WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No.7934

Date uploaded in London – 7 May 2020   

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

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FOLLOWING DETAILS ARE COLLECTED FROM DR.V. S. AGRAWALA’S BOOK:—

GOLDSTUCKER – SEVENTH CENTURY BCE OR BEFORE THAT—AFTER YASKA- BEFORE BUDDHA;

R. G .BHADARKAR – SEVENTH CENTURY BCE;

D. R . BHADARKAR – SEVENTH CENTURY BCE ;

K B PATHAK – FIRST QUARTER OF SEVENTH  CENTURY BCE ;

CHARPENTIER – 500- 550 BCE;

GRIERSON – 400 BCE;

MACDONELL – BEFORE 500 BCE;

B C BOHTLINGK – 350 BCE;

WEBER – AFTER ALEXANDER’S INVASION;

LIEBICH – AFTER BUDDHA;

AVERAGE  – BETWEEN SEVENTH AND FOURTH CENTURY BCE – A RANGE OF 300 YEARS .

V S AGRAWALA’S BOOK – MIDDLE OF FIFTH CENTURY BCE – MAHANADA’S TIME i.e.450 BCE.

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FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA:-

VON HINUBER – 350 BCE

BOD – SEVENTH TO FIFTH CENTURY BCE

FALK – 350 BCE

GEORGE CORDONA – 350-400 BCE

A. B. KEITH – PANINI’S TEXT MTACHES WITH AITAREYA BRAHMANA OF EIGTH CENTURY BCE

SCHARFE – MATCHES UPANISHADIC LANGUAGE ; So 5^TH OR 6^TH CENTURY BCE.

This shows there is no agreement on his date till today.

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My Comments: —

After reading Ashtadyayi in Tamil in three parts by Dr K Meenakshi , published by International Institute of Tamil Studies, Madras and Yonas and Yavanas by Finnish oriental Society , Helsinki and 30,000 lines of Sangam Tamil literature twice plus Tolkappiam , I conclude that PANINI lived in seventh or  8^th century BCE. The reason being many scholars have interpreted Yavanas as Greeks who followed Alexander. But the Yavanas in Tamil literature are Romans and the Yavanas in Sanskrit literature including Mahabharata and Ramayana, first meant people who lived in North West India, not Greeks.

Each one of the above foreign authors took some bits that suited them. People who argue on numismatic (coins) evidence forget 90 percent of other materials in Panini’s works. This shows their ignorance of Tamil and Sanskrit literature. Four coins names mentioned by Panini are not even known to Chanakya/Kautilya of Mauryan times.

Two important things must be remembered.

1.From Afghanistan to the southernmost part of Sri Lanka , we see Brahmi script even before Asoka. This covered a vast area and formed the largest ancient country in the world. How come people read Asoka’s edicts from one end to the other end? Hindus were literate at least by 4^th century BCE from Afghanistan to Kandy in Sri Lanka.

Second thing , Panini talks about Chandasi grammar (Vedic Sanskrit) in every other Sutra or so. Why? How come no book of the Ten Pre- Paninian scholars is available today? ‘There is no grammar without literature’ — is a famous saying. Where is the Pre- Paninian literature? Panini couldn’t have written a grammar without literature.

People who argue on coinage (numismatics) never answered these questions and could never answer these questions because we have lost a lot of our literature.. We have written script in Indus- Sarasvati civilisation and all agree that it is Hindu civilisation. So Indians knew script and writing around 2500 BCE

Egyptians knew writing 5000 years ago

Babylonians knew writing 5000 years ago

Chinese  knew writing 5000 years ago

Moses wrote Ten Commandments and knew writing 4000 years ago.

Mycenaeans of  Greece knew writing 4000 years ago.

But Hindus did not know anything is the view of many foreigners.

Tags — Panini, age, time

–subham–