Indian literature. Oral literature in the vernacular languages of India is of great antiquity, but it was not until about the 16th cent. that an extensive written literature appeared. Chief factors in this development were the intellectual and literary predominance of Sanskrit until then (except in S India, where a vast literature in Tamil was produced from ancient times) and the emergence of Hindu pietistic movements that sought to reach the people in their spoken languages. Among the Muslims classical Persian poetry was the fountainhead of a later growth in the Urdu literature produced for the Mughal court, and elaborate Urdu verse on set themes was produced in abundance. In the early 19th cent., with the establishment of vernacular schools and the importation of printing presses, a great impetus was given to popular prose, with Bengali writers perhaps taking the lead. Foreign, particularly English, literature was eagerly studied and to some extent assimilated to classical Indian modes and themes.
Today there is a written literature in all the important languages of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as a large literature in English intended to reach all the university-educated public regardless of native language. Among the best-known writers of the 19th and early 20th cent. are Rammohun Roy Roy, Rammohun , 1772–1833, Indian religious and educational reformer. Sometimes called the father of modern India, Roy was born to a wealthy and devout Brahman family in Bengal.
..... Click the link for more information. , Bankim Chandra Chatterjee Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra , 1838–94, Indian nationalist writer, b. Bengal. He popularized a Bengali prose style that became the vehicle of the major nationalist literature of the region.
..... Click the link for more information. , Vivekananda Vivekananda , 1863–1902, Hindu mystic, major exponent of Vedanta philosophy. He was born of a well-to-do family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and his given name was Narendra Nath Datta.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rabindranath Tagore Tagore, Sir Rabindranath , 1861–1941, Indian author and guru, b. Calcutta (now Kolkata). Tagore came from a wealthy Bengali family. He went abroad in 1877 to study law in England but soon returned to India.
..... Click the link for more information. , winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, and Prem Chand, as well as Asadullah Khan Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal Iqbal, Muhammad , 1877–1938, Indian Muslim poet, philosopher, and political leader. He studied at Government College, Lahore, Cambridge, and the Univ. of Munich, and then he taught philosophy at Government College and practiced law.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Muslim poets who wrote in Urdu and in Persian. Later writers include R. K. Narayan Narayan, R. K. (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan) , 1906–2001, Indian novelist, b. Madras (now Chennai). Narayan, who wrote in English, published his first novel, Swami and Friends, in 1935.
..... Click the link for more information. , Raja Rao Rao, Raja , 1909–2006, Indian novelist, Hassan, Mysore (now in Karnataka), as Raja. Rao took his surname as an adult, and was educated in India and France and for many years divided his time among India, Europe, and the United States.
..... Click the link for more information. , Bhabhani Bhattacharya Bhattacharya, Bhabhani , 1906–, Indian novelist, journalist, and translator. Bhattacharya was educated in India and England and has taught and traveled in many parts of the world.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ahmed Ali, Khushwant Singh, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, and Mulk Raj Anand in the field of fiction; Sarojini Naidu Naidu, Sarojini , 1879–1949, Indian poet and political leader. Born Sarojini Chattopadhyay, she was educated in Madras (now Chennai) and at King's College, London, and Cambridge. In 1898 she married Dr. M. G. Naidu.
..... Click the link for more information. , Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and Nazrul Islam, in the field of poetry; and Mohandas Gandhi Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand , 1869–1948, Indian political and spiritual leader, b. Porbandar.
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Educated in India and in London, he was admitted to the English bar in 1889 and practiced law unsuccessfully in India for two years.
..... Click the link for more information. , M. N. Roy, Jawaharlal Nehru Nehru, Jawaharlal , 1889–1964, Indian statesman, b. Allahabad; son of Motilal Nehru. A politician and statesman of great skill, Nehru was enormously popular in India.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Jaya Prakash Narayan Narayan, Jaya Prakash, 1902–79. Indian political leader. He was a founder (1934) of the Congress Socialist party and later (1952) the Indian Socialist party.
..... Click the link for more information. in the field of politics.
See also Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature, literary works written in Sanskrit constituting the main body of the classical literature of India.
Introduction
The literature is divided into two main periods—the Vedic (c.1500–c.200 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Pali canon Pali canon , sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of the Buddha, they are still the most authoritative sacred texts.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Prakrit literature Prakrit literature. By the 6th cent. B.C. the people of India were speaking and writing languages that were much simpler than classical Sanskrit. These vernacular forms, of which there were several, are called the Prakrits [Skt.,=natural].
..... Click the link for more information. .
Bibliography
See K. Kripalani, Modern Indian Literature (1970); T. W. Clark, The Novel in India (1970); M. Winternitz, A History of Indian Literature (2 vol., tr. 1927; repr. 1973).