Pāṇini’s rules of interpretation (paribhāṣā)

The ancient Sanskrit grammatical treatise ‘Aṣṭādhyāyī’ by Pāṇini consists of sūtras —  condensed and technically charged formulae specifying Sanskrit grammar rules. These rules generally fall into four types: headings, definitions, operational rules, and metarules. It is this last type of rules, defined as paribhāṣāsūtra in Sanskrit, which is examined in the proposed paper. These metarules give general prescriptions and describe conditions for and the order of application of operational rules. A partial review of paribhāṣāsūtras can be found in [Cardona 1997: 52–64]. Abhyankar gives a more complete list of paribhāṣāsūtras in [Abhyankar 1967: 4–5] where he only catalogues the ordination numbers of these sūtras in ‘Aṣṭādhyāyī’. The proposed paper considers an even fuller list of paribhāṣāsūtras and classifies them in consistence with their functional roles while also discussing the degree of their universality. The paribhāṣāsūtras were divided into six categories in the present paper —  the metarules 1) of general use, 2) on technical use of means of expression in sūtras, 3) on correct reading of sūtras, 4) on exact determination of substituted element and of substitute, 5) on the status of elements mentioned in sūtras, 6) of local character. The paribhāṣāsūtras of all these categories except the last one are universally valid. All the paribhāṣāsūtras discussed are provided here with Russian translation, explanations and examples of their use as gleaned from classical Sanskrit commentaries. This itemized collection of paribhāṣāsūtras can be recommended as a concise manual for correct reading of Pāṇini’s ‘Aṣṭādhyāyī’.