Reflection on language in Indian philosophy, for the Brahminical, Veda-accepting traditions at least, begins and ends with the Sanskrit language, in what has been termed “the Sanskrit cosmopolis” (Pollock 2006). It is not merely that Sanskrit is the vehicle for reflection on language, but the Sanskrit language itself is a target of inquiry. Patañjali explains the reasons for this in his Great Commentary (Mahābhāṣya), a commentary on Kātyāyana’s 3rd century BCE commentary on Pāṇini’s Eight Chapters. These reasons are largely centered on the preservation and correct performance of Vedic rituals. Along with these pragmatic aims, there comes the belief in a special metaphysical and epistemic status for Sanskrit—it has natural (autpattika, intrinsic) connections to its referents, which other languages lack; thus, at least in the context of the Vedas, it can give us infallible knowledge about the world, without the corruption of fallible human intermediaries. This conception is not shared by all orthoprax thinkers, however, as Nyāya philosophers argue for the conventionality of language (NS 2.1.55).