Purusottamadeva, a famous scholar on the Paninian system of Sanskrit grammar be lieved to have been a Buddhist, who flourished in the reign of Laksmanasena during the first half of twelth Century A.D. in Bengal (Modem Rajshahi of Bangladesh). Many works on Sanskrit grammar are ascribed to him, the prominent ones among which are the Bhasavrtti, the Paribhasavrtti, the Karakacakra and the Jnapakasamuccaya.
Scholars opine that the grammarian Purusottamadeva was with the Lexicographer Purusottamadeva; but in this mono graph it has been suggested that while the grammarian was a domicile of Bengal, the Lexicographer was from southern-part of modern Orissa.
Besides, the present treatise contains a complete study on all most all grammatical works of Purusottamadeva. The third chapter deals with the study on the Bhasavrtti, the master-piece of the author. Chapter four of this work bears a concordance of the par ibhasas available in different systems. Be sides, this chapter is incorporated with critical study on the Paribhasavrtti. The last chapter contains information and study on the other less popular works from the pen of our author.
Thus, the present monograph deals with a critical study on all the grammatical works of Purusottamadeva which is first of its kind.
Dr. Narendra Kumar Dash (b.1960, Dhar masala, Cuttack) obtained his Shastri Degree in Navya-Vyakarana with merit from Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi (1982) and Master's Degree in Sanskrit from Visva Bharati, Santiniketan (West Bengal) in 1984. He worked for his Doctoral thesis as a U.G.C. (NET) Fellow in the said University and was awarded Ph. D. Degree (1990) for his dissertation on Paribhasavrtti of Purusottamadeva. Dr. Dash was a Lecturer in Sanskrit at U.N.S. Mahav idyalaya (Orissa) for a year and at present he is a Research Associate in the Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology, Delhi - 36.
Dr. Dash, basically a Sanskrit Scholar, but has a sound knowledge on Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Oriya and Tibetan languages. He has done Diploma in Assamese and Certificate of proficiency in Tibetan Language from Visva-Bharati. At a young age he is credited with twenty research papers. He is also associated with various academic societies and research bodies. With first hand knowledge of the original sources from Sanskrit Literature, Dr. Dash's writings present deep insight and original thinking.
It is a fact that the Astadhyay of Panini was brought to perfection by the Varttikas of Katyayana and the Mahabhasya of Patanjali. It has been held in high esteem both by Indian and foreign scholars of Sanskrit grammar. Around the middle of the seventh century A.D., Vamana and Jayaditya the co-authors of the Käsika, a commentary on the Ast. of Pănini, gave a new impetus to the study of Panini's grammar. Soon after the Käsikävṛtti was written, a learned commentary on it named the Kašikavivaranapañjika or the Nyasa was written by Jinendrabuddhi. A host of grammarians followed him in his train who wrote several works on Sanskrit grammar. The prominent grammarians among them were Maitreya Rakṣita, Indumitra, Purusottamadeva, Saranadeva and Stradeva.
Purusottamadeva is credited with eight independent works on Sanskrit grammar, besides, the präkṛtänusasana is also ascribed to the name Purusottamadeva. The Bhāṣāvṛtti of Purusottama is his master-piece and his paribhāṣāvṛtti or Lalitavṛtti is an elementary treatise compared to the paribhasendusekhara of Nagesa and is easier than Siradeva's Brhat-paribhāṣāvṛtti. The Jñāpakasamuccaya is practically a continuation of the paribhāṣāvṛtti and up till now remains as an unique work. Over and above these main grammatical works, there is another short elementary treatise, the Karakacakra by name, dealing with the topic of various kārakas along with the vibhaktis. The last work of Purusottama was a commentary on the Mahabhagya of Patanjali, Besides, the Dasavalakarika, the Ganavṛtti and the Uṇādivṛtti are ascribed to the name Purusottamadeva. Purusottamadeva covers almost all the sections of Sanskrit grammar and thus, his contribution to Sanskrit grammar may be compared with that of Bhattoji Diksita and Nagela Bhatta.
Our work begins with an Introduction which deals with a short history of Sanskrit grammar from Panini to Nagela. Besides, this chapter bears a complete study on the history of paribhasa sastras, Ganapatha, Dhatupacha and Unadi sutras.
A short history
It is a known fact that in no other country has the science of grammar been studied with such a zeal and carried to such a perfection as it has been in India. In a word, the grammatical works had become really the true specimens of high intellectual culture and civilization, even at a very early period, bearing the scientific stamp of colossal scholarship with perfect precision.
'The native grammarians of India had at an early period analysed both the phonetic sounds and the vocabulary of Sanskrit with astonishing precision and drawn up a far more scientific system of grammar than the philologists of Alexandaria or Rome had been able to attain.'1
'The Sanskrit grammarians are the first to analyse word-forms, to recognize the difference between root and suffix, to determine the functions of suffixes and on the whole, to elaborate a grammatical system so accurate and complete as to be unparalleled in any other country',2
It is really very difficult to assess arithmetically the accurate, exact and consistent history of the evolution of Sanskrit grammar and to determine the date or the period of the origin and the development of the science of grammar in the remote past. If we will try to suggest any chronology, that chronology is liable to be conjectural or inferential and, therefore, hazardous, specially in the case of the very old treatises which are, often in all subjects, solely based on the internal evidence which is insufficient and sometimes vague. It may be, however, comparative. Priority or posteriority may also ascertained directly and indirectly from the development of respective style and diction, of phraseology and language, of ideas and imageries, of various linguistic changes, the mention of earlier authors or works by name, important contemporary facts and the like. We can, therefore, at best, modestly infer the age or the different linguistic periods of grammatical studies pursued in several branches of Sanskrit literature with special reference to the Vedic works of the most distant antiquity; and that again is only tentative and not decisive. Hence it is difficult to endeavour to construct a chronology and suggest a historical account, in detail, of the rise and progress of Sanskrit grammar.
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