A workshop on Bhartṛhari’s Vākyapadīya, one of the fundamental treatises of
traditional Sanskrit grammar, is taking place in the Pondicherry Centre from
the 25th July to the beginning of September, led by S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma, Hugo
David and Vincenzo Vergiani (University of Cambridge). Daniele Cuneo (Leiden
University), Stefania Cavaliere (University of Naples, “L’Orientale”), as well
as several students visiting the Centre during the Summer, joined them for
daily readings of the section of the work dealing with the “factors of action”
(sādhana) underlying, according to Pāṇini’s grammar, the use of case endings in
Sanskrit. The workshop was the occasion for a renewed reflection on key-notions
such as the “agent” (kartṛ) or the “instigator” (hetu) of a given
action, and on the specific philosophical problems linked to these notions.