Among these commentaries, we have one written by woman. It is the Balambhatta Tika or Lakshmi Vyakhyana, said to have been composed by a lady called. Lakshmi Devi, her family name being Payagunde Prof Aufrecht thinks that this is a composition of the 18^th century. It refers to the Viramitrodaya, Nirnayasindhu, Vaijayanti, and other works of the 17th century.

The, genuineness of the authorship is open to question, as it is quite unusual for a woman to come to such prominence in a society where women were considered unfit for the study of the Vedas or the Smritis, and were placed on a par with the lowest in society, viz., the Sudra. Nandapandita commentary on the Vishnu Smriti the Vaijayanti is of considerable importance. It was composed in 1622.

The commentaries of Madhavacharya on Parasara are also of some importance for their contribution to Indian Law. Madhavacharya was the Prime, Minister of King Bukka, of Vijayanagara in the Deccan. He lived in the-latter half of the 14th century. The Chaturvargachintamani of Hemadri is one of the oldest South Indian digests.

It was composed by the prime Minister of Mahadeva, king of Dowlatabad, and its period has been determined as belonging either to the end of tile 12^th century, or the beginning of the, 13^th. In the Bengal school, the Dayabhaga of Jimutavahana, the prayaschittaviveka and the Udvahatatva are the leading expositions on law.

 It is evident from the above that nearly all the ancient and authoritative commentaries, and digests were composed in the Deccan. We have already seen that in the creative period of the Smritis some of the most authoritative treatises were composed in South India.