Some Thorny Problems in Panini Studies: A Japanese Scholar Remembered (Yutaka Ojihara) (Critical Essay‪)‬

This volume of selected writings by the Japanese scholar Yutaka Ojihara (1923-1991, Professor at Kyoto University 1957-1986) emphasizes his work on Sanskrit grammar, which he studied as a student and collaborator of Louis Renou; a few articles are also a reminder of his wide interest in classical Sanskrit literature and Buddhism and his ability to interpret difficult passages in poetry and scholarly literature. However, his editions of two Sanskrit dramas, Japanese translations of Sanskrit literary works, and his text-critical and exegetic notes on the Buddhist Dharmasamuccaya are not included in this volume. He played a major role in linking Japanese and Western Indological scholarship after 1945. Together with Renou, who was his most influential teacher, he produced a richly annotated French translation of the first pada of the Kasika-vrtti, the oldest preserved running commentary on Panini's grammar. He followed it up with several studies on inconsistencies in this text, attempting to differentiate the contributions of the two authors of this commentary. Jayaditya is usually credited with the first five books, Vamana with the rest; indeed, the contradictions noted by Ojihara are all between the commentary of the first five books on the one hand and the later books on the other, supporting the prevailing opinion. There are indications, though, that both authors may also have commented on the whole Astadhyayi, as Ojihara has pointed out.