Aṣṭādhyāyī

In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, growing concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without 'corruption' led to the rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar.

[11] The text takes material from lexical lists (Dhātupāṭha, Gaṇapātha) as input and describes algorithms to be applied to them for the generation of well-formed words.

[a] A consequence of his grammar's focus on brevity is its highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of modern notations such as the "Backus–Naur form".

[citation needed] His sophisticated logical rules and technique have been widely influential in ancient and modern linguistics.

In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity[15] – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours.

Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, defines the linguistic expression and a classic that set the standard for Sanskrit language.

These definitions refer only to items taught in the grammar or its ancillary texts such at the Dhātupāṭha; this fact is made clear in P. 1.3.2 by the word upadeśe, which is then continued in the following six rules by anuvṛtti, Ellipsis.

As these anubandhas are metalinguistic markers and not pronounced in the final derived form, pada (word), they are elided by P. 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ – 'There is elision of that (i.e. any of the preceding items which have been defined as an it).'

The Śiva Sūtras describe a phonemic notational system in the fourteen initial lines preceding the Aṣṭādhyāyī.

The notational system introduces different clusters of phonemes that serve special roles in the morphology of Sanskrit, and are referred to throughout the text.

Examples of groups include: After Pāṇini, the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali on the Aṣṭādhyāyī is one of the three most famous works in Sanskrit grammar.

Pāṇini's work has been one of the important sources of cultural, religious, and geographical information about ancient India, with he himself being referred to as a Hindu scholar of grammar and linguistics.

[22][23][24] His work, for example, illustrates the word Vasudeva (4.3.98) as a proper noun in an honorific sense, that can equally mean a divine or an ordinary person.