Characteristics
In the mahākāvya genre, more emphasis was laid on description than on narration. Indeed, the traditional characteristics of a mahākāvya are listed as:
- It must take its subject matter from the epics (Ramayana or Mahabharata), or from history,
- It must help further the four goals of man (Purusharthas),
- It must contain descriptions of cities, seas, mountains, moonrise and sunrise, and "accounts of merrymaking in gardens, of bathing parties, drinking bouts, and love-making. It should tell the sorrow of separated lovers and should describe a wedding and the birth of a son. It should describe a king's council, an embassy, the marching forth of an army, a battle, and the victory of a hero".
About this list, Ingalls observes:
These are not random suggestions but specific requirements. Every complete mahākāvya that has come down to us from the time of Kalidasa contains the whole list, which, if one considers it carefully, will be seen to contain the basic repertory of Sanskrit poetry. Contained in it are the essential elements of nature, love, society, and war which a poet should be able to describe. The great kāvya tested a poet by his power of rendering content, which is a better test at least than the Persian diwan, which tested a poet by his skill at rhyme.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 the is fitting to the subject matter, such as a description of the seasons, a geographical form of nature such as a mountain, and cities.
Read more about this topic: Mahakavya