Why does Pāṇini appear to compromise brevity by using the word प्रत्यवसानार्थ?
Dr. Namrata B Jagtap
Assistant Professor
Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, Mumbai.
Pāṇini is celebrated for his unparalleled brevity in the Aṣṭādhyāyī, where economy of expression serves as a fundamental guiding principle. His sūtra style is marked by extreme conciseness, making every syllable purposeful. However, the sūtra “गतिबुद्धिप्रत्यवसानार्थशब्दकर्माकर्मकाणामणि कर्ता स णौ।” presents an apparent deviation from this norm through the use of the relatively longer term प्रत्यवसानार्थ in the sense of “eating.” This raises a significant and intriguing question: why would Pāṇini employ such a term when shorter and more commonly used alternatives like अन्न, भक्षण, or खादन are readily available within the language?
This paper investigates whether this lexical choice is deliberate and meaningful rather than incidental or arbitrary. The study adopts a fourfold methodology:
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compiling a comprehensive list of Sanskrit expressions denoting “to eat”;
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identifying and analysing the specific terms employed by Pāṇini in comparable grammatical contexts;
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critically examining interpretations offered by both ancient and modern commentators on this sūtra;
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exploring possible explanations for the use of the term प्रत्यवसानार्थ where the issue remains unaddressed.
Through this systematic analysis, the paper seeks to determine whether प्रत्यवसानार्थ conveys a nuanced semantic or functional precision that simpler terms fail to capture. Ultimately, the study will examine whether Pāṇini’s lexical choice aligns with his systematic and highly intentional grammatical framework, and whether such apparent deviations from brevity serve deeper linguistic purposes.