I want to thank the late Ms. Ranjana Deshpande who, through her enriching and effortless pedagogy, lit the spark of Sanskrit in me during my high school years. Secondly, I wish to express my gratitude towards my Guru, Ms. Geeta Gandhi, who initiated me into the delightful world of Pāṇinian grammar and who, with her wealth of expertise and experience, continues to motivate and inspire me to this day. I am very grateful to Dr. James Benson who supervised my Masters at the University of Oxford, and whose in-depth, almost spellbinding, knowledge of the Aṣṭādhyāyī afforded me the opportunity to improve my understanding of its infrastructure.
I am most grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Vincenzo Vergiani, whose enlightening insights into the evolution of the Indian grammatical tradition helped me develop and articulate my thoughts in a cogent manner. I think it would be no exaggeration to say that, were it not for his perceptiveness, knowledge, wisdom, open-mindedness, magnanimity and liberal attitude, it would have been absolutely impossible for me to produce this thesis. Right from mentoring and encouraging me, to having faith in my abilities, to challenging and criticizing me, Dr. Vergiani did everything that was necessary for me to thrive and flourish at Cambridge. Given that he has single-handedly overlooked my growth as a researcher for the last four years, he deserves no less than a lion’s share of credit for this thesis.
I wish to offer special thanks to Dr. Maria Piera Candotti (University of Pisa), whose remarkable familiarity with both traditional and modern argumentation on a variety of derivational issues opened my eyes to multiple new perspectives towards the Aṣṭādhyāyī. I want to wholeheartedly thank Dr. Balram Shukla (University of Delhi) who, through his striking knowledge and perspicacity, enabled me to truly appreciate the role of the tradition in preserving and decoding the Aṣṭādhyāyī. I owe a significant debt of gratitude to Dr. Tanuja Ajotikar (Assistant Professor, The Sanskrit Library) – who has been nothing short of a living encyclopaedia on all things Pāṇinian – for helping me appreciate the nuances of traditional opinions on a wide range of derivational topics. I also want to sincerely thank Prof. Diwakar Acharya (University of Oxford) and Dr. John Lowe (University of Oxford) for their thoughtful advice on important academic matters.
I am extremely grateful to faculty members, fellow students and colleagues in Indology and other fields, with whom I had many opportunities to have stimulating conversations which facilitated my learning and maturation. I am privileged to enjoy, and very grateful for, the [[6]] unwavering affection and solidarity of my family and friends. Above all, I remain perennially indebted to Bhagavān who has blessed me with the curiosity and enthusiasm that drove this doctoral investigation to fruitful completion.
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