illinois, I profited from direct discussions with
him. To Ramanath Sharma and his father Raghunath Sharma I
owe more than can be put into words. Over a stretch of ten years,
Pandit Raghunath Sharma has more than generously shared his
enormous erudition with me. His son and my friend Ramanath has
always cheerfully read what I have written and given a great deal
of time to sharing his thoughts about this with me, to my benefit.
My current students Timothy Cahill and Peter Scharf have done
me the great favor of reading through the present volume with
diligent care, thus helping me to clarify quite a few passages and to
viii Pinini
avoid several errors. I also cannot fail to mention my indebtedness
to Ashok N. Aklujkar. Not only have I gained enormously from
discussions over the years with this most erudite vaiylkarana, I
also received his technical assistance. The text of this volume was
set up on an Apple Macintosh computer with software that includes
Devanâgarï fonts elaborated by Ashok and his colleagues at the
University of British Columbia. Ashok cooperatively came to my
aid when I needed it most. Finally» I am happy to thank Dhanesh
K. Jain, who invited me to contribute this volume for publication
by Motilal Banarsidass, then waited patiently for nine years while I
reworked it several times, and to Narendra Prakash Jain, who
graciously cooperated in seeing to the publication of this volume.
All these students, colleagues, and friends have my deep and lasting
gratitude.
My greatest intellectual and spiritual debt, of course, is to
my teachers in this area of study. One .of these I have already
mentioned. To the memory of another, my very first Indian teacher,
Jagannâtha S. Pade aâstrï, who introduced me to the traditional
study of Pâninian grammar and other sastras, I gratefully dedicate
this volume, knowing that a truly learned yet modest scholar such
as he would both appreciate the effort that has gone into this work
and forgive its faults:
*p?T
Philadelphia George Cardona
March 15,1987