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Professor Sunil Khilnani, from the King\'s India Institute in London, looks at the life and legacy of Panini, a master of the ancient Sanskrit language who lived around two and a half thousand years ago. His grammar, known as the Astadhyayi, had a lasting impact and helped to make Sanskrit the lingua franca of much of Asia for more than a thousand years - not through conquest or colonisation but because it served a purpose. Panini\'s grammar relied on a system that functioned like a powerful algorithm, or a computer programme today. He created, "in a mere forty-pages, the most complete linguistic system in history and helped to make Sanskrit the lingua franca of much of Asia for more than a thousand years".\\nProduced by Mark Savage\\nWith incidental music by composer Talvin Singh.\\nListeners can catch up with the series and see the list of remarkable Indians featured on the Radio 4 website.