About a Forgotten Grammarian Dhanapala

Summary

Smt. Neelanjana S. Shah’s ‘About a Forgotten Grammarian Dhanapāla’ seeks to revive scholarly attention to Dhanapāla, a polymath of the 10th–11th centuries better known for his poetry than for his contributions to grammar. Shah begins by noting that traditional Sanskrit pedagogy emphasised dhātupāṭhas as foundational to language studyfile:///home/oai/share/520754-212-427.pdf#:~:text=%27rmina,the%20enumeration%20of%20these%2020. While Pāṇini’s system dominated, a number of grammarians produced supplementary works on roots and derivation. Among them was Dhanapāla, who served at the court of Paramāra king Munja and later his nephew Bhoja. Shah pieces together biographical details from Jain chronicles and inscriptions: Dhanapāla was a Jain lay scholar who composed epic poems such as Tilakamañjarī and Pāiyalacchī. She argues that his linguistic scholarship has been eclipsed by his literary fame. By examining citations in later commentaries and lexicons, Shah reconstructs evidence of Dhanapāla’s grammatical works, possibly titled Dhanapāla Dhātupradīpa, which are now lost or survive only in fragments. She observes that these works likely combined Pāṇinian grammar with Yāska’s etymological insights and may have included innovative classifications of roots and affixes. The article also analyses verses in Dhanapāla’s poetry that showcase his mastery of linguistic concepts, such as deliberate punning and unusual compounds. Shah suggests that Dhanapāla’s interest in grammar informed his poetic creativity. Furthermore, she explores the relationship between Dhanapāla and Bhoja, noting that Bhoja honoured him with titles but might have commissioned other scholars for historical epics. Shah discusses factors that may have led to the decline of Dhanapāla’s grammatical legacy: the dominance of Hemacandra’s grammar, loss of manuscripts, and the prioritisation of his literary works.