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Sanskrit unfolds a theory of human language where the infinite language is generated by finite grammar which modern linguistic acknowledges as the complete, generative grammar of any language yet written.
Panini gives formal production rules and definitions to describe Sanskrit grammar. There are four major components of his grammar (I) Astadhyayi or Astaka (ii) Sivasutras, (iii) Dhatupatha and (iv) Ganapatha. Today, Panini’s grammar has been compared to Euclid’s geometry and his constructions can be seen as comparable to modern definitions of a mathematical function. Panini’s rules are said to be perfect-that is, they perfectly describe the Sanskrit morphology, and are regarded as so clear that computer scientists have made use of them to teach computers to understand Sanskrit. Panini uses metarules, transformations and recursion in such sophistication that his grammar has the computing power equivalent to a Turing machine. In this sense Panini may be considered the father of computing machines.
Regards,
Bathula Venkata Subbaiah
NIT Surat
"B V Subbaiah" <bvsubbaiah[at]gmail.com>