Patanjali

Patanjali (c. 240 BC - c. 180 BC) was a Sanskrit Grammarian of ancient India. He wrote Mahabhashyam, an ancient treatise on Sanskrit grammar and linguistics, based on Pāṇini Aṣṭādhyāyī. After Pāṇini and Kātyāyana he was the third and the last great grammarian and the authority of classical Sanskrit. He adopted an etymological and dialectical method of explaining in the whole of his 'Mahābhāshya', which was originally known simply as Bhasya on Pāṇini and Kātyāyana.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Man's life is subject to afflictions from ignorance, desire, aversion, ego, and attachment - ignorance being the root cause of all afflictions.
• The basic purpose of a grammar is to account for the words; not by enumerating them; but, by writing a set of general rules that govern them and by pointing out to exceptions.

- according to Mahabhashya

• It is the words themselves and not its constituents that produce a meaning.

- according to Mahabhashya

• The basic linguistic unit is a word – provided it generates a meaning.

- according to Mahabhashya

• Even though the words uttered follow one after the other and do not co exist in time or space, they do converge in the mind of the listener conveying a meaning.

- according to Mahabhashya

• Sphota (the indivisible unity that conveys a meaning, distinct from the individual sounds or phonemes that make it up) is a permanent element in the word; and, in fact is the essence of the word.

- according to Mahabhashya

• Sphota has an internal and an external aspect. The inner aspect is the innate expression of the word-meaning; while the external aspect is a vehicle to manifest the internal aspect; and is perceived by the sense organs of the listener.

- according to Mahabhashya

• Sphota may be a single letter or structured pattern of letters; not necessarily sentence as a whole.

- according to Mahabhashya

Patanjali the sage

Nearby pages
Patanjali, Patanjali the Vaidya