[Y-Indology] Panini sutras memorized by 3 year-olds.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for correcting me. I don't know how old this system is. It

is not referred to in the Mahaabhaa.sya etc. However, some of

the A.s.taadhyaayii mss I have seen do contain these keys, and

they are included in the suutrapaa.tha as given in the

Nirnayasagara edition of the Siddhaantakaumudii. So it seems

that the tradition must be at least a few centuries old. I have not

asked a reciter if he actually uses this system. However, I see a

somewhat similar mnemonic system of keys in Satavalekar's

edition of the Taittiriiya Samhitaa.

 

Madhav Deshpande

 

 

INDOLOGY, "Narayan Prasad"

<prasad_cwprs> wrote:

> >Each of the Paadas of the Ashtadhyayi is assigned a

mnemonic key

> > consisting of the first word of rule 1, 20, 40, 60 etc,

>

> I think, you must be having in mind 1, 21, 41, 61 etc.

>

> Best regards.

>

> Narayan Prasad

>

> -

> <mmdesh@U...>

> <INDOLOGY>

> Friday, February 07, 2003 3:27 AM

> [Y-Indology] Re: Panini sutras memorized by 3

year-olds.

>

>

> > A few years ago, one of these Maharashtrian Veda reciters,

Shri.

> > Madhav Ganesh Joshi, from NIpani, published a book

> > "Svarayuktaa Ashtaadhyaayii", 1992 (Sadhakashram, Alandi,

> > Pune). I met him in Pune and got a copy of his book from

him.

> > The book presents an accented text of the Ashtadhyayi based

on

> > a manuscript, evidently used by the Vaidikas. Interestingly,

the

> > book has a preface by Professor S.D. Joshi in English,

where

> > S.D. Joshi analyses the accent markings on this text, and

> > concludes: "The conclusion I draw from what I have noted is

that

> > the manuscript which is obviously meant as a help for

pandits

> > during recitation does not strictly follow the paninian rules of

> > accentuation, both as regards word-or-sentence accent, and

as

> > regards technical accent. But from what I heard from Mr.

> > Nipanikar Shastri I understand that Vaidika Dashagranthi

> > pandits like Vedamurti Ghaisas Shastri from Poona have

> > assured Mr. Nipanikar Shastri that the accentuation given by

the

> > manuscript is exactly that which they have learnt for purposes

of

> > recitation."

> >

> > Michael Witzel is evidently not aware of the value of

recounting

> > the exact numerical location of a Panini sutra in the

traditional

> > recitation. The tradition has devised an elaborate system of

> > quickly recovering the exact number of a given rule. Each of

the

> > Paadas of the Ashtadhyayi is assigned a mnemonic key

> > consisting of the first word of rule 1, 20, 40, 60 etc, and the

> > number of remaining rules (smaller than 20). For example,

the

> > key for the 1st Paada of the first Adhyaya is:

> >

> >

v.rddhir-aadyantavad-avyayiibhaava.h-pratyayasyaluk-pa~ncadaz

> > a

> >

> > There are 32 such keys. A reciter who knows the whole text

by

> > heart starts reciting from a given sutra until he hits one of the

> > markers in one of these keys. This happens in the recitation

of

> > 20 or less rules, and one can immediately figure out the

exact

> > number of the rule. Knowing the exact number of a given rule

is

> > important in deciding which rule will override the other rule.

> >

> > Madhav Deshpande

> >

>

>

>

>

 

>

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[Guest guest]

Incidentally, I recall that where I saw this claim that children insist on

verbatim repetitions of their favorite stories, was in early Freud, the case

history of Little Hans, I think, first decade of the 20th century, a time

before sound recordings were common. So if Indian and Western children

differ in this respect, there must be some other cultural cause.

 

Phillip