<Tr> <Th> Main interests </Th> <Td> Grammar, Linguistics </Td> </Tr> <P> Panini (IAST Pāṇini, fl . 4th century BCE) is the name of an ancient Sanskrit philologist, grammarian, and a revered scholar in Hinduism . Considered the father of Indian linguistics, Pāṇini likely lived in the northwest Indian subcontinent during the early Mahajanapada era . </P> <P> Pāṇini is known for his text Ashtadhyayi, a sutra - style treatise on Sanskrit grammar, 3,959 "verses" or rules on linguistics, syntax and semantics in "eight chapters" which is the foundational text of the Vyākaraṇa branch of the Vedanga, the auxiliary scholarly disciplines of the Vedic period . His aphoristic text attracted numerous bhashya (commentaries), of which Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya is the most famous in Hindu traditions . His ideas influenced and attracted commentaries from scholars of other Indian religions such as Buddhism . </P> <P> Pāṇini's analysis of noun compounds still forms the basis of modern linguistic theories of compounding in Indian languages . Pāṇini's comprehensive and scientific theory of grammar is conventionally taken to mark the start of Classical Sanskrit . His systematic treatise inspired and made Sanskrit the preeminent Indian language of learning and literature for two millennia . </P>

Who wrote a famous treatise on sanskrit grammer