Sanskrit Poetry (Kavya) and Drama (Natya)
This domain tests your ability to recognise the conventions of Sanskrit kavya and natya, to identify rasa and alamkara with justification, and to analyse the structure of Sanskrit plays. Questions often ask you to name a feature and prove it from a short Sanskrit passage.
Kavya: what makes a poem a mahakavya
- A mahakavya is divided into sargas, changes metre across cantos, and develops a principal rasa. It normally has a noble hero (dhira-nayaka), descriptions of cities, mountains, seasons, love, and war, and a coherent narrative.
- Shorter forms include khandakavya, sandesa-kavya, stotra-kavya, gadya-kavya, and champu. Do not call every long poem a mahakavya.
- Alamkaras are identified by their semantic structure. Upama has four parts: upameya, upamana, samanya dharma, and a comparative particle such as iva, vat, or yatha. Rupaka identifies the two without a comparative particle. Utpreksha presents an imagined identification; atishayokti exaggerates; shlesha exploits double meaning.
Natya: structure and rasa
- Nataka has a nayaka and nayika, five sandhis (mukha, pratimukha, garbha, avamarsha, nirvahana), arthaprakrtis, and patakasthanas. Prakarana differs in hero and subject matter, so label a play only after checking these markers.
- Rasa arises from sthayi bhava combined with vibhava, anubhava, and vyabhicari bhava. The rasas include shringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, vira, bhayanaka, bibhatsa, adbhuta, and shanta.
- Abhinaya is fourfold: angika, vacika, aharya, and sattvika.
Worked example
Consider मुखं पङ्कजमिव विकसति. The particle iva marks upama. Upameya = mukha; upamana = pankaja; samanya dharma = vikasana, blooming. If the sentence were मुखं पङ्कजम् without iva, the face would be identified with the lotus, giving rupaka. The reasoning must name the components, not merely the ornament.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a rasa from one emotional word instead of the full aesthetic situation.
- Missing a comparative particle hidden by sandhi and then mislabelling upama as rupaka.
- Treating every Sanskrit play as a nataka and ignoring prakaran a markers.
- Quoting a play without noting sandhi or metre when the question asks for analysis.