iv | BHATIKAVYA eighth century. But the lower limit of his date cannot be fixed with any certainty. He preceded Vamana and Udbhata, that much is certain. If he were a contemporary of Bhamaha, he cannot be placed after the 7th century Jinendrabuddhi, the author of Kaikaiyaraapajika, refers to a Bhatti as an exponent of Panini's sutras. No commentary on these sutras by Bhatti has been found so far. Probably Jinendra refers to the exposition in the Bhattikavya itself. In that case, Bhatti must be put before Jinendra, i.e. before 700 A.D. Srikacandra has shown that Bhattikaya was known to Jayaditya who passed away in 661 A.D. DrDe regards Bhatti as a contemporary of Bharthari with whom he was wrongly identified. He is even regarded by some as Bharthari's step-brother. V.S. Apte's Dictionary puts Bharthari's step-brother Vikramaditya in 545 A.D. Under the circumstances, Bhatti too must have written his poem during the 6th century A.D. Dharasena II gave a grant in A.D. 571, and he assumed the title of Maharaja A.D. 588-89. So Bhatti's date can be fixed before A.D. 588, since he refers to Dharasena only as Narendra. Bhattis life We know but little of Bhatti's life. He was the son of Svamin, a Brahmin, and was a versatile genius who had learnt Arthasastra, Vyakarana, Alankarasastra and Chandassastra, at least. He planned the Bhattikaya as an epic biography of Rama, illustrating many of the siras of Panini and completed it within a year. Sesaraja Sarma, in his Introduction to the Bhattikavya, has narrated the following story as the reason : A king asked a Pandit if he could teach grammar to his son in one year. He accepted the task and adopted this double device for completing the job. S. Rays story is quite different. He has identified Bhartrhari with Bhatti and given the anecdote as under : One day an elephant passed between Bharthari and his pupils whom 1. History of Sanskrit Poetics, I, p. 50 2.Ed. Chaukha ka S. S. Cffce, Varanasi, 1975, Introduction, p, vi
