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Pāṇini was depicted on a five rupees [[List of postage stamps of India|Indian postage stamp]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stamps 2004 |publisher=Indian Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology |date=23 April 2015 |url=http://postagestamps.gov.in/Stamps2004.aspx |accessdate=3 June 2015 }}</ref>
 
==''{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}}'' ==
==Ashtadhyayi ==
The Ashtadhyayi ([[IAST]]: ''{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}}'' [[Devanagari]]: अष्टाध्यायी) is the central part of {{IAST|Pāṇini}}'s grammar, and by far the most complex. Regarded as extremely compact without sacrificing completeness, it would become the model for later specialist technical texts or [[sūtrasutra]]s.<ref>{{citation | author=Jonardon Ganeri | title=Sanskrit Philosophical Commentary | url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pollock/sks/papers/Ganeri(commentary).pdf}}
"[[Udayana]] states that a technical treatise or [[śāstra]], in any discipline, should aspire to clarity (''vaiśadya''), compactness (''laghutā''), and completeness (''kṛtsnatā''). A compilation of [[sūtra]]s maximises compactness and completeness, at the expense of clarity. A [[bhāṣya]] is complete and clear, but not compact. A group of sūtras, a 'section' or prakaraṇa of the whole compilation, is clear and compact, but not complete. The sūtras achieve compactness i) by making sequence significant, ii) letting one item stand for or range over many, and iii) using grammar and lexicon artificially. The background model is
"[[Udayana]] states that a technical treatise or [[śāstra]], in any discipline, should aspire to
always Pāṇini's grammar for the Sanskrit language, the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', which exploits a range of brevity-enabling devices to compose what has often been described as the tersest and yet most complete grammar of any language." In the 1909 [[The Imperial Gazetteer of India|Imperial Gazetteer of India]], it was still possible to describe it as "at once the shortest and the fullest grammar in the world" (vol. 2, [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V02_298.gif p. 263]). The monumental multi-volume grammars published in the 20th century (for Sanskrit, the ''[[Altindische Grammatik]]'' 1896–1957) of course set new standards in completeness, but the Ashtadhyayi remains unrivalled in terms of terseness.</ref> ▼
clarity (''vaiśadya''), compactness (''laghutā''), and completeness (''kṛtsnatā''). A compilation of
It takes material from lexical lists ([[''Dhatupatha]]'', [[''Ganapatha]]'') as input and describes algorithms to be applied to them for the generation of well-formed words. It is highly systematised and technical. Inherent in its approach are the concepts of the [[phoneme]], the [[morpheme]] and the [[root (linguistics)|root]]. His rules have a reputation for perfection<ref>Bloomfield, L., 1929, "Review of Liebich, Konkordanz Pāṇini-Candra," Language 5, 267–276.</ref> – that is, they are claimed to describe Sanskrit morphology fully, without any redundancy. A consequence of his grammar's focus on brevity is its highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of modern notations such as the "[[Backus–Naur Form]]". His sophisticated logical rules and technique have been widely influential in ancient and modern linguistics.▼
[[sūtra]]s maximises compactness and completeness, at the expense of clarity. A [[bhāṣya]] is
complete and clear, but not compact. A group of sūtras, a 'section' or prakaraṇa of the
whole compilation, is clear and compact, but not complete. The sūtras achieve
compactness i) by making sequence significant, ii) letting one item stand for or range
over many, and iii) using grammar and lexicon artificially. The background model is
always Pāṇini's grammar for the Sanskrit language, the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', which exploits a
range of brevity-enabling devices to compose what has often been described as the
tersest and yet most complete grammar of any language."
▲In the 1909 [[The Imperial Gazetteer of India|Imperial Gazetteer of India]], it was still possible to describe it as "at once the shortest and the fullest grammar in the world" (vol. 2, [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V02_298.gif p. 263]). The monumental multi-volume grammars published in the 20th century (for Sanskrit, the ''[[Altindische Grammatik]]'' 1896–1957) of course set new standards in completeness, but the Ashtadhyayi remains unrivalled in terms of terseness.</ref>
▲It takes material from lexical lists ([[Dhatupatha]], [[Ganapatha]]) as input and describes algorithms to be applied to them for the generation of well-formed words. It is highly systematised and technical. Inherent in its approach are the concepts of the [[phoneme]], the [[morpheme]] and the [[root (linguistics)|root]]. His rules have a reputation for perfection<ref>Bloomfield, L., 1929, "Review of Liebich, Konkordanz Pāṇini-Candra," Language 5, 267–276.</ref> – that is, they are claimed to describe Sanskrit morphology fully, without any redundancy. A consequence of his grammar's focus on brevity is its highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of modern notations such as the "[[Backus–Naur Form]]". His sophisticated logical rules and technique have been widely influential in ancient and modern linguistics.
 
The Ashtadhyayi{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}} was not the first description of Sanskrit grammar, but it surpassed its predecessor on such a monumental scale that all earlier works are now lost except for the extent to which they are mentioned by Panini. The Ashtadhyayi{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}} became the foundation of [[Vyākaraṇa]], the (Sanskrit grammatical tradition), and the classical works of Sanskrit grammarians which flourished during ca. the 8th and 15th centuries (and a revival in the 17th and 18th) are essentially commentaries on Panini.
 
In the Ashtadhyayi{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}}, language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar marks the entry of the non-sacred into Indian thought, and according to Renou and Filliozat, it then defines the linguistic expression of that thought.<ref>Louis Renou & Jean Filliozat. ''L'Inde Classique, manuel des etudes indiennes'', vol.II pp.86–90, [[École française d'Extrême-Orient]], 1953, reprinted 2000. ISBN 2-85539-903-3.</ref>
Pāṇini made use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. The two fundamental principles on which the metalanguage is based are non-redundancy, or the principle of economy, and the necessity of all the rules in the Ashtadhyayi.<ref>Angot, Michel. ''L'Inde Classique'', pp.213–215. Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2001. ISBN 2-251-41015-5</ref>▼
 
▲Pāṇini made use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. The two fundamental principles on which the metalanguage is based are non-redundancy, or the principle of economy, and the necessity of all the rules in the Ashtadhyayi{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}}.<ref>Angot, Michel. ''L'Inde Classique'', pp.213–215. Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2001. ISBN 2-251-41015-5</ref>
The Ashtadhyayi consists of 3,959 sutras (''{{IAST|sūtrāṇi}}'') or rules, distributed among eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or padas (''pādāḥ'').▼
 
▲The Ashtadhyayi{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}} consists of 3,959 sutras (''{{IAST|sūtrāṇi}}'') or "rules," distributed among eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or padas (''pādāḥ'').
 
From example words in the text, and from a few rules depending on the context of the discourse, additional information as to the geographical, cultural and historical context of Pāṇini can be discerned.
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