________________ earliest recorded use of the root kr prefixed by 'sam' is found in the Rgveda and the Yajurvedal, but there it is not with the reference to speech or language. Probably, the first or earliest reference to the language by the name Sanskrit is found in the Ramayana of Valmiki"?. 1.3. Ancient Indian tradition also holds that like all other auxiliary disciplines, grammar (vyakarana) too has its origin in the Vedas. The e evidence of the lingustic analysis or grammar is the very existence of the eightfold modification (asta-viksti) of the recitation of the Samhita text of the Vedas, and it is primarily based on the process of splitting the continuous recitational text (samhita-patha) into individual words (pada-patha), which is indirectly referred to in the Yajurveda. And the specific mention of the term Vyakarana' is found in the Ramayana of Valmiki, when Rama remarks that Hanuman must have learnt the Vedas and the grammar since he did not falter even once into pronouncing pure words in the dialectical way. Yaska refers to sakatayana as a grammarian holding a view that nouns are derived from verbs. The Gopatha Brahmana20, the Mundakopanisad21 and the Mahabharata22 mention the term "Vyakarana'. And Patanjali refers to the custom that Brahmins in ancient times began their study of grammar just after their investiture with the sacred thread23. Inclusion of Vyakarana in the list of six auxiliary disciplines (sadarga), viz., Siksa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chandas, Kalpa and Jyotisa, has been evidenced in the Gopatha Brahmana24, the Baudhayana Dharma Sutra25, the Gautama Dharma Sutra26, and the Valmiki Ramayana27. And, the metrical Paniniya Siksa likens these six auxiliary disciplines with different limbs of human body of the Veda28. 1.4. The Gopatha Brahmana testifies to the antiquity of some of the technical terms of traditional Sanskrit grammar, viz., Dhatu, Pratipadika, - Nama, Akhyata, Linga, Vacana, Vibhakti, Pratyaya, Svara, Upasarga, Nipata, Vyakarana, Vikara, Vikari, Matra, Varna, Aksara, Samyoga, Sthana, Nada, Anupradana, Anukarana, etc29. The Rktantra gives a list of authors with whom the tradition of Vyakarana in India started3o, in the current Kalpa Age after the mythological Great Flood. Pandit Yudhisthira Mimamsaka has referred to eighty-five teachers of Vyakarana who preceded Panini"), while Bopadeva has specifically mentioned eight who promulgated their own independent systems of grammar; they are Indra, Candra, Kasakstsna, Apisali, sakatayana, Panini, Amara and Jainendra32 Panini himself has referred to ten of his predecessors, viz., Apisali, Kasyapa, Gargya, Galava, Cakravarman, Bharadvaja, sakatayana, Sakalya, Senaka, Sphotayana, while sixteen more, viz., Siva or Mahesvara, Bshaspati, Indra, Vayu, Bharadvaja,
