Grammatical Paribhasas of the Siddhahema System

In this concise technical note, J. M. Shukla catalogues some of the paribhāṣās – interpretative principles – employed in the Siddha‑hema system of grammar. The Siddha‑hema is a composite grammar attributed to the Jain polymath Hemacandra (twelfth century), comprising the Siddha‑hemacandra Chandra‑sūtra on Sanskrit and the Uṇādisūtra on Prakrit. Like Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī, these works deploy hundreds of terse rules that interact in complex ways. Paribhāṣās are meta‑rules that resolve conflicts between competing rules, specify the scope of operations and determine precedence. Shukla lists several such principles, explaining them with examples. One is the anuvṛtti rule, according to which a technical term introduced in one sūtra may carry over into subsequent sūtras until explicitly overridden. Another is the utsarga‑apavāda hierarchy: a general rule (utsarga) is valid unless a specific rule (apavāda) applies. Hemacandra adapts this hierarchy to account for both Sanskrit and Prakrit phenomena, sometimes privileging Prakrit usages. The note also mentions the paribhāṣā that in the absence of explicit prohibition, optional operations are allowed – a principle that grants flexibility in derivations. Shukla notes that some paribhāṣās in the Siddha‑hema are borrowed from Pāṇini’s tradition while others are original inventions. He suggests that Hemacandra formulated new meta‑rules to handle features unique to Prakrit, such as the simplification of consonant clusters and the nasalisation of vowels. Understanding these paribhāṣās is essential for interpreting Hemacandra’s sūtras accurately. The article ends with a call to compile a comprehensive list of such principles and to compare them systematically with those in other grammatical traditions.

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