INDIAN LITERATURE

WINCA MARANCA
J U S T I N PA R A G A S
MARIELLE RAMOS
R Y Z A M A E VA L D E R A M O S
India
 Worlds 7th largest country in South Asia
 Second most populous country
 3, 000 km (1.865 mi) wide, shoreline 7000 km (4,350 mi) along the Bay of
Bengal
 India and Bharat are both official names
 Derives from Indus river used by Greek
 India civilization grew up in the Indus Valley to 2500 BC.
.Language
 More than 200 languages are spoken in India
 Four major languages are represented
 Indo – Arab branch of the Indo – European group (the major Linguistic
family in Europe)
 Dravidian - language group
 Hindi – the fourth most widely spoken language in the world  Indo – Aryan
language
Religion
• Four major religious traditions have emerged from this area:
• Hinduism – 83 %
•Jainism – 11%
• Buddhism – less than 1%
• Sikhism
India Caste System
• Major social system that groups people according to birth:
• Brahmins – priests, the highest caste
• Kshatriyas – warriors and kings
• Vaishyas – merchants
• Shudras – manual labourers
Caste System
Some people do not fall into any caste ; these are called dalits, or untouchables
• Untouchables also known as Harijans
— Dalits have traditionally been tasked with work such as cleaning streets and
working with human and animal corpses and waste  Caste- based
discrimination is now illegal in India, and affirmative – action policies aim to
improve standards of living in lower castes, but inequalities persist
Education
 1950 and 1988 – Indian Literacy was doubled
 Literacy is higher on man than woman
 8 years in primary
 2 years in lower secondary and 2 years in upper secondary
 Compulsory in 6 -14 years old
 University are large with cluster of affiliated colleges.
A brief history of INDIA
 India was a sovereign state under its own constitutional government began on
August 15, 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned into the two states of India
and Pakistan.
 Pakistan become an Islamic state while India opted to become a secular state.
GREAT PEOPLE :
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
• Leader of the Indian Nationalist movement
• Born on October 2, 1869
• Known as Mahatma (great soul)
• Pioneered on civil disobedience or the philosophy of nonviolent confrontation
• He fought to improve the status of the lowest classes of society, the castes
untouchables, whom he called Harijans
 He believed in manual labor and simple living and non violence is a percept
common to three faiths :
 Hinduism – Adherent to the prescription against violence toward living things
can escape from the cycle of rebirth and the doctrine also form a basis for
vegetarian
 Buddhism – Non violence is manifest in the Buddha’s emphasis on compassion
and is also part of the faith’s moral codes
 Jainism – Non violence is a core religious duty and followed strictly that the
most Orthodox devotes cover their faces with mask to prevent accidentally
harming insect 14.
INDIAN LITERATURE
FACTS:
• Mostly written in Sanskrit (oldest extant Aryan language) • A
small portion was written in Prakrit (vernacular form of
Sanskrit)

PERIODS OF LITERATURE VEDIC SANSKRIT

• Vedic — 1500 BC-200BC
Principally Religious and Lyric
• Sanskrit — 200 BC-present
Many types of religious and literature achieved distinction
RELIGIOUS WORKS
• Oldest sacred literature is found in the four Vedas.

RIG VEDA
--- an anthology of 1028 hymns to various gods • SAMA
VEDA
--- (Book of Chants) liturgies, mostly repetitions of hymns
in the Rig Veda
ATHARVA VEDA
--- (Prayer Book) additional many prose formulas • YAJUR
VEDA
--- (Book of Spells) incantations, notions about demonology
and witchcraft
EPICS
1.) Mahabharata --- written by Vyasa • Longest poem in the
world • About 200,000 lines, nearly 8 times as long as the Iliad
and the Odyssey • Greatest epic of India • Circa 500 BC
2.)Ramayana --- written by Valmiki • Circa 500 BC to 200 AD
• About 96,000 lines, in seven books
DRAMAS
• The Toy Clay Cart --- attributed to King Sundra; has three
acts; a courtesan saves the life of a merchant because of his
former kindness and generosity
• Sakuntala or the Fatal Ring --- attributed to Kalidasa (the
Hindu Shakespeare)
POEMS
• The Jatakas --- imaginative legends concerning the 550 births
of Buddha and his early life
• The Panchanatantra --- (Five Books); probably intended as a
manual of instruction for kings’ sons
• The Hitopdesa --- (Book of Good Counsels), forty-three tales
• The Sukasaptati --- (Seventy Stories of a Parrot) fairy tales
POETS
• Kalidasa --- leading lyricist famous for a large number of
poems of sentiment; India’s foremost Sanskrit dramatist and poet
• Javadeva --- author of the Gitagovinda (love-making of
Krishna)
Culture of India
-Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional
customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that
originated in or are associated with the Indian subcontinent

Positive and negative side of the culture

1.Pluralism and diversity.
2.The variety of food
3.Tolerance and Equality.
5.Celebrations and festivals
7.Non violence and sacrifice.
8.Music and Art
Some negative aspects ;
(a). Rigidity in adopting the changes according to the time. Caste system is the case
in hand.
(b) Aversion to change and blindly following outdated rituals and practices in name
of culture
(c)Males are regarded as carrier of ones generation, illiteracy,lack of sex education
leading to second highest population
(d) Patriarchy and Misogyny i.e. no respect for women(Inequality)
(e) Low adherence to the laws.
(f) Due to foreign rules for a long time with exorbitant taxes, tax evasion is not seen
as a bad thing in the community
The End