'' There is a large corpus of classical Sanskrit poetry from India in a variety of genres and forms. According to
Siegfried Lienhard in India, the term
Kāvya refers to individual poems, as well as "poetry itself, i.e., all those works that conform to artistic and literary norms." Indian poetry includes epic and lyrical elements. It may be entirely in prose (gadya), entirely in verse (padya) or in a mixed form (misra). Kāvya works are full of
alliteration,
similes,
metaphors and other figures of speech. Indians divided poetry into two main categories: poetry that can be seen (drsya, preksya, i.e. drama/theater) and poetry that can only be listened to (sravya). Metrical Indian poetry can also be divided into two other categories: Kāvya was employed by court poets in a movement that flourished between c. 200 BCE and 1100 CE. While the
Gupta era is considered by many to have seen the highest point of Indian Kāvya, many poems were composed before this period as well as after. Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced the literature of
Burma,
Thailand,
Cambodia and the
Malay Archipelago. The study of Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced
Tibetan literature, and was promoted by
Tibetan Buddhist scholars like
Sakya Pandita. Kāvya was often recited in public gatherings, court receptions and in societies which gathered specifically for the study and enjoyment of poetry. Kavis (Kāvya poets) also competed with each other for rewards and for the support of elites and kings (who often appointed court poets). Kavis were highly educated and many of them would have been pandits with knowledge of other sciences such as grammar, lexicography and other fields. Indian authors held that an important quality of these poets was said to be
pratibhā, poetic imagination. The beginnings of Kāvya is obscure. Lienhard traces its beginnings to "the close of the Late Vedic Period (about 550 B.C.)...as this was a time that saw the slow emergence of poetic forms with characteristics of their own, quite different both functionally and structurally from previous models." The earliest Kāvya poems were short stanzas in the minor form
(laghukāvya), sometimes just being one stanza poems (muktakas)
. Few of these early works have survived
. Laghukāvya Laghukāvya mainly refers to short poems, which can be single stanza (muktaka), double stanza poems (yugmaka), and several-stanza poems (kulakas). Short poetry was also termed
khandakavya and a collection of stanzas or anthology was called a
kosa. The earliest
laghukāvyas were in prakrits, but some also began to be written in Sanskrit in time. According to Lienhard "muktaka poetry generally paints miniature pictures and scenes, or else it carefully builds up a description of a single theme." There are also some surviving stanzas which are attributed to important figures like the grammarian Panini, the scholar
Patañjali, and
Vararuci, but these attributions are uncertain. Some important Sanskrit poets whose collections of short poems have survived include
Bhartṛhari (
fl. c. 5th century CE), known for his
Śatakatraya, Amaru (7th century), author of the
Amaruśataka (which mainly contains erotic poetry) and
Govardhana (12th century), author of the
Āryāsaptaśatī. There are numerous anthologies which collect short Sanskrit poetry from different authors, these works are our main source of short Sanskrit poems. One widely celebrated anthology is the
Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa (
Anthology of Well Said Jewels) of the Buddhist monk and anthologist
Vidyakara (c. 1050–1130). Other important anthologies include: Jalhana's
Subhāṣitamuktāvalī (13th century),
Sridharadasa's
Saduktikarṇāmṛta (1205), Śārṅgadharapaddhati (1363) and Vallabhadeva's
Subhāṣitāvalī (
Chain of Beautiful Sayings, c. 16th century). Examples of these medium length poems include: the
Ṛtusaṃhāra, the
Ghatakarpara Kavyam, and the
Meghadūta of
Kālidāsa (the most famous of all Sanskrit poets) which popularized the
sandeśa kāvya (messenger poem), Jambukavi's
Candraduta (8th to 10th century),
Jinasena's Parsvabhyudaya (a
Jain work),
Vedanta Desika's
Hansasandeśa, the
Kokila Sandeśa, and
Rūpa Gosvāmin's
Haṃsadūta (16th century). Another genre of medium length poems were
panegyrics like the
Rājendrakarṇapūra of Sambhu. Religious medium length
kāvya style poems (often called
stotras or stutis) were also very popular and they show some similarities with panegyrics. According to Lienhard, some of the figures which are most widely written about in medium length religious poems include: "
Gautama Buddha,
Durga-
Kali (or Devi),
Ganesa,
Krsna (Govinda),
Laksmi,
Nrsimha,
Radha,
Rama,
Sarasvati,
Siva,
Surya, the
Tathagatas, the
Tirthamkaras or Jinas, Vardhamana
Mahavira and
Visnu." Only some of the Sanskrit hymns to the gods can be considered literary
kāvya, since they are truly artistic and follow some of the classic kāvya rules. According to Lienhard, the literary hymns of the Buddhists are the oldest of these.
Aśvaghoṣa is said to have written some, but they are all lost. Two Buddhist hymns of the poet
Mātṛceṭa* (c. 70 to 150 CE), the
Varṇārhavarṇa Stotra or
Catuḥśataka and the
Satapancasataka or
Prasadapratibha ((Stotra) on the Splendour of Graciousness (of the Buddha)) have survived in Sanskrit. They are some the finest Buddhist stotras and were very popular in the Buddhist community in India. Some important later Buddhist stotras are
Sragdharastotra (about 700) by Sarvajñamitra, Vajradatta's
Lokesvara-sataka (9th century), the tantric
Mañjuśrīnāma-saṃgīti and
Ramacandra Kavibharati's 15th century
Bhaktisataka (which is influenced by the
Bhakti movement). There are also many Sanskrit Jaina stotras, most of which are dedicated to the Jain
Tirthankaras. They include the
Bhaktacamarastotra by
Manatunga (7th century), Nandisena's
Ajitasantistava, the
Mahavirastava by Abhayadeva (mid 11th century) and the stotras of Ramacandra (12th century). There are numerous literary Hindu hymns which were written after the time of Kālidāsa. Some of the most important ones are
Bāṇabhaṭṭa's Caṇḍīśataka, the
Suryasataka by
Mayurbhatta, numerous hymns attributed to
Adi Shankara (though the majority of these were likely not composed by him), the
Mahimnastava, the Shaiva
Pañcāśati (14th century),
Abhinavagupta's Shaiva stotras
, the southern
Mukundamala and
Narayaniyam, the
Krishnakarṇāmrutam, and the poems of
Nilakantha Diksita,
Jagannātha Paṇḍitarāja,
Gangadevi,
Ramanuja,
Jayadeva,
Rupa Goswami, and
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa (17th century).
Mahākāvya According to Lienhard, the most important feature of
mahākāvya (Long poems) is that they are divided into chapters or cantos (sargas). Fully versified
Mahākāvyas (called sargabandhas) are written in many different metres.
Mahākāvyas may also be written fully in prose or in a mixture of verse and prose (mostly called campu). Sargabandhas commonly center around a
hero and also include
villains. They almost never end in a tragic manner. Indian epic poetry like the
Rāmāyaṇa forms an important influence on Sanskrit
mahakāvya literature. The oldest extant
mahākāvyas are those of the Buddhist poet and philosopher
Aśvaghoṣa (c. 80 – c. 150
CE). The Chinese pilgrim
Yijing (635–713 CE) writes that the
Buddhacarita was "...extensively read in all the five parts of India and in the countries of the South Sea (Sumātra, Jāva and the neighbouring islands)...it was regarded as a virtue to read it in as much as it contained the noble doctrine in a neat compact form." Another
mahākāvya by
Aśvaghoṣa is the
Saundarananda, which focuses on the conversion of
Nanda, Buddha's half-brother.
The great mahākāvyas Kālidāsa, called by many the
Shakespeare of India, is said to have been the finest master of the Sanskrit poetic style. Arthur Macdonell describes this great poets' words as having a "firmness and evenness of sound, avoiding harsh transitions and preferring gentle harmonies; the use of words in their ordinary sense and clearness of meaning; the power to convey sentiment; beauty, elevation, and the employment of metaphorical expressions".
Kālidāsa's greatest Kāvyas are the
Raghuvaṃśa and the
Kumārasambhava. This
Raghuvaṃśa (
The Genealogy of Raghu) chronicles the life of
Rāma alongside his forefathers and successors in 19 cantos, with the story of Rāma agreeing quite closely that in the
Rāmāyaṇa. The narrative moves at a rapid pace, is packed with apt and striking similes and has much genuine poetry, while the style is simpler than what is typical of a mahakāvya. The
Raghuvaṃśa is seen to meet all the criteria of a
mahākāvya, such as that the central figure should be noble and clever, and triumphant, that the work should abound in
rasa and
bhāva, and so on. There are more than 20 commentaries of this work that are known. The
Kumārasambhava (
The Birth of Kumāra) narrates the story of the courtship and wedding of
Śiva and
Pārvatī, and the birth of their son,
Kumāra. The poem finishes with the slaying of the demon Tāraka, the very purpose of the birth of the warrior-god. The
Kumārasambhava showcases the poet's rich and original imaginative powers making for abundant poetic imagery and wealth of illustration. Again, more than 20 commentaries on the Kumāra·sambhava have survived. These two great poems are grouped by Indian tradition along with four more works into "the six great mahākāvyas". The other four greats are:
Bhāravi's (6th century CE)
Kirātārjunīya,
Māgha's (c. 7th Century CE)
Śiśupālavadha, the
Bhaṭṭikāvya (also known as
Rāvaṇavadha) and
Śrīharṣa's (12th century CE)
Naiṣadhīyacarita, which is the most extensive and difficult of the great mahākāvyas (and contains many references to Indian philosophy)
. Over time, various commentaries where also composed on these poems, especially the
Naiṣadhīyacarita. Later mahākāvyas Between
Kālidāsa's time and the 18th century, numerous other sargabandhas were composed in the classic style, such as Mentha's
Hayagrīvavadha (6th century), King Pravarasena II's
Setubandha, the Sinhalese poet Kumaradasa's
Janakiharana, Rājānaka Ratnākara's
Haravijaya, the
Nalodaya, the Buddhist Sivasvamin's
Kapphinabhyudaya (9th century), and Buddhaghosa's
Padyacudamani (a life of the Buddha, c. 9th century). Later sargabandhas tended to be more heavily loaded with technical complexity, erudition and extensive decoration. Authors of these later works include the 12th century Kashmiri Shaivas
Kaviraja Rajanaka Mankha and Jayaratha, Jayadeva, author of the innovative and widely imitated
Gitagovinda, Lolimbaraja's
Harivilasa (mid 16th century), the Shaivite
Bhiksatana(kavya) of Gokula, Krsnananda's 13th century
Sahrdayananda, and the numerous works of
Ramapanivada. After the 8th century, many sophisticated Jain mahākāvyas were written by numerous Jain poets (mainly from
Gujarat), including Jatasimhanandi's
Varangacarita (7th century), Kanakasena Vadiraja Suri's
Yasodharacarita, and the
Ksatracudamani by Vadibhasimha Odayadeva. Jain authors also wrote their own versions of
the Ramayana with Jain themes, such as the
Padmapurana of Ravisena (678 A.D.). Other later mahākāvyas are poems based on historical figures which embellish history with classic poetic themes such as Parimala's
Navasāhasāṅkacarita, Bilhana's
Vikramāṅkadevacarita (11th century) and
Madhurāvijayam (
The Conquest of Madurai, c. 14th-century) by
Gangadevi, which chronicles the life a prince of the
Vijayanagara Empire and his invasion and conquest of the
Madurai Sultanate.
Rashtraudha Kavya by Rudrakavi chronicles the history of Maratha Bagul kings of
Baglana and
Khandesh and details their role and position in military history involving important figures such as the
Bahmanis,
Mahmud Begada,
Humayun,
Akbar,
Murad Shah,etc. Some later poems focused on specific poetic devices, some of the most popular being
paronomasia (
slesa) and ambiguous rhyme (yamaka). For example, the poems of Vasudeva (10th century), such as
Yudhiṣṭhira-vijaya and
Nalodaya, were all yamaka poems while the
Ramapalacarita of Sandhyakara Nandin is a slesakavya. One final genre is the Śāstrakāvya, a kāvya which also contains some didactic content which instructs on some ancient science or knowledge. Examples include Halayudha's
Kavirahasya (a handbook for poets), Bhatta Bhima's
Arjunaravaniya (which teaches grammar) and Hemacandra's
Kumarapalacarita (grammar).
Prose mahākāvya While most early mahākāvyas were all in verse, the term mahākāvya could also be applied to any long prose poem and these became more popular after the 7th century, when the great masters of prose (gadya) lived. These are
Daṇḍin (author of the
Daśakumāracarita) Subandhu (author of the
Vāsavadattā) and
Bāṇabhaṭṭa (author of
Kādambari and
Harshacarita). Prose mahākāvyas replaced virtuosity in metre with highly complex and artistic sentences. Other important writers of Sanskrit prose poems include Bhūṣaṇa bhaṭṭa, Dhanapala (the Jain author of the
Tilakamañjari), and Vadibhasimha Odayadeva (author of the
Gadyacintāmaṇi).
Campū Campū (also known as
gadyapadyamayi) is a poetic genre which contains both verse and prose. This genre was rare during the first millennium CE, but later grew in popularity, especially in South India. The earliest Sanskrit example of this genre is Trivikramabhatta's
Nalacampu (or
Damayanticampu, c. 10th century). Some important campūs include Somaprabha Suri's
Yaśastilakacampū (9th century, Jain), Haricandra's
Jivandharacampū (Jain), the
Ramayanacampū, Divakara's
Amogharaghavacampu, the 17th century female poet Tirumalamba's
Varadambikaparinaya, Venkatadhvarin's
Visvagunadarsacampu, Jiva Gosvamin's voluminous
Gopalacampu, Raghunathadasa's
Muktacaritra, and the 18th century
Maithili poet Krishnadutta's
Shri Janraj Champu.
Works on prosody and poetics There are also numerous Sanskrit works which discuss
prosody and
poetics. The earliest work which discusses poetics is Bharatamuni's
Nāṭyaśāstra (200 B.C. to 200 A.D.), a work which mainly deals with drama.
Piṅgalá (
fl. 300–200 BCE) authored the
Chandaḥśāstra, an early
Sanskrit treatise on
prosody. Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri lists four main school of Indian poetics and their main figures: • The
Alaṅkāra school which draws on
Bhāmaha's (c. 7th century)
Kāvyālaṅkāra, Udbhaṭa's
Alankarasamgraha and Rudrata's
Kāvyālaṅkāra. • The
Riti school -
Daṇḍin's (fl. 7th–8th century)
Kāvyādarśa is influenced by the Alaṅkāra school and introduces the concept of
guna. The
Kāvyādarśa was very influential for Vāmana, the 8th century founder of the Riti school and author of the
Kāvyālaṅkāra Sūtra. • The
Rasa school draws on the ''Nāṭyaśāstra's
aphorism on rasa (emotional flavor). The key figure of this school is Bhaṭṭanāyaka, author of the Hṛdayadarpaṇa.'' • The
Dhvani school which makes use of
Anandavardhana's (c. 820–890 CE)
Dhvanyāloka and the commentary of
Abhinavagupta (who also wrote the
Abhinavabharati, a commentary on the
Nāṭyaśāstra). This school emphasizes "aesthetic suggestion" (
dhvani). Later influential works on poetics include
Mammaṭa's (11th century)
Kāvyaprakāśa, the writings on poetics by
Kshemendra, Hemacandra's
Kavyanusasana, Vagbhata's
Vagbhatalankara, and
Rupa Gosvamin's
Ujjvalanilamani. == Subhāṣita ==