Indian literature

Indian literature is generally acknowledged, but not wholly established, as the oldest in the world. India has 22 officially recognized languages, and a huge variety of literature has been produced in these languages over the years. In Indian literature, oral and written forms are both important. Hindu literary traditions dominate a large part of Indian culture. Apart from the Vedas which are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning, and Arthashastra in political science. Devotional Hindu drama, poetry and songs span the subcontinent. Among the best known are the works of Kalidasa (writer of the famed Sanskrit play Shakuntala) and Tulsidas (who wrote an epic Hindi poem based on the Ramayana, called Raamcharitmaanas). Tamil poetry of the Sangam poetry which dates back to 1st century BC is well renowned. Muslim literary traditions also dominate a large part of Indian culture. In the medieval period, during which time India was mostly under Muslim rule, Indian Muslim literature flourished, most notably in the Persian and Urdu poetry of Ghalib and Amir Khusrau. Indian literature has also thrived in modern times; notable contributors to modern Indian literature include such writers as the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, India's first Nobel laureate, and the Persian and Urdu poet Allama Iqbal, both of whose philosophical poetry is renowned the world over.

Sanskrit literature

Main article: Sanskrit literature

The most famous works in Sanskrit are the Hindu holy texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and Manusmriti. The great epics are Ramayana and Mahabharata. Panini's Ashtadhyayi standardized Sanskrit grammar and phonetics. Kalidasa is considered the greatest in Sanskrit literature. His Shakuntala and Meghaduuta are the most famous Sanskrit plays. Some other famous plays were Mricchakatika by Shudraka, Svapna Vasavadattam by Bhasa, and Ratnavali by Sri Harsha. Later poetic works include Geeta Govinda by Jayadeva. Some other famous works are Chanakya's Arthashastra and Vatsyayana's Kamasutra.

Tamil literature

Main article: Tamil literature

Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than 2000 years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Tolkaappiyam is one of the world's oldest surviving grammar book has been credited as its oldest work in Tamil available today. Contributors to the Tamil literature mainly were Tamil people from Tamil Nadu, however there have been notable contributions from European authors. The history of Tamil literature follows the history of Tamil Nadu, closely following the social and political trends of various periods. The secular nature of the early Sangam poetry gave way to works of religious and didactic nature during the middle ages. Tirukkural is a fine example of such work on human behaviour and political morals. A wave of religious revival helped generate a great volume of literary output by Saivite and Vaishnavite authors. Jain and Buddhist authors during the medieval period and Muslim and European authors later also contributed to the growth of Tamil literature.

A revival of Tamil literature took place from the late nineteenth century when works of religious and philosophical nature were written in a style that made it easier for the common people to enjoy. Nationalist poets began to utilise the power of poetry in influencing the masses. With growth of literacy, Tamil prose began to blossom and mature. Short stories and novels began to appear. The popularity of Tamil Cinema has also provided opportunities for modern Tamil poets to emerge.

Kannada literature

Kannada writer and Jnanpeeth award winner U. R. Ananthamurthy.

Main article: Kannada literature

Kannada literature is the third oldest in Indian literature next to Sanskrit literature and Tamil literature. The earliest reported work in Kannada literature dates back to 5th century. The first available literary in Kannada is Kavirajamarga written in 8th century by Amoghavarsha Nrpatunga. Kannada literature can broadly studied in three phases: Hale Kannada (Old Kannada), Nadu Kannada (Middle Kannada) and Adhunika Kannada (Modern Kannada). As of today Kannada authors have distinction of winning Jnanpeeth award, the highest literary award in India, most times, seven.

Hindi literature

Main article: Hindi literature

Hindi literature started as religious and philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects like Avadhi and Brij. The most famous figures from this period are Kabir and Tulsidas. In modern times, the Khadi dialect became more prominent and a variety of literature was produced in Sanskrit.

Chandrakanta, written by Devaki Nandan Khatri, is considered to be the first work of prose in Hindi. Munshi Premchand was the most famous Hindi novelist. The chhayavadi poets include Surya Kant Tripathi "Nirala", Jaishankar Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant, and Mahadevi Varma. Other renowned poets include Maithili Sharan Gupt, Agyey, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and Dharmveer Bharti. The progressive poets of Hindi were : Kedarnath Agrawal, Shamsher, Gajanan Madhav "Muqtibodh", Ramdhari Singh "Dinkar", Nagarjun, Raghuveer Sahai, and Kedar Nath Singh. Notable poets of the young generation include Kumar Vikal, Dinesh Shukla, Uday Prakash, Mohan Daheria, Shailendra Chauhan, and Vinod Padraj. This young generation is very much extrovert in expressions and much aware of global changes.

Prakrit literature

The most notable Prakrit language was Pali. Pali literature includes Buddhist philosophical works, poetry and some grammatical works. Major works in Pali are Jataka tales, Dhammapada, Addhakatha, and Mahavansha. Some of the major Pali grammarians were Kachvaayan, Moggalaan and Varruchi (who wrote Prakrit Prakash). Many of Ashvaghosha's plays were written in Shaurseni Prakrit. Another major work in Shaurseni was Karpoormanjari. Kalidasa, Harsha and Haal used Maharashtrian Prakrit in some of their plays and poetry. Many Shwetambar Jain works are also written in the Maharashtri Prakrit. Many plays (like those of Ashvaghosha) and Jain works were written in the Ardha Magadhi Prakrit.

Indian writing in Persian

Main article: Persian literature

During the early Muslim period, Persian became the lingua franca of the subcontinent, used by most of the educated and the government. Although Persian literature from Persia itself was popular, several Indians became major Persian poets, the most notable being Amir Khusro and in more modern times Allama Iqbal. Much of the older Sanskrit literature was also translated into Persian. For a time, it remained the court language of the Mughals, soon to be replaced by Urdu. Persian still held its status, despite the spread of Urdu, well into the early years of the British rule in India. Most British officials had to learn Persian on coming to India and concluded their conversations in Persian. In the early 19th century, however, the British, in an effort to expand their influence, made a government ruling to discontinue the use of Persian and commence the use of English instead. Thus started the decline of Persian as the subcontinent's lingua franca, a position to be taken up by the new language of the British Raj, English. Many modern Indian languages still show signs of heavy Persian influence, most notably Urdu and Hindi.

Urdu literature

Main article: Urdu literature

Among other traditions, Urdu poetry is a fine example of linguistic and cultural synthesis. Arab and Persian vocabulary based on the Hindi language resulted in a vast and extremely beloved class of ghazal literature, usually written by Muslims in contexts ranging from romance and society to philosophy and devotion to Allah. Urdu soon became the court language of the Mughals and in its higher forms was once called the "Kohinoor" of Indian languages.

Bihari literature

• Angika Literature
• Bhojpuri Literature
• Magahi Literature
• Maithili Literature
• Vajjika Literature

Bengali literature

Main article: Bengali literature

The most internationally famous Bengali writer is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature; but another poet, one generation younger is equally popular, valuable, and influential in his country, though virtually unknown in foreign countries: Kazi Nazrul Islam. Other famous Indian Bengali writers were Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Bengali is the second most commonly spoken language in India (after Hindi). As a result of the Bengali renaissance in the 19th and 20th centuries, quite a bit of India's most famous, and relatively recent, literature, poetry, and songs are in Bengali.

Marathi literature

{{main|[Marathi literature}] Marathi literature began with saint-poets like Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Ramdas, and Eknath. Modern Marathi literature was marked by a theme of social reform. Well-known figures from this phase include Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Lokhitwadi, and others. Prominent modern literary figures include Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, P.L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, and Vishnu Vaman Shirvadakar (Kavi Kusumagraj).

Malayalam literature

Main article: Malayalam literature

Indian writing in English

Main article: Indian English literature

In the last century, several Indian writers have distinguished themselves not only in traditional Indian languages but also in English. India's only Nobel laureate in literature was the Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. Other major writers who are either Indian or of Indian origin and derive much inspiration from Indian themes are R. K. Narayan, Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Raja Rao, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Chandra, Mukul Kesavan, Khushwant Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Nayantara Sehgal, Anita Desai, Ashok Banker, Shashi Deshpande, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kamala Markandaya and Bharati Mukherjee.

In recent years, English-language writers of Indian origin are being published in the West at an increasing rate. In June 1997, a special fiction issue of The New Yorker magazine devoted much space to essays by Amitav Ghosh and Abraham Verghese, a short story by Vikram Chandra, and poems by Jayanta Mahapatra and A. K. Ramanujan. John Updike profiled R.K. Narayan and Arundhati Roy's "A God of Small Things."

Telugu literature

Telugu, the second largest language spoken in India, is rich in literary traditions.

The earliest written literature dates back to the seventh century. The epic literary tradition started with Nannayya who is acclaimed as Telugu's 'Aadikavi' which means the first poet. He belongs to tenth or eleventh century.

Kalapurnodayam by Pingali Suranna, a sixteenth-century poet, is the worlds first literary work in the Stream of consciousness style. The world had to wait for four centuries to have a major work in this tradition in the form of James Joyce's magnum opus.

Vemana who lived in the fourteenth century wrote in the language of the common man. He wrote poems in a simple style. He is the first rebel in literature. He questioned the prevailing pseudo values and conventions and religious practices in his poems. His philosophy made him a unique poet of the masses.

Gurajada Apparao, the father of Telugu Modern poetry, created a literary marvel with his play Kanyasulkam. Kanyasulkam stands one of the best plays that have ever been written in the world literature.

Romantic Moment: Krishna Sastri, the wizard of Telugu Romantic poetry is said to be another Shelly.

The New Era: Sri Sri who is the only poet deserving of the title 'Mahakavi' (the greatest of the poets) in the modern era produced Mahaprasthanm. Mahaprasthanam did to Telugu people what the literature from Milton to Eliot/Frost had done to the English.

Viswanadha Satyanarayana, a doyen of conventional yet creative literature, was the first to receive the Jnanpith, the highest literary award in India, followed by C. Narayana Reddy.

The Digambara poets (Nagnamuni, Cherabanda Raju, Jwalamukhi, Nikhileshwr, Bhiravayya, and Mahaswapna) shook the stagnant literary world between 1960–1970 and their verses were translated not only into many other Indian languages but also into many European Languages. It is Telugu Literature that led whole Indian literary world in Revolutionary Literary Movement.

Thus, between Nannayya and 'Nandanodaya' of today, there stood literary giants who enriched world literature.

Awards

• The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary award.

Also See

• www.IndianEnglishLiterature.com

External links

• Collection of Hindi poems & poets