Pāṇini · c. 4th century BCE
The अष्टाध्यायी,
explorable.
Eight chapters, 3,983 sūtras, one of the most compact rule systems ever written. Look up any sūtra, see how its words work, follow the threads between rules, and learn the machinery underneath.
Replace ikaḥ with yaṇ when aci follows. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Sūtra Explorer
All 3,983 sūtras, word by word: case roles, inherited words, headings, commentaries.
संरचनाHow the engine works
Inputs, rules and outputs; how the eight chapters hand off; a 3D assembly line, live derivations and a zoomable map of the text.
शिक्षाLearn
Animated explainers for the core machinery: Śiva sūtras, how to read a sūtra, anuvṛtti.
उपकरणानिTools
A pratyāhāra calculator and a step-by-step derivation debugger.
पाणिनिः गणकशास्त्रं चPāṇini & Computer Science
Rewrite rules, metarules, rule ordering, and a toy rule engine you can run.
Landmark sūtras
A first walk through the text: eight sūtras that show how the whole system works.
- 1.1.1 वृद्धिरादैच् The opening definition: ā, ai, au are called vṛddhi.
- 1.1.49 षष्ठी स्थानेयोगा The 6th case means "in place of", the key to reading rules.
- 1.3.9 तस्य लोपः Marker letters (it) are deleted: metadata stripped after use.
- 1.4.2 विप्रतिषेधे परं कार्यम् When two rules conflict, the later one wins.
- 3.1.1 प्रत्ययः Heading: everything from here to 5.4 is a pratyaya (affix).
- 6.1.77 इको यणचि i, u, ṛ, ḷ become y, v, r, l before a vowel: dadhi + atra → dadhyatra.
- 8.2.1 पूर्वत्रासिद्धम् The last three pādas are invisible to the rules before them.
- 8.4.68 अ अ The final sūtra: short a, treated as open (vivṛta) throughout the grammar, gets back its closed (saṃvṛta) sound.
Browse by adhyāya
Each chapter has a job in the word-building pipeline. See how they fit together →