Indian literature

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Indian literature refers to the literature

produced on the Indian subcontinent
until 1947 and in the Republic of India
thereafter. The Republic of India has 22
officially recognized languages.

The earliest works of Indian literature

were orally transmitted. Sanskrit
literature begins with the oral literature of
the Rig Veda a collection of sacred
hymns dating to the period 1500–1200
BCE. The Sanskrit epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata appeared towards the end
of the 2nd millennium BCE. Classical
Sanskrit literature developed rapidly
during the first few centuries of the first
millennium BCE,[1] as did the Tamil
Sangam literature, and the Pāli Canon. In
the medieval period, literature in Kannada
and Telugu appeared in the 9th and 11th
centuries respectively.[2] Later, literature
in Marathi, Odia and Bengali appeared.
Thereafter literature in various dialects of
Hindi, Persian and Urdu began to appear
as well. Early in the 20th century, Bengali
poet Rabindranath Tagore became India's
first Nobel laureate. In contemporary
Indian literature, there are two major
literary awards; these are the Sahitya
Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith
Award. Eight Jnanpith Awards each have
been awarded in Hindi and Kannada,
followed by five in Bengali and
Malayalam, four in Odia, four in Gujarati,
Marathi, Telugu and Urdu,[3][4] two each in
Assamese and Tamil, and one in
Sanskrit.

In archaic Indian languages

Vedic literature

Examples of early works written in Vedic

Sanskrit include the holy Hindu texts,
such as the core Vedas. Other examples
include the Sulba Sutras, which are some
of the earliest texts on geometry..

Epic Sanskrit literature

Ved Vyasa's Mahabharata and Valmiki's

Ramayana, written in Epic Sanskrit, are
regarded as the greatest Sanskrit epics.

Classical Sanskrit literature

The famous poet and playwright

Kālidāsa wrote one epic: Raghuvamsha
(Dynasty of Raghu) ; it was written in
Classical Sanskrit rather than Epic
Sanskrit. Other examples of works
written in Classical Sanskrit include the
Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi which standardized
the grammar and phonetics of Classical
Sanskrit. The Laws of Manu is a
controversial text in Hinduism. Kālidāsa
is often considered to be the greatest
playwright in Sanskrit literature, and one
of the greatest poets in Sanskrit
literature, whose Recognition of
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.
Prakrit literature

The most notable Prakrit languages were

the Jain Prakrit (Ardhamagadhi), Pali,
Maharashtri and Shauraseni.

One of the earliest extant Prakrit works is

Hāla's anthology of poems in
Maharashtri, the Gāhā Sattasaī, dating to
the 3rd to 5th century CE. Kālidāsa and
Harsha also used Maharashtri in some of
their plays and poetry. In Jainism, many
Svetambara works were written in
Maharashtri.

Many of Aśvaghoṣa's plays were written

in Shauraseni as were a sizable number
of Jain works and Rajasekhara's
Karpuramanjari. Canto 13 of the
Bhaṭṭikāvya[5] is written in what is called
"like the vernacular" (bhāṣāsama), that is,
it can be read in two languages
simultaneously: Prakrit and Sanskrit.[6]

Pali literature

The Pali Canon is mostly of Indian origin.

Later Pali literature however was mostly
produced outside of the mainland Indian
subcontinent, particularly in Sri Lanka
and Southeast Asia.

Pali literature includes Buddhist

philosophical works, poetry and some
grammatical works. Major works in Pali
are Jataka tales, Dhammapada,
Atthakatha, and Mahavamsa. Some of the
major Pali grammarians were Kaccayana,
Moggallana and Vararuci (who wrote
Prakrit Prakash).

Tamil literature

The Sangam literature (Tamil: ச க

இல க ய , Sanga ilakkiyam) is the
ancient Tamil literature of the period in
the history of south India (known as the
Thamizhagam or the Tamilagam)
spanning from c. 300 BCE to 300 CE
(Akananuru (1, 15, 31, 55, 61, 65, 91, 97,
101, 115, 127, 187, 197, 201, 211, 233,
251, 265, 281, 311, 325, 331, 347, 349,
359, 393, 281, 295), Kurunthogai (11),
Natrinai (14, 75) are dated before 300
BCE).[7][8][9][10][11] This collection contains
2381 poems in Tamil composed by 473
poets, some 102 of whom remain
anonymous.[12] Most of the available
Sangam literature is from the Third
Sangam,[13] this period is known as the
Sangam period, which refers to the
prevalent Sangam legends claiming
literary academies lasting thousands of
years, giving the name to the corpus of
literature.[14][15][16] The Only religious
poems among the shorter poems occur
in paripaatal. The rest of the corpus of
Sangam literature deals with human
relationship and emotions.[17]
Sangam literature deals with emotional
and material topics such as love, war,
governance, trade and bereavement.[18]
Some of the greatest Tamil scholars, like
Thiruvalluvar, who wrote on ethics, and
on the various issues of life like virtue,
wealth and love, or the Tamil poet
Mamulanar, who explored historical
incidents that happened in India, lived
during the Sangam period.[19][20]

In common Indian
languages
Assamese literature

This section does not cite any sources.

Learn more
 Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa
.

The Charyapadas are often cited as the

earliest example of Assamese literature.
The Charyapadas are Buddhist songs
composed in the 8th to 12th centuries.
These writings bear similarities to Oriya
and Bengali languages as well. The
phonological and morphological traits of
these songs bear very strong
resemblance to Assamese some of
which are extant.

After the Charyapadas, the period may

again be split into (a) Pre-Vaishnavite
and (b) Vaishnavite sub-periods. The
earliest known Assamese writer is Hema
Saraswati, who wrote a small poem
"Prahlada Charita". In the time of the King
Indranarayana (1350–1365) of
Kamatapur the two poets Harihara Vipra
and Kaviratna Saraswati composed
Asvamedha Parva and Jayadratha Vadha
respectively. Another poet named Rudra
Kandali translated Drona Parva into
Assamese. But the most well-known poet
of the Pre-Vaishnavite sub period is
Madhav Kandali, who rendered Valmiki's
Ramayana into Assamese verse (Kotha
Ramayana, 11th century) under the
patronage of Mahamanikya, a Kachari
king of Jayantapura.

Assamese writers of Vaishnavite periods

had been Srimanta Sankardev,
Madhabdev, Damodardev, Haridevand
Bhattadev. Among these, Srimanta
Sankardev has been widely
acknowledged as the top Assamese
littérateur of all-time, and generally
acknowledged as the one who
introduced drama, poetry, classical dance
form called Satriya, classical music form
called Borgeet, art and painting, stage
enactment of drama called Bhaona and
Satra tradition of monastic lifestyle. His
main disciples Madhabdev and
Damodardev followed in his footsteps,
and enriched Assamese literary world
with their own contributions.
Damodardev's disciple Bhattadev is
acknowledged as the first Indian prose
writer, who introduced the unique prose
writing style in Assamese.

Of the post-Vaishnavite age of Assamese

literature, notable modern Assamese
writers are Lakshminath Bezbaruah,
Padmanath Gohain Baruah, Hemchandra
Goswami, Hem Chandra Barua, Atul
Chandra Hazarika, Nalini Bala Devi,
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya, Amulya
Barua, Navakanta Barua, Syed Abdul
Malik, Bhabananda Deka, Jogesh Das,
Homen Borgohain, Bhabendra Nath
Saikia, Lakshmi Nandan Bora, Nirmal
Prabha Bordoloi, Mahim Bora, Hiren
Gohain, Arun Sharma, Hiren
Bhattacharyya, Mamoni Raisom
Goswami, Nalini Prava Deka, Nilamani
Phukan, Arupa Kalita Patangia,
Dhrubajyoti Bora, Arnab Jan Deka, Rita
Chowdhury, Anuradha Sharma Pujari,
Manikuntala Bhattacharya and several
others.

A comprehensive introductory book

Assamese Language-Literature &
Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa
originally authored by leading Assamese
littérateur of Awahon-Ramdhenu Era and
pioneer Assam economist Bhabananda
Deka together with his three deputies,
Parikshit Hazarika, Upendra Nath
Goswami and Prabhat Chandra Sarma,
was published in 1968. This book was
officially released in New Delhi on 24 Nov
1968 by then President of India Dr Zakir
Hussain in commemoration of the birth
centenary celebration of doyen of
Assamese literature Lakshminath
Bezbaroa. After almost half a century,
this historic book has been recovered
and re-edited by Assamese award-
winning short-story writer & novelist
Arnab Jan Deka, which was published by
Assam Foundation-India in 2014.[21] This
second enlarged edition was officially
released on 4 December 2014 on the
occasion of 150th birth anniversary of
Lakshminath Bezbaroa and 8th Death
Anniversary of Bhabananda Deka by
Great Britain-based bilingual magazine
Luit to Thames (Luitor Pora Thamsoloi)
editor Dr Karuna Sagar Das.

Bengali literature
Rabindranath Tagore, the author of many works,
including Gitanjali and India's national anthem 'Jana
Gana Mana'. He was awarded the Noble Prize in
Literature in 1913 for "his profoundly sensitive, fresh
and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate

skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in

his own English words, a part of the literature of the
West." He was the first person of non-European
lineage to win a Nobel Prize.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the author of India's
National Song 'Vande Mataram'.

The first evidence of Bengali literature is

known as Charyapada or Charyageeti,
which were Buddhist hymns from the 8th
century. Charyapada is in the oldest
known written form of Bengali. The
famous Bengali linguist Harprashad
Shastri discovered the palm leaf
Charyapada manuscript in the Nepal
Royal Court Library in 1907. The most
internationally famous Bengali writer is
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who
received the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1913 for his work "Gitanjali". He wrote
the national anthem of India and
Bangladesh namely, "Jana Gana Mana"
and "Amar Sonar Bangla", respectively.
He was the first Asian who won the
Nobel Prize. Rabindranath has written
enormous amount of poems, songs,
essays, novels, plays and short stories.
His songs remain popular and are still
widely sung in Bengal.

Kazi Nazrul Islam, who is one generation

younger than Tagore, is also equally
popular, valuable, and influential in socio-
cultural context of the Bengal, though
virtually unknown in foreign countries.
And among later generation poets,
Jibanananda Das is considered the most
important figure.[22] Other famous Indian
Bengali writers were Sharat Chandra
Chattopadhyay, Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan
Dutt, Sunil Gangopadhyay etc.

Sukanta Bhattacharya (15 August 1926 –

13 May 1947) was a Bengali poet and
playwright. Along with Rabindranath
Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, he was
one of the key figures of modern Bengali
poetry, despite the fact that most of his
works had been in publication
posthumously. During his life, his poems
were not widely circulated, but after his
death his reputation grew to the extent
that he became one of the most popular
Bengali poet of the 20th century.

Bengali is the second most commonly

spoken language in India (after Hindi). As
a result of the Bengal Renaissance in the
19th and 20th centuries, many of India's
most famous, and relatively recent,
literature, poetry, and songs are in
Bengali.

In the history of Bengali literature there

has been only one pathbreaking literary
movement by a group of poets and
artists who called themselves
Hungryalists.

Bhojpuri literature

Chhattisgarhi literature

Literature in Chhattisgarh reflects the

regional consciousness and the evolution
of an identity distinct from others in
Central India. The social problems of the
lower castes/untouchables were
highlighted in the writings of Khub Chand
Baghel through his plays Jarnail Singh
and Unch Neech.

English literature
In the 20th century, several Indian writers
have distinguished themselves not only
in traditional Indian languages but also in
English, a language inherited from the
British. As a result of British colonisation,
India has developed its own unique
dialect of English known as Indian
English. Indian English typically follows
British spelling and pronunciation as
opposed to American, and books
published in India reflect this
phenomenon. Indian English literature,
however, tends to utilise more
internationally recognisable vocabulary
then does colloquial Indian English, in the
same way that American English
literature does so as compared to
American slang.

India's only Nobel laureate in literature

was the Bengali writer Rabindranath
Tagore, who wrote some of his work
originally in English, and did some of his
own English translations from Bengali.
India's best selling English-language
novelists of all-time are the
contemporary writers like Chetan Bhagat,
Manjiri Prabhu and Ashok Banker. More
recent major writers in English 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, Rohinton Mistry,
Vikram Chandra, Mukul Kesavan, Raj
Kamal Jha, Vikas Swarup, Khushwant
Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Nayantara Sehgal,
Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Ashok Banker,
Shashi Deshpande, Arnab Jan Deka,
Jhumpa Lahiri, Kamala Markandaya, Gita
Mehta, Manil Suri, Manjiri Prabhu, Ruskin
Bond, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and
Bharati Mukherjee.

In category of Indian writing in English is

poetry. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in
Bengali and English and was responsible
for the translations of his own work into
English. Other early notable poets in
English include Derozio, Michael
Madhusudan Dutt, Toru Dutt, Romesh
Chunder Dutt, Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini
Naidu, and her brother Harindranath
Chattopadhyay.

In the 1950s, the Writers Workshop

collective in Calcutta was founded by the
poet and essayist P. Lal to advocate and
publish Indian writing in English. The
press was the first to publish Pritish
Nandy, Sasthi Brata, and others; it
continues to this day to provide a forum
for English writing in India. In modern
times, Indian poetry in English was
typified by two very different poets. Dom
Moraes, winner of the Hawthornden Prize
at the age of 19 for his first book of
poems A Beginning went on to occupy a
pre-eminent position among Indian poets
writing in English. Nissim Ezekiel, who
came from India's tiny Bene Israel Jewish
community, created a voice and place for
Indian poets writing in English and
championed their work.

Their contemporaries in English poetry in

India were Jayanta Mahapatra, Gieve
Patel, A. K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar,
Dilip Chitre, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra,
Eunice De Souza, Kersi Katrak, P. Lal and
Kamala Das among several others.

Younger generations of poets writing in

English include G. S. Sharat Chandra,
Hoshang Merchant, Makarand Paranjape,
Anuradha Bhattacharyya, Nandini Sahu,
Arundhathi Subramaniam, Jeet Thayil,
Ranjit Hoskote, Sudeep Sen, Abhay K,
Jerry Pinto, K Srilata, Gopi Kottoor, Tapan
Kumar Pradhan, Arnab Jan Deka, Anju
Makhija, Robin Ngangom, Rukmini Bhaya
Nair, Smita Agarwal, Vihang A. Naik and
Vivekanand Jha among others.

A generation of exiles also sprang from

the Indian diaspora. Among these are
names like Agha Shahid Ali, Sujata Bhatt,
Richard Crasta, Yuyutsu Sharma, Shampa
Sinha, Tabish Khair and Vikram Seth.

In recent years, English-language writers

of Indian origin are being published in the
West at an increasing rate.
Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Kiran
Desai and Arvind Adiga have won the
prestigious Man Booker Prize, with
Salman Rushdie going on to win the
Booker of Bookers.

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
Khariboli dialect became more prominent
than 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 Suryakant
Tripathi 'Nirala', Prem Bajpai, Jaishankar
Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant, and
Mahadevi Varma. Other renowned poets
include Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Maithili
Sharan Gupt, Agyeya, Harivansh Rai
Bachchan, and Dharmveer Bharti.

Gujarati literature
Gandhi extensively wrote in Gujarati

Gujarati literature's history may be traced

to 1000 AD. Since then literature has
flourished till date. Well known laureates
of Gujarati literature are
Hemchandracharya, Narsinh Mehta,
Mirabai, Akho, Premanand Bhatt, Shamal
Bhatt, Dayaram, Dalpatram, Narmad,
Govardhanram Tripathi, Gandhi, K. M.
Munshi, Umashankar Joshi, Suresh
Joshi, Pannalal Patel and Rajendra
Keshavlal Shah.

Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarat Sahitya

Sabha, and Gujarati Sahitya Parishad are
Ahmedabad based literary institutions
promoting the spread of Gujarati
literature. Umashankar Joshi, Pannalal
Patel, Rajendra Keshavlal Shah and
Raghuveer Chaudhary have won the
Jnanpith Award, the highest literary
award in India.

Kannada literature
Kannada writer and Jnanpith Award winner for the
year 1994, U. R. Ananthamurthy

The oldest existing record of Kannada

prose is the Halmidi inscription of 450
CE, and poetry in tripadi metre is the
Kappe Arabhatta record of 700 CE. The
folk form of literature began earlier than
any other literature in Kannada.
Gajashtaka (800 CE) by King Shivamara
II, Chudamani (650 CE) by
Thumbalacharya are examples of early
literature now considered extinct.
Kavirajamarga by King Nripatunga
Amoghavarsha I (850 CE) is the earliest
existing literary work in Kannada. It is a
writing on literary criticism and poetics
meant to standardize various written
Kannada dialects used in literature in
previous centuries. The book makes
reference to Kannada works by early
writers such as King Durvinita of the 6th
century and Ravikirti, the author of the
Aihole record of 636 CE. An early extant
prose work, the Vaddaradhane by
Shivakotiacharya of 900 CE provides an
elaborate description of the life of
Bhadrabahu of Shravanabelagola. Since
the earliest available Kannada work is
one on grammar and a guide of sorts to
unify existing variants of Kannada
grammar and literary styles, it can be
safely assumed that literature in
Kannada must have started several
centuries earlier.[23]Pampa who
popularised Champu style which is
unique to Kannada wrote the epic
"Vikramarjuna Vijaya". He also wrote
"Adipurana". Other famous poets like
Ponna wrote "shantinatapurana",
"Bhuvanaikaramabhyudaya",
"Jinaksharamale",and
"gatapratyagata".Ranna wrote
"Shantipurana" and "Ghadayudha".The
jain poet Nagavarma 2 wrote
"Kavyavalokana",
"Karnatabhashabhushana" and
"Vardhamanapurana" . Janna was the
author of "Yashodhara Charitha".
Rudhrabhatta and Durgashima wrote
"Jagannatha Vijaya" and "Panchatantra"
respectively. The works of the medieval
period are based on Jain and Hindu
principles. The Vachana Sahitya tradition
of the 12th century is purely native and
unique in world literature.[24] It is the sum
of contributions by all sections of
society. Vachanas were pithy comments
on that period's social, religious and
economic conditions. More importantly,
they held a mirror to the seed of social
revolution, which caused a radical re-
examination of the ideas of caste, creed
and religion. Some of the important
writers of Vachana literature include
Basavanna, Allama Prabhu and Akka
Mahadevi. Kumara Vyasa, who wrote the
Karnata Bharata Katamanjari, has
arguably been the most famous and
most influential Kannada writer of the
15th century. The Bhakti movement gave
rise to Dasa Sahitya around the 15th
century which significantly contributed to
the evolution of Carnatic music in its
present form. This period witnessed
great Haridasas like Purandara Dasa who
has been aptly called the Pioneer of
Carnatic music, Kanaka Dasa,
Vyasathirtha and Vijaya Dasa. Modern
Kannada in the 20th century has been
influenced by many movements, notably
Navodaya, Navya, Navyottara, Dalita and
Bandaya. Contemporary Kannada
literature has been highly successful in
reaching people of all classes in society.
Works of Kannada literature have
received Eight Jnanpith awards, which is
the highest number awarded for the
literature in any Indian language. It has
also received forty-seven Sahitya
Academy awards.

Kashmiri literature

Kodava literature

When Kodava was written, it was usually

with Kannada script, sometimes with
minor modifications. ... The language
had no significant written literature until
the twentieth century. Appachcha Kavi, a
playwright, and Nadikerianda Chinnappa,
a folk compiler, are the two important
poets and writers of the Kodava
language.

Konkani literature

Konkani Literature. Konkani is a language

with a complex and much-contested
history. It is one of the few Indian
languages to be written in five scripts—
Roman, Nagari, Kannada, Persian-Arabic
and Malayalam-and also has an
extensive oral literature.
Malayalam literature

Even up to 500 years since the start of

the Malayalam calendar which
commenced in 825 AD, Malayalam
literature remained in preliminary stage.
During this time, Malayalam literature
consisted mainly of various genres of
songs. Ramacharitham written by
Cheeramakavi is a collection of poems
written at the end of preliminary stage in
Malayalam literature's evolution, and is
the oldest Malayalam book available.
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan
(17th century) is considered as the
Father of the Malayalam language,
because of his influence on the
acceptance of the Malayalam alphabet
and his extremely popular poetic works
like Adhyathmaramayanam. Several
noted works were written during the 19th
century, but it was in the 20th century the
Malayalam literary movement came to
prominence. Malayalam literature
flourished under various genres and
today it is a fully developed part of Indian
literature.

Meitei literature

Meitei literature is literature written in the

Meitei language (Manipuri, Meiteilon),
including literature composed in Meitei
by writers from Manipur, Assam, Tripura,
Myanmar and Bangladesh. The history of
Meitei literature can be traced back to
thousands of years with the flourish of
Meitei civilization. Despite massive
devastation and the burning of Meitei
scriptures, such as the Puya Meithaba,
Meitei literature survived. The resilience
that Meiteis would demonstrate in the
event of devastation proves their ability
to survive throughout history. Most of the
early literary works found in Meitei
literature were in poetry and prose or a
combination of both. One of the most
famous Meitei writers of the twentieth
century is M. K. Binodini Devi.

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 Jnanpith
Award winners Vishnu Sakharam
Khandekar, Vishnu Vaman Shirvadakar
(Kavi Kusumagraj) and Govind Vinayak
Karandikar. Though the earliest known
Marathi inscription found at the foot of
the statue at Shravanabelgola in
Karnataka is dated c. 983 CE, the Marathi
literature actually started with the
religious writings by the saint-poets
belonging to Mahanubhava and Warkari
sects. Mahanubhava saints used prose
as their main medium, while Warkari
saints preferred poetry as the medium.
The early saint-poets were Mukundaraj
who wrote Vivekasindhu, Dnyaneshwar
(1275–1296) (who wrote Amrutanubhav
and Bhawarthadeepika, which is
popularly known as Dnyaneshwari, a
9000-couplets long commentary on the
Bhagavad Gita) and Namdev. They were
followed by the Warkari saint-poet
Eknath (1528–1599). Mukteswar
translated the great epic Mahabharata
into Marathi. Social reformers like saint-
poet Tukaram transformed Marathi into
an enriched literary language. Ramdas's
(1608–1681) Dasbodh and Manache
Shlok are well-known products of this
tradition.

In the 18th century, some well-known

works like Yatharthadeepika (by Vaman
Pandit), Naladamayanti Swayamvara (by
Raghunath Pandit), Pandava Pratap,
Harivijay, Ramvijay (by Shridhar Pandit)
and Mahabharata (by Moropant) were
produced. However, the most versatile
and voluminous writer among the poets
was Moropanta (1729–1794) whose
Mahabharata was the first epic poem in
Marathi. The historical section of the old
Marathi literature was unique as it
contained both prose and poetry. The
prose section contained the Bakhars that
were written after the foundation of the
Maratha kingdom by Shivaji. The poetry
section contained the Povadas and the
Katavas composed by the Shahirs. The
period from 1794 to 1818 is regarded as
the closing period of the Old Marathi
literature and the beginning of the
Modern Marathi literature.

Modern period (after 1800)

The period of the late 19th century in

Maharashtra is the period of colonial
modernity. Like the corresponding
periods in the other Indian languages,
this was the period dominated by the
English educated intellectuals. It was the
age of prose and reason. It was the
period of reformist didacticism and a
great intellectual ferment.

The first English book was translated in

Marathi in 1817. The first Marathi
newspaper started in 1835. Many books
on social reforms were written by Baba
Padamji (Yamuna Paryatana, 1857),
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Lokhitwadi,
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Hari
Narayan Apte (1864–1919) etc.
Lokmanya Tilak's newspaper Kesari, set
up in 1880, provided a platform for
sharing literary views. Marathi at this
time was efficiently aided by Marathi
Drama. Here, there also was a different
genre called 'Sangit Natya' or musicals.
The first play was V.A. Bhave's Sita
Swayamvar in 1843. Later Kirioskar
(1843–85) and G.B. Deval (1854-19l6)
brought a romantic aroma and social
content. But Krishnaji Prabhakar
Khadilkar (1872~1948) with his banned
play Kichaka-Vadh (1910) set the trend of
political playwriting. Later on this "stage"
was ably served by stalwarts like Ram
Ganesh Gadkari and Prahlad Keshav
Atre. The drama flourished in the 1960s
and 70s with few of the best Indian
actors available to take on a variety of
protagonists. Mohan Agashe, Sriram
Lagoo, Kashinath Ghanekar, Prabhakar
Panshikar playing many immortal
characters penned by greats like Vasant
Kanetkar, Kusumagraj, vijay Tendulkar to
name a few. This drama movement was
ably supported by Marathi films which
did not enjoy a continuous success.
Starting with V.Shantaram and before
him the pioneer DadaSaheb Phalke,
Marathi cinema went on to influence
contemporary Hindi cinema. Director
Raja Paranjape, Music director Sudhir
Phadke, lyricist G.Madgulkar and actor
Raja Gosavi came together to give quite
a few hits in later period. Marathi
language as spoken by people here was
throughout influenced by drama and
cinema along with contemporary
literature. Modern Marathi poetry began
with Mahatma Jyotiba Phule's
compositions. The later poets like
Keshavsuta, Balakavi, Govindagraj, and
the poets of Ravi Kiran Mandal like
Madhav Julian wrote poetry which was
influenced by the Romantic and Victorian
English poetry. It was largely sentimental
and lyrical. Prahlad Keshav Atre, the
renowned satirist and a politician wrote a
parody of this sort of poetry in his
collection Jhenduchi Phule. Sane Guruji
(1899–1950) contributed to the children's
literature in Marathi. His major works are
Shyamchi Aai (Shyam's Mother), Astik
(Believer), Gode Shevat (The Sweet
Ending) etc. He translated and simplified
many Western classics and published
them in a book of stories titled Gode
Goshti (Sweet Stories).

Mizo literature

Mizo literature is the literature written in

Mizo ṭtawng, the principal language of
the Mizo peoples, which has both written
and oral traditions. It has undergone a
considerable change in the 20th century.
The language developed mainly from the
Lushai language, with significant
influence from Pawi language, Paite
language and Hmar language, especially
at the literary level.[25] All Mizo languages
such as Pawi language, Paite language
etc. remained unwritten until the
beginning of the 20th century. However,
there was unwritten secular literature in
the form of folktales, war chants etc.
passed down from one generation to
another. And there was rich religious
literature in the form of sacerdotal
chants. These are the chants used by the
two types of priests, namely Bawlpu and
Sadâwt. This article is about the written
literature.

Nepali literature

Odia literature

Odia language literary history started

with the charyapadas written in the 8th
century AD. Odia has a rich literary
heritage, the medieval period dating back
to the 13th century. Sarala Dasa who
lived in the 14th century is known as the
Vyasa of Odisha. He translated the
Mahabharata into Odia. In fact the
language was initially standardized
through a process of translation of
classical Sanskrit texts like the
Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the
Srimad Bhagabatam. Jagannatha Das
translated the Srimad Bhagabatam into
Odia and his translation standardized the
written form of the language. Odia has
had a strong tradition of poetry,
especially that of devotional poetry.
Some other eminent ancient Odia Poets
include Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja and
Kavisurya Baladev Rath.

Odia language is replete in classisicm.

Various forms of poetry like champu,
chhanda, bhajan, janan, poi, chautisha
etc. were written during the medieval
ages.

In the 19th century, Swabhab Kavi

Gangadhar Meher (1862-1924), Fakir
Mohan Senapati (1843–1918), Gouri
Shankar Ray, Gopal Chandra Praharaj,
Pandit Nilmani Vidyaratna, Kabibar
Radhanath Ray were few of the
prominent figures in prose and poetry
writings of Odia literature. In the 20th
century Godabarish Mohapatra, Kalindi
Charana Panigrahi, Kanhu Charan
Mohanty (1906–1994), Godabarish
Mishra, Gopinath Mohanty (1914–1991),
Sachidananda Routray (1916–2004),
Sitakant Mahapatra (born 17 September
1937), Surendra Mohanty, Manoj Das,
Kishori Charan Das, Ramakanta Rath
(born 13 December 1934), Binapani
Mohanty, Jagadish Mohanty, Sarojini
Sahoo, Rajendra Kishore Panda, Padmaj
Pal, Ramchandra Behera, Pratibha
Satpathy, Nandini Sahu, Debaraj
Samantray are few names who created
Odia literature. Recently the Government
of India accorded classical status to Odia
in 2014. There was a time when Bengali
tried to overpower odia language. Along
with Westbengal,Chattisgarh,
Madhyapradesh and Andhrapradesh
tookaway many parts of Odisha letting
odisha into nothingness and despair.
Mostly the bengalis claimed that odia is
the derived form of bengali and so the
language cannot independently exist.The
famous bengali pandits like Kantilal
Bhattacharya and Rajendra mitra claimed
that “odia ekta swotontro bhasa
hobena”,i.e Odia cannot withstand as an
independent language. But they were
unaware of the fact that Odia language is
older than bengali and even one of the
oldest languages in the World. It is one of
the classical languages. Due to the
immense contributions and sacrifices of
pioneers like Fakirmohan senapati,
Gopabandhu Das, Madhusudan Das,
Nilakantha Das, Gourishankar Ray,
Maharaja krushnachandra Gajapati and
many more, Odisha and odia language
got back its special identity and has
stood tall among the best in the country.
The state Odisha and the language odia
that you see today has evolved through
lots of contributions and sacrifices.

Punjabi literature

The history of Punjabi literature starts

with advent of Aryan in Punjab. Punjab
provided them the perfect environment in
which to compose the ancient texts. The
Rig-Veda is first example in which
references are made to the rivers, flora
and fauna of Punjab. The Punjabi literary
tradition is generally conceived to
commence with Fariduddin Ganjshakar
(1173–1266).[2]. Farid's mostly spiritual
and devotional verse were compiled after
his death in the Adi Granth.

The Janamsakhis, stories on the life and

legend of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), are
early examples of Punjabi prose
literature. Nanak himself composed
Punjabi verse incorporating vocabulary
from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and other
Indic languages as characteristic of the
Gurbani tradition. Sufi poetry developed
under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan
Bahu (1628–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–
1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), and
Bulleh Shah (1680–1757). In contrast to
Persian poets who had preferred the
ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi
poets tended to compose in the Kafi.[3].

Punjabi Sufi poetry also influenced other

Punjabi literary traditions particularly the
Punjabi Qissa, a genre of romantic
tragedy which also derived inspiration
from Indic, Persian and Qur'anic sources.
The Qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah
(1706–1798) is among the most popular
of Punjabi qisse. Other popular stories
include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah,
Mirza Sahiba by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–
1707), Sassi Punnun by Hashim Shah
(1735?-1843?), and Qissa Puran Bhagat
by Qadaryar (1802–1892).

The Victorian novel, Elizabethan drama,

free verse and Modernism entered
Punjabi literature through the
introduction of British education during
colonial rule. The setting up of a
Christian mission at Ludhiana in 1835
(where a printing press was installed for
using Gurmukhi fonts, and which also
issued the first Punjabi grammar in
1838), the publication of a Punjabi
dictionary by Reverend J. Newton in 1854
and the ripple-down effect of the
strengthening and modernizing the
education system under the patronage of
the Singh Sabha Movement in the 1860s,
were some of the developments that
made it possible for ‘modernism’ to
emerge in Punjabi literary culture. It
needs to be pointed out here that
‘modernism’ is being used here as an
umbrella term to cover a whole range of
developments in the Punjabi literary
culture, starting with the break from
tradition or the past to a commitment to
progressive ideology, from the
experimental nature of the avant-garde to
the newness of the forward-looking.

Rajasthani literature
Sanskrit literature

Sindhi literature

Tamil literature

Tamil literature has a rich and long

literary tradition spanning more than
2500 years (Sangam period: 5th century
BC-3rd century CE.) Tolkaappiyam (3rd
century BC) has been credited as the
oldest work in Tamil available today. The
history of Tamil literature follows the
history of Tamil Nadu, closely following
the social and political trends of various
periods. The secular nature of the early
Sangam poetry gave way to works of
religious and didactic nature during the
Middle Ages. Tirukkural is a fine example
of such work on human behaviour and
political morals. A wave of religious
revival helped generate a great volume of
literary output by Saivite and Vaishnavite
authors. Jain and Buddhist authors
during the medieval period and Muslim
and European authors later also
contributed to the growth of Tamil
literature.

A revival of Tamil literature took place

from the late 19th century when works of
religious and philosophical nature were
written in a style that made it easier for
the common people to enjoy. Nationalist
poets began to utilise the power of
poetry in influencing the masses. Short
stories and novels began to appear. The
popularity of Tamil Cinema has also
provided opportunities for modern Tamil
poets to emerge.

Telugu literature

Telugu, the Indian language with the third

largest number of speakers (after Hindi &
Bengali), is rich in literary traditions. The
earliest written literature dates back to
the 7th century. The epic literary tradition
started with Nannayya who is acclaimed
as Telugu's Aadikavi meaning the first
poet. He belongs to the 10th or 11th
century.

Vemana was a prince, also called

Pedakomati or Vemaa Reddy, who lived
in the 14th century and wrote poems in
the language of the common man. He
questioned the prevailing values and
conventions and religious practices in his
poems. His philosophy made him a
unique poet of the masses.

Viswanadha Satyanarayana
(Veyipadagalu) (1895–1976), a doyen of
conventional yet creative literature, was
the first to receive the Jnanpith Award for
Telugu followed by C. Narayana Reddy
and Ravuri Bharadwaja.
Srirangam Srinivasarao or Sri Sri (born
1910) was a popular 20th century poet
and lyricist. Srisri took the "Telugu literary
band wagon that travelled in roads of
kings and queens into that of muddy
roads of common man".

Literary movements

Old Era

Telugu literature has been enriched by

many literary movements, like the Veera
Shaiva movement which gave birth to
dwipada kavitvam (couplets). The Bhakti
movement gave rise to compilations by
Annamayya, Kshetrayya and Tyagaraja
and kancharla Gopanna (Ramadasu).
The renaissance movement heralded by
Vemana stands for the old Telugu literary
movements.

New Era

The Romantic Movement (led by

Krishnasashtri, Rayaprolu, Vedula),
Progressive Writers Movement,
Digambara Kavitvam (Nagnamuni,
Cherabanda Raju, Jwalamukhi,
Nikhileswar, Bhairavayya and
Mahaswapna Revolutionary Writers'
Movement, Streevada Kavitvam and
Dalita Kavitvam all flourished in Telugu
literature. Telugu literature has been the
standard bearer of Indian literature in
these respects.

Fiction and prose literature:

Kandukuri Veeresalingam is said to be

the father of Modern Telugu fiction.
Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao laid the
foundation for the realistic modern
Telugu novel and short story, and
Rachakonda and Kalipatnam carried the
flag in to excellency.

Annamaya, Gurajada Appa Rao,

Kandukuri, Devulapalli, Jashuva, Unnava
Laxminarayana (Malapalli), Bucchi Babu,
Tripuraneni Gopichand, Maa Gokhale,
Papineni Sivasankar and many more had
a profound impact on Telugu literature.

Tulu literature

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
Tassawuf (Sufism). Urdu soon became
the court language of the Mughals and in
its higher forms was once called the
"Kohinoor" of Indian languages. It is
surely the most refined, enriched,
sophisticated and ripended language and
literature, producing poets like, Mir,
Ghalib, Iqbal, Zauq and Faiz. The poetry
of Mohammed Iqbal invoked a spirit of
freedom among the Muslims of India,
thus contributing a pivotal role in the
making of Pakistan.

In Urdu literature fiction has also

flourished well. Umrao Jaan Ada of Mirza
Hadi Ruswa is the first significant Urdu
novel. Premchand is treated as father of
modern Urdu fiction with his novel Godan
and short stories like Kafan. The art of
short story was further taken ahead by
Manto, Bedi, Krishn Chander and a host
of highly acclaimed writers. Urdu novel
reached further heights in the 1960s with
novels of Qurratulain Haider and
Abdullah Hussain. Towards the end of
the 20th century Urdu novel entered into
a new phase with trend setter novel
MAKAAN of Paigham Afaqui. Urdu
ghazal has also recently changed its
colour with more and more penetration in
and synchronization with modern and
contemporary issues of life.

In foreign languages
Indian Persian literature
During the early Muslim period, Persian
became the official language of the
northern part of Indian subcontinent,
used by most of the educated and the
government. The language had, from its
earliest days in the 11th century AD, been
imported to the subcontinent by various
culturally Persianised Central Asian
Turkic and Afghan dynasties.[26] Several
Indians became major Persian poets
later on, the most notable being Amir
Khusro and, in more modern times,
Muhammad 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 1837, 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 most of the subcontinent's
official governmental language, a
position to be taken up by the new
language of the British Raj, English. Many
modern Indian languages still show signs
of relatively heavy Persian influence,
most notably Urdu and Hindi.
English literature from North
East India

English literature from North East India

refers to the body of work by English-
language writers from North-East India.
North-East India is an under-represented
region in many ways. The troubled
political climate, the beautiful landscape
and the confluence of various ethnic
groups perhaps have given rise to a body
of writing that is completely different
from Indian English Literature.

Journalism in India
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The first printing press arrived in India in
the year 1556, through the efforts of
Jesuit missionaries. It was brought from
Portugal and installed at the college of
St. Paul in Goa. It was used mainly for
printing religious literature like tracts,
hymn books etc.[27]

The first printed newspaper of India was

in English, and was called Hicky’s Bengal
Gazette. It was edited and published by
James Augustus Hicky, an ex-employee
of the East India Company. The first
issue of this newspaper came out in
1780 and carried only classified
advertisements on its front page. It was
a weekly newspaper and generally dealt
with the arrival and departure of
Europeans, timings of steamers,
fashionable news from London, Paris
and Vienna, and personal news. It
attended to the needs of the small
European community of Calcutta. Many
other Anglo-Indian newspapers emerged
after Hicky’s pattern- such as John Bull,
Calcutta Journal, Bengal Harkaru. In the
year 1781, Hicky’s Bengal Gazette was
forced to close down after Hicky
published a scandalous story about
Warren Hastings, the then Governor-
General and his wife.

Later on, another type of newspaper

emerged- Indo-Anglian papers. They
were English newspapers run by Indians
primarily for English educated elite
Indians. The first newspaper of this type
was Bengal Gazette, started in 1816 by
Gangadhar Bhattacharya, a disciple of
Raja Rammohan Roy. Rammohan Roy
also began his famous Brahmanical
Magazine, English fortnightly.

The early Indo-Anglian papers

concentrated on drawing the attention of
the British to the cultural and
philosophical history of India. They did
not openly attack social and political
evils.

The first war of independence was

fought from 1857 to 1859 in various
parts of the country. Between 1860 and
1899, hundreds of newspapers came up
demanding freedom of expression and
criticizing the repressive measures taken
by the British. Journalism played an
important role in making educated
Indians aware of their rights. Some
newspapers of this period are The Hindu
of Madras and Amrit Bazaar Patrika of
Calcutta. Another significant factor was
that during this period a large number of
colleges imparting science and liberal
arts education sprang up in the major
towns of India.

Digdarshan (World Vision) was the first

Indian language newspaper, a Bengali
religious weekly started in Sehrampur by
Christian missionaries. Based on the
pattern of Digdarshan, Raja Rammohan
Roy brought out Bengali and Urdu
weeklies like Bangadoota and Mirat-ul-
Akhbar. The newspaper with the greatest
longevity in India is the first Gujarati
newspaper- Mumbai Samachar,
established in 1822. Some of the early
Hindi publications were Oodunt Martand,
Banaras Akhbar, Shimla Akhbar and
Samayadant Martand, the first Hindi
daily. Mangaloora Samachar, published
from Mangalore, was the first Kannada
journal. Malayala Manorama, the second
oldest newspaper in Kerala was started
in 1890, and was the first newspaper to
be published by a joint stock company
formed solely for the purpose of
publishing a newspaper. The first Marathi
newspaper was Darpan- a bilingual
fortnightly in Englisha and Marathi,
started by a professor of the Elphinstone
College of Bombay. The first all Marathi
journal was Mumbai Akhbar. During the
early part of the 20th century, Marathi
journalism played an important role in
the freedom movement. Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, a renowned freedom fighter started
two powerful journals- Kesari and
Maratha.

Despite the numerous columns and

articles demanding political and social
reforms, journalism during the 19th
century had little impact on the Indian
masses, due to widespread illiteracy and
poverty.

In 1947, the major English newspaper in

India were the Times of India (Bombay),
Statesman (Calcutta), Hindu (Madras),
Hindustan Times (New Delhi), Indian
Express (Bombay & Madras) Amrita
Bazaar Patrika (Calcutta). Of these, the
Times of India, Statesman & Pioneer
were under British ownership till 1964,
when it came under a group of Indian
business.

During the long struggle for India’s

Independence, the major English
newspaper that served the national
cause were the Hindu (1878), Amrita
Bazaar Patrika (1868), & Hindustan
Times (1924). Among the Indian
language newspapers, the prominent
ones were, Ananda bazaar Patrika
(1922), Sakal (1931), Mumbai Samachar
(1822), Malayala Manorama (1890) &
Mathrubhumi (1930).

During the 1950s 214 daily newspapers

were published in the country. Out of
these, 44 were English language dailies
while the rest were published in various
regional languages. This number rose to
2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English
dailies.
There are four major publishing groups in
India, each of which controls national
and regional English-language and
vernacular publications. They are the
Times of India Group, the Indian Express
Group, the Hindustan Times Group, and
the Anandabazar Patrika Group. The
Times of India is India's largest English-
language daily, with a circulation of
656,000 published in six cities. The
Indian Express, with a daily circulation of
519,000, is published in seventeen cities.
There also are seven other daily
newspapers with circulations of between
134,000 and 477,000, all in English and
all competitive with one another. Indian-
language newspapers also enjoy large
circulations but usually on a statewide or
citywide basis. For example, the
Malayalam-language daily Malayala
Manorama circulates 673,000 copies in
Kerala; the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran
circulates widely in Uttar Pradesh and
New Delhi, with 580,000 copies per day;
Punjab Kesari, also published in Hindi
and available throughout Punjab and
New Delhi, has a daily circulation of
562,000; and the Anandabazar Patrika,
published in Calcutta in Bengali, has a
daily circulation of 435,000. There are
also numerous smaller publications
throughout the nation. The combined
circulation of India's newspapers and
periodicals is in the order of 60 million,
published daily in more than ninety
languages.

Journalism during the

Emergency Period

During the summer of 1975, as Indira

Gandhi became increasingly threatened
by the mounting criticisms of her
government, she declared a state of
emergency. The declaration of a national
emergency lasted for about 19 months.
The emergency was declared as a result
of mounting political pressure exerted
upon the government from opposing
political parties which were striving to
fight corruption, inflation and economic
chaos in the country. Indira Gandhi's
government, rather than taking this as a
political challenge, resorted to declaring
a national emergency and imprisoning
the opposition party leaders, including all
dissenting voices from the media.

Immediately she took control of the

press, prohibiting their reporting of all
domestic and international news. The
government expelled several foreign
correspondents (mainly American and
British) and withdrew accreditation from
more than 40 Indian reporters who
normally covered the capital.

The fundamental rights of the Indian

people were suspended, and strict
controls were imposed on freedom of
speech and press. According to the Right
of Freedom-Article 19(1) of the Indian
Constitution, Indians have the right (a) to
freedom of speech and expression, (b) to
assemble peacefully and without arms,
(c) to form associations or unions, (d) to
move freely across the length and
breadth of the country, (e) to reside or
settle in any part of India, (f) to own or
dispose of property, and (g) to carry on
any lawful trade of occupation.'

Unlike the American Constitution or

others In which freedom of the press is
mentioned as one of the fundamental
rights, the Indian Constitution doesn't
specifically mention freedom of the
press. However, the fundamental Rights
Clause of the Indian Constitution treats
freedom of the press as an integral part
of the larger "freedom of expression."

Indira Gandhi's government used the

"security of the state" and "promotion of
disaffection" as its defense for imposing
strict control on the press. And with the
airwaves already under government
ownership, Indira Gandhi successfully
controlled the mass communication
system in India for over a year and a half.

During censorship, most of the nation's

domestic dailies gave up the battle for
press freedom. Their pages were "filled
with fawning accounts of national
events, flattering pictures of Gandhi and
her ambitious son, and not coincidentally,
lucrative government advertising." But
two tough, prominent publishers of
English language dailies, The Indian
Express and The Statesman, fought
courageously against Indira Gandhi's
opposition of the Indian press. Despite
some bold fights and stubborn stands
taken up by these publishers, it was quite
clear that Indira Gandhi had as strong a
grip on the Indian press as she had on
Indian politics, at least during the
government-imposed emergency.

Methods of press control

Like other dictators in history, Indira
Gandhi's first attempt was to impose
"thought control" on the populace. For
her, this was to be effectuated not merely
by controlling the Indian mass media but
also by moulding the media to her own
purpose. It has now become a well-
known fact that during the emergency
Indira Gandhi had a firm grip on the
Indian mass media. This was especially
true since radio and television in India are
government owned and operated; for
Indira, there was the simple matter of
controlling the newspapers in order to
achieve a total control of the mass
media. She used at least three methods
in manipulating the newspapers:
1. allocation of government advertising;
2. shotgun merger of the news agencies;
and
3. use of fear-arousal techniques on
newspaper publishers, journalists and
individual shareholders.

The Indian newspapers depend a great

deal on governmental advertising;
without such revenues, it would be
difficult for many Indian newspapers to
stay in business. Unfortunately, this has
kept many of them vulnerable to
government manipulation. The large-
scale possibility of such manipulation,
however, was not fully demonstrated
until Indira Gandhi's government decided
to take advantage of this unique
circumstance. In the beginning of
censorship, when a few leading
newspapers such as The Indian Express
and The Statesman refused to abide the
governmental censorship, the
government withdrew its advertising
support from these newspapers. Later
on, this type of financial castigation was
used on several other rebellious
newspapers.

The second and perhaps more profound

way of manipulating the news flow
resulted from the governmental decision
to bring about a shot-gun merger of the
four privately owned Indian news
agencies; the main purpose behind this
merger was to alter the management and
control of the Indian news agencies and
thus to control much of the content of
the leading newspapers. Since these
agencies had been acting as the
gatekeepers of information, it was
essential for Indira Gandhi and her
Information and Broadcasting Minister,
Mr. V.C. Shukla, to control the
gatekeepers. To effect such a merger, the
government carried through various
successful tactics. First of all, pressure
was put on the members of boards of
these agencies. Then the financial
squeeze was applied to the agencies
themselves by withholding governmental
subsidy. Thirdly, the government
introduced the threat of cutting-off the
teleprinter services, the lifelines of a
news agency. For example, the
government-owned Post and Telegraph
Department was ordered to impose a
suspension of services to the United
News of India if it resisted the merger.
The manipulation of these four news
agencies was so effective that hardly a
voice was raised to resist the
governmental perfidy. Soon after this,
Shukla reported to the Indian parliament
that these four news agencies accepted
the merger "voluntarily."
A third and an equally effective method
applied by Indira Gandhi was to use fear-
arousal techniques on the newspaper
publishers, editors, reporters and
shareholders. Such techniques were
imposed by making false charges with
regard to tax arreas, possible reductions
in newsprint quotas and imprisonment of
publishers.

Awards
Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
Jnanpith Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Vyas Samman
Saraswati Samman
See also
Indian epic poetry
List of ancient Indian writers
Indian Literature (journal)
Indian poetry
Literature from North East India
Stephanian School of Literature

Footnotes
1. Narayanrao, H.L. "A Brief on Indian
Literature and Languages". Journal of
Education and Practice. 2 (3): 46.
ISSN 2222-288X .
2. "Kannada literature", Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2008. Quote: "The earliest
literary work is the Kavirajamarga (c. AD
450), a treatise on poetics based on a
Sanskrit model."
3. Official website of Bharatiya Jnanpith
4. "Kunwar Narayan to be awarded
Jnanpith" . Times of India. 24 November
2008. Archived from the original on 5
December 2012. Retrieved 25 November
2008.
5. Fallon, Oliver. 2009. Bhatti's Poem: The
Death of Rávana (Bhaṭṭikāvya). New York:
Clay Sanskrit Library[1] . ISBN 978-0-
8147-2778-2 | ISBN 0-8147-2778-6 |
6. Narang, Satya Pal. 2003. An Analysis of
the Prākṛta of Bhāśā-sama of the Bhaṭṭi-
kāvya (Canto XII). In: Prof. Mahapatra
G.N., Vanijyotih: Felicitation Volume, Utkal
University, *Bhuvaneshwar.
7. There are some who claim earlier dates
(up to 600 BCE). Others cite as late as
2BCE. The date of 300 BCE may represent
a middle-of-the road consensus view; e.g.
see the well-received textbook Ancient
India, Upinder Singh, 2009, p. 15. However,
it is quite likely that the songs existed in
oral tradition well before this date.
8. Kamil Veith Zvelebil, Companion
Studies to the History of Tamil Literature,
p. 12
9. K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, A History of
South India, OUP (1955) p. 105
10. Classical Tamil Archived 7 July 2010
at the Wayback Machine
11. T.S. Subramanian (2009-07-10). "Jain
History of Tamil Nadu vandalised" .
Retrieved 2011-06-03. "The six Tamil-
Brahmi inscriptions of the 2nd century
B.C. on the brow of five caverns on the
Kazhugumalai hill near Mankulam, 38 km
from Madurai, are the most ancient ones
in Tamil Nadu and establish the historical
facts that the Pandyan king
Nedunchezhiyan ruled in the 2nd century
B.C. and that Sangam literature dates
back to the same period."
12. George L. Hart III, The Poems of
Ancient Tamil, U of California P, 1975.
13. Iḷaṅkōvaṭikaḷ (1965-01-01).
Shilappadikaram: (The Ankle Bracelet) .
New Directions Publishing.
ISBN 9780811200011.
14. Irayanaar Agapporul dated to c 750
AD first mentioned the Sangam legends.
An inscription of the early tenth century
AD mentions the achievements of the
early Pandya kings of establishing a
Sangam in Madurai. See K.A. Nilakanta
Sastry, A History of South India, OUP
(1955) p. 105
15. "The latest limit of Ettutokai and
Pattupattu may be placed around 700
AD...." – Vaiyapuri Pillai, History of Tamil
language and literature p. 38.
16. "...the Tamil language of these brief
records achieved a flowering during the
first centuries of the Common Era,
culminating in the emergence of a poetic
corpus of very high quality [...] To this
corpus the name sangam poetry was
added soon afterwards...." Burton Stein, A
History of India (1998), Blackwell p. 90.
17. See K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of
South India, OUP (1955) pp. 330–335
18. Chera, Chola, Pandya: Using
Archaeological Evidence to Identify the
Tamil Kingdoms of Early Historic South
India – Abraham, Shinu Anna, Asian
Perspectives – Volume 42, Number 2, Fall
2003, pp. 207–223 University of Hawaii
Press
19. Morality and Ethics in Public Life by
Ravindra Kumar p.92
20. Essays on Indian Society by Raj
Kumar p.71
21. Sentinel, The (4 December 2014).
"Documentary film, books on
Bhabananda–Nalini Prava" . Archived
from the original on 24 September 2015.
Retrieved 24 December 2014.
22. "Indian Literature Through the Ages" .
Ccrtindia.gov.in. Archived from the
original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved
2013-04-22.
23. Jyotsna Kamat. "History of the
Kannada Literature-I" . Kamat's Potpourri,
4 November 2006. Kamat's Potpourri.
Retrieved 2006-11-25.
24. "Declare Kannada a classical
language" . Online webpage of The Hindu.
Chennai, India: The Hindu. 27 May 2005.
Retrieved 2007-06-29.
25. Lalthangliana, B., 'Mizo tihin ṭawng a
nei lo' tih kha
26. Sigfried J. de Laet. History of
Humanity: From the seventh to the
sixteenth century UNESCO, 1994.
ISBN 9231028138 p 734
27. [2] , iiste-international knowledge
sharing platform.
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