________________ xlvi Panini. To any grammar, which is orderly and scientifically composed of sutras, a well organised system of the Dhatupatha and the Ganapatha is not only important but also essential130. Notwithstanding the considerable prevalence of the gana-style in earlier and later times, the Ganapatha of none of the schools, whether Pre-Paninian or Post-Paninian, is as developed and systematic as that of Panini which includes words both Vedic and classical, and also deals with accentuation. The long line of later grammarians had composed their Ganas merely by making slight alterations in the Ganas of Panini, leaving out Vedic words and accentuation altogether, and showing little originality 131 Though the primary purpose of the Ganapatha is to supplement the rules of grammar, its cultural importance cannot be ignored; for; it contains considerable materials, such as the names of several grammarians, e. g. Pauskarasadi, Kasakrstsna, Madhyandina, Apisali and Vyadi, of tribes, sanghas, gotras, professions, literary works, various branches of knowledge as well as the names of janapadas, nagaras and gramas, and those of mountains, rivers, forests, etc:32. There is, however, not a single manuscript of the Ganapatha of Panini which may be relied upon as authentic. Not only this but when the Ganapathas of the other systems are compared with that of Panini, the number of variant readings increase to such an extent that it becomes difficult to determine the original reading. The process of interpolations had already started by the time of Patanjali, as is clear from the passages in the Mahabhasya in which there is a discussion on some Vartikas about the retainment of certain word in the Ganapatha. By the time of the Kasika the number of interpolations must have considerably increased as is evident from the variants tva and tvat in the Sarvadi-gana; asyahatya and asyaheti in Anusatikadi; and paka, paka and paku for the second member of the expression ksane-paka, in Nyankvadi-gana, etc. While citing the variants and pointing out the incorrect readings, the authors of the Kasika have not escaped the charge of being interpolators and meddlers with the text. Following the same tradition or the trend, the later grammarians of other schools like sakatayana, Jainendra, Buddhisagara, Bhoja, Hemacandra and Vardhamana, also made several alterations and swelled their Ganapathas with interpolations. Much of the confusion that has resulted from the meddlesomeness of the commentators and later grammarians with the text of Panini's Ganapatha, would not have occurred had the number of words in a Gana been specified. The mere placing of the term vrt at the end of a gana to indicate its termination, as was perhaps devised by Panini himself, could
