ANCIENT INDIA
❖ Most of literature is religious: vedas,Epics,Jain and buddhist literature etc.
❖ Secular works: Most famous is Indica by Megasthenes (300 b.c.).Though original text of this work is lost,extensive quotations from it are seen in works of later authors.
❖ Lack of works with historical authenticity due to mixing of myths with history
Vedas and related literature
(Period:1500-1000 bc,language:sanskrit)
● four:rig,yajur,sama and atharva
● Rig veda : Oldest,1028 hymns.Indra is the chief god portrayed.
● Brahmanas contain detailed explanation of Vedic literature and aranyakas are an appendix to them
● Upanishads:Philosophical.eg:Mundaka,brihadaranyaka,chandogya etc
● “satyameva jayate” our national motto is from mundaka upanishad
The epics and post vedic literature:
● The epics : Mahabharata and ramayana
● The puranas : brahma,vishnu,agni,padma etc
● Addition to these texts may have taken place even during gupta age.eg:vayu purana,matsya purana etc refer to the gupta kings
● Smritis:Most famous being Manu Smriti.
Other works in sanskrit
● Kautilya's arthashastra,Vatsyayana's Kamasutra,Plays written by Bhasa.
● Panini’s ashtadhyayi & patanjali’s mahabhashya both on sanskrit grammar
● Buddhist texts in sanskrit:Mahavastu (collection of stories of hinayana school),Lalitavistara(of Mahayana school) and asvaghosha’s buddhacarita (period:1CE)
● Science based :susrutha samhita(on surgery) and charaka samhita (ayurveda)
Buddhist literature
Earliest buddhist literature were in Pali
● The tripitakas:vinaya pitaka(has rules of daily life),sutta pitaka(deals with morality) and abhidhamma pitaka (philosophy and metaphysics).
● Milinda-Panha:conversation between Indo greek king Menander and buddhist philosopher Nagasena
● Jataka tales:Concern the previous births of bodhisattva
● Works of Nagarjuna:most important being ‘Mulamadhyamakakarika’
Jain literature
Written mainly in prakrit
● Angas,Upangas, Prakirnas etc are jain works
● Bhadrabahu(Contemporary of chandragupta maurya) wrote kalpasutra, a biography of jain tirthankaras and Parisista parva was written by Hemachandra.
Literature during and after gupta age (approx 500C.E. to 1000 C.E.)
❖ Due to patronage received from the elite, creative works increased.Purpose of literature turned into entertainment also.More science based works too.
❖ Urban life and its features were often depicted in the plays.
Kalidasa and his works
(Period:not clear probably 5th century AD)
● Dramas:Abhijnanasakuntalam,malavikagnimitram and vikramorvasiyam
● Epic poems:Raghuvamsa and kumarasambhava
● Other major works:Meghasandesam (lyric) Ritusamhara(earliest work,poem)
● Among the nine gems of court vikramaditya.
Considered indian equivalent of shakespeare.His literature has simplicity,emotions and marks the pinnacle of ancient indian literature.
Other important works
● Plays: Visakhadatta’s Mudrarakshasa,shudraka’s Mrichcha-katika (means toy cart) Harsha vardhana’s Priyadarsika, Ratnavali, and the Nagananda.
● Poetry:Harisenas poetry about samudragupta, sisupalavadha by magha,kiratarjuniya by bharavi
● Science/rules:Natyasastra by Bharata,Varahamihira’s Brihat samhita and aryabhatiya by aryabhata,ashtanga hridaya by vagbhata
● Harsha charita and Kadambari by Banabhatta
● Panchatantra by vishnu sharma.
Tamil literature.
● Oldest dravidian language.
● Sangams were assemblies poets,bards and writers(mainly 100-300 C.E).They were patronised by kings and produced sangam literature.Of the three sangams most of literature received is from the third at madurai.Compiling of sangam works took place probably around 600 C.E.
● Sangam literature classified into:agam(related to love and sexuality) and puram (related to ethics,valour etc).Also classified on the basis of landscapes mullai (forests),Kurinji (mountains) marutham (agri-land) etc
● Major works in tamil:Tolkappiyam(earliest tamil;work on grammar),Thirukural or kural by thiruvalluvar,silapathikaram (an epic story of woman named Kannagi) by ilango adigal.
● Manimegalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi,Kundalakesi and silapathikaram are the 5 epics of tamil literature
N.B:Due to lack of authentic sources exact time period of most of ancient works is disputed.So dates mentioned may vary considerably depending on the source you choose to trust.
MEDIEVAL INDIA
❖ Rise of Hindi,Urdu and regional languages.This was partly due to the influence of bhakti tradition.The rapid growth of Bhakti movement lead to creation of large volume of literature in languages other than sanskrit and Gradual loss of importance of sanskrit
❖ Better importance to recording of history than in the past through works like Rajatarangini,Ain-e-Akbari and baburnama
Early works in sanskrit
● Kalhana’s Rajatarangini:One of the first works on history in india with authenticity.History of kashmiri kings from ancient times.
● Katha sarita sagara by somadeva(stories),Gita govinda by jayadeva(Poem)
● Siddhanta siromani by bhaskaracharya deals with mathematics.’Lilavati’ is part of this book.
Persian and Urdu
● Arabic and Persian were introduced in India with the coming of the Turks and the Mongols
● Urdu emerged as an independent language towards the end of the 4th century AD:born out of the interaction between Hindi and Persian.
● Amir khusrau: He produced a volume of literature including poetry. His works include Laila Majnun, Ayina-I-Sikandari,Hasht bahisht etc
● Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) enriched Urdu with his ghazals compositions
● Persian being court language was patronised.Akbar got Mahabharata translated into Persian.Faizi of his court was a major poet in Persian.
Works on Sultanate and mughal rulers (language Persian mostly)
Book Author Remarks
Tabaqat-e-Nasiri Minhaj Siraj Mainly on Ghurids and some info on early sultanate
Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi Zia-ud-din Barani Period of Balban to the first six years of Firuz Shah Tughluq
Kitab ur Rehla Ibn battuta history of Muhammad Tughluq
Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi. Yahya bin Ahmad A detailed account of reign of Mubarak Shah of sayyid dynasty
Tuzk-e Babri/Babur nama Babur First written in turkic translated to persian during Akbars time
Humayun Nama Gulbadan begum
Akbarnama and Ain-e-Akbari Abul Fazl(1551-1602) One of the best works of the period
Regional languages
Telugu
● Extended patronage by Vijayanagara rulers.
● Amukta malyada by Krishnadevaraya and manucharitam by allasani pedanna (known as Andrapitamaha) are examples
● Tenali ramakrishna,known for his jokes produced a great poetical work called pandu ranga mahatmyam.
Kannada
● Language Developed fully after 10th century A.D.
● Kavirajamarga written by rashtrakuta king ‘Nrupatunga’ Amoghavarsha I is the earliest available kannada literary work(850 C.E)
● Pampa, Ponna and Ranna are called 3 gems of kannada literature.
● Contributions were made by Basava and Akka mahadevi , both leaders of veerashaiva bhakti movement ,through their vachanas,a type of poetry.
● Under Hoysalas(approx 1200C.E) major names were:
○ Harishvara: wrote girija kalyana,Raghavanka:wrote Harischandra kavya
○ Rudrabhatta:wrote jagannatha vijaya
○ On Grammar:Kesirja’s Shabdamani Darpana
● Vijayanagara period and later :
○ Translations of Epics: Kumaravyasa’s Bharatha, Kumara valmiki’s torave ramayana and Lakshmisha’s Jaïmini Bharata (1550)
○ Sarvajna,known as peoples poet wrote his tripadis.
Hindi
● Different dialects of hindi include Braj Bhasha,Avadhi , Bhojpuri, Magadhi etc
● Prithviraj Raso by chand bardai(1149-1200) is the first major book in hindi
● Bhakti movement had strong influence on hindi language in the later period
● In Avadhi:
○ Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi(The famous allaudin khilji-chittor-rani padmini story)
○ Ramcharitmanas by Tulsi das(based on Valmiki’s Ramayana but does not mention exile of sitha after return to ayodhya)
● In Braj bhasha:
○ Sur Sagar by Sur Das
○ Vinaya Patrika by Tulasidas
● Kabir who belonged to Nirguna school(belief in formless god) used sadhu khadi(a mixture of dialects along with persian and urdu words)in his dohas and poetry.
● Nandadasa was another Bhakti poet.Kavi bhushan (1613-1712) a supporter of shivaji.
Other regional languages
Language Writer(Period) Works Remarks
Marathi Jnaneshwar(1275-96)
Namdev (1270-1350)
Eknath(1533-1599)
Tukaram (1598-1650)
Ramdas (1608-81) Amruthanubav
Bhavarh deepika
commentaries on Ramayana and Bhagawat Purana
Earliest marathi works
Greatest Bhakti poet
He was guru of Shivaji
Gujarati Narsih Mehto (1414-1481) Vaishnava poetry The hymn “Vyshnava jan to” is his work
Tamil Kambar(12th century)
Azhvars
Nayanmars Kambaramayanam
Bhakti songs
Bhakti poets translation of valmiki ramayanam.
Vaishnava bhakti saints
They were 10or12
Saiva saints
About 60 in number
Malayalam
(evolved by 14th century.) Ezhuthachan
Poonthanam
Cherusseri ( 1375 - 1475) AdhyatmaRamayanam Mahabharatham
Njanappana
Krishnagadha Father of malayalam language
Hymns in Bhakti tradition
Oriya Saraladasa(15th cent)
Upendra Bhanja (1670 - 1720) Translated mahabharata
Baidehisha Bilasa Labanyabati First works of oriya literature
New Era of oriya
MODERN INDIAN LITERATURE
❖ Gradual change from court literature to other areas of creativity.
❖ Influenced by thoughts of nationalism,rationalism,western education etc
❖ New form of literatures like Novels began to spread.Printing helped.
Bengali literature
● Underwent revival and reform as part of bengal renaissance towards end 19th century
● Among the first writers of modern bengali is Michael Madhusudan Dutt whose greatest work is ‘Meghnad Badh Kabya’
Bankim chandra chattopadhyaya(1838-94)
● Wrote many novels.First was Durgesh nandini(1865) Anand math (1882) is famous for vande mataram.
● Considered among the first of nationalist literature movement
● A anti-muslim or pro-hindu bias seen in his works has often been debated.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
● Congress member and known for nationalist literature
● Wrote on the plight of women and questioned the values of middle class
● Works:Parineeta,Devdas(both adapted as films),Pather Dabi(A novel that idolized violent revolution) etc
Others
● Tarashankar Bandopadhyay who wrote dhatri devata, ganadevata and panchagram depicted village life and its disintegration in his works
● Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay whose work pather panchali and aparajito became the basis of apu trilogy by satyajit ray
● Kazi Nazrul Islam-national poet of Bangladesh wrote ghazals.
● J.C.bose laid the foundations of science fiction in bengali.
Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941)
● son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of Brahmo Samaj
● The nobel prize winning work Gitanjali had introduction by W.B Yeats.
● Satyajit Ray's films Teen Kanya, Charulata,Ghare Baire are based on tagore's works
● Amar sonar bangla,national anthem of bangladesh was written in response against partition of bengal in 1905
Tagore list of works
Type Work
Poems ● Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One]
● Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat],
● Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings]
● Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs]
● Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]
Novels/short stories ● Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber]
● Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office]
● Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable]
● Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall]
● Raktakarabi (1926) [Red Oleanders]
Plays ● Gora (1910)
● Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World]
● Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]
Memoirs/Autobiography ● Jivansmriti(1912)
● Chelebela(1940)
N.B:Since its impossible to include all works of tagore am listing only the ones mentioned in nobelprize.org -the official website for nobel prize
On his works:(points taken from Amartya sen’s essay on Tagore)
● Tagore was an immensely versatile poet;
● he was also a great short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, and composer of songs, as well as a talented painter
● His essays, ranged over literature, politics, culture, social change, religious beliefs, philosophical analysis, international relations etc
● His outlook was persistently non-sectarian, and his writings show the influence of different parts of the Indian cultural background as well as of the rest of the world.
● His works,even when influenced by spirituality and ancient texts is rooted in humanity.
Gandhi :“Tagore greatly admired Gandhi but he had many disagreements with him on a variety of subjects, including nationalism, patriotism, the importance of cultural exchange, the role of rationality and of science, and the nature of economic and social development. These differences,I shall argue,have a clear and consistent pattern, with Tagore pressing for more room for reasoning,and for a less traditionalist view,a greater interest in the rest of the world,and more respect for science and for objectivity generally”
Modern Hindi literature
Hindi language stated its modern phase in 18th century.Noteworthy people are:
Bharatendu Harishchandra(1850-1885)
● Father of modern hindi literature.
● Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives Bharatendu Harishchandra awards to encourage original and creative writing in Hindi on Mass Communication.
● Tried to depict India’s poverty, sufferings, cruel exploitation & to deliver patriotic messages through his writings.
Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi
● Dwivedi Yug(1893-1918)of hindi literature is named after him.
● Poetry dedicated to nationalism and reforms were a feature of this phase.
● Maithili sharan gupt was another important writer of the same period.
Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)
● Towering giant in hindi fiction and nationalist literature.
● 3 novels : Karmabhumi, Rangbhumi and Godaan are extremely nationalistic and also has veiled criticism of politics of the period
● Godaan is one of the greatest novels of hindi and shows the exploitation of poor
● Other major works,Novel:Sevasadan,Nirmala,kayakalp.Short stories: Pareeksha, Balidan,shatranj ke khiladi(made to film by ray)
Chhayavadi Yug:
● Part of modern hindi poetry,this phase is marked by increase in romantic content of poems.
● Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma and Sumitranandan Pant, are the four major Chhayavadi poets.
● Prasad’s Kamayani(1935),Nirala’s Anamika (1923) Pant’s Vina (1927) etc are major works of the movement.
● Mahadevi Varma highlighted the plight of women in our society in her classical work Shrinkhala ki kadiyaan.She is the first major Feminist writer in hindi.
Nakenwad movement is another major movement in hindi literature pioneered by Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma
Indian English literature
❖ Only about 150 years old.
❖ considerable contribution from writers of indian origin and indians abroad in the post independence period
Early writers in english in india include
R.C.Dutt:Translated indian epics into english and wrote The economic history of india
● Sarojini Naidu:One among first to write poems in english.Works include The indian weavers,The feather of the dawn,In the bazaars of hyderabad etc
● Aurobindo ghosh Translated many indian scriptures into english including Gita.He also wrote extensively on philosophy.
The three giants of early indian english literature are Mulk raj anand,R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao
Mulk Raj anand (1905-2004)
● Famous for his work “The untouchable”(1935).It has an introduction by E.M.Forster
● The untouchable is story of Bakha-a manual scavenger.
● other novels:Coolie(1936),Across the black waters (1939),The Sword and the Sickle (1942)
R.K.Narayan (1906-2001)
● Most of his works are based in a fictional town named malgudi.
● Major works :Swami and his friends,The english teacher,The guide(won sahitya academy award),The world of Nagaraj,The mahabharata,The ramayana etc.
Raja Rao (1908-2006)
● Works deeply influenced by hinduism.
● Won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature 1988
● Works:Kanthapura (1938),The Serpent and the Rope (1960,sahitya academy award),The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988),The Policeman and the Rose (1978),The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi, biography (1998) etc
Others(list of works are non exhaustive)
Writer Type Book
Salman Rushdie ● Novel
● childrens books Midnight's children(1981)
satanic verses(1988)
The enchantress of florence(2008)
Haroun and sea of stories
Kamala surayya ● Poetry
● Novel The sirens(Asian poetry prize)
The alphabet of lust
Nirad.C.Chaudhuri ● non fiction The autobiography of an unknown indian (1951)
The continent circe (1965)(Duff cooper memorial prize)
Scholar extraordinary(1974,on max muller,sahitya academy award)
Vikram seth ● Novel The golden gate (1986)
A suitable boy (1994)
Ruskin Bond ● Novel A Flight of Pigeons
The India I love
The Blue Umbrella
Khushwant singh ● Novel
● Autobiography Train to pakistan (1956)
Truth love and a little malice
Amitav ghosh ● Novel The circle of reason(1986)
The sea of poppies(2008)
Booker Prize winners
Writer Book Year
Arundhati Roy The god of small things 1997
Kiran Desai The inheritance of loss 2006
Aravind Adiga The white tiger 2008
N.B:1)Salman rushdie(1981,Midnights children) was born in India but is a citizen of U.K.
● V.S.Naipaul and Jhumpa lahiri are prominent writers of indian origin.Naipaul is a nobel and booker winner and jhumpa a pulitzer prize winner(had nomination for 2013 booker)
Other languages:
Its impossible to mention in details modern literature of all regional languages due to the enormous volume of literature produced in the modern age due to the full development of almost all major languages.I am choosing to mention some names from some languages here.
Language Writers
Assamese Hemachandra Barua (1835-96)
Lakshminath Bezbarua (1864-1938)
Bhabananda dutta(1919-59)
Gujarati Dalpatram(1820-98)
Narmad
Govardhanram Thripati
K.M.Munshi
Raman Lal
Kannada B M Shri(father of modern kannada lit)
S.L.Bhyrappa
U.R.Ananthamurthy(navya movement)
Malayalam 1)Kumaran Asan(1873-1924)
2)Ulloor
3)Vallathol(1-3 called modern triad in mal lit)
Chandu menon(first proper novel in Mal)
Thakazhi
Vaikom muhammad basheer
Marathi Sane Guruji (wrote shyamchi Aai)
Vishnu Skayam Khandekar(wrote Yayati)
Oriya Gopinath mohanty
Radhanath ray(1848-1908)
Tamil Subramanya bharathi
Bharathidasan
Kannadasan
Kalki
Telugu Veeresalingam pantulu(1848-1919)
Gurajada appa rao (1861-1915)
Viswanatha satyanarayana(1895-1976)
Unnava lakshminarayana
Jnanpith awards
Jnanpith award along with sahitya akademi fellowship is the most prestigious of indian literary awards.Awarded by a trust founded by Sahu jain family(Times of india group)
● G.Sankara kurup (malayalam) was the first winner
● Ravuri Bharadhwaja(telugu) was the last to be awarded
Women winners of jnanpith
Name Language works
Ashapoorna Devi Bengali
1976 Pratham Pratisruti*
Swarnlata
Bukul Katha Known for her strong female characters
Amrita Pritam Punjabi
1981 Kagaj te Canvas*
Sunehe(won sahitya academy award)
Pinjar(made into film)
First prominent punjabi women poet
First jnanpith for punabi
First woman to win sahitya academy award
Mahadevi varma Hindi
1982 Yama*
Deepshika
Agnirekha 1 of the 4 chhayavadi greats
Quratulain hyder Urdu
1989 Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar*
Patjhar Ki Awaz 1st woman from urdu to get the award
Mahashweta devi Bengali
1996 Hajar Churashir Maa*
The Queen of Jhansi Magsaysay award winner
prominent activist for tribal rights,against land acquisition in west bengal
Indira goswami assamese
2000 Chinnavar Srota (The Chenab's Current)
Datal Hatir Une Khowa Howda (The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker )
Chinnamastar Manuh To (The Man from Chinnamasta) Was prominent in assam social scene especially as mediator between GOI and ULFA
Pratibha Ray Oriya
*Won the award for this work
Table of major works by indian leaders
Name Books
Jawaharlal Nehru Discovery of india
Glimpses of world history
An autobiography
Rajendra prasad India divided
Maulana Azad India Wins Freedom
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Indian Philosophy
Hindu View of Life
R Venkataraman My Presidential Years
PV Narasimha Rao The Insider
I.K.Gujral Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography
L. K. Advani My Country My Life
Hamid ansari Travelling through conflict:essays on west asia
Prepared by: Rohit.Nandakumar
Reference
1. Ignou notes : Nationalist literature,INdian literature
2. NIOS notes :Indian languages and literature
3. www.nobel-prize.org
4. Sahitya academy books on modern indian literature and medieval indian iterature
5. Romila thapar:History of india from origins to AD 1300
6. Medieval india by Satish Chandra
7. Blogs on the subject
❖ Most of literature is religious: vedas,Epics,Jain and buddhist literature etc.
❖ Secular works: Most famous is Indica by Megasthenes (300 b.c.).Though original text of this work is lost,extensive quotations from it are seen in works of later authors.
❖ Lack of works with historical authenticity due to mixing of myths with history
Vedas and related literature
(Period:1500-1000 bc,language:sanskrit)
● four:rig,yajur,sama and atharva
● Rig veda : Oldest,1028 hymns.Indra is the chief god portrayed.
● Brahmanas contain detailed explanation of Vedic literature and aranyakas are an appendix to them
● Upanishads:Philosophical.eg:Mundaka,brihadaranyaka,chandogya etc
● “satyameva jayate” our national motto is from mundaka upanishad
The epics and post vedic literature:
● The epics : Mahabharata and ramayana
● The puranas : brahma,vishnu,agni,padma etc
● Addition to these texts may have taken place even during gupta age.eg:vayu purana,matsya purana etc refer to the gupta kings
● Smritis:Most famous being Manu Smriti.
Other works in sanskrit
● Kautilya's arthashastra,Vatsyayana's Kamasutra,Plays written by Bhasa.
● Panini’s ashtadhyayi & patanjali’s mahabhashya both on sanskrit grammar
● Buddhist texts in sanskrit:Mahavastu (collection of stories of hinayana school),Lalitavistara(of Mahayana school) and asvaghosha’s buddhacarita (period:1CE)
● Science based :susrutha samhita(on surgery) and charaka samhita (ayurveda)
Buddhist literature
Earliest buddhist literature were in Pali
● The tripitakas:vinaya pitaka(has rules of daily life),sutta pitaka(deals with morality) and abhidhamma pitaka (philosophy and metaphysics).
● Milinda-Panha:conversation between Indo greek king Menander and buddhist philosopher Nagasena
● Jataka tales:Concern the previous births of bodhisattva
● Works of Nagarjuna:most important being ‘Mulamadhyamakakarika’
Jain literature
Written mainly in prakrit
● Angas,Upangas, Prakirnas etc are jain works
● Bhadrabahu(Contemporary of chandragupta maurya) wrote kalpasutra, a biography of jain tirthankaras and Parisista parva was written by Hemachandra.
Literature during and after gupta age (approx 500C.E. to 1000 C.E.)
❖ Due to patronage received from the elite, creative works increased.Purpose of literature turned into entertainment also.More science based works too.
❖ Urban life and its features were often depicted in the plays.
Kalidasa and his works
(Period:not clear probably 5th century AD)
● Dramas:Abhijnanasakuntalam,malavikagnimitram and vikramorvasiyam
● Epic poems:Raghuvamsa and kumarasambhava
● Other major works:Meghasandesam (lyric) Ritusamhara(earliest work,poem)
● Among the nine gems of court vikramaditya.
Considered indian equivalent of shakespeare.His literature has simplicity,emotions and marks the pinnacle of ancient indian literature.
Other important works
● Plays: Visakhadatta’s Mudrarakshasa,shudraka’s Mrichcha-katika (means toy cart) Harsha vardhana’s Priyadarsika, Ratnavali, and the Nagananda.
● Poetry:Harisenas poetry about samudragupta, sisupalavadha by magha,kiratarjuniya by bharavi
● Science/rules:Natyasastra by Bharata,Varahamihira’s Brihat samhita and aryabhatiya by aryabhata,ashtanga hridaya by vagbhata
● Harsha charita and Kadambari by Banabhatta
● Panchatantra by vishnu sharma.
Tamil literature.
● Oldest dravidian language.
● Sangams were assemblies poets,bards and writers(mainly 100-300 C.E).They were patronised by kings and produced sangam literature.Of the three sangams most of literature received is from the third at madurai.Compiling of sangam works took place probably around 600 C.E.
● Sangam literature classified into:agam(related to love and sexuality) and puram (related to ethics,valour etc).Also classified on the basis of landscapes mullai (forests),Kurinji (mountains) marutham (agri-land) etc
● Major works in tamil:Tolkappiyam(earliest tamil;work on grammar),Thirukural or kural by thiruvalluvar,silapathikaram (an epic story of woman named Kannagi) by ilango adigal.
● Manimegalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi,Kundalakesi and silapathikaram are the 5 epics of tamil literature
N.B:Due to lack of authentic sources exact time period of most of ancient works is disputed.So dates mentioned may vary considerably depending on the source you choose to trust.
MEDIEVAL INDIA
❖ Rise of Hindi,Urdu and regional languages.This was partly due to the influence of bhakti tradition.The rapid growth of Bhakti movement lead to creation of large volume of literature in languages other than sanskrit and Gradual loss of importance of sanskrit
❖ Better importance to recording of history than in the past through works like Rajatarangini,Ain-e-Akbari and baburnama
Early works in sanskrit
● Kalhana’s Rajatarangini:One of the first works on history in india with authenticity.History of kashmiri kings from ancient times.
● Katha sarita sagara by somadeva(stories),Gita govinda by jayadeva(Poem)
● Siddhanta siromani by bhaskaracharya deals with mathematics.’Lilavati’ is part of this book.
Persian and Urdu
● Arabic and Persian were introduced in India with the coming of the Turks and the Mongols
● Urdu emerged as an independent language towards the end of the 4th century AD:born out of the interaction between Hindi and Persian.
● Amir khusrau: He produced a volume of literature including poetry. His works include Laila Majnun, Ayina-I-Sikandari,Hasht bahisht etc
● Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) enriched Urdu with his ghazals compositions
● Persian being court language was patronised.Akbar got Mahabharata translated into Persian.Faizi of his court was a major poet in Persian.
Works on Sultanate and mughal rulers (language Persian mostly)
Book Author Remarks
Tabaqat-e-Nasiri Minhaj Siraj Mainly on Ghurids and some info on early sultanate
Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi Zia-ud-din Barani Period of Balban to the first six years of Firuz Shah Tughluq
Kitab ur Rehla Ibn battuta history of Muhammad Tughluq
Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi. Yahya bin Ahmad A detailed account of reign of Mubarak Shah of sayyid dynasty
Tuzk-e Babri/Babur nama Babur First written in turkic translated to persian during Akbars time
Humayun Nama Gulbadan begum
Akbarnama and Ain-e-Akbari Abul Fazl(1551-1602) One of the best works of the period
Regional languages
Telugu
● Extended patronage by Vijayanagara rulers.
● Amukta malyada by Krishnadevaraya and manucharitam by allasani pedanna (known as Andrapitamaha) are examples
● Tenali ramakrishna,known for his jokes produced a great poetical work called pandu ranga mahatmyam.
Kannada
● Language Developed fully after 10th century A.D.
● Kavirajamarga written by rashtrakuta king ‘Nrupatunga’ Amoghavarsha I is the earliest available kannada literary work(850 C.E)
● Pampa, Ponna and Ranna are called 3 gems of kannada literature.
● Contributions were made by Basava and Akka mahadevi , both leaders of veerashaiva bhakti movement ,through their vachanas,a type of poetry.
● Under Hoysalas(approx 1200C.E) major names were:
○ Harishvara: wrote girija kalyana,Raghavanka:wrote Harischandra kavya
○ Rudrabhatta:wrote jagannatha vijaya
○ On Grammar:Kesirja’s Shabdamani Darpana
● Vijayanagara period and later :
○ Translations of Epics: Kumaravyasa’s Bharatha, Kumara valmiki’s torave ramayana and Lakshmisha’s Jaïmini Bharata (1550)
○ Sarvajna,known as peoples poet wrote his tripadis.
Hindi
● Different dialects of hindi include Braj Bhasha,Avadhi , Bhojpuri, Magadhi etc
● Prithviraj Raso by chand bardai(1149-1200) is the first major book in hindi
● Bhakti movement had strong influence on hindi language in the later period
● In Avadhi:
○ Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi(The famous allaudin khilji-chittor-rani padmini story)
○ Ramcharitmanas by Tulsi das(based on Valmiki’s Ramayana but does not mention exile of sitha after return to ayodhya)
● In Braj bhasha:
○ Sur Sagar by Sur Das
○ Vinaya Patrika by Tulasidas
● Kabir who belonged to Nirguna school(belief in formless god) used sadhu khadi(a mixture of dialects along with persian and urdu words)in his dohas and poetry.
● Nandadasa was another Bhakti poet.Kavi bhushan (1613-1712) a supporter of shivaji.
Other regional languages
Language Writer(Period) Works Remarks
Marathi Jnaneshwar(1275-96)
Namdev (1270-1350)
Eknath(1533-1599)
Tukaram (1598-1650)
Ramdas (1608-81) Amruthanubav
Bhavarh deepika
commentaries on Ramayana and Bhagawat Purana
Earliest marathi works
Greatest Bhakti poet
He was guru of Shivaji
Gujarati Narsih Mehto (1414-1481) Vaishnava poetry The hymn “Vyshnava jan to” is his work
Tamil Kambar(12th century)
Azhvars
Nayanmars Kambaramayanam
Bhakti songs
Bhakti poets translation of valmiki ramayanam.
Vaishnava bhakti saints
They were 10or12
Saiva saints
About 60 in number
Malayalam
(evolved by 14th century.) Ezhuthachan
Poonthanam
Cherusseri ( 1375 - 1475) AdhyatmaRamayanam Mahabharatham
Njanappana
Krishnagadha Father of malayalam language
Hymns in Bhakti tradition
Oriya Saraladasa(15th cent)
Upendra Bhanja (1670 - 1720) Translated mahabharata
Baidehisha Bilasa Labanyabati First works of oriya literature
New Era of oriya
MODERN INDIAN LITERATURE
❖ Gradual change from court literature to other areas of creativity.
❖ Influenced by thoughts of nationalism,rationalism,western education etc
❖ New form of literatures like Novels began to spread.Printing helped.
Bengali literature
● Underwent revival and reform as part of bengal renaissance towards end 19th century
● Among the first writers of modern bengali is Michael Madhusudan Dutt whose greatest work is ‘Meghnad Badh Kabya’
Bankim chandra chattopadhyaya(1838-94)
● Wrote many novels.First was Durgesh nandini(1865) Anand math (1882) is famous for vande mataram.
● Considered among the first of nationalist literature movement
● A anti-muslim or pro-hindu bias seen in his works has often been debated.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
● Congress member and known for nationalist literature
● Wrote on the plight of women and questioned the values of middle class
● Works:Parineeta,Devdas(both adapted as films),Pather Dabi(A novel that idolized violent revolution) etc
Others
● Tarashankar Bandopadhyay who wrote dhatri devata, ganadevata and panchagram depicted village life and its disintegration in his works
● Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay whose work pather panchali and aparajito became the basis of apu trilogy by satyajit ray
● Kazi Nazrul Islam-national poet of Bangladesh wrote ghazals.
● J.C.bose laid the foundations of science fiction in bengali.
Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941)
● son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of Brahmo Samaj
● The nobel prize winning work Gitanjali had introduction by W.B Yeats.
● Satyajit Ray's films Teen Kanya, Charulata,Ghare Baire are based on tagore's works
● Amar sonar bangla,national anthem of bangladesh was written in response against partition of bengal in 1905
Tagore list of works
Type Work
Poems ● Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One]
● Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat],
● Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings]
● Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs]
● Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]
Novels/short stories ● Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber]
● Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office]
● Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable]
● Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall]
● Raktakarabi (1926) [Red Oleanders]
Plays ● Gora (1910)
● Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World]
● Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]
Memoirs/Autobiography ● Jivansmriti(1912)
● Chelebela(1940)
N.B:Since its impossible to include all works of tagore am listing only the ones mentioned in nobelprize.org -the official website for nobel prize
On his works:(points taken from Amartya sen’s essay on Tagore)
● Tagore was an immensely versatile poet;
● he was also a great short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, and composer of songs, as well as a talented painter
● His essays, ranged over literature, politics, culture, social change, religious beliefs, philosophical analysis, international relations etc
● His outlook was persistently non-sectarian, and his writings show the influence of different parts of the Indian cultural background as well as of the rest of the world.
● His works,even when influenced by spirituality and ancient texts is rooted in humanity.
Gandhi :“Tagore greatly admired Gandhi but he had many disagreements with him on a variety of subjects, including nationalism, patriotism, the importance of cultural exchange, the role of rationality and of science, and the nature of economic and social development. These differences,I shall argue,have a clear and consistent pattern, with Tagore pressing for more room for reasoning,and for a less traditionalist view,a greater interest in the rest of the world,and more respect for science and for objectivity generally”
Modern Hindi literature
Hindi language stated its modern phase in 18th century.Noteworthy people are:
Bharatendu Harishchandra(1850-1885)
● Father of modern hindi literature.
● Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives Bharatendu Harishchandra awards to encourage original and creative writing in Hindi on Mass Communication.
● Tried to depict India’s poverty, sufferings, cruel exploitation & to deliver patriotic messages through his writings.
Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi
● Dwivedi Yug(1893-1918)of hindi literature is named after him.
● Poetry dedicated to nationalism and reforms were a feature of this phase.
● Maithili sharan gupt was another important writer of the same period.
Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)
● Towering giant in hindi fiction and nationalist literature.
● 3 novels : Karmabhumi, Rangbhumi and Godaan are extremely nationalistic and also has veiled criticism of politics of the period
● Godaan is one of the greatest novels of hindi and shows the exploitation of poor
● Other major works,Novel:Sevasadan,Nirmala,kayakalp.Short stories: Pareeksha, Balidan,shatranj ke khiladi(made to film by ray)
Chhayavadi Yug:
● Part of modern hindi poetry,this phase is marked by increase in romantic content of poems.
● Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma and Sumitranandan Pant, are the four major Chhayavadi poets.
● Prasad’s Kamayani(1935),Nirala’s Anamika (1923) Pant’s Vina (1927) etc are major works of the movement.
● Mahadevi Varma highlighted the plight of women in our society in her classical work Shrinkhala ki kadiyaan.She is the first major Feminist writer in hindi.
Nakenwad movement is another major movement in hindi literature pioneered by Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma
Indian English literature
❖ Only about 150 years old.
❖ considerable contribution from writers of indian origin and indians abroad in the post independence period
Early writers in english in india include
R.C.Dutt:Translated indian epics into english and wrote The economic history of india
● Sarojini Naidu:One among first to write poems in english.Works include The indian weavers,The feather of the dawn,In the bazaars of hyderabad etc
● Aurobindo ghosh Translated many indian scriptures into english including Gita.He also wrote extensively on philosophy.
The three giants of early indian english literature are Mulk raj anand,R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao
Mulk Raj anand (1905-2004)
● Famous for his work “The untouchable”(1935).It has an introduction by E.M.Forster
● The untouchable is story of Bakha-a manual scavenger.
● other novels:Coolie(1936),Across the black waters (1939),The Sword and the Sickle (1942)
R.K.Narayan (1906-2001)
● Most of his works are based in a fictional town named malgudi.
● Major works :Swami and his friends,The english teacher,The guide(won sahitya academy award),The world of Nagaraj,The mahabharata,The ramayana etc.
Raja Rao (1908-2006)
● Works deeply influenced by hinduism.
● Won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature 1988
● Works:Kanthapura (1938),The Serpent and the Rope (1960,sahitya academy award),The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988),The Policeman and the Rose (1978),The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi, biography (1998) etc
Others(list of works are non exhaustive)
Writer Type Book
Salman Rushdie ● Novel
● childrens books Midnight's children(1981)
satanic verses(1988)
The enchantress of florence(2008)
Haroun and sea of stories
Kamala surayya ● Poetry
● Novel The sirens(Asian poetry prize)
The alphabet of lust
Nirad.C.Chaudhuri ● non fiction The autobiography of an unknown indian (1951)
The continent circe (1965)(Duff cooper memorial prize)
Scholar extraordinary(1974,on max muller,sahitya academy award)
Vikram seth ● Novel The golden gate (1986)
A suitable boy (1994)
Ruskin Bond ● Novel A Flight of Pigeons
The India I love
The Blue Umbrella
Khushwant singh ● Novel
● Autobiography Train to pakistan (1956)
Truth love and a little malice
Amitav ghosh ● Novel The circle of reason(1986)
The sea of poppies(2008)
Booker Prize winners
Writer Book Year
Arundhati Roy The god of small things 1997
Kiran Desai The inheritance of loss 2006
Aravind Adiga The white tiger 2008
N.B:1)Salman rushdie(1981,Midnights children) was born in India but is a citizen of U.K.
● V.S.Naipaul and Jhumpa lahiri are prominent writers of indian origin.Naipaul is a nobel and booker winner and jhumpa a pulitzer prize winner(had nomination for 2013 booker)
Other languages:
Its impossible to mention in details modern literature of all regional languages due to the enormous volume of literature produced in the modern age due to the full development of almost all major languages.I am choosing to mention some names from some languages here.
Language Writers
Assamese Hemachandra Barua (1835-96)
Lakshminath Bezbarua (1864-1938)
Bhabananda dutta(1919-59)
Gujarati Dalpatram(1820-98)
Narmad
Govardhanram Thripati
K.M.Munshi
Raman Lal
Kannada B M Shri(father of modern kannada lit)
S.L.Bhyrappa
U.R.Ananthamurthy(navya movement)
Malayalam 1)Kumaran Asan(1873-1924)
2)Ulloor
3)Vallathol(1-3 called modern triad in mal lit)
Chandu menon(first proper novel in Mal)
Thakazhi
Vaikom muhammad basheer
Marathi Sane Guruji (wrote shyamchi Aai)
Vishnu Skayam Khandekar(wrote Yayati)
Oriya Gopinath mohanty
Radhanath ray(1848-1908)
Tamil Subramanya bharathi
Bharathidasan
Kannadasan
Kalki
Telugu Veeresalingam pantulu(1848-1919)
Gurajada appa rao (1861-1915)
Viswanatha satyanarayana(1895-1976)
Unnava lakshminarayana
Jnanpith awards
Jnanpith award along with sahitya akademi fellowship is the most prestigious of indian literary awards.Awarded by a trust founded by Sahu jain family(Times of india group)
● G.Sankara kurup (malayalam) was the first winner
● Ravuri Bharadhwaja(telugu) was the last to be awarded
Women winners of jnanpith
Name Language works
Ashapoorna Devi Bengali
1976 Pratham Pratisruti*
Swarnlata
Bukul Katha Known for her strong female characters
Amrita Pritam Punjabi
1981 Kagaj te Canvas*
Sunehe(won sahitya academy award)
Pinjar(made into film)
First prominent punjabi women poet
First jnanpith for punabi
First woman to win sahitya academy award
Mahadevi varma Hindi
1982 Yama*
Deepshika
Agnirekha 1 of the 4 chhayavadi greats
Quratulain hyder Urdu
1989 Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar*
Patjhar Ki Awaz 1st woman from urdu to get the award
Mahashweta devi Bengali
1996 Hajar Churashir Maa*
The Queen of Jhansi Magsaysay award winner
prominent activist for tribal rights,against land acquisition in west bengal
Indira goswami assamese
2000 Chinnavar Srota (The Chenab's Current)
Datal Hatir Une Khowa Howda (The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker )
Chinnamastar Manuh To (The Man from Chinnamasta) Was prominent in assam social scene especially as mediator between GOI and ULFA
Pratibha Ray Oriya
*Won the award for this work
Table of major works by indian leaders
Name Books
Jawaharlal Nehru Discovery of india
Glimpses of world history
An autobiography
Rajendra prasad India divided
Maulana Azad India Wins Freedom
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Indian Philosophy
Hindu View of Life
R Venkataraman My Presidential Years
PV Narasimha Rao The Insider
I.K.Gujral Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography
L. K. Advani My Country My Life
Hamid ansari Travelling through conflict:essays on west asia
Prepared by: Rohit.Nandakumar
Reference
1. Ignou notes : Nationalist literature,INdian literature
2. NIOS notes :Indian languages and literature
3. www.nobel-prize.org
4. Sahitya academy books on modern indian literature and medieval indian iterature
5. Romila thapar:History of india from origins to AD 1300
6. Medieval india by Satish Chandra
7. Blogs on the subject
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