﻿212 ox THE SAXSCRIT 



While so many commentaries have been written 

 on the Sidd'hanta Caumudt, the Fracrtya Caumudt 

 has not been neglected. The scholin.sts of this too 

 are numerous. Tiie most known is Crishn'a Pan- 

 D ita; and his work has been abridged by his pupil 

 Jayanta, who has given the title &i Tatwa chandra 

 to a very excellent compendium *. On the other 

 hand, Cri'siina Pand'ita has had the fate com- 

 mon to all noted grammarians ; since his work ha» 

 employed a host of commentators, mIio have largely 

 commented on it. 



The Catimudis, independently even of their nu- 

 merous commentaries, have been found too vast and 

 intricate for young students. Abridgments of the 

 Sidd'hdnta Caumudi have been tlierefore attempted 

 by several authors with unequal degrees of success. 

 Of three such abridgments, one only seems to de- 

 serve present notice. It is the Madliya Caumudi, 

 and is accompanied by a similar compendium of an- 

 notations, entitled Madliya Menoramd. The name 

 indicates, that it holds a middle place between the 

 diffuse original, and tlic jejune abstracts called 

 Laghu Caumudi, &c. It contains such of Pa'- 

 Nixi's rules as are most universal, and adds to each 

 a short but perspicuous exposition. It omits only 

 the least common exceptions and limitations. 



When Sanscrit was the language of Indian courts, 

 and was cultivated not only by persons who devoted 

 themselves to religion and literature, but also by 

 princes, lawyers, soldiers, physicians, and scribes; 

 m short, by the first three tribes, and by many 

 classes included in the fourth ; an easy and popular 

 grammar must have been needed by persons who 

 could not waste the best years of their lives in the 

 study of words. Such grammars must always have 

 been in use; those, however, which are now stu- 

 died 



• Finished by him, as appears from a postscript to the book, in 

 the year 1667 of the Samvat era. Though he studied at Benares, he 

 appeiirs to have been bom on the banks of the Tapau, a rivei marked 

 Tapitec'm Kennel's map. 



