UNIT-2

EVOLUTION OF SCRIPT AND LANGUAGES IN INDIA/ANCIENT SCRIPTS OF INDIA

 A script is also known as writing system or orthography.

 It is a standard for representing the parts of a spoken language by making specific marks on a
medium (Paper, rocks, birch-bark, etc).
 The two ancient scripts in India comprise Brahmi script and Kharosthi script.
 Most of the ancient and modern scripts in India are developed from Brahmi script be it devanagari,
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Assamese/Bengali, etc.
 Hence, It can very much be contended that Brahmi is the mother of scripts.
 However, Urdu is written in a script derived from Arabic, and a few minor languages such as Santhali
use independent scripts.

INDUS/HARAPPAN SCRIPT
 The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization.
 Most inscriptions are extremely short.
 It is not clear if these symbols constitute a script used to record a language.

BRAHMI SCRIPT
 Brahmi is the oldest writing systems used in the Indian subcontinent and in Central Asia during the
final centuries BCE and the early centuries CE.
 Some believe that Brahmi was derived from contemporary Semitic script or may be Indus script.
 All surviving Indic scripts in South East Asia are descendants of the Brahmi.
 The best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to
250–232 BCE.
 The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep.
 Brahmi is usually written from left to right.
 Brahmi is an abugida, meaning that each letter represents a consonant, while vowels are written
with obligatory diacritics called matras in Sanskrit, except when the vowels commence a word.
 BRAHMI SCRIPT ON ASHOKAN PILLAR

ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE

Ancient Indian literature can be placed in two categories:
1. Religious and non religious or secular. Religious literature has the four Vedas –
 Rig Veda- The oldest of the Vedas contains 1028 hymns known as Sukta or “Well said”.
 Sam Veda- Contains the hymns that are sung by a special class of priests at the time of soma Sacrifice
 Yajur Veda- Contains hymns that are recited at the time of ordinary sacrifice.
 Atharva Veda- Collection of songs, spells, magical charms for the evil spirits, etc.
 The Brahmanas - attached to the Vedas. They explain in detail the value and efficacy of sacrifices.
 Aranyakas- are the concluding portions of the Brahmanas.
 Upanishads - Meant to be learnt sitting near the guru.
  Epics like The Ramayana and The Mahabharata
 Buddhist literature
 Jain literature

THE VEDAS
 The Vedas are the earliest known literature in India.
 They were written in Sanskrit and were handed down orally from one generation to the other.
 Preservation of the Vedas till today is one of our most remarkable achievements.
 To be able to keep such a literary wealth as the Vedas intact when the art of writing was not there
and there was lack of writing material is unparalleled in world history.
 The word ‘Veda’ literally means knowledge.
 They treat the whole world as one human family Vasudev Kutumbakam.
 There are four Vedas, namely, the- Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.
 Each Veda consists of the Brahmanas, the Upanishads and the Aranyakas.
 The Rig Veda, Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda are collectively known as Traji.
 In later years the Atharava Veda was incorporated in this group.

RIG VEDA
 The Rig Veda is the earliest of the Vedas.
 It is a collection of 1028 hymns in Vedic Sanskrit.
 Many of these are beautiful descriptions of nature.
 The prayers are largely for seeking worldly prosperity.
 It is believed that these recitations are the natural outpouring of Vedic rishis experiencing a
mentally spititual stage.
 Some of the well-known rishis are Vasistha, Gautama, Gritasamada, Vamadeva, Vishvamitra and
Atri.
 The prominent gods of the Rig Veda are Indra, Agni, Varun, Rudra, Aditya, Vayu, Aditi and the
Ashwini twins.
 Some of the prominent goddesses are Usha - the goddess of dawn, Vak - the goddess of speech and
Prithvi - the goddess of earth.
 Most of the hymns spoke of universally recognized higher values of life such as truthfulness,
honesty, dedication, sacrifice, politeness and culture.
 The prayers are for seeking worldly prosperity and for the development of a highly cultured society.
 Along with religion Rig Veda provides us knowledge about social, political and economic condition of
ancient India.

YAJUR VEDA
 Yajur means sacrifice or worship.
 This Veda is concerned mostly with rites and mantras of different sacrifices.
 It gives directions for the performance of the yajnas.
 It has both poetic and prose renderings.
 Being a treatise (exposition) on rituals, it is the most popular of the four Vedas.
 There are two major branches of Yajur Veda, namely Shukla and Krishna Yajur Veda i.e. Vajasaneyi
Samhita and Taitriya Samhita.
 This text reflects on the social and religious condition of India at that time.
SAMA VEDA
 Sama means melody or songs.
 This Veda consists of 16,000 ragas and raginis or musical notes.
 Out of total 1875 verses only 75 are original and others are from the Rig Veda.
 The Sama Veda prescribes the tunes for the recitation of the hymns of the Rig Veda.
 It may be called the book of Chants (Saman).
 This book is an evidence of the development of Indian music during this period.

ATHARVA VEDA
 The Atharva Veda is also known as the Brahma Veda.
 It contains treatment for ninety-nine diseases.
 The source of this Veda is traced to two rishis called Atharvah and Angiras.
 The Atharva Veda is of immense value as it represents the religious ideas at an early period of
civilization.
 It has two branches, the Paippalada and the Saunaka.
 This book gives detailed information about the family, social and political life of later Vedic period.
 In order to understand the Vedas, it is necessary to learn the Vedangas or the limbs of the Vedas.
 These supplements of the Vedas provide education (siksha), grammar (vyakarana), ritual (kalpa),
etymology (nirukta), metrics (chhanda) and astronomy (Jyotisha).
 A good deal of literature grew around these subjects. It was written in the form of precept (principles
or rules) in the sutra style.
 A precept was called sutra because of its brevity.
 The most famous example of this is Panini’s grammar, Ashtadhyayi, which illustrates the rules of
grammar and also throws light on society, economy and culture of those times.

BRAHMANAS AND ARANYAKAS

 After the four Vedas, a number of works called the Brahmanas were developed.
 These books gave a detailed explanation of Vedic rituals and instructions and deal with the science
of sacrifice.
 The latter portions of the Brahmanas were called the Aranyakas while the final parts of the
Aranyakas are philosophic books named Upanishads which belong to the later stage of the
Brahmana literature.
 Each of the four Vedas have their own Brahmana books.
 Rig Veda had Kaushitaki and Aitreya.
 Taitteriya belongs to Krishna Yajur Veda and Shatpath belongs to Shukla Yajur Veda.
 Tandav, Panchvish and Jaimaniya belongs to Atharva Veda.
 It is through them that we get a detailed information of the social, political and religious life of the
people.
 The Arayankas deal with soul, birth and death and life beyond it.
 These were studied and taught by men in Vanprastha i.e. Munis and the inhabitants living inside the
forests.
 All these works were in Sanskrit. Initially they were handed down orally and were put to writing
much later.
 It is very difficult to determine the age of the Vedas and also the time they were written.
THE UPNISHADS
 The word Upanishad is derived from upa (nearby), and nishad (to sit-down), that is, “sitting down
near”.
 Groups of pupil sit near the Guru to learn from him in the Guru-shishya parampara or tradition.
 The Upanishads mark the peak of Indian thought and are the final parts of the Vedas.
 As the Upanishads contain abstract and difficult discussions of ultimate philosophical problems, they
were taught to the pupils at the end. That is why they are called the end of Vedas.
 Vedas start with the worship of the visible, as that is obvious and then slowly transform to the
knowledge of the pure (absolute).
 There are more than 200 known Upanishads, one of which, the Muktika, gives a list of 108
Upanishads – this number corresponds to the holy number of beads on a mala or Hindu rosary.
 The Upanishads form an important part of our literary legacy.
 They deal with questions like the origin of the universe, life and death, the material and spiritual
world, nature of knowledge and many other questions.
 The earliest Upanishads are the Brihadaranyaka which belongs to the Sukla Yajur Veda and Chand
yogya which belongs to the Sama Veda.
 Some of the other important Upanishads are the Aitareya, Kena, Katha Upanishad.

THE RAMAYANA AND THE MAHABHARATA

 Our two great epics are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
 The Ramayana of Valmiki is the original Ramayana.
 It is called Adikavya and Maharishi Valmiki is known as Adi Kavi.
 It contains 24253 Shlokas in seven Kandas: Bal Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishkindha
Kanda, Sundar Kanda, Yudha Kanda and Uttar Kanda.
 The Epic presents victory over evil and picture of an ideal society of higher values.
 Narahari wrote Tarave Ramayana, the first Rama Katha in Kannada on the basis of Valmikis
Ramayana.
 Ramayana has spread to many Asian countries outside of India including Burma, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Laos, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Malasia, Japan, Mangolia, Vietnam and China

THE MAHABHARATA

 The other epic, The Mahabharata, was written by Ved Vyas.

 Originally, it was written in Sanskrit and contained 8800 verses and was called “Jaya” or the
collection dealing with victory.
 These were raised to 24,000 and came to be known as Bharata, named after one of the earliest
Vedic tribes.
 The final compilation brought the verses to 100,000, which came to be known as the Mahabharata
or the Satasahasri Samhita.
 It contains narrative, descriptive and informative material, relating to conflict between the Kauravas
and the Pandavas.
  The Mahabharata contains the famous Bhagavad Gita which contains the essence of divine wisdom
and is truly a universal gospel (teachings).
 In the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on
different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies with examples and analogies.
 This makes Gita a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and self-contained guide to life.
 In modern times Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and many others
used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement.
 This was mainly because the Bhagvad Gita spoke of positiveness in human actions.
 It also spoke of duty towards God and human beings alike forgetting about the results.
 The Gita has been translated nearly in all the main languages of the world.
 In Kannad Literature, Kunura Vyasa wrote Bharata and
 Mahabharata , translated into Persian was called Razmnama.

PURANAS
 The Puranas occupy a unique position in the sacred literature of the Hindus.
 They are regarded next in importance only to the Vedas and the Epics.
 There are said to be eighteen Puranas and about the same number of Upapuranas.
 Some of the well known Puranas are - Brahma, Bhagvat, Padma, Vishnu, Vayu, Agni, Matsya and
Garuda.
 Their origin can be traced as far back as the time when Buddhism was gaining importance and was a
major opponent of the Brahmanic culture.
 Puranas are mythological works which propagate religious and spiritual messages through parables
and fables.
 They have a potent influence in the development of the religious lives of the people.
 The Puranas follow the lines of the epics, and the earliest Puranas were compiled in the Gupta
period.
 They are full of myths, stories, legends and sermons that were meant for the education of the
common people.
 These Puranas contain important geographical information/ histories and deal with the mysteries of
creation, re-creation and dynastic genealogies.
 This period also saw the compilation of various smritis or law books written in verse.
 Brahma Brahma, Brahmand, Brahma Vaivarta,
Markendya, vamna, Bhavishya

Shaiva Shiva, Linga, Skanda, Agni, Kurma, Matsya

Vaishnava Vishnu, Bhagvata, Narada, Garuda, Varaha,

Padma

Vishnu Purana- Incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Rama, Krishna

Narada Purana- Summary of other major Puranas
Brahma Purana- Mythological and devotional theories
Garun Purana- Theories of heaven and hell, good verses evil, karma and rebirth
Bhagvat Purana- Incarnation of Lord Vishnu- Ram, Krishna, Baman, Narsingh
Varahha Purana- Incarnation of Vishnu as Varaha to save the earth
Brahmand Purana- About Brahmand, Universe, air, water, sun
Brahma vaivarta Purana- Modern era Purabna, centers on Krishna and Radha
Matsya Purana- Story of God Vishnu, took birth in the form of fish
Vamana Purana- Incarnation of Vishnu as Vaman, the tiny boy
Markandeya Purana- Incarnation of Goddess Durga
Bhavishya Purana- Discussion of Brahma and Manu about creation of sun and this Universe
Linga Purana- Idea of Ardhnarishwar
Skanda Purana- Life of Shiva

BUDDHIST AND JAIN LITERATURE IN PALI, PRAKRIT AND SANSKRIT

“Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, faithfulness is the best relationship.”
- Buddha

 The religious books of the Jains and the Buddhists refer to historical persons or incidents.
 The earliest Buddhist works were written in Pali, which was spoken in Magadha and South Bihar.
 The Buddhist works can be divided into the canonical and the non-canonical.

Canonical literature
 The canonical literature is best represented by the “Tripitakas”, that is, three baskets - Vinaya
Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka.
 Vinaya Pitaka deals with rules and regulations of daily life.
 Sutta Pitaka contains dialogues and discourses on morality and deals with Dharma.
 Abhidhamma Pitaka deals with philosophy and metaphysics. It includes discourses on various
subjects such as ethics, psychology, theories of knowledge and metaphysical problems.

Non- Canonical literature

 The non-canonical literature is best represented by the Jatakas.
 Jatakas are the most interesting stories on the previous births of the Buddha.
 It was believed that before he was finally born as Gautama, the Buddha practicing Dharma passed
through more than 550 births, in many cases even in the form of animals.
 Each birth story is called a Jataka.
 The Jatakas throw invaluable light on the social and economic conditions ranging from the sixth
century BC to the second century BC.
 They also make incidental reference to political events in the age of the Buddha.

Other Buddhist Literature

Buddhacharita: The great epic Buddhacharita by Asvaghosha is another example of Buddhist

Literature in Sanskrit.
Dipavamsa: it mentions about the visit of Buddha to Sri Lanka and the arrival of tooth relic of
Buddha.
Milinda Panho: It contains a dialogue between King Meander (or Milinda) and Buddhist monk
Nagasena. It means "Questions of Milinda“. These are one of the highest philosophical enquiries.
Mahavamsa: It is an epic poem similar to Dipavamsa and is written in Pali language. It has account of
Buddha's visit to Ceylon (Srilanka), Chronicles of King Ceylon.
Mahavastu: It contains Jakata and Avadana tales. It is written in mixed Sanskrit, Pali andPrakrit.
Lalitavistara Sutra (Mahayana text): contains various stories associated with life of Buddha till his
first sermon at Sarnath.
Udana: It contains the famous story of "Blind Men and the Elephant".
Bodhi Vamsa: It was translated from a Sinhalese(Sri Lanka) version. It was written by Upatissa in
Sanskritised Pali.
Mahavibhasa Shastra: It contains discussions about other non-Buddhist philosophies also.
Visuddhimagga: It was written by Buddhaghosa in 5th century in Sri Lanka. It contains discussions on
various teachings of Buddha.

Jain Literature
“Anger begets more anger and forgiveness and love leads to more forgiveness and love.”
- Mahavira
 • The Jain texts were written in Prakrit and were finally compiled in the sixth century AD in Valabhi in
Gujarat.
• Prakrit language offers information regarding histories and doctrines of Jainism, life stories of the
saints, monks and nuns in the Sangha.
• Prakrit languages such as Sauraseni, Maharastri, Magadhi and Gandhari embody various facets of
the literatures.
• Among the important Jain scholars, reference may be made to Haribhadra Suri, (eighth century AD)
and Hemchandra Suri, (twelfth century AD).
• Jainism helped in the growth of a rich literature comprising poetry, philosophy and grammar.
• Jain literature by Jain monks is in many languages like Prakrit, Sanskrit, Magadh, Awadhi, Marathi

It can be divided in two categories:

1. Jain Agamas/Agam/Canonical/Religious Text (based on Teachings of Jain Tirthankaras)
2. Non- canonical Literary Works

Other Jain Literature

Digambaras gave sacred status to two works:
1. The Karmaprabhrite (Discussion on Karma) or Shatkhandagam by Pushpdanta and The
Kashayaprabhrita by Gunnudhara.
2. Bhadrabahu: Uvasaggaharam Stotra, Kalpa Sutra (Biographies of Jain Tirthankars).
3. Nalatiyar, an ancient Tamil text composed by Jain monks.
4. Umaswati's Tattvartha-sutra- An important jain work in Sanskrit on logic, epistemology, ethics, and
astronomy. (Accepted by Digambara and Shvetambara sect).
5. Haribhadra Suri a Svetambara Jain author who wrote in Sanskrit.
6. Hemchandra Suri wrote grammar of Sanskrit and Prakrit and awarded the title kalikalasarvajana
(knowing of Kaliyuga)
7. Shantinatha Charitra- about 16th Tirthankara Shantinatha.
8. Gantha Saptashati- By Hala, a female poet.
SANSKRIT LITERATURE
 Large number of books dealing with various sciences, law, medicine and grammar were wrote in
sanskrit.
 The law books called the Dharmasutras and smritis, together known as Dharmashastras.
 These lay down duties for different varnas as well as for the kings and their officials. They prescribed
the rules according to which property had to be held, sold and inherited. They also prescribe
punishments for persons guilty of assault, murder and adultery.
 The Manusmriti tells us about the role of man and woman in society, their code of conduct and
relationship with each other.

KAUTILYA’S ARTHASHASTRA
 Kautilya’s Arthashastra is an important treatise of the Mauryan times.
 It reflects the state of society and economy at that time and provides rich material for the study of
ancient Indian polity and economy.
 The works of Bhasa, Shudraka, Kalidasa and Banabhatta provided us with glimpses of the social and
cultural life of northern and central India in times of the Guptas and Harsha.
 The Gupta period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on the works of Panini and
Patanjali.

FAMOUS SANSKRIT AUTHORS

 The Gupta period was India’s golden age of culture and one of the greatest and most glorious times.
 The Gupta kings patronized the classical Sanskrit literature.
 They helped liberally the scholars and poets of Sanskrit.
 This enriched the Sanskrit language.
 In fact Sanskrit language became the language of cultured and educated people.
 Many great poets, dramatists and scholars appeared during this period and works in Sanskrit reached
great heights.
 The Kushana kings patronized Sanskrit scholars.
 Ashvaghosha wrote the Buddhacharitra which is the biography of the Buddha. He also wrote
Saundarananda, which is a fine example of Sanskrit poetry.
 India produced great literary works on subjects like Math’s, Astronomy, Astrology, Agriculture and
Geography etc.
 Books on medicine were written by Charak and on surgery by Sushruta.
 Madhava wrote a book on pathology.
 Books written on astronomy by Varahamihira and Aryabhatta and on astrology by Lagdhacharya
had all achieved prominence.
 There is none that can compete with Varahamihiras Bhrihatsamhita, Aryabhatia and Vedanga
Jyotisha.
 The post-medieval period in northern India saw the rise of Sanskrit literature in Kashmir. Somadeva’s
Katha-sarit-sagar and Kalhan’s Rajatarangini are of historical importance.
 It gives a vivid account of the Kings of Kashmir.
 The Geet Govinda of Jaidev is the finest poem of Sanskrit literature of this period.
 Kalidas:
 Poet Kalidas wrote many beautiful poems and plays.
 His works in Sanskrit are considered the gems of Literature.
 He wrote passionate plays and poems.
 His wonderful skill is exhibited in his poem Meghaduta, Ritusambara. Kumar Sambhavam and
Raghuvamsha.
 His plays are Abhijan Shakuntalam, Vikramorvashi and Malvikaganimithram.

Vishakhdutta:
 Vishakhdutta was another great play writer of this period.
 He wrote two great historical plays like- Mudra Rakshas and Dev Chandra Gupta.

Shudraka:
 He wrote an exciting play Mrichchha Katikam or the Toy Cart.
 It is a great source of socio-cultural conditions of that time.

Harisena:
 Harisena was one of the greatest poets and play writers of the Gupta period.
 He wrote poems praising the valor of Samudra Gupta.
 It is inscribed on Allahabad pillar.

Bhasa:
 He wrote thirteen plays which echo the lifestyle of the era along with its prevalent beliefs and
culture.

TELUGU, KANNADA AND MALAYALAM LITERATURE

 The four Dravadan languages Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malyalam developed their own literature.
 Tamil being the oldest of these languages began writing earlier and produced the sangam literature -
the oldest literature in Tamil.

TELUGU LITERATURE
 The Vijayanagara period was the golden age of Telugu literature.
 Nachana Somanatha, a court poet of Bukka I, produced a poetical work titled Uttaraharivamsam.
 Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529), the greatest of the Vijayanagara emperors, was a poet of great merit.
His work Amukta Malyada is regarded as an excellent prabandha in Telugu literature.
 Eight Telugu literary luminaries, popularly known as ashtadiggajas adorned his court.
 Among them, Allasani Peddana, the author of Manucharitram, was the greatest.
 He was known as Andhra kavitapitamaha.
 The other seven poets of the group were Nandi Timmana, the author of Parijathapaharanam,
Madayagari Mallana, Dhurjati, Ayyalaraju Ramabhadra Kavi, Pingali Surana, Ramaraja Bhushana
and Tenali Ramakrishna.
 Dhurjati, a devotee of Shiva, composed two poetical works of great merit known as Kalahasteeswara
Mahatmayam and Kalahasteeswara Satakam,
 Pingali Surana composed two works Raghavapandaviyam and Kalapuranodayam. In the former, he
attempted a literary feat telling the story of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata simultaneously.
  Tenali Ramakrishna, the court jester, was an interesting figure of the Krishnadevaraya’s court. His
practical jokes on high-placed men of the time are recounted with pleasure even today.
 Ramakrishna was the author of Panduranga Mahatmayam which was considered one of the greatest
poetical works of Telugu literature.
 Ramarajabhushana was the author of Vasucharitram. He was also known as Bhattumurti. His other
works include Narasabhupaliyam and Harishchandra Nalopakhyanam. It is a poetical work on the
model of Raghavapandaviyam. One can read in it stories of Nala as well as Harishchandra.
 Madayagari Mallana’s work Rajashekharacharitra is a prabandha dealing with the wars and loves of
Rajashekhara, king of Avanti.
 Ayyalaraju Ramabhadra was the author of two works Ramabhyudayam and Sakalakathasara
Sangraham.

KANNADA LITERATURE:
 Apart from Telugu, Vijayanagara rulers extended their patronage to Kannada and Sanskrit writers as
well.
 Many Jain scholars contributed to the growth of Kannada literature.
 Madhava wrote Dharmanathapurana on the fifteenth tirthankara.
 Another Jain scholar, Uritta Vilasa, wrote Dharma Parikshe.
 The Sanskrit works of the period include Yadavabhyudayam by Vedanatha Desika and Parasara Smriti
Vyakhya of Madhavacharya.
 Kannada language developed fully after the tenth century AD.
 The earliest known literary work in Kannada is Kavirajamang written by the Rashtrakuta King,
Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I.
 Pampa, known as the father of Kannada wrote his great poetic works Adi Purana and Vïkramarjiva
Vijaya in the tenth century AD.
 Pampa lived in the court of Chalukya Arikesari.
 In his poetic skill, beauty of description, delineation of character and development of rasa, Pampa is
unrivalled.
 Ponna and Ranna were two other poets who lived during the reign of Rashtrakuta Krishna III.
 Ponna wrote an epic named Shanti Purana and Ranna wrote Ajitanatha Purano. Together Pampa,
Ponna and Ranna earned the title ratnatraya (the three gems).
 In the thirteenth century new feats were achieved in Kannada literature.
 Harishvara wrote Harishchandra Kavya and Somanatha Charita whereas Bandhuvarma wrote
Harivamshabhyudaya and Jiva Sambodhana.
 Under the patronage of later Hoysala rulers, several literary works were produced.
 Rudra Bhata wrote Jagannathavijaya. Andayya’s Madana Vijaya or Kabbïgara Kava is a work of
special interest in pure Kannada without the mixture of Sanskrit words.
 Mallikarjuna’s Suktisudharnava, the first anthology in Kannada and Kesirja’s Shabdamanidarpana on
grammar are two other standard works in the Kannada language.
 Kannada literature flourished considerably between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries under
the patronage of the Vijayanagara kings.
 Poets of all religious groups made important contribution to it.
 Kunura Vyasa wrote Bharata and Narahari wrote Tarave Ramayana. This is the first Rama Katha in
Kannada composed on the basis of Valmikis Ramayana.
  Lakshamisha who lived in the seventeenth century wrote Jaïmini Bharata and earned the titled of
Kamata-Karicutavana-Chaitra (the spring of the Karnataka mango grove).
 The other eminent poet of this period was the great Sarvajna, popularly known as the people’s poet.
His aphoristic tripadi (three-lined) compositions serve as a source of wisdom and ethics.
 A special mention may be made of Honnamma, perhaps the first outstanding poetess in Kannada.
Her Hadibadeya Dharma (Duty of a Devout Wife) is a compendium of ethics.

MALAYALAM LITERATURE:
 Malayalam is spoken in Kerala and the adjoining areas.
 The language of Malayalam emerged around the eleventh century AD.
 By fifteenth century Malayalam was recognised as an independent language.
 Bhasa Kautilya, a commentary on Arthashastra and Kokasandisan are two great works.
 Rama Panikkar and Ramanuj an Ezhuthachan are well known authors of Malayalam literature.
 Though it developed much later compared to other South Indian languages, Malayalam has
made a mark as a powerful medium of expression.
 Now a large number of journals, newspapers and magazines are published in Malayalam.
 When people read and write in their own language, they enjoy it more. This is because
language is a part of their culture. It is so well inter woven in their social life that they can
express and feel their emotions as well in their own language.

TAMIL OR SANGAMA LITERATURE

 Tamil as a written language was known since the beginning of the Christian era.
 It is, therefore, no wonder that considerable Sangama literature was produced in the early four
centuries of the Christian era, although it was finally compiled by 600 AD.
 Poets who in these assemblies were patronised by kings and chieftains produced the Sangama
literature over a period of three to four centuries.
 Poets, bards and writers, authors came from various parts of South India to Madurai. Such
assemblies were called “Sangamas”, and the literature produced in these assemblies was called
“Sangama literature”.
 The contributions of Tamil saints like Thiruvalluvar who wrote ‘Kural’ which has been translated into
many langauges are noteworthy.
 The Sangama literature is a collection of long and short poems composed by various poets in praise
of numerous heroes and heroines.
 They are secular in nature and of a very high quality. Three such sangams were held.
 The poems collected in the first sangam have been lost.
 In the second Sangam about 2000 poems have been collected.
 There are about 30,000 lines of poetry, which are arranged in eight anthologies called Ettuttokoi.
 There are two main groups – the Patinenkil Kanakku (the eighteen lower collections) and Pattupattu
(the ten songs). The former is generally assumed to be older than the latter, and considered to be of
more historical importance.
 Thiruvallurar’s work ‘Kural’ is divided into three parts.
 The first part deals with the epics, the second part with polity and government and the third part
with love. Besides the Sangama texts, we have a text called Tolkkappiyam, which deals with
grammar and poetry.
 In addition, we have the twin epics of Silappadikaram and Manimekalai.
  The first is considered as the brightest gem of Tamil literature and deals with a love story. The second
epic was written by a grain merchant of Madurai.
 These epics throw light on the socio-economic life of Tamils from second century to sixth century AD.
From the 6th to 12th century AD, the Tamil devotional poems written by Nayanmars (saints who
sang in praise of Shaivism) and Alvars herald the great Bhakti movement which engulfed the entire
Indian sub-continent.

NORTHERN INDIAN LANGUAGES & LITERATURE

 The languages in India were evolving at two levels: the spoken and the written language.
 The old Brahmi script of the Ashoka days had undergone a great change. The alphabets during
Ashoka’s period were uneven in size but by the time of Harsha, the letters had become of the same
size and were regular, presenting the picture of a cultivated hand.
 The studies indicate that all the scripts of present northern Indian languages, except Urdu, had their
origin in old Brahmi.
 If we compare the scripts of Gujarati, Hindi and Punjabi, we can easily understand the change.
 As for the spoken word, there are over 200 languages or dialects spoken in India at present. Some
are widely used while others are limited to a particular area. Out of all these, only twenty-two have
found their way into our Constitution.
 A large number of people speak Hindi in its different forms that include Braj Bhasha, and Avadhi
(spoken in Oudh region), Bhojpuri, Magadhi, and Maithili (spoken around Mithila), and Rajasthani
and Khadi Boli (spoken around Delhi).
 Rajasthani is another variant or dialect of Hindi.
 This classification has been made on the basis of literature produced by great poets over a length of
time.
 Thus, the language used by Surdas and Bihari has been given the name of Braj Bhasha; that used by
Tulsidas in the Ramacharitamanasa is called Avadhi and the one used by Vidyapati has been termed
as Maithili. But Hindi, as we know it today is the one called Khadi Boli.
 Though Khusrau has used Khadi Boli in his compositions in the thirteenth century its extensive use in
literature began only in the nineteenth century. It even shows some influence of Urdu.

PERSIAN AND URDU

PERSIAN
 Although the roots of Persian language are as old as Sanskrit, it came to India with the coming of
Turks and Mongols in the twelfth century.
 It is during their rule that Persian became the mode of communication of the court.
 One of the finest Persian poets is Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (Amir Khusrau of Delhi).
 Apart from his Diwan (collection of poetry in Persian), he also wrote Nuh Sipihr and the Masnavi
Duwal Rani Khizr Khan, that is a tragic love poem.
 In the Delhi Sultanate, multiple texts were written in Persian.
 Most of them were concerned with creating histories for the rulers.
 Zia-ud din Barani is amongst the top historians of that period and he wroteTarikh-e-Firuz Shahi.
 Another famous historian was Minhajus- Siraj.
 There are several travel accounts written by famous travelers like Ibn Batuta (Moroccan traveller)
that explain the socio-political scenario of the period.
 The production and dissemination of literature in Persian shot up in the Mughal period.
  Mughal emperor Babar wrote Tuzuk-I-Babari in Turkish, which is his autobiography and gives us
important information about the Mughal conquest of India.
 One of the greatest sources about the period of Jahangir was Tuzuk-I-Jahangiri.
 Another important work is Humayun-nama which gives an account of his life and struggles to get the
throne, written by half-sister of Humayun, Gulbadan Begum.
 The greatest emperor of this period was Akbar and Ain-e Akbariand Akbarnama written by his court
historian Abul Fazl, are the best examples of literature of this period.
 He ordered several translations of Sanskrit texts like Ramayana, Bhagwata Gita and several
Upanishads into Persian. Two major examples are the Mahabharata which when translated into
Persian was called Razmnama.
 One of highly illustrated works from this period is called Hamzanama, which depicts the story of the
mythical Persian hero, Amir Hamza.
 Malik Muhammad Jayasi also composed his Padmavat in this period.
 Other major writers of this period include Badauni, who wrote on ethics of political rule and Faizi
who was considered a master of Persian poetry.
 Several texts were produced in the period of Shah Jahan, especially about the emperor like the Shah
Jahan-nama of Inayat Khan.
 In Aurangzeb’s period, several satirists like Mir Jafar Zatalli wrote their Kulliyat (collection of
verses).
 Texts like Tabqat-i-Alamgiri give us a good idea about the period of eighteenth century.
 Padshahnama was written by Abdul Hamid Lahori. It is about Shah Jahan.

URDU SCRIPT
 The Urdu alphabet is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Urdu language.
 It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic alphabet and has
its origins in 13th century.
 It is closely related to the development of the Nastaliq style of Perso-Arabic script.
 Urdu script in its extended form is known as Shahmukhi script and is used for writing other Indo-
Aryan languages of North Indian subcontinent like Punjabi and Saraiki as well.

URDU LITERATURE
 The linguists have debated that Urdu developed through the interaction of Persian and Hindi,
especially in the barracks of the Turkish army.
 Amir Khusrau also wrote several texts in Urdu, which was in its nascent stage in this period.
 The language mostly follows the grammar of Hindi and the form and script of Persian.
 As it was used by the Bahamani state of Ahmedabad, Golconda, Bijapur and Berar, it was initially
also called Dakkani (southern).
 One of the greatest Urdu poets is Mirza Ghalib who composed Diwan (collection of poetry) in Urdu.
 Several other Urdu poets were Sauda, Dard and Mir Taqi Mir.
 In the twentieth century, a major figure in Urdu literary writing was Iqbal who wrote Bang-i-Dara.
 He is famous for writing ‘Saare jahan se achcha’, which has become a celebrated nationalistic song.
 Apart from the last emperors of the Mughal empire like Bahadur Shah Zafar, who also wrote in
Urdu; the Nawabs of Awadh patronised several scholars who composed in Urdu.
  In the twentieth century, it was given uplift by the modernizer Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan who wrote
several didactic and nationalist texts in Urdu and English.

HINDI AND ITS DIALECTS

 Hindi as we know it today, evolved between 7th and 14th century from Apabhramsa, which was
evolved from Prakrit.
 The language got its biggest boost with the Bhakti movement, which shunned the use of Sanskrit as
it was the language of the Brahmins and common people did not use it.
 Hence, they started writing in the language of the people and the twelfth century onwards we see a
sharp rise in regional languages like Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, etc.
 For a long time, Hindi literature was in the shadow of its Sanskrit antecedents, but Prithviraj Raso
was the first Hindi book and it documents the life and challenges faced by Prithviraj Chauhan.
 The bulk of the work is poetry by Bhakti writers like Kabir who is famous for his dohas (couplets) that
are used by the common people of India even today.
 Tulsidas produced couplets in Braj and was peppered by Persian. He became immortal by writing
Ramcharitmanas, one the most revered Hindu texts.
 Lord Krishna’s life also became the subject of various medieval poets like Surdas who wrote Sur
Sagar about Krishna’s infancy and adolescent affairs with the gopis.
 Rahim, Bhushan and Raskhan also wrote about the devotion to Lord Krishna.
 Mirabai is also famous as the woman who renounced the world for Lord Krishna and wrote Bhakti
poetry for him.
 Bihari’s Satsai is also famous in this regard.

CONCLUSION
Thus, we see that Indian literary styles have undergone considerable changes over a long period of time.
Spread of Buddhism from India to various countries has influenced their scripts also, especially Sri Lanka,
Tibet and South-East Asia. And, Indian writing tradition has also been changed due to advent of Islam in
India. However, it remains to be seen how the scripts and languages of the country survive and evolve in
the era of globalization where English is the lingua franca.