Bhattikavya

Bhaṭṭikāvya, or "Bhatti's Poem", is a Sanskrit-language poem dating from the 7th century CE, in the formal genre of "great poem" (mahākāvya). It focuses on two deeply rooted Sanskrit traditions, the Ramayana and Panini's grammar, while incorporating numerous other traditions, in a rich mix of science and art, poetically retelling the adventures of Rama and a compendium of examples of grammar and rhetoric. As literature, it is often considered to stand comparison with the best of Sanskrit poetry.

The Bhaṭṭikāvya also has Rāvaṇavadha ("The Death of Rāvaṇa") as an alternative title. It is improbable that this was the original title as Ravana's death is only one short episode in the whole poem. It may have acquired this title to distinguish it from other works concerning themselves with the deeds of Rāma.

The poem is the earliest example of an "instructional poem" or śāstra-kāvya. That is not a treatise written in verse but an imaginative piece of literature which is also intended to be instructive in specific subjects. To modern tastes, however, this can create an unpardonable artificiality in the composition. To the critics of late classical times in India technical virtuosity was much admired. Much of the Bhaṭṭikāvya's popular success could also be ascribed to the fact that it must have been useful as a textbook.

The author, Bhaṭṭi, describes himself at the end of the book:

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