Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c81.s1.7

v2.c81.s1.7

as already noted, in the case of *kathā* and *ākhyāyikā*, which rigid distinction is not admitted by Daṇḍin³. Poetry is classified, according to its form, into prose, verse and mixed (*miśra*), while language furnishes another *fundamentum divisionis* yielding four distinct groups, viz., *saṃskṛta*, *prākṛta*, *apabhraṃśa*⁴ and *miśra*, the last kind in both these divisions not being mentioned by Bhāmaha. The effect of combining these two principles of classification gives us four species of composition, viz., *sarga-bandha* (*mahākāvya*) *kathā*, *ākhyāyikā* and *campū*. Vāmana gives two divisions of both prose and verse, viz., *nibaddha* and *anibaddha* (connected and unconnected). He thinks that verse is of various kinds, but divides prose into three varieties, *vṛtta-gandhi* (savouring of verse), *cūrṇa* (having no long compounds and possessing sweet vocables), and *utkalikā-prāya* which is the opposite of *cūrṇa* (1. 3. 21-26).