Panini's Astadhyayi is a wonderful literary monument in the field of grammar, exhibiting characteristics of the highest type of technical and descriptive skill even at so early a date as 400-700 B.C., which has always evoked admiration in the minds of all those who have studied it. It is an almost thorough analysis of the Sanskrit language; it is "composed with an algebraic condensation", yet is comprehensive; it is full of technicalities of a highly complicated nature; yet, once they are mastered, it is as clear as any work of scientific nature should be. The greatness of Panini in the field of grammar can hardly be exaggerated only if we remember the fact that all other pre Paninian grammars, like the Aindra grammar (if it had at all existed), not only receded in the back-ground but are totally lost to-day and also that no post-Paninian grammars like the Candra, Sakatayana, Sarasvata etc. could take its place. Even to-day, study of Sanskrit grammar is identified with the study of Panini's Astadhyayi. The tradition of its study has thus followed an uninterrupted course for over 2000 years, with a voluminous literature in the form of commentaries and sub-commentaries grown around it.
All these commentaries, however, reveal only two main points of view in which Panini's grammar has been traditionally studied (1) from the point of view of its applicability to generate the forms of the Sanskrit language which it attempts to describe and (2) from the point of view of examining its fundamentals, viewing it as a scientific system.
1. Applicability: This point of view naturally is concerned with generating the innumerable and various types of forms of the Sanskrit language by applying the rules of grammatical operations and procedures. In doing so, it takes the help of the different technicuqes like anuvrtti, adhikara, manduka-pluti, it-samjna, pratyahara etc. employed by Panini in his Astadhyayi. What is important to note in this connection is that while techniques like it samjna, adhikara etc. are well defined by Panini, others like anuvrtti, mandukapluti etc. are left without definition and to the imagination of the students or interpreters. The reason for defining or not defining a technique may be conjectured. If a technique is directly useful for understanding the grammatical process and its stages, for bringing about the different phonological or morphological modifications in the prakrti or pratyaya, or in short for generating a form, it is defined by him. Such is the case with techniques like it-samjna, pratyahara, adhikara etc. If, however, a technique is primarily necessary in interpreting the sutras of the Astadhyayi, mechanical generation of forms being reduced to a comparatively secondary level, it is left without definition. This is the case with techniques like anuvrtti, manduka-pluti, yoga-vibhaga etc. In short, the technique which is helpful in linguistic description is defined while the one helping the sutra-interpretation is not. But one cannot be sure about such reasons, as there are exceptions like the sutras, vipratisedhe param karyam, 1.4.2 and purvatrasiddham, 8.2.1 which lay down a principle for interpreting the sutras in the two broad divisions of Astadhyayi, viz. sapada-saptadhyayi and tri-padi. But even in such cases one suspects the main reason to be to refer to the grammatical process rather than to actual sutra-interpretation. That Panini took for granted the knowledge of sutra-interpretational principles on the part of the interpreters is clear from the fact that out of all the 133 paribhaṣas (i.e. interpretational maxims) collected together by Nagoji Bhatta in his paribhasendusekhara, only 48 are deducible from the Paninian sutras, either explicitly (i.e. the sutrasiddha vacaniki) or implicitly (i.e. the jnapakasiddha); all others are based on other authorities like laukikanyaya, mimaṁsanyaya, Patanjali's Mahabhasya etc. Also, out of these 48, only 12 are directly i.e. explicitly deducible from Panini's sutras; the rest are either deducible only indirectly or implicitly or are not accepted by Patanjali or are disproved or rejected by him as being anitya.
It gives me great pleasure in placing before the world of scholars interested in Paninian studies this monograph entitled "Zero in Panini" (CASS Publication, Class B, No. 12) by Dr. M. D. Pandit of the Department of Sanskrit & Prakrit Languages, University of Poona.
Panini, the greatest theorist of Sanskrit Grammar, has been the focus of attention and admiration for centuries and I think he will remain to be so in future too. The present monograph is a detailed study of the concept of Lopa in all its aspects. Dr. Pandit has identified Lopa as zero and has further considered it under three heads Lopa, It and Anuvitti. The monograph presents exhaustive materials on the technique of Lopa employed by Panini. Dr. Pandit has also compared the concept of Lopa with the Concepts of Sünya and Abhava of the Buddhists and of the Naiyayikas respectively and has come to the conclusion that these philosophical concepts, namely, Sunya and Abhava, cannot be compared with the concept of Lopa of Panini.
It appears from what is written by Dr. Pandit in his preface of this monograph that he was initiated to think in this line by an article on "Zero and Panini" by W. S. Allen and subsequently by the article of W. Haas entitled "Zero in Linguistic Description" and the article "Panini and Lopa" by S. S. Bhave. Dr. Pandit, then, wrote an article entitled "Zero in Panini" which appeared in 1961 in the journal of M. S. University of Baroda. There was a critical appraisal of Dr. Pandit's article by S. Al-George in his article "Semiosis of Zero according to Panini.
published in East & West. Volume 17, 1967. Since then Dr. Pandit has been thinking on this problem and the present monograph is the outcome of this continuous thinking. It is a matter of satisfaction that Dr. Pandit agreed to my request of presenting the whole data relating to the problem of Lopa or Zero in the technique of Panini in a very systematic manner. I am confident that scholars in the field will appreciate the hard labour Dr. Pandit has put into it and encourage him with constructive suggestions.
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