Series · व्याकरण Vyākaraṇa

Reading Pāṇini

A guided walk through the अष्टाध्यायी (Aṣṭādhyāyī), Pāṇini’s grammar of Sanskrit: some 4,000 rules, composed about 2,400 years ago, that describe a whole language with the precision of a program. No Sanskrit needed.

येनाक्षरसमाम्नायमधिगम्य महेश्वरात् ।
कृत्स्नं व्याकरणं प्रोक्तं तस्मै पाणिनये नमः ॥ yenākṣara-samāmnāyam adhigamya maheśvarāt | kṛtsnaṃ vyākaraṇaṃ proktaṃ tasmai pāṇinaye namaḥ || “Salutations to Pāṇini, who received the collection of sounds from Maheśvara and from it proclaimed the whole of grammar.”

The series

1
Fourteen DrumbeatsWhy grammar is the “mouth” of the Veda, the scale of Pāṇini’s achievement, the Māheśvara Sūtras, and the pratyāhāra trick, with an interactive explorer.
Read
2
Where Sounds Are BornThe places of articulation, अकुहविसर्जनीयानां कण्ठः, and the hidden logic of the varṇamālā.
Coming soon
3
Six Kinds of RulesDefinitions, operations, meta-rules, and how a word silently carries into the next sūtra.
Coming soon
4
When Sounds MeetSandhi, guṇa and vṛddhi: how words fuse when they touch.
Coming soon
5
Building a Word from ScratchOne complete derivation, from root to finished word, step by step.
Coming soon
6
When Rules CollideHow Pāṇini decides which rule wins, and a modern debate about it.
Coming soon
7
Who Did What to WhomKāraka: Pāṇini’s theory of the sentence.
Coming soon
8
Pāṇini and the MachineFrom the Aṣṭādhyāyī to formal grammars and programming languages.
Coming soon

What to expect

No prior knowledge needed. We start from sounds and build up, one idea per post.
Two scripts, always. Devanagari with a romanised (IAST) form, so every step can be followed.
Real sūtras, decoded. Each post ends with you reading actual rules of Pāṇini yourself.
Things to play with. Interactive tools, recordings of chanted texts and worked examples.
Read in order. Each part builds on the one before.

Start with Part 1: Fourteen Drumbeats