Ancient grammatical literature of Sanskrit adorns the most prestigious position in the grammatical tradition of the entire world. It also functioned as a model to the grammars of all the Indian languages. Among the traditional grammars written for the Sanskrit language, Astadhyayi of Panini, the earliest available full-fledged grammar, is considered to be the greatest monument of human intellect. The study of Sanskrit grammar is divided into two major periods such as pre-Paninian and post-Paninian. There were different schools of thought in ancient India and all these schools helped a lot for understanding the intricacies of Astadhyayi in its full sense and the growth of Sanskrit language to a great extent.
The history of the grammatical studies in Kerala is very remarkable. There were several Sanskrit grammatical treatises produced in Kerala. Among them the works like Prakriyasarvasva and Apaniniyapramanata of Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri, Pravesaka of Trkkandiyur Acyuta Pisarodi, Laghupaniniya of A. R. Rajarajavarma are of utmost importance.
Among the post-Paninian grammars Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja is a very voluminous work even exceeding the number of sutra-s used in Astadhyayi. The influence of Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja on Prakriyasarvasva is a well-recognized fact. Followers of Paninian school were strict while interpreting the rules whereas Bhattatiri resorts to non-Paninian systems to make the sutra-s more intelligible. Even though Non-Paninian works Mugdhabodha vyakarana of Bopadeva, Candra vyakarana of Candragomin, Sakatayana vyakaraṇa of Sakatayana are referred to by Narayana Bhattatiri, Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja is the one which influenced Narayana Bhattatiri most and this fact is clearly evidenced in his work Prakriyasrvasva. So far, not much work was done on Bhoja's influence on other grammatical treatises. A comparative study of Bhoja's Sarasvatikanthabharana and Narayana Bhattatiri's Prakriyaasarvasva will show, to a great extent, the enormous influence that Bhoja has exerted on the South Indian Sanskrit grammarians in general and Narayana Bhatttatiri in particular. The present work The influence of Sarasvatikanthabharana on Prakriyasarvasva' is to be considered as a first step for assessing the quantum of Bhoja's influence on other grammarians especially those of Kerala.
This work is based on the relevant information from the large corpus gathered during my research work at ISDL for "The Contribution of Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri to Sanskrit Literature with Special Reference to Vyakarana" and also based on the results obtained during my research work as a U.G.C. emeritus fellow.
The work consists of six chapters. Chapter I deals with the Paninian system of Sanskrit grammar. Chapter II deals with the post- Paninian systems of Sanskrit grammar. Third Chapter is the Influence of Candravyakarana on Sarasvatikanthabharana. Chapter IV is a discussion on the Salient features of Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja and Prakriyasarvasva of Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri. Chapter V deals with the works of Bhoja. The next chapter is Prakriyasarvasva and Sarasvatikanthabharana. Some Textual Observations. Last portion is the Conclusion.
The Sanskrit Language and Literature were part and parcel of the traditional educational system of Kerala. This allowed many scholars to become proficient in Sanskrit, which resulted in valuable contributions from Keralites to Sanskrit. Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri is considered to be the foremost among them. Bhoja, the King of Dhara was a versatile scholar and has been credited with valuable works in every branch of knowledge like Kavya, Vyakarana, Alankara, Nighantu, Dharmasastra, Jyotisa, Yogavidya, Samgita, Vaidyasastra, Silpasastra etc. His scholarship in Sanskrit Grammar is well reflected in his Magnum Opus Sarasvatikanthabharana.
Bhoja's Sarasvatikanthabharana (10th CE) and Narayana Bhattatiri's Prakriyasarvasva (16th CE) are two important commentaries on Astadhyayi of Panini which ably describe the language of their period.
In this work, after presenting a clear picture of Paninian and post-Paninian systems of Sanskrit grammar, Prof. Visalakshy elaborately discusses the influence of Candravyakarana on Sarasvatikanthabharana and the salient features of Prakriyasarvasva of Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri and Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja (Chps 3 & 4). A detailed description of the contributions of King Bhoja to Technical Literature was also given in (Chp. 5).
A comparative study between Prakriyasarvasva and Sarasvatikanthabharana was done through textual observations of these two works (Chp 6) to show the extent to which Sarasvatikanthabharaṇa has influenced Prakriyasarvasva. This book immensely helps in tracing the development of the Sanskrit language during the period between Sarasvatikanthabharana of Bhoja and Prakriyasarvasva of Narayana Bhattatiri. The present work 'The Influence of Sarasvatikanthabharana on Prakriyasarvasva' is definitely of much use to researchers in the field of Linguistics in general and Sanskrit in particular.
The study of the Veda-s is not complete without the study of Vedanga-s. Out of the six Vedanga-s Siksa (Phonetics) Vyakarana (grammar) Nirukta (Etymology) Chandas (Prosody) Kalpa (Rituals) and Jyotisa (Astrology), Vyakarana is considered to be the most important. This is clearly expressed in Mahabhasya of Patanjali through the vakya 'pradhanam ca satsvangesu vyakaranam. (Vide Mahabhasya Paspasahnika). Its origin may be traced to the Vedic verse 'catvari srnga trayo asya pada dve sirse sapta hastaso asya tridhavaddho vṛṣabho roraviti maho devo martyam avivesa' in which grammatical terms are mentioned. In this verse catvari means naman (Noun), akhyata (Verb), upasarga (Preposition), and nipata (Indeclinable); trayo padah means three tenses; dve sirse means sup (noun) and tin (verb) and sapta hastasah means seven vibhakti-s (case endings). Panini's Astadhyayi is the first complete grammar analyzing the Sanskrit language. One significant feature of Astadhyayi is its extreme brevity which made the sutra-s very difficult to understand. The Varttikakara Katyayana supplemented the rules of Panini whereas Patanjali through his Mahabhaṣya supplied the missing part omitted by Panini and Katyayana. Subsequently commentaries were written on them and also new systems of grammar based on the works of Munitraya (Panini, Katyayana and Patanjali) came into existence. Of such systems, Bhoja's Sarasvatikanthabharna (11th century) and Narayana Bhattatiri's Prakriyasarvasva (16th century) are two important works.
Bhojadeva, the great King of Dhara dynasty (11th century A.D) is the author of the grammatical treatise Sarasvatikantha-bharana. King Bhoja was very much interested in Sanskrit studies and so he made a centre for the propagation of Sanskrit which is called Bhojasala, and also constructed a temple for Goddess Sarasvati. He has authored many works in different branches of Sanskrit Literature like Vyakarana, Alankara, Vaidya, Jyotisa, Ganita, Nighantu, Yogasastra, Dharmasastra, Sangita, Dhanurveda etc. In addition to his grammatical work Sarasvatikanthabharana, he has also authored a work on Poetics with the same title Sarasvatikanthabharaṇa.
Sarasvatikanthabharana also called Sarasvatisutra is a well known grammatical treatise on Sanskrit, and its author Bhoja belongs to the Paramara dynasty of Malwa. The meaning of Sarasvatikanthabharaṇa is 'necklace of the Goddess of learning'. This grammatical work also bears the name Sabdanusasana which is clear from the reading expressed by the author himself in Yogasutravṛtti which runs as:
sabdanusasanam vidadhata patanjale kurvata vṛttim /ajamṛgankasamjnakamapi vyatanvata vaidyake //
This grammar is based very closely on Panini's Astadhyayi. But the order of the sutra-s is considerably changed. Sarasvatikanthabharana is considered next to Panini's Astadhyayi in its scientific precision and importance. This work consists of eight chapters having 6411 sutra-s in total. In this work the author has tried to preserve as much of the original wordings of Astadhyayī. But in some places he alters some sutra-s, makes some additions, applies the technique of Yogavibhaga, incorporates the varttika-s of Katyayana and the discussions of Patanjali's Mahabhaṣya. Also he has no hesitation to add the Ganapatha and the Phit sutra-s.
Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri, the author of Prakriyasarvasva is a Keralite who lived in the 16th century A.D. He is the most prominent grammarian of Kerala. Like Bhoja, Narayana Bhattatiri is also a versatile scholar who has valuable contributions to almost all branches of Sanskrit literature. According to tradition more than sixty two works are assigned to him. In addition he has authored several Muktaka-s also. The works of Narayana Bhattatiri can be broadly classified into the following categories, Muktaka-s, Prasasti-s, Stotra-s, Suktasloka-s, Sastragrantha-s and Prabandha-s.
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