Description of the manuscripts

The editor describes the four manuscripts used: a copy of the Mysore Government Library palm-leaf manuscript, a palm-leaf manuscript in Kannada script from Shravanabelagola, a Mumbai copy apparently made from it, and an old, mostly correct paper manuscript from Raichur district whose colophon traces its copying from Bālacandra Bhaṭṭāraka (Śaka 1351) through later copies of Śaka 1476 and 1573. The text was corrected by collating them, with variants noted in places, and the Hitāhitādhyāya, found in two copies and too corrupt to correct, is printed as it stands.