indian lit

8/10/2019 Indian Lit

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Classical Indian Literature


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Gupta Era

320 ce550 ce

Gupta dynasty was founded by

Chandra Gupta I

Development of Mahayana

Buddhism dummy

Classical Age in north India

Cave paintings at Ajanta

Sakuntala, Jataka,

PanchatantraandKamasutra

were written

Aryabhattas Astronomy.

Kumardevi and Chandragupta I(Minted by their son Samudragupta)

335-370 ce

Gold Dinar

Weight: 7.8 gm

Obverse: King and queen


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Mahayana BuddhismBuddhism split into two sects, Mahayanaand

Hinayana (Theravada).

Mahayanalaid stress on the concept of theBodhisattva or `one destined to be the Buddha' andalso conceived of Eternal Buddhas who resemblegods or deities.

Hinayanaregarded the Buddha as a man and had adoctrine, Theravada, stressing the salvation of theindividual.

The interaction of Mahayana philosophy andHinduism gave rise to Tantric Buddhism or

Vajrayana.


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.

AJANTA

CAVES

During the 4th

century c.e. in aremote valley, work began on theAjanta Caves to create a complex ofBuddhist monasteries and prayerhalls.

As centuries passed, numerousBuddhist monks and artisans dugout a set of twenty-nine caves,converting some to cells, and othersto monasteries and Buddhist

temples. These caves are adorned with

elaborate sculptures and paintingswhich have withstood the ravagesof time


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Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta caves depict

the stories of Buddhismspanning from the periodfrom 200 bce to 650 ce.

The 29 caves were builtby Buddhist monks usingsimple tools like hammer& chisel.

The elaborate andexquisite sculptures and

paintings depict storiesfromJatakatales .

The caves also houseimages of nymphs and

princesses.


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SceneFrom

The Jataka


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SamskrtaThe Language of Classical Literature

Samskrta: Sanskrit

perfected, classified refined

Correct speech

Codified and frozen in theAstadhyahi : the rules ofgrammar

Considered ideal language for classics

Prakrta: Prakrit

original or natural

Dialects that changed and developed with spokenlanguage


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Kavya

Kavyathe poetry of theclassical canon

Permeated with the culture of theGupta courts

Kavi, learned poets, wrote under

the patronage of kings for audiencesof connoisseurs

sahrdayawith heart,responsive

rasikaenjoyer of aestheticmood

Highly formulated norms andconventions

Many works on poetic theory


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Kavya Genres Mahakavya: great poem or court epiccontains 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

Somadevas Kathasaritsagara (Ocean to the Rivers of Story):

picaresque, marvelous tales, romances


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NitiAims for Human Conduct, Worldly Wisdom

The Nagarakagentleman, citizen, courtiercultivated life as art with the 4 aims for human conduct:

Dharma: religious duty

Artha: wealth, politics, public lifeKama: erotic pleasure and the emotions

Vitsyayanas Kamasutra

Moksa: liberation from the chain of birth and death in

which souls are trapped because of KarmaKarmaimplies fluid relationships between divine, human and

animal worlds

gods become human, humans may achieve bodhisattva status

or may be reincarnated as animals


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Women in Classical Literature

Courtly ideal wives likeSitachaste, loyal,submissive, long-suffering

Wives in merchant-classstorieschaste,independent, powerful

Courtesanserotic,beautiful, intelligent,ruthless, rapacious,independent

Religious contemplativesfigures of authority andfree agents


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Visnusarmans

Pancatantra

ca. 2nd3rdce

Pancatantra: The Five Strategies

Collection of folk tales and fableswithin frame tales

Brought by Arabs into Europemodel and source for 1001 Nights,Boccaccios The Decameron,Chaucers The Canterbury Tales,

GrimmsFairy Tales, LaFontainesFables, etc.

Central concern is niticonductpolitical expediency and social

values Visnusarman allegedly used the

fables to teach 3 dim-wittedprinces the science of politics


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The Pancatantras

5 Strategies

Book I : The Loss ofFriends

Leap and Creep

The Blue Jackal

Forethought, Readywit andFatalist

Book II : The Winning ofFriends

Book III: Crows and Owls

strategies of alliance and war

Mouse-Maid Made Mouse

Book IV: Loss of Gains

Book V: Ill-ConsideredAction

The Loyal Mungoose

D k t t b


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Natya:

Drama

Drsyakavya: poetry to be seen asopposed to sravyakavya: poetry to beheard

Bharatas Natyasastraauthoritative

text on dramatic aesthetics and theory Abhinaya: a symphony of languages

verbal text, stylized gesture, facialexpression, eye movement, music, dance

8 fundamental emotions, bhava,expressed in 8 major rasas, stylizedrepresentations of the emotionsuniversal rather than particular

No tragedy in Indian drama

impossible in the Hindu and Buddhistconception of the universe of karmalinking humans with nature and thecosmos through networks of volition,action and responseopen-ended

cycles of time

Video on Indian Natya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDdjKJ_HSghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDdjKJ_HSg


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Dramatic Conventions

Performed at seasonal festivals and celebrations such asweddings, 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 ofnature; worlds of the human and divine

emotional universes of men and women


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Kalidasa

fl. 4th5thc. ce

The dramatist and poet is regardedas the greatest figure in classicalSanskrit literature.

His three surviving plays are

Abhijnanasakuntala(Sakunatalaand the Ring of Recognition),Vikramorvasi,andMalavikagnimitra.

These court dramas in verse,nataka, relate fanciful ormythological tales of profoundromantic love intensified andmatured by adversity.

In Kalidasa's two epics,Raghuvansaand Kumarasambhava,delicate descriptions of nature aremingled with battle scenes.

The other poems of Kalidasa are

shorter and almost purely lyrical.


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Sakuntala

Nataka: heroic romance

play about love

between a noble hero

and a beautiful womanDominant mood: the

erotic rasa: tension

between duty, dharma,

and desire, kama

King Dusyanta falls in

love with Sakuntala,

daughter of the nymphMenaka and foster

daughter of the ascetic

hermit-sage, Kanva.

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