The ancient Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, also termed Itihsa ("History")

or Mahkvya ("Great Compositions"), refer to epic poems that form a canon of Hindu
scripture. Indeed, the epic form prevailed and verse remained until very recently the
preferred form ofHindu literary works. Hero-worship was and is a central aspect of Indian
culture, and thus readily lent itself to a literary tradition that abounded in epic poetry and
literature. The Puranas, a massive collection of verse-form histories of India's many
Hindu gods and goddesses, followed in this tradition. Itihsas and Puras are mentioned in
the Atharva Veda[2] and referred to as the fourth Veda.[3]
The language of these texts, termed Epic Sanskrit, constitutes the earliest phase
of Classical Sanskrit, following the latest stage of Vedic Sanskrit found in the Shrauta Sutras.
The famous poet and playwright Klidsa also wrote two epics: Raghuvamsha (The Dynasty
of Raghu) and Kumarasambhava (The Birth of Kumar Kartikeya), though they were written in
later Classical Sanskrit rather than Epic Sanskrit. Other Classical Sanskrit epics are the
Slaying of iupla iuplavadha of Mgha, Arjuna and the Mountain
Man Kirtrjunya of Bhravi, the Adventures of the Prince of
Nishadha Naiadhacarita of rhara and "Bhai's Poem" Bhaikvya of Bhai.

Kannada epic poetry[edit]

Main article: Kannada literature
Kannada epic poetry mainly consists of Jain religious literature
and Lingayat literature. Asaga wrote Vardhaman Charitra, an epic which runs in 18 cantos, in
853 CE,[4] the first Sanskritbiography of the 24th and last tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavira,
though his Kannada language version of Kalidasa's epic
poem, Kumrasambhava, Karnataka Kumarasambhava Kavya is lost.[5] The most famous
poet from this period is Pampa (902-975 CE), one of the most famous writers in the Kannada
language. His Vikramarjuna Vijaya (also called the Pampabharatha) is hailed as a classic
even to this day. With this and his other important work di pura he set a trend of poetic
excellence for the Kannada poets of the future. The former work is an adaptation of the
celebrated Mahabharata, and is the first such adaptation in Kannada. Noted for the strong
human bent and the dignified style in his writing, Pampa has been one of the most influential
writers in Kannada. He is identified as Adikavi "first poet". It is only in Kannada that we have
a Ramayana and a Mahabharata based on the Jain tradition in addition to those based on
Brahmanical tradition.
Shivakotiacharya was the first writer in prose style. His work Vaddaradhane is dated to
900 CE. Sri Ponna (939-966 CE) is also an important writer from the same period,
with Shanti Puranaas his magnum opus. Another major writer of the period

is Ranna (949-? CE). His most famous works are the Jain religious work Ajita Tirthankara
Purana and the Gada Yuddha, a birds' eye view of the Mahabharata set in the last day of the
battle of Kurukshetra and relating the story of the Mahabharata through a series of
flashbacks. Structurally, the poetry in this period is in theChampu style, essentially poetry
interspersed with lyrical prose.
The Siribhoovalaya is a unique work of multilingual Kannada literature written by Kumudendu
Muni, a Jain monk. The work is unique in that it employs not alphabets, but is composed
entirely in Kannada numerals.[6] The Saangathya metre of Kannada poetry is employed in the
work. It uses numerals 1 through 64 and employs various patterns or bandhas in a frame of
729 (2727) squares to represent alphabets in nearly 18 scripts and over 700 languages.
[7]

Some of the patterns used include

the Chakrabandha, Hamsabandha, Varapadmabandha, Sagarabandha,Sarasabandha, Krua

nchabandha, Mayurabandha, Ramapadabandha, Nakhabandha, etc. As each of these
patterns are identified and decoded, the contents can be read. The work is said to have
around 600,000 verses, nearly six times as big as the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata.
The Prabhulingaleele, Basava purana, Channabasavapurana and Basavarajavijaya are few
of the Lingayat epics.

Tamil epics[edit]
Main article: The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature
The post-sangam period (2nd century-6th century) saw many great Tamil epics being written,
including Cilappatikaram (or Silappadhikaram), Manimegalai, Civaka
Cintamani, Valayapathi andKundalakesi. Later, during the Chola period, Kamban (12th
century) wrote what is considered one of the greatest Tamil epics the Kamba
Ramayanam of Kamban, based on the Valmiki Ramayana. The Thiruthondat Puranam
(or Periya Puranam) of Chekkizhar is the great Tamil epic of the Shaiva Bhakti saints and is
part of the religious scripture of Tamil Nadu's majority Shaivites.
Out of the five, Manimegalai and Kundalakesi are Buddhist religious works, Civaka
Cintamani and Valayapathi are Tamil Jain works and Silappatikaram has a neutral religious
view. They were written over a period of 1st century CE to 10th century CE and act as the
historical evidence of social, religious, cultural and academic life of people during the era
they were created.Civaka Cintamani introduced long verses called virutha pa in Tamil
literature.,[8] while Silappatikaram used akaval meter (monologue), a style adopted from
Sangam literature.
Tamil epics such as Silappathikaram and Periya Puranam are unique in Indian literature as
they employ characters and stories associated with the people and language of the poets

(Tamil) and take place within the Tamil country. This is in contrast to other Indian languages
which are based on Sanskrit works and deal with Sanskrit mythology based on North Indian
works.

Hindi epics[edit]
The first epic to appear in Hindi was Tulsidas' (15431623) Ramacharitamanas, also based
on the Ramayana. It is considered a great classic of Hindi epic poetry and literature, and
shows the author Tulsidas in complete command over all the important styles of composition
narrative, epic, lyrical and dialectic. He has given a divine character to Rama, the
Hindu Avatar ofVishnu, portraying him as an ideal son, husband, brother and king.
In modern Hindi literature, Kamayani by Jaishankar Prasad has attained the status of an
epic. The narrative of Kamayani is based on a popular mythological story, first mentioned
inSatapatha Brahmana. It is a story of the great flood and the central characters of the epic
poem are Manu (a male) and Shraddha (a female). Manu is representative of the human
psyche and Shradha represents love. Another female character is Ida, who represents
rationality. Some critics surmise that the three lead characters of Kamayani symbolize a
synthesis of knowledge, action and desires in human life.
Apart from Kamayani; Kurukshetra (Epic Poetry) (1946), Rashmirathi (1952)
and Urvashi (1961) by Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' have attained the status of epic poetry.
Likewise Lalita Ke Aansoo[9] by Krant M. L. Verma (1978)[10] narrates the tragic story about the
death of Lal Bahadur Shastri through his wife Lalita Shastri.[11]

Notes[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: devraj to jyoti - Amaresh Datta Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved 2012-05-10.

2.

Jump up^ Atharva Veda 11.7.24, 15.6.4

3.

Jump up^ Chndogya Upaniad 7.1.2,4

4.

Jump up^ Jain, Kailash Chand (1991). Lord Mahvra and his times, Lala S. L. Jain
Research Series. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 25. ISBN 81-208-0805-3.

5.

Jump up^ Jain, Kailash Chand (1991). Lord Mahvra and his times, Lala S. L. Jain
Research Series. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 59. ISBN 81-208-0805-3.

6.

Jump up^ "Introduction to Siribhoovalaya, from Deccan Herald". Retrieved 200703-07.

7.

Jump up^ "Usage of Saangathya and frame of 729, from The Hindu newspaper".
Retrieved 2007-03-07.

8.

Jump up^ Datta 2004, p. 720

9.

Jump up^ *Book:Lalita Ke Ansoo on worldcat

10.
)
11.

Jump up^ Hindustan (Hindi daily) New Delhi 12 January 1978 (

Jump up^ Panchjanya (newspaper) A literary review 24 February 1980

References[edit]