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The Sanskrit interaction in the literary style..
is expected. Dandin defines mahakavya as follows : 1
sarga-bandho mahakāvyam ucyate tasya lakṣaṇam / āśir namaskriyā vastu-nirdeso vāpi tan mukham ||
itihäsa-kathodbhūtam itarad vä sad-äśrayam catur-varga-phalopetam coturodatta-näyakam /
nagararnava-sailartu-candrārkodaya-varnanzih udyana-salila-krida-madhupāna-ratotsavaiḥ
1
vipralambhair vivahaisca kumărodaya--varnanaiḥ | mantra-dūta-prayānāji-näyakäbhyudayair api //
alankstam asanksi ptam rasa-bhava-nirantaram sargair anativistirnaiḥ śravy avsttaiḥ susandhibhih //
sarvatra bhinna-vīltantair upetam kävyam kalpāntarasthāyi jāyate
lokarañjakam/ sadalamksti /
(A poem made up of cantos is a mahakāvya. Its character sites are given below. It should begin with a benediction, a salutation or an indication of the contents. The plot should be taken either from a story told in Itihāsa or from other proper subject matter and it should deal with the fourfold ends of life (dharma, artha, kāma and mokşa). Its hero should be a person of wisdom and noble qualities. It should be embellished by descriptions of cities, the sea, mountains, the seasons, the rising of the sun and the moon, sports in pleasure gardens and in the water, drinking parties, love scenes, separations of lovers, marriages, birth of sons, consultation with ministers, sending messengers, military expeditions, battles and the successes of the hero. It should not be too short It should be pervaded with rasa and bhāva (sentiment and emotion). It should consist of a number of cantos which are not too long, well formed and with measures pleasing to the ears, everywhere dealing with a variety of topics (ending each chapter in a different metre) so as to make it popular. Such a kavya which has been well embellished with figures will live through the ages.
Many of the aspects which make a mahākāvya are not new to either Tamil kāppiyams or to Tamil literary works. The foreg sing requirments of a mahākāvya can be classified under six points as indicated below :
1. The beginning of the text.
2. The source from which the story is taken and the scope of the entire work, 1 Dandin, Kavyādarsa, vv, 14-19
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