The main aim of this book is to show the outstanding achievement of Panini in the field of language and linguistics. Whereas linguistic studies started in today's Europe that is scientific age, here we see that Panini did it many centuries ago. The book in hand stands apart from the rest of the world of grammars for its unique character in the context of Sanskrit language analysis. From the view point of author, language is an integral part of total human behaviour influencing and being influenced by other norms of behaviour. He defines the Sanskrit language both in its structure and use. The rules of grammar are invested with some inherent properties which in fact are derived from the nature of language as a system. The author succinctly defines that the basic unit of description for Panini is sentence, which, however, is recognized as part of a larger unit, the discourse. It is a fact that Panini does not talk explicitly of discourse. However. he does refer to element in neighbouring sentence if it is linguistically permits for explication of the structure of the sentence concerned. The author views the Sanskrit language broadly as representation of an abstract system formulated in terms of conceptual relations, established on rational (logical) and/or empirical considerations. Panini's linguistic categories thus corresponed to underlying conceptual relations as far as it could be possible. The author mentions explicity that Panini recognizes constraints of actual linguistic usage on linguistic system. His sense of realism thus keeps him close to the facts of the language. To Panini language is a unified system organized hierarchically. Various levels and sub-levels are intimately inter-related and they inter-act on one another. The author observes in the book that Panini considers the total environment in which- language functions a relevant for explication of linguistic facts. He has no compunction in seeking explanations interms of one another. One should not be surprised if Panini accounts for the accent and extra length of the final vowel in a particular sentence in terms of social classes or in reference to the facts of the real world. His statements are at once general and particular and unique in virtue there of.
Dr. Yajan Veer Dahiya, (Formerly Professor & Head Department of Dayanand Studies Chair and Director, Institute of Sanskrit & Indological Studies Kurakshetra University, Kurukshetra) an eminent Sanskrit Scholar and Indologist. At present he is a Professor and Head. Department of Sanskrit, Pali & Prakrit and Dean. Faculty of Humanities, M.D. University, Rohtak.
Apart from the book in hand "The Language of the Atharva-Veda" "Sanskrit Vyakaran Ki Ruparekha" and more than fifty research papers are already published in leading Journals. He is keen participant at A111ndia Oriental and Linguistic Conferences. He is fully conversant in Ancient and modern technique of learning. He was editor of: PRACHI-JYOTI: Digest of Indological Studies. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. He is double Honours i.e. Sans- krit & English. It is an unique qualification. He organised a National Seminar on Indology in December, 1990, while he was a Professor & Director 01 the Institute of Sanskrit & Indological Studies Kuruksbetra University, Kurukshetra. He is a Local Secretary of 37th session of All India Oriental Conference, M. D. University, Rohtak, Haryana. At present he is engaged in linguistic studies of Vedic language.
J have great pleasure in introducing to the world of scholars the valuable work of Dr. Yajan Veer Dahiya : Panini as a Linguist-Ideas and Patterns which adds new dimension to Paninian studies. Dr. Dahiya is of the firm opinion that Panini had sentence as a unit of speech in his mind in planning his grammar. Though not very explicit about it in his text he had for sure the system of discourse too very much in his mind. He was, therefore, not just a grammarian, explaining the grammar of a language through the system of the analysis of the word-units, but a linguist explaining the structure of it. There are numerous sutra in his work which bear it out. As a matter of fact, his whole Karaka Prakarana is an eloquent testimony to his vision of sentence as a unit, the case being determined in an overwhelming number of cases by the presence or absence of a particular word in syntactical connection with the one the case of which is to be decided. This goes even to the extent of a verb not being actually in position in spoken form but very much present in the mind of the speaker and therefore easily inferrable : gamyamanapi kriya karakauibhaktau prayojika.
It may not be out of place to -rnention here that even the verbs though ostensibly standing in isolation have sentential undercurrent. Their suffixes denote karir, karma, samkhgi; and kala, the agent, the object, the number and the period. The verb pacati does not merely denote the act of cooking but also some one who cooks; and that some one is in number; as also the time of the cooking, the present in the case in point. Pacati therefore, has to be understood with reference to all the above. It just would not do to analyse it as pac+ (sap)+ti. That would be too narrow an approach. In the secondary verbs the sentential connection comes to the fore more prominently. This also is the case in deciding the Atmanepada or Parasmaipada going with a verb. Atmanepada is enjoined, for instance, to the roots bhi and smi if there is a cause of fear : bhismyor hetubhaye. Now this hetu- bhaya is outside of the verb but it influences the formation of it.
Dr. Yajan Veer Dahiya, an accomplished grammarian and linguist that he is, has carried out the demanding task that he had set before himself with admirable precision and thoroughness and has laid bare a vast treasure of information before grammarians and linguists in divining the mind of Panini, the most enigmatic of the analysts of speech the world has ever produced who accomplished a veritable feat in explaining the structure of a complex language like Sanskrit with an enormous corpus of words in a little short of four thousand aphorisms. Dr. Dahiya's treatment brings a whiff of fresh air to Paninian studies and consequently deserves warm welcome of connoisseurs.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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