Mahākāvya, also known as sargabandha, is a genre of Indian epic poetry in classical Sanskrit literature. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, everything that tests a poet's skill at description. Typical examples of mahākāvya are the Kiratarjuniya and the Shishupala Vadha. It is considered the most prestigious form in Sanskrit literature. The genre evolved from the earlier epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Despite the length of mahākāvyas, they are still much shorter than the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The classical examples
Tradition identifies five works as model mahākāvya:
Raghuvaṃśa by Kālidāsa: the Raghu dynasty, in 19 cantos
Kumārasambhava by Kālidāsa: the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and the birth of Kumara, in 17 cantos
Kirātārjunīya by Bharavi: a battle between Arjuna and Shiva from the Mahabharata, 18 cantos
Śiśupāla-vadha by Māgha: the slaying of Shishupala by Krishna, 22 cantos
Naiśadha-carita by Shriharsha: on the life of King Nala and Queen Damayanti, 22 cantos
To this list, sometimes a sixth one is also added.
Bhaṭṭikāvya, by Bhaṭṭi: describes the events of the Ramayana and simultaneously illustrates the principles of Sanskrit grammar, 22 cantos
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, or from history,
It must help further the four goals of man,
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: 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 that is fitting to the subject matter, such as a description of the seasons, a geographical form of nature such as a mountain, and cities.
Modern ''mahakavya''
In the relatively secluded world of modern Sanskrit literature, mahakavyas continue to be produced. Some of these have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit. In the introduction to Ṣoḍaśī: An Anthology of Contemporary Sanskrit Poets, Radhavallabh Tripathi writes:
On the other hand, the number of authors who appear to be very enthusiastic about writing in Sanskrit during these days is not negligible. In a thesis dealing with Sanskrit mahākāvyas written in a single decade, 1961–1970, the researcher has noted 52 Sanskrit mahākāvyas produced in that very decade.
Some modern mahākāvyas do not aim to satisfy all the traditional criteria, and take as their subject historical matter, or biographies of historical characters. Some others like the Śrībhārgavarāghaviyam composed by Jagadguru Rāmabhadrācārya continue to have the subject of the traditional epics.
