MahÃÂkÃÂvya (lit. great kÃÂvya, court epic), also known as sargabandha, is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of phenomena such as scenery, love, and battles. Typical examples of mahÃÂkÃÂvya are the Kumarasambhava and the Kiratarjuniya.
The genre evolved from earlier epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Despite the length of mahÃÂkÃÂvyas (15-30 cantos, a total of about 1500-3000 verses), they are still much shorter than the Ramayana (500 cantos, 24000 verses) and the Mahabharata (about 100000 verses).
The Buddhist poet and philosopher Aà Âvaghoá¹£a (<abbr>c.</abbr>âÂÂ80 â c.âÂÂ150 CE) is one of the earliest Sanskrit poets with surviving KÃÂvya literature. His Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha) calls itself a mahÃÂkÃÂvya and was influential enough to be translated into both Tibetan and Chinese. Another kÃÂvya by Aà Âvaghoá¹£a is the Saundarananda, which focuses on the conversion of Nanda, Buddha's half-brother.
Tradition identifies five works as model mahÃÂkÃÂvya:
To this list, sometimes a sixth one is also added.
In the mahÃÂkÃÂvya genre, more emphasis was laid on description than on narration. Daá¹Âá¸Âin's KÃÂvyÃÂdarà Âa lists the traditional characteristics of a mahÃÂkÃÂvya as:
About this list, Ingalls observes:
It is composed of a varying number of short poems or cantos, that tells the story of a classical epic. Each poem is composed in a metre that is fitting to the subject matter, such as a description of the seasons, a geographical form of nature such as a mountain, and cities.
In the relatively secluded world of modern Sanskrit literature, mahakavyas continue to be produced. Some of these have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit. In the introduction to á¹¢oá¸Âaà Âë: An Anthology of Contemporary Sanskrit Poets (1992), Radhavallabh Tripathi writes: <blockquote>On the other hand, the number of authors who appear to be very enthusiastic about writing in Sanskrit during these days is not negligible. [â¦] In a thesis dealing with Sanskrit mahÃÂkÃÂvyas written in a single decade, 1961âÂÂ1970, the researcher [Dr. Ramji Upadhyaya] has noted 52 Sanskrit mahÃÂkÃÂvyas (epic poems) produced in that very decade.</blockquote>
Some modern mahÃÂkÃÂvyas do not aim to satisfy all the traditional criteria, and take as their subject historical matter (such as Rewa Prasad Dwivedi's Svatantrya Sambhavam on the Indian independence movement, or K.N. Ezhuthachan's Keralodayah on the history of Kerala), or biographies of historical characters (such as S.B. Varnekar's Shrishivarajyodayam on Shivaji, M. S. Aney's Sritilakayasornavah on Bal Gangadhar Tilak, or P. C. Devassia's Kristubhagavatam on Jesus Christ). Some others like the à ÂrëbhÃÂrgavarÃÂghaviyam (2002) composed by Jagadguru RÃÂmabhadrÃÂcÃÂrya continue to have the subject of the traditional epics.