चम्पू

{ campūḥ, campū }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

CAMPŪ   A literary form of presenting a story in a mixture of prose and verse, and abounding in beautiful descriptions: “Gadyapadyamayaṁ kāvyaṁ Campūrityabhidhīyate”. Over and above prose and verse the Campūs use daṇḍakas (very long, involved and poetical prose). This literary form had its origin first in Sanskrit and other Indian languages adopted it with some variations. For instance, though prose in Sanskrit Campūs is really prose, that in Malayalam is something akin to metrical prose. There are more than two hundred Campūs in Malayalam. The most famous of the Campū writers in Malayālam are Punam Namboothiri, Mahāmaṅgalam Namboothiri and Nīlakaṇṭha.

A Sanskrit English Dictionary

चम्पू  f.  f. a kind of elaborate composition in which the same subject is continued through alternations in prose and verse ( गद्य and पद्य), [Kāvyâd. i, 31]; [Sāh. vi, 336]; [Pratāpar.] ( cf. गङ्गा-, नल-.)

The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary

चम्पूः [campūḥ]  f. f. A kind of elaborate and highly artificial composition in which the same subject is continued through alterations in prose and verse; गद्यपद्यमयं काव्यं चम्पूरित्यभिधीयते [S. D.569;] for instance भोजचम्पू, नलचम्पू, भारतचम्पू &c. -Comp.
-भारतम्  N. N. of a reproduction in prose and verse of the contents of the Mb. by Anantabhaṭṭa.
-रामायणम्  N. N. of a reproduction in prose and verse of the contents of the Rām. by Lakṣmanakavi.

Shabda-Sagara

चम्पू  f.  ( -म्पूः) A work in which the same subject is continued through alternations in the composition of prose and verse.
E. चम् to eat or be eaten, ऊ affix प inserted; what is relished by persons of taste.

ROOTS:

चम् ऊ प