8 Systems of Sanskrit Grammay &6-]
shy chronological edifice, especially when the evidence for Yaska's priority to Panini is so overwhelming.
7. Nature of Yiska’s work.—In form Yaska’s work is a uunning commentrary upon a list of words in five iadhydyas, known as the Nighantu. The words are all taken from the Veda; the first three adhy@yas arrange them as synonyms, the fourthis@ collection of certain difficult words occurring in the Veda, while the last is a list of the names of Vedic deities. Yiska takes these words one by one (in the case of the first three adhyfyas only the more important ones), quotes Vedic passages wherein they are used, and tries to connect them with radical stems and launches into various interesting social and historical dis- cussions in his attempts to trace the later history of these words, always giving teferences to any conflicting views that may have been held on the subject. Certain general reflections as to the nature and utility of thé study of the Vedas, the cosmological functions of the Vedic Gods, and so forth also find their proper place in the work.
That grammatical speculations had sufficiently advanc- ed in the days of Yaska is evidenced even by the list of schools and individual teachers quoted or referred to in the Nirukta,? none of whose works have been preserved tous. Ydaska already knew, what it required an Aristotle to discover subsequently, viz: the fourfold classification of words, as also the distinction between personal termi- nations and tense affixes on the one hand, and the primary and secondary nominal affixes on the other. Nay, he
- definitely formulates the theory that every noun is deriv-
1 These are: aanraot, orerrror, oftarsent:, avian, 372 71 araralt.ch, tfaentam,sneer- Renn, ge anger, areabaters, amr, diqeees:, sieisnn, | Sgarecon, sraarer, are Beara, ERT, ME, MTT, 8} yFer, etre, aloretfayerte air ae agu:, Fee, ye
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