The Principle of Suspension (Asiddhatva) in Paninian Grammar (HB) | Author – Malgorzata Sulich-Cowley | MLBD Publications

The principle of suspension (asiddhatva) is one of the most important and unique devices employed by Pāṇini in the Aṣtādhyāyī, which allowed for the temporary omission of certain rules in the process of grammatical analysis. Its precise function was heavily debated in the school of Vyākaraṇa over the centuries yet its interpretation is by no means uniform. The present volume contains a translation and analysis of the Tripādī section of the Aṣṭādhyāyī along with the relevant passages from the Mahābhāṣya by Patañjali. Patañjali’s role in elucidating the intricacies of Pāṇini’s grammar cannot be emphasized strongly enough, yet he finds it difficult at times to navigate between various, seemingly similar, rule ordering principles in the Aṣṭādhyāyī. The book concentrates on Patañjali’s understanding of asiddhatva and solutions he proposes to the question of rule suspension. Małgorzata Sulich-Cowley is an Indologist and Sanskritist. She graduated from the Oriental Faculty at the University of Warsaw (Poland) where she obtained her PhD in 2013. She also studied at the University of Pune and University of Lausanne. Her areas of research include the tradition of Sanskrit linguistics, the philosophy of language and historical linguistics. She is currently working on the concept of negation in the school of Vyākaraṇa. She  has authored a number of publications on various topics from the earliest history of Indian linguistics, including a book on the endocentric taddhita formations.