Perception of Language in Kātyāyana’s Vārttikas and Patañjall’s Mahābhāsya

This is a dilemma which Pfu.1ini did not explicitly face up to and hence did not worry about providing a solution to. Katyayana himself points out all these difficulties, which almost remind us of the debates found in the Buddhist texts discussing momentariness of all entities. However, Katyayana's solution to these philosophical problems is a return to commonsense: Since the notions of sarhhita and virama are known in the world, one does not need to worry about defming them (sarhhitavasanayor lokaviditatvat siddham, Vt 8 on P. 1.4.110). Thus, Katyayana has not provided a philosophical solution to this dilemma.