Introduction

Context

Kaccāyana is the oldest extant Pāli grammar, and was composed around the sixth century CE, most probably in India. It is partly based on Pāṇini and Kātantra:

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī “Eight Lessons” 5th–4th c. B.C.E. Śalātura Northwest India
Śarvavarman, Kātantravyākaraṇa 2nd c. C.E. South India

The author of Kaccāyana is attributed to Mahā Kaccāyana, but modern scholars believe it is authored by multiple compilers and gradually evolved over time. According to James D’Alwis in An introduction to Kachchāyana’s grammar of the Pāli language:

the grammatical aphorisms (sutta), are ascribed to a certain Kaccāyana,
the “gloss” or explanation (vutti) is ascribed to a certain Saṅghanandin
the examples (payoga) is ascribed to a certain Brahmadatta

According to the Thai monk Dhammakitti in Saddhammasaṅgaha (Saddhamma-s IX, 18-20, 35):

kaccāyano kato yogo saṃghanandi pavuttikā, ṭīkā vimalabodhī ca brahmaputto ca kārakā.
(SADDHĀNANDA, 1890: 63)
Kaccāyana composed the yoga [“rule”], Saṅghanandin the pavuttikā [“notes”], and Vimalabodhī the ṭīkā [“commentary”], and Brahmaputto the kāraka [“section on factor of action”].

Source of text

I have sourced the text of Kaccāyana from Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka available from the [Pāḷi Tipiṭaka web site]](https://tipitaka.org). This is based on the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka Version 4 (CST4) CD published by the Vipassana Research Institute, available for download on their website, and also available on Github.

Unfortunately, the version of Kaccāyana available above contain many spelling errors. I have taken the opportunity to correct these errors whenever I have encountered them, but it is possible I have not have identified all the errors and some errors remain which may impact the translation.

The examples and counter-examples in the text are usually taken from the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka (and commentaries), In the translation, I have tried to identify the references where possible and cross referenced them against the World Tipiṭaka Edition, but have not always succeeded. It is possible these examples are references to other text outside the canon.

The structure of Kaccāyana

There are 673 rules (sutta), depending on the edition, spread across the following chapters and sections:

Sandhi
1. Definitions
2. Vowel sandhi
3. Consonant sandhi
4. niggahīta (ṃ) sandhi
5. Miscellanea
Nāma
1. Definitions, Internal morphology, Default Inflections
2. Pronominal inflections, an-stems
3. Pronominal inflections continued, mano-gaṇa, an-stems, tar-stems.
4. an-stems cont., feminine stems, adv. pronouns, nta-stems
5. Adverbial affixes
KĀRAKA
SAMĀSA
TADDHITA
Ākhyāta
1. Definitions
2. Special stems, causatives, bhāva, vb. classes
3. Reduplication, Special stems
4. Special affixes and stems
Kibbidhāna
1. Definition of kicca and kit affixes
2. Use of affixes with tenses, voices, etc.
3. niṭṭhā affixes
4. Modification of vb. stems in primary derivation
UṆĀDI

The structure of a sutta

Each sutta (rule, or grammatical aphorism) is described in a series of subsections or “fields”. The vutti is always present, the other fields may be present.

field	function	tags
vutti	gloss, or explanation	repeats and expands the words from the sutta
udāharaṇa	examples	taṃyathā
kimudāharaṇa	counter-examples	kasmā / kimatthaṃ
payojana	application/purpose/scope of the rule (“where is it used”)	kvattho / kimpayojanaṃ
gahaṇaphala	result of mentioned words, comments on anuvṛtti, meaning of ca or vā, etc.	(xxx)(sadda)ggahaṇena… eg. rule 35: `casaddaggahaṇena iheva makārassa pakāro hoti`.

Example (the first number is the Kaccāyana rule number, the second is the equivalent Padarūpasiddhi rule number):

151, 250.Bahuvacanesu vono.
Sabbesaṃ tumhaamhasaddānaṃ savibhattīnaṃ yadā padasmā paresaṃ vonoādesā honti yathāsaṅkhyaṃ tatiyābahuvacanesu paresu. Kataṃ vo kammaṃ, kataṃ no kammaṃ. Padatoti kimatthaṃ? Tumhehi kataṃ, amhehi kataṃ. Bahuvacanaggahaṇena yomhi paṭhame vo noādesā honti. Gāmaṃ vo gaccheyyātha, gāmaṃ no gaccheyyāma.

field	text
no	151
Padarūpasiddhi	250
sutta	Bahuvacanesu vono.
vutti	Sabbesaṃ tumhaamhasaddānaṃ savibhattīnaṃ yadā padasmā paresaṃ vonoādesā honti yathāsaṅkhyaṃ tatiyābahuvacanesu paresu.
udāharaṇa	Kataṃ vo kammaṃ, kataṃ no kammaṃ.
kimudāharaṇa	Padatoti kimatthaṃ? Tumhehi kataṃ, amhehi kataṃ.
payojana
gahaṇaphala	Bahuvacanaggahaṇena yomhi paṭhame vo noādesā honti. Gāmaṃ vo gaccheyyātha, gāmaṃ no gaccheyyāma.

Other examples:

361, 388.Ṇavisamādīhi.
Ṇapaccayo hoti visamādīhi ‘‘tassa bhāvo’’iccetasmiṃ atthe. Visamassa bhāvo vesamaṃ, sucissa bhāvo socaṃ.

field	text
no	361
Padarūpasiddhi	388
sutta	Ṇavisamādīhi.
vutti	Ṇapaccayo hoti visamādīhi ‘‘tassa bhāvo’’iccetasmiṃ atthe.
udāharaṇa	Visamassa bhāvo vesamaṃ, sucissa bhāvo socaṃ.
kimudāharaṇa
payojana
gahaṇaphala

364, 398.Tadassatthīti vī ca.
”Tadassatthi”iccetasmiṃ atthe vīpaccayo hoti. Medhā yassa atthi, tasmiṃ vā vijjatītimedhāvī. Evaṃ māyāvī. Caggahaṇena sopaccayo hoti. Sumedhā yassa atthi, tasmiṃ vā vijjatīti sumedhaso.

field	text
no	364
Padarūpasiddhi	398
sutta	Tadassatthīti vī ca.
vutti	”Tadassatthi”iccetasmiṃ atthe vīpaccayo hoti.
udāharaṇa	Medhā yassa atthi, tasmiṃ vā vijjatītimedhāvī. Evaṃ māyāvī.
kimudāharaṇa
payojana
gahaṇaphala	Caggahaṇena sopaccayo hoti. Sumedhā yassa atthi, tasmiṃ vā vijjatīti sumedhaso.

59, 182.Te itthikhyā po.
Te ivaṇṇuvaṇṇā yadā itthikhyā, tadā pasaññā honti. Rattiyā, itthiyā, dhenuyā, vadhuyā. Itthikhyāti kimatthaṃ? Isinā, bhikkhunā. Saiccanena kvattho? Pato yā.

field	text
no	59
Padarūpasiddhi	182
sutta	Te itthikhyā po.
vutti	Te ivaṇṇuvaṇṇā yadā itthikhyā, tadā pasaññā honti.
udāharaṇa	Rattiyā, itthiyā, dhenuyā, vadhuyā.
kimudāharaṇa
payojana	Saiccanena kvattho? Pato yā.
gahaṇaphala

57, 71.Ālapane si ga sañño.
Ālapanatthe si gasañño hoti. Bhoti ayye, bhoti kaññe, bhoti kharādiye. Ālapaneti kimatthaṃ? Sā ayyā. Sīti kimatthaṃ? Bhotiyo ayyāyo. Gaiccanena kvattho? Ghate ca.

field	text
no	57
Padarūpasiddhi	71
sutta	Ālapane si ga sañño.
vutti	Ālapanatthe si gasañño hoti.
udāharaṇa	Bhoti ayye, bhoti kaññe, bhoti kharādiye.
kimudāharaṇa	Ālapaneti kimatthaṃ? Sā ayyā. Sīti kimatthaṃ? Bhotiyo ayyāyo.
payojana	Gaiccanena kvattho? Ghate ca.
gahaṇaphala

Types of suttas

The rules can be classified into four categories, and additional subcategories, with examples given below:

saññā (technical term)
- anvattha (meaningful)
  
  8, 10.Aṃiti niggahitaṃ. anvattha
  Aṃ iti niggahitaṃ nāma hoti.
  Tena kvattho? Aṃ byañjane niggahitaṃ.
- rūḷhī (artificial)
  
  58, 29.Ivaṇṇuvaṇṇā jhalā. rūḷhī
  Ivaṇṇuvaṇṇāiccete jhalasaññā honti yathāsaṅkhyaṃ.
  Isino , aggino, gahapatino, daṇḍino. Setuno, ketuno, bhikkhuno. Sayambhuno, abhibhuno.
  Jhalaiccanena kvattho? Jhalato sassa no vā.
adhikāra (domain)
- sīhagatika (comprehensive) \
  
  52, 60.Jinavacanayuttaṃhi. sīhagatika “Jinavacanayuttaṃ hi” iccetaṃ adhikāratthaṃ veditabbaṃ.
- maṇḍūkagatika (selective)
  
  131, 0.Itthipumanapuṃsakasaṅkhyaṃ. maṇḍūkagatika
  “Itthipumanapuṃsakasaṅkhyaṃ” iccetaṃ adhikāratthaṃ veditabbaṃ.
- yathānupubbika (progressive)
  
  413, 427.Kāle. yathānupubbika “Kāle” iccetaṃ adhikāratthaṃ veditabbaṃ.
paribhāsā (metarule)
- saññaṅga (definition metarule)
  
  9, 11.Parasamaññā payoge. saññaṅga
  Yā ca pana paresu sakkataganthesu samaññā ghosāti vā aghosāti vā, tā payoge sati etthāpi yujjante.
  Tattha ghosā nāma-ga gha ṅa, ja jha ña, ḍa ḍha ṇa, da dha na, ba bha ma, ya ra la va ha ḷa, iti ghosā nāma. Aghosā nāma-ka kha, ca cha, ṭa ṭha, ta tha, pa pha, sa, iti aghosā nāma.
  Tena kvattho? Vagge ghosāghosānaṃ tatiyapaṭhamā.
- vidhyaṅga (operational metarule)
  
  10, 12.Pubbamadhoṭhita massaraṃ sarena viyojaye. vidhyaṅga
  Tattha sandhiṃ kattukāmo pubbabyañjanaṃ adhoṭhitaṃ assaraṃ katvā sarañca upari katvā sarena viyojaye. Tatrāyamādi.
- aññaṅga (other metarule)
  
  54, 62.Tato ca vibhattiyo. aññaṅga
  Tato jinavacanayuttehi liṅgehi vibhattiyo parā honti.
vidhi (operation)
- utsarga (general rule)
  
  12, 13.Sarā sare lopaṃ. utsarga
  Sarā kho sare pare lopaṃ papponti.
  Yassindriyāni samathaṅgatāni. No hetaṃ bhante sametāyasmā saṅghena.
- apavāda (exception)
  
  13, 15.Vā paro asarūpā. apavāda
  Saramhā asarūpā paro saro lopaṃ pappoti vā.
  Cattāro’me bhikkhave dhammā, kinnu’ māvasamaṇiyo. Vāti kasmā? Pañcindriyāni, tayassu dhammā jahitā bhavanti.

According to Aleix Ruiz-Falqués in A Short Introduction to the Pāli Kaccāyana Grammar:

Several saññā “technical terms”,
within an adhikāra “domain”,
following paribhāsā “metarules”,
will be subject to vidhi “operations”
in order to derive words or sentences.

Megarules

mahāsutta or “megarules” are four rules that are invoked in order to derive forms that cannot be derived otherwise.

391, 423.Yadanupapannā nipātanā sijjhanti.
Ye saddā aniddiṭṭhalakkhaṇā, akkharapadabyañjanato, itthipumanapuṃsakaliṅgato , nāmupasagganipātato, abyayībhāvasamāsataddhitākhyātato, gaṇanasaṅkhyākālakārakappayogasaññāto, sandhipakativuddhilopāgamavikāraviparitato, vibhattivibhajanato ca, te nipātanā sijjhanti.
“Those [words] that are not formed by the suttas, should be formed as irregular forms.”
403, 354.Kvacādimajjhuttarānaṃ dīgharassā paccayesu ca.
Kvaci ādimajjhauttaraiccetesaṃ dīgharassā honti paccayesu ca apaccayesu ca.
“Sometimes, there is lengthening or shortening at the beginning, middle or end [vowels of a word], even before affixes.”
404, 370.Tesu vuddhilopāgamavikāraviparītādesā ca.
Tesu ādimajjhuttaresu yathājinavacanānuparodhena kvaci vuddhi hoti, kvaci lopo hoti, kvaci āgamo hoti, kvaci vikāro hoti, kvaci viparīto hoti, kvaci ādeso hoti.
“And in those cases [cf. rule 405], [sometimes,] there is full grade, elision, augment, modification, change, or replacement.”
517, 488.Kvaci dhātuvibhattipaccayānaṃ dīgha viparītādesalopāgamā ca.
Idha ākhyāte aniddiṭṭhesu sādhanesu kvaci dhātuvibhattipaccayānaṃ dīghaviparītādesalopāgamaiccetāni kāriyāni jinavacanānurūpāni kātabbāni.
“Sometimes [for verbal forms that cannot be derived otherwise, there is] lengthening, change, replacement or augment of the verbal root, the personal ending, or the affix(es).”

Rule 52 is halfway between a megarule and a normal rule:

52, 60.Jinavacanayuttaṃhi.
“Jinavacanayuttaṃ hi” iccetaṃ adhikāratthaṃ veditabbaṃ.

Ghost metarules

“Ghost Metarules” are paribhāsās that are consistently invoked in the commentaries, but that you will never see in the sūtra treatise.

Examples:

ekamhi vattabbe ekavacanaṃ bahumhi vattabbe bahuvacanan [e.g. Mmd 28,15–16]
“The singular is used when one [object] is to be stated, the plural is used when many [objects] are to be stated.”
[NOTE: in Pāṇini, 1.4.21 bahuṣu bahuvacanam (“plural for many [objects]”) & 1.4.22 dvyekayor dvivacanaikavacane (“dual and singular for two or one [objects respectively]”) are considered saṃjñā (“definition”) rules.]
vatticchānupubbikā saddapaṭipatti [e.g. Mmd 64,17–18]
“The meaning of a word is determined by the intention of the speaker.”
vuttatthānam appayogo [23 times in Mmd, e.g. 133,20]
“Words whose meaning has already been stated are not used.”
yogavibhāgā iṭṭhappasiddhi [Mmd, e.g. 252,29]
“After the splitting up (vibhāgā) of the sutta (yoga) [there is] the expected result [only].”

Usage of rūḷhī

In a sutta, a rūḷhī (artificial technical term) will have a case ending that matches the role/usage of the term within a rule. For example jha (used for masculine/neuter nominal bases ending with i or ī):

case	`jha`	usage
①	`jho`	`i`/`ī` (*replacement)
②	`jhaṃ`	`i`/`ī` (substitute)
③	`jhena`	not used
④	`jhassa`	not used
⑤	`jhamhā`/`jhato`	“after `i`/`ī`”
⑥	`jhassa`	“instead of `i`/`ī`”
⑦	`jhasmiṃ`	“before `i`/`ī`”

Types of vidhi (operation)

ādesa “replacement”
āgama “insertion”
vikāra “modification”
lopa “elision”
viparīta “metathesis”

Structure of a vidhi (operation)

An operation converts from into to surrounded by before and after, in the scope of option and context.

option	before	from	operation	to	after	context

As an illustration, the sequence AXB is replaced with AYB:

option	before	from	operation	to	after	context
	A	X	becomes	Y	B

Option markers:

ca
api
vā
kvaci
na
niccaṃ
…

Context: “in the sense of …”

Vibhatti endings are used to determine the various roles in the rule

before	from	operation	to	after	context
⑤	⑥	ādesa	①	⑦	⑦
⑤	①	ādesa	①	⑦	⑦
⑤	①	ādesa	②	⑦	⑦

Example

§103 ato n’ ena: (After a, nā [becomes] ena):

option	before	from	operation	to	after	context
	a	nā	ādesa	ena
	⑤	①	ādesa	①

	buddha + nā	rule
→	buddha + (nā→ena)	§103
→	buddhena

Example

§70: jhalānam iyuvā sare vā: (Optionally, before a vowel: iya replaces i/ī, uva replaces u/ū):

option	from	operation	to	after
vā	i/ī	ādesa	iva	sare
vā	u/ū	ādesa	uva	sare
vā	⑥	ādesa	①	⑦

	bhikkhu + āsane	rule
→	bhikkh + (u→uva) + (āsane)	§70
→	bhikkh + uv + (a + ā) + sane	§12
→	bhikkhuvāsane

Example

§12 sarā sare lopaṃ: (Vowel, before vowel, is elided):

option	before	from	operation	to	after	context
		sarā	lopaṃ	~~sara~~	sare
		①	lopaṃ		⑦

	tena + upasaṅkami	rule
→	ten(a) + upasaṅkami	§12
→	tenupasaṅkami

Most vidhi “operational” rules teach paccaya “affixation” or ādesa “replacement” using previous definitions (saññā-s). It is all about adding particles to a base, and then replacing them if/when needed. To understand vidhi-s, we should keep in mind the following code of case endings:

⑤ - “after X”
⑥ - “instead of X”
① - “X”, ādesa
⑦ - “before X”
⑦ - “in the sense of X”

Motivation

I have decided to attempt a new translation of Kaccāyana’s grammar, because of several reasons:

I am not entirely satisfied with the existing translations. Some of them seem to lack clarity (primarily due to the writing style). Others don’t explain the examples well enough, and yet others are too verbose, inserting explanations not in the original text.
There are some spelling errors and mistakes in the edition published on Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka, some of which have been incorporated into existing translations. I have taken the opportunity to correct the mistakes, uncovered by scholars such as O. H. Pind and A. Ruiz-Falqués.
Unlike some translations, I am honouring the use of option markers in Kaccāyana, and in most cases am faithfully translating vā as “optionally”, kvaci as “occasionally” and navā as “by exception.”
I am also cross referencing the use of technical terms with other classical Pāli grammars.
It is a good way to further my understanding of Pāli.
It is also a good opportunity for me to introduce the Brahmi script. As we know, there are no surviving Buddhist texts written in Brahmi, so there is no need to learn this script, however, I like it due to it’s elegance and simplicity.
I wanted to augment the translations with diagrams, and incorporate worked through grammatical analysis and rule derivations in the examples.
In comparison with the other classical Pāli grammars, Kaccāyana is brief and succinct, minimising repetition. It was used as a standard textbook for teaching Pāli in countries such as Burma for many years, and often used in various monasteries as a Pāli reference text.
I prefer Kaccāyana to most English Pāli textbooks and grammar books, as it describes Pāli without the distorting lens of Western linguistics.
My translation is presented using a modern responsive web design, featuring Google’s Noto Sans font.

References

James D’Alwis, An introduction to Kachchāyana’s grammar of the Pāli language, with an introduction, appendix, notes, etc., Williams and Norgate, London (1863)
Dhammakitti, Dr. Satischandra Vidyabhusana; Punnananda Swami; Sailendranath Mitra, Bālāvatārā - an Elementary Pāli Grammar Abridged for the Undergraduate Course, University of Calcutta (1935)
Aleix Ruiz-Falqués, On the Authorship of Kaccāyana, the Oldest Pāli Grammar, Pariyatti: Studies In Pāli Language And Literature, Aditya Prakashan, New Dehli (2017)
Aleix Ruiz-Falqués, A Short Introduction to the Pāli Kaccāyana Grammar, Shan State Buddhist University, Taunggyi (Myanmar) (2020)
Mahesh A. Deokar, Technical Terms and Technique of The Pali and Sanskrit Grammars, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi (2008)