The Unadi-Sutras (Sanskrit ) are a group of texts in Indian grammatical tradition (

Vyākaraṇa ''Vyākaraṇa'' (, ) refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, ancillary science connected with the Vedas, which are scriptures in Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vyakarana" in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen ...

). They form an accessory to the ''

Aṣṭādhyāyī The (Devanagari अष्टाध्यायी) is a grammar that describes a form of an early Indo-Aryan language: Sanskrit. Authored by Sanskrit philologist and scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 500 BCE, it describes the language as cu ...

'' ("Eight Chapters", the grammar of

Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas=Descript ...

). They deal with Sanskrit affixes. They propose to validate the view attributed to

Śākaṭāyana (814760 bce) was the name of Sanskrit grammarian, one who was a predecessor of Yaska and Panini in Iron Age India, circa 9th century BCE, and one who was a Sanskrit grammarian Ancient Grammarian Śākaṭāyana was an early "etymologist" o ...

that all words can be analysed by the addition of

affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...

es to verbal roots. As a consequence, the notion of "affix" for the purposes of the Unadi-Sutras is extremely loose and not necessarily etymological; the classical grammarians (such as Patañjali ) were aware that this means of derivation was purely formal and in many cases had no relation to the word's actual meaning. The authorship and date of the oldest Unadi-Sutras (known as the ''Panchapadi-Unadi-Sutras'') is uncertain; some authors would attribute them to Pāṇini himself, others to his predecessors, such as

, Āpiśali, or

Kātyāyana Kātyāyana (कात्यायन) also spelled as Katyayana (est. c. 6th to 3rd century BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. पतञ्जलीमहर्षिः Patanjali Mahars ...

. The name ''uṇādi'' is derived from the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

, as the text begins with the treatment of the affix ''-uṇ-''. The texts survive only with substantial variation. In addition, the later grammatical schools have added numerous additional Unadi-Sutras, each particular to the respective school. Numerous commentaries on the Unadi-Sutras proper are extant, including the Uṇādisūtravṛtti of Ujjvaladatta (13th century?C. R. Swaminathan, ''Janakiharana of Kumaradasa: A Study''
p. 49
), the Uṇādivṛtti of Svetavanavasin, the Prakriyasarvasva of Narayanabhatta (17th century), the Siddhanta Kaumudi and Pradhha Manorama of

Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita Bhattoji Dikshita was a 17th-century Maharashtrian Sanskrit grammarian, author of the , literally "Illumination of the established (position)". He was active in a revival of the grammatical methods of Pāṇini, in his work arranging Pāṇini's su ...

(17th century), the Unadikosa of Mahadevavedantin (17th century), the Aunadikapadarnava of Perusuri (early 19th century), the Unadi-kosa of

Dayananda Sarasvati Dayanand Saraswati () (born Mool Shankar Tiwari; 2 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) also known as Maharshi Dayanand is an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. His Magnum Opus is the bo ...

(mid 19th century), the Dasapadyunadivrtti and Prasada of Manikyadeva.

References

{{reflist *Kanshi Ram
''Uṇādi-Sūtras In The Sanskrit Grammatical Tradition''
(2001). Vyakarana Linguistic morphology