592 Courseware on Indian history
EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT DURING
ANCIENT ERA
The oldest surving texts in the Indian subcontinent, the vedas are in Sanskrit . The term ‘classical san-
skrit ’ refers to the language whose rules were codified by the 5th / 4th century BCE grammarian Panini in
his Ashtadhyayi . Another important Sanskrit grammar is Patanjali’s Mahanhashya ( 2nd century BCE ) . The
oldest surviving Prakrit grammar is Vararuchi’s Prakritaprakasha. The Tolkappiyam is the oldest surviving
status of shruti ( literally , ‘ that which has been heard ’ ). The category of smriti ( literally , ‘ remembred ’)
text include the Vedanga , puranas , epic Dharmashastra and Nitishastra.
The Vedas
The word Veda comes from the root vid ( literally , ‘ to know ’ ) and means ‘ knowledge ’. There are four
Vedas–Rigveda,Samaveda,Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. Each Vedas has four parts, the last three of which
sometimes blend into each other – the Samhita, Brahmna, Aranyaka and Upanishad.
. The Rigveda Samhita is a collection of 1,208 hyms ( suktas ) arranged in 10 books ( Mandalas ).
. The Samaveda consist of 1,810 verses , mostly borrowed from the Rig veda , arranged according to
the needs of musical notation.
. The Yajurveda deals with the details of the performance of rituals.
. The Atharvaveda is the latest veda and contains hymns, but also spells and charms which reflects
aspects of popular beliefs and practices.
. The Brahmanas are prose explanation of the Samhita portions and give detail and explanations of
sacrificial rituals and their outcome.
. The Aranyakas ( forest books ) interpret sacrificial rituals symbolically and philosophically.
There are 108 Upanishads, among which 13 are considered the principal once the Upanishads contains a
variety of philosophical ideas about sacrifice, the body and the universe, but the most closely associated
with the concept of atman and brahman.
. The shakala shakha is the only surviving recension of the Rigveda, the texts of Yajurveda are divided into
those of the Shukla ( white ) school and Krishna (black) school.
. The recensions of the Shukla (Also known as Vajasnya ) Yajurveda and the Mandhyandina and Kanva.
the Black school is represented by the Kathaka , Kapishthala , Maitrayani and Taittiriya recensions .
. The main difference between the texts of the two schools is that the Samhitas of the White
school contain only the mantras (prayers and sacrificial formulae), while in the texts of the Black school,
the mantras are accompanied by a commentary describing and discussing various aspects of the
sacrificial rituals.
. The Kauthuma, Ranayaniya, and Jaiminiya ( or Talavakara ) are recensions of the Samaveda, and
the Shaunaka and Paippalada of the Atharvaveda.
Vedangas
A number of supplementary texts known as Vedanga aimed at helping the proper recitation, use, and
understanding of the Vedas. These include works on phonetics (shiksha), metre (chhanda), grammar (vya-
karana), etymology (nirukta), ritual (kalpa), and astronomy (jyotisha).
