Dandin

Daṇḍin (7th–8th century) was an Indian Sanskrit grammarian and author of prose romances. He is one of the best-known writers in Asian history.

His writings were all in Sanskrit. Daṇḍin's account of his life in Avantisundarī states that he was a great-grandson of Dāmodara, a court poet from Vidarbha who served, among others, the Pallava king Siṃhaviṩṇu and King Durvinīta of the Western Ganga dynasty.

Daṇḍin's works are not well preserved. He composed the now incomplete Daśakumāracarita, and the even less complete Avantisundarī (The Story of the Beautiful Lady from Avanti), in prose. He is best known for composing the Kāvyādarśa ('Mirror of Poetry'), the handbook of classical Sanskrit poetics, or Kāvya, which appears to be intact. Debate continues over whether these were composed by a single person, but 'there is now a wide consensus that a single Daṇḍin in authored all these works at the Pallava court in Kāñcī around the end of the seventh century'.