Who is known as the Adi Kavi, the first poet, in Sanskrit literature?
- A.Vyasa
- B.Kalidasa
- C.Valmiki
- D.Ashvaghosha
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, who is called the Adi Kavi or first poet because tradition holds that the first verse of classical Sanskrit poetry came from him. The Ramayana is accordingly called the Adi Kavya, the first poem.
Option A, Vyasa, is credited with the Mahabharata, the longer of the two epics, and with arranging the Vedas, but the title of first poet is not his. Option B, Kalidasa, is the greatest poet and dramatist of the classical age and is often called the Shakespeare of India, a different honour altogether. Option D, Ashvaghosha, wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in verse, and is associated with the court of Kanishka. Keep the three titles apart: Adi Kavi for Valmiki, the epic of Vyasa for the Mahabharata, and the classical master for Kalidasa.
Read the full article: Classical Indian Literature: Books, Authors and Patrons
Practice Questions
View allThe Arthashastra, the ancient treatise on statecraft and administration, was written by whom?
- A.Vishakhadatta
- B.Kautilya
- C.Banabhatta
- D.Megasthenes
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The Arthashastra sets out the duties of a king, the working of ministers and spies, taxation, law, trade, agriculture and warfare, and it is one of the main sources for Mauryan administration.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following works was NOT written by Kalidasa?
- A.Meghaduta
- B.Raghuvamsha
- C.Mrichchhakatika
- D.Kumarasambhava
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That play, whose title means the little clay cart, was written by Shudraka, and it is unusual among Sanskrit dramas because its hero is an impoverished merchant and its plot turns on ordinary city life rather than on gods and kings.
Read the full explanation →Who was the author of Harshacharita and Kadambari?
- A.Banabhatta
- B.Bilhana
- C.Dandin
- D.Bhasa
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The Harshacharita is a biography of his patron and one of the earliest historical biographies written in Sanskrit, while Kadambari is a romance in ornate prose and is often described as one of the first novels in any Indian language.
Read the full explanation →Rajatarangini, a chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, was composed by whom?
- A.Somadeva
- B.Jayadeva
- C.Kalhana
- D.Kshemendra
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He wrote the Rajatarangini, whose name means the river of kings, in Kashmir in the twelfth century. Because he arranged rulers in order of time and used inscriptions, coins and earlier records, the work is treated as the earliest piece of history writing in India in the modern sense.
Read the full explanation →The Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi was composed by whom?
- A.Patanjali
- B.Panini
- C.Amarasimha
- D.Bharata Muni
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The Ashtadhyayi, meaning the work in eight chapters, fixed the rules of Sanskrit in a set of short formulas and is admired as the earliest scientific grammar of any language, since it describes the whole language through a compact system of rules.
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