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Abstract
The mahākāvyas have been playing an important role in the society. The ethics and value drawn from mahākāvyas have been the center of the disciplined society from the time immemorial. However, it has been very difficult to draw a common definition of the mahākāvyas. Things are defined on certain basis of lakṣa – in justification of this statement Sanskrit rhetoricians have been defining mahākāvyas and other literary forms on the basis of the analysis made on the great epics Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and other works of Mahākavi Kālidāsa. Indian rhetoricians form a lakṣaṇa (definition) depending on lakṣa and this has been admitted by ānandavardhana as he has mentioned in the vṛtti of Dhvanyāloka – rāmāyaṇamahābhārataprabhṛtini lakṣye sarvatra prasiddhivyavahāraṁ lakṣayataṁ sahṛda yānāmānando manasi labhatāṁ pratisṭhām.[1]
[1] Dhvanyāloka, p.26