Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c17.s1.2

v1.c17.s1.2

referred to by himself in his commentary on Māgha (on iv 21, vi 28) is the earliest known commentary on Rudraṭa and is still to be recovered. Vallabhadeva, who bore the surname of Paramāratha-cihna and who describes himself as the son of Rājānaka Ānandadeva¹, is a well-known commentator on several standard poetical works, including those of Kālidāsa, Māgha, Mayūra and Ratnākara. He was apparently a Kashmiri and probably belonged to the first half of the 10th century; for his grandson Kayyaṭa, son of Candrāditya, wrote a commentary on Ānandavardhana's *Devī-śataka*² in 977-78 A.D., during the reign of Bhīmagupta of Kashmir (977-82 A.D.). His preceptor was Prakāśavarṣa who, Hultzsch thinks, is perhaps identical with the poet Prakāśavarṣa, who is quoted by *Subhāṣitāvali* and *Śārṅgadhara-paddhati* and who wrote a commentary on Bhāravi (Aufrecht i 347). Our author must be distinguished from Vallabhadeva, the author of the *Subhāṣitāvali*, who is assigned by Aufrecht to the 16th century³. From Hultzsch's list of Vallabha's quotations in his commentary on Māgha, it is interesting to note that he cites Medhāvirudra, Bhāmaha, Udbhaṭa, Bhaṭṭi and the *Viṣamabāṇa-līlā* (apparently the Prakrit poem of Ānandavardhana).