The Evolution of Conflict-Resolution Tools in the Early Pāṇinian Tradition

Abstract

This paper explores certain early developments in the Indian grammatical tradition pertaining to rule conflict. In particular, it studies Kātyāyana’s vārttikas dealing with conflict resolution and attempts to understand how they were integrated by Patañjali into his bhāṣya. It focuses specifically on the usage of the terms nitya and antaraṅga by Kātyāyana and their subsequent reception by Patañjali. It concludes that Patañjali has, for the first time in the tradition, with his own interpretations of these terms, presented and leveraged them as conflict resolution tools – which Kātyāyana never intended them to be.