[INDOLOGY] Syllables in Pāṇini

[Roland Steiner]

> Discussions of syllables occur more extensively in works on metrics
> and in the Prātiśākhyas and Śikṣās.

For example, the Buddhist scholar Ratnākaraśānti (probably late 10th  
cent.) gives the following definition of a syllable (akṣara) in his  
auto-commentary to his metrical work Chandoratnākara (1.2):

akṣaragaṇanāsu svarā gaṇyante na vyañjanāni | bhavati cātra ślokaḥ ||

saptatriṃśad vyañjanāni dvāviṃśatir iha svarāḥ |
ūnaṣaṣṭir amī varṇāḥ svarasaṃkhyeyam akṣaram ||

Best wishes,
Roland Steiner