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Jaina Campū Literature
Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh*
Campū is a kind of elaborate composition; the same subject continued therein through alternations in prose and verse. According to Dandi (7th cent. AD) Gadya-padyamayī kācit campurītyabhidhiyate (Kāvyādarśa I, 31) and to Viśvanatha (fl. 1300-1380 AD) Gadyapadyamayaṁ Kāvyaṁ Campūrītyabhidhīyate (Sahitya-darpaṇa 6,336). Both emphasizing it as the mixed form of prose and poetry. Normally, such a form would have mediated the transmission from the metrical Kavya to the prose Kavya. But in fact, it arose after the prose Kavya. As the latter approached more and more the ornate Kavya and began to incorporate verses, a time came when the form gave up all pretense of prose work with occasional verses and became one in which prose and verse balanced in their proportions. Modern scholars like Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (20th cent.), the author of Sanskrit Poetics, opine that handled with discrimination, the form would have had possibilities. For instance, prose could be used for narrative stretches lacking heightening of emotion while verse for the more lyrical and poetic sequences. But this possibility generally escaped the notice of the Campu writers, often using both mediums rather haphazardly. Consequently, the Campū lacked the force and directness of prose and the heightened expressiveness of poetry. In fact it is an innovation, requiring an equal skill in prose and poetry composition. Conversely, to some this craze for novelty has resulted only in a kind of elaborate and highly artificial composition, the same subject continued through alternations in prose and verse, therein. However, Campū literature occupies an important place in Sanskrit literature.
In Sanskrit specimen are not rare, purposely mingling verses with prose for serving this or that specific end. The novelty of the Campū literature does lie in the fact that verses, here, have been brought forward,
Senior Lecturer, Parswanath Vidyapeeth.
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