A Grammar of the Kannada Language

The Present Grammar is chiefly based on Kesava’s Sabdamanidarpana. The terminology of this his Grammar is simple, and fit for the three dialects of Kannada. At the same time it will be interesting to learn the general way of an ancient native scholar’s teaching Kannada grammar. In Kesava’s age most of the rules of Kannada grammar were fixed. That before him there had been grammarians who had not deserved that name, seems to follow from his quoting a part of a Kanda verse that is fully quoted in the Sabdanusasana (under its sutra 469), from which we translate it as follows – ‘Remain, O daughter! Could the unprofitable grammarian (sushkavaiyakarana), the unprofitable sophist and the rustic have as (their) subject matter the gem of poetical composition which is the subject matter of the assemblage of very elever poets?’