ORIENTAL SERIES.

228 PAN1NL
Christian era. PamZya was well known to the Eomans as the
kingdom of King Pandion, who is said to have sent ambassadors
on two different occasions to Augustus Caesar. Its capital was
Madura, the Southern Matlmra* Paw^ya seems to have fallen
under the ascendancy of the Chola kings in the seventh or
eighth century.
^ PAJVINI. The celebrated grammarian, author of the work
called Pamiriyam. This is the standard authority on Sansk?'ft
grammar, and it is held in such respect and reverence that it is
considered to have "been written by inspiration. So in old times
Pamni was placed among the jRishis, and in more modern days
he is represented to have received a large portion of his work by
direct inspiration from the god Siva. It is also said that he
was so dull a child that he was expelled from school, but the
favour of $iva placed him. foremost in knowledge. He was not
the first grammarian, for he refers to the works of several who
preceded him. The grammars which have been written since
his time are numberless, but although some of them are of great
excellence and much in use, Pa/mni still reigns supreme, and
his rules are incontestable.
" His work/ 3
says
Professor Wil-
liams, " is perhaps the most original of all productions of the
Hindu mind," The work is written in the form of Sutras or
aphorisms, of which it contains 3996, arranged in eight (ashta)
chapters (adhydya), from which the work is sometimes called
Ash&dhyayl. These aphorisms are exceedingly terse and complicated.
Special training and study are required to reach their
meaning. Colebrooke remarks, that " the endless pursuit of
exceptions and limitations so disjoins the general precepts, that
the reader cannot keep in view their intended connection and
mutual relations. He wanders in an intricate maze, and the key
of the labyrinth is continually slipping from his hand." But it
has been well observed that there is a great difference between
the European and Hindu ideas of a grammar. In Europe, gram-
mar has hitherto been looked upon as only a means to an end,
the medium through which a knowledge of language and litera-
ture is acquired. With the Pawcfit, grammar was a science ; it
was studied for its own sake, and investigated with the most
minnte criticism ; hence, as Goldstiicker says, " Panini's work is
indeed a kind of natural history of the Sanskrit language/'
Pamni was a native of fi'alatura, in the country of Gandhara,