kaccaayanappakara.na

Dear Group,

For the past few days I've been doing some background research on the
traditional Pali grammars. I have been particularly interested in the
problem of who was the Kaccayana that wrote the famous grammar. I
think most, if not all, of the modern scholars trained in Western
methodologies consider this grammar to have come into existence
sometime after Buddhaghosa, perhaps around the 7th-8th cent. CE. If
one accepts this, then one would have to rule out Mahaakaccaayana, the
Buddha's great disciple, as its author -- leaving one to think that
this must be the work of a later Kaccayana. However, I have done some
investigation and found that, according to the Theravada tradition,
the author of the grammar is indeed the great Kaccayana who lived at
the time of the Buddha. According to Buddhaghosa's commentary on the
Apadana, Mahaakaccaana (another spelling) expounded the
Kaccaayanappakara.na, Mahaaniruttippakara.na, and the Nettippakara.na
in the midst of the assembly and this led the Buddha to declare him
foremost in analyzing in detail what is spoken in brief (see the quote
below). In the Cullaganthava.msa (small book history), a late text
written in Burma by Nandapa~n~na, six books are ascribed to
Mahaakaccaayana which include the same above three plus the following
three additional books: cullaniruttigantha, pe.takopadesagantha, and
va.n.naniitigantha. According to this history, all the arahants who
were at the rehearsals of the three famous councils are given the
designation of poraa.nas as well as a.t.thakathaacariyas, except
Mahaakaccaayana, who is unique in being designated a one of a kind
tividhanaamakaacariya. The aacariyas (such as Buddhaghosa) who follow
and wrote important works are designated ganthakaarakaacariyas. Their
names (but many are anonymous) and their works are listed in this very
interesting little history. I did a rough count and came up with 116
authors. Also the Saddaniiti very frequently mentions and quotes from
a work called the Niruttipi.taka (which may be the same as the
Mahaanirutti) and ascribes the Mahaakaccaayana as its author.

Here's the Apadaana commentary quote:

Attano pubbapatthanaavasena kaccaayanappakara.na.m
mahaaniruttippakara.na.m nettippakara.nanti pakara.nattaya.m
sa"nghamajjhe byaakaasi. Atha santu.t.thena bhagavataa “etadagga.m,
bhikkhave, mama saavakaana.m sa"nkhittena bhaasitassa vitthaarena
attha.m vibhajantaana.m yadida.m mahaakaccaano”ti (a. ni. 1.188, 197)
etadagga-.t.thaane .thapito aggaphalasukhena vihaasiiti. Ap-a 491

In our study of grammatical suttas, I have chosen the first one from
Kaccayana's grammar for which I will be providing further material
later on. Here's the sutta:

1. attho akkharasa~n~naato. (ie. the meaning is correctly understood
through the letters)

Best wishes,
Jim