Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/80

 70 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [March, 1873. verted order is provided for, and no new rule is necessary. How it is so, Patanjali tells ns as follows “ Yaj denotes several actions. It does not necessarily signify the throwing of the oblations into the fire, but also giving money, or providing the means of the sacrifice. For instance, they say 1 O how well he sacrifices,’ in the case of one who provides the means properly. That providing of the means, or giving money, is done by Pushpamitra, and the sacrificing priests cause him so to provide or so to become the sacrificer. In this sense, then, Pushpamitra sacrifices (yajate), and the priests cause him to perform it (yajayanti).” This is the uninverted or the usual order. In the sense of throwing the oblations into the fire, the other is the correct order.* In this instance we see Patanjali speaks of the sacrifices of Pushpamitra as if he were familiar with them ; and by itself this passage shows that he could not have lived long after him, certainly not so long as 175 years after, as Prof. Weber makes out. But the other instance pointed out in page 300 vol. I. of the Antiquary, in which his sacrifices are spoken of as if going on, shows that he lived in Puslipamitra’s time. The three passages, then, in which his name occurs, are perfectly consistent with, and confirm, each other. Patanjali’s native place. Indian tradition makes the author of the Mahabhashya a native of a country called Gonarda, which is spoken of by the grammarians as an eastern country. The Matsya Purana also enumerates it amongst the countries in that direction. The position of Patanjali’s native place, whether it was Gonarda or some other, can, I think, be pretty definitely fixed by means of certain passages in his work. In his comments on III. 3,136, the two following passages occur: — Yoyam adhvd gala a Pataliputrdt tasya yada- varanim Sdkctat—‘ Of the distance or path from Pataliputra which has been traversed [such a thing was done in] that part of it which is on this side of Saketaand yoyam adhvd d Pdtalipntrad (jantavyas tasya yat param Sdketdt—‘ Of the distance or path up to Pataliputra which is to ^*7 : I jstfjnfr qTSTW *TT«R'- rth-1 ni Katya. | Paten, wrftj : | : I be traversed [something will be done in] that portion which lies on that side of Saketa. f In these two instances we see that the limit of the distance is Pataliputra, and that it is divided into two parts, one of which is on this side of Saketa, and the other on that. Saketa, then, must be in the middle, on the way from the place represented by ‘ this’ in the expression ‘ this side,’ to Pataliputra. This place must be that where Patanjali speaks or writes ; and it must, we see, be in the line connecting Saketa and Pataliputra on the side of it remote from Patali¬ putra. The bearing of Oudh from Patna is north-west by west ; Patanjali’s native place, therefore, must have been somewhere to the north-west by west of Oudh. Prof. Weber thinks he lived to the east of Pataliputra j but of this I have spoken elsewhere. Let us now see whether the information thus gathered can be brought into harmony with the tradition mentioned above. The exact posi¬ tion of Gonarda is not known; but if it really was Patanjali’s country, it must have been situated somewhere to the north or north-west of Oudh. Now, there is a district thereabouts which is known by the name of Gonda, and there is also a town of that name about 20 miles to the north-west of Oudh. According to the usual rules of corruption, Sansk. rda (£) is in the Prakrits corrupted to dda (**), but sometimes also it is changed to dda (^).J Gonarda, there¬ fore, must in the Prakrit assume the form Gonadda. Hasty pronunciation elides the a, and, in the later stages of the development of the Prakrits, one of the two similar consonants is rejected. The form is thus reduced to Gonda, which is the way in which it is now pronounced. General Cunningham derives Gouda from Gauda.§ But, so far as I am aware, there are no instances of the insertion of a nasal in a Prakrit word, when it does not exist in the corresponding Sanskrit one. It appears, therefore, very probable that the district of Gonda in Oudh was the ancient Gonarda, and had the honour of giving birth to the great author of the Mahabhashya. The native country of Ka'tya'yana. Prof. Weber is of opinion that Katy&yana was one of the eastern grammarians, and Dr. °rf i sirev?: i msrlrlr :n$- T°T | ft irff &C. f I omit the grammatical detail* of this as not necessary. x See Var. Prftkr. Praka. III. 20. § Anc. Geog. p. 408, and Arch. Surv. vol. I., p. 327.
 * Pan. III. 1, 26. Katya. 1 Paten.