Literature - No Comments » - Posted on July, 23 at 12:28 pm
Champu is a special form of Sanskrit literature. A Champu text consists of prose and poetry in same amount. The origin of this form cannot be traced due to lack of literary evidence. Da?di in his composition Kavyadarsha gives a definition of a Champu. Thus the form must be popular at his times.
The Champu literature available today is mostly from the tenth century CE. The famous texts in this category are The Nalachampu of Trivikrama, Ramayanachampu of Bhoja and vishvagunadarshachampu of Venkatadhvari.
Nalachampu depicts the story of the famous couple Nala and Damayanti. The composer of this Champu was the court poet of the Rashtrakuta king-Indra III. The text is famous for its double meanings or play on words used for playful enjoyment of the poetry. But overuse of these tactics makes the reading cumbersome for an amateur
The Ramayanachampu is composed by king Bhoja (1018-63 CE) of Paramara dynasty. The Champu describes the entire story of the epic Ramayana. The first five chapters till the description of Kishkindha are composed by Bhoja. The remaining part is completed by Lakshmana.
The third text is a bit different from the other of its kind. It describes the journey of Krushanu and Vishvavasu, the two Gandharvas who were travelling in an aeroplane. Krushanu thinks negatively about everything thus finding a fault in whatever he sees, while Vishvavasu, who is good natured is overwhelmed by the beauty of the subcontinent and talks about the positive aspects of whatever he sees.