The grammar of the Sanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians from the later Vedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), culminating in the Pāṇinian grammar of the 4th century BCE.
Grammatical tradition
Origins
Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vyākaraṇa, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) began in late Vedic India and culminated in the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini.
The oldest attested form of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language as it had evolved in the Indian subcontinent after its introduction with the arrival of the Indo-Aryans is called Vedic. By 1000 BCE, the end of the early Vedic period, a large body of Vedic hymns had been consolidated into the Ṛg·Veda, which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, and was transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally.
In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, there was rising concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without 'corruption', which for them was vital to ensure the religious efficacy of the hymns. This led to the rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar, the high point of which was Pāṇini's stated work, which eclipsed all others before him.
Pāṇini
Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī, a prescriptive and generative grammar with algebraic rules governing every single aspect of the language, in an era when oral composition and transmission was the norm, is staunchly embedded in that oral tradition. In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to the emergence of a great number of commentaries of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work.
After Pāṇini
About a century after Pāṇini, Kātyāyana composed vārtikas (explanations) on the Pāṇinian sũtras. Patañjali, who lived three centuries after Pāṇini, wrote the Mahābhāṣya, the "Great Commentary" on the Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vārtikas. Because of these three ancient Sanskrit grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni Vyākarana.
Jayaditya and Vāmana wrote a commentary named Kāśikā in 600 CE. 's (12th century AD) commentary on Patañjali's also exerted much influence on the development of grammar, but more influential was the Rupāvatāra of Buddhist scholar Dharmakīrti which popularised simplified versions of Sanskrit grammar.
The most influential work of the Early Modern period was Siddhānta Kaumudī by (17th century). Bhaṭṭoji's disciple Varadarāja wrote three abridged versions of the original text, named Madhya Siddhānta Kaumudī, Sāra Siddhānta Kaumudī and Laghu Siddhānta Kaumudī, of which the latter is the most popular. Vāsudeva Dīkṣita wrote a commentary named Bālamanoramā on Siddhānta-Kaumudī.
European grammatical scholarship began in the 18th century with Jean François Pons and others, and culminated in the exhaustive expositions by 19th century scholars such as Otto von Böhtlingk, William Dwight Whitney, Jacob Wackernagel and others.
Timeline
The following is a timeline of notable post-Pāṇinian grammatical figures and approximate dates:
Kātyāyana – 300 BCE
Patañjali – 150 BCE
Bhartṛhari – V CE
Kāśikā – VII
Śākaṭāyana – IX
Kaiyaṭa – XI
Hemacandra – XII
Śaraṇadeva – XII
Vopadeva – XIII
Bhattoji-dīkṣita – XVII
Phonology
The sound system
The Sanskrit sound system can be represented in a 2-dimensional matrix arranged on the basis of the articulatory criteria:
Pronunciation examples
The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the nearest equivalents in English (as pronounced in General American and Received Pronunciation or wherever relevant in Indian English), French, Spanish, Russian or Polish, along with approximate IPA values.
(Further information: IPA chart (vowels and consonants) – 2015. and IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio )