Page:Systems-of-Sanskrit-Grammar-SK Belvalkar.pdf/40

 32 Systems of Sanskrit Grammar § 19 -] some of them at least presuppose Kätyäyana is proved by karikā I on Panini iii. 2.118, which quotes one of his vārtikas. Unfortunately none of these successors of Katyayana are known to us otherwise than through quo- tations made by Patañjali in his Mahabhashya. We must therefore next pass on to Patañjali, with whom ends the first period in the history of the Pāṇiniya school. 20. Patanjali: His date and personal history.--The date of. Patañjali the author of the Mahabhashya is not subject to as vague a guess-work as that of Katyayana or Pāṇini. At one time scholars were inclined to make him a can- temporary of Christ, but Dr. Bhandarkar has fought through the pages of the Indian Antiquary for an earlier date; and it has been now accepted by scholars all round, and formed, in fact, until the recent discovery of the Kautiliya, the one definite landmark in the history of ancient Indian Literature, by a reference to which the dates of Patanjali's predecessors and successors could be approximately determined. The main arguments for assigning him to 150 B. C. are these: i. The instance ** ga: in such a context that the event must have occurred within the lifetime of Patañijali. ii. Similarly the instances erat: at and creVGAÎÌ ALTIÂETH, which re- fer to a siege by Menander. iii. As a collateral evidence, the mention of a financial expedient of the Mauryas.¹ Regarding the personal history of Patañjali very little is known. He was a contemporary of Pushpamitra and probably much honoured by him for his learning. It is usual to suppose that the epithets Gonardiya and Goņikā- putra used in the Mahabhäshya are his own other names Goldstücker, pp. 228-38 (Re- 1 The referencus are: Indian An- tiquery i. 299-302 ; l. 57, 69, print, pp. 175-183). 94, 206-10, 238, and 362; xv. 2 Vol. i. pp. 78, 91, 335, &c. 80-84; xvi. 156, 172; and