UNITED KINGDOM: A 2,500-year-old Sanskrit grammatical puzzle was resolved by an Indian PhD student, Rishi Rajpopat. He hails from the University of Cambridge. The puzzle has confounded Sanskrit scholars since the 5th Century BC.
When he released his thesis on Thursday, he had the answer to the Sanskrit language conundrum.
Indian PhD student solves Panini’s Sanskrit Puzzle
In his thesis, “In Panini We Trust: Discovering the Algorithm for Rule Conflict Resolution in the Astadhyayi,” Rishi Rajpopat experienced a “Eureka” moment after successfully deciphering a rule taught by Panini. The Sanskrit Philologist is known as the father of linguistics.
Leading Sanskrit specialists describe the discovery as “revolutionary.” The breakthrough might make it possible to teach computers Panini’s grammar for the first time.
Rishi Rajpopat stated, “I had a eureka moment in Cambridge,” following the finding.
The 27-year-old Cambridge scholar added, “After nine months of attempting to solve this issue, I was on the verge of giving up since I was having no luck. I put the books away for a month, then just relaxed and took advantage of the summer by cooking, swimming, riding, and praying”.
“After that, I went back to work, and as I turned the pages, these patterns appeared swiftly, and everything started to make sense. Although there was still much work to be done, I had discovered the key piece of the puzzle”, he added further.
He would spend hours at the library after figuring that out, trying to tackle related puzzles.
Rajpopat stated that Panini had a great mind and created a machine that was unmatched in human history. He didn’t anticipate us to amend his regulations. The more we try to understand Panini’s grammar, the more we struggle.
The breakthrough would enable the proper use of Panini’s “language machine” for the first time.
Using Panini’s renowned language machine, which is regarded as one of the greatest intellectual achievements in history, it would now be feasible to “derive” any Sanskrit word and create millions of grammatically accurate words.
The 4,000 rules in Panini’s legendary work, the Astadhyayi, which is believed to have been composed around 500 BC, are intended to function as a machine.
Once you enter a word’s base and suffix, a step-by-step process should produce grammatically sound words and sentences.
But up until today, there has been a significant issue. Many times, two or more of Panini’s rules are valid at the same phase and scholars must decide which rule to use.
An algorithm is needed to resolve so-called “rule conflicts,” which affect millions of Sanskrit terms, including some variations of “mantra” and “guru.” Rajpopat’s study demonstrates the self-sufficiency of Panini’s alleged language machine.
After the discovery, Professor Vincenzo Vergiani, a Sanskrit expert and Rajpopat’s Ph.D. mentor, declared, “My student Rishi has solved it — he has found an astonishingly elegant answer to an issue that has baffled academics for generations. This revelation will completely change how Sanskrit is studied at a time when interest in the language is rising.”
Sanskrit is a historical and classical Indian language. Even though it is currently only spoken by about 25,000 people in India, it has had a significant impact on many other languages and cultures all over the world.
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