In the Indian mahākāvya epic genre, more emphasis was laid on description than on narration. Indeed, the traditional characteristics of a mahākāvya are listed as:

• It must take its subject matter from the epics (Ramayana or Mahabharata), or from history,
• It must help further the four goals of man (purusharthas),
• It must contain descriptions of cities, seas, mountains, moonrise and sunrise, and accounts of merrymaking in gardens, of bathing parties, drinking bouts, and love-making.
• It should tell the sorrow of separated lovers and should describe a wedding and the birth of a son.
• It should describe a king's council, an embassy, the marching forth of an army, a battle, and the victory of a hero.