*APPENDIX A.
GRAMMAR. ,. :
Sanskrit grammar had its origin in the study of Vedic "interpretation. The Vedic texts became obscure in the course -of time and their elucidation necessitated etymological investi- ,
gation. The various injunctions laid down for the correct pronunciation and recitation of the Vedic hymns were- Srst -embodied in the Pratisakhya-sutras. These attach themselves,
to the Samhitas and give " the general regulations as.to .the, ^nature of the sounds employed, the euphonic rules observed,
the accent and its modifications, the modulation of the voice, -&c." Peculiar phonetic changes are pointed out. u It is in
Yaska* s work, the Nirukti, that we find. the first general notions •of grammar. Starting from the phonetic rules, the observance
<>f which the Pratisakhya-sutras had already established with so, rinuch minuteness — but only for each of the Vedi-samhitas — .
advance was no doubt gradually made, in the first place, to a
general view of the subject pf phonetics, and thence to the
remaining portions of the domain of language. Inflection,;
derivation and composition were recognised and distinguished, • .and manifold reflections were made upc-n the modifications 'thereby occasioned in the meaning of the root. If Yaska hintself
must be considered as belonging only to the last stages of the "Vedic period, Parrini must have lived at the' very close of.it, or,
even at $he beginning of the next period. Advance from

* The appendices have been added to suit the comoulum of the B.A.4 DC ""» e Examination of the Madras University. , . , , , .. , ,, 7 of the- written about the middle of the sixteenth century*. He also composed the Chandrakalapa^ to which he refers his readers for detail.