A Reader On The Sanskrit Grammarians

This book makes available to linguists and Sanskritists a collection of the most important articles on the Sanskrit grammarians, and provides a connected historical outline of their activities.

The aim of this book is to provide the student with that grammatical equipment which is necessary for reading a Sanskrit text with ease and exactness. The book is divided into seven chapters and three appendices. Chapters 1-2 deal with Sanskrit alphabet and euphonic combinations-external and internal sandhis. Chapter 3-4 describe the stytem of Sanskrit declension and conjugation. Chapters 5-6 are related to indeclinable words, nominal stem formation and compounds. Chapter 7 deals with syntax. The three appendices contain: (1) list of verbs, (2) metre in Classical Sanskrit, and (3) chief peculiarities of Vedic Grammar. The book is fully documented. It comprises: (1) Introduction with a History of Sanskrit Grammar; (2) Table of Devanagari letters; (3) Sanskrit Index; and (4) General Index.

This monograph owes its existence to certain puzzles in universal grammar and the theory of language which led the author to an investigation of word order in Sanskrit and its possible analyses and descriptions. Not unexpectedly, the raw material was found to be too vast for a first-hand treatment even to be attempted. Rather surprisingly, however, its inter pretations by Indian and Western theorists and grammarians turned out to be so greatly at variance, that an analysis of these interpretations seemed rewarding. Accordingly, theoretical issues within the framework of generative grammar had to be faced anew, and alternative solutions suggested them selves. In this connexion the Sanskrit grammarians proved not only in spiring but positively helpful. This book may invite the accusation that it wilfully mixes disciplines. There were alternatives: one could try to write a history of the subject; or construct a merely formal edifice, leaving it to others to test its adequacy; or else one could make the notorious attempt to stick to the facts, which is not only unilluminating but also bound to fail. Any such self-imposed restrictions seemed to conflict with the original intent. And so it was decided not only to make available the results of the investigation into Sanskrit word order, but also to introduce a theory of universal grammar to account for these and other results.

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