Champu

Champu or Champu-Kavya (Devanagari: चम्पु-काव्य) is a genre in Sanskrit literature. It consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kavya) and poetry passages (Padya-Kavya), with verses interspersed among prose sections. Adikavi Pampa, the Adikavi, or the first poet of Kannada literature and one of the greatest Kannada poets of all time, pioneered this style when he wrote his classical works, Vikramarjuna Vijaya (Pampa Bharata) and Adipurana in it, around 940 CE, and which served as the model for all future works in the Kannada.^[1][2]

It was developed after the era of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and the other Mahakavyas and was a later development in the style of writing. The major works are mainly by the Jain sages,, like Jiva Goswami^{[citation needed]} though there are some works are by non Jain authors also.

Works in Champu style

In Telugu literature, the most acclaimed Champu work^{[citation needed]} is Nannaya Bhattarakudu's Andhra Mahabharatam, produced around the 11th century, which is rendered in the Champu style, is so chaste and polished and of such a high literary merit.^[3]

Prahlādacharita a Sanskrit work written Rama Varma Parikshith Thampuran, former Maharaja of Cochin is in Champu style.

In Kannada literature, this Sanskrit metre was popularised by the Chalukyan court poets, like Adikavi Pampa (902 CE -975 CE), who wrote Adipurana in Champu style popularizing it. Also known as champu-kavya) was the most popular written form from the 9th century onwards, although it started to fall into disuse in the 12th century. When people moved towards other Sanskritic metres like tripadi (three line verse), the saptapadi (seven line verse), the ashtaka (eight line verse), the shataka (hundred-line verse), hadugabba (song-poem) and free verse metres.

Other works in Hoysala literature period were also in this style.

Notes

1. ^ Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature. Merriam-Webster. 1995. p. 853. ISBN 0877790426. 
2. ^ Students' Britannica India, Volumes 1-5. Popular Prakashan. p. 78. ISBN 0852297602. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=AE_LIg9G5CgC&pg=PA78&dq=Adikavi+Pampa&hl=en&ei=6O2BTfjkB9DQrQfiq7THCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Adikavi%20Pampa&f=false. 
3. ^ Chenchiah, P.; Rao, Raja Bhujanga (1988). A History of Telugu Literature. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120603133. 

External links

• Sanskrit Literature Classification