Shakalya

Shakalya (IAST: Śākalya) was an ancient Indian grammarian and scholar of the Late Vedic period (c. 700 BCE). Shakalya was a disciple of Satyasri and belonged to the school of Paila. He was a contemporary and rival of Yajnavalkya.

He is supposed to have revised the Vedic texts and written their Pada-pāṭha. He is often quoted by Pāṇini and the writers of the Prātiśākhya, treatises on phonetics. His Padapāṭha of the Rigveda was one of the early attempts in the direction of linguistic analysis; he broke down the samhita text of the Rig Veda into words, identifying even the separate elements of compound words. Indologist Frits Staal has therefore described him as "the first great linguist in human history".

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

According to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, he was defeated in a debate with Yajnavalkya at the court of king Janaka of Videha, and his head shattered apart as a result. Regardless of the unverifiable legendary aspects of this incident, the story may reflect the historical rivalry of the two scholars and their respective Vedic schools.