Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Indian literature

Encyclopedia : I : IN : IND : Indian literature



 

History of Literature
Ancient literature
Indian literature
Sanskrit literature
Chinese literature
Greek literature
Latin literature
Tamil literature (Sangam Literature)
Arabic literature
Persian literature
Pahlavi 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. Islamic culture dominates most of medieval Indian literature, with the spreading influenc of Persian and the rise of famous poets such as Amir Khusro.

Devotional Hindu drama, poetry and songs span the subcontinent. Among the best known are the works of Kalidas (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 500 BC is well renowned.

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. Kalidas 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 existed for more than 2000 years. Tolkaappiyam is said to be the world's oldest surviving grammar for any language has been credited as its oldest work available today, whereas the exact origins of Thirukkural is unknown. The golden age of Tamil literature was during the Third Sangam period, roughly 1800 years ago. The classic works of this period are Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai, and Sivakasinthamani. Tamil literature is known for its secular traditions, although its authors had strong religious beliefs. Thirukkural is considered to be the greatest of Tamil works.

Kannada literature

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

Main artcle: 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 are Maithili Sharan Gupt,Agyey,Harivansh rai bachan, Dharmveer bharti etc. The progressive poets of Hindi were : Kedarnath Agrawal,Shamsher,Gajanan madhav "Muqtibodh",Ramdhari Singh "Dinkar",Nagarjun,Raghuveer sahai,and Kedar nath singh. The young generation good poets are : Kumar Vikal, Dinesh Shukla, Uday Prakash, Mohan Daheria, Shailendra Chauhan, Vinod Padraj and so on -- This young generation is very much extrovert in expressions and much aware of global changes.

Prakrit Literature

History of Literature

Early Literature
Early Indian literature
Indian literature * Sanskrit literature
Chinese literature
Greek literature
Latin literature
Persian literature
Pahlavi literature * Persian literature
The Medieval Period
Matter of Rome * Matter of France * Matter of Britain * Medieval literature * Arabic literature * 13th century in literature * 14th century in literature
European Renaissance Literature
European Renaissance Literature * 15th century in literature
The early modern period
16th century in literature * 17th century in literature
European literature in the 18th century
1700s * 1710s * 1720s * 1730s * 1740s * 1750s * 1760s * 1770s * 1780s * 1790s * 1900s
Modern Literature, 19th century
1800s * 1810s * 1820s * 1830s * 1840s * 1850s * 1860s * 1870s * 1880s * 1890s * 1900s
Modern Literature, 20th century
Modernism
Structuralism * Deconstruction * Poststructuralism * Postmodernism * Post-Colonialism * Hypertext fiction
1900s * 1910s * 1920s * 1930s * 1940s * 1950s * 1960s * 1970s * 1980s * 1990s * 2000s
Modern Literature in Europe
Modern Literature in the Americas
Argentine literature * * Canadian literature * * * * Mexican literature * * Literature of the United States
Australasian Literature
Australian literature * New Zealand literature
Modern Asian Literature
Pakistani literature * Tamil literature * Hindi literature * Urdu literature * Indian writing in English * Bengali literature * Marathi literature * Malayalam literature * Japanese literature * Vietnamese literature
African Literature
South African literature
Other topics
History of theater * History of science fiction * History of ideas * Intellectual history *
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

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 article: 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).
History of modern literature
Modern Asian literature
Korean literature
Bengali literature
   Kannada literature
   Hindi literature
   Indian writing in English
   Marathi literature
   Malayalam literature
   Tamil literature
Pakistani literature
   Urdu literature
Arabic literature
Japanese literature
Vietnamese literature

Malayalam literature

Main article: Malayalam literature

Indian writing in English

Main article: Indian writing in English
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."

[more...]

Telugu Literature

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

THE BEGINNING: The earliest written literature dates back to seventh century AD. The epic literary tradition started with NANNAYYA who is acclaimed as 'AADIKAVI' which means the first poet. He belongs to tenth-eleventh century AD.

THE FORE RUNNER: KALAPURNODAYAM by PINGALI SURANNA a poet of sixteenth century- is the worlds first literary work in STREAM OF CONCIOUSNESS technique. 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:Vemana who lived in the fourteenth century wrote in the language of thes common man. He wrote poems in simple style. He is the first rebel in literature. He questioned the prevailing psudo values and conventions and religious practices in his poems. His philosophy made him a unique poet of the masses.

THE EMINANCE: The father of Telugu Modern poetry GURAJADA (GURAJADA APPARAO) 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 thse only poet deserved 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.

THE NOTABLES: Viswanadha Satyanarayana a doyen of conventional yet creative literater, was the first to receive the highest literary award the 'jnanapitha' followed by c. Narayana Reddy.

LITERY MOVEMENTS: The DIGAMBARA POETS(Nagnamuni, Cherabanda Raju, Jwalamukhi, Nikhileshwr, Bhiravayya, and Mahaswapna) shook the stragnat literary world between 1960 - 1970 and their verses were translated not only in to many other Indian languages but also into many European Laguages. It is Telugu Lierature that led whole Indian literary world in Revolutionary Literary Movement.

THE TRADITION GOES ON: Thus between NANNAYYA and 'NANDANODAYA' of today, there stood literary gaints who enriched world literature.

Awards

External links

 


From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.


Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: