A (, , ''Commentator''), in Indian

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, is a person who wrote a critical commentary or a gloss on a given grammatical or philosophical work. Monier Williams Dictionary defines Vārttikakāra as a composer of vārttikas. A vārttika is defined as a single remark or a whole work attempting to present a detailed commentary. The word vārttik- derives from , either in the sense of 'the turning () of sūtra-formulation into a fully worded paraphrase' or, in the sense of 'procedure (of the teaching)'. According to the Indian tradition, the purpose of a vārttika is to enquire into what has been said (''ukta''), what has not been said (''anukta''), and what has not been said clearly (''durukta'').

Famous Vārttikakāras

Sureśvara Sureśvara (also known as Sureśvarācārya, was a 9th-century Indian philosopher, who studied under Śankara. Śankara is said to have entrusted to Sureśvara his first monastic institution, the Sringeri Sharada Peetham. Sureśvara is bel ...

is the commentator of the Advaita

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompa ...

school. His famous commentaries include the Bŗhadāraņyakopanişad-bhāşya-vārttika and the Taittirīya-vārttika. * Katyayana is identified as the Vārttikakāra of Indian linguistics,"On the identity of the Varttikakara", Paul Thieme, Indian culture 4 (1938), pp. 189-209 who wrote commentaries on 's .

References

Indian philosophy Vyakarana {{India-linguist-stub