Studies on Panini's grammar - DWC

11. THE METHOOS AND MANNERISMS OF COMPOSITION
IN PANINI'S ASTÄDHYÄYI.
§§ 69-93. The fundamental notions of Hindu gramm~r. Main and
subsidiary principles of PäJ}.ini's form of composition. Ten~
dency towards dichotomy in the main divisions.
§ 69. Th e H in d u a n d Eu rop e a n sc i e n c e 0 f 9 ram mar.
Hindu grammar di Hers from its European sister~science partly by its
fundamental notions, partly by its literary composition and its form of
description, of which the algebraic anubandha~system and further mnemo~
technicaI means such as the use of adhikäras and in general of anuvrtti in
a continuous series of sutras form characteristic features.
Whereas European grammar in its traditional form is based on two sets
of notions, the notions bearing on sentence~analysis such as subject,
predicate, object, etc. and the notions of the parts of speech, substantives,
adjectives, etc., Hindu gram mar is in this respect rather undeveloped,
operating on the one hand with notions that lack systematisation such as
upapada, käraka, samänädhikara1J.atva, vise~a1J.a and dividing on the other
hand the words into two wide categories: A. atiTi (either used as a complete
word or as first member of a compound) and B. tiTi (the finite verb), and
sltbdividing the former category into Aa sup. declined word, corresponding
to the European notions of substantive, adjective, pronoun and numeral,.
and Ab avyaya, containing not only the particles, conjunctions, adverbs,
prefixes but also the deverbative indeclinables i.e. the absolutives and
infinitives.
In the first part of these studies all these notions have been amply
explained and examined; the following pages deal with the form of literary
composition.
Not e. T h e c a r din a I n u mer a I sas dec I i n a bie s. -
Whereas in the European languages the cardinals with a few exceptions
are indeclinable, they were in Sanskrit all subjected to declension, a
linguistic feature which gives PäJ}.ini's simple classification a peculiar fitness
for the language which he describes.
§ 70. M a i n p rin c i p les 0 f P ä J}. i n i 's f 0 r m sof I i ter a r y
co m pos i t ion: m n e mot e c h n i c a I e con 0 m y, log i c a I
d i v i s ion a n das s 0 c i a t i v e d i 9 r e s s ion.
These principles may be considered to be primary in PäJ}.ini' s technique
of composition: (1) mnemotechnical economy, (2) logical division, and (3)
associative digression (präsaTigika).
..