ANCIENT INDIA

Most of literature is religious: vedas,Epics,Jain and buddhist literature etc.

Secular works: Most famous is Indica by Megasthenes (300 b.c.).Though original text
of this work is lost,extensive quotations from it are seen in works of later authors.
Lack of works with historical authenticity due to mixing of myths with history
Vedas and related literature
(Period:1500-1000 bc,language:sanskrit)
four:rig,yajur,sama and atharva
Rig veda : Oldest,1028 hymns.Indra is the chief god portrayed.
Brahmanas contain detailed explanation of Vedic literature and aranyakas are an
appendix to them
Upanishads:Philosophical.eg:Mundaka,brihadaranyaka,chandogya etc
satyameva jayate our national motto is from mundaka upanishad
The epics and post vedic literature:
The epics : Mahabharata and ramayana
The puranas : brahma,vishnu,agni,padma etc
Addition to these texts may have taken place even during gupta age.eg:vayu
purana,matsya purana etc refer to the gupta kings
Smritis:Most famous being Manu Smriti.
Other works in sanskrit
Kautilya's arthashastra,Vatsyayana's Kamasutra,Plays written by Bhasa.
Paninis ashtadhyayi & patanjalis mahabhashya both on sanskrit grammar
Buddhist texts in sanskrit:Mahavastu (collection of stories of hinayana
school),Lalitavistara(of Mahayana school) and asvaghoshas buddhacarita
(period:1CE)
Science based :susrutha samhita(on surgery) and charaka samhita (ayurveda)
Buddhist literature
Earliest buddhist literature were in Pali
The tripitakas:vinaya pitaka(has rules of daily life),sutta pitaka(deals with morality) and
abhidhamma pitaka (philosophy and metaphysics).
Milinda-Panha:conversation between Indo greek king Menander and buddhist
philosopher Nagasena
Jataka tales:Concern the previous births of bodhisattva
Works of Nagarjuna:most important being Mulamadhyamakakarika
Jain literature
Written mainly in prakrit
Angas,Upangas, Prakirnas etc are jain works
Bhadrabahu(Contemporary of chandragupta maurya) wrote kalpasutra, a biography of
jain tirthankaras and Parisista parva was written by Hemachandra.

Literature during and after gupta age (approx 500C.E. to 1000 C.E.)
Due to patronage received from the elite, creative works increased.Purpose of literature
turned into entertainment also.More science based works too.
Urban life and its features were often depicted in the plays.
Kalidasa and his works
(Period:not clear probably 5th century AD)
Dramas:Abhijnanasakuntalam,malavikagnimitram and vikramorvasiyam
Epic poems:Raghuvamsa and kumarasambhava
Other major works:Meghasandesam (lyric) Ritusamhara(earliest work,poem)
Among the nine gems of court vikramaditya.
Considered indian equivalent of shakespeare.His literature has simplicity,emotions and marks the
pinnacle of ancient indian literature.
Other important works
Plays: Visakhadattas Mudrarakshasa,shudrakas Mrichcha-katika (means toy cart)
Harsha vardhanas Priyadarsika, Ratnavali, and the Nagananda.
Poetry:Harisenas poetry about samudragupta, sisupalavadha by magha,kiratarjuniya by
bharavi
Science/rules:Natyasastra by Bharata,Varahamihiras Brihat samhita and aryabhatiya
by aryabhata,ashtanga hridaya by vagbhata
Harsha charita and Kadambari by Banabhatta
Panchatantra by vishnu sharma.
Tamil literature.
Oldest dravidian language.
Sangams were assemblies poets,bards and writers(mainly 100-300 C.E).They were
patronised by kings and produced sangam literature.Of the three sangams most of
literature received is from the third at madurai.Compiling of sangam works took place
probably around 600 C.E.
Sangam literature classified into:agam(related to love and sexuality) and puram (related
to ethics,valour etc).Also classified on the basis of landscapes mullai (forests),Kurinji
(mountains) marutham (agri-land) etc
Major works in tamil:Tolkappiyam(earliest tamil;work on grammar),Thirukural or
kural by thiruvalluvar,silapathikaram (an epic story of woman named Kannagi) by
ilango adigal.
Manimegalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi,Kundalakesi and silapathikaram are
the 5 epics of tamil literature
N.B:Due to lack of authentic sources exact time period of most of ancient works is disputed.So
dates mentioned may vary considerably depending on the source you choose to trust.

MEDIEVAL INDIA
Rise of Hindi,Urdu and regional languages.This was partly due to the influence of
bhakti tradition.The rapid growth of Bhakti movement lead to creation of large volume
of literature in languages other than sanskrit and Gradual loss of importance of sanskrit
Better importance to recording of history than in the past through works like
Rajatarangini,Ain-e-Akbari and baburnama
Early works in sanskrit
Kalhanas Rajatarangini:One of the first works on history in india with
authenticity.History of kashmiri kings from ancient times.
Katha sarita sagara by somadeva(stories),Gita govinda by jayadeva(Poem)
Siddhanta siromani by bhaskaracharya deals with mathematics.Lilavati is part of this
book.
Persian and Urdu
Arabic and Persian were introduced in India with the coming of the Turks and the
Mongols
Urdu emerged as an independent language towards the end of the 4th century AD:born
out of the interaction between Hindi and Persian.
Amir khusrau: He produced a volume of literature including poetry. His works include
Laila Majnun, Ayina-I-Sikandari,Hasht bahisht etc
Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) enriched Urdu with his ghazals compositions
Persian being court language was patronised.Akbar got Mahabharata translated into
Persian.Faizi of his court was a major poet in Persian.
Works on Sultanate and mughal rulers (language Persian mostly)
Book

Author

Remarks

Tabaqat-e-Nasiri

Minhaj Siraj

Mainly on Ghurids and some info

on early sultanate

Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi

Zia-ud-din Barani

Period of Balban to the first six

years of Firuz Shah Tughluq

Kitab ur Rehla

Ibn battuta

history of Muhammad Tughluq

Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi.

Yahya bin Ahmad

A detailed account of reign of

Mubarak Shah of sayyid dynasty

Tuzk-e Babri/Babur nama

Babur

First written in turkic translated to

persian during Akbars time

Humayun Nama

Gulbadan begum

Akbarnama and Ain-e-Akbari Abul Fazl(1551-1602)

Regional languages

One of the best works of the

period

Telugu
Extended patronage by Vijayanagara rulers.
Amukta malyada by Krishnadevaraya and manucharitam by allasani pedanna (known as
Andrapitamaha) are examples
Tenali ramakrishna,known for his jokes produced a great poetical work called pandu
ranga mahatmyam.
Kannada
Language Developed fully after 10th century A.D.
Kavirajamarga written by rashtrakuta king Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha I is the
earliest available kannada literary work(850 C.E)
Pampa, Ponna and Ranna are called 3 gems of kannada literature.
Contributions were made by Basava and Akka mahadevi , both leaders of veerashaiva
bhakti movement ,through their vachanas,a type of poetry.
Under Hoysalas(approx 1200C.E) major names were:
Harishvara: wrote girija kalyana,Raghavanka:wrote Harischandra kavya
Rudrabhatta:wrote jagannatha vijaya
On Grammar:Kesirjas Shabdamani Darpana
Vijayanagara period and later :
Translations of Epics: Kumaravyasas Bharatha, Kumara valmikis torave
ramayana and Lakshmishas Jamini Bharata (1550)
Sarvajna,known as peoples poet wrote his tripadis.
Hindi
Different dialects of hindi include Braj Bhasha,Avadhi , Bhojpuri, Magadhi etc
Prithviraj Raso by chand bardai(1149-1200) is the first major book in hindi
Bhakti movement had strong influence on hindi language in the later period
In Avadhi:
Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi(The famous allaudin khilji-chittor-rani
padmini story)
Ramcharitmanas by Tulsi das(based on Valmikis Ramayana but does not
mention exile of sitha after return to ayodhya)
In Braj bhasha:
Sur Sagar by Sur Das
Vinaya Patrika by Tulasidas
Kabir who belonged to Nirguna school(belief in formless god) used sadhu khadi(a
mixture of dialects along with persian and urdu words)in his dohas and poetry.
Nandadasa was another Bhakti poet.Kavi bhushan (1613-1712) a supporter of shivaji.

Other regional languages

Language

Writer(Period)

Works

Remarks

Marathi

Jnaneshwar(1275-96)

Amruthanubav
Bhavarh deepika

Earliest marathi works

Namdev (1270-1350)
Eknath(1533-1599)

commentaries on
Ramayana and
Bhagawat Purana

Tukaram (1598-1650)

Greatest Bhakti poet

Ramdas (1608-81)

He was guru of Shivaji

Gujarati

Narsih Mehto (1414-1481)

Vaishnava poetry

The hymn Vyshnava jan to

is his work

Tamil

Kambar(12th century)

Kambaramayanam

translation of valmiki
ramayanam.

Azhvars

Bhakti songs

Vaishnava bhakti saints

They were 10or12

Bhakti poets

Saiva saints
About 60 in number

Nayanmars
Malayalam Ezhuthachan
(evolved by
14th
Poonthanam
century.)

Oriya

AdhyatmaRamayanam Father of malayalam

Mahabharatham
language
Njanappana

Hymns in Bhakti tradition

Cherusseri ( 1375 - 1475)

Krishnagadha

Saraladasa(15th cent)

Translated mahabharata First works of oriya literature

Upendra Bhanja (1670 1720)

Baidehisha Bilasa
Labanyabati

New Era of oriya

MODERN INDIAN LITERATURE

Gradual change from court literature to other areas of creativity.
Influenced by thoughts of nationalism,rationalism,western education etc
New form of literatures like Novels began to spread.Printing helped.
Bengali literature
Underwent revival and reform as part of bengal renaissance towards end 19th century
Among the first writers of modern bengali is Michael Madhusudan Dutt whose greatest
work is Meghnad Badh Kabya
Bankim chandra chattopadhyaya(1838-94)
Wrote many novels.First was Durgesh nandini(1865) Anand math (1882) is famous
for vande mataram.
Considered among the first of nationalist literature movement
A anti-muslim or pro-hindu bias seen in his works has often been debated.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Congress member and known for nationalist literature
Wrote on the plight of women and questioned the values of middle class
Works:Parineeta,Devdas(both adapted as films),Pather Dabi(A novel that
idolized violent revolution) etc

Others
Tarashankar Bandopadhyay who wrote dhatri devata, ganadevata and panchagram
depicted village life and its disintegration in his works
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay whose work pather panchali and aparajito became the
basis of apu trilogy by satyajit ray
Kazi Nazrul Islam-national poet of Bangladesh wrote ghazals.
J.C.bose laid the foundations of science fiction in bengali.

Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941)
son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of Brahmo Samaj
The nobel prize winning work Gitanjali had introduction by W.B
Yeats.
Satyajit Ray's films Teen Kanya, Charulata,Ghare Baire are based
tagore's works
Amar sonar bangla,national anthem of bangladesh was written in response against
partition of bengal in 1905

on

Tagore list of works

Type

Poems

Novels/short stories

Plays

Memoirs/Autobiography

Work
Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One]
Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat],
Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings]
Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs]
Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]
Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber]
Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office]
Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable]
Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall]
Raktakarabi (1926) [Red Oleanders]
Gora (1910)
Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the
World]
Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]
Jivansmriti(1912)
Chelebela(1940)

N.B:Since its impossible to include all works of tagore am listing only the ones mentioned in
nobelprize.org -the official website for nobel prize
On his works:(points taken from Amartya sens essay on Tagore)
Tagore was an immensely versatile poet;
he was also a great short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, and composer of
songs, as well as a talented painter
His essays, ranged over literature, politics, culture, social change, religious beliefs,
philosophical analysis, international relations etc
His outlook was persistently non-sectarian, and his writings show the influence of
different parts of the Indian cultural background as well as of the rest of the world.
His works,even when influenced by spirituality and ancient texts is rooted in humanity.
Gandhi :Tagore greatly admired Gandhi but he had many disagreements with him on a
variety of subjects, including nationalism, patriotism, the importance of cultural exchange, the
role of rationality and of science, and the nature of economic and social development. These
differences,I shall argue,have a clear and consistent pattern, with Tagore pressing for more room
for reasoning,and for a less traditionalist view,a greater interest in the rest of the world,and more
respect for science and for objectivity generally

Modern Hindi literature

Hindi language stated its modern phase in 18th century.Noteworthy people are:
Bharatendu Harishchandra(1850-1885)
Father of modern hindi literature.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives Bharatendu
Harishchandra awards to encourage original and creative writing in Hindi
on Mass Communication.
Tried to depict Indias poverty, sufferings, cruel exploitation & to deliver
patriotic messages through his writings.

Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi

Dwivedi Yug(1893-1918)of hindi literature is named after him.
Poetry dedicated to nationalism and reforms were a feature of this phase.
Maithili sharan gupt was another important writer of the same period.

Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)

Towering giant in hindi fiction and nationalist literature.
3 novels : Karmabhumi, Rangbhumi and Godaan are extremely nationalistic
and also has veiled criticism of politics of the period
Godaan is one of the greatest novels of hindi and shows the exploitation of
poor
Other major works,Novel:Sevasadan,Nirmala,kayakalp.Short stories: Pareeksha,
Balidan,shatranj ke khiladi(made to film by ray)
Chhayavadi Yug:
Part of modern hindi poetry,this phase is marked by increase in romantic content of
poems.
Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma and
Sumitranandan Pant, are the four major Chhayavadi poets.
Prasads Kamayani(1935),Niralas Anamika (1923) Pants Vina (1927) etc are major
works of the movement.
Mahadevi Varma highlighted the plight of women in our society in her classical work
Shrinkhala ki kadiyaan.She is the first major Feminist writer in hindi.
Nakenwad movement is another major movement in hindi literature pioneered by Pandit Nalin
Vilochan Sharma

Indian English literature

Only about 150 years old.

 considerable contribution from writers of indian origin and indians abroad in the post
independence period
Early writers in english in india include
R.C.Dutt:Translated indian epics into english and wrote The economic history of india
Sarojini Naidu:One among first to write poems in english.Works include The indian
weavers,The feather of the dawn,In the bazaars of hyderabad etc
Aurobindo ghosh Translated many indian scriptures into english including Gita.He also
wrote extensively on philosophy.
The three giants of early indian english literature are Mulk raj anand,R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao
Mulk Raj anand (1905-2004)
Famous for his work The untouchable(1935).It has an introduction
by E.M.Forster
The untouchable is story of Bakha-a manual scavenger.
other novels:Coolie(1936),Across the black waters (1939),The Sword
and the Sickle (1942)

R.K.Narayan (1906-2001)
Most of his works are based in a fictional town named malgudi.
Major works :Swami and his friends,The english teacher,The
guide(won sahitya academy award),The world of Nagaraj,The
mahabharata,The ramayana etc.

Raja Rao (1908-2006)

Works deeply influenced by hinduism.
Won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature 1988
Works:Kanthapura (1938),The Serpent and the Rope (1960,sahitya
academy award),The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988),The Policeman
and the Rose (1978),The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi, biography
(1998) etc

Others(list of works are non exhaustive)

Writer
Salman Rushdie

Type

Book

Novel

Midnight's children(1981)
satanic verses(1988)
The enchantress of florence(2008)

childrens books

Haroun and sea of stories

Kamala surayya

Poetry
Novel

The sirens(Asian poetry prize)

The alphabet of lust

Nirad.C.Chaudhuri

non fiction

The autobiography of an unknown indian

(1951)
The continent circe (1965)(Duff cooper
memorial prize)
Scholar extraordinary(1974,on max
muller,sahitya academy award)

Vikram seth

Novel

The golden gate (1986)

A suitable boy (1994)

Ruskin Bond

Novel

A Flight of Pigeons
The India I love
The Blue Umbrella

Khushwant singh

Novel
Autobiography

Train to pakistan (1956)

Truth love and a little malice

Amitav ghosh

Novel

The circle of reason(1986)

The sea of poppies(2008)

Booker Prize winners

Writer

Book

Year

Arundhati Roy

The god of small things

1997

Kiran Desai

The inheritance of loss

2006

Aravind Adiga

The white tiger

2008

N.B:1)Salman rushdie(1981,Midnights children) was born in India but is a citizen of U.K.

V.S.Naipaul and Jhumpa lahiri are prominent writers of indian origin.Naipaul is a nobel
and booker winner and jhumpa a pulitzer prize winner(had nomination for 2013 booker)

Other languages:

Its impossible to mention in details modern literature of all regional languages due to the
enormous volume of literature produced in the modern age due to the full development of almost
all major languages.I am choosing to mention some names from some languages here.
Language

Writers

Assamese

Hemachandra Barua (1835-96)

Lakshminath Bezbarua (1864-1938)
Bhabananda dutta(1919-59)

Gujarati

Dalpatram(1820-98)
Narmad
Govardhanram Thripati
K.M.Munshi
Raman Lal

Kannada

B M Shri(father of modern kannada lit)

S.L.Bhyrappa
U.R.Ananthamurthy(navya movement)

Malayalam

1)Kumaran Asan(1873-1924)
2)Ulloor
3)Vallathol(1-3 called modern triad in mal lit)
Chandu menon(first proper novel in Mal)
Thakazhi
Vaikom muhammad basheer

Marathi

Sane Guruji (wrote shyamchi Aai)

Vishnu Skayam Khandekar(wrote Yayati)

Oriya

Gopinath mohanty
Radhanath ray(1848-1908)

Tamil

Subramanya bharathi
Bharathidasan
Kannadasan
Kalki

Telugu

Veeresalingam pantulu(1848-1919)
Gurajada appa rao (1861-1915)
Viswanatha satyanarayana(1895-1976)
Unnava lakshminarayana

Jnanpith awards

Jnanpith award along with sahitya akademi fellowship is the most prestigious of indian literary
awards.Awarded by a trust founded by Sahu jain family(Times of india group)
G.Sankara kurup (malayalam) was the first winner
Ravuri Bharadhwaja(telugu) was the last to be awarded
Women winners of jnanpith
Name

Language

works

Ashapoorna Devi Bengali

1976

Pratham Pratisruti*
Swarnlata
Bukul Katha

Known for her strong female

characters

Amrita Pritam

Punjabi
1981

Kagaj te Canvas*
Sunehe(won sahitya academy
award)
Pinjar(made into film)

First prominent punjabi

women poet
First jnanpith for punabi
First woman to win sahitya
academy award

Mahadevi varma

Hindi
1982

Yama*
Deepshika
Agnirekha

1 of the 4 chhayavadi greats

Quratulain hyder

Urdu
1989

Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar*

Patjhar Ki Awaz

1st woman from urdu to get

the award

Mahashweta devi Bengali

1996

Hajar Churashir Maa*

The Queen of Jhansi

Magsaysay award winner

prominent activist for tribal
rights,against land acquisition
in west bengal

Indira goswami

assamese
2000

Chinnavar Srota (The

Was prominent in assam
Chenab's Current)
social scene especially as
Datal Hatir Une Khowa Howda mediator between GOI and
(The Moth Eaten Howdah of a ULFA
Tusker )
Chinnamastar Manuh To (The
Man from Chinnamasta)

Pratibha Ray

Oriya
*Won the award for this work

Table of major works by indian leaders

Name

Books

Jawaharlal Nehru

Discovery of india
Glimpses of world history
An autobiography

Rajendra prasad

India divided

Maulana Azad

India Wins Freedom

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

Indian Philosophy
Hindu View of Life

R Venkataraman

My Presidential Years

PV Narasimha Rao

The Insider

I.K.Gujral

Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography

L. K. Advani

My Country My Life

Hamid ansari

Travelling through conflict:essays on west asia

Prepared by: Rohit.Nandakumar

Reference
1. Ignou notes : Nationalist literature,INdian literature
2. NIOS notes :Indian languages and literature
3. www.nobel-prize.org
4. Sahitya academy books on modern indian literature and medieval indian iterature
5. Romila thapar:History of india from origins to AD 1300
6. Medieval india by Satish Chandra
7. Blogs on the subject