Mahābhāṣya


The , attributed to Patañjali, is a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from 's treatise, the Ashtadhyayi, as well as Kātyāyana's Varttika, an elaboration of Pāṇini's grammar. It is dated to the 2nd century BCE.

Overview

is one of the three most famous Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, other two being and Kātyāyana who preceded Patañjali. Kātyāyana's work is available only through references in Patañjali's work.
It was with Patañjali that the Indian tradition of language scholarship reached its definite form. The system thus established is extremely detailed as to shiksha and vyakarana. Syntax is scarcely touched, because syntax is not important in this highly inflexional language, but nirukta is discussed, and these etymologies naturally lead to semantic explanations. People interpret his work to be a defense of, whose Sutras are elaborated meaningfully. Patañjali also examines Kātyāyana rather severely. But the main contributions of Patañjali lies in the treatment of the principles of grammar enunciated by him.
Kātyāyana introduced semantic discourse into grammar, which was further elaborated by Patañjali to such an extent that can be called a mix of grammar as such as well as a philosophy of grammar. Kāśika-vritti by Jayāditya and Vāmana included viewpoints of other grammarians also which did not conform to Patañjali's views.

Mentions and Commentaries