Indian literature - a historical context: Presented at the 20th Muscat International Book Fair, Feb. 28, 2015

Sandhya Rao Mehta

Sultan Qaboos University

Which India?

Modern India

India before partition

India before the British

India before the Moghuls

Pre-historic India

Literature(s)? Written, Oral, religious, mythological

Modern forms (mass media, digital)

29 states, 7 Union territories and 1 NCR (National Capital Region)

440 to 780 languages in India and more than 1500 dialects (National Census of India, 2001).

Hindi and English are official languages of the country and 20 other languages are recognized by the constitution.

Of the 1.1 billion people in India, 51% are literate, i.e more than 500 million.

More than 85000 newspapers (National Registrar of Newspapers, 2011).

India is the third largest publisher of books (16000 after U.S.A and U.K) and 1st in readership of papers (350 million).

Brief History – early India

Sanskrit Literature

Advent of Muslim India

The British Influence

Modern and Postmodern Indian literature

The Omani-Indian cultural encounter

5000-1500 BCE Harappa and Mohenjadaro

1500-900 BCE Arrival of Aryans

600 BCE-50 CE Buddha, Mahavir Jain,

Alexander

300-550 CE Peak of Sanskrit literature

1000-1750 CE The Islamic Influence

1800-1947 CE The British Influence

1947- Present The Modern Period

While regional languages have been vital at different points in history, there has always been a reference to the entirety of India, “Hindustan” or land of the river Indus.

India literature can be seen as a mosaic – parts of one whole. This is emphasized in all literatures as well as modern media.

• The Vedas (4

Vedas or

instructions of the

pure life)

• The Upanishads

(prayers)

• This is the period

when Sanskrit

sees its rise under

the priests

• It leads to the

culmination of

the 2 major epics

of Indian

literature

Early Sanskrit Religious Writing

Kalidasa (5th Century CE)

Shakuntala

With the growth of Buddhism and Jainism, other languages were coming to play such as Pali which was the languages of the common people. Sanskrit was now the language of the elite and privileged. It thus loses its stature.

This was also the time for the growth of other languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

The first Muslim convert is said to be CheramanPerumal who went to Mecca and died on his way around 650 CE. His tomb is said to be in Salalah. The mosque he instructed to be built is in Kerala around 700 CE.

This is considered the Golden Age of Islamic art, architecture and literature.

It was a culmination of the artistic trends which had been influenced by Persia, The Abbassids and the Caliphate, merged with existing Indian influences.

By 1600, there were translations of the epics into Persian, which continued until 1800s.

Persian remained the official language of North India until the Mughal rule ended.

By 1750, Persian was interspersed with Hindi which was spoken by the common people. This led to the rise of Urdu.

Muslims felt they needed to re-assert themselves and stay relevant after the fall of the Mughals. They used Arabic and Persian loan words to give Urdu more credence.

In 1791, the Koran was translated into Urdu.

It was the most popular language of the educated working class in North India.

Asadullah Khan Ghalib and Mohammed Ibrahim Zauqare the leading poets of this time. Both were influenced by Sufism and the suffering of the common man.

Sir Syed Ahmad started the Aligarh movement which introduced critical self awareness into Urdu literary movement.

(You say) It is not love, it is madness My madness may be the cause of your fame Sever not my relationship with you If nothing then be my enemy

Heart it is, not a brick or stone Why shouldn't it feel the pain? Let none tyrannize this heart Or I shall cry again and again

Urdu is one of the national languages of the Indian constitution.

Urdu continues to be popular in some parts of North India (Lucknow, Kanpur, Awadh).

The film industry (Bollywood) continues to have an important link with Urdu.

The early British traders learnt to speak in Persian, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi.

By 1835, Lord Macaulay introduced the official languages Act in which English was made the language of instruction in order to create a class which could work for the government.

Early work of Indians in English was in newspapers and for social reform (Raja Ram Mohan Roy who sought to change social custorms)

Henry Derozio (1809-1831):

My country in thy days of glory past

A beauteous halo circled round thy brow

And worshipped as a deity, thou waste

Where is thy glory, where that reverence now?

Mulk Raj Anand R. K. Narayan

Indian English Literature after 1980

Rushdie can be seen

to have re-defined

the way in which

India has begun to

‘own’ English and

used it to express

particularly Indian

experiences.

Writers of the Indian Diaspora

Rushdie

Naipaul

Jhumpa Lahiri

Chitra Divakaruni

Meena Alexander

Vikram Seth

Amitav Ghosh

Meera Syal

Kiran Desai

With more than 16, 000 publishing houses, the literary scene is very vibrant in most Indian languages.

This is partly because of international publishing houses entering the market and the low penetration of the internet.

The phenomena of regional writers becoming hugely popular after 1980 has been commented on recently.

In the English writing scene, this is very controversial.

Sunaina Ahluwalia Asha Iyer

Critics and writers are confident about the future, in spite of challenges such as technology and other diversions. Adaptation is important.

In India, the reading public is increasing exponentially and reading is seen as an aspirational goal.

An important reason for this is the way that Indian literature absorbs outside influences and creates its own literatures out of it.

Thank you.