Kaccāyanabyākaraṇaṃ

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Fully Enlightened One.

Mahākaccāyanasaddāpāṭha

The text of Mahākaccāyana’s words.

Types of rules (sutta)

The text of Kaccāyana consists of a number of rules (sutta) divided into chapters (kappa). Each sutta is headed by its number, §1–§673, and in parentheses by the number of the rule in the Padarūpasiddhi that restates it; (0) marks a sutta the Padarūpasiddhi does not state. Rules are classified into the following:

• saññā (technical term)
  • anvattha (meaningful) anvattha
  • rūḷhī (artificial) rūḷhī
• adhikāra (domain)
  • sīhagatika (comprehensive) sīhagatika
  • maṇḍūkagatika (selective) maṇḍūkagatika
  • yathānupubbika (progressive) yathānupubbika
• paribhāsā (metarule)
  • saññaṅga (definition metarule) saññaṅga
  • vidhyaṅga (operational metarule) vidhyaṅga
  • aññaṅga (other metarule) aññaṅga
• vidhi (operation)
  • utsarga (general rule) utsarga
  • apavāda (exception) apavāda

The kinds of rule

The classification above as a tree; the badge on each sutta heading names its kind.

flowchart LR
  S(["sutta"]) --> A["saññā<br/>technical term"]
  S --> B["adhikāra<br/>domain"]
  S --> C["paribhāsā<br/>metarule"]
  S --> D["vidhi<br/>operation"]
  A --> A1["anvattha<br/>meaningful"]
  A --> A2["rūḷhī<br/>artificial"]
  B --> B1["sīhagatika<br/>comprehensive"]
  B --> B2["maṇḍūkagatika<br/>selective"]
  B --> B3["yathānupubbika<br/>progressive"]
  C --> C1["saññaṅga<br/>definition metarule"]
  C --> C2["vidhyaṅga<br/>operational metarule"]
  C --> C3["aññaṅga<br/>other metarule"]
  D --> D1["utsarga<br/>general rule"]
  D --> D2["apavāda<br/>exception"]

Table of Contents

The eight chapters

The Kaccāyana’s 673 suttas fall into eight chapters; the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana edition counts the third to fifth as further sections of the noun chapter and the eighth as a section of the seventh.

flowchart LR
  T(["Kaccāyanabyākaraṇaṃ<br/>673 suttas"]) --> S1["1. Sandhikappa §1–§51<br/>letters, terms and the joining of sounds<br/>five sections"]
  T --> S2["2. Nāmakappa §52–§270<br/>the inflection of nouns<br/>five sections"]
  S2 --> S3["3. Kārakakappa §271–§315<br/>the seven forms and their meanings"]
  S2 --> S4["4. Samāsakappa §316–§343<br/>compounds"]
  S2 --> S5["5. Taddhitakappa §344–§405<br/>nouns made from nouns"]
  T --> S6["6. Ākhyātakappa §406–§523<br/>the verb<br/>four sections"]
  T --> S7["7. Kibbidhānakappa §524–§623<br/>words made from roots<br/>five sections"]
  S7 --> S8["8. Uṇādikappa §624–§673<br/>the remaining primary suffixes"]

1. Sandhikappa (`sandhi` chapter)`sandhi` is derived from `saṃ` + `dhā` meaning “putting together” and is used to refer to the transformation that result from the joining together of two words (or two parts of a word) for the sake of euphony.

2. Nāmakappa (Noun chapter)nāma` means "name" and in this text it is used to refer to "nouns". This chapter talks about the different types of nouns and how they are inflected to form words that are used in sentences.

3. Kārakakappa (Kāraka chapter)The kāraka chapter defines the relations a noun bears to the action of its sentence — agent, object, instrument, recipient, source, owner and location — and assigns the seven inflection forms to them.

4. Samāsakappa (Compound chapter)The samāsa chapter defines the compound and its six kinds — abyayībhāva, kammadhāraya, digu, tappurisa, bahubbīhi, dvanda — and the changes the members undergo.

5. Taddhitakappa (Secondary derivation chapter)The taddhita chapter gives the suffixes added to nouns to form new nouns — of descent, relation, possession, abstraction, comparison and number — and the sound changes that accompany them.

6. Ākhyātakappa (Verb chapter)The ākhyāta chapter treats the finite verb: its persons and voices, the eight sets of endings for tense and mood, the conjugation classes and their suffixes, and the changes roots undergo.

7. Kibbidhānakappa (Primary derivation chapter)The kibbidhāna chapter gives the kita suffixes added directly to roots — agent nouns, participles, infinitives, absolutives, gerundives — and the changes of the root before them.

8. Uṇādikappa (Uṇādi suffixes chapter)The uṇādi chapter gives the remaining primary suffixes — u, ṇu, yu, tu, ta, tha, ma, ra, ṇa and the rest — with the words they form.

Reference translations

The three earlier English translations of Kaccāyana reproduced on this site, each cross-checked with the chapters above; where a reading or a construal differs, a footnote in the chapter says so.

Nandisena: Kaccāyana (2005)U Nandisena's English translation of Kaccāyana with its vutti and examples (Myanmar 2005; electronic edition IEBH 2017, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Thiab Malai (1997)Phramaha Thiab Malai's Pune thesis, a critical study and translation of Kaccāyana, as a cleaned reading edition; his footnotes report the readings of the Thai, Burmese and Sinhalese editions.

D'Alwis: Kaccāyana (1863)James D'Alwis's Introduction to Kachchāyana's Grammar of the Pāli Language, the earliest English translation of any part of Kaccāyana (the chapter on verbs), with his study of the Pāḷi language and its grammars.

Research

Ruiz-Falqués: Two levels of optionalityThe study of vā, kvaci and navā in Kaccāyana that the Analysis of every sutta follows.

Other editions and translationsFurther articles and reviews by Aleix Ruiz-Falqués, and the other editions and translations consulted.