Course Content

This course initiates students into the formal discipline of vyākaraṇam—the science of Sanskrit grammar—through a systematic study of Laghu-Siddhānta-Kaumudī, a pedagogically refined reorganization of Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī composed by Varadarāja. The course begins with an introduction to the landscape of core grammatical texts and the architecture that supports Pāṇinian grammar. Students learn the concept of pratyāhāra-sūtras, derived from the Maheshvara-sūtrāṇi, which encode large groups of sounds through concise formulas and form the backbone of Pāṇini’s technical system. The various kinds of sūtras—including vidhi-sūtras (rules of operation), niyama-sūtras (restrictive rules), paribhāṣā-sūtras (interpretive metarules), and adhikāra-sūtras (heading rules governing entire sections)—are introduced to clarify how the Aṣṭādhyāyī functions as a tightly interlinked, algorithmic system.

Students then study It-prakaraṇam, which explains the use of anubandhas, or marker letters, that appear in affixes (pratyayas) only to indicate grammatical properties. These markers—designated as it—are elided after serving their function but are essential to decoding how Pāṇini categorizes, applies, restricts, or modifies grammatical operations. The course next expands into selected sections of Saṃjñā-prakaraṇam, which establishes the technical terminology (saṃjñās) used throughout Pāṇini’s work, such as prātipadika (nominal base), dhātu (verbal root), anga (stem before suffixation), and many more. Parallelly, students study portions of Paribhāṣā-prakaraṇam, learning metarules that govern the interpretation of Pāṇinian rules—principles such as vipratiṣedhe paraṁ kāryam (“when two rules conflict, the latter rule prevails”) or asiddhavat (treating certain operations as though they have not yet occurred), which are indispensable for navigating the logic of the Aṣṭādhyāyī.

A major focus of this course is ac-sandhi, the set of phonetic rules governing vowel combinations. Students examine how vowels transform when they meet across word boundaries or within grammatical operations, and how these transformations reflect Pāṇini’s precision in capturing spoken Sanskrit. The rules of vowel sandhi are studied not only technically but also contextually through examples from revered Sanskrit texts such as the Bhagavad Gītā, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and traditional stotras, enabling students to recognize and justify sandhi applications within authentic textual settings.

By the end of the course, students gain a rigorous understanding of the foundational machinery of Pāṇinian grammar—its technical vocabulary, sound groupings, metarules, and phonetic transformations—thus preparing them for deeper study of the Laghu-Siddhānta-Kaumudī and eventually the full Aṣṭādhyāyī.

Purchasable Readings before the Course:

Readings: 

Laghu-Siddhanta-Kaumudi by Medha Michika, freely distributed online.