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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
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51
ON THE APĄBHRANSA
CHAPTER OF THE SABDAMANIDARPANA
Next to Tamil, Kannada is a very important member of the Dravidian family of languages from the point of view of antiquity, varicty and range of its literature. There are found four traditional grammatical works written for this language.
NĀgavarman's Kavyavalokana (1144 A.D.) : Composed in Kannada; the first of its five parts is duly devoted to Kannada grammar and is called the Sabdasmrti. The remaining four parts treat of
rhetorics. (ii) Nāgavarman’s Karnataka-Bhāṣābhūşana (1145 A.D.)
: It is an independent grammatical treatise by the same author, but written in Sanskrit. Kesirāja's Śabdamanidarpana (1260. A.D.) : It is a thorough Kannada grammar written in the same
language. (iv) Bhattakalanka's Karnataka-Śabdanusāsana (1604
A.D.) : It is also a thorough grammatical work on
Kannada language, but written in Sanskrit. All these three grammarians wrote their books under the
(iii)
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