From Pāṇini to Rasa: Generative Grammars of Language, Music, and Experience
Shekhar Shastri
Medu Education Foundation
Lexington, MA
This paper argues that the idea of grammar in the Indian intellectual tradition extends beyond language into domains of music, theatre, and lived experience. While Pāṇini formalized the generative principles of linguistic expression, traditions of music and Nāṭya developed equally sophisticated systems governing the emergence of aesthetic experience (rasa) through structured combinations of sound, rhythm, gesture, poetic language, and shared attention. By comparing linguistic grammar with aesthetic and performative grammars, the paper proposes a broader conception of generativity: not merely the production of sentences, but the structured evocation of transformed modes of experience. The discussion concludes by considering implications for contemporary theories of creativity and generative AI.