Panini was an Indian grammarian who laid the foundation for analyses of the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the oldest formal written language of India and the basis of many modern Indian languages, including Hindi and Urdu. Scholars are uncertain about the details of Panini’s life, including exactly when he lived. However, he is believed to have been born in Shalatula, a small town near the city of Attock in Punjab province in what is now Pakistan. He was most likely born in the 500’s or 600’s B.C.
Panini’s major work, the Ashtadhyayi (Eight Chapters), is considered a model for the analysis and description of a language and one of the greatest influences on the science of modern linguistics. In ancient India, grammar was not simply an academic subject. It formed part of the Vedas, the sacred texts that are the foundation of Hinduism. The Vedas were originally recited from memory rather than written down. It was important that they should be recited absolutely correctly and without any changes to the words or their pronunciation, because they were sacred. But languages tend to change over the years. Panini worked to provide a set of rules to stop Sanskrit from changing over time. Future generations of writers followed his rules. Sanskrit literature, which includes drama and poetry as well as religious texts, continued to be written in the classical style dictated by Panini for hundreds of years. Sanskrit died out as a living language by about 100 B.C. Nevertheless, today some scholars in India still teach, speak, and write in Sanskrit.
