Sanskrit Prose Literature: Katha, Akhyayika, and Ornate Style
What the exam tests
Gadya kavya items test the katha/akhyayika distinction, ornate prose style, and the major authors and works of Sanskrit narrative prose.
Katha and akhyayika
Bana, in the introductions to Kadambari and Harshacharita, distinguishes katha (invented plot) from akhyayika (derived from history, often royal). Both use elaborate compounds, alamkaras, and embedded verse.
Canon
Subandhu's Vasavadatta is a densely ornate romance; Dandin's Dashakumaracharita is a framed picaresque; Bana's Kadambari (completed by Bhushanabhatta) and Harshacharita (biography of Harsha) are the benchmarks. Framed narratives - Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Vetalapanchavimshati, Kathasaritsagara, the Brihatkatha tradition - are niti or katha collections rather than court kavya.
Style markers
Long nominal compounds, shlesha, upama, and rhythmic cadence. Prose kavya often mixes verse and prose; the champu is a later mixed genre.
Worked example
A question asks which work is an akhyayika. Harshacharita fits: it is a biography of a historical king framed as courtly narrative. Kadambari, by contrast, is a katha with an invented romantic plot, even though it contains historical-seeming frames.
Traps
Do not call Panchatantra a courtly gadya kavya; do not attribute Kadambari's completion to Bana; do not treat all prose as katha, since the akhyayika label matters; and champu is mixed verse-prose, not pure gadya.