Poetry (Padya/Kāvya)
What the exam tests
Poetry (Padya/Kāvya) examines mahākāvya, khaṇḍakāvya, lyric and sandeśa poetry, major poets and their works. Questions may ask for genre, hero, metre, or a reasoned identification of a verse's context.
Core rules
- A mahākāvya is a long narrative poem in cantos (sarga), with a noble hero, descriptive set pieces and an ordered rasa.
- A khaṇḍakāvya is shorter and often centres on one episode, message or mood.
- Kālidāsa's Raghuvaṃśa and Kumārasambhava are mahākāvyas; Meghadūta is a sandeśa-khaṇḍakāvya.
- Bhāravi's Kirātārjunīya and Māgha's Śiśupālavadha are later mahākāvyas known for learned density.
Worked example
Classify Meghadūta. It has a yakṣa sending a cloud messenger to his separated wife, is shorter than a full mahākāvya, and is built around a single message. Therefore it is a sandeśa-khaṇḍakāvya, traditionally in Mandākrāntā metre. Calling it a mahākāvya would ignore its scale and single-episode design.
Traps
Do not assign every Kālidāsa work to the same genre. Do not confuse the poet Māgha with the metre or with Bhāravi. When asked for a hero, name the work's central figure, not the poet. Do not ignore metre when the question identifies a poem by its verse form.