classical indian literature. gupta era 320 ce — 550 ce gupta dynasty was founded by chandra gupta...
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Classical Indian Literature
Gupta Era 320 ce — 550 ce
Gupta dynasty was founded by Chandra Gupta I
Development of Mahayana Buddhism
Classical Age in north India
Cave paintings at Ajanta
Sakuntala, Jataka, Panchatantra and Kamasutra were written
Aryabhatta’s Astronomy.
Kumardevi and Chandragupta I(Minted by their son Samudragupta)
335-370 ceGold Dinar
Weight: 7.8 gm Obverse: King and queen
Mahayana BuddhismBuddhism split into two sects, Mahayana and
Hinayana (Theravada).Mahayana laid stress on the concept of the
Bodhisattva or `one destined to be the Buddha' and also conceived of Eternal Buddhas who resemble gods or deities.
Hinayana regarded the Buddha as a man and had a doctrine, Theravada, stressing the salvation of the individual.
The interaction of Mahayana philosophy and Hinduism gave rise to Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana.
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AJANTA CAVES
During the 4th century c.e. in a remote valley, work began on the Ajanta Caves to create a complex of Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls.
As centuries passed, numerous Buddhist monks and artisans dug out a set of twenty-nine caves, converting some to cells, and others to monasteries and Buddhist temples.
These caves are adorned with elaborate sculptures and paintings which have withstood the ravages of time
Ajanta Caves The Ajanta caves depict
the stories of Buddhism spanning from the period from 200 bce to 650 ce.
The 29 caves were built by Buddhist monks using simple tools like hammer & chisel.
The elaborate and exquisite sculptures and paintings depict stories from Jataka tales .
The caves also house images of nymphs and princesses.
Scene FromThe Jataka
SamskrtaThe Language of Classical Literature
Samskrta: Sanskrit “perfected, classified refined” “Correct speech” Codified and frozen in the Astadhyahi : the rules of
grammar Considered ideal language for classics
Prakrta: Prakrit “original or natural” Dialects that changed and developed with spoken
language
Kavya Kavya – the “poetry” of the classical
canon Permeated with the culture of the Gupta
courts Kavi, learned poets, wrote under the
patronage of kings for audiences of connoisseurs sahrdaya – “with heart, responsive” rasika – “enjoyer of aesthetic mood”
Highly formulated norms and conventions
Many works on poetic theory
Kavya Genres Mahakavya: great poem or court epic – contains lyric stanzas with elaborate figures of
speech and emphasizes description Natya: drama
employs both prose and verse includes Sanskrit and Prakrit wider range of characters lyrical description more than dramatic action
Muktaka: short lyric poems Bhartrhari: pointed epigrams Kalidasa: idyllic verses on nature Amaru: erotic vignettes
Katha or Akhyika: narrative tales Pancatantra: collection of animal fables Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara (Ocean to the Rivers of Story): picaresque, marvelous tales,
romances
NitiAims for Human Conduct, Worldly Wisdom
The Nagaraka – gentleman, citizen, courtier – cultivated life as art with the 4 aims for human conduct:
Dharma: religious duty Artha: wealth, politics, public life Kama: erotic pleasure and the emotions
Vitsyayana’s Kamasutra Moksa: liberation from the chain of birth and death in which souls
are trapped because of Karma Karma implies fluid relationships between divine, human and animal
worlds gods become human, humans may achieve bodhisattva status or may be
reincarnated as animals
Women in Classical Literature Courtly ideal wives like Sita –
chaste, loyal, submissive, long-suffering
Wives in merchant-class stories – chaste, independent, powerful
Courtesans – erotic, beautiful, intelligent, ruthless, rapacious, independent
Religious contemplatives – figures of authority and free agents
Visnusarman’s Pancatantra
ca. 2nd – 3rd ce
Pancatantra: The Five Strategies Collection of folk tales and fables within
frame tales Brought by Arabs into Europe – model
and source for 1001 Nights, Boccaccio’s The Decameron, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, La Fontaine’s Fables, etc.
Central concern is niti – conduct – political expediency and social values
Visnusarman allegedly used the fables to teach 3 dim-witted princes the science of politics
The Pancatantra’s 5 Strategies
Book I : “The Loss of Friends” “Leap and Creep” “ The Blue Jackal” “Forethought, Readywit and Fatalist”
Book II : “The Winning of Friends” Book III: “Crows and Owls”
strategies of alliance and war “Mouse-Maid Made Mouse”
Book IV: “Loss of Gains” Book V: “Ill-Considered Action”
“The Loyal Mungoose”
Natya: Drama
Drsyakavya: poetry to be seen as opposed to sravyakavya: poetry to be heard
Bharata’s Natyasastra – authoritative text on dramatic aesthetics and theory
Abhinaya: “a symphony of languages” – verbal text, stylized gesture, facial expression, eye movement, music, dance
8 fundamental emotions, bhava, expressed in 8 major rasas, stylized representations of the emotions – universal rather than particular
No tragedy in Indian drama – impossible in the Hindu and Buddhist conception of the universe of karma linking humans with nature and the cosmos through networks of volition, action and response – open-ended cycles of time
Video on Indian Natya
Dramatic Conventions
Performed at seasonal festivals and celebrations such as weddings, the dramas were regarded as rites of renewal and order
Characters are types, not individuals Contrasts and complements among diverse elements:
lyric verse and prose dialogue erotic and heroic moods heroic king and gluttonous buffoon Sanskrit spoken by noblemen, Prakrit spoken by women, children
and men of lower caste domestic and public worlds; worlds of the court and of nature;
worlds of the human and divine emotional universes of men and women
Kalidasafl. 4th –5th c. ce
The dramatist and poet is regarded as the greatest figure in classical Sanskrit literature.
His three surviving plays are Abhijnanasakuntala (Sakunatala and the Ring of Recognition), Vikramorvasi, and Malavikagnimitra.
These court dramas in verse, nataka, relate fanciful or mythological tales of profound romantic love intensified and matured by adversity.
In Kalidasa's two epics, Raghuvansa and Kumarasambhava, delicate descriptions of nature are mingled with battle scenes.
The other poems of Kalidasa are shorter and almost purely lyrical.
Sakuntala
Nataka: heroic romance – play about love between a noble hero and a beautiful woman
Dominant mood: the erotic rasa: tension between duty, dharma, and desire, kama
King Dusyanta falls in love with Sakuntala, daughter of the nymph Menaka and foster daughter of the ascetic hermit-sage, Kanva.