Panini, the most celebrated of the Sanscrit gram- marians, is said to have been the grandson of the in- spired legislator Devala, and lived at so remote an age that he is reckoned among the fabulous sages men- tioned in the Puranas (see Colebrooke, Asiat. Res. vii, 202). With regard to his death we have the following tradition in the Hitopadega: "It is related that the valuable life of Panini was destroyed bj' a lion." The Indians consider him as their most ancient grammarian, but his great work is confessedly derived from earlier treatises on the same subject : lie often quotes his pred- ecessors Sacalya, Giirgya, and others; and it appears from a passage in the Bhagavad-Gita (unless the fol- lowing line is an interpolation of a later age) that the nomenclature of grammar existed when the great epic poem, the Maha- Bhurata, was composed. Panini's grammar consists of 3996 short aphorisms, or sutras, divided into eight books, in which the rules of gram- mar are delivered with such oracular brevity and ob-
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scurity that they need a commentary to render them intelligible even to the learneii Indians. Besides the Cdrica of Bhartrihari, a brother of king Vieramaditya, there were the following treatises, written expresslj' to illustrate it: 1. the JJhattikdvi/d, which was nominally a poem describing the adventures of Ituma, but really a collection of all the defective and anomalous forms of ■words in the language (published at Calcutta, 1826) ; 2. the Maha-Bhdshya, or " great commentary," by Patan- jali. A new edition of Pilnini has been published with the following title : Pdnini's acht Biicher grammatiscker Regelii (Sanscrit, with Commentary by Dr. Otto Bciht- lingk [Bonn, 1839], 2 vols. 8vo). The first volume con- tains the Sanscrit text of P.\nini's Sutras with the native scholia; the second volume contains an intro- duction, a German commentary, and indexes. — English Cyclop, s. V.
Panionia, the great national festival of the lonians, in honor of Poseidon (Neptune), the god whom they specially revered. On this occasion a bull was sacri- ficed, and if the animal roared during the process of killing it was regarded as pleasing to the deit}'. The sacrifices were performed by a j'oung man of Priene, who was chosen for the purpose with the title of king. The festival was held on Mount Mycale, where stood the Panionium, or temple of Poseidon Heliconius.
Panis Benedictus (blessed bread), a portion of bread in the ancient African Church, which, being seasoned with salt, was given with milk and honey at baptism. See Honey; Milk. The expression in the patristic writings first occurs in Augustine's work on Baptism. It has given rise to a perplexing contro- versy respecting the sacrament of the catechumens (q. v.). Bonar, Basnage, and Bingham contend that the panis benedictus of Augustine was not the sacramental bread at all, but bread seasoned with salt; and that the baptism so administered was regarded by the early Christians as the emblem of purity and incorruption. The blessed bread of the Greek Church is the Antido- ron (q. v.).
Panis Conjuratio {exorcism of the h-ead) w-as the technical term which designated the ordeal of consecrat- ed bread or cheese practiced in the Middle Ages. It was administered by presenting to the accused a piece of bread (generally of barley) or of cheese, about an ounce in weight, over which adjurations had been pro- nounced. After appropriate religious ceremonies, in- cluding the communion, the morsel was eaten, the event being determined by the ability of the accused to swal- low it. This depended of course on the imagination, and we can readily understand how, in those times of faith, the oppressive observances which accompanied the ordeal would affect the criminal who, conscious of guilt, stood up at the altar, took the sacrament, and pledged his salvation on the truth of his oath. The mode by which a conviction was expected may be gathered from the forms of the exorcism employed, of which a number have been preserved :
" O Lord Jesus Christ, . . . grant, we pray thee, by thy holy name, that he who is guilty of this crime iu thought or in deed, when this creature of sanctified bread is pre- sented to him for the proving of the truth, let his throat be narrowed, and in thy name let it be rejected rather than devoured. And let not the spirit of the devil pre- vail in this to subvert the judgment by false appearances. But he who is guilty of this crime, let him, chiefly by vir- tue of the body and blood of our Lord which he has re- ceived in communion, when he takes the consecrated bread or cheese tremble, and grow pale in trembling, and shake in all his limbs; and let the innocent qnietly and healthfully, with all ease, chew and swallow this morsel of bread or cheese, crossed in thy holy name, that all may know that thou art the just Judge," etc.
Even more whimsical in its devout impiety is the fol- lowing :
"O God most High, who dwellest in the heaven, who through thy Trinity and majesty hast thy just angels, send, O Lord, thy angel Gabriel to stick in the throat of those who have coriimitted this Ihcft, that they may
neither chew nor swallow this bread and cheese created by thee. I invoke the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with twelve thousand angels and archangels; I invoke the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John : I invoke Moses and Aaron, who divided the sea, that they may bind to their throats the tongues of mc'i who have conmiitted this theft, or consented thereto. If they taste this bread and cheese created by thee, may they tremble like a trembling tree, and have no rest, nor keep the bread and cheese in their mouths, that all may know thou art the Lord, and there is none other beside thee."