To determine which Vedic texts Pāṇini knew requires a comprehensive approach that establishes a high correlation between the
complete set of linguistic traits his treatise describes and the complete set of linguistic traits exhibited in each text
in question. The examination of individual linguistic traits is inadequate to determine which texts he knew because neither
the Vedic nor the grammatical tradition is uniform and static. Bronkhorst (Pāṇinian Studies: Professor S. D. Joshi Felicitation
Volume, p. 75,
1991) calls into question the assumption that Vedic texts were known to Pāṇini in the form we have received them, while Cardona
(Pāṇinian Studies: Professor S. D. Joshi Felicitation Volume, p. 130,
1991) shows that Pāṇini’s silence concerning certain Vedic forms may be due to deference to certain received exegetical traditions.
The current paper considers a case where the Pāṇinian grammatical tradition entertains disagreement over the derivation of
obscure forms. Doubt concerning the recurrence of the term
pit (3.4.92) into 3.4.94 brings into question whether Pāṇini systematically accounts for stem strengthening in the present subjunctive.
Kātyāyana, Patañjali, Jayāditya, and Jinendrabuddhi remain silent on the point. Rāmacandra, Śrīkriṣṇa, and Bhaṭṭojidīkṣita
assert that
pit recurs, thereby allowing stem strengthening. Haradatta, on the other hand, maintains that a rule of indeterminate variation,
3.4.117
chandasy ubhayathā, accounts for it. Nāgeśa points out that the latter procedure is more comprehensive in that it accounts for the lack of stem
strengthening in exceptional forms, such as
kr̥ṇvaíte in the
R̥gveda. The implication is that the former procedure fails to account for the form, which, if Pāṇini’s knowledge of texts were to
be established based upon the consideration of individual traits, would imply the absurdity that Pāṇini, as interpreted by
Rāmacandra et al. did not know the
R̥gveda. On the contrary, however, the procedure of Rāmacandra et al. can employ another rule of indeterminate variation: 3.1.85
vyatyayo bahulam. This procedure, which provides a systematic explanation of the present subjunctive generally and requires a rule of indeterminate
variation only to account for exceptional forms, is preferable to leaving the account of stem strengthening in the present
subjunctive generally to a rule of indeterminate variation. Since both procedures rely on rules of indeterminate variation
to account for the
R̥gvedic form, however, it is impossible to establish either Pāṇini’s knowledge or ignorance of the text on the basis of his account
of the subjunctive. The controversy demonstrates that the depth and variety of the Indian grammatical tradition must be taken
into account in determining which rules describe which linguistic facts and that it is inadequate to consider individual traits.
A comprehensive approach is required.