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॥ परमात्मने नमः॥
॥ अध ॥
Lockdown. A blessing in so many ways - and time which was spent travelling daily to the office and back, lifting sons and visiting - all this time is now available for study and reflection.॥ अध ॥
Many years ago, I had begun writing out the अष्टाध्यायी (aṣṭadhyāyī) as a study. This work is for us the most ancient work of grammar. Seen in another way, it is the last work of true grammar. The author, पाणिनि (pāṇini) arranged in his mind in an ordered manner around 4000 sutras to express the grammar. Together with a recitation of dhatus (seed sounds - Western grammarians say "root" but that is all Werstern languages carry, unlike Sanskrit), a recitation of categorised words and of course the sutras revealed to him by the Lord Siva. The work is entitle "8 lectures" - we say books - and I had got through book 1 and was beginning the second, when I was asked to teach a class of Laghu.Siddhanta Kaumudi and changed the track of my study.
So with this new found time, a decision was taken to re-awaken this study but alas, to dive into the Samasas without having the whole of book 1 अनुवृत्ति (anuvṛtti) so to speak and fresh in the mind. this is a technique employed by pāṇini where ideas, words, are effective in sutras subsequent to the one in which they are introduced. They are not stated, but are in operation.
In the time since writing this out I had written both AS and A level exams and followed the grammar set therein and this was a marvelous experience and a huge learning.
So with the refined understanding (and associated increment in the level of awe and reverence for the language) the idea now is to go back to the beginning and really read, understand and learn the sutra - as well as write it out once up to book 2.
If 5 pages could be done a day...
Well here is the start - as to how it goes from here, as the blind man once said "We shall see..."
॥ इति परमात्मने नमः॥
