mahabhashya from "summary" of Ancient Indian Culture & Literature by Ganga Ram
The Mahabhashya is a well-known Sanskrit grammatical treatise by Patanjali that dates back to the 2nd century BCE. It is a comprehensive work on Pāṇinian grammar, one of the most influential systems of Sanskrit grammar. The Mahabhashya provides extensive commentaries on the works of Pāṇini and is regarded as a valuable source of knowledge for Sanskrit linguistics and philology.- Mahabhashya Grammatical Treatise is considered to be the oldest and most comprehensive Sanskrit grammar treatise. It is written by Sage Patanjali and is one of the famous texts of the Pratyabhijna school.
- Mahabhashya Grammatical Treatise consists of four chapters which are Padapatha, Kalpavalli, Bhashar Samasa, and Noun se Desastha. Out of these four, the Padapadha has a special status and importance for further lexicographical works.
- Mahabhashya provided many alternate methods of interpreting text that allowed more understanding which further helped in creating better literature texts along with new insights in the original language.
- The teaching approach adopted by Sage Patanjali is logical and follows the methodology similar to Nyāya system so as to explain difficult concepts related to linguistic aspects such as idealization of sound aspect of language.
- Although it starts with the explanation over syntax , this treatise expands beyond it by providing Parartha and Ksepana commentary that deals with contextual meaning for the words and sentences discussed.
- This treatise provides an in-depth analysis of Pāṇini’s work, elaborates the meanings of Vedic texts and their interpretations and remains one of essential works which serves as basic building block for later Muktikalpa authors.
- While some term the Mahabhasya as the Panineeya Siddhanta Kaumudi or light on the rules of Panini, many scholars attribute great significance to the work due to its superiority over previous works.
- As compared to Pāṇini works, where his including of rules was almost like self-verification, Patanjali took all the unaddressed areas and discussed it exhaustively in his work.
