Bhatti is the author of Ravanavadhakavya, an epic based on the Ramayana. From his statement towards the end of the poem, it is clear that he wrote the work in Valabhi, which is a part of Saurashtra (Gujarat).
The name ‘Bhatt’ itself is said to be a Prakrit form of ‘Bhartr’.
His dates are uncertain. He is identified with Bhartrhari, a grammarian and
author of Vakyapadiya, because of his deep knowledge of grammar but there is
uncertainty about the dates. Their names also sound similar. Bhatti is said to
have been a minister under king Vikramarka.
Ravanavadhakavya, also known as Bhattikavya, contains 22
cantos. The poet displays his knowledge of the intricacies of Sanskrit grammar
and felicity in handling the figures of speech in the course of the narrative.
So terse is the style that Bhatti himself proudly declares (XXII.34) that it
can be understood only with the help of a commentary and that he has deliberately
made it so as it is intended for scholars.
Bhamaha’s statement in his Kavyalankara (II.20) that average
persons are at loss to understand poems which can be understood only with the
help of commentaries is considered as hinting at Bhatti’s claim.
The tenth canto of Bhattikavya is devoted to figures of
speech with illustrations. Besides the figures of speech pertaining to sound
such as anuprasha (alliteration) and yamaka (chime), of which nearly twenty
varieties are illustrated, as many as 38 figures of speech of the sense, such a
simile and metaphor, are illustrated. The scholastic approach of Bhatti has
rendered the epic poem a treatise (shastrakavya) rather than a mahakavya (an
epic), concentrating more on grammar than on poetry.