________________
Pāninian Sūtras of the Type अन्येभ्योऽपि दृश्यते
George Cardona
:
1. The1 Mahābhāṣya on Aṣṭādhyāyī 6.3.109 (f) has a well known discussion concerning model Sanskrit speakers, referred to as f:. The question is posed: If the śistas are the authority with respect to correct speech forms, what purpose does the Aṣṭādhyāyī serve? The answer is The Aṣṭādhyāyī serves to make one know the śistas, as follows. Someone who is studying the Aṣṭādhyāyī observes that someone else, although he is not studying this grammar, uses the correct forms that are provided for therein. The student then reasons: Due to the grace of fate that is his or to his nature, this person uses the correct forms provided for in the Aṣṭādhyāyī without studying it. I reason that he knows other correct forms too2. According to Patañjali, then, a śista is not only a model for the correct speech forms explicitly provided for (fafe: :) through operations stated in sutras of the Aṣṭādhyāyī but he also knows other correct speech forms (3), which are not explicitly provided for in this manner. In this way, the Aṣṭādhyāyī serves not only to account directly for correct speech forms but also to account indirectly for such forms, by referring to the usage of accepted model speakers. As Hari puts it3: the grammar serves as a means for conveying the correctness of items of the type qe by virtue of their being sista usage, because one knows who the śistas are.
What Paniniyas say concerning Aṣṭādhyāyī 6. 3. 109 thus has important implications for the concept of what a grammar is supposed to accomplish. To begin with, a grammar is a means of explaining (3) through derivation the accepted usage that is the object of description. In addition, it is taken for granted that this usage includes open sets of items the grammar does not account for directly through description, so that Pāņini recognizes a living native language that is developing. The distinction in question is
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
