50 OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF SANSKRIT Jainendra Vyakarana { c . 678) which was composed on behalf of the Jains. Later the polymath Hemacandra produced also for the Jains the Haima Vyakarana. In addition, a number of minor systems are known which were popular in various localities, but which have nothing original to contribute. The object of all these later grammars was to present the material contained in Panini in a form comparatively easy to assimilate, and in this respect they performed a service to very many who were not equal to the arduous task of mastering the original text itself. How useful they were is shown by their continuous popularity. They contain little that is original since for them there existed no other source from which they could draw except the work of their illustrious predecessor. To Panini the main source of his work was the living speech of himself and his contemporaries. It is the merit of his gram- matical system that by means of the Sutra and commentary, and by such subsidiary compilations as Dhdtupdtha, Gana~ pdtha , etc., the vast bulk of the contemporary linguistic usage was incorporated, analysed and codified in the teachings trans- mitted from teacher to pupil in the schools of the Grammarians. The rapid process of linguistic change that took the vernaculars through the various stages of Middle Indo- Aryan enhanced pro- gressively the value of this codification. It is characteristic of Ancient India that the founders of schools and doctrines should be exalted to semi-divine status and regarded as omniscient. In the case of Panini this was more justified than in other cases since he had direct knowledge of the living Sanskrit language of the fourth century b.c. which is the source of all his statements. As a result of his labours and the labours of his school this form of language was accepted as a standard throughout the long period that remained of the classical civilisation of India. As the gap between this and the vernaculars grew continually wider, the usage of the speakers and waiters of Sanskrit grew more de- pendent on Panini, and his authority more absolute. Panini's grammar was based on the language of his contemporaries, and conversely the language of Kalidasa and his successors is based on the grammar of Panini. The Sanskrit of the classical litera- ture was a living language in the sense that it was written and spoken by the educated in preference to any other, but at the same time it was a language that had to be learnt in schools by
