PANINI, a Sanskrit grammarian who founded the present system of Sanskrit. He is the most celebrated of those grammarians whose sutras have come down to us, though he himself mentions many who preceded him. According to Bunsen (iii. p. 565) and Bohtlink, he lived B.C. 350, but Howson names the 6th or 4th century B.C., and Garrett says no time more definite can be fixed than prior to the era of Sakya (s.c. 543) ; while Weber thinks that he lived after the date named by Bunsen. Mr. Garrett says that Panini was a native of the village of Salatura, N.W. of Attock, in the country of Gandhara, from which he is sometimes called Salaturiya. He is described as a descendant of Panin and grandson of Devala ; his mother's name was Dakshi, and he bears the metronymic of Daksheya. His grammar consists of eight Adhyaya or books, each com prising four Pada or chapters, each chapter con taining a number of sutra or aphoristic rules. The sutra amount on the whole to 3996. The rules of Panini were criticised and completed by Katyayana, who seems to have been the teacher and contemporary of Patanjali, who again criti cised Katyayana. These three authors are the
grammarians of India, and in literary merit their works excel all the grammatical productions of other nations.
The grammar is called Paniniyam. It is the standard authority on Sanskrit grammar, and it is the most original of all the productions of the Hindu mind. It is in the form of sutras. It stands supreme among the grammars of the world, alike for its precision of statement and for its thorough analysis of the roots of the language and of the formative principles of words. By employing an algebraic terminology, it attains a sharp succinct ness unrivalled in brevity, but at times enigmatical. It arranges, in logical harmony, the whole pheno mena which the Sanskrit language presents, and stands forth as one of the most splendid achieve ments of human invention and industry.—Gar rett ; Dowson; Bunsen, iii. p. 565 ; Imp. Gaz.