GOING DOWN THE LINE

HISTORY OF
INDIAN
LITERATURE
 Indian Literature
• One of the world’s oldest and richest
• Oral traditions – storytellers present
traditional Indian text
• Literature is influenced by:
– A religious doctrine karma – the chain of
good and bad action and their inevitable
consequences, which result to the
repeated birth and death of the soul.
– Mythology of the dominant Hindu deities
 Sanskrit Literature
Classical Literature
Medieval Literature:
The Rise Of The Regional
Languages
Colonial Period To
Independence
Independence Onwards
 SANSKRIT
LITERATURE
• Literature is written in Sanskrit
language
• Text were produced about 16th
century BC by people known as
Aryans (were cattle herders
who were originally nomadic)
who established kingdoms in
north India
 I.
Religious Text
 Composed in Old Sanskrit VEDAS
by Aryan poets
“Book of Knowledge”
 Constitute the fundamental
scripture of the Hindu
religion and used as
sacramental rites of
Hinduism
 Compilation of two major
literary forms:
– Hymns of praise to
nature deities
– Ritual chants to
accompany Aryan
religious rituals
 The Four VEDAS
•Rig-Veda – anthology of 1080 hymns to
various gods
•ex. “Creation Hymn”
* Sama-Veda – “Book of Chants” consists of
liturgies.
* Yajur-Veda – “Prayer Book” which consists of
liturgies and repetition of Rig-Veda but
contains many original prose formulas
*Atharva-Veda – “Book of Spells” which
contains some hymns, spells, incantations, and
notions about demonology and witchcraft.
 BRAHMANAS
 prose text that discuss the solemn
sacrificial rituals as well as the
commitment on their meaning, composed
by Hindu priest

ARANYAKAS
 “wilderness texts” or “forest treaties”,
composed by people who meditated in
the woods
 Discussion and interpretation of the
dangerous rituals
 UPANISHADS
 Composed by a group of sages who
questioned the usefulness of ritual religion
 Consists of 108 dialogues between
teachers and their students about the
individual soul’s unity
 India’s oldest philosophical treaties and
form the foundation of major schools of
Hindu philosophy
 TIPITAKA
“The Three Baskets”
 Major religious text of Buddhism
 Written in the Pali language
 Includes the teachings of Buddha

JATAKAS
“Stories of the Births of the
Buddha”
 Tells 547 stories of Buddha’s former births
 2.
Heroic Text
Mahabharata
 “The Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty)
 Written by the poet Vyasal
 A tale of dispute between two branches of
the Bharata clans over the right to rule the
kingdom.
Ramayana
 “The Way of Rama”
 Written by the poet Valkimi
 Tells the story of the hero Rama, prince of
Ayodhya and incarnation of the god
Vishnu
 CLASSICAL
LITERATURE
Started with the flowering of the
Gupta dynasty
Great achievements in philosophy,
sciences and arts
Reflected values of Hinduism
Literature was nurtured by the caste system:
Brahman – scholars and priest
Kshatriya – the warriors
Vaisya – merchants
Sudra – laborers

 Kavya was the major form of classical

literature in Sanskrit.
 Kalidasa
India’s preeminent classical poet
Raghuvamsa (Dynasty of Raghu)
- Epic poem

Meghaduta (The Cloud Messenger)

- Lyric poem about separated lovers

SHAKUNTALA
(Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection)
- poetic drama, tells the story of a love affair
between a king and a woodland maiden Shakuntala
- a universal drama of the passion, separation,
suffering and reunion of lovers.
 Sanskrit Drama
A rich pageant of mime, dance, music,
and lyrical texts set in the court of
kings and aristocrats
 Mrichchhakatika
(The Little Clay Cart)
by Shudraka

 Malati-Madhava
(Malati and Madhava) a
romance by Bhavabhuti
 Panchatantra
(The Five Strategies) b y
Vishnusharman
 A collection of stories in prose and
verse, which feature animals as the
characters, teach lessons about human
conduct

 Use the technique of telling stories

within the framework of the main story
 Puranas
 A genre of mythological narratives
 Five topics of Puranas:
1. The creation of the universe
2. The destruction and re-creation of the
universe
3. The genealogy of the gods and holy sages
4. The reign of the Manus )legendary Hindu
figures)
5. The histories of the kings who trace their
ancestry the sun and the moon
 MEDIEVAL
LITERATURE
 Different regions began to develop its own
distinctive culture
 Islamic dynasties conquered many
territories
 Indian languages were influenced by Islamic
religion, Persian and Arabic languages
 Unique version of local myths, legends,
romances and epics emerged
 Bhakti: Devotional
Literature
 Authors who belong to Hindu
movement, who wrote lyric poetry
 Bhakti: was an aspect of religion that
involved passionate, emotional
devotion to a particular god.
 They addressed devotional poems to
the major Hindu gods and goddesses;
Shiva, Vishnu, Bhrama, Krishna, Rama,
Lakhsmi, Ganesha,
 Some major Bhatik poets were women
and men of the lower caste
 COLONIAL PERIOD TO
INDEPENDENCE
 British became a colonial power
 The colonial government introduced
English education for upper-class
Indians so that they can serve the
colony
 Introduction of the printing press,
which made possible the establishment
of newspapers and journals
 Bengal Renaissance
 Rabindranath Tagore
• An innovative poet of the Bengali
language
• Drew on traditional forms of poetry
and performance
• The first non-European winner of the
Nobel Prize award for literature
GITANJALI
 (Song Offerings, 1910)
 His best known work, which is a
collection of poems
 INDEPENDENCE
ONWARDS
 Indian independence from Britain
in 1947 marked the start of modern
Indian literature
What role do religion and culture play
in the lives and literature of the
people?

Describe India’s literature. How is it

similar/different to Chinese and
Japanese literature?