Ever since the earliest Pali grammatical work, the Kaccayana (= Kacc), written in the seventh century, all verbal endings (vibhatti), including imperative ending (pancamivibhatti), optative ending (sattamivibhatti) and conditional ending (kalatipattivibhatti), have been interpreted as marks that represent specific kinds of kala commonly understood as 'time'. With this rough classification, it is highly likely that the Kacc does not make clear distinction between the two grammatical categories of 'tence' and 'mood.' Commentaries on the Kacc, such as the Mukhamattadipani (= Mmd) (11 CE) and the Rupasiddhi (11-12 CE), discuss the interpretation of kalas in the Kacc in a more detailed manner. The Mmd, for example, displays a strained interpretation to equate kala with kara i.e. kriya 'action' with the aim of showing both the imperative and the optative endings denoting the present time (paccuppannakala). In this understanding, the imperative ending, for example, denotes both the present time (paccuppannakala) and the imperative action (anattikala). The Mmd switches between two aspects of the meaning of kala as both 'time' and 'action' depending on the context. The Saddaniti (= Sadd), one of the most elaborate grammatical works written in Pali composed by Aggavamsa in the twelfth century, attempts to summarize previous whole discussions about kalas and reinterpret the Kacc on the basis of the analysis of accounts cited from canonical Pali texts. This paper, by means of exploring the way of discussion of Sadd regarding some classifications of kalas, will clarify the distinguishing characteristic of this text as being a summary of the whole history of Pali grammar.
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