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Without a doubt, the Indian literary tradition is one of the oldest in the world. It comprises 22 officially recognized tribal and foreign languages like Persian, French, Portuguese and English. While a significant amount of the Indian literature is written, a lot more is propagated orally in regional languages, all of which have received an enormous reception worldwide. The first ancient Indian literature was Sanskrit literature which comprised Rig Veda, Mahabharata, and Kannada, all of which were written in the first millennium BCE. They were then followed by Marathi, Urdu and into the modern times, with Rabindra Nath Tagore, a Bengali writer who went on to become the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize for his literary work.
A Brief History on Indian Literature:
India is home to a great amount of ancient literature dating all the way back to 1000 BCE. This includes the Vedic, Buddhist, and Jain texts, scriptures of various schools of Hinduism and also the Avestan texts. They were written in Sanskrit or Pali, with some in Aramaic and Prakrits. Most of them are still available today and a good number have been translated into English by many scholars over time.
Many literary techniques were used by writers in India at this time like descriptive poetry and lyrical songs. Some authors even went further to tell stories about their gods and goddesses as well as their beliefs regarding life after death.
As per the timeline of Indian literature, the first period started with there being a peak in Vedic literature. The Vedas are a collection of texts considered sacred by Hindus as they are believed to be divinely revealed to seers of an ancient time and then compiled and revised over generations. The second period, which was apparently the Golden Age of Sanskrit literature, had particularly flourished under the Gupta Empire. During this great era, Hinduism had undergone major revamping and Buddhism was reaching its pinnacle before it suffered a sudden decline in India. The Golden Age ended when foreign invaders arrived in India and destroyed all that was sacred for both Hindus and Buddhists.
Contributions made by Tagore in Indian Literature:
The first person born in India to win a Nobel Prize for literature was Rabindranath Tagore. He was born on May 10, 1861 and he went on to become the first non-European laureate in 1910 and also the first Asian laureate of any Nobel Prize. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for his book of poetry called Gitanjali (Song Offerings). This book had then been compared with the most influential Western poets like Tennyson and Whitman by the Swedish Academy that gave him the award, which is what made him win it. The book’s popularity had spread all over Europe and he was praised even by French Prime Minister George Clemenceau, who had called him “poet of poets”.
Emergence of Dalit Writers and their Contributions in India Literature:
Before India gained independence from British Rule in 1947, Dalits were not allowed to be educated and therefore, the production of literature was very low. Dalit writers were then inspired by leaders like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule and they began to write themselves. In fact, literary movements of this time have failed to receive recognition because of the lack of such writers who decided to voice their problems through their stories and poems. Ghulam Hussain Dehlvi is credited with being one of the earliest Dalit writers whose writing had dealt with the trouble that he had faced as a member of this oppressed community.
Development of Indian English Literature:
As the years went by, English became more and more popular in India as more and more of its people found employment in the British bureaucracy. This is what led to the development of modern Indian literature written not only in English but also in regional languages like Bengali, Gujarati and Hindi.
Diversity of Literature:
India has been exposed to different cultures over time that’s why you will find Buddhist, Jain and Hindu stories written concurrently. Buddhists are said to be the earliest storytellers as they had documented their lives using fragments of Sanskrit language and writing. Furthermore, India’s first novel titled “Nirvana” was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (a Bengali writer) back in 1882 CE.
Conclusion:
India has been a major player in the world of literature since time immemorial, especially in the sphere of its religious mythology. These literary pieces have been written not only by the people who write them but also by those who read them as they are regarded as sacred texts. The text becoming sacred is what made modern Indian literature one of the most preferred styles of writing. This can be understood from the fact that Indian literature is also able to hold onto its readers because it provides a certain sense and cohesiveness to each individual piece as opposed to other kinds of writings that does not matter much about how well it has been translated or read by readers.
