SANSKRIT POETRY
 

Panani, who lived between 500 and 350 BC, is considered as the author of one of the first long poems in Sanskrit called Jambavati-vijaya or Patala-vijaya. Patanjali (2^nd century BC) mentions a poem called Vararuca-kavyam written by Katyayana (third century BC).  In his Sringarapraka, Bhoja quotes a half-verse written by Katyayana which is a poetical fancy on river Ganga. Kalidasa, the greatest of all poets, produced great works like Ritusamhara, Meghaduta, Kumarasambhava, Raghuvamsa, Abhijnana Sakuntalam, Malavikaagnimitra and Vikrama-urvasiyam. Bhairavi's Kiratarjuniya, Magha's Shishupala-vadha, Harsha's Naisadhiyacharita constitute the Pancha-Mahakvyas or the five great pentads, along with Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa and Meghaduta.  The other great poetic works in Sanskrit include Subhandu's Vasavadatta, Bana's Kadambari and Harshacharita, Dandin's Avantisundarikatha or the Dasakumaracharita, Ratanakara's Haravijaya, Anandavardhana's Arjunacharita, Dhanapala's Tilakamanjari, Rajasekhara's Haravilasa, Umapatidhara's Chandrachudcharita, Agasta Pandita's Balabharata, Vedanta Desika's Yadavabhyudya and Sukumara's Krishnavilasa.  The earliest historical kavya is Bhuvanabhyudaya written by Sankuka of Kashmir.  Others in this category include Padmagupta Parimala's Navasahasankacharita, Bilhana's Vikramankadevacharita, Kalhana's Rajatarangini, Ksemendra's Nripavali, Nandin's Ramacharita, Chandakavi's Prithviraja-vijaya, Someshvara's Mirti-kaumudi, Vastupalacharita, Sukrita-sankirtana and Vasanta-vilasa and Narasimha's Kakatiyacharita.

Campu Kavya: The mixed style of writing using both prose and verse together was described by Dandin as Campu. The Damayanthikatha (Nala-campu) written by Trivikrama in the 10^th century is the earliest specimen of campu kavya. Other examples are Harichandra's Jivandhara-campu, the Bhoja-campu of King Bhoja, Nilakantha-vijaya by Nilakantha Dikshita (1637) and Visvagunadarsa of Venkatadhvarin.