Who among the following is the author of the Kiratarjuniya?

Correct — B, Bharavi. The Kiratarjuniya is Bharavi's, composed in about the sixth century, and it is one of the five great Sanskrit court epics. Its subject comes from the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata — Arjuna's austerities in the Himalaya and his combat with Shiva, who has come disguised as a kirata, a mountain hunter, before granting him the Pashupata weapon. Sanskrit criticism remembers Bharavi for weight of meaning, which is why the traditional verse of praise gives him arthagaurava while giving Magha the gift of simile and Kalidasa that of expression.

• (a)Magha — Author of the Shishupalavadha, another of the five great court epics, on Krishna's killing of Shishupala. Magha is the closest neighbour to Bharavi in reputation and period, which is exactly why he is the first option.
• (c)Bhasa — A dramatist, not an epic poet, and much earlier. The thirteen plays attributed to him, including Svapnavasavadatta and Urubhanga, were recovered only in 1912.
• (d)Bhavabhuti — Also a dramatist, of the eighth century and of the court of Yashovarman of Kannauj. Uttararamacharita and Malatimadhava are his, and neither is a mahakavya.

Classical Sanskrit literature separates the mahakavya, the long court epic in ornate verse, from the drama and from the prose romance. Tradition names five great mahakavyas — Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava, Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya, Magha's Shishupalavadha and Sriharsha's Naishadhacharita. Their subjects are drawn from the older epics and the puranas, and their interest is in how the story is told rather than in what happens.

The reliable way to hold this topic is a table with one column for authors of court epics and one for dramatists, and the four options here fall neatly into it — two poets and two playwrights. Bhatti belongs in the same conversation and is worth adding, since his Bhattikavya, also called Ravanavadha, tells the story of Rama while illustrating the rules of Sanskrit grammar, and his name appears as a distractor in the very next question of this paper. The Kiratarjuniya has one more claim to fame: its fifteenth canto is a display of verbal ingenuity, including a verse built from a single consonant, which is the kind of feat the mahakavya tradition prized.

• Bharavi composed the Kiratarjuniya in about the sixth century; its subject is Arjuna's encounter with Shiva disguised as a kirata.
• The five great mahakavyas are Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava by Kalidasa, Kiratarjuniya by Bharavi, Shishupalavadha by Magha and Naishadhacharita by Sriharsha.
• Bhasa is the early dramatist whose thirteen plays, including Svapnavasavadatta, were recovered in 1912.
• Bhavabhuti of the eighth century wrote Uttararamacharita, Malatimadhava and Mahaviracharita.
• Bhatti's Bhattikavya, also known as Ravanavadha, narrates the Rama story while illustrating the rules of grammar.

• Confusing Bharavi with Bhatti, whose names sit next to each other and whose works are often listed together.
• Mixing epic poets with dramatists; the option list here is deliberately half of each.
• Attributing the Kiratarjuniya to Kalidasa because Arjuna and Shiva sound like his material.

Author-and-work items are best prepared as a two-column table by genre, since half the options can usually be removed on genre before the exact attribution is needed.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Shishupalavadha, one of the five great Sanskrit court epics, was composed by

  • (a)Bharavi
  • (b)Magha
  • (c)Sriharsha
  • (d)Dandin

  Answer(b) Magha — Sriharsha wrote the Naishadhacharita and Bharavi the Kiratarjuniya.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Uttararamacharita and Malatimadhava were written by

  • (a)Bhasa
  • (b)Shudraka
  • (c)Bhavabhuti
  • (d)Vishakhadatta

  Answer(c) Bhavabhuti — a dramatist of the eighth century at the court of Yashovarman of Kannauj.