Cambridge Student Solves 2,500-Year-Old Sanskrit Problem

A Sanskrit grammatical problem which has perplexed scholars since the 5th Century BC has been solved by a University of Cambridge PhD student. The BBC reports: Rishi Rajpopat, 27, decoded a rule taught by Panini, a master of the ancient Sanskrit language who lived around 2,500 years ago. Sanskrit, although not widely spoken, is the sacred language of Hinduism and has been used in India's science, philosophy, poetry and other secular literature over the centuries. Panini's grammar, known as the Astadhyayi, relied on a system that functioned like an algorithm to turn the base and suffix of a word into grammatically correct words and sentences. However, two or more of Panini's rules often apply simultaneously, resulting in conflicts.

Panini taught a 'metarule', which is traditionally interpreted by scholars as meaning 'in the event of a conflict between two rules of equal strength, the rule that comes later in the grammar's serial order wins.' However, this often led to grammatically incorrect results. Mr Rajpopat rejected the traditional interpretation of the metarule. Instead, he argued that Panini meant that between rules applicable to the left and right sides of a word respectively, Panini wanted us to choose the rule applicable to the right side. Employing this interpretation, he found the Panini's 'language machine' produced grammatically correct words with almost no exceptions. His supervisor at Cambridge, professor of Sanskrit Vincenzo Vergiani, said: 'He has found an extraordinarily elegant solution to a problem which has perplexed scholars for centuries.

'This discovery will revolutionize the study of Sanskrit at a time when interest in the language is on the rise.'

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