Page:Systems-of-Sanskrit-Grammar-SK Belvalkar.pdf/41

 [ - § 20 Patanjali's Mahābhashya derived from his native place and the name of his mother, but it has been shown by Rajendraläl Mitra¹ and Dr. Kielhorn' that they are distinct authors, and as such they are quoted by so early a writer as Vätsyāyana the author of the Kama-sutra." The best account of Patañjali's time, if not of his person, is to be found in the Mahabhäshya itself; and a detailed exposition of the religious, histori- cal, geographical, social, and literary data as resulting from the contents of that work is to be found in the Indische Studien, xiii. pp. 293-502. We have stated that Patañjali was not the first to deal with Katyayana in the same way in which the latter: dealt with Panini. Patañjali was perhaps the most success- ful if not also the last of the number. Besides giving his ishtis (desiderata) on Panini's sätras, wherever Kätyä. yana had omitted to give värtikas, his chief aim was to vindicate Pāņini against the often unmerited attacks of Katyayana; and in this he has achieved a remarkable success, although in some places he overdoes his defence. and becomes decidedly unfair to Katyayana. The style of his work is unparalleled in the whole range of Sans- krit Literature, only the Sarira-bhashya of Sankara being worthy of a mention by its side. 33 Regarding the text of the Mahabhäshya the traditions recorded in the Rajatarangini and in the Vakyapadiya- state that it had become so hopelessly corrupt in the time of king Abhimanyu of Käśmair that only one authentic! Ms. of it existed throughout India, from which all sub- sequent copies of it have been derived. The work, like 1 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol, Lii, p. 269. 2 Indian Antiquary xiv, p. 40. 3 See Kama-sütra, p. 67 (Kavya. 4 mala edition). According to forange the ans are di- 5 [ Sk. Gr. ] vided into four classes, while Te divides them into eight. Vide note 5 on p. 13 above. 5 Kanda ii, stanzas 484-90.