पाणिनीयाष्टाध्यायीसूत्रवृत्ति: काशिका- Kasika (A Commentary on Panini's Astadhyayi)

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Foreword It is a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction that the Sanskrit Academy. within a short span of time could present its prestigious publication-Kashika to the learned readers, inspite of many hurdles.

The present edition of the Kashika is a reprint of the first edition of the work prepared by Prof. Aryendra Sharma, the founder Director of Sanskrit Academy, Shri Khandero Deshpande and Shri D.G.Pandhye, published in 1969-70 in two volumes. After becoming out of stock, this book was in great demand by the scholarly community from all corners of the country. To meet this demand, the Academy wished to bring out the reprint in a single volume.

As a matter of fact, the previous edition was an errata free edition, with no single correction to be made. Hence we decided to bring out the same without any modification.

Ashtadhyayi and Kashika Ashtadhyayi of Panini, consisting of about 4000 sutras, has been the source of entire linguistic studies related to Vedic and classical Sanskrit for more than 3000 years. As the art of writing sutra was not very common and the brevity being the nature of sutra literature, there arose in due course, a need for explanatory and commentary literature in the form of Vritti, Bhashya and Tika etc. to study and understand the sutras.

Such commentary literature created in due course, which was essential for the studies of Ashtadhyayi, includes - Katyayana's Vartika, Patanjali's Mahabashya and Kashik of Vamana-Jayaditya. The Mahabhashya deals with the sutras by raising objections, giving answers and discussing various connected issues critically. The Vartikas are supplementary to sutras, suggesting some additions and corrections, while the vrittis or commentary works undertake only a critical explanation. Vrittis generally show the breaking points of words, analysis of compound words, anuvritti, adhyahara etc. to comprehend the interpretation of sutras. On the Ashtadhyayi of Panini, we find a number of vrittis.

Introduction We feel great pleasure in offering to scholars and students of Sanskrit Grammar the First Part (Adhyayas 1-4) of the Kasika critically edited for the first time. NO doubt, a few editions of the Kasika are already in the market; but a critical edition of this important work has for long been a desideratum Prepa ration and publication of such an edition naturally involves considerable amount of hard work and money. While we have one our best in preparing the edition, the problem of money has been solved by the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh by giving Grant-in-aid for this publication In preparing the edition we have made use of manuscript of the Kasika lent by the Osmania University Library, and eight other manuscripts lent by vari ous other Libraries. An edition of the Kasika with variant readings noted by Dr. Liebich in his own handwriting was kindly supplied to us by Dr. S. M.Katre, Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Poona. Dr. Liebich, however, does not give any information regarding the manuscripts from which he collected the variants. We have marked this book as and have noted the readings given by Dr. Liebich but not found in other manuscripts used by us.

We originally planned to publish the Kasika along with its two commentar ies the -Nyasa and the Padamanjari. For various reasons, however, we later decided to publish the three works in separate volumes. The plan for the pub lication of these volumes was finalised and announced five years ago but the publication has been delayed due to factors beyond our control.

We have incorporated in the text such reading of the manuscripts as we considered to be correct. Elsewhere, we have followed the readings as sug gested by the Nyasa. In a few cases we have accepted the reading of the Padamanjari, especially where it has refuted the readings of the Nyasa. The following special features of this edition may be noted: 1. Along with the usual numbers of the Sutras in the respective Padas of a Adhayaya, the serial numbers of the Sutras as given in the Nirnayasaga Press edition of the Siddhanta Kumudi have also been given. This w facilitate comparison of the interpretations of a Sutra, as given by t Kasika and the Siddhanta Kaumudi.

**Contents and Sample Pages**