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Panini's Grammatical Architecture: Economy, Rule Systems, and Interpretation

Authors:Saroja Bhate, Anita Nikhil Shroff
Series:Sanctum Studies in Indian Intellectual, Cultural, and Historical Traditions
Binding:Paperback
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About the Book
Panini’s Grammatical Architecture: Economy, Rule Systems, and Interpretation examines one of the central paradoxes of Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī: how can a grammatical system of extraordinary brevity remain precise, complex, and operational?

The volume argues that Pāṇinian economy is not simply a matter of concise expression. It rests upon an intricate architecture in which grammatical information is distributed across rules, transmitted through mechanisms such as anuvṛtti and adhikāra, encoded in technical terminology and markers, preserved through principles of grammatical inheritance, and regulated through precedence, conflict resolution, and asiddhatva. What is omitted from an individual sūtra is therefore not lost; it remains recoverable from the system as a whole.

The book also gives a central place to interpretation. Drawing upon the Mahābhāṣya, Kāśikā, Siddhāntakaumudī, and the wider exegetical tradition, it shows how commentators reconstruct the implicit relationships and conditions upon which the operation of the grammar depends.

By approaching the Aṣṭādhyāyī as an integrated architecture of knowledge rather than a collection of individual rules, the volume illuminates the deep relationship between economy and complexity, formal structure and interpretation, and textual brevity and systematic recoverability. It also opens wider questions about the organization and representation of knowledge while remaining firmly grounded in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition.
About the Authors
Saroja Bhate

Saroja Bhate is a distinguished scholar of Sanskrit grammar and the Pāṇinian tradition and was formerly Professor and Head of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages at the University of Pune. Her extensive scholarship encompasses Pāṇinian grammar, Sanskrit linguistics, textual interpretation, and Indian intellectual traditions. Among her major publications are The Fundamentals of Anuvṛtti, Pāṇini’s Taddhita Rules, and Pāṇini. She has also contributed extensively to the study and interpretation of the Aṣṭādhyāyī and received the President’s Certificate of Honour in Sanskrit in 2008.
Anita Nikhil Shroff

Anita Nikhil Shroff is an interdisciplinary scholar of Sanskrit grammar whose research focuses on the conceptual and structural organization of Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī. She received her PhD in Sanskrit from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, in 2025 for a study of asiddhatva, or the principle of suspension, in Pāṇinian grammar. Her research examines rule interaction, grammatical inheritance, metalinguistic devices, and the formal architecture of the Pāṇinian system. She also holds a BSc in Computer Science, complementing her Sanskrit training with an interest in analytical and formal approaches to grammatical systems.
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