Varttikabharana is an exposition of the Varttika, defined as an explanatory or supplementary rule explaining the meaning of a statement said or left unsaid or imperfectly said. Varttikabharana of Venkateshwara Dishita is a commentary on Kumarila Bhatta’s Tuptika. Tuptika is an exposition on Sabarasvamin’s Bhashya, which is a commentary on Purvamimamsasutra of Jaimini.
Venkatesvara Dikshita, the son of Nagambal and Govida Dikshita, was a minister in the court of Acyutappa Nayak and Raghunatha Nayak, kings of Thanjavur. He was also known as Venkatamakhin.
Besides his immense contribution to the field of music by way of codifying the melakarta scheme, his erudition in the field of music by way of codifying the melakarta scheme, his erudition in the field of mimasa is well reflected in the Varttika Bharana.
Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini deals with the principles of interpretation of rituals in Vedic texts, is divided into twelve sections, each one dealing with a particular topic, and hence the work is known as Dvadasalakshani. Kumarila Bhatta’s Tuptika is in three parts and contains in this third section brief notes on Chapter IV to XII of Sabarasvamin’s Bhashya, which are philosophical in nature. Since Kumarila’s exposition was known also a Varttika, Venkatesvara has named his work Varttikabharana.
Another text of the same name is Abhinavanarayanendra Saraswati’s Varttikabharana, an exposition on Suresvara’s Varttika on Panchikarana of Adi Shankaracharya.