Editing Epic poetry (section)

=== Conventions of the Indian Epic ===

In the Indian [[mahākāvya]] epic genre, more emphasis was laid on description than on narration. Indeed, the traditional characteristics of a ''mahākāvya'' are listed as:{{efn|
itihāsa-kath''-ôdbhūtam, itarad vā sad-āśrayam, {{!}} {{IAST|catur-varga-phal'-āyattaṃ, catur-udātta-nāyakam}}, <br />
{{IAST|nagar'-ârṇava-śaila'-rtu|candr'-â rk'-ôdaya-varṇanaiḥ}}, {{!}} {{IAST|udyāna-salila-kṛīḍā-madhu-pāna-rat'-ôtsavaiḥ}}, <br />
{{IAST|vipralambhair vivāhaiś ca, kumār'-ôdaya-varṇanaiḥ}}, {{!}} {{IAST|mantra-dūta-prayāṇ'-āji-nāyak'-âbhyudayair api}}; <br />
{{IAST|alaṃ-kṛtam, a-saṃkṣiptaṃ, rasa-bhāva-nirantaram}}, {{!}} {{IAST|sargair an-ativistīrṇaiḥ, śravya-vṛttaiḥ su-saṃdhibhiḥ}}, <br />
{{IAST|sarvatra bhinna-vṛttāntair upetaṃ, loka-rañjanam}} {{!}} {{IAST|kāvyaṃ kalp'-ântara-sthāyi jāyate sad-alaṃkṛti}}<ref>{{cite book
 |author = [[Daṇḍin]]
 |title = [[Kāvyādarśa]]
 |trans-title = The Mirror of Poetry
 |at = 1.15–19
}}</ref>
}}{{efn|
It springs from a historical incident or is otherwise based on some fact; <br />
it turns upon the fruition of [[Puruṣārtha|the fourfold ends]] and its hero is clever and noble; <br />
By descriptions of cities, oceans, mountains, seasons and risings of the moon or the sun; <br />
through sportings in garden or water, and festivities of drinking and love; <br />
Through sentiments-of-love-in-separation and through marriages, <br />
by descriptions of the birth-and-rise of princes, <br />
and likewise through state-counsel, embassy, advance, battle, and the hero's triumph; <br />
Embellished; not too condensed, and pervaded all through with poetic sentiments and emotions; <br />
with cantos none too lengthy and having agreeable metres and well-formed joints, <br />
And in each case furnished with an ending in a different metre – <br />
such a poem possessing good figures-of-speech wins the people's heart and endures longer than even a kalpa.<ref>{{cite book
 |author=[[Daṇḍin]]
 |year=1924 |orig-date={{circa|7th–8th century CE}}
 |title=Kāvyādarśa of {{IAST|Daṇḍin}}: Sanskrit text and English translation
 |title-link=Kāvyādarśa
 |at=1.15–19
 |translator-first=S.K. |translator-last=Belvalkar
 |publisher=Poona
}}</ref>
}}
* It must take its subject matter from the epics (''Ramayana'' or ''Mahabharata''), or from history,
* It must help further the four goals of man ([[purusharthas]]),
* It must contain descriptions of cities, seas, mountains, moonrise and sunrise, and accounts of merrymaking in gardens, of bathing parties, drinking bouts, and love-making.
* It should tell the sorrow of separated lovers and should describe a wedding and the birth of a son.
* It should describe a king's council, an embassy, the marching forth of an army, a battle, and the victory of a hero.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Ingalls |first=D.H.H. Sr. |author-link= Daniel H.H. Ingalls, Sr.
 |year=1945
 |chapter=Sanskrit poetry and Sanskrit poetics
 |at=''Introduction'' pp&nbsp;33–35
 |title=An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry: Vidyākara's Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa
 |publisher=Harvard University Press
 |isbn=978-0-674-78865-7
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AjEdCVZ5uoQC&pg=PA34
}}</ref>