Sanskrit Manuscripts : Kātantralaghuvṛtti

Chucchukabhaṭṭa, Śarvavarman, Chucchukabhaṭṭa, Chichūbhaṭṭa

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> One of two partial copies of the <i>Kātantralaghuvṛtti</i> of Chucchukabhaṭṭa, found in the same bundle (for the other one, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-02474-A-00001/1'>Add. 2474A.1</a>). This is a short and simple (<i>laghu</i>) commentary (<i>vṛtti</i>) on the <i>Kātantravyākaraṇa</i> attributed to Śarvavarman, the seminal text of one of the oldest non-Pāṇinian systems of Sanskrit grammar, which enjoyed wide popularity in India and Central Asia from the early centuries of the Common Era. In particular, the Kātantra tradition flourished in Bengal and in Kashmir, from where this manuscript originates. The <i>Laghuvṛtti</i>, which is unpublished, seems to have been one of the most popular textbooks of Sanskrit grammar in the traditional schools (<i>pāṭhaśālā</i>s) of Kashmir. Nothing is know about its author and date. This manuscript contains the commentary on <i>sūtra</i>s 1.5.14 - 2.6.7 of the <i>Kātantra</i>, namely the final sections of the first chapter, the <i>Sandhiprakaraṇa</i>, which deals with phonology, including <i>pāda</i> 1.6, an interpolated section that is not found in the editions of Eggeling and Dwivedi, and almost the whole second chapter, the <i>Nāmaprakaraṇa</i>, on nouns, including the section on compounds (<i>samāsa</i>) and the beginning of the section on secondary derivatives (<i>taddhita</i>), both of which are regarded as later additions by modern scholarship. </p>