Kavya is the ornate Sanskrit literary style cultivated by Indian court poets from roughly 200 BCE to 1200 CE, marked by heavy use of figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and hyperbole to produce deliberate emotional and aesthetic effects. The term covers a wide range of forms, from short lyric poems to court epics, narrative works and dramatic works, and encompasses both poetry and ornamented prose. Ashvaghosha, active around 80 to 150 CE and regarded as the father of Sanskrit drama, is credited as the first to use the term and to establish many of its conventions.
Facts
Place of OriginIndia, in Sanskrit court culture 1 Notable ExampleBuddhacarita by Ashvaghosha 1 Defining TraitAbundant use of figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and hyperbole 1 Sources
1. Kavya, Wikipedia
Lead section, first sentence
Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: kāvyá) was the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets
Early kavya section
One early epic work in this style is the Buddhacarita ("A Life of Buddha") by Aśvaghoṣa (2nd century CE).
Lead section, second sentence
This literary style, which includes both poetry and prose, is characterised by abundant usage of figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, and hyperbole
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