Despite being a work on poetics and rhetoric, the historically important "Kavyavalokanam", in its first section called "Sabdasmriti", deals with grammar. By adding a section on grammar, Nagavarma II had emulated the style of the previous Sanskrit grammarians, Daṇḍin (author of "Kavyadarsha") and Bhamaha (author of "Kavyalankara"). The "Sabdasmriti" comprises five chapters ("prakarnas") which deal with euphonic combinations ("sandhis"), nouns, compounds, nominal derivatives and verbs respectively. The 422 verses in the text are written in "kanda" metre (chapter format), of which 96 are aphorisms ("sutras") (the 18th among which focusses on framing grammatical rules based on the spoken language), and the remaining verses are example quotations from the writings of earlier notable Kannada poets such as Adikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna.