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Panini's Astadhyavi contains refences to not only the uses of materials, such as minerals and metals in ancient India, but also to the mode and rationality of the said uses. Besides the unit operations, several thought processes or technical concepts were illustrated. Panini elaveted his work on grammar to the level of a science of languages, explaining in great detail the verbal and other kinds of roots of a large number of Sanskritic words. He never lost objectivity and admitted that some words were coined accidentally and did not have any clear root. The surprising thing is that he could discover the dhatu (root or constituent) of such a large number of words. Padartha originally meant the meaning (artha) of a word (pade and very soon came to denote a thing, material or object whose name conveys a district meaning or a material which is well-defined (Pan. 1.4.96). Thus Panini brought us from the linguistic to the material science. During Panini's time, dhatu meant the constituent, and later it denoted metallic constituent or a metal. Sattva meant reality, substance or the essence of an object (Pan. 1.4.57, 2.3.33).

IV-16 The Rasa-Sastras of the Post-Christian era adopted the word sattva to mean the metallic essence in the ore mineral(s). Panini's outstanding deliberation on words denoting concepts, shines brilliantly in several instances e.g. pramana, upajna and upakrama. Pramana originally meant (and still means) a standard or scale for measurement and therefore an 'authority" (Pan. 3.4.51; 4.1.24; 5.2.37; 6.2.4 & 12). Gradually the idea of 'proof' originate from the notion of authenticating an object or an idea through its reference to a previously accepted yardstick or an axdom (orama means basis or foundation) Thus pramana came to mean scientific or logical proof. Notwithstanding the dogmatic belief of some traditional scholars in the infallibility' of the Vedas which are supposed to be the 'repositories of all knowledge', the non-traditional scholars of the ancient India adored upaina and upakrama. Panini honoured this tradition of searching for truth by explaining that upajni meant discovery or invention by one's self, a new knowledge not handed down by tradition. This newly acquired knowledge in its turn g gives rise to a new enterprise or application, that is upakrama (Pan. 2.4.21 4.3.115 and 6.2.14). Even the modern science and technology rest upon the conceptual trinity of pramana, upaina and upakrama.