"Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree." - Ezra Pound
INTRODUCTION
The notion of language is being considered somewhat similar to life. To define language adequately is rather an awkward exercise. Language is a natural human growth; to some extent mental as well as physical. It remains changing incessantly. Hence the nature of language is dynamic. It always undergoes a process of development.
WHAT IS LANGUAGE ?
Language is humane in its characteristics since only human possess it. A child learns the language of the society which he lives in. The entire frame of culture and civilization fully depends upon language. Language is the means of communication among human beings through which human community grows and develops in this globe. The society cannot be thought of without language. It defines the approach of human behavior. Language generates the thoughts and leads the entire frame of culture and civilization. All human beings are blessed with this precious gift.
When people read and write in their own language, they enjoy it more. This is because language is a part of their culture. It is so well inter woven in their social life that they can express and feel their emotions as well in their own language.
LITERATURE
Literature is known to resonate with the social conditions prevailing in a time and place. The writer's art is linked to a context and history in a myriad ways, some of which are narratives of communities, heroism of individuals, human relations, representations of events, biographies and ideologies. Literature has copiously studied subjects of a range such as class, caste, gender, poverty, socio-economic compulsions, family, romance and communities.
The relation between society and literature in contemporary theory has been explored through a few key perspectives which remain in dialogue with each other. Lucas Georg Lukács in The Theory of the Novel (1914-1915) coined the phrase "transcendental homelessness", and defined this as “longing of all souls for the place in which they once belonged, and the 'nostalgia’ for utopian perfection.” From that to the cultural materialist approach of Raymond Williams (Culture and Society, 1958) marks an irreversible track wherein society, literature and culture become inextricably linked. In parallel, the work of Michel Foucault in France, specially the text Madness and Civilization (1961) brought psychology into the ambit of discussing social construction of culture and language, making thereby a philosophical base for challenging the assumptions of ‘normalcy’, exclusions and inclusions.
This influence of the European thinkers found its resonance in India in the exploration of social reality that was structured rather differently from the West, caste being a major factor in the discourse of power.
INDIA : THE LAND OF UNIQUE LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS
The Languages are classified as per the similarities in meaning and sound-elements among various languages as well as their geographical attachment. Such classifications are named as traditional, ancestral or historical. The similarities in the languages of the regions geographically placed nearby and their similar meaning-elements are considered the languages of one family.
Indian languages are categorized in two family / groups:
1-Indo-European languages: Vedic and Sanskrit, Ancient Irani, Avestan, Ancient Greek, Ancient Latin, Germanic, Slovakian etc. and some languages originated from these languages: English of Europe, French, Italian etc. and Modern Indian languages like: Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and Bangali.
2- Dravidi Languages: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Gondi and Brahui. Sanskrit is the mother of many Indian languages. The Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Dharmasutras are all written in Sanskrit.
Our Aryan and Dravidian speech is our greatest heritages in India. India is a land of many races and many speeches, and the diverse elements which go to make up the conglomeration of the Indian People and Indian Culture received their tone and their common bond of union in the Aryan language and the mentality behind it. As Sanskrit and as Pali, as the ancient North-Western Prakrit and Ardha-Magadhi, and as Apabhramsa, and later as Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, and Nepali, and the rest, the Aryan Language came to be indissolubly linked with the Culture of India at various epochs and in various areas. The history of the Aryan and Dravidian Languages in India show an uninterrupted progress for some three thousand and five hundred years within India itself, and Aryan speech pre-Indian history can be dimly perceived in Iran, in Iraq and Eastern Asia Minor for about a thousand years more; and even prior to that, we can draw from existing linguistic material fairly probable conclusions for another five hundred or even thousand years. No other speech-group can show such a long and continuous history as the Aryan in India.
LITERATURE IN INDIA
Speaking broadly, Indian literature consist everything which can be defined under the Term “literature”. It covers up religious and mundane, epic, lyric, dramatic and didactic prose as well as oral poetry and song.
Despite its multilingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic society, a strong Hindu component resisted it occasionally. For instance, Tilak and Aurobindo gave Indian nationalism a religious hue, while Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, the two powerful leaders, strengthened that tradition (Das 351-352). As Tilak translated the Bhagavad-Gita and favored the Ganpati festival to generate religious identity while Aurobindo sang the philosophy located in the Vedic culture to strengthen the magnificence of Indian civilization.
Indian Literature is the mirror of Indian culture and its rich ancient tradition. India has a woven tradition of storytelling. The various sources of stories like Panchatantra, Hitopadesh, Jatakas and Katha-Sarit-Sagar are found as witnesses to such rich heritage in Indian literature. Likewise dramas, poetry and epics have existed for centuries in India.
The journey of regional literature in India is very rich which reveals the tale of changing tradition of India. The Regional identities have always been dominant features of the Indian cultural matrix, and every Indian has multiple identities with regard to language, religion, caste and education.
· The Vedas are the earliest known literature in India. The Vedas were written in Sanskrit and were handed down orally from one generation to the other.
preservation of the Vedas till today is one of our most remarkable achievements. The word ‘Veda’ literally means knowledge. In Hindu culture, Vedas are considered as eternal and divine revelations. They treat the whole world as one human family ‘Vasudev Kutumbakam.’
· After the four Vedas, a number of works called the Brahmanas were developed. These books gave a detailed explanation of Vedic rituals and instructions and deal with the science of sacrifice. The latter portions of the Brahmanas were called the Aranyakas while the final parts of the Aranyakas are philosophic books named The Upanishads mark the culmination of Indian thought and are the final parts of the Vedas. There are more than 200 known Upanishads. It is very difficult to determine the age of the Vedas and also the time they were written. Max Muller says that the Rig Veda was composed before 1000 B.C. While according to Lokmanya Tilak it appeared before 6000 B.C.
· Both Shruti and Smriti represent categories of texts that are used to establish the rule of law within the Hindu Society.
· Our two great epics are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Ramayana presents a picture of an ideal society. The other epic, the Mahabharata, contained 8800 verses and was called “Jaya” or the collection dealing with victory. These were raised to 24,000 and came to be known as Bharata, named after one of the earliest Vedic tribes. The final compilation brought the verses to 100,000, which came to be known as the Mahabharata.
· The Puranas occupy a unique position in the sacred literature of the India. There are said to be eighteen Puranas and about the same number of Upapuranas. Some of the well known Puranas are Brahma, Bhagvat, Padma, Vishnu, Vayu, Agni, Matsya and Garuda. Their origin can be traced as far back as the time when Buddhism was gaining importance and was a major opponent of the Brahmanic culture. The Puranas follow the lines of the epics, were compiled in the Gupta period. They are full of myths, stories, legends and sermons that were meant for the education of the common people. These Puranas contain important geographical information/ histories and deal with the mysteries of creation, re-creation and dynastic genealogies.
· The religious books of the Jains and the Buddhists refer to historical persons or incidents. The earliest Buddhist works were written in Pali, which was spoken in Magadha and South Bihar. The Buddhist works can be divided into the canonical and the non-canonical.
*The canonical literature is best represented by the “Tripitakas”
* The non-canonical literature is best represented by the Jatakas. (550 lives of Buddha narrated)
· The Jain texts were written in Prakrit and were finally compiled in the sixth century AD in Valabhi in Gujarat. The important works are known as Angas, Upangas, Prakirnas, Chhedab Sutras and Malasutras.
· The law books called the Dharmasutras and Smritis, were compiled between 500 and 200 BC. These lay down duties for different varnas as well as for the kings and their officials. Kautilya’s Arthashastra provides rich material for the study of ancient Indian polity and economy. The works of Bhasa, Shudraka, Kalidasa and Banabhatta provided us with glimpses of the social and cultural life of northern and central India. Books on medicine by Charak and Sushruta and Madhava. Books written on astronomy by Varahamihira and Aryabhatta and on astrology by Lagdhacharya had all achieved prominence. The post-medieval period in northern India saw the rise of Sanskrit literature in Kashmir. Somadeva’s Katha-sarit-sagar and Kalhan’s Rajatarangini are of historical importance.
NORTHERN INDIAN LANGUAGES & LITERATURE
The studies have indicated that all the scripts of present northern Indian languages, except that of Urdu, have had their origin in old Brahmi. As for the spoken word, there are over 200 languages or dialects spoken in India at present. Some are widely used while others are limited to a particular area. Out of all these, only twenty-two have found their way into our Constitution.
1. URDU: Urdu emerged as an independent language towards the end of the 4th century AD. Arabic and Persian were introduced in India with the coming of the Turks and the Mongols. Persian remained the court language for many centuries. Urdu as a language was born out of the interaction between Hindi and Persian. Originally it was a dialect but slowly it acquired all the features of a formal language when the authors started using Persian script.
The earliest Urdu poet is supposed to be Khusrau (1253-1325). Among other well-known Urdu poets are Ghalib, Zauq,Iqbal, Ghalib, Maum, Bulley Shah, Waris Shah besides many others.
So you can imagine how rich our language and literary culture must have been to continue till today. It has enriched our lives and is central to people meeting and intermingling with each other.
2.Persian: As Persian was the language of the court during the medival period, Historians like Minhas-us-Siraj and Zia Barani and Ibn Batuta who came to India during those days wrote accounts of rulers, important political events and incidents in this language.
The Mughal rulers were great patrons of literature. Babar wrote his Tuzuk (autobiography) in Turkish language, but his grandson Akbar got it translated into Persian.
Jahangir’s autobiography (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri) is in Persian and is a unique piece of literature.
It is said that Noorjahan was an accomplished Persian poetess. Abul Fazl’s Akbarnamah and Ain-e-Akbari is a fine piece of literature. Akbar also
got many Sanskrit books like Bhagwad Gita and Upanishads translated into Persian.
3. Hindi: Hindi literature looked to Sanskrit classics for guidance and Bharata’s Natyashastra was kept in mind by Hindi writers.
Later Hindi evolved during the Apabhramsa stage between the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there started a movement in southern India that was called the Bhakti movement. As its influence reached the north, it started affecting the prose and poetry that were being composed in Hindi. The most famous figures from this period were Kabir and Tulsidas Tuisidas wrote poetry in a language which was of that region only, while others like Kabir, who moved from place to place added Persian and Urdu words as well.
However, it is only with the beginning of nineteenth century that-Hindi prose came into its own. Bharatendu Harishchandra was one of the earliest to produce dramas in Hindi which were basically translations of texts written in Sanskrit and other languages. But he set the trend.
Among other names who have enriched Hindi literature, are Munshi Prem Chand, Surya Kant Tripathi, ‘Nirala’, Mahadevi Verma, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jaishankar Prasad.
A large number of people speak Hindi in its different forms that include Braj Bhasha,Avadhi (spoken in Oudh region), Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili (spoken around Mithila), Rajasthani and Khadi Boli (spoken around Delhi).
BENGALI, ASSAMESE AND ORIYA LITERATURE
1.Bengali: The growth of the Bhakti movement and the compositon of various hymns associated with Chaitanya provided a stimulus to the development and growth of Bengali.
Narrative poems called the Mangal Kavyas also grew popular during this period. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-91) and Akshay Kumar Dutta (1820- 86) were two three writers of this early period. In addition to these, Bankim Chandra Chatterji (l834-94), Sharat Chandra Chatterji (l876-1938), and R.C. Dutta, a noted historian and a prose writer, all contributed to the making of Bengali literature. But the most important name that influenced the whole of India was that of Rabindra Nath Tagore (1861-1941). However, a few things need to be noted about the influence of Western ideas which permeated Bengal and later on other parts of India.
Upto 1800, most of the literature produced was limited to religion or courtly literature. influence brought the writers closer to the man in the street. The subjects were in Indian regional literature mundane. Some religious literature was also produced but it hardly said anything new.
2. Assamese - Like Bengali, Assamese also developed in response to the Bhakti movement. Shankardeva who introduced Vaishnavism in Assam helped in the growth of Assamese poetry. Even the Puranas were translated in Assamese. The earliest Assamese literature consisted of buranjis (court chronicles).
3. Orissa: a couple of names are worth mentioning and these are Fakirmohan Senapati and RadhaNath Ray, whose writings deserve considerable attention in the history of Oriya literature. The works of Upendra Bhanja (1670 - 1720) were important as they ushered a new period of Oriya literature. In Orissa the works of Saraladasa are regarded as the first works of Oriya literature.
PUNJABI, RAJASTHANI, GUJARATI, MARATHI, SINDHI AND KASHMIRI LITERATURE
1.Punjabi: It is a language with several shades. It is being written in two scripts, Gurmukhi and Persian. The Gurmukhi script till the end of the nineteenth century was almost limited to the Adi Granth, the holy book of the Sikhs. Guru Nanak was the first poet in Punjabi. Some other contemporary poets, mostly Sufi saints, used to sing in this language. The Adi Granth also contains poetry of the next four gurus. All this literature belongs to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, was educated in Patna (Bihar), where he learnt Persian and Sanskrit. Essays, short stories, poetry, novels, criticism and all other forms of writing have adorned the Punjabi literary scene.
2. Rajasthani: a dialect of Hindi, had its own part to play. The bards moved from place to place, providing entertainment and keeping the stories of heroes alive. It was from these ballads that Colonel Todd collected the heroic stories of Rajasthan and put them in the Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. But the devotional songs of Mira Bai have a place of pride in the history of language as well as devotional music.
3. Gujarati: Early Gujarati literature is available in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It still follows the old tradition which is popular in Gujarat. Narsi Mehta’s name is the foremost in this respect. The people of Gujarat wove these devotional songs in their folk dances and their religious forms often find expressions in their celebrations. Narmad’s poetry gave a fillip to the Gujarati literature. Saraswati Chandra, a novel by Govardhan Ram, has become a classic and has given great impetus to other writers. But probably a name that cannot be forgotten is that of Dr. K.M. Munshi. He was a novelist, an essayist and a historian, and has left a plethora of historical novels. In these books he exhibits his ability to mix fact with fiction. Prithvi Vallabha is one of his finest novels.
4. Sindhi: Sindh was one of the important centres of Sufis, who established khanqahs at various places. The Sufi singers with their devotional music made the language popular. The credit for creating literature in Sindhi goes to Mirza Kalish Beg and Dewan Kauramal.
5. Marathi: Maharashtra is situated on a plateau where a large number of local dialects were in use. Marathi grew out of these these local dialects. The Portuguese missionaries started using Marathi for preaching their gospel. The earliest Marathi poetry and prose is by Saint Jnaneshwar (Gyaneshwar) who lived in the thirteenth century. He wrote a long commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. He was the one who started the kirtan tradition in Maharashtra. He was followed by Namdev, Gora, Sena and Janabai. Their songs are sung even today by the Verkari pilgrirns on their way to Pandharpur pilgrimage. Almost two centuries later, Eknath came on the scene. He wrote the commentaries on the Ramayana and the Bhagawat Purana. Then came Tukarama. Ramdas. He was the devotee of Rama. He inspired Shivaji.
The closing years of the nineteenth century saw an upsurge in the Marathi literature. It was a nationalist movement that made Marathi prose popular and prominent. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (l 857-1920) started his Journal Kesari in Marathi. But the role of Keshav Sut and V.S. Chiplunkar was no less. Hari Narayan Apte and Agarkar wrote novels which became very popular. The name of H.G Salgaokar is remembered for writing inspirational poetry. Besides, the names of M.G. Ranade, K.T. Telang, G.T. Madholkar (poet and novelist) are no less important.
6. Kashmiri: Kashmir shot into literary prominence, when Kalhana wrote Rajatarangini in Sanskrit. But this was in the language of the elite. For locals, Kashmiri was the popular dialect. Here also the Bhakti movement played its role. One Lal Ded, who lived in the fourteenth century,was probably the first to sing in the Kashmiri language. She was a Shaivite mystic. After Islam spread in this area, the Sufi influence also came to be visible. Haba Khatoon, Mahjoor, Zinda Kaul, Noor Din also known as Nund Rishi, Akhtar Mohiuddin, Sufi Ghulam Mohammad and Dina Nath Nadim wrote devotional poetry in Kashmiri. The Western influence did not reach Kashmir till the end of the nineteenth century. In1846, after the first Sikh War, the Dogras of Jammu became the rulers there. The Dogras were more interested in Dogri language than in Kashmiri.
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