5th Century BC Grammatical Puzzle of Pāṇini Father of Linguistics Decoded After 2,500 Years

A Ph.D. student from India studying at the University of Cambridge has made a significant breakthrough in understanding a linguistic puzzle from Sanskrit, a language that has been in use for over 2,500 years.

The puzzle, developed by Panini, a famous grammarian known as the "father of linguistics," is a tool that allows individuals with an understanding of it to create millions of grammatically correct Sanskrit words using basic roots. The student, Rishi Rajpopat, has successfully deciphered the tool, providing a new way to understand and use Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is an ancient South Asian language that has been used to transmit Hinduism and many of India's most notable works of science, philosophy, poetry, and other literature for thousands of years. Despite its importance, there is still much about Sanskrit that we do not fully understand, according to Rajpopat.

Decoding the Puzzle

In a statement, Rajpopat stated that this discovery will give students in India confidence, pride, and hope that they too can accomplish great things and contribute to the world. Rajpopat's discovery has the potential to make Sanskrit more accessible to a wider audience by allowing computers to learn the language. Currently, only an estimated 25,000 people speak Sanskrit.

The puzzle that Rajpopat solved is integral to using Panini's "language machine," a system of 4,000 rules that can generate any Sanskrit word by inputting a base and suffix and following a step-by-step process. However, until now, the missing link to using this tool effectively had not been understood. Rajpopat's work has unlocked this missing piece, making it possible to use the language machine to its full potential.

Panini's language machine had a problem with "rule conflicts" that affected millions of Sanskrit words. When more than one of the 4,000 grammatical rules is applied to a particular word, the grammar of the word could change depending on which rule was used. Panini provided a method for determining which rule should be applied to a given word, but scholars had previously misinterpreted this solution, leading to incorrect results. Rajpopat's Ph.D. thesis, "In Panini, we trust: Discovering the algorithm for rule conflict resolution in the Astadhyayi," solves this puzzle by correctly interpreting Panini's solution for resolving rule conflicts in Sanskrit.

A page from an 18th-century copy of the Dhatupaṭha of Panini, a complete list of Sanskrit verbal roots attached to his grammar.

(Photo : (Cambridge University Library))
A page from an 18th-century copy of the Dhatupaṭha of Panini, a complete list of Sanskrit verbal roots attached to his grammar.

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Extraordinarily Elegant Solution

Previously, scholars had interpreted Panini's solution as meaning that when there was a conflict between two rules of equal strength, the rule that appeared later in the grammar's serial order should be used. However, this solution often resulted in incorrect outcomes, leading scholars to create additional rules in an attempt to fix the issue. Rajpopat interpreted the solution differently, applying the rule that applied to the right side of the word (which consists of a base and suffix).

He found that when he used this approach, the results were reliable. Through this discovery, Rajpopat realized that the tool was not faulty, but rather that previous interpretations of the solution were incorrect.

According to Rajpopat, Panini was an exceptionally intelligent individual who created a "machine" that has yet to be matched in human history. He believed that adding new ideas to Panini's rules would only make it more difficult to understand the grammar. If Rajpopat's discovery does make it possible for computers to learn Sanskrit, it could be a significant achievement both in terms of how humans use machines and in India's intellectual history, as noted by both Rajpopat and University of Cambridge professor Vincenzo Vergiani.

As per Vergiani, Rajpopat has successfully solved a problem that has challenged scholars for centuries with an "extraordinarily elegant solution." Vergiani stated that this discovery will revolutionize the study of Sanskrit at a time when there is increasing interest in the language.