Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages

21 Pages·2017·0.99 MB·English

Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
Language is a medium through which we express our thoughts while literature is a mirror that
reflects ideas and philosophies which govern our society. Hence, to know any particular culture
and its tradition it is very important that we understand the evolution of its language and the
various forms of literature like poetry, drama and religious and non-religious writings. We have
already discussed the literature from Ancient India while discussing the Indian Ancient History.
In this version, we will look into Medieval and modern period and try to understand their
impact on History.
MEDIEVAL INDIAN LITERATURE
Medieval Indian literature was greatly influenced by various factors, dominated mostly by
various religions. The Middle Ages in India were an incessant period of perpetual fluctuation.
Ordinary life during medieval period was exceedingly complex, undergoing fast changes. The
continuous influx of migratory population brought with it different beliefs, customs, practices
and lifestyles, turning major portions of India into an ablaze pot. The spread of philosophical
movements or the sublime popularity of these genres, cultivated innate resources and
responses to external forces were bettered to be prepared for the worse. The end result to this
period a vibrant kaleidoscope of language and literature, which absolutely mirrored and
reflected upon these themes of competition between two dominant religions: Hinduism and
Islam. Medieval Indian literature wholly banked upon these themes, creating its own distinctive
history in the long run.
We will study the Medieval Period’s literature under following themes:

We will see literature under various Regional languages and Bhakti period first then we will
discuss the Sultanate/ Mughal period literature. We have mentioned only the most prominent
one’s here as the list can be endless.
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
SANSKRIT LITERATURE
RAJTARANGINI
 Kalhana Pandit was the pioneer historiographer who who the first ajatarangini and
described in it the history of Kashmir from the earliest time to 1148-49.
 Two centuries later the thread of the narrative was picked up by Jyots-Nakara popularly
known as Jonaraja. He wrote the history of Kashmir from 1149-1459 AD and gave the
same title Rajatarangini to it. Jonaraja work thus the earliest contemporary history of
Kashmir during the Sultanat period.
 Jonaraja’s pupil Srivara, who also rose to be a distinguished scholar, poet and musician
and engaged the patronage of Zanul Abidin and his successors, produced yet another
historical composition in Sanskrit poetry, under the title Jaina Rajatarangini. His work
contains the history of the ruling house of Kashmir from 1459-1486.
 The tradition of writing the history of Kashmir under the title Rajatarangini was
continued by “Prajyabhatta and Suka whose works help us to some extent, in
reconstructing the history of the reign upto 1596 AD. Kashmir was conquerted by Akbar
in 1585.
KATHĀSARITSĀGARA
The Kathāsaritsāgara ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") is a famous 11th-century collection of
Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by a Shaiva named Somadeva.
VIKRAMANKADEVACHARITA
Vikramankadevacharita is a eulogy written by Bilhana praising Vikramaditya VI.
KATHA KOSA
Harisena’s Katha kosa is the best example of Jain short stories in Sanskrit.
BHAKTI POETRY
The most powerful trend of medieval Indian literature between 1000 and 1800 A.D. is
devotional (bhakti) poetry which dominates almost all the major languages of the country.
Unlike the dark middle ages of Europe, India’s middle ages brought about a very rich tradition
of devotional literature of remarkable merit which dispels the superstitious assumption of a
dark period of India’s history. Bhakti literature is the most important development of the
medieval period.
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
 It is love poetry. Love for one’s Lord, Krishna or Rama, the two main incarnations of the
great God Vishnu. This love is depicted as love between husband and wife, or between
lovers, or between servant and master, or between parents and child.
 This is personalisation of the godhood, which means a truthful perception of God
residing in you, and also harmony in life which only love can bring. Worldly love is Kama
(Eros) and divine love is Prema (mystic Eros).
 The dominating note in bhakti is ecstasy and total identity with God. It is a poetic
approach to religion and an ascetic approach to poetry. It is poetry of connections –
connecting the worldly with the divine, and as a result, the old form of secular love
poetry began to have a new meaning in all languages.
 The rise of bhakti poetry gave rise to regional languages (Bhasa). The conception of
bhakti did away with the elite tradition of Sanskrit and accepted the more acceptable
language of the common man.
 Kabir (Hindi) says that Sanskrit is like water of a well stagnant, Bhasa like flowing
water.
 A seventh century Shaiva Tamil writer Manikkarvachakar has something similar to say
about in his book of poetry Thiruvachakam.
 Bhakti also attacked the age-old caste system and devoted itself to the worship of
humanity, because the catch-word of bhakti is that God is there in every human being.
The movement was in essence subaltern, as most of its poets belonged to the so-called
‘lower’ castes.
 Bhakti is antitheology and against any kind of conceptual erudition.
Bhakti Kal Poetry
Saguna (Human
Nirguna (Formless)
Incarnation)
Love as path to
Monotheism
realise God
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The Bhakti Kal poetry is divided into Nirguna and Saguna Schools depending upon the
devotional attitude of the poets towards the Lord. The Nirgunas believed in a formless god,
while the Sagunas believed in a human incarnation of god. The Nirgunas have been further
divided into two groups on the basis of the different sadhanas (disciplines) followed by them.
One group includes Kabir, Guru Nanak, Dharma Das, Maluk Das, Dadudayal, Sunder Das etc,
who emphasised on monotheism through their Sakhis (couplets) and Padas (songs). Another
group of the Nirguna poets was of the Sufi poets, who believed that love was the path of
realising God. These included Jayasi, Manjhan, Kutuban and Usman. The Saguna poets are
either the followers of Rama or Krishna.
BIJAK
Bhakti became a great platform for Hindu-Muslim unity. Kabir (Hindi) is the foremost among
the poets of the sant tradition (faith in one omnipresent god and not in many gods like Rama
and Krishna). Kabir’s poetry touches upon the various aspects of devotion, mysticism and social
reforms. Bijak is the best known of the compilations of the compositions of Kabir, and as such is
the holy scripture for followers of the Kabirpanthi religion. The Bijak is one of the earliest of the
major texts in modern Hindi. The term Bijak is derived from Bijak, meaning a document
containing sacred texts.
GURU GRANTH SAHIB
Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, wrote in many languages, but mostly in Punjabi, and was a great
poet of inter-religious communication. Nanak says truth is supreme, but above truth is truthful
living. Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus belong to the sant tradition, which believes in one
omnipresent God, and not in many gods like Rama and Krishna. The poetry of the Sikh Gurus is
collected in the Guru Granth Sahib (the Revered Book), a multilingual text which talks about the
unchanging one reality (Sat) the cosmic law (Hukum), meditation (Satnam), compassion and
harmony (Daya and Santosh). Bulleh Shah, the most famous Muslim Punjabi poet, popularised
Sufism through Punjabi Kafi (verse-form). Kafi is a small poem in stanzas followed by refrain and
is sung in a dramatic way. Shah Latif, the famous Sindhi Muslim poet (1689 A.D.) in his sacred
work Risalo explained Sufi mystic love as the divine truth.
RAMACHARIT MANAS
Tulsidas (1532 A.D.) was the greatest of the Rama-bhakti poets who wrote his famous epic, the
Ramacharit Manas (the lake of the deeds of Rama). In fact, epics like the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata received a rebirth in the new languages. These languages gave a fresh life, a
renewed relevance, and a meaningful reincarnation to the great Sanskrit epics, and these epics
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
in their turn provided substance and style to the new languages too. Kamban in Tamil,
Krittibasa Ojha in Bengali, sarala Das in Oriya, Ezhuttacchan in Malayalam, Tulsidas in Hindi
and Nannaya in Telugu are well known and legion. Muslim poets like Malik Muhammad
Jayasi, Raskhan, Rahim and other wrote Sufi and Vaishnava poetry. The religious and cultural
synthesis that was a special feature of medieval India finds abundant expression in its
literature. The Islamic element is all-pervasive, next only to the Upanishadic Hindu element.
His other classical works: - Gitavali, Kavitavali and Vinay Patrika.
SUR SAGAR
Surdas wrote his Sur Sagar in which he talks of Krishna as an infant, a young lad indulging in
pranks and a young man engaged in dalliance with the gopis.
He also wrote Sur Saravali.
BHAJANS
Meera Bai is the most celebrated of the women poets of medieval times. She was one of the
most significant figures Sant of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,300 pads (poems)
commonly known as bhajans (sacred songs) are attributed to her.
SATSAI
Bihari wrote his Satsai in the seventeenth century; it gives us a glimpse of shringar (love) and
other rasas.

HINDI LITERATURE
Hindi evolved during the Apabhramsa stage between the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. and
the 14th C. It was characterized as Veergatha Kala i.e. the age of heroic poetry or the Adi
Kala (early period). It was patronised by the Rajput rulers as it glorified chiralry and
poetry. The most famous figures from this period were Kabir and Tulsidas. The rise of the
Bhakti movement and the use of regional languages by the various saints helped in their growth
and development.
Hindi literature, with its supra-regional character, attracted Namdev (Marathi) and Guru Nanak
(Punjabi) and others to write in Hindi, which by then had developed into a conglomeration of
many languages and dialects, and came to be known as an umbrella language. The centrality of
Hindi and its vast geographical area was the reason for it. Surdas, Tulsidas and Meera Bai (15th
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
to 16th Century A.D.) point to the great heights of Vaishnavite lyricism achieved by Hindi. We
have already covered those under Bhakti poetry.
PRITHVIRAJ RASO
It is supposed to be the first book in the Hindi language. It is an account of exploits of Prithviraj
Chauhan. It is attributed to Chand Bardai, who according to the text, was a court poet of the
king.
PADMAVAT
A poem describing the story of the historic siege of Chittor by Alauddin Khilji in 1303 CE who
attacked Chittor after hearing of the beauty of Queen Rani Padmini, the wife of king Rawal
Ratan Singh. This book was written in Avadhi by Malik Muhammad Jayasi. His other important
works are Akhrawat and Akhiri Kalaam.

SULTANATE PERIOD
CHACHNAMA (AN UNKNOWN ARABIC WRITERS)
Chach, seems to be a local or dialectical form of the word “Jajja”, which is the Prakrit formof the
Sanskrit word “Yayati”. Indian history has known some people who bore the name Jajja, there
was one Jajja a brother of Jaypida, the king of Kashmir who revolted and was killed by the
latter.
Kitab-ul-Hind
This text was composed by Abu Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bairuni al-Khwarizm.
Tarik-i-Yamini or Kitab-ul-Yamini
 It was composed by Utabi (an officer of Mahmud Gajini). It was written in Arabic
language.
 Utabi had a firsthand knowledge of the character and activities of sultan Mahmud and
his officers.
 It gives the story of rise of the Gajni Ghaznavid power under sabuktagin and describes
the character and military exploits of Mahmud’s upto 1020 AD.
 Utabi was ignorant of Indian language and his knowledge of Indian tropography was also
very poor.
 Being an orthodox Sunni Musalman, Utbi applauds the achievements of Mahmud as
NASR AMIR UL MOMNIN who carried the banner of Islam to the land of the Idol
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
worshippers by the order of Allah and the friends of Khuda committed slaughter of the
unfields wherever they went.
TARIKH US SABUKTAGIN
 Abul Fazl Baihaqi (1996-1077) was an officer of Sultan Masud the successor of Mahmud
of Gazni. He was wrote a ten-volume comprehensive history of the Ghaznavid rulers
upto 1059 AD entitled Tarikh-i-Baihaqi or Mujalladad-i-Baihaqi, its component volumes
were captioned –
1. Tarikh us Sabuktagin 2. Tajul Futuh (History of Sultan Mahmud) 3. Tarikh-i-Masudi
(History of Sultan Masud)
“In his introduction of the tenth volume Baihaqi writes “Historical knowledge can only be
obtained with difficulty, rather by traveling round the world and undergoing trouble or
searching in trustworthy books and ascertaining the real accurrences from them.
It was written in Persian language
HASAN NIZAMI – TAJ-UL-MASIR
 Taj-ul-Masir was composed by Hasan Nizami (the court Historian of Qutubuddin Aibek),
it throws light on the history between 1192 and 1206 AD.
 It medium of expression is a unique mixture of Arabic and Persian language is poetry as
well as prose. The book comprises twelve thousand lines of which above seven
thousand are in verse, both Arabic and Persian.
 Taj-ul-Masir is partly history and partly fiction.
ADAB-UL-HERB-WA-SUJAAT
 It was composed by Fakra Mudabbir in 1228, it throws light on war tactics.

Amir Khusro was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. That is why
we are dealing with his work separately.
AMIR KHUSRO
 He has to his credit about half a dozen historical works including prose chronicles and
masnavis (poetic composition) like Qiranus Saadain, Miftahul Futuh, Khazainul Futuh,
Dewal Rani Khizer, Nuh Sipher and Tughlaq Nama.
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
 Four collection of Shaikh Nizamuddin Sufi philosophy and sayings, besides numerous
treatises in prose as well as poetry. On theology, philosophy, art, literacy criticism and
various cultural themes.
QIRAN US SAADAIN
 Qiran-us-Saadain of Amir Khusrau is an historical Masnavi which gives an eye witness
account of the meeting that took place in Oudh between sultan Kaiqubad and his father
Bughra Khan, the governor of Bengal.
MIFTAHUL FULUH
 Futuh contains an account of the military campaigns of Jalaluddin Khalji is poetry.
KHAZANIUL FUTUH
 Khazaniul Futuh or Tarikh-i-ilahi is an histrographical composition in prose which
describes the conquest and other achievements of Alauddin Khalji. His military
campaigns in Deccan have been given in detail. The description of Mangal invasions on
India and the strong policy adopted by Alauddin to combat them.
MASNAVI
 The masnavi, entitled Ashiqa or Deval Rani Khizr Khani narrates the romantic story of
Khizr Khan, son of Alauddin Khalji and Deval Rani the daughter of Rana Kuran of Gujarat.
NUH SIPIHR
 The poetic composition of Nuh Sipihr deals with the reign of Mubarak Shah Khalji
unworthy and incompetent successor of Alauddin Khalji.
TUGHLUQ NAMA
 Tughluq Nama also an historical Masnavi was composed by Amir Khusrau to
Commemorate the victory of Ghiasuddin Tughlaq over Khusrau Khan.
In addition to the above, one of the Amir Khusrau compilation entitled “Ijaz-i-Kusravi” is a
massive collection of diverse types of document personal letters and treaties written by him to
his friend or masters or just to satisfy his literary and intellectual hunger.
SULTANATE PERIOD (CONTINUED)
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
FIROZE TUGHLUQ’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 Sultan Firoze Tughlaq has left a brochure of thirty-two pages in autobiographical writing
called Futuhat-i-Firoze Shahi it gives a brief summary of his military campaigns.
AMIR TIMMUR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 Amir Timur – The seourge of God on earth, who took Delhi by storm in 1398-99 has also
left an autobiography account of his exploits in the Tuzuk-i-Timuri or Malfuzat-i-Timuri.
 It is said to have been written originally in Chaghatai (Turki) which was translated into
Persian during the reign of Shershah (Shahjahan) by Abu Talib Husaini.
KHWAJAH ABDULLAH MALIK ISAMI
 Isami a scholar and poet of the fourteenth century wrote an historical Masnavi. Futu has
Salatin in 1349-50 on the Turkish rule in India from the Ghazanavids to Muhammad Bin
Tughlaq.
MIR KHWAND
Mir Khwand was an Arab. He wrote the History of Central Asia entitled – 1. Rauzat us
Safa 2. The garden of purity, in two volumes divided into seven books. The works gives a
detailed treatment to carrer and achievement of Chengiz Khan, Amir Timur and there
descendants.
KHONDAMIR
 His original name was Ghiasuddin. He produced a standard work on the history of the
Muslim world. Entitled Khulasat-ul-Akhba in his early twenties.
 After the death of Babar Khondamir was attached to the court of Humayun for whom he
wrote a treatise entitled Qanun-i-Humayuni.
MUGHAL HISTORIANS OF EARLY MEDEIVAL INDIA
Some contemporary works, primarily related to the Mughal period also throw light on certain
aspects of the early medieval history.
1. Tuzuk-i-Baburi 2. Abul Fazl’s Akbar Nama (including Ain-i-Akbari)
2. Badauni’s Muntakhabut Twarikh 4. Tabaquat-i-Akbari of Nizamuddin Ahmad and Tarikh-
i-Farishta
TARIKH-I-SALATIN-I-AFGHANA
Set 5: Block 4 Indian Literature Through Ages
 Ahmad Yadgar wrote Tarikh-i-Salatin-i-Afghana or Tarikh-i-Shahi in the last quarter of
the sixteenth century. It gives an authentic accountof the Lodhi and the Sur dynasties
which is to on all the literary sourcs than available on the subject. It gives a refreshing
account of the struggle carried on by the Afghan Princs against Babaur and Humayun for
the re-establishment of their Political ascendancy in Hindustan.
TARIKH-I-DAUDI
 Abdullah of Koil (Aligarh) wrote Tarikh-i-Daudi in the time of the Emperor Jahangir
(1605-27) it gives a account of the Afghan rulers of India including the Lodhi and the
Surs. The book starts with the rise to power of Behlal Lodhi, the first Afghan rulers of
India and carries the narrative to the reign of Adil Shah Sur. It contains some interesting
stories and of the Sultan, particularly Sikandar Lodhi. About the discipline of history the
author writes – “History is not simply information regarding the affairs of Kings who
have passed away, it is a science which expands the intellect and furnishes the wise with
examples.”
TARIKH-I-KHAN JAHANI
 Khwaja “Niamatullah Haravi” completed Tarikh-i-Khan Jahani in 1613 at Burhanpur
during the reign of Jahangir. He was an official histiriographer (Waqiah Navis) of
Jahangir till 1608-09. Later on, joined the personal staff of Khan Jahan Lodhi whom he
accompanied in the Deccan campaign various Afghan tribes with special to the Lodhis
and the Surs who gained political ascendancy in early medieval India.
TARIKH-I-SINDH
 The Tarikh-i-Sindh written by Mir Muhammad Masum of Bhakhar in about 1600 AD
during the reign of Akbar. Also known as Tarikh-i-Masumi after its author the book gives
the regional history of Sindh. Since its conquests by the Arabs to the time of Akbar.
RIYAZUS SALATIN
 Riyazus Salatin of Gulam Hussain Salim, written by in 1788 outlines the history. Bengal
since the invasion of Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khalji to date.
 Mirat-i-Sikandari of Sikandar Bin Muhammad (completed in 1611), the Mirat-i-Ahmadi
of Ali Mohammad Khan (1756-61) and Tarikh-i-Gujarat of Mir Abu Turab Vali.
Book Author Remarks
Mainly on Ghurids and some info on early
Tabaqat-e-Nasiri Minhaj Siraj
sultanate