diff --git a/parso/parser.py b/parso/parser.py
index 80ea7b2..6b906d2 100644
--- a/parso/parser.py
+++ b/parso/parser.py
@@ -44,10 +44,9 @@ class BaseParser(object):
         self._error_recovery = error_recovery
 
     def parse(self, tokens):
-        start_number = self._pgen_grammar.nonterminal2number[self._start_nonterminal]
         self.pgen_parser = PgenParser(
             self._pgen_grammar, self.convert_node, self.convert_leaf,
-            self.error_recovery, start_number
+            self.error_recovery, self._start_nonterminal
         )
 
         node = self.pgen_parser.parse(tokens)
diff --git a/parso/pgen2/grammar.py b/parso/pgen2/grammar.py
index 63a214b..b6e076e 100644
--- a/parso/pgen2/grammar.py
+++ b/parso/pgen2/grammar.py
@@ -211,7 +211,3 @@ class Grammar(object):
                                      (nonterminal, terminal, nonterminal_or_string, inverse[terminal]))
                 inverse[terminal] = nonterminal_or_string
         self._first_terminals[nonterminal] = totalset
-
-    @property
-    def start(self):
-        return self.nonterminal2number[self.start_nonterminal]
diff --git a/parso/pgen2/parse.py b/parso/pgen2/parse.py
index 952c43e..f3d8c88 100644
--- a/parso/pgen2/parse.py
+++ b/parso/pgen2/parse.py
@@ -114,7 +114,8 @@ class PgenParser(object):
 
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, grammar, convert_node, convert_leaf, error_recovery, start):
+    def __init__(self, grammar, convert_node, convert_leaf, error_recovery,
+                 start_nonterminal):
         """Constructor.
 
         The grammar argument is a grammar.Grammar instance; see the
@@ -144,7 +145,6 @@ class PgenParser(object):
         self.convert_node = convert_node
         self.convert_leaf = convert_leaf
 
-        start_nonterminal = grammar.number2nonterminal[start]
         self.stack = Stack([StackNode(grammar._nonterminal_to_dfas[start_nonterminal][0])])
         self.rootnode = None
         self.error_recovery = error_recovery