Champu

Champu or Chapu-Kavya (Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A champu-kavya consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kavya) and poetry passages (Padya-Kavya), with verses interspersed among prose sections. We can see champu-kavya right from the Vedic period. Ithareya Brahmans Harishchandropakyana is the main example, that it is originated from Vedic period. Champu-kavya is seen in 2nd century AD, on rock inscription of Rudradaman, at Junagadh. It is also seen in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and the other Mahakavyas and was a later development in the style of writing. Adikavi Pampa, the Adikavi, one of the greatest Kannada poets of all time and one among the ratnatrayaru, pioneered this style when he wrote his classical works, Vikramarjuna Vijaya (Pampa Bharata) and Adipurana in it, around 940 CE, and which served as the model for all future works in Kannada. There is evidence to believe Gunavarma I ,the poet who flourished at the court of King Ereyappa (864-913 C.E),was the first poet to compose Kannada Champu Kavyas. His work includes Harivamsha and Shudraka. In Kannada literature, this metre was popularised by the Chalukya court poets, like Adikavi Pampa (902 CE -975 CE), who wrote his Adipurana in Champu style popularizing it. Also known as champu-kavya) was the most popular written form from the 9th century onwards, although it started to fall into disuse in the 12th century. When people moved towards other Sanskritic metres like tripadi (three line verse), the saptapadi (seven line verse), the ashtaka (eight line verse), the shataka (hundred-line verse), hadugabba (song-poem) and free verse metres. Other works in Hoysala literature period were also in this style. Telugu poets have used the champu way of rendering poetry. Krishnamaacharya carried this tradition of Champu Marga step further by putting his writings mainly in devotional prose called Vachana.