This presentation gives an overview of Indian literature, pointing to the complexity of defining India as well as literature and focusing on the historical context of the influences which define this changing body of work.

1. Sandhya Rao Mehta
Sultan Qaboos University

2. 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)

4.  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).

5.  Brief History – early India
 Sanskrit Literature
 Advent of Muslim India
 The British Influence
 Modern and Postmodern Indian literature
 The Omani-Indian cultural encounter

6. 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

13.  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.

16. • 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

22. Kalidasa (5th Century CE)
Shakuntala

23.  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.

24. The first Muslim convert is
said to be Cheraman
Perumal 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.

26.  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.

29.  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.

30.  It was the most popular language of the educated
working class in North India.
 Asadullah Khan Ghalib and Mohammed Ibrahim Zauq
are 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.

31.  (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

33.  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.

34.  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)

35. 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?

36. Mulk Raj Anand R. K. Narayan

37. Indian English
Literatureafter
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.

38. Writersof
the Indian
Diaspora
Rushdie
Naipaul
Jhumpa Lahiri
Chitra Divakaruni
Meena Alexander
Vikram Seth
Amitav Ghosh
Meera Syal
Kiran Desai

39.  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.

44. Sunaina Ahluwalia Asha Iyer

45.  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.