This book contains a study of the paribha:sa:s 'metarules' composed by the commentators, which occupy an important position in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition. Since most of the paribha:sa:s are quoted in Patanjali's Maha:bha:sya with some of them appearing in that work as va:rttikas, the tradition of composing them seems to have started soon after Pa:nini. They supplement and provide clarifications on the su:tras of the Asta:dhya:yi:. As has been pointed out by the commentators, most of the paribha:sa:s are implied by the wording of one or the other of the su:tras.
The aim of this book is to introduce the paribha:sa:s, collected and interpreted by Na:gesa Bhatta in his Paribha:sendusekharah, to student of linguistics interested I the history and development of linguistic thought. Since there are many trends in common between modern linguistics and Sanskrit grammatical tradition, a student of linguistics must have access to the texts in which ancient scholars tried to understand the structure of their language. It is hoped that his book will generate interest among linguists for pursuing the study of Sanskrit grammatical works. It an also serve as a reference work for one who is already familiar with Sanskrit grammar. The emphasis in this study is on Pointing out the role played by the paribha:sa:s in making the grammar a rigorous one by filing out the lacuna left by the su:tras and the va:rttikas. It is greatly indebted to Kielhorn's work (1960), first published in 1874) in the matter of translation of the paribha:sa:s as well as in other aspects. The importance of the above work, which has extracts form the Maha:bha:sya and references to the explanation of Kaiyata, Vaidyana:tha Pa:yagunda and other commentators, cannot be overestimated. I have added a word by word translation to each of the paribha:sa:s so as to make the book useful to scholars that are interested in the subject but have only a limited knowledge of Sanskrit. This allowed me make a free translation to convey the content without being too close to the wording. Short passage quoted form the Sanskrit works are given with the separation of vowel sandhi across words so that they can be easily understood by readers with some knowledge of the language. The grammatical derivation of the examples is explained in detail. The authors of the various commentaries (mentioned in References) also deserve our gratitude for clarification on various points. The meanings of the su:tras that are cited often are given in Appendix I. Appendix II contains some of the Sanskrit terms (including the pratya:ha:ras) with explanations.
Much of the additional information that is necessary for understanding the paribha:sa:s and the discussion is given in this work itself. A reader who wants to have more basic information on Pa:ninian grammar may consult the following works: Cardona 1976, 1997: Subrahmanyam 1999. Su:tras, va:rttikas and paribha:sa:s are given in bold type. A sutras is followed b three numbers (denoting adhya:ya, pa:da and su:tra in that order). The world 'universal' is used in this work to refer to a paribha:sa: that can apply in all cases without any restriction (nitya:). A paribha:sa: that cannot apply everywhere is a 'non-universal' (a+nitya:).
Grateful acknowledgements are due to the University Grants Commission for awarding me an Emeritus Fellowship during the period March 2001 to February 2003 and to the authorities of the Potti Sreeramula Telugu University, Hyderabad for help and encouragement in m research activities. I must acknowledge here the generosity of Professor V.I. Subramoniam, Honorary Director, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvanathapuram in agreeing to publish this book but I have decided that it would be more appropriate to utilize his offer for the publication of my forthcoming book on Dravidian comparative grammar. My heartfelt thanks go to the following scholars for having helped me in securing some of the rare books I required during the preparation of this work: Professors Peri Bhaskararao (Institute for the study of languages and cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo), Professor K.S. Nagaraja (Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune) and to Dr. A.G. Natarajan (Annamalai University, Annamalainagar). I express my special sense of gratitude to the authorities of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati for taking up the publication of this work under their publication Project of Centre of Excellence in traditional Sastras. Last but no least, I thank my wife, Satyavati, for reminding me the time to shut down the computer and ensuring that I take enough care of my health.
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