The Legend
The Vedas came with creation and were in Samskrit, hence the language is called dev va[I. Brahmaji himself taught the Vyakr[ to Lord Indra for a thousand years, wordbyword (pdm!-àit-pdm!). Panini, a student & scholar of Samskrit, prayed to Lord Shiva for a System by which this grammar could be presented to be understood and remembered easily. Lord Shiva came down playing his fmé. Sounding the fmé 14 times – gave the following maheñrai[ sUÇai[ -
A#%[!
\¤kœ
@Aae'œ
@AaEc!
hyrvqœ
l~[!
|m'[nm!
HÉ|!
"fx;!
jbgfz!
o)DQwcqtv!
kpy!
z;sr!
hl!,
Taking the above as the basis and having gained the knowledge from Lord Shiva, Panini wrote the mUlm! which consisted of about 4000 sutras. Another scholar, kaTyayn! , who had also been working on a system of grammar, but could not ‘publish’ his work before Panini did, then ‘corrected’ Panini’s work by commenting on the errors of omission & commission by
writing about 8000 %´m! & Êé´m! in his vaitRka. Jealous of Panini and hurt by not getting enough recognition for his works, kaTyayn! cursed Panini – that he would die within a day. Angered by this curse, Panini too cursed kaTyayn! that if the curse took effect, kaTyayn! should die within a day.
Both curses took effect and this world lost two great scholars of Samskrit and there was none of equal caliber to spread the knowledge. Lord izv then approached Lord iv:[u to resolve this issue. Lord Vishnu then asked Aaid;ez to be born as a human being to write the Éa:ym! (Commentary) & spread the knowledge.
Before being born, Aaid;ez wanted to introduce himself to his (would be) mother. So he dropped into the hands of gaei[ka, who herself was Samskrit scholar, in the water she held in her open palm (AÃil), while performing her morning prayers, in the form of a small snake. gaei[ka asked the little snake ‘kaeÉRvn’ (instead of ‘kaeÉvn’, adding a ‘r!’ – by mistake). Aaidze; replied ‘spaehm!’ (instead of ‘spaeRhm!’ – purposely dropping the ‘r!’). gaei[ka realized her mistake and asked ‘%that TVy re)a’ (where is your ‘re)a’). ‘Tvy Apùt’ (you have taken away), replied Aaid;ez,
Then he took the permission and her blessings to be born as her son. Having fallen in the water held in her open palm, he was called ptÃil, He mastered the Vedas and had 1000 disciples. In/near the present city of Chinambaram, before imparting the knowledge of Samskrit to them he laid down two conditions before them – No one should leave before the entire Éa:ym! is written down. He would impart the knowledge staying behind a curtain, which no one should lift till the entire Éa:ym! was written down. Aaidze; then hid behind a curtain and assumed his 1000 headed snake form and started teaching, nonstop. Towards the end, an impatient & curious student lifted the curtain, revealing the 1000 headed form of the guru. Exposed to the fire and venom of the 1000 hooded Aaidze; all the students & everything around was burnt and reduced to ashes. However, one student (cNÔ zmaR) who had broken the first rule and wandered away for a while – was saved from the tragedy. ptÃil was happy that at least one student of his had the
knowledge. He was also angered for breaking the first rule and turned him into a äü ra]s who would stay on a tree and feed on äaü[. The student fell at the feet of his guru begging forgiveness and asked for a way to get rid of the terrible curse. ptÃil softened up and said that whenever äü ra]s could successfully teach and make a student
write all that he knew about the language, he would be free from the curse. He also assured that people having heard of his (Patanjali’s) name would come to the ähm ra]s, his disciple, seeking the knowledge, in spite of the fact that äü ra]s eat äaü[. As a test for selecting the student the äü ra]s should ask the following – Q. What is the inóa êpm! (past present participle) of ‘p
äü ra]s was allowed to eat all those failing the test and teach those having passed it. Over the years many people came seeking knowledge, but none could pass the test and ended up being eaten up by the äü ra]s, Finally one person passed and äü ra]s happy at the prospect of being freed from the curse, immediately accepted him as a student. He made the student write on the leaves of the vq-v&] (Banyan tree), using the thorns of the ibLva v&] as
pen & the blood for ink. Under the threat of being eaten and with no time to even stack or arrange the leaves, the student began writing the Éa:ym!, Meanwhile a goat came & nibbled some of the leaves. As all was so unorganized, neither the teacher nor the student took the pain to find and rewrite the missing text. So even today, the mhaÉa:ym! contains missing texts called AÉi]tm! (eaten by the goat) and is incomplete. Thanks to ptÃil that we have the grammar of this great language. The äü ra]s then became free of the curse and was wellknown as gaEf pad a famous scholar & author of the karika to the mu{fk %pin;d.