Like Jim Anderson, I did not know about the Open Library, and am grateful to Yong Peng
for the link. Unless I am mistaken, the Open Library 'downloads' (unlike Google Book
Search) contain only a link to the web archive. That means you can consult the book only
when you are online. Clough's grammar is supposed to be based on Baalaavataara.
Returning to Saddaniiti (I am going to change the thread name to something more
transparent), we have been told that it is the longest, not the oldest, and the most difficult
of the grammars; and are advised to start with Kaccaayana. Saddaniiti is very long, but it
can be broken up into small pieces. Kaccaayana is several centuries older than Saddaniiti,
but this is not immediately relevant (unless perhaps your primary interest is the
development of grammar and its influence on Paali literature). And with all respect, I am
not convinced that Saddaniiti is more difficult than Kaccaayana. In my limited experience,
perhaps the opposite is true, particularly in the case of Padamaalaa.
So I am posting a translation below of the opening section of Padamaalaa, Pariccheda 2,
about one page of Smith's edition (pp. 13-14). I am not a seasoned translator of Paali;
compared to some of the other contributors, I have not read much Paali literature, and do
not have very good dictionary resources at hand. But I think I understand the gist of this
passage well enough. It is an area I am familiar with from previous work (my paper 'Paali
Verb Morphology'). I have no doubt it contains numerous lapses, and look forward to any
corrections or other comments. Like everyone else, I hope to learn as much as I can. It
deals with the nuts and bolts of grammar, and so may not appeal to those interested
mainly in the philosophical ramifications.
This translation was assembled in the following manner. First I downloaded the text from
tipitaka.org. Then I checked it against Smith's text, changing many places on the
assumption that Smith's version has been proofread more carefully than the online
version. I added section numbers, hyphens between the members of compounds, and
italics to indicate material under discussion (after pasting, I see that the italics are gone).
My usage differs from Smith's. Translations are marked with *; I followed Collins as
closely as possible, his Chapter 3 Verbs, section 3.2, pages 79-92, and once quoted his
translation. Additional comments are included in brackets [ ]. I think the text is
reasonably final; the translation needs work (I just guessed in a few places); and the
commentary is fragmentary, to be greatly expanded. I used the following abbreviations:
A. Aggava.msa (author of Saddaniiti)
S. Helmer Smith (editor of the PTS edition of Saddaniiti)
C. Steven Collins (author of A Pali Grammar for Students, based on Saddaniiti)
There are two technical matters: I retained the Paali orthography from the original
download. There may be people with old software who will need Velthuis; if so, let me
know. I have also used formatting which may not survive the journey from my machine to
yours. I shortened lines because I often get posts with broken lines. Again, if this is a
problem, I could supply .pdf versions offline.
George Bedell
II. (Bhavati-kriyā-pada-mālā-vibhāga)
(1) Ito paraṃ pavakkhāmi, sotūnaṃ mati-vaḍḍhanaṃ;
kriyā-pada-kkamaṃ nāma, vibhatt'-ādīni dīpayaṃ.
*I will explain, for the growth of my audience's wisdom,
the terminology of verbs, starting with endings.
(2) Tatra ākhyātikassa kiriyā-lakkhaṇ-atta-sūcikā ty-ādayo vibhattiyo,
tā aṭṭha-vidhā vattamānā-pañcamī-sattamī-parokkhā-hiyyattanī-
'jjatanī-bhavissantī-kālātipatti-vasena.
*Endings such as -ti, etc. indicate the character of the action (performed
by) a verb (C. 79), the eight sets: present (tense), imperative (mood),
optative (mood), perfect (aspect), imperfect (aspect), aorist (tense), future
(tense) and conditional (mood).
[As pointed out by C. (80), perfect and imperfect forms are not found in
early Pāli literature. They may be due to later influences of Sanskrit on
Pāli. The lists of endings which follow are found in all Pāli grammars
beginning with Kaccāyana, with few variations. In the Suttamālā, the
same lists are given in suttas 896 to 903. The classification of these
'conjugations' into tenses, aspects and moods is a Western imposition.]
(3) Tattha ti anti, si tha, mi ma, te ante, se vhe, e mhe icc etā vattamānā-
vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the present endings:
-ti -anti -te -ante
-si -tha -se -vhe
-mi -ma -e -mhe
[The term vattamānā means 'presently existing': an appropriate choice
for the present tense.]
(4) Tu antu, hi tha, mi ma, taṃ antaṃ, su vho, e āmase icc etā pañcamī-
vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the imperative endings:
-tu -antu -taṃ -antaṃ
-hi -tha -su -vho
-mi -ma -e -āmase
[The term pañcamī means 'fifth', and reflects an earlier system. It is
used for the imperative mood in Kātantra.]
(5) Eyya eyyuṃ, eyyāsi eyyātha, eyyāmi eyyāma, etha eraṃ, etho
eyyāvho, eyyaṃ eyyāmhe icc etā sattamī-vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the optative endings:
-eyya -eyyuṃ -etha -eraṃ
-eyyāsi -eyyātha -etho -eyyāvho
-eyyāmi -eyyāma -eyyaṃ -eyyāmhe
[The term sattamī means 'seventh', and reflects an earlier system. It is
used for the optative mood in Kātantra.]
(6) A u, e ttha, aṃ mha, ttha re, ttho vho, iṃ mhe icc etā parokkhā-
vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the perfect endings:
-a -u -ttha -re
-e -ttha -ttho -vho
-aṃ -mha -iṃ -mhe
(7) Ā ū, o ttha, aṃ mhā, ttha tthuṃ, se vhaṃ, iṃ mhase icc etā hiyyattanī-
vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the imperfect endings:
-ā -ū -ttha -tthuṃ
-o -ttha -se -vhaṃ
-aṃ -mhā -iṃ -mhase
(8) Ī uṃ, o ttha, iṃ mhā, ā ū, se vhaṃ, aṃ mhe icc etā ajjatanī-
vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the aorist endings:
-ī -uṃ -ā -ū
-o -ttha -se -vhaṃ
-iṃ -mhā -aṃ -mhe
(9) Ssati ssanti, ssasi ssatha, ssāmi ssāma, ssate ssante, ssase ssavhe,
ssaṃ ssāmhe icc etā bhavissantī-vibhattiyo nāma.
*These are called the future endings:
-ssati -ssanti -ssate -ssante
-ssasi -ssatha -ssase -ssavhe
-ssāmi -ssāma -ssaṃ -ssāmhe
[The term bhavissantī is a participle meaning 'going to be'. It is
used for the future tense in Pāṇini, and also in Kātantra.]
(11) Sabbāsametāsaṃ vibhattīnaṃ yāni yāni pubbakāni cha padāni,
tāni tāni parassa-padāni nāma. Yāni yāni pana parāni cha padāni,
tāni tāni attano-padāni nāma. Tattha parassapadāni vattamānā cha,
pañcamiyo cha, sattamiyo cha, parokkhā cha, hiyyattaniyo cha,
ajjataniyo cha, bhavissantiyo cha, kālātipattiyo chā ti aṭṭha-cattālīsa-
vidhāni honti, tathā itarāni, sabbāni tāni piṇḍitāni channavuti-vidhāni.
*In each set of endings, the first six are called active, and the last six
are called middle. Thus in the active there are six present, six
imperative, six optative, six perfect, six imperfect, six aorist, six
future and six conditional endings, totalling forty-eight; the others
(i. e. the middle) are all grouped in the same way.
(12) Parassapadānam-attanopadānañ-ca dve dve padāni paṭhama-
majjhim-uttama-purisā nāma. Te vattamān'-ādīsu cattāro cattāro,
aṭṭhannaṃ vibhattīnaṃ vasena dvattiṃsa, piṇḍitāni parimāṇān' eva.
*In both active and middle, the pairs are called third person, second
person and first person. Beginning with the present there are eight
groups of four endings totalling thirty-two.
(13) Dvīsu dvīsu padesu paṭhamaṃ paṭhamaṃ eka-vacanaṃ, dutiyaṃ
dutiyaṃ bahu-vacanaṃ.
*In each pair, the first is singular, the second plural.
(14) Tatra vattamānan-vibhattīnaṃ ti anti, si tha, mi ma icc etāni
parassapadāni. Te ante, se vhe, e mhe icc etāni attanopadāni.
Parassapada-'ttanopadesu pi ti anti iti paṭhamapurisā, si tha iti
majjhimapurisā, mi ma iti uttamapurisā, te ante iti paṭhamapurisā,
se vhe iti majjhimapurisā, e mhe iti uttamapurisā. Paṭhama-
majjhim-uttama-purisesu pi ti iti ekavacanaṃ, anti iti bahuvacanan
ti evaṃ ekavacana-bahuvacanāni kamato ñeyyāni. Evaṃ sesāsu
vibhattisu parassapada-'ttanopada-paṭhama-majjhim-uttama-
puris'-ekavacana-bahuvacanāni ñeyyāni.
*Thus the present endings ti anti, si tha, mi ma are active, and te ante,
se vhe, e mhe are middle. Of the active and middle, ti anti are third
person, si tha are second person, mi ma are first person, te ante are
third person, se vhe are second person and e mhe are first person.
Of the third, second and first person, ti is singular and anti is plural,
and so for the others. The rest of the endings are understood to be
active or middle, third, second or first person and singular or plural
appropriately.