Continuous tradition of Bharatiya Knowledge Part 1

Our beloved country's name, "Bharat," is said to have several origins and meanings. One of them reads it as "one who is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge." In ancient times, India was renowned as a treasure house of learning. Students from many countries came to universities like Nalanda, Takshashila and Vikramashila to study. They applied what they learned here to bring prosperity to their own lands. Even through roughly two thousand years of foreign invasions, India's tradition of knowledge continued unbroken. This article series presents examples of that tradition.

(Image of Maharshi Panini, courtesy of the internet)

In India, the study of linguistics has gone on since very ancient times under the name vyakaran (grammar). When it comes to this field, the name of Maharshi Panini has to be taken first. His exact lifetime cannot be determined, but it is believed to fall somewhere between 300 BCE and 700 BCE. He was born at Shalatura, in present-day Pakistan. His parents were his mother Dakshi and his father Panin. His work Ashtadhyayi is regarded as a major text. It is believed to have been written in the fifth or seventh century BCE. In this text, Maharshi Panini names about thirty-three predecessors, including Indra, Kashyapa, Bharadvaja and Galava. This tells us that the study of linguistics had already been going on for many centuries before him. Through eight chapters, 3,981 sutras and 14 pratyahara sutras, the Ashtadhyayi lays down specialised rules. As the story goes, he was so absorbed in thinking about his final sutra that he did not notice a tiger approaching, and the tiger killed him.

(Image of Maharshi Patanjali, courtesy of the internet)

The next name in the tradition of linguistics is Maharshi Patanjali. According to legend, he was born miraculously to the yogini Gonika, in what is today Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh. Maharshi Patanjali made significant contributions in three fields: the Yoga Sutras, Ayurveda and grammar. In the second century BCE, he wrote a commentary on the Ashtadhyayi called the Mahabhashya. This work has 85 chapters (ahnikas). It offers a deep critical review of about 1,400 vartikas of Katyayana along with the sutras of Maharshi Panini. Along with grammar, the book also describes the social, historical and everyday life of its time.

(Image of King Bhartrihari, courtesy of the internet)

King Bhartrihari of the fifth century is the next link in this series. The story goes that his queen fell in love with a horse keeper, the horse keeper fell for a courtesan, and the courtesan fell in love with Bhartrihari himself. When King Bhartrihari discovered this, he is said to have been struck by a sense of detachment from worldly life. He composed a hundred verses on ethics, known as the Nitishatak. He also wrote a grammar-based work called the Vakyapadiya. This text is also called the Trikandi because it has three sections: the Brahmakanda, the Vakyakanda and the Padakanda. Across these three sections, it develops its subject through about 1,200 karikas.

Nagesh Bhatt (1730–1810) was born in the holy city of Kashi, to Shiv Bhatt and Satidevi, who belonged to Maharashtra. He studied grammar (linguistics) eighteen times over, repeatedly. Raja Ramsingh of Shringaverpur gave him patronage. He wrote several grammar-based works, including the Laghushabdendushekhar, Brihachchhabdendushekhar, Paribhashendushekhar and Udyot.

(Photograph of Kashinathshastri Abhyankar, courtesy of the internet)

The next names in this series are the father-son duo of Vasudevshastri and Kashinathshastri Abhyankar (1890–1976). Vasudevshastri began work on a seven-volume edition of the Shrimad Bhagavan Patanjalikrit Vyakaran Mahabhashya. Two of the volumes were published in Vasudevshastri's lifetime. The next four volumes and the introduction were completed by Kashinathshastri. Kashinathshastri was educated in Pune, at New English School and Fergusson College. He taught Sanskrit at Gujarat College, Ahmedabad. In 1969, the Government of India honoured him as a National Sanskrit Pandit.

Many have spoken in praise of the precision of Sanskrit's rules. One of them is Rick Briggs, an American scientist. In a 1985 article, he said,

"Sanskrit grammarians developed a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in form with current work in Artificial Intelligence." This stream of Sanskrit learning has flowed on without a break for thousands of years.

Sudhir Gade, Pune

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(AI Translation)