[5] The text of Sabdamanidarpanam starts with an invocation of the great Kannada poets of earlier generations who are considered as authorities by Kesiraja, as cited by him.
The expert way (sumārgam) of Gajaga, Gunanandi, Manasija, Asaga, Candrabhatta, Gunavarma, Srivijaya, Honna (Ponna), Hampa (Pampa), Sujanōttamsa – these provide the illustrative instances (lakshya) in this work.
In Shabdamanidarpanam, about twenty poets and thirty works are cited, and almost every rule is explained with quotations.
This work points out the Kannada language development in the preceding three centuries.In the very beginning of the Shabdamanidarpanam, in the preface section, Kesiraja explains the significance of Grammar in the context of a language and its learning: Through grammar (correct) words originate; through the words of that grammar, meaning (originates); through meaning the beholding of truth; through the beholding of truth, the desired final beatitude; this (final beatitude) is the fruit for the learned.In one of the aphorisms (sūtra) of Shabdamanidarpanam, Kesiraja gives a list of forms ending in /-tu/ and /-du/ labelling them as guNavaachi (ಗುಣವಾಚಿ), the adjectives.
[8] By the wish of the individual soul, by means of suitable (vital) air, at the root of the navel, like a trumpet, the substance of sound (sabda- dravya) originates which is white (sveta, dhavala); its result is (articulate, aksharatmaka) sound (sabda); and: 'The body is the musical instrument, the tongue is the plectrum, the individual soul is the performer; on account of the operation of his mind (articulate) sound (sabda) originates which is of a white colour (dhavalavarna) and has the form of letters (aksharariipa).Inarticulate (anaksharatmaka) sounds, as thunder from the clouds or the roar of the sea, have no representations in grammatical alphabets.