‘Propositions’ by Sujit

UNIT 1 ‘PROPOSITIONS’ BY SUJIT Mukherjee

MUKHERJEE

Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Analysis of the Points Listed in the Introduction
1.2 About the Author, Sujit Mukherjee
1.3 Some Excerpts from Sujit Mukherjee’s ‘Propositions’
1.4 The Need for a New Methodology to write Indian Literary History
1.4.1 Textual Analysis
1.5 Let Us Sum Up
1.6 Aids to Activities
1.7 Glossary
1.8 Unit End Questions
1.9 References and Suggested Reading

1.0 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to
understand why Sujit Mukherjee wants a new methodology to write Indian
literary history
learn about his new methodology, taking into account the numerous Indian
languages, their literary traditions and the multiple mutual influences of
Indian languages on one another
discover the running undercurrent of one single Indian literary culture among
different Indian languages and literatures
Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Eminent scholars and commentators have criticized the step motherly treatment
given to Indian literary studies and traditions vis-à-vis Western literature and
culture in our universities and have attributed this lapse to four reasons:
1) The colonial hangover resulting in love for western culture and a continuation
of English studies to the neglect of studies in Indian culture and literature.
2) The emphasis on ‘modernity’ that has diminished the importance of Indian
literature which is mistakenly viewed as an ancient tradition and therefore
anti-modern.
3) The advent of print technology that has privileged written texts over the
rich Indian oral literary traditions that include folk and tribal literature
4) The application of Western literary canons that is not wholly applicable to
Indian literary tradition 5
Plurality and Cultural
Diversity
1.1.1 Analysis of the Points Listed in the Introduction
While there is a lot of merit and value in what has been said in defense of Indian
literary and cultural traditions, all of it needs to be toned down with a more
catholic and liberal approach in tune with the distinctive Indian culture of
pluralism. It is not true that all that is modern and western is unacceptable and all
that is past and indigenous is glorious and exotic. Each has its distinctive tradition
and a parallel study of the two traditions can enrich and broaden our understanding
without necessarily giving one more importance than the other. Our Universities
seem to be more in agreement with Kipling’s famous phrase:

“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet…”

The solution to root out this perceived bias and discrimination in favour of western
tradition as against Indian tradition does not lie in ‘either/or’ but in ‘and’. It has
to be inclusive.

Further, oral tradition and written texts are two distinctive genres. When you
hear the word ‘literature,’ we usually associate it with books i.e., the written
word. Before writing was developed, people still told stories and passed them on
from generation to generation through oral storytelling traditions. Many classics
of world literature, from The Iliad (the ancient Greek epic) to The Ramayana
and The Mahabharata,(the classical Indian epics) were passed down orally before
being written down. The earlier process of transmitting the epics orally from one
generation to the next is known as the oral tradition. The oral literary tradition
has survived many ages and is today preserved as written texts in multiple forms
and languages. This is again another instance where two distinct genres enrich
each other. Valmikis’ Ramayana in the oral tradition is as inspiring and poignant
as Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas composed in Hindi/Awadhi and Rajagopalachari’s
Ramayana, written in modern English. Today we have not one, but many
Ramayanas, each with its own cultural context and frames of reference. There
are many great poets such as Kamban, Kritibhasa,Tulsidas and Eknath, to name
a few, who have composed and retold the story of the Ramayana in their own
language with examples drawn from local cultures and embellishing the story
with interesting local flavours, all the while paying homage to Valmiki as the
adi kavi,(the first poet) and also feeling free to create on their own. This is how
oral tradition has been continuously nurtured in Indian society and its tradition
preserved in written texts.

Activity 1
How many versions of the Ramayana/Mahabharata have you come across
in the written/oral/performative forms? Do you notice any changes from
the original story? Make a note of what you think are different whether in
terms of characterization or narrative.

What is meant by Western literary canon? The Western canon is the body of
Western literature besides Western classical music and works of art that represent
high culture. ‘High culture’ in the Western context means the set of cultural
products - both literary and artistic - held in the highest esteem by the literate and
aristocratic classes of Europe and North America. Broadly speaking, it represents
a certain Western intellectual tradition that continues from ancient classical times
to the present. High culture refers to the tastes and preferences of the elite of
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society in contrast to that of popular culture that has a mass appeal. The word ‘Propositions’ by Sujit
Mukherjee
‘canon’ is derived from ancient Greek kanSn, meaning a measuring rod, or
standard and is applied as a test to judge the quality of any literary work. Since
our tradition and culture are different from that of the West, it is infeasible to
apply Western canons to understand and assess Indian literature.

Sujit Mukherjee’s essay ‘Propositions' is an attempt to write a different kind of

literary history other than the chronological narrative of English /Western
literature, to sensitize the reader to the difference between the two distinctive
literary traditions and find a new methodology to write Indian literary history.

Activity 2
How do you differentiate high culture from popular culture in India? Give
two examples from each one of them.

1.2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR, SUJIT MUKHERJEE

Sujit Mukherjee (1930-2003) was a writer,
critic, publisher and translator. While his
academic writing is mainly in the area of Indian
literary history and translation, his non academic
writing includes six books on cricket, the most
widely known being the Autobiography of an
Unknown Cricketer. This book captures the
romance of cricket played in unknown places
and gives us an idea of what it meant to lay the
foundation of a sport which has grown into one
of the most popular games in the country. He
has translated books from Bangla into English
that include Tagore’s Gora and Buddhadeva
Bose’s Mahabharater Katha which he titles The Book of Yudishter. As a critic,
his two works on Translation as Discovery and Translation as Recovery need
special mention. His other books are The Tradition of Anglo-Indian Fiction and
Towards a Literary History of India . The best tribute to Sujit’s qualities of head
and heart is in the form of a quotation from his students in Australia - the
Goonaratnes - and quoted by Prof.Sachidananad Murthy :
… they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tied the Sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

1.3 SOME EXCERPTS FROM SUJIT

MUKHERJEE’S ‘PROPOSITIONS’
The simultaneous presence of several literary languages is probably as true
of our ancient literary culture, as it is of the middle and modern phases and
any new model of literary history we hope to construct ought to be able to
accommodate this fact.
… writing a history of Sanskrit Literature up to about the 12th Century is
easy (as Sanskrit was the predominant language till that time). It is when we 7
Plurality and Cultural extend the review of our literary past down to the 20th Century, the diachronic
Diversity
strategy seems no longer valid for at least the last five centuries when we
have had no single dominant language of literature, the literary achievements
of which we can locate and link in chronological sequence.

We need a broad spectrum view of our literary past as the basis of an

alternative mode of literary history.

We must learn to recognize a literary culture, not merely by the literary

texts contained in it but also as an outcome of various other factors operating
at that time and place.

Once we are prepared to cross and re-cross language barriers in search of

patterns of literary history, some preliminary explorations can be undertaken
to see what meanings can be read into our literary past by deliberate
rearrangement of the available material.

Along with texts, authors are a matter of basic concern in literary history…in
the history of Indian literature this concern gets underlined by the fact that
texts of unknown authorship as well as authors of undiscovered texts abound
in our literary heritage… (this will enable) to relate our literary culture to
the makers of our literature.

When a text belongs to the language of its composition and an author remains
attached to the language of his mastery, a literary form can travel freely
from one language to another. Hence a study of how literary forms have
moved around in India will make a viable unit of exploration for literary
history.

As with literary forms, so with literary conventions, their spells of

prevalence, or decline would become apparent when we pursue them from
one language to another. That a dominant language of literature like Sanskrit
transmitted - as English transmits now - its conventions to other languages
give us an obvious line of enquiry. If conventions have passed from one
modern language to another, that would… provide convincing grounds to
regard all literature in India as a part of the same literary culture.

There is yet another kind of affiliation which we may call tradition after
qualifying the term suitably by attaching it to the primary text from which
the tradition has descended…Purposeful research may uncover possibilities
of one such seminal text, germinating other texts, the phenomenon we
have called tradition here, and the presence of many such traditions would
strengthen an integrated view of literature.

Just as voices or instruments may differ, but Indian music retains its identity,
similarly the languages may differ but need not disrupt the entity that is
Indian Literature.

Activity 3
Do you think that the comparison with music is an apt one?

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 ‘Propositions’ by Sujit
1.4 THE NEED FOR A NEW METHODOLOGY TO Mukherjee

WRITE INDIAN LITERARY HISTORY

Sujit Mukherjee makes a special case for devising a new methodology to write
the history of Indian Literature. Before we go into the details of why he wants a
new approach to write Indian literary history, let us start with the question: “What
is history?” The term history is a Greek term that means “to know”. History is
both the act of inquiry and the resulting knowledge from that inquiry. Thus history
relates to the accounts of events arrived at by making inquiries. Histories are
records of events, personalities, happenings etc., preceding this very moment
and everything that really happened up to now.

Literary history is among the youngest in the history of histories. We have many
categories of history - History of Nations, History of Religions, History of Wars,
History of Races, History of People History of Philosophy, History of Empires,
History of Class Struggles, History of Science… there are endless narratives of
past events relating to a particular civilization, country, period, person, etc.,
usually written as a chronological account. In this long list of historical disciplines,
History of Language and History of Literature are among the latest.

Activity 4
What do you think could be the broad heads under which history can be
categorized?

It has been easy to write a British, French, Spanish, Italian, and American History
of Literature because they are monolingual - i.e., there is just one language in
which literary works have been written in these different nations. So when we
speak of French literature, all literary works in the French language are
chronologically listed and commented upon. This is true of English literature,
European literature (literature relating to different European nations), American
literature etc., where the language of the land is single and homogenous.

Here we encounter the first hurdle in writing a History of Indian literature since
we have a multiplicity of languages and a still greater multiplicity of dialects
within each language in India. The Indian languages have never remained as
stand-alone languages and there is considerable mixing of languages and dialects
that have contributed to their growth and enrichment. The sibling influence of
sister languages and dialects on each other make for a heterogeneous literary
tradition that is uniquely Indian. Hindi, for example, has a dialect called Awadhi
and Tulsidas blended the two and this helped Hindi to develop dynamically.

By way of illustration, Sujit Mukherjee cites the example of the two great Indian
epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata that have been orally composed in
many Indian dialects and written in almost all Indian languages with changes
and embellishments to the original story. The two epics have been rendered in a
variety of versions at different points of time and they offer a glimpse of the
multicultural complexity that has contributed to a high level of creativity in Indian
literary writings. The Ramayana narrative has had many types of retellings in
different parts of the country in different languages like Kashmiri, Tamil,
Malayalam, Telugu, Assamese, Bangla, Maithili etc. Guru Gobind Singh’s
Ramavatar has the neoclassical texture of Braj bhasha and it is mixed with Persian,
9
Plurality and Cultural Punjabi and Hindi to make Rekhta - the precursor of modern Urdu. We have Jain
Diversity
and Buddhist versions of the two epics and also in Nepali and Mizo. The sustaining
force of the Ramayana can be seen in one text with multiple renderings in
numerous languages happening through different periods of time. These
developments are not chronological, but have occurred at different times which
make it difficult to think of Indian literary history as a linear structure, from
beginning to end as on a straight line.

Activity 5
Do try to watch a performance of the epics enacted as dance and drama to
experience the total effect of music, dance, costumes and setting to bring
the rich literary epic on stage. How do you think this enhances the impact
of the narrative? Write down your observations.

What makes the Indian literary tradition unique is that it consists of many strands
and it is not easy and desirable to straitjacket all literary writings in India under
a single literary tradition moving straight and steady through time from the past
to the present. Further, it is a difficult task to write a comprehensive and
chronological history of Indian literary tradition because there was no one single
major language in India like English in Britain, French in France, German in
Germany etc. In India different languages developed at different periods and
this makes it an uphill task to attempt a chronological arrangement or period-
wise historical narrative of Indian literature. Unlike the Western tradition where
it is easy to write the literary history of nations that focus on a single language
and where the literary currents have a linear flow through different periods of
history, we cannot speak of a single Indian literary tradition but multiple traditions
where the literary cross currents flow due to constant and frequent changing of
cultural frames. In addition, the interface of language with politics has caused
the rise of dominant languages and the fall of minor languages that got
marginalized as dialects and subsequently erased from the Indian literary tradition.

Sujit Mukherjee’s rationale behind formulating a new methodology is founded

on the fact that India has multiple languages and multiple literary traditions which
cannot be successfully represented by one history of Indian literature. In the
Introduction to the anthology, Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Plurality and Literary
Traditions in India, the editors write: “ Since language and literary traditions
emerge from specific historical and political points of reference, they have to be
studied from within their constantly changing cultural frames and not in isolation.”

This is why Sujit Mukherjee seeks an appropriate critical approach that would
reflect the unity in diversity and diversity in unity, characteristic of Indian Literary
tradition. The essay “Propositions” seeks an overview of the indigenous context
of a different kind of literary history.

1.4.1 Textual Analysis

Sujit Mukherjee starts with an illustration from classical Sanskrit drama to show
how one language developed multiple components. Sanskrit drama of the ancient
times employed three different usages for its three different types of characters.
Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language and described as ‘refined speech.’
And thus in Sanskrit classical drama, the language in its pristine form was
employed by the royalty and the educated class of priests who used it for religious
10
purposes. A derivative of Sanskrit is Prakrit which means ‘original, natural, ‘Propositions’ by Sujit
Mukherjee
ordinary ’and therefore Prakrit was the natural language of the common people.
So in ancient Sanskrit drama, women were depicted as speaking Prakrit, while
the third form, Apabrahmasa which means ‘off standard’ in speech i.e., low literary
language, was used by the common characters. Both Prakrit and Apabrahmasa
derived from Sanskrit. In any scene in a Sanskrit classical drama, we see the
employment of all the three forms. According to Sujit Mukherjee, it is an index
of a multi lingual society which simultaneously developed different languages
within one language. In ancient literary culture, as well as in the middle and
modern periods, we see a similar simultaneous development of many languages.

It is relatively easy to write a history of Indian literature till the 12th century as
there was only one major language at that time and that was Sanskrit. But from
the 12th to the 20th century, there was no single predominant language that could
be identified, located and written about in chronological sequence. Many
languages and their offshoots developed and it became imperative that any history
of Indian literature should cover all these languages. So a single formula of tracing
the history of one language could not be followed and that too in a diachronic
way. Writing the history of Indian Language and Literature cannot be on Western
lines, but has to be modified to record the development of literature written in all
the Indian languages which are currently present, as separate histories of literature
of individual Indian languages. Sujit Mukherjee gives the example of Tulsidas
who has to be seen not as just a Hindi poet but as one who belongs to the
medieval period and one who transcends that period to become a great poet of
Indian literature of all times. Mukherjee writes:

Tulsidas is generally regarded as a great poet. For this greatness to be

convincing, it ought to become apparent in an ascending degree of
magnitude… first Tulsidas as a great poet of medieval India; second as
great in the history of Hindi poetry; finally as a great poet of Indian literature
(that is, considering all other Indian languages through time). These would
seem to be the obvious orders of measurement in any Indian literary
achievement... But given our present procedure, Tulsidas is evaluated mainly
as a Hindi poet, the first (medieval poet) and the third (poet of Indian
Literature) orders suggested here never received due consideration.

It is to be remembered that Indian literature is not to be seen as a vertical growth

of one language from ancient times to modern times but as one that has extensive
horizontal development branching into dialects and languages across regions. A
comprehensive Indian literary history is different from the present volumes of
history of individual languages. The former is a consolidation of all language
literatures to identify a literary culture while the latter is language-specific in
terms of time, trends, growth and decline. It is to be understood that a literary
culture cannot be formulated only through literary texts without taking into
account various other factors operating at any given time and place. For example,
medieval arts (painting, music, architecture…) and literature were greatly
influenced by the mystic, bhakti movement of that period. An inter-disciplinary
approach that identifies the influence of all artistic and aesthetic factors in the
composition of a text will enable the historian to read new meanings into our
literary past and discover new patterns of literary history.

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Plurality and Cultural
Diversity Activity 6
Identify your mother tongue and find out how many dialects it has given
rise to.

A history of Indian Literature cannot ignore medieval Islamic Literature of the

Indus region. The texts are not available in the original and even if so, it is not
possible for the literary historian to read them all in the original and s/he has to
be content with translations. The literary historian, unlike the literary critic does
not attempt a comparative study of languages and literature. His/her concern is
with the authors who have contributed to Indian Literature in any language. For
the literary historian, details about the author are important as they will help to
examine the place of the author in our culture and thus relate our literary culture
to the makers of our literature.

When we attempt to correlate literary culture and history, we factor in all other
historical developments of particular periods. The distinguishing aspect of Indian
writing is its transformation from the classical concept of a writer to that of the
Middle Ages and presently extended to our times in the modern period. In the
early period it was believed a writer was invested with divine grace and therefore
regarded as a creator of art and literature like God the Creator. But in the medieval
age, the poet or the writer was both an artist and an individual among other
individuals - a courtier, priest, warrior, king, lover etc. – in short, a committed
member of his/her society and therefore their place in literary history has to
factor in all these in addition to their literary output. Sujit Mukherjee writes: “It
is easy to forget that a literary map of India would be just as extensive and varied
as a political map or one showing the physical features.”

A literary text is to be seen in its two aspects: (1) the language in which it is
written and (2) its form or genre. Literary form is not static; it is not rooted to one
place or one language or one genre. It travels freely and gets adapted in other
regions where a different language is used. This adaptation is prominent in certain
categories such the gatha of Prakrit, the pada of Bangla, the vacana of Kannada
etc. Many literary forms have thus undergone comprehensive transformations
when adapted from one language into another. Also many literary forms have
grown out of folk literature, while many other forms have been adapted from the
West, in particular the novel which was first cultivated in Bengali literature and
from there entered other Indian regional languages. So a literary history has to
reckon not only with itinerant indigenous forms, but also with imported forms.
Nazrul Islam’s Ghazals in Bangla have been influenced by Persian and Urdu.
Though a Muslim, he also composed songs on Kali, the Hindu goddess - attesting
to the fact that Indian literature was never insular in terms of religion. A good
number of novels written at particular times in different Indian languages also
show how they were social and political in content.

Literary forms that developed through cross fertilization also brought with them
new literary conventions. A literary historian of Indian literature has to focus on
the links between one regional convention and another. It is not that the basic
forms varied, but the conventions supporting the forms changed. These
conventions lend themselves to comparable links, but there are many conventions
that stand uniquely alone. What is to be remembered is that the conventions
grow out of literary forms that are the off-shoots of Indian languages.
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 ‘Propositions’ by Sujit
Activity 7 Mukherjee

What do you understand by “cross-fertilisation”? Can you think of any

texts or artistic expression that has seen the influence of cross-fertilisation?

Just as in the 10th century all languages were overshadowed by Sanskrit, today in
the modern times, the influence of English and Western thought seems to
overshadow our indigenous literature. Indian literature today has the trappings
of Western culture, alien to many of us except a few who have some degree of
acquaintance with our own ancient Sanskrit culture as well. Hence a literary
historian writing on the modern phase of Indian literature has to account for
strong Western currents and an equally strong revival of our earlier conventions
that are evidenced in modern Indian writing. As Sujit Mukherjee says:

All the same, in dealing with the modern phase, the historian must
not be misled by the seeming sameness of Indian Literature in its
submission to the West. Revivals of older conventions have taken
place in areas where foreign influence is the most active, and the
overlay of the new and the old has made it difficult than ever before
to recognize the true identity of a current convention. Earlier Sanskrit
and now English have transmitted their conventions to many Indian
languages. Also the transmission of conventions within Indian
languages is a clear proof that all literature in India form a part of
the same literary culture.

Yet another linking point is the affiliation of Indian Literature to tradition. The
innumerable literary texts in very many Indian languages follow from the original
text from which tradition has originated.

We have earlier pointed out how the Ramayana, known as the ‘adi kavya’( the
first text) and regarded as the repository of human values has given rise to a
number of distinguished literary works in Indian languages spanning from
Kashmir to Kerala, from Bengal to Gujarat, from Assam in the North-East to
the other southern states of Andhra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The literary map
of India closely parallels the geographical map of India. This is true of the
Mahabharata as well though re-creating the full text of the great epic has been
difficult in view of its large proportions. But it has been a source book for many
poets and playwrights to express through their poems and plays, the modern
man’s predicament which as the epic presents, is only a human predicament that
is true of all times and places...

Sujit Mukherjee concludes:

Mahabharata has sometimes been classified as ithihasa purana. The
more straightforward Puranas - Brahma, Pada, Visnu, Brahmavaivrata,
… twelve others as well as the eighteen minor puranas have nourished
the literature in all our languages, with plot and character, theme and
structure, image and symbol and in many other ways in which the
collective memory of a race can serve its writers. Reaching us from
even farther back is the northern heritage of the Vedic hymns, the prose
of the Brahmanas and the Upanishadic dialogues, while the South has
preserved the ten anthologies of sangam poetry.

13
Plurality and Cultural Thus the literary historian attempting to write a history of Indian literature must
Diversity
deal with our permanent assets that have come down to us as heritage. Sujit
Mukherjee thus concludes that Indian literature “is one entity but comprising
many languages”.

1.5 LET US SUM UP

Sujit Mukherjee makes a case for finding a new methodology to write a
history of Indian Literature.
India is a multi lingual society and literary developments in many languages
have taken place from the ancient times to modern times through the medieval
years. A literary history of India has to deal with all these multi-lingual
developments
These developments have taken place at different times and therefore we
cannot write a history of Indian literature chronologically but have to find
an alternative method that records all the changes.
Each modern language is separate in its literary achievements and therefore
each Indian language demands separate histories of literature. But this will
mean splitting our literary heritage into a number of segments that may
erase the unity of literary heritage that has blossomed into diverse literatures.
What we need is a broad spectrum of our literary past to bring in a new
alternative mode of writing our literary history.
In this mode, the historian should factor in all contributory influences on a
literary text such as music, arts, painting etc.
New literary forms, new conventions have all to be investigated for the
links between languages.
The continuance of tradition can be seen in the innumerable literary texts
that have arisen from our two basic epics the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. These texts differ from the original though the human values
and human predicament that one sees in them can be traced back to the
original texts.
The conclusion is that the new mode of writing history of literature should
not obviate the heritage of Indian literature which is a single entity and
which has fostered the growth and development of many forms of literature
in many languages.
The underlying point of the essay is to write the history of Indian literature
with the twin focus on unity of heritage and diversity of literature.

1.6 AIDS TO ACTIVITIES

Activity 1 : All regions of our country and even Indonesia have different
versions of the epics which are oral, written or performed. Pandun
Ka Kara, for example is one version which is sung in the Mewat
area of Rajasthan.
Activty 2 : High culture is seen as something followed by educated people
and includes classical literature and music. Popular culture is what
14
 is followed and practised by a large number of people. It includes ‘Propositions’ by Sujit
Mukherjee
folk lore, songs, TV, radio etc.
Activity 3 : There is a pan-Indian sense of identity which runs through all the
languages and our literature and in that sense, the comparison
with music is an apt one.
Activity 4 : Political History, Diplomatic History, Cultural History, Social
History, Economic History, Intellectual History.
Activity 5 : When we see something being performed, with sound effects,
music, appropriate costumes and makeup, it leaves a greater
impression on our minds and we remember it for a long time.
Activity 6 : For example, the major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi
and the Varhadi dialect. Koli, Malvani Konkani has also been
heavily influenced by Marathi varieties.
Activity 7 : Cross-fertilisation means a coming together and mingling of
various influences. Languages experience this as do the arts.
Think of popular film music – there are so many different
influences like Western compositions and instruments, rap etc
and which have given rise to a new form.

1.7 GLOSSARY
Catholic : (in this context) wide-ranging; all-embracing
Conventions : customs, practices
Correlate : compare , connect
Diachronic : study of changes in a language over a period of time
(concerned specially with languages, as they change
through time)
Germinating : generating, producing
Heterogeneous : not of the same kind, varied
Homogenous : uniform, of the same kind
Indigenous : original, native
Itinerant : wandering, travelling, roaming
Medieval : belonging to the Middle Ages (1000-1500 A.D)
Obviate : do away with, avoid
Preceding : coming before
Rationale : grounds, principle or fundamental reason
Seminal : ground breaking, original, contains ideas for future
development
Spectrum : range, variety
Stand-alone : capable of standing independently, being complete

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Plurality and Cultural
Diversity 1.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS
1) What is the rationale behind Sujit Mukherjee’s argument that the Indian
literary historian needs a new methodology to write a history of Indian
Literature?
2) What are the new factors to be kept in mind while writing a history of Indian
Literature?
3) Discuss the terms “unity of heritage” and “ diversity of Literature” with
reference to Indian literary history.

1.9 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

1) Bhattacharjee, Nirmal Kanti. Indian Literature Vol. 50, No. 6 (236)
(November-December 2006).
2) ibid
3) ibid
4) ibid
5) Introduction. Ibid.
6) Iyengar, Srinivasa K R. Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publishers Pvt.Ltd
(Revised, Updated edition) 1 December 2012.
7) Kipling, Rudyard. “The Ballad of East and West”
8) Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna. Concise History of Indian Literature in English,
C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003.
9) Mukherjee, Sujit. Some Positions on a Literary History of India, Central
Institute of Indian Languages, 1981
10) ———————. A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850,
Orient Blackswan, 1999.
11) Naik, M K. History of Indian English Literature, Sahitya Akademy, 2005.
12) Paranjape, Makarand. “Post-Independence Indian English Literature:
Towards a New Literary History”, Economic and Political Weekly , Vol.
33, No. 18 (May 2-8, 1998).
13) Paul, Sukrita (ed) Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Plurality and Literary
Traditions in India, Macmillan, New Delhi, 2005

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