Champu or Chapu-Kavya 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 and poetry passages, 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. Also Champu-kavya is seen 2nd century BC, in Rudradamana Girinars inscription on rocks. It is also seen in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and the other Mahakavyas and was a later development in the style of writing.
Works in Champu 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. In Telugu literature, the most acclaimed Champu work is Nannaya Bhattarakudu's Andhra Mahabharatam, produced around the 11th century, which is rendered in the Champu style, is so chaste and polished and of such a high literary merit.
Odia
is also replete with the champu style poetry. Baladev Rath, Banamali Das, Dinakrushna Das are some of the most famous poets who wrote Champu. In Odia literature too, there are numerous works in this genre. There is an added feature though- a Champu in Odia usually has 34 songs, one for each consonant of the alphabet. This rule, though absent in Sanskrit definitions is followed in most of the creations of the Champu genre in Odia. All lines of a song start with its assigned letter. The most famous work is 18th century poet Kabisurjya Baladev Rath's Kishorachandrananda Champu, often shortened to simplyKishori Champu. It narrates the tale of Radha and Krishna's romance in 34 songs.
, 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 and Adipurana in it, around 940 CE, and which served as the model for all future works in Kannada. In Kannada literature, this metre was popularised by the Chalukya court poets, like Adikavi Pampa 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, the saptapadi, the ashtaka, the shataka, hadugabba and free verse metres. Other works in Hoysala literature period were also in this style.
