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ANCIENT INDIA

Most of literature is religious: vedas,Epics,Jain and buddhist literature etc.

Secular works: Most famous is Indica by Megasthenes(3 b.c.!."hough original te#t

of this work is lost,e#tensive $uotations from it are seen in works of later authors.

%ack of works with historical authenticit& due to mi#ing of m&ths with histor&

Vedas and related literature

('eriod:)* bc,language:sanskrit!

+ four:rig,&aur,sama and atharva

+ -ig veda : ldest,/0 h&mns.1ndra is the chief god portra&ed.

+ 2rahmanas contain detailed e#planation of edic literature and aran&akas are an

appendi# to them

+ 4panishads:'hilosophical.eg:Mundaka,brihadaran&aka,chandog&a etc

+ 5sat&ameva a&ate6 our national motto is from mundaka upanishad

The epics and post vedic literature:

+ "he epics :Mahabharata and ramayana+ The puranas: brahma,vishnu,agni,padma etc

+ Addition to these textsma& have taken place even during gupta age.eg:va&u

purana,mats&a purana etc refer to the gupta kings

+ Smritis:Most famous being Manu Smriti.

Other or!s in sans!rit

+ 7autil&a8sarthashastra,ats&a&ana8s "amasutra,'la&s written b& 2hasa.

+ 'anini9s ashtadh&a&i patanali9s mahabhash&a both on sanskrit grammar

+ 2uddhist te#ts in sanskrit:Mahavastu (collection of stories of hina&ana

school!,%alitavistara(of Maha&ana school! andasvaghosha#s buddhacarita

(period:;E!

+ Science based :susrutha samhita(on surger&! andchara!a samhita(a&urveda!

$uddhist literature

Earliest buddhist literature were in 'ali

+ "he tripitakas:vina&a pitaka(has rules of dail& life!,sutta pitaka(deals with moralit&! and

abhidhamma pitaka (philosoph& and metaph&sics!.

+ Milinda%&anha:conversation between 1ndo greek king Menander and buddhist

philosopher ritten mainl& in prakrit

+ Angas,4pangas, 'rakirnas etc are ain works

+ $hadrabahu(;ontemporar& of chandragupta maur&a! wrote !alpasutra, a biograph& of

ain tirthankaras and 'arisista parva was written b& ?emachandra.

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+iterature during and a)ter gupta age ,approx -..C/E/ to 0... C/E/1

@ue to patronage received from the elite, creative works increased.'urpose of literature

turned into entertainment also.More science based works too.

4rban life and its features were often depicted in the pla&s.

"alidasa and his or!s

('eriod:not clear probabl& )th centur& A@!

+ @ramas:Abhinanasakuntalam,malavikagnimitram and vikramorvasi&am

+ Epic poems:-aghuvamsa and kumarasambhava

+ ther maor works:Meghasandesam (l&ric! -itusamhara(earliest work,poem!

+ Among the nine gems of court vikramadit&a.

;onsidered indian e$uivalent of shakespeare.?is literature has simplicit&,emotions and marks the

pinnacle of ancient indian literature.

ther important works

+ 'la&s: Visa!hadatta#s Mudrara!shasa,shudraka9s Mrichcha*katika (means to& cart!

2arsha vardhana#s &riyadarsi!a3 4atnavali3 and the Nagananda.

+ 'oetr&:?arisenas poetr& about samudragupta, sisupalavadha b& magha,kirataruni&a b&

bharavi

+ ScienceBrules:

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MEDIEVA+ INDIA

4ise o) 2indi36rdu and regional languages."his was partl& due to the influence of

bhakti tradition."he rapid groth o) $ha!ti movement lead to creation of large volume

of literature in languages other than sanskrit and radualloss o) importance o) sans!rit

2etter importance torecording o) historythan in the past through works like

-aatarangini,Ain*e*Akbari and baburnama

Early or!s in sans!rit

+ "alhana#s 4a*atarangini:ne of the first works on histor& in india with

authenticit&.?istor& of kashmiri kings from ancient times.

+ "atha sarita sagarab& somadeva(stories!,7ita govindab& a&adeva('oem!

+ 5iddhanta siromani by bhas!aracharya deals with mathematics.9%ilavati9 is part of

this book.

&ersian and 6rdu

+ Arabic and 'ersian were introduced in 1ndia with the coming of the "urks and the

Mongols+ 4rdu emerged as an independent language towards the end of the Fth centur& A@:born

out of the interaction between ?indi and 'ersian.

+ Amir !husrau: ?e produced a volume of literature including poetr&. ?is works include

%aila Manun, A&ina*1*Sikandari,?asht bahisht etc

+ Mir8a 7halib(GHG*0CH! enriched 4rdu with his ghaIals compositions

+ 'ersian being court language was patronised.Akbar got Mahabharata translated into

'ersian.aiIi of his court was a maor poet in 'ersian.

>orks on Sultanate and mughal rulers (language 'ersian mostl&!

2ook Author -emarks

"aba$at*e*

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Telugu

+ E#tended patronage b& ia&anagara rulers.

+ Amukta mal&ada b& 7rishnadevara&a and manucharitam b& allasani pedanna (known as

Andrapitamaha! are e#amples

+ "enali ramakrishna,known for his okes produced a great poetical work called pandu

ranga mahatm&am.

"annada

+ %anguage @eveloped full& after th centur& A.@.

+ "avira*amargawritten b& rashtrakuta king 9Nrupatunga# Amoghavarsha Iis the

earliest available kannada literar& work(0) ;.E!

+ &ampa3 &onna and 4anna are called 3 gems of kannada literature.

+ ;ontributions were made b& $asava and A!!a mahadevi, both leaders of veerashaiva

bhakti movement ,through their vachanas,a t&pe of poetr&.

+ 4nder ?o&salas(appro# /;.E! maor names were: ?arishvara: wrote giria kal&ana,-aghavanka:wrote ?arischandra kav&a

-udrabhatta:wrote agannatha via&a

n rammar:7esira9s Shabdamani @arpana

+ ia&anagara period and later :

"ranslations of Epics: 7umarav&asa9s 2haratha, 7umara valmiki9s torave

rama&ana and %akshmisha9s JaNmini 2harata ())!

Sarvana,known as peoples poet wrote his tripadis.

2indi

+ @ifferent dialects of hindi include 2ra 2hasha,Avadhi , 2hopuri, Magadhi etc

+ &rithvira* 4aso by chand bardai(FH*/! is the first maor book in hindi+ 2hakti movement had strong influence on hindi language in the later period

+ 1n Avadhi:

&admavat by Mali! Muhammad 'ayasi("he famous allaudin khili*chittor*rani

padmini stor&!

4amcharitmanas by Tulsi das(based on almiki9s -ama&ana but does not

mention e#ile of sitha after return to a&odh&a!

+ 1n 2ra bhasha:

5ur 5agar by 5ur Das

ina&a 'atrika b& "ulasidas

+ 7abir who belonged to

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%anguage >riter('eriod! >orks -emarks

Marathi Jnaneshwar(/G)*HC!

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MODE4N INDIAN +ITE4AT64E

radual change from court literature to other areas of creativit&.

1nfluenced b& thoughts of nationalism,rationalism,western education etc

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"agore list of works

"&pe >ork

'oems

+ Manasi (0H! O"he 1deal neP+ Sonar "ari (0HF! O"he olden 2oatP,+ itanali (H! OSong fferingsP

+ itimal&a (HF! O>reath of SongsP

+ 2alaka (HC! O"he light of ;ranesP

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Modern 2indi literature

?indi language stated its modern phase in 0th centur&.

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considerable contribution from writers of indian origin and indians abroad in the post

independence period

Earl& writers in english in india include

-.;.@utt:"ranslated indian epics into english and wroteThe economic history o) india

+ Saroini orks include The indian

eavers,"he feather of the dawn,1n the baIaars of h&derabad etc

+ Aurobindo ghosh "ranslated man& indian scriptures into english including ita.?e also

wrote e#tensivel& on philosoph&.

"he three giants of earl& indian english literature are Mulk ra anand,-.7.a&: A %ife of Mahatma andhi, biograph&(HH0! etc

thers(list of works are non e#haustive!

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>riter "&pe 2ook

Salman -ushdie +

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1ts 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 maor languages.1 am choosing to mention some names from some languages here.

%anguage >riters

Assamese ?emachandra 2arua (03)*HC!

%akshminath 2eIbarua (0CF*H30!2habananda dutta(HH*)H!

uarati @alpatram(0/*H0!

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Jnanpith award along with sahit&a akademi fellowship is the most prestigious of indian literar&

awards.Awarded b& a trust founded b& Sahu ain famil&("imes of india group!

+ .Sankara kurup (mala&alam! was the first winner

+ -avuri 2haradhwaa(telugu! was the last to be awarded

>omen winners of nanpith

as prominent in assamsocial scene especiall& as

mediator between 1 and

4%A

'ratibha -a& ri&a

Q>on the award for this work

"able of maor works b& indian leaders

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