Nagavarma II (mid-11th or mid-12th century) was a Kannada language scholar and grammarian in the court of the Western Chalukya Empire that ruled from Basavakalyan, in modern Karnataka state, India. He was the earliest among the three most notable and authoritative grammarians of Old-Kannada language (Keshiraja of c. 1260 and Bhattakalanka Deva of c. 1604 being the other two).[1] Nagavarma II's reputation stems from his notable contributions to various genres of Kannada literature including prosody, rhetoric, poetics, grammar and vocabulary.[2] According to the scholar R. Narasimhacharya, Nagavarma II is unique in all of ancient Kannada literature, in this aspect. His writings are available and are considered standard authorities for the study of Kannada language and its growth.[2][3]
Nagavarma II was honored with the title "poet laureate" (Katakacharya) and "military teacher" (Katakopadhyaya) by Chalukya King Jagadhekamalla.[4][5][6] His most famous works are Kavyavalokana ("Treatise on the art of poetry) on grammar, rhetoric and poetics; Karnataka-Bhashabhushana ("Ornament of the Karnataka language"), on grammar; Vastukosa (or Abhidanavastukosa, lit, "Treasury of significations"), a lexicon; and Varadhamanapurana, a Jain purana ("epic").[4][5][6][7] Nagavarma II's grammatical model is based on the Katantra school of Sanskrit grammar and the author styles himself Abhinava Sarvavarma ("Modern Sarvavarma"), Sarvavarma being a noted Sanskrit grammarian to a Satavahana king.[7][8]
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