'Dashakumaracharita' ('Tales of the Ten Princes'), a famous Sanskrit prose work, was composed by:

"Dashakumaracharita" ("The Tales of the Ten Princes") is a famous Sanskrit prose romance written by Dandin, probably in the late 7th or early 8th century CE.

About the Dashakumaracharita:

• It tells the adventures of ten young princes (kumaras), who are separated from each other and later reunited.
• Each prince narrates his own adventures, which include love affairs, magic, battles, tricks, thefts and political intrigues.
• It gives a lively picture of the society of the time, including kings, courtiers, merchants, courtesans, thieves, gamblers, ascetics and ordinary people.
• It is known for its realism and humour, which is different from many other Sanskrit works that deal mainly with kings and gods.
• Some parts of the text (the beginning and the end) are believed to have been added later by other writers.

About Dandin:

• He is believed to have lived in south India, and is traditionally associated with the court of the Pallavas at Kanchipuram.
• His other famous work is the "Kavyadarsha" ("Mirror of Poetry"), an important work on Sanskrit poetics (the theory of literature), which discusses the qualities and ornaments (alankaras) of poetry.
• The Kavyadarsha was very influential and was translated into Tibetan and other languages; it also influenced Kannada and Sinhala poetics.
• "Avantisundarikatha" is another work attributed to him.

Sanskrit prose literature:

Sanskrit prose romances are called "gadya kavya".

The three great prose writers of Sanskrit are:

• Dandin: Dashakumaracharita.
• Subandhu: "Vasavadatta".
• Banabhatta: "Kadambari" and "Harshacharita".
• Kadambari is considered the greatest Sanskrit prose romance, and the word "kadambari" has come to mean "novel" in some Indian languages, such as Kannada and Marathi.

Other works of the period:

Story collections like the Panchatantra and the Vetala stories.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Banabhatta wrote Kadambari and Harshacharita.
• ✗Subandhu wrote Vasavadatta.
• ✗Somadeva lived later and wrote other works.