Indra school of Sanskrit grammar

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AINDRA SCHOOL OF SANSKRIT

GRAMMAR

(Its history

and geographical extent)

BY

Dr. VARADARAJA UMAYI,

M. A., Ph.D., Dharwar.

PRATLSAKHYAS AND KATANTRAVYAKARANA

Though we do not possess

any work ascribed to the grammarian

Indra*

scholars agree

that the contents of Indra's grammar,

1 are preserved

in Pratisakhyas,

so far as

the phonology goes and Katantravyakarana

follows Aindra

school. The structure

of Katantravyakarana was similar

to that of Aindra

school.

(I) The KLatantravyakarana

has the natural arrangement of letters of

alphabets as found

in Pratisakhyas as against the artificial

arrangement

of letters of alphabets

of *

Pratyaiaras

* in PaninL

* Siddho

varna

samamnayah* (Katantra

Sandhi 1 Sutra 1). Cf. * atha varnasamanmayah

*

(Taitt. Prat. Sutra

1 p. 7) as against PaninTs pratyaharas

B a-i-u-n

'

etc.

(ii) Samjaas

Jike fc

svara* vyanjana

*

etc. which

are simpler and earlier

found in Pratisakhyas

are used. ' tatra caturdasa adau svarah

'

(Katantra

Samdhi 3 Sutra

1), and * dasa samanah'

(Katantra Samdhi 3

Sutra 1). Cf. * atha nava aditah

sanianaksarani '

(Taitt. Prat. Sutra

2 p, 10).

* efcaradini

sandbyaksarani

'

(Kat. Samdhi

8 Sutra 1 )

fc kadini

vyanjaoani* (Kat. Samdhi 9 Sutra 1) Cf. *

vyanjajoam kadi '

Yaj. Prat. Sutra

47 p. 18)

'

te vargali

panca panca panca

*

(Kat. Cf. *

panca te pancavargah

'

(Rk. Prat. p. 24)

(iii) The arrangement of topics

is natural as found

in Kaumudis. But

the commentators

hold that the name Katantra means

a short trea-

1.

" Tte nsai object

of fee Pratisakhyas as shown before was not to

teach & e \

eftber oW.

sacredlanguage; to lay down the rates of<tecteaasions

and co & jugadicm or t

pka CogcnatiWcxf worda.

This is a dwctti^T*idi though

itconbi not have hceatmtemra

sdk: period,

hffi any andaot work. Tfccare

n0wr caUbd

Vyafeaacanas grammars -smd it is iocidentafy

t & at tbe^

questsons. Hie podbct

phonetic system on which Paoou

te faniit

T? AO doubt fetac finoaa

Pratisaiiyas l>ut the sources of Pazuoc^

te lootaDd ftoim efcewherc* Rroin tins it appears

that there TOOK <Mftffir

grazas

of Rraiisafciyas

tefetreJftaQini, who gave rules on Vsid & a wonfthimsedf

makes, mention

of them. " {Maxnwiter Histoiy

of Sfc. jittratrae p.

120).

6 S. V. UNIVERSITY

ORIENTAL JOURNAL [Vol. 1.

tise, a handbook

in other words, in which the niceties

of Panini's

grammar has been dispensed

with for the benefit of the beginners

(Syst. Sk. Gr. p.

81). This shows that the

contents of the Pratisakhyas

with regards

to phonology were moulded into a new shape

in katantra

under a most powerful influence

of Panini school. According

to Webber

(Hist, Sk. Lit.) Katantra

was meant for those

who wished to approach

Sanskrit through Prakrit and that the Pali

grammar of Katyayana

was based upon Katantra. Thus we find

Aindra treatises

in Katantra as in Pratisakhyas

and they have been

partly recast or corrected.

The Katantra Vyakarana belongs

to the

early centuries of Christian

Era.

THE AINDRA

SCHOOL AND THE THREE PERIODS IN

SANSKRIT LANGUAGE.

The de\elopment

of Sanskrit language has assumed three stages.

1.

The Vedic stage or the

stage of the unsettled linguistic usage.

2. The Brahmana

stage or the

stage of transition. 3 . The epic

or the classical stage. The

epic or the classical

stage when further change

was debarred by inflexible

grammatical laws. (John Avery Contr.

Hist. Verb inflection in Sk.

p. 219

Jos. Vol. X 1876).

The Sanskrit of Aindra

school with its unsettled phonology

short 'e

' and b

o/

*

e

' &

* o '

as dipthongs,

the pronounciation of

*

r

*

aftd

* d ' and its changing

vocabulory of * me/

c

mmi,'

' ammhi * as synonyms

of * aham * &

c. and its primitive morphological

structure and its syntactical

order of words in a sentence

may be identified

8 with the

Sanskrit upto the Vedic

stage of

development.

2. Firstly

the distinction between *

prakrti

'

(base) and '

pratyaya

'

(suffix) was made

simply because *

pratyayas

' were

independent words current in the language

in the remote

past as shown above.

Secondly nor the distinction of parts

of speach as noun, adjective,

adverb and verb

could not be made as they did not exist at

that time, because they were words

pure and simple

(

4 ekam padam '). The view

of Dr. P, D. Gune in this question

is worthy

of note.

"

Thus, the

three parts of speech, the adverb, the preposition and the

conjunction

prove themselves

to be new formations from the existing

materials. The process of their

formation was a slow one. It belongs

to historical times. Applying the results

gained by

observation upon existing

facts, it is not improbable

that even the substantive, adjective and

the verb

did not originally exist but were the result

of a slow process of growth.

Time must

have been when primitive

savage men could denote

objects and states. From them

must

have developed the substantive,

the adjective and the

verbs etc. But before the substantive

the pronoun

perhaps existed,' dadami I givecontained

the idea of subject in the termination

' mi ' and the want

of a different subject was never felt. Again to a savage

himself /.*.,

*

I

*

is the most important

person, all else are others.

Amongst others there are some closer

to him whom he calls

* You '; the rest

'

They.' It is the pronoun,

therefore, that must have

been fee word to be the earliest

distinguished from others* It is more primitive,

more instioctive,

more easily

explained by gesture etc., than the

substantive which it must have preceded.

^

(Intro. Comp. Phil.

p. 77). This mi ' which was the original

word came to be regarded

as a *

pratyaya

*

later on. But in the hoary past, when the 1st Grammarian,

Indra seemed

to have existed,

he naturally could not distinguish between

*

prakrti' and c

pratyaya

' nor

the different

parts of speech as they were later formations.

1958 Parts 1 &

2.} AINDRA SCHOOL OF SANSKRIT

GRAMMAR 7

It seemed

to have continued unimpeded

till the end of Brahmana

period

wherein primitive

pratisakhyas embodying early Brahmanical speculations

flourished, and till Panini.,

the grammarian, standardised the language

by rigid

grammatical rules which

is expressed in epic and classical

Sanskrit literature,

A BRIEF

HISTORY OF AINDRA SCHOOL.

1. Indra the first grammarian.

The * vak * in '

vagvai paracyavyakrta

avadat *

represent the Sanskrit

of Samhitas and Indra

analysed this language. He must have existed

even

earlier than the Taittariya

Sainhita though his exact date cannot

be ascertained.

His work was primarily

a Vyakarana

of Vaidika language and secondarily

of dialect

or diadects also since Sanskrit language

in his time in its various

forms was in primitive

condition and the distinction

between the various

forms of

speech was little, if at all there was any. Its phonatics

was unsettled.

Note the different

pronunciation of * d * and * r * & c.

in this connection. Its

method of analysis

was crude. The Vedic

Sanskrit occupies the first stage

in the existing

literary specimen and had passed from agglutinative

character

and has assumed the inflexional

(Sheshagiri Shastri notes on Aryan and Dravidian

Philology preface

p. iii). His treatment of morphological

structure of

Sanskrit as * ekam

padam yatha arthah padam ' throws

some light on the

agglutinative character

of Sanskrit Le. prevedic Sanskrit.

Or it indicates that

Indra analysed

Vedic language consisting of words

(though inflexional) in

the manner in which it was analysed

in Vedic times. His analysis

of language

the Vedic

language into words only might have traditional

memory to back

up the memory

handed down from generation

to generation. The linguistic

alternative forms

as ' mi * * aham *

etc. might

be in fluctuating condition.

As there was a little

difference between spoken and written language

in his

time the grammar

of Indra perhaps served the purposes

of both the languages.

The grammatical

terminology was

simple and crude as is found in Pratisakhyas

and 'Katantravyakarana.

The grammar of Indra might

have simply noted

tKe difference

between3 the Vedic language

and the language

of the intercourse.

\ . 2. Saunaka,

the Author of Pratisakhyas.

, \Saunaka,

the author of Rk. Pratisakhya

in its primitive form but

not in

its present

along with the authors of other Pratisakhyas

come next in the

chronology pf

Aindra school, which embodied the earlier

Brahmanical specu-

3. Roth's

view of the rise and the

progress of grammar in India quoted

in ' tanini

his place in Sk. Lit. p.

142.* "

Grammar, therefore

took the same natural

course of development,

as we find, it has

taken elsewhere. It did not

proceed from the foundation of living

language but owed its origin

to the observation of that difference which exists

between certain

forfns of language

in actual intercourse oflife and those of written

works and at first it confined

itself to pointing

out chiefly these differences.

Then again it comprised

not the whole mass

Of literature

but only single books specially

important for certain classes of society.

Thus

the path was opened

to a general grammar treating as well of written

as of spoken language. We meet first Panini

and from this time, all the special

grammars gradually disappear from

general use.

8 S. V. UNIVERSITY ORIENTAL

JOURNAL [VoL 1.

lations in grammar.

Their date may be

taken to t>e 1000 B.C. (Syst. Sk

Or. App. Hi, a Chronological

Compectus of different schools).

3. Vyadi.

Vyadi (600 to 400 B.C.)

a Vartikakara on Panini belonged to Amdra

school. (Katha.

Tarang 4). None of his

treatises exist.

4. Katyayana.

Katyayana (350

B.C.) a Vartikakara on Panini's Astadhyayi

wrote Sukla

Yajtihpratisakhya. He differs

from Panini in many respects

and critises him.

He was a follower

of Aindra school (Katha Tarang

4). Patanjali caHs him &

Southerner. Cf.

*

priyataddhitah daksinatyah

{Mahabhasya Vol. I p. 8 1, 2.)

5* Sarvavarma.

Sarvavarma (50-150

A.D.) wrote Katantrayyakarana and he followed

the Aindra

school (Dr. Burnell). He was influenced

by Panini school. The

later 'history

of Amdra school in Kashmir,

Bengal and Karaataka may be

referred to in Systems

of Sanskrit grammar p. 90-91.

THE AINDRA

SCHOOL AND TTS GEOGRAPHICAL REGION.

(1) Aindra

School in all regions: We have seen above that

the Aindra

treatises in Vedic period

are found in Pratisakhyas. Once the

school

of Indra spread,

it appears throughout the Sanskrit

speaking world

in India at least in

places where Vedic Pratisakhyas existed because

they followed Aindra

school, so far as the phonology

is concerned.

The various

Pratisakhyas in primitive forms

namely Rk. pratisakjiya,

Taittiriyapratisakhya, Atharvapratisakhya,

and Samavedapratisakhyas

of Aanayaniya

and Satyamugri schools -all belong

to Aindra school,

though they

cannot be regionally fixed.

(2) The Afadra

school in the Deccan,

Bengal and Kashmir: The present

Pralisakhyas and Katantravyakarana

in its present form have been

very popular treatises

in the following region namely

in (a) the regtooa

south of Vindfaya

mountain, ( & ) Kashmir, © Bengal.

Tiwy might

not be so popular

in the region known as Aryavarta

where Brahmanical

culture and Sanskrit

of Brahmanical sacrificial language predominated,

of which Paninfs

grammar ivas one of the developments

and where also Aindra

school existed before it was supplanted

by

the all powerful

system of grammar of Panini. Panini

4 was called

4, (a) Panini

belongs to the North-west as he differentiates

himsdffrom the Easteroers

and Southerners.

(jb) Paoini

in his Sutra 1-2-27 gives

the vowel 4 u '

as -$pecunea

vowel while Katyqyana

chooses to give vowd 'a' as a specimen

for 'sainvrta

' ' a ' short

(Parini-Jais

place in Sk. Lit p.

144),

© Goidstucker

says " But it is true that

the local differences might tev* been ttte

cause of this pronotmciatba

of ' a * * samvrta '

pronounced as

* u '%Panini

aiwtt

Panim seems to belong

to fee North-West bat Vajasaueya Pa & akt$a

composed

by Katyayana belongs

to the East.

I95SParts 1 & 2.] AINDRA

SCHOOL OF SANSKRIT GRAMMAR 9

Salaturiya which is probably

derived from his native

place which

is identified

with the present Lahaur in the Yusfzai

valley in the

North-Western frontier

(Syst. Sk. Gr. p. 19) and it is from this region

that the second

tribes of Aryan immigration

spread like a wedge

to

the Aryavarta

region. (Grierson. Wedge theory.

Ling. Survey of

India Vol. I part I Ch-

VII Intro, p. 117). It is significant

to note

in this connection

that Panini refers to

Easterners and Southerners as

differing from himself.

The Southerners and Easterners

are certainly

the grammarians of Aindra school.

Katyayana

who later on

wrote Vartika

on Panini's Astadhyayi was the author

of Vajasaneyi

Pratisakhya and

was the follower of Aindra school.

The regions

wherein the Pratisakhyas e.g. Vajasaneyi

Pratisakhya

and Katantra

Vyakarana predominated, may be identified

with the outer

circle of Griersoti found Aryavarta

and the regions

where a different

kind of Sanskrit that belonging

to Aindra

school

spread* the characteristics

of which

are noted above and the

Sanskrit

spoken by the Vratyas

and other Aryan tribes

from whom athiestic

sects of Carvakas,

Naiyayikas, Buddhists and Jains of later times

arose and revolted

against the sacrificial religion and Brahmanical

culture of Aryavarta.

It appears that as the grammar

of Aindra

school was first of its kind both the heritics

and believers accepted

it as it is ctear from its relics

in Pratisakhyas the treatises

on Vedic

phonology and Katantravyakarana

composed for a Buddhistic

King Satavahana.

THE AINDRA

SCHOOL IN THE DECCAN

AND SOUTH INDIA.

Tradition tells us that Katantravyakarana

was produced

by Sarvavarma

to teach

Sanskrit to a Satavahana King. This tradition

like any other tradition,

contains a grain of truth.

It was Katantravyakarana an Aindra treatise

that was predominent in the

region south of Vindhya mountain before Panini

school supplanted

it (Syst. Sk. Gr. p. 32).

Tolkappiyam (400

B.C.) the oldest Tamil grammar existing, follows

Pratisakhya method

of treatment. The mention of the initial

and final sound

is similar

to that of Pratisakhyas and the identity

in meaning of Sutras

89, 90,

93, 97 and 98 with certain

Sutras in Taittiriya, Atharvaveda

Pratisakhyas

is very striking

(Tolk. preface p. vii)

(i) Tolkappiyam

Sutra 3 admits short * a * and short * o * as do Pratisakhyas-

There are no * e ' and * o ' treated

as Sandhyaksaras.

(M) Tolkappiyam

Sutra 91 says

*

t

* and ' n * are produced by the

contact

of the tip of

the tongue with the front of the hard palate

as it is stated

in Vedic

Pratisakhyas. There are no *

t

* and * n *

murdhanya.

(iii) Tolkappiyam Sutra

94 states that ' r

* and * n ' are produced by the

tip of the tongue

being raised and followed

gently to touch the hard

10 S. V. UiNIVERSITY

ORIENTAL JOURNAL [VoL 4-

palate as in the

case of

'

vartsya

' '

r

'

as distinguished from

repha

%

r.

f

Tolkappiyam was completely

under the influence

5

of the Aindra

school. The influence

of Panini school scarcely visible in it,

THE AINDRA SCHOOL IN KARNATAKA.

Linganaradhya in his commentary

on Sutra 84 of Sabdamani Darpana

clearly states that

Kesiraja follows Katantra in having

'

Catvar '

though Panini

says it is 'catur*

(p. 68). 'catvari sabdamam

paninyacharyar catur sabdamendu

peldapar antenalagadu. Sabdamanidarpanam

kalapavyakarana margadim

kesirajam peldanagi

adentene '

etc. Kesiraja

as well as his predecessor

Nagavarma

6 and his successor

Bhattakalanka only translated some of the

Katantra Sutras

a few of which are noted here and which are ultimately

connected

\\ith Pratisakhya

treatises, 'varnangala pathakramam arnavavrtadhatriyol

prasiddham.' Cf. Katantra:

'siddho varnasamaninayah

' and

fc

pratisakhya: 'atha

varna samamnayah.' In Sabdamanidarpana itself

Kesiraja rendered

literally about 50 Sutras and has in view many Sutras

from

Pratisakhyas in other places.

Kannada grammars like Tamil grammar

Tolkappiyam

follow Pratisakhyas

in having short

*

e

* and ' o ' and jihvamulatalu

' d ' and vartsya

'

r

' and doubling

of consonants in conjunction, with

'

r

*

etc. in phonology.

Kannada has taken many words

from the Sanskrit of

Aindra school

rather than of Panini school.

The agglutinative morphology

of Kannada

and the subject-object-verb pattern

of a sentence are all traced

to the morphology

and syntex of Aindra school

of grammar. In addition to

this9 Kannada

grammarians are also indebted to Panini

school of grammar

in having

'

e

' and * o '

as sandhyaksaias

and '

tayarga

'

as murdhanya

,fifc,

Thus Kannada

has two layers ofinfluences

of Sanskrit on it, the first being

the

influence of Aindra

school and the second

being the influence of Panini

school.

CONCLUSIONS.

After discussing

in detail the pros and cons

of -Aindra school, we arrive "

at the following

conclusion:

:

"

- --

(1) Indra was the first and the oldest

grammarian of Sanskrit language

known to us, as he is mentioned

is Taittiriya Samhita his date may

be roughly

fixed prior to its composition.

(2) His analysis

of Vedic language into words on the basis of mejming

(Cf.

4

arthah padam ') indicates

that the meaning of every word 'in

'

5. Tolkappiyar,

a Brahmana of Brahmanas, the son of

Jamdagni, the pupil'of Agastya

ttKbri Aindra work and wrote his Tamil

grammar. (Shesha Aiyangar-Dravaflan India

p. 164). It appears

that Aindra grammar was current

in South India at least from 400 B.C.

Agasg

also might

have written his Tamil grammar

Porguttiyam following Aindra school

<p. Io3).

sat,, note' * Wndf-'

Abhlnava Sam Vanna, thereby

sagRstrng that he followed

Sarva Vanna the author of

Katantra Vyakanma

' "

" "

" f*'? w _ j

1958 Parts

I & 2J AINDRA SCHOOL OF SANSKRIT GRAMMAR

11

composition was clear to him and every word was capable

of being

used independently as in an agglutinative

language. Or in his analysis

of Vedic

Sanskrit into padas, not as * subanta

' and

*

tinganta

* he

might have simply

followed the method which he had inherited

from his forefathers

in whose

time Sanskrit was agglutinative.

(3) The Aindra

school of grammar spread

throughout the Sanskrit

speaking world.

The grammars of other schools

have only improved

upon it and systematised

it. Panini school is one of

such schools,

(4) The Aindra

school was known in the South

at least from 400 B.C.

Tolkappiyam, contains

the traces of Aindra

school.

(5) The structure

of Aindra grammar can be inferred

from Pratisakhyas

and Katantravyakarana wherein

primitive and simpler

*

samjnas

*

are used,

as against complicated

'

pratyaharas

' of-Panini.

(6) Panini's grammar

was first developed

in Aryavarta and then its

influence spread

throughout the length and breadth of India.

Even

the present

Pratisakhyas and

Katantravyakarana works of Aindra

school are corrected

or recast under the Panini's

influence.