Bana's "Kadambari" (7th century AD) is an outstanding monument of ancient Indian literature, recognized in the Indian tradition as the best work of Sanskrit prose. The novel has been translated into Russian for the first time. The translation is accompanied by an article that examines in detail the history of the Sanskrit novel, its specificity and place in world literature, as well as the principles of Sanskrit poetics, which provide the key to an adequate understanding and assessment of the content and stylistics of “Kadambari”.