Varadarāja was a 17th-century Hindu
Sanskrit grammarian
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. He compiled an abridgement of the work of his master, the ''
Siddhānta Kaumudī'' of
Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita, in three versions, referred to as ''madhya'' "middle", ''laghu'' "short" and ''sāra'' "substance, quintessence" versions of the ''
Siddhāntakaumudī'', the latter reducing the number of rules to 723 (out of the full 3,959 of Pāṇini). These are comparatively accessible introductions to the very technical grammar of
Pāṇini
(; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE.
The historical facts of his life ar ...
himself, and the 1849 translation by Ballantyne was important to the understanding of native Indian grammatical tradition in Western scholarship (Pāṇini's grammar was first translated by
Otto von Böhtlingk in 1887).
References
Bibliography
*Maṅgala Dharmakīrtti Śrī Anavamadarśī, ''Laghu Siddhānta Kaumudi (included in Pāṇini Grammar): Sanskrit by Pandit Varadaraja with Tatwadipika. A Sinhalese Commentary'', Colombo: M.J. Rodrigo Vidane Mohandiram (1926)
*Jñānavimala Tiṣya, ''Pāṇini Sanskrit Grammar: Maddhya Siddhanta Kaumudi'', Panadure: M.H. Salgado 1928.
*G. V. Devasthali, ''Sārasiddhāntakaumudī of Varadarāja'', University of Poona (1968), review:
Rosane Rocher, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1970)
*
James R. Ballantyne, ''Laghukaumudi of Varadaraja'' (1849–52); 2001 reprint:
*Miroj Shakya, University of the West, Nagarjuna Institute of Buddhist Studies, http://www.dsbcproject.org/canon-text/content/881/3011
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Sanskrit grammarians
17th-century Indian linguists
Indian Sanskrit scholars