Dictionary of Panini: Ganapatha (An Old and Rare Book)

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On the 15th of October 1964 the Deccan College celebrates the centenary of its main Building, and curiously enough this period coincides with the Silver Jubilee of the Postgraduate and Research Institute which, as successor to the Deccan College, started functioning from August 17, 1939 when members of the teaching faculty reported for duty. When I suggested to members of our faculty the novel idea that the centenary should be celebrated by the publication of a hundred monograph representing the research carried on under the auspices of the Deccan College in its several department they readily accepted the suggestion. These contributions are from present and past faculty members and research scholars of the Deccan College, giving a cross-section of the manifold research that it has sponsored during the past twenty-five years. From small beginnings in 1939 the Deccan College has now grown into a well development and developing Research Institute and become a national centre in so far as Linguistics, Archaeology and Ancient Indian History, and Anthropology and Sociology are concerned. Its international status is attested by the location of the Indian Institute of German Studies (jointly sponsored by Deccan College and the Goethe Institute of Munich), the American Institute of Indian Studies and a branch of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in the campus of the Deccan College. The century of monographs not only symbolizes the centenary of the original building and the silver jubilee of the Research, but also the new spirit of critical enquiry and the promise of more to come.

It is a matter of great personal satisfaction to me that the present supplement to the Dictionary of Panini, giving a repertory of forms arising from the Ganapatha belonging to the school of Panini is appearing now, during the 150th year since the foundation of Deccan College. In my prefatory note possibility of this volume appearing before the end of 1969 or early 1970. Though the material was ready in manuscript, the press-copy, usually typewritten, covered only a third of the material. In the meantime I had to go to the United States for personal reasons during the months of January to August 1970; on return I prepared the balance of the typescript and sent the whole material to the press early in October 1970. In the meantime I was busy with a supplement to the main volume of the Dictionary, covering material from Astadhyayi and Kasika which I had not included therein. I now find that the supplement itself covers about the same space as the original Dictionary. Consequently its publication will fill in important gaps and correct some of the typographical and other errors and will provide an essential source for proper study of Panini. However, its publication will have to wait for some time until the Institute can find sufficient funds to cover the cost of an ever-increasing number of publications. We have the original hundred monographs ion the Deccan College Building Centenary and Silver Jubilee Series initiated during the centenary year commemorating the laying of the foundation stone of the College in its own campus, but that gopal nearly 29 years as its Director, I have relinquished this office on reaching superannuation and I am leaving it to my successor to fulfil the promises in 1964 of completing this century of publications. It is a good augury that this volume is published on the occasion of inaugurating the 150th year of foundation at the hands of the President of India.

In the preparation of this work I have largely depended on the edition of the Ganapathas include in BOHTLINGK’s edition of Panini. One of my students, Dr. S. M. AYACHIT, worked on a comparative study of various Ganapathas and prepared a critical text as a part of his doctoral dissertation. Another Cultural and Scientific Exchange Programme, Dr. Robert BIRWE, has published a critical text of parts of the Ganapatha. These will be essential for a critical study of all Ganapatha material whether Paninian or not. But the present Work is primarily an exercise based on material presented in BOHTLINGK’S edition and has not been repeated here. BOHTLINGK’S has omitted the palady-adi gana, and material for this has been drawn from the uncritical edition of Kasika and included in the supplement. Many of the forms included in this repertory may have to be rejected in the final analysis, but we are still far from that stage.

There are certain inherent defect in the textual tradition. The text of Panini 5.3.103 reads both in Kasika and Maha bhasya (as referred to in the comment on 5.1.2) sakhadibhyo yt, and this is justified by forms such as mukhya- with initial accent and jaghanya- with final svarita. But edition of bhattoji Diksita’s Siddhantakaumudi read yah for yat, on which Balamanorama has the following interesting remark: yat iti tv apapathah; taittiriye “mukhyo bhavati” ity adau mukhya- sabdasya ady-datta-darsabat, u-gav-adisutra-bhasya-viruddhatvac ca. This is evidently a wrong transcription, for if ya were the suffix mukhya- would have been accented on the final syllable. Consequently the validity of many forms found in the Ganapatha, even based on critical evaluation of manuscript evidence, is suspect unless they occur in literary works, vedic or postVedic.

Within the limitations indicated above and some not specifically mentioned here, this. Dictionary records a comprehensive selection, as complete as It was possible to make. Some forms occur as illustrations under the particular lemma belonging to a gana, but may inadvertently be omitted as an independent lemma: (e.g. p. 545 {sakhya-} under sakhii) but such lapses, I hope, are not many.

As on previous occasions I have relied on the help of many scholars in Deccan College. Since in the present case, from the writing of the entries on cards, alphabetising them, preparing a manuscript copy and then typing the press-copy, I ha.ve done all the work, I requested my friend and colleague Sri K. A. Sivaramakrishna SASTRI to help me in going over the proofs and correcting them. With his unrivalled knowledge of grammar and Vedic texts he has been able materially to correct any errors that might have crept in the text by inadvertence on my part and I have profitted greatly by this. collaboration. But I am alone responsible for any errors of omission or commission and I would appreciate critical readers bringing them to my notice for inclusion in an addendum et corrigendum which may be included in the final supplementary volume.

It is sad to reflect that when this work is now ready for publication two of my closest associates from whom I drew inspiration and with whom I shared the experience of developing the Deccan College to its present size and prestige are no longer with us : I refer to the deaths during the academic year 1970-71 of Dr. Mrs. Iravati KARVE who joined the Deccan College in 1939 with me and Dr. H. D. SANKALIA, the present Director and my successor in this post, and of Dr. Dhananjaya Ram-chandra GADGIL who, as Chairman of the Reorganisation Com- mittee for the revival of Deccan College and subsequently as a Member of its Committee of Direction (1939-40) and of the Council of Management, was always ready to advise and guide me at all stages of the development of Deccan College, and gave a definite shape and charter for its work. It was in the fitness of things that one who conceived of planned research and gave this as a manita to those of us who joined the Deccan College in 1939 should have been called to Delhi to direct the working of the Planning Commission. In acknowledgement of my debt to these two departed scholars over a period of more than 35 years I am dedicating this work to their memory.

I express my sincere gratitude to Sri K. A. Sivaramakrishna SASTRI for his vigilant eye and unrivalled knowledge of these difficult texts and to Shri M. S. LATKAR and his Shrisaraswati Mudranalaya for the efficient and artistic printing. Mr. LATKAR has kept the standards which earned for him an Excellence in Printing Certificate for the printing of the Dictionary of Panini from the Government of Maharashtra.