Bhattoji Dikshita was a 17th century Maharashtrian Sanskrit grammarian, author of the Siddhānta-Kaumudī, literally "Illumination of the established (position)".
He was active in a revival of the grammatical methods of Pāṇini, in his work arranging Pāṇini's sutras with a commentary for teaching purposes. It has been described as "an encyclopedia of the opinions and views of the great Sanskrit grammarians of antiquity" (Suryakant Bali).
The work was edited in three abridged versions by his student Varadarāja.
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Siddhānta Kaumudī is a celebrated Sanskrit commentary by Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita (early 17th century) on the Aṣṭādhyāyī and is believed to be more popular than Pāṇini’s work. It re-arranges the sūtras of Pāṇini under appropriate heads and offers exposition that is orderly and easy to follow.
The sutras are arranged in two parts – the first part deals with the rules of interpretation, sandhis, declensions, formation of feminines, case endings, compounds, secondary derivations and the second part with conjugation, primary suffixes, Vedic grammar and accents.
Bālamanoramā of Vāsudeva Dīkṣita's is one of the most celebrated commentary on Siddhanta Kaumudi. He goes into great detail explaining derivations and is thereby most useful to beginners (bāla, lit. "child").
Prauḍhamanoramā is an an auto-commentary on Siddhānta Kaumudī by Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita. Both the Siddhānta Kaumudī and Prauḍhamanoramā are commented on by many others also.
Tattva Bodhinī by Jñānendra Sarasvatī is a terser, more scholarly and demanding commentary, essentially a distillation of the Prauḍhamanoramā.
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