What this
is.

This is a permanent, structured archive of Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya — processed page by page according to a rigorous analytical protocol. Each page of the source text is analysed, translated, and rendered in a layered digital form that separates and preserves the distinct voices of four textual layers: the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali, the Bhāṣyapradīpa of Kaiyaṭa, the Bhāṣyapradīpoddyoṭa of Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa, and the Chāyā.

How it is built

Each page of the source text is photographed and processed through a structured AI-assisted analysis that follows the Mahābhāṣya Research Archive Protocol. The protocol mandates page classification, context identification, textual layer separation, argument mapping, concept extraction, vocabulary documentation, cross-referencing, and the generation of a continuous Malayalam study translation.

The output of each analysis is stored as structured JSON and rendered by this website — making the archive searchable, navigable, and cumulative. Every concept, every cross-reference, every vocabulary entry accumulates across the full 1000+ page span of the text.

What the protocol preserves

The protocol maintains strict separation between textual layers. Kaiyaṭa's readings are never merged with Nāgeśa's. The Bhāṣya is never merged with its commentaries. Each layer is explained on its own terms, with its specific interpretive contribution made explicit. Where Nāgeśa disagrees with or refines Kaiyaṭa, this is recorded. Where the Chāyā provides structural clarification that the commentary proper does not, this too is preserved.

The archive is designed to remain useful not only to the present reader, but to future scholars and students of this tradition.

The four purposes this archive serves

Echoing Patañjali's own four-fold answer to the question of why grammar is studied — Veda-rakṣā (preservation), laghava (economy), asandeha (removal of doubt), āgama (tradition) — this archive serves: preservation of the study record; economy of future research effort; removal of doubt through structured argument maps; and continuity with the tradition through faithful translation and commentary.

How to add entries

Each processed page is added as a JSON object to data/pages.json. The JSON schema matches the protocol exactly. All fields from the protocol have corresponding JSON fields. Once pasted into the array, the entry immediately becomes searchable and navigable in the archive.