This volume presents several detailed studies of the commentary traditions of South India with a particular emphasis on Tamil, but extended to Sanskrit and Telugu as well. The importance of commentaries for our understanding of classical Indian languages and their literatures has long been acknowledged, but rarely have the commentaries themselves, especially minor ones, been the subject of systematic study. Contributors to this volume begin to remedy this desideratum in several ways. Some describe the specific methods employed by particular commentators and offer translations of passages, many of which have never before been rendered into English. Others examine what impact ancient commentators have had on the development of modern philological and lexicographical tools. More broadly, the role of the commentary in textual exegesis is taken up by several authors, and, in one case, this has led to an extension of the very notion of a commentary to include translation. This volume will serve as an important reference point for further research into commentarial traditions both in India and around the world.

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