Bhattakalanka Deva

Bhattakalanka Deva (or Bhattakalanka) was the third and the last of the notable Kannada grammarians from the medieval period. In 1604 CE, he authored a comprahensive text on old-Kannada grammar called "Karnataka Sabdanusasana" in 592 Sanskrit "sutras" (a literary form written for concision) with glossary ("vritti") and commentary ("vyakhya"). The work contains useful references to prior poets and writers of Kannada literature and is considered a valuable asset to the student of old-Kannada language.Sastri (1955), pp. 355–356] A native of South Canara and a student of the Haduvalli monastery, the Jain grammarian was learned in six languages including Kannada, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Magadhi.Rice E.P. (1921), p. 83]

Karnataka Sabdanusasana

It is believed that Bhattakalanka Deva may have undertaken the work of writing exhaustively on old-Kannada grammar as there may have existed some contempt from Sanskrit scholars of the day towards Kannada language despite its rich literary tradition.Sahitya Akademi (1987), p. 476] His writing is the third authoritative grammar on old-Kannada, the first of which was authored by Nagavarma II in the mid-12th centurySastri (1955), p. 358] and the second by Keshiraja in the mid-13th century.Sastri (1955), p. 359] The grammar containing 592 "sutras" is subdivided into 4 chapters ("padas") and each "sutra" has a glossary and a lengthy commentary. The authorship of entire work has been settled with the full credit going to Bhattakalanka Deva.

The "Karnataka Sabdanusasana" is modelled mostly on the earlier Sanskrit grammars written by Panini, Sakatayana, Saravarma, Pujyapada and others, though some "sutras" have been borrowed from earlier Kannada grammatical works; one or two "sutras" from the "Karnataka Bhashabhushana" by Nagavarma II and about fifteen from "Shabdamanidarpana" by Kesiraja. The first chapter (up to 101 "sutras") consists of euphonic combinations, technical words, signs of nouns and verbs, numbers and indeclinables. The second chapter (101–299 "sutras") consists of gender classification of indigenous Kannada nouns and those inherited from Sanskrit ("tadbhava"–naturalised and "samasamaskrita"–non-naturalised). The third chapter (291–441 "sutras") consists of compound words and the fourth chapter (442–592 "sutras") focusses on verbal roots and verbal nouns.

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References

*cite book |last= Various|first= |title= Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 1|origyear=1987|year=1987|publisher= Sahitya Akademi|location= |isbn=8126018038
*cite book |last= Rice|first= E.P.|title= Kannada Literature|origyear=1921|year=1982|publisher= Asian Educational Services|location= New Delhi|isbn= 8120600630
*cite book |last= Sastri|first= K.A. Nilakanta|title= A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar|origyear=1955|year=2002|publisher= Indian Branch, Oxford University Press|location= New Delhi|isbn= 0-19-560686-8