This volume is the first attempt to offer a panoramic historical overview of South Asian classical poetry, especially in Sanskrit. Many of the essays in this volume are the first serious studies of the great masterpieces of South Asian literature. Moreover, the book as a whole captures the millennium-long developmental logic of kavya literature by identifying a series of critical moments of breakthrough and innovation-that is, moments when the basic rules of composition and the aesthetic and poetic goals underwent dramatic change, allowing the tradition to reinvent itself. Individual sections thus focus on the beginnings of kavya literature and Kalidasa's creation of what came to be its classical form; the new poetic model that emerged from the intense competition and conversation of Bharavi and Magha in the middle of the first millennium; the extended revolutionary period in Kanauj, where Bana and his successors reconceived the meaning and practice of Sanskrit poetry; and the no less transformative period at the beginning of the second millennium, when poets of genius such as Sriharsa were active in the context of India's nascent vernacularization. The scope of the volume extends beyond Sanskrit to early modern Hindi, and beyond the subcontinent and the Himalayas to Java and Tibet, where kavya found a new home and continued to evolve. A general introduction proposes a theoretical framework for the study of this immense literary tradition in terms of its continuous self-reinvention.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements I. Introduction by Yigal Bronner, David Shulman, and Gary Tubb 1. A. Asti kascid vag-vises.ah. B. Awareness of Change C. What Is New about This Book II. Kalidasa and Early Classicism 2. Waking Aja by David Shulman A. Theme as Frame B. The Rhythms of Emptying C. On Repetition D. How Time Moves 3. Baking Uma by Gary Tubb A. Patterns of Innovation in the Mahakavya B. Kalidasa and Asvaghos.a: Common Origins and Contrasting Visions C. Prevailing Images in Kalidasa's Vision of Purity and Power 4. On Beginnings: Introductions and Prefaces in Kavya by Herman Tieken A. Introduction B. Types of Beginnings C. The Storyteller in the Text and His Relationship to the External Author D. The Significance of the Absence of a Introduction in Mahakavya E. Kavya and Epic F. The Scribes' Background G. The Proliferation of Genres within the Kavya Tradition H. The Preface I. Epilogue III. The Developing Mahakavya 5. Pace and Pattern in the Kiratarjuniya by Peter Khoroche A. Bharavi's Originality B. Changes of Pace in Narration and Description C. Characteristics of Bharavi's Style D. The Subject of the Poem 6. The Conquest of Cool: Theology and Aesthetics in Magha's Sisupalavadha by Lawrence McCrea A. The Poetics of Inaction B. The Ideal of Emotional Restraint C. Literary Techniques and Aesthetic Objectives D. Conclusion 7. Kavya with Bells On: Yamaka in the Sisupalavadha by Gary Tubb A. Magha of the Bells B. Yamaka and the Problem of Citra C. Yamaka in the Mahakavya D. Magha's Yamakas E. Conclusion 8. A Constant Flow of Pilgrims: Kavya and the Early History of the Kakawin by Thomas M. Hunter A. Introduction B. The Historical Setting C. The Glories of Temple Architecture and the Metrical Inscription of 856 CE D. The Prehistory of the Kakawin E. Sabdala?kara in the Metrical Inscription of 856 CE and the Bha??ikavya F. Yamaka in the OJR: The Problem of Univocality G. Yamaka in the OJR: The Aesthetic Effects of Doubling and Repetition H. Bha??i's Arthala?kara and the OJR IV. The Masters of Prose 9. The Nail-Mark That Lit the Bedroom: Biography of a Compound by Yigal Bronner A. Introduction B. The Sanskrit Compound and the Problems of Translation C. Score and Structure D. Sanskrit Compounds and the Ecosystem of Love E. Center and Periphery: Female Subjects and the Forces of Nature F. Conclusion 10. Ba?a's Death in the Kadambari by Herman Tieken A. Introduction B. His Father's Voice C. Speaking of Death D. Fathers and Sons E. Breaking the Rules of the Genre F. Ba?a's Genealogy G. Ba?a's Trademark H. Inventing One's Own Death 11. Persons Compounded and Confounded: A Reading of Ba?a's Kadambari by David Shulman A. Introducing Kadambari B. Who's Who C. Sources, Models, Telos D. The Yoga of Syntax E. What Words Can Do F. I'm Still Me G. Disjunction as Resolution H. Conclusion 12. On the Boldness of Ba?a by Gary Tubb A. Ba?a's Benedictory Verses B. Anthology Verses: The Moonlight Sequence C. Verse Sequence: The Poor Traveler in Winter V. The Sons of Ba?a 13. Something New in the Air: Abhinanda's Ramacarita and Its Ancestry by Gary Tubb A. Poetic Pedigrees B. Anthology Verses C. Abhinanda's Mahakavya D. Abhinanda's Meta-comments E. Conclusion 392 14. The Plays of Bhavabhuti by Gary Tubb A. Bhavabhuti's Distinctive Use of Language B. Constructive Progress in the Sequence of the Plays C. The Intermingling of Aesthetic Theory and Emotional Description 15. The Poetics of Perspective in Rajasekhara's Young Ramaya?a by Lawrence McCrea A. The Centrality of Rava?a B. Spectacles and Spectators C. The View from Below D. The View from Above 16. Murari's Depths by David Shulman A. Introducing the Anargharaghava B. Polishing the Sun C. A Poet's Craft D. Moon-struck Rama E. A Kinematic Spectrum and the Murari Twist F. Conclusion VI. Poets of the New Millennium 17. The Poetics of Ambivalence: Imagining and Unimagining the Political in Bilha?a's Vikrama?kadevacarita by Yigal Bronner A. Introduction: The Place of a Poet B. Setting the Right(?) Tone: Bilha?a's Introductory Appeal to His Audiences C. On Thickening: Imagining the Political in the VDC D. On Thinning: Unimagining the Political in the VDC E. On Ambivalence: Bilha?a's Poetic Stance F. Afterlives and Afterthoughts: Bilha?a's Posthumous Career and Its Lessons 18. Putting the Polish on the Poet's Efforts: Reading the Kar?asundari as a Reflection on Poetic Creativity by Phyllis Granoff A. The Play: Reading Beyond the Plot B. Creating the New and Improbable: The Poet's Task in the Kar?asundari C. Conclusion 19. Shadows by Charles Malamoud A. Chaya B. Se?a and Sle?a C. The King, the Earth, and the Cardinal Regions D. Sarasvati and Damayanti's Wisdom E. Love's Shadow 20. Indian Kavya Poetry on the Far Side of the Himalayas: Translation, Transmission, Adaptation, Originality by Dan Martin A. Introduction B. Early Kavya in Tibet: The Evidence of the Stotras C. Local Tibetan Poetry D. Kavya 's Tibetan Naturalization VII. Regional Kavyas 21. Sakalya Malla's Telangana Ramaya?a : The Udararaghava by David Shulman A. Spreading the News B. Poet and Wrestler C. Telangana Sanskrit D. Playing with Aspect and Mode E. Radical Retelling 22. The Classical Past in the Mughal Present: The Brajbhasha Riti Tradition by Allison Busch A. Literary Newness in Dialogue with Tradition B. New Directions in Indian Kavya : the Mancarit of Narottam Kavi C. The Self-presentation of the Orchha Court in the Virsim. hdevcarit of Kesavdas D. Being Sub-imperial: Multilayered Cultural Identity in the Lalitlalam of Matiram Tripat?i E. Conclusion 23. Poetry and Play in Kavikar?apura's Play Within the Play by Gary Tubb A. Playing with Sounds: The Role of Yamakas B. Th e Renunciation of Yamakas C. Playing with Identities: The Role of Roleplayings 24. Modernity in Sanskrit? Viswanatha Satyanarayana's Am?ta-sarmi??ham by Velcheru Narayana Rao A. Viswanatha Satyanarayana: An Introduction B. Am?ta-sarmi??ham : A Close Reading C. Modernity in Am?ta-sarmi??ham D. Minor Characters in the Play E. Sanskrit Drama in Performance 25. A Distant Mirror: Innovation and Change in the East Javanese Kakawin by Thomas M. Hunter A. Introduction B. Not Vakrokti C. Processions: A Thematic Link between Asvagho?a, Kalidasa, and the Kakawin Poets D. Airlangga and the Dawn of the Classical Kakawin Style E. The East Javanese Figural Tradition 1: Mpu Ka?wa and the Development of Techniques of Suggestion in the East Javanese Kakawin F. The East Javanese Figural Tradition II: The Question of Rasa and the Bha?a Kakawin Form of the Lyrical Verse G. The East Javanese Figural Tradition III: The Contributions of Mpu Panuluh H. The East Javanese Figural Tradition IV: Mpu Dharmaja and the Smaradahana I. Conclusion Notes on Editors and Contributors Index