Vedic Aorist and Panini

The book is an embodiment of result emerging from the practical study of the Aorist system of the Veda, one of the most Complicated parts of the Vedic language, in a comparative manner : the way it is taught by Panini and the way its formation is explained by the modern Western scholars like Whitney, Macdonell. This work, it is hoped, will clearly bring out the difference between the two methods. It will be shown that while Panini has successfully described the broad features of the formation of the Aorist in general no small achievement in those early days, he had to ascribe many apparent anomalous features to the ‘waywardness’ (bahulam) of the ancient language. One the other hand the modern Western scholars had the advantage of comparing the Vedic with allied languages like Greek and Latin and thus arriving at a rational explanation in many cases. In this work sincere attempt is made to point out both Panini’s excellences, probably based on intuition, and the lacunae in his system for the lack of information over which he had not control. Be it as it may, this work it is hoped will improve our appreciation of Panini as an analyzer and describer of the Vedic language.