6 EL 114 - Indian Literature

EL 114 – SURVEY OF AFRO ASIAN LITERATURE
October 25, 2022 Discussion – Midterms # 3
LESSON 6: INDIAN LITERATURE
THE INDIAN LITERATURE

As early as 300 B.C., India had already produced a considerable body of literature written in several Indian
tongues derived from a common ancestral language —Sanskrit.
The earliest known literature of India is a collection of traditions handed down by word of mouth. These
traditions are known as the Vedas. These contain hymns addressed to the Indian gods, who are very numerous.
They also contain stories about these gods.
The literature of India is often called Sanskrit literature. The word Sanskrit means cultivated or perfected.
Hindu literature reveals the inner and outer life of a remarkable people; it extends from a remote past to the
present. India was the center of an ancient civilization, which spread east and south. This civilization
affected the language and culture of many countries in both Europe and Asia. India also founded colonies in
ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome as well as in Spain, England, and France. These countries belong to the
Indo-European race. They once had their homes in Central Asia and spoke the same language as the natives.
Even now, the various languages spoken in these Indo-European countries are only different forms of the
original language. This is specially true of words referring to family like, father, mother, daughter, duhitr, and
sister. The word daughter comes from the Sanskrit word duhitr signifying "to draw milk." It preserves the
memory of the time when the daughter was the little milkmaid in the primitive Indo-European household.
The Indians have a civilization older than that of the ancient Greeks and Romans. While savages roamed the
dense forest of England, France, Italy, and Germany, the Indians already had a highly developed civilization
and were producing masterpieces in the arts.
Indian philosophy and religion greatly influenced both the East and West. Long before Christ lived, the Indians
were already teaching the brotherhood of all peoples and the fatherhood of God. Indian culture has interesting
and distinctive qualities. Indian literature, already fully developed over 3,000 years ago, is rich in spiritual and
imaginative values. Indian culture also had a scientific bent. India gave the world trigonometry, the first
grammar books, the first study of phonetics (the study of speech sounds), and the game of chess.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN LITERATURE

The first characteristic of Indian literature is that it is based on piety (charity and purity), a deeply religious
spirit. The Indians believed that a knowledge of God and a strong belief in Hinduism is necessary to save
humankind. Their earliest poems, the Vedas, serve as the Bible of the Indians.
The second characteristic we notice about Indian literature is that the Indian literary masterpieces, written in the
form of epics, correspond to great epochs in the history of India. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the
most important epics of India; the latter is the longest found in world literature. The Indians believed in
reincarnation, meaning that the soul of a person after death returns to the earth in the body of another person, an
animal, or even a plant. Consequently, they believe in kindness to other people and to animals. They also
abstain from destroying plants because in a plant might be reincarnated a dead relative.
Their gods are believed to be reincarnated into human beings or even animals. Thus, the Ramayana is about the
reincarnation of the creator god, Vishnu, in the person of Rama, who is the hero of the epic. The Mahabharata
deals with another reincarnation of Vishnu in the person of Krishna. These reincarnations of Vishnu are called
avatars or descending from the god. Vishnu is supposed to have ten avatars. Nine avatars have already taken
place, and the tenth is yet to come. When this last avatar takes place, Vishnu will descend from heaven to
destroy the present world and restore peace and purity.
The Mahabharata is considered the greatest epic of India. It tells the story of a civil war that might have taken
place in the early years of the Aryan occupation of India. Obviously, the product of many countries and many
hands, it is a long poem, almost as long as the combined epics of all Europe.
The Mahabharata tells of two rival bands of brothers, descendants of a common grandfather, King Pandu. When
he died, he left his five sons in the care of his brother who was to be regent (a person in authority) while his
sons were still minors. The regent himself had many sons, and they coveted the kingdom for themselves. The
result was a period of intrigues and battles that resulted in the exile of the five brothers.
The Ramayana recounts the adventures of Rama and his wife Sita. Legend has it that Sita was born of a furrow,
the child of Mother Earth. Sita is regarded by the women of India as the perfect symbol of wifely devotion and
self-sacrifice for the beloved.
INDIAN DRAMA
The origin of the theater in India is lost in antiquity. In the second century B.C. Indian drama reached a high
stage of development. The two great Indian dramatists are Bhasa and Kalidasa, who is called the Indian
Shakespeare. Indian drama is characterized by poetry and idyllic beauty (extremely happy and peaceful). It
concentrates on love as the background of the story; it always has a happy ending; and there are no violent
emotions. The characters are good men and women, and if any wrong is committed, it is because of the tricks of
magicians and evil spirits.
The striking thing about the Indian drama is that it is multilingual. The gods, kings, and nobles speak in Sanskrit
(the ancient language of India), whereas women, thieves, and police officers speak appropriate dialects. The text
is a mixture of prose and poetry.
The first great name in Indian drama is Bhasa. Thirteen plays are attributed to him. The greatest write of plays,
however, is Kalidasa, the author of Shakuntala. Kalidasa is called the brightest of the "nine gems of genius."
His play Shakuntala is written in long passages of beautiful prose and poetry. It is the story of a king who goes
hunting in the woods and meets a beautiful maiden named Shakuntala with whom he falls in love. He marries
her but has to leave her soon because of pressing official business. However, he leaves a ring with her as a sign
of their marriage.
Shakuntala has a son; she and her son go to the king's court. The king, however, has lost his memory because of
the work of an evil magician. He repudiates (refuse to accept) his wife and his son because she cannot produce
the ring, having lost it in the forest. The gods, taking pity on mother and son, take them to heaven.
In the meantime, a fisher has found the ring, which he then takes to the king. The king recovers his memory and
repents for what he has done. The gods sympathize with him because of his sufferings and take him to the
heavenly regions. The last act shows the king united with his forgiving wife and son, now a manly, little boy.
Then it is revealed that the king's loss of memory happened because of a curse laid on him by an evil spirit.
The Panchatantra (Five headings) is a rich collection of brief stories of ancient times. This book is said to
contain the first fables ever written. Fables are stories of animals who behave like human beings. The purpose
of fables is to drive home a truth or a lesson. The Panchatantra also contains some of the most important
collections of short stories in the world, and these have reached us in translation from language to language
down the centuries. These stories from the Panchantara are arranged in a “frame” as in the Arabian nights. One
story leads to another like the links in the chain.
Rabindranath Tagore was a great Indian poet and dramatist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in
1913 and was knighted by the British government in 1915. Born of an Indian noble family, he received his
education under private tutors and then went to England to study law. He was a widely traveled man. He visited
Europe and Japan and went to the United States, giving lectures and readings of the poems, which he first wrote
in English and then translated into his native Bengali.

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EL 114 – SURVEY OF AFRO ASIAN LITERATURE

October 25, 2022 Discussion – Midterms # 3

LESSON 6: INDIAN LITERATURE

THE INDIAN LITERATURE

CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN LITERATURE

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