VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa (, ) refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, ancillary science connected with the Vedas, which are scriptures in Hinduism. VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa is the study of grammar and linguistic analysis in the Sanskrit language.
PÃÂá¹Âini and YÃÂska are the two celebrated ancient scholars of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa; both are dated to several centuries prior to the start of the common era, with PÃÂá¹Âini likely from the fifth century BCE. PÃÂá¹Âini's Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë is the most important surviving text of the VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa traditions. This text, as its very title suggests, consists of eight chapters, each divided into four padas, cumulatively containing 4000 sutras. The text is preceded by abbreviation rules grouping the phonemes of Sanskrit. PÃÂá¹Âini quotes ten ancient authorities whose texts have not survived, but they are believed to have been VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholars.
VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa is related to the fourth VedÃÂnga called Nirukta. VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholarship has dealt with linguistic analysis to establish the exact form of words to properly express ideas, and Nirukta scholarship has focused on linguistic analysis to help establish the proper meaning of the words in context.
VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa () means "separation, distinction, discrimination, analysis, explanation" of something. It also refers to one of the six VedÃÂngas, or the Vedic field of language analysis, specifically grammatical analysis, grammar, linguistic conventions which creates, polishes, helps a writer express and helps a reader discriminate accurate language.
The word VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa is also found in Mahayana sutras and first-millennium Mahayana Buddhist texts, but with a different meaning. VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa, in these Buddhist texts, means a prediction or prophecy by a Buddha to a Bodhisattva who has just embarked on the path, that he will achieve enlightenment and be a buddha, in other words, an enlightened one.
VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa emerged as a distinct auxiliary field of Vedic study in ancient times. Its aim was to prevent sloppy usage and transmission of the Vedic knowledge, states Howard Coward â a professor emeritus at the University of Victoria and the founding editor of the Journal for Hindu-Christian Studies. VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa helped ensure that the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism and its message of "Sabda Brahman" (explanation of metaphysical truths through words) that Vedic Rishis had realized by their efforts, remains available to all in a pristine form. In Indian traditions, VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa has been one of the most important sciences, one extensively studied over its history, and that led to major treatises in the philosophy of language.
PÃÂá¹Âini and YÃÂska, two celebrated ancient scholars of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa, are both dated to several centuries prior to the start of the common era, likely the 5th-century BCE. However, both of them cite prior scholars and texts, which though lost to history, imply that the field of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa was an established and developed science of language before them. Between the two, Yaksa may be the older one and more known for Nirukta (etymology) â the fourth auxiliary field of Vedic studies, but the evidence for him preceding PÃÂá¹Âini is scanty and uncertain. In terms of dedicated treatise on VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa, PÃÂá¹Âini is the most recognized ancient Hindu scholar, and his Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë ("Eight Chapters") is the most studied extant ancient manuscript on Sanskrit grammar. PÃÂá¹Âini's fame spread outside India, and the reverence for ancient PÃÂá¹Âini in northwest India is mentioned in Chinese texts of Xuanzang â the 7th-century traveller and scholar.
The study of grammar and the structure of language is traceable to the Rigveda, or 2nd millennium BCE, in hymns attributed to sage Sakalya. Sakalya is acknowledged by PÃÂá¹Âini's works. The literary evidence that the science of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa existed in Vedic times abound in the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads, states Moriz Winternitz. The extant manuscripts of PÃÂá¹Âini and Yaksa suggest that the Vedic age had competing schools of grammar. One school, for example, held that all nouns have verbal roots, while another held that not all nouns have verbal roots. However, it is unclear how, who or when these ancient Vedic theories of grammar originated, because those texts have not survived into the modern era.
There were many schools of Sanskrit grammar in ancient India, all established before the mid 1st-millennium BCE. PÃÂá¹Âini's Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë, which eclipsed all other ancient schools of grammar, mentions the names of ten grammarians.). Some of these pre-PÃÂá¹Âinian scholars mentioned by PÃÂá¹Âini include Apisali, Kasyapa, Gargya, Galava, Cakravarmana, Bharadvaja, Sakatayana, Sakalya, Senaka and Sphoá¹ÂayÃÂna.
The works of most these authors are lost but we find reference of their ideas in the commentaries and rebuttals by later authors. YÃÂska's Nirukta is one of the earlier surviving texts, and he mentions à ÂÃÂkaá¹ÂÃÂyana, Krauá¹£á¹Âuki, GÃÂrgya among others.
PÃÂá¹Âini's Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë is the most ancient extant manuscript on VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa. It is a complete and descriptive treatise on Sanskrit grammar in aphoristic sutras format. This text attracted a famous and one of the most ancient commentary (bhÃÂá¹£ya) called the MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya. The author of the MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya is named Patañjali, who may or may not be the same person as the one who authored Yogasutras. The MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya, or "Great Commentary", is more than a commentary on the Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë, it is the earliest known philosophical text of the Hindu grammarians. Non-Hindu texts and traditions on grammar emerged after Patañjali, some of which include the Sanskrit grammar by the Jain author Jainendra and the CÃÂndra grammar by the Buddhist Candragomin.
Later Indian scholars simplified PÃÂá¹Âini rules, and trimmed his compilation of sutras to essential 1,400 from comprehensive 4,000, eliminating those they felt were too difficult and complicated or those narrowly concerned with Vedic language. Non-Hindu traditions, such as Jainism and Buddhism, developed their own VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa literature, but all of them are dated to the 1st-millennium CE, all of them condensed PÃÂá¹Âini, accepted and flowered largely from his theories of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa.
The 5th-century Hindu scholar Bhartá¹Âhari has been the next most influential VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa thinker, wherein he presented his philosophy of grammar and how language affects thoughts. His theories on "philosophical problem of meaning", contained in the VÃÂkyapadëya, has been unique, states Howard Coward. Bhartá¹Âhari is considered to be a major architect of the "sphoá¹Âa theory" of meaning, in the Hindu traditions.
Bhartá¹Âhari ideas were widely studied, but challenged as well in the last half of the first millennium, particularly by the , MëmÃÂá¹Âsàschool of Hindu philosophy and by Dharmakirti of Buddhism. The Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism defended the ideas of Bhartá¹Âhari.
About the seventh century, the KÃÂà ÂikÃÂvá¹Âttë co-authored by Jayaditya and Vamana, and the tenth century studies of Helaraja on VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa were the next major milestone. These Hindu texts were not only commented in Hindu tradition, but were the foundation of works of the Buddhist Jinendrabuddhi who is known for his grammar insights in Buddhist literature.
The most studied VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholars of early and mid-second millennium are Ksirasvamin, Haradatta, Maitreya Rakshita, and Kaiyata. The modern era VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholars have included Bhattoji Dikshita, Konda Bhatta and Nagesha Bhatta.
Between 1250 and 1450 Anubhà «ti Svarà «pÃÂcÃÂrya created a simplified grammatical system called SÃÂrasvatavyÃÂkaraá¹Âa.
In the 14th century grammarian Padmanabhadatta, founder of the Supadma School, composed the SupadmavyÃÂkaraá¹Âa. The text is based on PÃÂá¹Âini's Ashtadhyayi, but remodeled and rearranged with explanatory notes. It is written in Bengali alphabet, making it accessible to the Bengal provinces by removing the complexity of Sanskrit grammar. The main objective of Padmanabhadatta was to make knowledge of Sanskrit grammar clear and simple and to Sanskritize the new words that developed in the language.
In terms of the place of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholarship over South Asian history, from ancient to 16th-century, Kashmir, Kerala, Nepal, Andhra Pradesh, Varanasi and Bengal have been influential, but the location of many VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholars is unknown.
PÃÂá¹Âini's text Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë is in sutras format, has eight chapters, and cumulative total of 4,000 sutras. These rules are preceded by a list of fourteen groups of sounds, in three sections called the Shiva-sutra, Pratyahara-sutra and Maheshvara-sutra. The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë groups the rules of language, for clear expression and understanding, into two, the verbal (Dhatupatha) and the nominal bases (Ganapatha). The text consists of an analytical part covered in the first five chapters, and a synthetic part found in the last three chapters.
The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë manuscript has survived with sets of ancillary texts (appendices) whose dates of composition and authors are contested. The main text is notable for its details and systematic nature, syntactic functions and arranging the sutras in an algorithmic fashion where the grammar rules typically apply in the order of sutras.
The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë sutras were widely studied and a subject of the bhÃÂá¹£ya (review and commentary) tradition of Hinduism. The oldest emendation and commentary on the Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë is attributed to KÃÂtyÃÂyana (~3rd century BCE), followed by the famous MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya of Patañjali (~2nd century BCE) which has survived into the modern age. Other commentaries on the Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë likely existed, because they are cited by other Indian scholars, but these texts are believed to be lost to history.
PÃÂá¹Âini writes that the Anjna (popular usage of a word) is the superseding authority, and the theoretically derived meaning of a word must be discarded and instead superseded by that which is the popular usage. The artha (meaning) of a shabda (word) is established by popular usage at the time the text was composed, not by etymological theory nor historical usage nor later usage.
A sentence is a collection of words, a word is a collection of phonemes, states PÃÂá¹Âini. The meaning of Vedic passages has to be understood through context, the purpose stated, keeping in mind the subject matter being discussed, what is stated, how, where and when.
The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë tradition of Sanskrit language, with some reservations, accepts the premise that all words have verbal roots, and that words are created by affixing fragments to these roots. However, PÃÂá¹Âini asserts that it is impossible to derive all nouns from verbal roots.
The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë is primarily focussed on the study of words, how words are formed, and their correct architecture. However, it does not exclude syntax. PÃÂá¹Âini includes the discussion of sentence structure. The text, state Howard and Raja, describes compound word formation based on syntactic and semantic considerations, such as in sutra 2.1.1.
PÃÂá¹Âini asserts that a proper sentence has a single purpose, and is formed from a group of words such that, on analysis, the separate words are found to be mutually expecting each other. A sentence, states PÃÂá¹Âini, must have syntactic unity, which includes mutual expectancy (ÃÂkankshÃÂ) of the words and phonetic contiguity (Sannidhi) of construction. PÃÂá¹Âini adds semantic fitness (YogyatÃÂ), but not tacitly. He accepts that a sentence can be grammatically correct even if it is semantically inappropriate or a deviant.
The Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë describes numerous usage of words, and how the meaning of a word is driven by overall context of the sentences and composition it is found in. The popular usage and meaning of a word at the time the text was composed supersedes the historical or etymologically derived meanings of that word. A word has the conventional meaning at the time the text was composed, but it is not so when it is quoted (cited or referred to) from another prior art text. In the latter case, the Sanskrit word is suffixed with iti (literally, thus), whereupon it means what the prior text meant it to be.
YÃÂska asserted that both the meaning and the etymology of words is always context dependent.
VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa in the Hindu traditions has been a study of both the syntax structure of sentences, as well as the architecture of a word. For instance, PÃÂá¹Âini asserts that grammar is about the means of semantically connecting a word with other words to express and understand meaning, and words are to be analyzed in the context they are used. KÃÂtyÃÂyana is quoted in Patañjali's MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya on VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa as asserting the nature of a sentence as follows:
Similarly, Sayana asserts the scope of VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa to be as follows:
A word that is a verb is concerned with bhava (to become), while a noun is concerned with sattva (to be, reality as it is). Sattva and bhava are two aspects of the same existence seen from the static and dynamic points of view. Verbs according to VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa indicate action in a temporal sequence while nouns are static elements, states K Kunjunni Raja.
Patañjali's 2nd-century BCE MahÃÂbhÃÂá¹£ya is another important ancient text in VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholarship. It is not a full commentary on everything PÃÂá¹Âini wrote in Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë, but it is more a commentary on KÃÂtyÃÂyana's text on grammar called Varttikas, as well as the ideas of Vyadi. While KÃÂtyÃÂyana's additions have survived, Vyadi have not.
The KÃÂtyÃÂyana's text reflects an admiration for PÃÂá¹Âini, an analysis of his rules, their simplification and refinement. The differences between the grammar rules of PÃÂá¹Âini and of KÃÂtyÃÂyana may be because of historical changes to Sanskrit language over the centuries, state Howard Coward and K Kunjunni Raja.
The VÃÂkyapadëya of Bhartá¹Âhari is a treatise on the philosophy of language, building on the insights of prior VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa scholarship.
According to Bhartá¹Âhari, states Scharfstein, all thought and all knowledge are "words", every word has an outward expression and inward meaning. A word may have a definition in isolation but it has meaning only in the context of a sentence. Grammar is a basic science in the Hindu traditions, explains Scharfstein, where it is externally expressed as relations between words, but ultimately internally understood as reflecting relations between the different levels of reality. Word is considered a form of energy in this Hindu text, one with the potential to transform a latent mind and realize the soul. Language evolves to express the transient material world first, and thereon to express feelings, the human desire for meaning in life and the spiritual inner world.
In YÃÂska's time, nirukta "etymology" was in fact a school which gave information of formation of words, the etymological derivation of words. According to the nairuktas or "etymologists", all nouns are derived from a verbal root. YÃÂska defends this view and attributes it to à ÂÃÂkaá¹ÂÃÂyana. While others believed that there are some words which are "Rudhi Words". 'Rudhi" means custom. Meaning they are a part of language due to custom, and a correspondence between the word and the thing if it be a noun or correspondence between an act and the word if it be a verb root. Such word can not be derived from verbal roots. YÃÂska also reports the view of GÃÂrgya, who opposed à ÂÃÂkaá¹ÂÃÂyana who held that certain nominal stems were 'atomic' and not to be derived from verbal roots
The VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa texts have been highly influential on Hindu philosophies. The concept of a sentence (vakya) defined by PÃÂá¹Âini, for instance, influenced and was similar to Jaimini, the later era founder of MëmÃÂá¹Âsàschool of Hindu philosophy. However, ritual-focussed Mimamsa school scholars were generally opposed to central ideas of the Hindu Grammarians, while others Hindu schools such as Vedanta championed them.
PÃÂá¹Âini's work on VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa has been called by George Cardona as "one of the greatest monuments of human intelligence".