Every word in Sanskrit begins as a root. The Dhātupāṭha is the list of those roots — the raw material of the language, arranged not alphabetically but by class, each root with its meaning attached: aj for going, bhṛj for roasting, śuc for sorrow. This manuscript preserves that list.
Roots with their meanings
The text works through the roots in series, each one defined by the action it names.
In purification, aj (is used) for going and throwing; tarj for threatening; bhṛj for roasting; ejṛ for trembling; bhrājṛ for shining; ij for going and censuring; vañcu for going. These are udātta (roots) with anudātta penultimate, ātmanepada (in conjugation). Śuc for sorrow. Kuc for crookedness. Kuñc for crookedness and becoming small. Mruc, mluc, sruc, gluc, gluñcu for going and concealing. Jaj, jaji for play, and also for battle.
The roots are grouped by their phonetic class and marked for their accent and conjugation — the information a speaker needs to build any form from them.
The engine behind the grammar
The Dhātupāṭha and the Aṣṭādhyāyī work as one machine: the Aṣṭādhyāyī supplies the rules, the Dhātupāṭha supplies the roots. Without the list, the rules have nothing to operate on; without the rules, the roots generate nothing.
A language's DNA
There is something almost biological about the Dhātupāṭha: a finite list of roots, combined by a finite set of rules, generating an infinite language. This manuscript, a working copy of the list, is a reminder that the genius of Pāṇinian grammar was not just its rules — it was also its inventory, the patient cataloguing of every root the language was built from.