Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
verted order is provided for, and no new rule is necessary. How it is so, Patanjali tells us as follows:-"Yaj denotes several actions. It does not necessarily signify the throwing of the oblations into the fire, but also giving money, or providing the means of the sacrifice. For instance, they say 'O how well he sacrifices,' in the case of one who provides the means properly. That providing of the means, or giving money, is done by Pushpamitra, and the sacrificing priests cause him so to provide or so to become the sacrificer. In this sense, then, Pushpamitra sacrifices (yajate), and the priests cause him to perform it (yájayanti)." This is the uninverted or the usual order. In the sense of throwing the oblations into the fire, the other is the correct order."
In this instance we see Patanjali speaks of the sacrifices of Pushpamitra as if he were familiar with them; and by itself this passage shows that he could not have lived long after him, certainly not so long as 175 years after, as Prof. Weber makes out. But the other instance pointed out in page 300 vol. I. of the Antiquary, in which his sacrifices are spoken of as if going on, shows that he lived in Pushpamitra's time. The three passages, then, in which his name occurs, are perfectly consistent with, and confirm, each other.
PATANJALI'S NATIVE PLACE.
Indian tradition makes the author of the Mahâbhâshya a native of a country called Gonarda, which is spoken of by the grammarians as an eastern country. The Mâtsya Purana also enumerates it amongst the countries in that direction. The position of Patanjali's native place, whether it was Gonarda or some other, can, I think, be pretty definitely fixed by means of certain passages in his work. In his comments on III. 3, 136, the two following passages occur: -Yoyam adhvá gata á Pátaliputrát tasya yadavaram Súketát- Of the distance or path from Pâtaliputra which has been traversed [such a thing was done in] that part of it which is on this side of Sâketa;' and yoyam adhrá á Pátaliputrád gantavyas tasya yat param Sáketát Of the distance or path up to Pâțaliputra which is to
Pan. III. 1, 26. Kâtya, agafa: Patan. ययादिषु चाविर्यासो वक्तव्य: । पुष्पमित्रो यजते याजका याजयउन्तीति । तत्र भवितव्यं पुष्यमित्री याजयते याजका यजन्तीति । Katy waity wife arautuvą | Patan. यत्यादिषु चात्रिपर्यास :सिद्ध: । कुत: । नानाक्रिया
[MARCH, 1873.
be traversed [something will be done in] that portion which lies on that side of Sâketa.† In these two instances we see that the limit of the distance is Pâțaliputra, and that it is divided into two parts, one of which is on this side of Sâketa, and the other on that. Sâketa, then, must be in the middle, i.e., on the way from the place represented by this' in the expression this side,' to Pâtaliputra. This place must be that where Patanjali speaks or writes; and it must, we see, be in the line connecting Sâketa and Pâțaliputra on the side of it remote from Pataliputra. The bearing of Oudh from Pâtna is north-west by west; Patanjali's native place, therefore, must have been somewhere to the north-west by west of Oudh. Prof. Weber thinks he lived to the east of Pâtaliputra; but of this I have spoken elsewhere.
Let us now see whether the information thus gathered can be brought into harmony with the tradition mentioned above. The exact position of Gonarda is not known; but if it really was Patanjali's country, it must have been situated somewhere to the north or north-west of Oudh. Now, there is a district thereabouts which is known by the name of Gonda, and there is also a town of that name about 20 miles to the north-west of Oudh. According to the usual rules of corruption, Sansk. rda () is in the Prâkrits corrupted to dda (), but sometimes also it is changed to dḍa (3). Gonarda, therefore, must in the Prakrit assume the form Gonadda. Hasty pronunciation elides the a, and, in the later stages of the development of the Prakrits, one of the two similar consonants is rejected. The form is thus reduced to Gonda, which is the way in which it is now pronounced. General Cunningham derives Gonda from Gau la.§ But, so far as I am aware, there are no instances of the insertion of a nasal in a Prakrit word, when it does not exist in the corresponding Sanskrit one. It appears, therefore, very probable that the district of Gonda in Oudh was the ancient Gonarda, and had the honour of giving birth to the great author of the Mahâbhâshya.
THE NATIVE COUNTRY OF KATYA'YANA. Prof. Weber is of opinion that Katyayana was one of the eastern grammarians, and Dr.
ययर्थतात् । नानाक्रिया पजेरर्था: । नावश्यं यजिवि : प्रक्षेपण एव वर्तते । किं तर्हि त्यागेपि वर्तते, &c.
I omit the grammatical details of this as not necessary. See Var. Pråkr. Praka. III. 26.
§ Anc. Geog. p. 408, and Arch. Surv. vol. I., p. 327.