Evidence-Graded Reconstruction of Indic Formal Systems as Candidate Protocol Primitives

This preprint proposes a cautious methodological framework for studying selected Indic formal systems as sources of candidate protocol primitives. The problem addressed is neither heritage description alone nor unsupported technological overclaim: how can rule-like structures in ancient source traditions be stabilized, interpreted, evidence-graded, formally represented, and cautiously compared with modern protocol functions without asserting historical descent? The paper introduces an evidence-graded reconstruction method that separates historical, textual, interpretive, formal, computational, engineering, and standards-related claims. It defines a protocol primitive as a source-linked unit that can be represented as a rule, operation, state transition, validation method, sequence, taxonomy, or governance condition. The method is designed to prevent symbolic resemblance from being mistaken for technical equivalence. The primary worked case is Panini's grammatical tradition, treated as a candidate source for rule-governed derivation, ordering, admissibility, and formal grammar primitives. Two shorter secondary cases, Pingala's prosodic-combinatorial tradition and Nyaya's epistemological theory of valid knowledge, illustrate how the same method may apply to sequence generation and evidence classification. This preprint does not claim that contemporary technical systems historically descended from these traditions. Its claim is narrower: selected Indic formal systems may contain reconstructable structures that can be described, compared, and tested as candidate protocol primitives when source evidence and modern mappings are kept explicitly separate.