SANSCRIT GRAMMAR.

THE peculiar and wonderful structure of the Sanscrit language has almost as much recommended it to the notice of the learned, as the interesting literary monuments it is said to contain c. "It is the most regular language known, and is especially remarkable, as containing the roots of the various languages of Europe, and the Greek, Latin, German, of Sclavonic d."

The Sanscrit possesses one very striking peculiarity. It is that of extending to Syntax the rules for the permutation of letters in Etymology. Similar rules for avoiding incompatible sounds in compound terms exist in all languages; but, in the Sanscrit language, words merely in sequence have an influence upon each other in the change of terminations, and sometimes of initial letters. The rules for this permutation of letters have been more profoundly investigated by Hindoo grammarians than by those of any other nation; and they have completed a system of orthography which may be justly termed euphonical. They require all compound terms to be reduced to this standard; and Sanscrit authors, it may be observed,

c Edinburgh Review, vol. xiii, p. 366.-Wilh. von Humboldt (Jahrb. für wissenschaftl. Kritik, 1829, No. lxxiii, p. 580), speaking of the remarkable grammatical construction of the Sanscrit, says, "No language in the world, that we are acquainted with, possesses, in an equal degree with the Sanscrit, the secret of moulding abstract grammatical ideas into such forms, as by means of simple and closely allied sounds still leave evident traces of the root, which often of itself explains the variation of sound (inasmuch as it essentially remains the same) amid the greatest complication of form: nor has any other language, by means of its inherent euphonic amalgamation of inflection, the power of forming such accurate and well-adapted symbols for expressing the conceptions of the mind.” d Baron Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences.

delight in compounds of inordinate length: the whole sentence too, or even whole periods, may, at the pleasure of the author, be combined like the elements of a single word ".

An excellent and ample history of Indian grammarians is given by Colebrooke in the Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 202, etc. This is copied by Crawford into his Researches concerning Ancient and Modern India, London, 1817, 8vo. vol. i, p. 163–176.

A list of the Sanscrit grammars in manuscript, contained in the Royal library of Paris, by Indian writers, will be found in the Catalogue des MSS. Sanscrits, p. 27, 67, 68, 72, 75, 77, 84-87.

The Sanscrit grammars must be divided into ancient and modern.

1. Ancient Grammars.

The grammatical institutes, Vyakarana, in Sanscrit literature are classed among the Angas. They belong in a certain measure to the sacred writings, among which they take their place immediately after the Vedas.

Upon the Sanscrit grammatical institutes of the Brahmins see Du Pons, in Lettres Edifiantes, tom. xiv, p. 67, second edition; Paulinus a S. Bartholomæo in Vyacarana, p. 14; and Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 119.

The most ancient grammars are named after deities to whom they are ascribed, Maheshwara, Indra, and Chandra. But the most celebrated of all is the Sidd' hânta Kaumudi of Pánini, whom the Hindoos call the father of Sanscrit grammar. He lived in so remote

• Colebrooke's Essay--Prichard's Eastern Origin, p. 28.

D

an age, that he ranks among those ancient sages, whose fabulous history occupies a conspicuous place in the Puránàs, or Indian theogonies. The name is properly a patronymick, indicating his descent from Pánin; but, according to the Pauránica legends, he was the grandson of Dévala, an inspired legislator.

Whatever may be the true history of Pánini, to him the Sútras, or succinct aphorisms of grammar, are attributed by universal consent. His system is founded on a profound investigation of the analogies in both the regular and anomalous inflections of the Sanscrit language. He has combined these analogies in a very artificial manner, and has thus compressed a most copious etymology into a very narrow compass.

His work consists of three thousand nine hundred and ninety-six sootras, or precepts, framed with the utmost conciseness; and this great brevity is the result of very ingenious methods, which have been contrived for this end, as well as to help the student's memory.

Ancient as is the work of Pánini, he still cites the works of Sacalya, Gargya, Casyapa, Galava, Sacatayana, and others who had preceded him '.

A very learned review and exposition of the system of Pánini will be found in Crawford's Researches, vol. ii, p. 163-166.

A copious commentary on the work of Pánini was compiled at a very early period, by an unknown author, but is ascribed to Saptánjali, a fabulous per

f The various ancient grammars of the Sanscrit tongue, as enumerated in a memorial verse, are eight in number, and ascribed to the following authors, viz. Indra, Chandra, Cásá, Critsná, Pisáli, Sácátáyana, Pánini, and Amera Jinéndra. Colebrooke.

g The reader may also consult Colebrooke on the Sanscrit and Pracrit languages, in Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 199, whence Adelung has borrowed the account which I have here amplified, and whence Crawford has copied, verbatim, the account referred to in the text.

sonage, to whom mythology has assigned the shape of a serpent. The title of this voluminous exposition is Mahábáshya, or, The Great Commentary 1.

Cátyayána, or, Cattijana, an inspired saint and lawgiver, whose history, like that of all the Indian sages, is involved in the impenetrable darkness of mythology, corrected the inaccuracies of the Paniniya grammar. His annotations, entitled Varticas, restrict the rules of Pánini where too vague, enlarge others which are too limited, and point out numerous exceptions which had escaped the author. These improved rules of grammar have been formed into memorial verses by Bhartri-Hari, entitled, Carica, which have almost equal authority with the precepts of Pánini and the emendations of Cátyayána. The grammar of Pánini, and the two commentaries just mentioned, are among the manuscripts of the Royal Society of London, to whom they were presented by Sir William Jones.

Casica Vritti, a much esteemed commentary on Pánini, composed at Benares, was printed at Serampoor, in the year 1800, in the Devanagari character; but only the text, without a translation or notes k.

h See also Colebrooke, in Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 205. He says, "In this commentary every rule is examined at great length; all possible interpretations are proposed; and the true sense and import of the rule are deduced through a tedious train of argument, in which all foreseen objections are considered and refuted; and the wrong interpretations of the text, with all the arguments which can be invented to support them, are obviated or exploded."

i He is said to have lived in the century before the Christian era; and a beautiful poem has been composed in his name, containing moral reflections, which the poet supposes him to make on the discovery of his wife's infidelity. See Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 204.

* Adelung seems to have fallen into a mistake here, as he makes Varanasi the author of this comment. It is spoken of by Colebrooke expressly as the work of an anonymous author. Varanais, I am informed, is the Sanscrit appellation of Benares, from which the common name has been corrupted by transposition.

The anonymous author of this work explains his design in a short preface, "to gather the essence of a science dispersed in the early commentaries, in the Bhashya, in copious dictionaries of verbs and nouns, and in other works." He has well fulfilled the task which he undertook. His gloss explains, in perspicuous language, the meaning and application of each rule. He adds examples, and quotes, in their proper places, the necessary emendations from the Varticas and Bhashya.

These voluminous commentaries upon Pánini's work still left many obscurities unexplained, a defect which numerous modern grammarians have endeavoured to supply. The most celebrated among these are the work of Cairata, a learned Cashmirian, and the Padamanjari of Haradatta Misra.

The annotations of the former are almost equally copious with the Bháshya itself; yet these, too, are loaded with glosses, among which the old and new Vivaranás are most esteemed. The Padamanjara, which is a commentary on the Casica Vritti, is also much esteemed, and the authority of its author held nearly equal to that of the original work'.

The Grammatical Sootras, or, Aphorisms of Pánini, with selections from various Commentators, Calcutta, 1809, 2 vols. 8vo. in the Nagari character. The following is the title as given in Roebuck's Annals of the College of Fort William, Calcutta, 1819. Pánini Sútra Vrittri, the Grammatical Aphorisms of Pánini, with a Commentary in Sanscrit; published by H. T. Colebrooke, esq., Calcutta, 2 vols. 8vo. Printed entirely in Sanscrit.

A modified arrangement of Pánini's work for those who study the rudiments of the language, has been

1. Colebrooke.