Purushottam Bhattacharya

Purushottam Bhattacharya (c 12th century) sanskrit scholar, grammarian and lexicographer. His principal work is Bhasavrtti, a commentary on Panini's Astadhyayi, written at the request of laksmanasena. It is assumed that Purushottam was a Buddhist from the description of Gautam Buddha that he gives in the introductory verses of Bhasavrtti and on the basis of some of the examples that he draws from Buddhist philosophy.

Bhasavrtti had considerable influence on the people of northern Bengal for some time. Other works by Purushottam include Haravali, a dictionary, the grammar books Ganavrtti and Paribhasavrtti, an anthology of poems titled Subhasita Muktavali, and Visvubhaktikalpalata, a book of hymns.

In order to compile Haravali, Purushottam travelled extensively for twelve years. He also compiled a number of other dictionaries: Varnadeshana, Ekaksarakosa and Dvirupakosa. [Manjula Chowdhury]