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: śramaņa January-June 2002
travel war and victory. It starts with the invocations to the Iștadeva of the poet, followed by his homage to the earlier poets, the characteristics of his Kāvya, his genealogy, the main story and finally the beneficence, the reading of his Kāvya would bestow on its readers.
Campū treats of all the topics dealt within Gadyakāvya and Mahākāvya, implying that the hero of a Campū must possess noble qualities. A great degree of diversity is visible in the magnitude of the Campū literature. Yaśastilakacampū is one of the most voluminous of the Campū works; comprising 10,000 Granthāgras while the Campus Rukmangadacarita; Tripuradahana etc. are the smallest ones, hardly exceeding 30 Granthāgras. Most of the Campūs, however, lie between these two extremes and consist of 700 to 1500 Granthāgras.
Providing relief to the reader by means of the variety of expression appears to be the main purpose behind the composition of Campus. In fact, alteration of prose and verse must have been intended to provide a sort of breathing time to the readers and this new fashion must have been welcomed by them. The Campū authors have clearly stated this purpose. Another purpose motivating the Campū authors was their desire to prove that they could write both prose and verses with equal skills. Probably due to modesty, most of the Campü authors have observed silence on this point, except Annavārya (date unknown), the author of the Tattvaguņādarśa Campū, unequivocally expressing it.
In general, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārat and Puranas are as usual main source of the Campū writers. However, Jainas have taken their theme from canons and other sacred books. Bulk of Campū is verse; prose is comparatively less and the prose and verse are discriminately used. The Campū ought to be necessarily divided into sections, called Stabaka, Lambhaka, Pattala and Prastāva. The hero of a Campū may be a divine being, a recluse or any person belonging to any of the four castes. The main sentiment depicted is Śrngāra or śānta, the other sentiments find place casually. Contrary to the sentiment, in Campūs of Vedic tradition, being love and heroism, in Jaina Campūs, the śānta or srñgāra is the chief sentiment. The remaining sentiments may come in subordinate as occasions arise, but never as principal. The style of Campū is generally elaborate and artificial.
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