LITERATURES OF THE WORLD

MODULE 4: INDIAN LITERATURE • Bravery on the war front is seen in both Ramayana
and Mahabharata which involves the two great
Characteristics of Indian Literature epic wars; The Ramayana war and The
Mahabharata war battle at Kurukshetra where the
• Literature that was written before 1947 is considered army of both the parties [(Rama and Ravana in
as Indian literature. Ramayana) and (Pandavas and Kauravas in
• Literature in Sanskrit which includes the sacred Mahabharata)] fight bravely for victory.
books – of the Vedas, and Upanishads is in the form 6. Love
of epics in Indian literature. • ‘Love’ is one of the major characteristics focused
• This is because of the importance assigned to the on Indian literature.
language ‘Sanskrit’ in ancient India. • All forms of love as Parental love (In Janaka, the
• It was the lingua franca and high culture language as king of Mithila made him accept Sita; found in-
it was taught to the upper-class Brahmins (good and furrow of the field, as his daughter and Dasharatha
virtuous) who were said to be born out of the mouth dies after Rama is sent to exile), Marital love (In
of deity (Purusha) according to Rigveda. Sita, she accompanied her husband Rama into
• After 1947, the Indian constitution was written exile), love of brothers (In Lakshmana that he
according to which 22 languages are officially accompanied Rama into exile and in Bharata that
recognized. he rejected the crown) and love of friends (in Karna
• So Indian Literature was limited to pre-republic India. that he stands by Kauravas against his brothers)
are included.
1. Religion 7. Morality
• Based on the ancient history of India dominated by • Virtue rewarded and vice punished is the justice
Brahmins, the upper educated ruling priestly class, done according to the Dharma, which is a
Religion (Spirituality) was the primary concern. characteristic of Indian literature. Ravana and
• Attaining heaven (Mukti) and Reincarnation are the Kauravas vices of Ramayana and Mahabharata
two main focus of Hinduism. Charity (Dana) is the were defeated in war and were killed.
concept that is emphasized in Vedas to attain • Indian literature reflects the caste system that
heaven according to the doctrine of Karma. existed during that period.
2. Deeds • It is according to Vedas, people are divided into
• Deeds of the past determine the state of the four Varna based on their profession; Brahmins
present is the concept of reincarnation. (that includes priests and learned men), Kshatriyas
• If noble deeds are done in the past, noble birth in (that includes aristocrats, knights, soldiers, and
the present is assured. other administrators), Vaishya (that include
• Ramayana is the story of Ram, the reincarnation of peasants and businessmen) and Shudras (who
Lord Vishnu. were employed in other menial labors.
3. Human Values • This caste system is employed in the two epics,
• Human values are also a characteristic of Indian Ramayana and Mahabharata.
literature within the broader web of ‘Religion’. 8. Poetic Form
• Obedience- to the one above, to keep up the • The poetic form was considered the standard
words spoken i.e. not breaking promises at any written form in ancient India, and Indian literature
cost, bravery- in war are the important values was in verses.
imparted through the sacred books and epics. • Ramayana has 24,000 verses and Mahabharata
4. Obedience has over 100,000 verses so it takes time for
• Obedience to the above –can mean a person in readers to understand them.
power or an elder person. As in Ramayana, Ram • Sacred books were also in the poetic form called
obeys his father Dasharatha when asked to go into Mantras that are recited during worship.
exile and Hanuman (an ape hero) obeys Sugriva • All these form the characteristics of Indian
(the ape king) immediately when he is asked to go literature.
in search of Sita, Rama’s wife.
• Keeping up promises at any cost is seen in Historical Periods and Themes in Indian Literature
Ramayana where Kaikeyi, one of the three wives 1. Early Sanskrit Literature
of Dasharatha gets two promises according to • The first Indian literary work was a collection of
which she wants Rama to be sent in exile and her Sanskrit hymns that was orally transmitted.
son Bharata to be crowned as a king, which the • The so-called Vedas which were either sung or
king fulfills and Rama, the first legal son to be recited are thought to have been composed as
crowned is sent in exile and Bharata is asked to be early as 1500 to 1200 BCE but they were written
crowned even at the cost of his life. down only at the end of the first millennium BCE,
5. Bravery
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while the oldest Veda texts date to around the 11th Classical Indian Literature
century. 1. Vedas
• Prominent literary works in Sanskrit of course also • known as the earliest literature in India.
include the famous Ramayana and Mahabharata • The Vedas were written in Sanskrit and were
epic poems which are thought to have been handed down orally from one generation to the
created sometime between the 6th and 1st century other. It is also considered as the oldest scriptures
BCE. of Hinduism.
2. Classical Sanskrit Literature 2. Ramayana
• Although India is home to many different • translates as the Story of Rama.
languages, the religious importance of the early • It is believed to have been written by a Brahmin
Sanskrit texts and the influence of Sanskrit on named Valmiki, a man whose style of poetry was
many Indian languages enabled Sanskrit literature new and a style to be copied thereafter.
to flourish over one millennium. • It is said to have appeared between 400 and 200
• Unfortunately, most Sanskrit works from the so- BCE.
called classical Sanskrit literature have been lost. • The story takes place centuries earlier when
Aryans were expanding their influence over
• The most prominent surviving Sanskrit literary from Dravidians in southern India, the Aryans engaging
the classical period include the in missionary endeavors supported by military
Abhijnanasakuntalam by Kalidasa, Arthashastra power and a strategy of divide and conquer.
and Neetishastra by Chanakya, Vasavadatta by 3. Mahabharata
Subandhu and his son Skandagupta,
• meaning Great India, is said to have been written
Dashakumaracharita by Dandin and of course
by a Brahmin named Vyasa, between 400 and 100
Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana.
BCE, but no one knows.
3. Medieval Indian Literature
• Across centuries, priestly writers and editors with
• Except South India where Tamil literature has been different attitudes in different centuries were to add
produced from ancient times, medieval Indian to the work, and the Mahabharata emerged three
literature remained strongly influenced by Sanskrit times its original size.
literature. • The Mahabharata was divided into eighteen books
• However, literary works that were created between of verses interspersed with passages of prose.
the 11th and early 19th centuries also reveal a • It attempted to describe the period in which Aryan
major influence of Buddhist and Jain works. At the tribes in northern India were uniting into kingdoms
same time, Sanskrit gradually give way to the and when these petty kingdoms were fighting to
Prakrit language, especially in Buddhist and Jain create an empire.
texts as well as other common Indian languages. • Most famous Indian authors of the modern era
• The Muslim invasions from the early 8th century include the Nobel laureates Rabindranath Tagore
onwards and of course the arrival of the British and V. S. Naipaul, R. K. Narayan, Sarat Chandra
also left their mark on Indian literature. Chattopadhyay, Salman Rushdie, Mahadevi
• The period following the decline of Classical Varma, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai to mention
Sanskrit literature until the mid-19th century was only a few.
dominated by the so-called bhakti or devotional
poetry in all Indian languages. Cosmic Trinity in Indian Literature
4. Modern Indian Literature 1. Brahma (Creator)
• The period of modern Indian literature starts with • he is said to have been born out of a lotus that
the first movements for independence in the mid- grew out of the navel of Vishnu.
19th century. • He was given the four Vedas by Vishnu and bidden
to commence the aspect of creation.
• The early modern Indian literature, however, was 2. Vishnu (Preserver)
greatly influenced by both adoption of the Western
• a supreme Hindu god.
thoughts and ideas on the one hand and their
• He rests on the cosmic waters between creations,
rejection on the other.
or universes; and in each creation, he takes on
• The period between the mid-19th and mid-20th some avatar or material form such as a fish, a wild
century thus saw the rise of a large number of boar, a turtle, a lion, a dwarf, or a man. His worship
literary works that often incorporated both the is marked by affectionate piety and devotion.
elements of Sanskrit and Western literature. 3. Shiva (Destroyer)
• The 20th century also saw the emergence of • the dancing deity of creation and destruction.
Indian English literature which refers to literary • He has four arms and a third eye on his
works that are written by Indian authors in the forehead which he destroys.
English language.
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• She has been also addressed as the Modern

Notable Indian Writers and Their Literary Works Meera.
1. Rabindranath Tagore (May 7, 1861- August 7, 7. Arundhati Roy (November 24, 1961-)
1941) • Arundhati Roy, whose full name is Suzanna
• Rabindranath Tagore is a Bengali poet, short-story Arundhati Roy, is an Indian author, actress, and
writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, and political activist who was best known for the award-
painter who introduced new prose and verse forms winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and
and the use of colloquial language into Bengali her involvement in environmental and human rights
literature. causes.
• He was highly influential in introducing Indian 8. Kiran Desai (September 3, 1971 -)
culture to the West and vice versa, and he is • Kiran Desai is an Indian-born American author
generally regarded as the outstanding creative whose second novel, The Inheritance of Loss
artist of early 20th- century India. (2006), became an international bestseller and
• In 1913 he became the first non-European to won the 2006 Booker Prize.
receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. • Her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard,
2. V. S. Naipaul (August 17, 1932-August 11, 2018) also drew wide critical praise and received a 1998
• Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul is a Trinidadian Betty Trask Prize from the British Society of
writer of Indian descent known for his pessimistic Authors.
novels set in developing countries.
• For these revelations of what the Swedish
Academy called “suppressed histories,” Naipaul
won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001.
3. R. K. Narayan (October 10, 1906- May 13, 2001)
• Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, whose original
name is Rasipuram Krishnaswami
Narayanswamione, is considered as one of the
finest Indian authors of his generation writing in
English.
• Narayan typically portrays the peculiarities of
human relationships and the ironies of Indian daily
life, in which modern urban existence clashes with
ancient tradition.
4. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (September 15,
1876 – January 16, 1938 )
• Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is a Bengali novelist
and short story writer of the early 20th century.
• Most of his works deal with the lifestyle, tragedy
and struggle of the village people and the
contemporary social practices that prevailed in
Bengal.
• He remains the most popular, translated, and
adapted Indian author of all time.
5. Salman Rushdie (June 19, 1947- )
• Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British writer
whose allegorical novels examine historical and
philosophical issues by means of surreal
characters, brooding humor, and an effusive and
melodramatic prose style.
• His treatment of sensitive religious and political
subjects made him a controversial figure.
6. Mahadevi Varma (March 26 ,1907- September 11,
1987)
• Mahadevi Varma is an Indian writer, activist, and
leading poet of the Chhayavad movement in Hindi
literature.
• She is considered as one of the four major pillars
of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature.