[4][5] Laghu-mānasa, also called Laghumanāsam,[6] is a karana text, that is, a work containing short and simple rules for astronomical calculations aimed to help the panchanga-makers.
According to commentator Surya-deva Yajva, Mañjula wrote the additional verses in the arya metre so as not to mix up the constants with the main text, and to remind the reader to revise the consonants every 100 years.
He includes an additional verse (53' in Shukla's critical edition), but states that some people omit it.
[16] Laghu-mānasa was popular across a vast area of present-day India, as evident from the commentaries written on it.
Commentators on the work include Prashastidhara of Kashmir, Surya-deva Yajva of Gangai-konda-Cholapuram (Tamil Nadu); Yallaya of Skanda-someshvara (Andhra Pradesh); Parameshvara of Alattur (Kerala), Bhudhara of Kampilya (Uttar Pradesh), and an anonymous commentator of Karnata-desha (Karnataka).
Writers from several other places adopted or referred to Mañjula's work; for example, Bhoja of Malwa (Madhya Pradesh), Dashabala of Gujarat, Bhaskara II of Bida (Maharashtra), and Shri-datta of Nepala.