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59-437: Authored by Sanskrit philologist and scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 350 BCE, it describes the language as current in his time, specifically the dialect and register of an élite of model speakers, referred to by Pāṇini himself as śiṣṭa . The work also accounts both for some features specific to the older Vedic form of the language, as well as certain dialectal features current in the author's time. The Aṣṭādhyāyī employs

118-446: A derivational system to describe the language, where real speech is derived from posited abstract utterances formed by means of affixes added to bases under certain conditions. The Aṣṭādhyāyī is supplemented by three ancillary texts: Akṣarasamāmnāya , Dhātupāṭha and Gaṇapāṭha . Aṣṭādhyāyī is made of two words aṣṭa- , 'eight' and adhyāya- , 'chapter', thus meaning eight-chaptered, or 'the book of eight chapters'. By 1000 BCE,

177-405: A respectively. When a sutra defines the technical term, the term defined comes at the end, so the first sutra should have properly been ādaiJ vṛddhir instead of vṛddhir ādaiC . However the orders are reversed to have a good-luck word at the very beginning of the work; vṛddhir happens to mean 'prosperity' in its non-technical use. Thus the two sutras consist of a list of phonemes, followed by

236-407: A "symbol-using, symbol making, and symbol misusing animal" to suggest that a person creates symbols as well as misuses them. One example he uses to indicate what he means by the misuse of the symbol is the story of a man who, when told that a particular food item was whale blubber, could barely keep from throwing it up. Later, his friend discovered it was actually just a dumpling. But the man's reaction

295-681: A close reading of Pāṇini's grammar. Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit , also simply referred as the Vedic language , is an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It is orally preserved , predating the advent of writing by several centuries. Extensive ancient literature in

354-469: A defence of Pāṇini, whose sūtras are elaborated meaningfully. He also attacks Kātyāyana rather severely. But the main contributions of Patañjali lies in the treatment of the principles of grammar enunciated by him. Pāṇini's work has been one of the important sources of cultural, religious, and geographical information about ancient India , with he himself being referred to as a Hindu scholar of grammar and linguistics. His work, for example, illustrates

413-619: A large body of hymns composed in the oldest attested form of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language had been consolidated into the Rigveda , which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, being transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally. In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, growing concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without 'corruption' led to

472-686: A means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge. Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric . Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's cultural background. As

531-552: A particular symbol's apparent meaning. Consequently, symbols with emotive power carry problems analogous to false etymologies . The context of a symbol may change its meaning. Similar five-pointed stars might signify a law enforcement officer or a member of the armed services , depending upon the uniform . Symbols are used in cartography to communicate geographical information (generally as point, line, or area features). As with other symbols, visual variables such as size, shape, orientation, texture, and pattern provide meaning to

590-530: A probable link between Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit and languages of the Epics. Complex meters such as Anuṣṭubh and rules of Sanskrit prosody had been or were being innovated by this time, but parts of the Brāhmaṇa layers show the language is still close to Vedic Sanskrit. This is the last stratum of Vedic literature, comprising the bulk of the Śrautasūtras and Gṛhyasūtras and some Upaniṣad s such as

649-481: A result, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned. Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols. Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, and images are; so too are the manners and customs of daily life. Through all of these, a transcendent reality is mirrored. There are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed,

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708-525: A strict tripartite division of vocalic length between hrasva (short, 1 mora), dīrgha (long, 2 morae) and pluta (prolated, 3+ morae). Pluta vowels are recorded a total of 3 times in the Rigveda and 15 times in the Atharvaveda , typically in cases of questioning and particularly where two options are being compared. For example: The pluti attained the peak of their popularity in

767-438: A symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable and mysterious; symbols open up the "depth dimension of reality itself". Symbols are complex, and their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. When a symbol loses its meaning and power for an individual or culture, it becomes a dead symbol. When a symbol becomes identified with the deeper reality to which it refers, it becomes idolatrous as

826-498: A technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology, and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. The Aṣṭādhyāyī , composed in an era when oral composition and transmission was the norm, is staunchly embedded in that oral tradition. In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to

885-423: A technical term; the final interpretation of the two sutras above is thus: At this point, one can see they are definitions of terminology: guṇa and vṛ́ddhi are the terms for the full and the lengthened Indo-European ablaut grades, respectively. Markers called it or anubandha are defined in P. 1.3.2 through P. 1.3.8. These definitions refer only to items taught in the grammar or its ancillary texts such at

944-461: Is a special case, in that any verb can form class 10 presents, then assuming causative meaning. The roots specifically listed as belonging to class 10 are those for which any other form has fallen out of use (causative deponents , so to speak, and denominatives). The Gaṇapāṭha is a list of groups of primitive nominal stems (roots) used by the Aṣṭādhyāyī . Examples of groups include: After Pāṇini,

1003-419: Is achieved through the use of symbols: for example, a red octagon is a common symbol for " STOP "; on maps , blue lines often represent rivers; and a red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are symbols for numbers ; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes ; and personal names are symbols representing individuals. The academic study of symbols is called semiotics . In

1062-411: Is highly systematised and technical. Inherent in its approach are the concepts of the phoneme , the morpheme and the root . A consequence of his grammar's focus on brevity is its highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of modern notations such as the " Backus–Naur form ". His sophisticated logical rules and technique have been widely influential in ancient and modern linguistics. Pāṇini makes use of

1121-401: Is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable. Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own." In the book Signs and Symbols , it is stated that A symbol   ... is a visual image or sign representing an idea – a deeper indicator of universal truth. Semiotics

1180-445: Is organised by the ten present classes of Sanskrit, i.e. the roots are grouped by the form of their stem in the present tense . The ten present classes of Sanskrit are: The above names are composed of the first verbal root in each class followed by ādayaḥ "etc.; and next" – bhv-ādayaḥ thus means "the class starting with bhū ". The small number of class 8 verbs are a secondary group derived from class 5 roots, and class 10

1239-597: Is substituted for another in order to change the meaning. In other words, if one person does not understand a certain word or phrase, another person may substitute a synonym or symbol in order to get the meaning across. However, upon learning the new way of interpreting a specific symbol, the person may change his or her already-formed ideas to incorporate the new information. Jean Dalby Clift says that people not only add their own interpretations to symbols, but they also create personal symbols that represent their own understanding of their lives: what she calls "core images" of

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1298-513: Is the study of signs, symbols, and signification as communicative behavior. Semiotics studies focus on the relationship of the signifier and the signified, also taking into account the interpretation of visual cues, body language, sound, and other contextual clues. Semiotics is linked with linguistics and psychology. Semioticians not only study what a symbol implies but also how it got its meaning and how it functions to make meaning in society. For example, symbols can cause confusion in translation when

1357-503: The Dhātupāṭha ; this fact is made clear in P. 1.3.2 by the word upadeśe , which is then continued in the following six rules by anuvṛtti , Ellipsis . As these anubandha s are metalinguistic markers and not pronounced in the final derived form, pada (word), they are elided by P. 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ  – 'There is elision of that (i.e. any of the preceding items which have been defined as an it ).' Accordingly, Pāṇini defines

1416-653: The Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali on the Aṣṭādhyāyī is one of the three most famous works in Sanskrit grammar. It was with Patañjali that Indian linguistic science reached its definite form. The system thus established is extremely detailed as to śikṣā ( phonology , including accent) and vyākaraṇa ( morphology ). Syntax is scarcely touched, but nirukta ( etymology ) is discussed, and these etymologies naturally lead to semantic explanations. People interpret his work to be

1475-701: The Aṣṭādhyāyī , language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, defines the linguistic expression and a classic that set the standard for Sanskrit language. The first two sutras are as follows: In these sutras, the letters which here are put into the upper case actually are special meta-linguistic symbols ; they are called IT markers or, by later writers such as Katyayana and Patanjali, anubandhas (see below). The C and Ṅ refer to Shiva Sutras 4 (" ai , au , C" ) and 3 (" e , o , Ṅ" ), respectively, forming what are known as

1534-477: The Kaṭha Upaniṣad and Maitrāyaṇiya Upaniṣad . These texts elucidate the state of the language which formed the basis of Pāṇini's codification into Classical Sanskrit. Vedic differs from Classical Sanskrit to an extent comparable to the difference between Homeric Greek and Classical Greek . The following differences may be observed in the phonology: Vedic had a pitch accent which could even change

1593-597: The Ṛg·veda must have been essentially complete by around the 12th century BCE. The pre-1200 BCE layers mark a gradual change in Vedic Sanskrit, but there is disappearance of these archaic correspondences and linguistics in the post-Rigvedic period. This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Ṛg·veda Khilani , the Samaveda Saṃhitā, and

1652-570: The Brahmana period of late Vedic Sanskrit (roughly 8th century BC), with some 40 instances in the Shatapatha Brahmana alone. Symbol A symbol is a mark, sign , or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea , object , or relationship . Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise different concepts and experiences. All communication

1711-615: The Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to Punjab as corresponding to the Gandhara grave culture from about 1700 BCE. According to this model, Rigvedic within the larger Indo-Aryan group is the direct ancestor of the Dardic languages . The early Vedic Sanskrit language was far less homogeneous compared to the language described by Pāṇini , that is, Classic Sanskrit. The language in

1770-507: The Prakrit language. Originally the epigraphic language of the whole of India was mainly Prakrit and Sanskrit is first noticed in the inscriptions of North India from about the second half of the 1st century BCE. Sanskrit gradually ousted Prakrit from the field of Indian epigraphy in all parts of the country. Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the Vedic language: The first three are commonly grouped together, as

1829-607: The Rigveda is vague at best, generally estimated to roughly 1500 BCE. Both Asko Parpola (1988) and J. P. Mallory (1998) place the locus of the division of Indo-Aryan from Iranian in the Bronze Age culture of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC). Parpola (1999) elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in

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1888-457: The Unādisūtra , Dhātupāṭha , and Gaṇapātha but some of these have only survived in part. The Aṣṭādhyāyī consists of 3,995 sūtras in eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or pādas. There are different types of sūtras, with the vidhisūtra – operational rules, being the main one. The other, ancillary sūtras, are: The Aṣṭādhyāyī is the foundation of Vyākaraṇa , one of

1947-415: The anubandha s as follows: A few examples of elements that contain it s are as follows: Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī has three associated texts. The Śiva Sūtras describe a phonemic notational system in the fourteen initial lines preceding the Aṣṭādhyāyī . The notational system introduces different clusters of phonemes that serve special roles in the morphology of Sanskrit, and are referred to throughout

2006-458: The pratyāhāra s "comprehensive designations" aiC , eṄ . They denote the list of phonemes { ai , au } and { e , o } respectively. The T appearing (in its variant form /d/) in both sutras is also an IT marker: Sutra 1.1.70 defines it as indicating that the preceding phoneme does not represent a list, but a single phoneme, encompassing all supra-segmental features such as accent and nasality. For further example, āT and aT represent ā and

2065-411: The "symbol is taken for reality." The symbol itself is substituted for the deeper meaning it intends to convey. The unique nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality that are otherwise inaccessible. A symbol's meaning may be modified by various factors including popular usage, history , and contextual intent . The history of a symbol is one of many factors in determining

2124-473: The Saṃhitās comprising the four Vedas: ṛg, atharvan, yajus, sāman, which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the canonical foundation both of the Vedic religion, and the later religion known as Hinduism. Many words in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Ṛg·veda have cognates or direct correspondences with the ancient Avestan language, but these do not appear in post-Rigvedic Indian texts. The text of

2183-473: The Vedic Sanskrit language has survived into the modern era, and this has been a major source of information for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Indo-Iranian history. The separation of Proto-Indo-Iranian language into Proto-Iranian and Proto-Indo-Aryan is estimated, on linguistic grounds, to have occurred around or before 1800 BCE. The date of composition of the oldest hymns of

2242-481: The Vedic ancillary fields ( Vedāṅgas ), and complements others such as the Niruktas , Nighaṇṭus , and Śikṣā . Regarded as extremely compact without sacrificing completeness, it would become the model for later specialist technical texts or sūtras . The text takes material from lexical lists ( Dhātupāṭha , Gaṇapātha ) as input and describes algorithms to be applied to them for the generation of well-formed words. It

2301-489: The arts, symbolism is the use of a concrete element to represent a more abstract idea. In cartography , an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map. The word symbol derives from the late Middle French masculine noun symbole , which appeared around 1380 in a theological sense signifying a formula used in the Roman Catholic Church as a sort of synonym for 'the credo'; by extension in

2360-412: The development of periphrastic aorist forms. This must have occurred before the time of Pāṇini because Panini makes a list of those from the northwestern region of India who knew these older rules of Vedic Sanskrit. In this layer of Vedic literature, the archaic Vedic Sanskrit verb system has been abandoned, and a prototype of pre-Panini Vedic Sanskrit structure emerges. The Yajñagāthās texts provide

2419-488: The early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit. The formalization of the late form of Vedic Sanskrit language into the Classical Sanskrit form is credited to Pāṇini 's Aṣṭādhyāyī , along with Patanjali 's Mahabhasya and Katyayana 's commentary that preceded Patanjali's work. The earliest epigraphic records of the indigenous rulers of India are written in

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2478-627: The early Renaissance it came to mean 'a maxim' or 'the external sign of a sacrament'; these meanings were lost in secular contexts. It was during the Renaissance in the mid-16th century that the word took on the meaning that is dominant today, that of 'a natural fact or object evoking by its form or its nature an association of ideas with something abstract or absent'; this appears, for example, in François Rabelais , Le Quart Livre , in 1552. This French word derives from Latin, where both

2537-537: The emergence of a great number of commentaries of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work. The most famous and among the most ancient of these Bhāṣyas is the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali. Non-Hindu texts and traditions on grammar emerged after Patañjali, some of which include the Sanskrit grammar text of Jainendra of Jainism and the Chandra school of Buddhism. In

2596-474: The mantras of the Yajurveda . These texts are largely derived from the Ṛg·veda, but have undergone certain changes, both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation. For example, the more ancient injunctive verb system is no longer in use. An important linguistic change is the disappearance of the injunctive , subjunctive, optative, imperative (the aorist ). New innovations in Vedic Sanskrit appear such as

2655-491: The masculine noun symbolus and the neuter noun symbolum refer to "a mark or sign as a means of recognition." The Latin word derives from Ancient Greek : σύμβολον symbolon , from a verb meaning 'put together', 'compare', alluding to the Classical practice of breaking a piece of ceramic in two and giving one half to the person who would receive a future message, and one half to the person who would send it: when

2714-458: The meaning of the words, and was still in use in Pāṇini's time, as can be inferred by his use of devices to indicate its position. At some latter time, this was replaced by a stress accent limited to the second to fourth syllables from the end. Since a small number of words in the late pronunciation of Vedic carry the so-called "independent svarita " on a short vowel, one can argue that late Vedic

2773-423: The overlong or prolated vowels are themselves called pluta . Pluta vowels are usually noted with a numeral "3" ( ३ ) indicating a length of three morae ( trimātra ). A diphthong is prolated by prolongation of its first vowel. Pāṇinian grammarians recognise the phonetic occurrence of diphthongs measuring more than three morae in duration, but classify them all as prolated (i.e. trimoraic) to preserve

2832-852: The person. Clift argues that symbolic work with these personal symbols or core images can be as useful as working with dream symbols in psychoanalysis or counseling. William Indick suggests that the symbols that are commonly found in myth, legend, and fantasy fulfill psychological functions and hence are why archetypes such as "the hero", "the princess" and "the witch" have remained popular for centuries. Symbols can carry symbolic value in three primary forms: Ideological, comparative, and isomorphic. Ideological symbols such as religious and state symbols convey complex sets of beliefs and ideas that indicate "the right thing to do". Comparative symbols such as prestigious office addresses, fine art, and prominent awards indicate answers to questions of "better or worse" and "superior or inferior". Isomorphic symbols blend in with

2891-444: The rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar. The high point of this centuries-long endeavour was Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī , which eclipsed all others before him. While not the first, the Aṣṭādhyāyī is the oldest linguistic and grammar text, and one of the oldest Sanskrit texts, surviving in its entirety. Pāṇini refers to older texts such as

2950-600: The same symbol means different things in the source and target languages. A potential error documented in survey translation is the symbol of "x" used to denote "yes" when marking a response in the English language surveys, but "x" usually means "no" in the Chinese convention. Symbols allow the human brain continuously to create meaning using sensory input and decode symbols through both denotation and connotation . An alternative definition of symbol , distinguishing it from

3009-829: The surrounding cultural environment such that they enable individuals and organizations to conform to their surroundings and evade social and political scrutiny. Examples of symbols with isomorphic value include wearing a professional dress during business meetings, shaking hands to greet others in the West, or bowing to greet others in the East. A single symbol can carry multiple distinct meanings such that it provides multiple types of symbolic value. Paul Tillich argued that, while signs are invented and forgotten, symbols are born and die. There are, therefore, dead and living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning and transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich

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3068-454: The symbol. According to semiotics , map symbols are "read" by map users when they make a connection between the graphic mark on the map (the sign ), a general concept (the interpretant ), and a particular feature of the real world (the referent ). Map symbols can thus be categorized by how they suggest this connection: A symbolic action is an action that symbolizes or signals what the actor wants or believes. The action conveys meaning to

3127-448: The term sign was proposed by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung . In his studies on what is now called Jungian archetypes , a sign stands for something known, as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted a sign with a symbol : something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or precise. An example of a symbol in this sense is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called self . Kenneth Burke described Homo sapiens as

3186-599: The text. Each cluster, called a pratyāhāra , ends with a dummy sound called an anubandha (the so-called IT index), which acts as a symbolic referent for the list. Within the main text, these clusters, referred through the anubandhas , are related to various grammatical functions. The Dhātupāṭha is a lexicon of Sanskrit verbal roots ( dhātu ) of classical Sanskrit, indicating their properties and meanings. There are approximately 2300 roots in Dhātupāṭha . Of these, 522 roots are often used in classical Sanskrit. Dhātupāṭha

3245-525: The two fit perfectly together, the receiver could be sure that the messenger bearing it did indeed also carry a genuine message from the intended person. A literary or artistic symbol as an "outward sign" of something else is a metaphorical extension of this notion of a message from a sender to a recipient. In English, the meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser 's Faerie Queene . Symbols are

3304-475: The word Vasudeva (4.3.98) as a proper noun in an honorific sense, that can equally mean a divine or an ordinary person. This has been interpreted by scholars as attesting the significance of god Vasudeva (Krishna) or the opposite. The concept of dharma is attested in his sutra 4.4.41 as, dharmam carati or "he observes dharma (duty, righteousness)" (cf. Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11). Much social, geographical and historical information has been thus inferred from

3363-482: Was marginally a tonal language . Note however that in the metrically-restored versions of the Rig Veda almost all of the syllables carrying an independent svarita must revert to a sequence of two syllables, the first of which carries an udātta and the second a so-called dependent svarita . Early Vedic was thus definitely not a tonal language like Chinese but a pitch accent language like Japanese , which

3422-514: Was a direct consequence of the symbol of "blubber" representing something inedible in his mind. In addition, the symbol of "blubber" was created by the man through various kinds of learning . Burke goes on to describe symbols as also being derived from Sigmund Freud 's work on condensation and displacement , further stating that symbols are not just relevant to the theory of dreams but also to "normal symbol systems". He says they are related through "substitution", where one word, phrase, or symbol

3481-542: Was inherited from the Proto-Indo-European accent . Pitch accent was not restricted to Vedic. Early Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini gives accent rules for both the spoken language of his post-Vedic time as well as the differences of Vedic accent. However, no extant post-Vedic text with accents are found. Pluti , or prolation , is the term for the phenomenon of protracted or overlong vowels in Sanskrit ;

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