Headedness in Sanskrit Adverbial Compounds

The aim of this paper is to examine the earliest descriptions in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition of adverbial compounds (avyayībhāva) in terms of headedness. It analyzes the section of avyayībhāva compounds in Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī with references to Patañjali’s commentary Mahābhāṣya so as to demonstrate that both grammarians adopt different, yet complementary, approaches to compounding. It is shown that the notion of headedness, as used in Western linguistics, was not the basis for Pāṇini’s analysis of compounds in general, including adverbial structures where he employed the concept of upasarjana which is crucial for the process of compounding. The article also aims to juxtapose the traditional Sanskrit interpretation with modern Western theories of headedness.