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Leonard Bloomfield described Panini’s Ashtadhyayi (7th century bc) as ‘one of the greatest monuments of human intelligence.’ It is a complete, explicit and comprehensive grammar of both spoken and textual (compositional) Sanskrit. Most of the reputed and renowned Indian and foreign universities running courses on Indian knowledge systems, study it for its principles of analysis, organization and description. What is of great interest is the theoretical framework that informs this grammar, a framework that has remarkable power to describe human languages, particularly the Indian languages.
Panini is the watershed in the linguistic history of India. Before Panini, there was extensive work in phonetics, in morphology and lexicon (in the patha tradition) and in nirvacana (etymology). There is evidence also of the existence of several schools of grammar. In what is characteristic of the Indian intellectual traditions, Panini distilled the available grammatical knowledge and put it in 32000 syllables — as if, it has been said, an ocean has been accommodated in a cow’s hoof-mark. After Panini, a whole tradition developed and produced rich works by Patanjali, Candrakirti, Jainendra, Bhartrihari, Bhojraja, Hemacandracarya, Bhattoji Dikshita, Nagesha Bhatta and many others. It also inspired work in literature and philosophy and has left its mark on the entire intellectual tradition. In the modern period, there is a spread of Ashtadhyayi studies round the globe and it has proved to be of great interest for the study of knowledge representation in the departments of system sciences.
A comprehensive study of the different dimensions of this wonderful grammar enlarges and alters the conceptual horizons of young minds and of all those who care to be associated with the Indian grammatical systems. This book is a record of that adventure.
The region of Orissa, from the point of view of studies in historical geography, has always remained a challenging area, not least owing to its vast and complicated history, varied geography and intriguing sources. Though the historical geography of this region has been considered for analysis in the past, it has only been featured as a chapter or in a section as part of a larger whole. Thus, this work is perhaps the first attempt to present a comprehensive research study of the historical geography of Orissa.
The author, guided by long research experience, culls material from all available sources — literary, epigraphic, etc. — to subject the theme to a systematic analysis that leaves not a facet of the subject unexplored. He describes and delves into the ancient, medieval and modern periods of historical growth to underline the historico-geographical significance of various kingdoms and places of importance that emerged, flourished and disintegrated at different times — as Kalinga; South Koshala; Odri, Utkala or Toshala; Trikalinga; and the many Mandala states. He studies the physical features of the area, the mountain system of the Orissa state and its rivers, with a view to showing how they have shaped its history. The transport and communication routes in the region since ancient times are retraced to reveal the region’s strong cultural and economic foundations among other things.
This book, from first to last, unfolds a wealth of interesting and useful information. Complete with an exhaustive bibliography, index and maps of Orissa, the book can immensely aid further research works on the subject.
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