earticle

영어

The Oral Transmission of Indian Texts and Its Implications for the Understanding of Indian classics - The Case of the Aṣṭadhyāyī and the Problem of Its Sūtra Counting Kang, Sung Yong (Seoul National University) The oral transmission of Indian Texts has very peculiar features which have their roots in Vedic religion and culture. The great importance and the strong emphasis placed on the exact oral reproduction of texts are prominent and these aspects can only be understood against the backdrop of Indian religion and culture. The emergence and development of Sanskrit grammatical traditions culminated in the Aṣṭadhyāyī of Pāṇini should be understood in this context, especially against the background of grammatical traditions in Prātiśākhya. The growing interest in Pāṇinian grammar in Korea seems not to be based on the sound understanding of these aspects of text transmission in India. The achievements of Pāṇinian grammar cannot be fully appreciated without the consideration of not only the religious and cultural background but also the unique features of the oral transmissions of Indian texts. This article aims to show how crucial it is in understanding Indian classics to have the proper comprehension of the historical and cultural context of text transmission. Panini’s Aṣṭadhyāyī and the problem of counting the sūtra-s in the work, in particular, are treated in detail as a case in point.