| Buddhism Dictionary: vyākaraṇa |
(Sanskrit). 1. Explanation, elucidation, or analysis, particularly with reference to points of doctrine.
2. The science of grammar.
3. A prediction or prophecy, used especially in Mahāyāna sūtras with reference to the prediction given by a Buddha to a Bodhisattva who has just embarked on the path. The prediction often details the Bodhisattva's future deeds, his achievement of enlightenment (bodhi) and his eventual name as a Buddha.
| Wikipedia: Vyakarana |
|
Part of a series on |
 |
|
Rigveda · Yajurveda · Samaveda · Atharvaveda |
|
Aitareya · Brihadaranyaka · Isha · Taittiriya · Chandogya · Kena · Maitri · Mundaka · Mandukya · Katha · Kaushitaki · Prashna · Shvetashvatara |
|
Smriti · Śruti · Bhagavad Gita · Purana · Manu Smriti · Agama · Darshana · Pancharatra · Tantra · Akilathirattu · Sūtra · Stotra · Dharmashastra · Divya Prabandha · Tevaram · Ramacharitamanas · Shikshapatri · Vachanamrut · Ananda Sutram · Srimad Bhagavatam |
|
|
The Sanskrit grammatical tradition of vyākaraṇa (Sanskrit: व्याकरण is one of the six Vedanga disciplines. It has its roots in late Vedic India, and includes the famous work, Aṣṭādhyāyī, of Pāṇini (ca. 4th century BCE).
The impetus for linguistic analysis and grammar in India originates in the need to be able to obtain a strict interpretation for the Vedic texts.
The work of the very early Indian grammarians has been lost; for example, the work of Sakatayana (roughly 8th c. BCE) is known only from cryptic references by Yaska (ca. 6th-5th c. BCE) and Panini. One of the views of Sakatayana that was to prove controversial in coming centuries was that most nouns are etymologically derivable from verbs.
In his monumental work on etymology, Nirukta, Yaska supported this claim based on the large number of nouns that were derived from verbs through a derivation process that became known as krit-pratyaya; this relates to the nature of the root morphemes.
Yaska also provided the seeds for another debate, whether textual meaning inheres in the word (Yaska's view) or in the sentence (see Panini, and later grammarians such as Prabhakara or Bhartrihari). This debate continued into the 14th and 15th c. CE, and has echos in the present day in current debates about semantic compositionality.
Contents |
A few centuries after Yaska, Pāṇini's extensive analysis of the processes of phonology, morphology and syntax, the Aṣṭadhyāyī, laid down the basis for centuries of commentaries and expositions by following Sanskrit grammarians. Pāṇini's approach was amazingly formal; his production rules for deriving complex structures and sentences represent modern finite state machines. Indeed many of the developments in Indian Mathematics, especially the place value notational system may have originated from Pāṇinian analysis.
Panini's grammar consists of four parts:
Commentators on Panini and some of their views:
Predecessors referred to in Ashtadhyayi include Sakatayana, and Gargya.
Early Modern Indian linguists who revived Panini's school include Bhattoji Dikshita and Varadaraja.
Panini's Ashtadhyayi, which is said to have eclipsed all other contemporary schools of grammar, mentions the names of eleven schools of Sanskrit grammar that preceded it.
These schools, most of which are now extinct are
The earliest external historical accounts of Indian grammatical tradition is from Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to India from the 7th century [2].
The Indica of Al-Biruni (973-1048), dating to ca. 1030 contains detailed descriptions of all branches of Hindu science.
Similar to the Chinese Buddhists, Tibetan Buddhism aroused interest in India among its followers. Taranatha (born 1573) in his treatise of the history of Buddhism in India (completed around 1608) speaks about Panini and provides some information about grammars, but not in the manner of a person familiar with their content.
Gaudiya Vaishnava Sanskrit grammar is outlined by Jiva Goswami in his Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇam.[3]
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Sanskrit literature (literature, India) |
| Gargya |
| Tarka sastra |
 | What does vyakarana mean in sanskrit? |
Copyrights:
 |
 | Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vyakarana". Read more |
|
