“Kadambari” is a romantic novel in Sanskrit. It was written by
Baanabhatta in the first half of the 7th Century, who lived in the
court of King Harsha Deva. On completing the purvabhaaga he died and hence
according to the plan laid out by the late father, his son Bhushanabhatta wrote
Uttarabhaaga and completed the novel.
There are translations in English from the original Sanskrit text of
“Kadambarisangraha”, by Kale, Layne and Ridding. This is claimed to be the first
ever novel in the world.
The plot of the novel is adopted from the story of King Sumanas written
by Gunaaddhya as “Brihatkathaa” (a collection of stories from the now extinct
Paishachi language). This part ‘Kadambarisangraha’ being ‘Makharanthika upaakyaanam’
of ‘Brihatkathaa’.
This story also appears in Somadeva’s “Kathasarithasaagara” written in Sanskrit.
This story had been translated probably into most of the ancient Indian
languages like all sub-divisions of Prakrita.
This is very famous in Marathi and Kannada to the extent that the name
‘novel’ itself has been replaced by the word ‘Kadambari’ in these
languages.
This “Kadambari” has been abridged as “Kadambarisangraha” and further abridged as Laghu Kadambarisangraha" by Pandit.R.V.Krishnamachariar.
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Sanskrit Literature can be divided into two namely
Drushya = Naatakam
Adrushya = Sravyakavyam
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गध्यं कवीनां
निकेतम् वदन्ति ।
உறைநடை கவிகளுக்கு உறைக்கல் என்று
சொல்லுகின்றனர்.
कादम्बरी रसज्ञानाम् अहारेपि नरोच्छते ।
बानोच्छिष्टं जगत्सर्वम् ।
