कातन्त्र व्याकरणम्: Katantra-Vyakaranam

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The Katantra Vyakarana written by Sarvavarman is the oldest and the earliest of the Post-Paninian systems of Sanskrit Vyakarana written in about 2nd century B.C. of Christian era. The Katantra or commonly known as Kalapa or Kaumara Vyakarna, adopted an independent and new method in respect of topicwise rearrangement of the sutras, nonuse of the Pratyahara-sutras and total omission of the rules dealing with the Vedic Sanskrit and the accents.

The author of the Katantra threw a challenge to the well-established and renowned Paninian system comprising of the Astadhyayi, the Varttikas by Katyayana and an extensive commentry thereon as Mahabhasya by Patanjali. The treatment of various grammatical operations was topicwise. On the basis of the traditional accounts preserved in ancient Sanskrit literature, Sarvamarn, composed the new text of Sanskrit Vyakarana, after listening it from Lord Karttikeya as Panini learnt the Astadhyayi only after listening the 14 Mahesvara-sutras from Lord Sankara. Sarvavarman's effort was the result of a challenge to prepare a new and abridged form of grammatical text with which one could learn Sanskrit in six months only. To what extent the claim by Sarvarman held true may be a matter of controversy but it is a fact that the work was verv popular especially among those who wanted to study spoken Sanskrit with ease and it at'ained for several years a very prominent place among text-books on grammar especially in Bihar, Bengal and Gujarat. With the composition of commentries sub-commentries and various supplementry works the popularity of Katantra even reached central Asia patronised by the Sen rulers of Bengal in 12th century. The scholars particulary belonging to Vaidya community-enriched the Katantra system by writing original works so as to compete the Paninian System of Sanskrit grammar.

It is a matter of pity that such an important and complete system came to be ignored to such an extent that not even a single complete text is available this day in Devnagri script. To fill this gap partly and to preserve the age old treasure of Sarvavarman, I accepted the challenge to present. 'The Katantra vyakarana' in Devanagri script along with the commentry by Durgasingh who flourished in the 9th century A.D.

I have mainly relied my efforts on the texts of Katantra-Vyakarana appeared in Bingle characters from Calcutta in 1933 and edited by Pt. Gurunatha Vidyanidhi Bhattacarya. While writting my Ph.D. thesis in 1960 on "A study of the Post Papinian System of Sanskrit-grammar with special reference to their Technique and Scope"-I started learning the Bingle characters with a view to study the Katantra. On the completion of my Ph.D. thesis I took a vow to produce the Katantra Vyakarana in Devanagri Script. And now I am extremely happy to see that dream come true after 20 years.

I express my sincere gratitude to my teacher Prof. Ram Gopal, former Vice Chancellor, M.D. University Rohtak (HARYANA) who initiated me to take up the study of Sanskrit Grammar.

My thanks are due to my sincere friend DR. Pushpendra Kumar, Reader in the Department of Sanskrit University of Delhi, for his timely suggestion and valueable assistance in preparing the present text.

I also wish to thank M/s. Bhartiya Vidya Prakashan, Bung-low Road, Delhi, for bringing out the present book in a record time.

In the end, I am thankful to the U.G.C. for providing financial assistance to me for preparing the manuscript in a presentable form.

The Katantra or the Kalapa-Vya, by Sarvavarman is the oldest among the post-Paninian systems of grammar. Before the composition of the Katantra-Vya, the Astadhyayi of Panini was the only complete and authoritative system of Sanskrit grammar. All the post-Paninian grammarians who wrote different systems of Sanskrit grammar, are indebted to Sarvavarman because he was the first grammarian who undertook a daring task of challenging the traditional and the most authoritative system by writing a new system of grammar, entitled the Katantra or the Kalapa-Vya This system was also known by the name Kaumara, as according to the traditional beliefs, the sutras of this system were first uttered by Kumara Karttikeya. Later on, Sarvavarman compiled those sutras and presented them in the form of a system.¹

Authorship and date
Like most of the writers of Sanskrit literature, Sarvavarman did not give any information either about his life or about his works, whatever is known about Sarvavarman's life and works is given in a story form in the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva and the Brhatkathamanjar of Ksemendra. The story, as given in the Kathasaritsagara, does not give any account of Sarvavar-man's, life but throws some light on the origin of the Katantra-Vya. According to the seventh Taramga of the Kathasaritsagara, Saravavarman and Guņādhya were two great scholars of Sanskrit grammar in the court of king Satavahana of Ujjayini.

One day, King Satavāhana was playing in water alongwith his queens and was splashing water on one of them. She, getting bored, requested him to stop that act in the following words: 'modakam dehi', i.c., "please do not throw water", The king unaware of the rules of Samdhi, understood that the queen was asking for sweetmeats (modakam dehi). He did not follow "ma udakam dehi", he therefore, asked one of his servants to bring some sweetmeats for the queen. The servants obeyed the order of the king. But the queen, who knew very well the accurate use of Sanskrit grammar and language, laughed at the folly of the king and explained to him what she meant by 'modakam dehi'. The king felt very much insulted and in order to acquire a sound knowledge of Sanskrit grammar, consulted his ministers Gunadhya and Sarvavarman. Gunadhya said that learning of Sanskrit grammar was not an easy task. It might take more than twelve years to teach Sanskrit grammar thoroughly. On the other hand, Sarvavarman, who was also a great scholar of Sanskrit and in no way inferior to Gunadhya, undertook to impart working knowledge of Sanskrit grammar in six months. Gunadhya, disbelieving the statement of Sarvavarman, declared that in case Sarvavarman succeeded, he would renounce the world for ever. Sarvavarman returned home and propitiated Lord Karttikeya, who being pleased with his devotion, appeared before him and imparted the knowledge of the system, with which Sarvavarman would be susceptible in teaching the basic rules of Sanskrit grammar to the king in six months only. When Karttikeya uttered the first sutra 'Siddho Varnasamamnayah' of the proposed system and was about to utter the second sutra, Sarvavarman himself spoke the sutra "Tatra caturdasadau svarah". The impertinent interference of Sarvavarman during the exposition of the new system, deprecated the standard of the system in comparison to that of Panini for which Sarvavarman was reprimanded by Karttikeya. Karttikeya expressed his own view about the proposed system, which, because of his undesirable intervention, would be considered as Katantra or a brief system and would be known among the people by the title Kalapa or Kaumara.