A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s1.3

v3.c35.s1.3

Originally, even the old heroic poetry, that later became so popular, as we learn from the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, was courtly. The bards (sūtas), who were the carriers and propagators of this ballad lore, too, lived in the courts of the princes and sang to make their exploits known. They would accompany their patrons even to battlefields, so that on return they could sing of the exploits of the warriors. These court bards stood closer to the Kṣatriyas than to the learned Brāhmaṇas. Very often they worked as chariot-drivers of the warriors in these campaigns and participated in their ventures. It was, however, a time of unrest in which these heroic songs originated—an age of strifes and crude practices, when hunting, gambling, and competitive contests were favourite recreations of the princes. It was only during hours of rest, at banquet gatherings, victory celebrations, and on occasions of sacrificial performances that bards would recite their ballads². Firstly as life in courts became more refined, in place of these bards there came in more learned artisans who were brought up in the schools of the Brāhmaṇas and competed in scholarly contests with them. These poets described strifes and battles too merely on the basis of heresays in a mechanical manner. They would attach greater importance to the elegance of form and to erudition¹ than to the creative faculty or poetical talent. Writers of panegyrics who could sing in praise of their patrons in artistic verses were past masters in the poetic art. Apparently, panegyric constituted the original theme of this kind of poetry (for being sung publicly in courts). And this explains also the origin of the kāvya style, that is to say—the style of court poetry. The more the poet strained himself, the more he displayed his skill, the more difficult his work, and the prince felt flattered the more².