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INTRODUCTION
Indian Narrative Literature
Keith in his wellknown work, A History of Sanskrit Literature, deals with the kathā literature in Sanskrit and Prakrit. In chapter XI he treats of the didactic fable (the pañcatantra, its derivative forms and the Hitopadesa); in chapter XII, of the Brhatkatha and its descendants (Brhatkathā-sloka-samgraha of Budhasvāmin, the Kashmirian Brhatkatha, Ksemendra's Brhatkathāmañjari and Somadeva's Kathāsaritsagara); in chapter XIII, of the romantic and the didactic tale - the former touching upon the Vetālapañcaviņs tiknā, the Sukasaptati and the Simhasanadvătrimsika, and the latter mentioning the Paris'istaparvan, a supplement to his epic Trisastisalākā-purusa-carita by Hemachandra, the Upamitibhavaprapañca kathā of Siddharsi, the Campakasresthikathanaka and the Pālagopālakathānakā of Jinaki rti; in chapter XIV of the great romances covering the Dasakumaracarita of Dandin, the Väsavadattă of Subandhu, the Harsacarita, the model of an åkhyāyikā and the Kādambari, the model of a kathā, the two famous works of Bāna; and in chapter XV, of the later romances—Dhanapāla's Tilakamañjari and Vädibhasimha's Gadyacintamani (and campus).
Early writers on poetics deal with the salient features of a katha and an ākhyāyikā, two principal types of prose works but do not take note of other types of prose writing. It is only later alamkarikas like Abhinavagupta, Bhoja, Hemacandra, etc., who define and
Intro - 1
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