The article is devoted to the structure of Sanskrit mahākāvyas in prose (kathā and ākhyāyikā) and verse (sargabandha). It seems that the origin of kathā is connected with the art of storytelling, whereas the roots of ākhyāyikā are in the heroic epic tradition, which facts influenced the inner organization of the texts belonging respectively to both genres. One of the main aims of sargabandha is to present the events from the past (described earlier also in the Mahābhārata or Rāmāyaṇa), however in accordance with theory and practice of kāvya tradition. Again, it has its impact on the text architecture as will be shown.
Review of the book: Aleksandra Szyszko, The Three Jewels of the Desert. The Ḍholā-Mārū Story: A Living Narrative Tradition of Northern India, Dom Wydawniczy ELIPSA, Warszawa 2012, str. 301.
The present paper stems from a field study initiated in 2006-2008 in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It aims at drawing a preliminary image of the hitherto unstudied art of avadhāna (Skt.: ‘attentivness, concentration’) of which aṣṭāvadhāna (literally: eightfold concentration) seems to be a better known variety. The paper presents a selection of epigraphic and literary evidence thereof and sketches a historical and social background of avadhāna to go with a report on the present position of its tradition of performance as well as prevailing set of rules