Classical Indian Literature

Gupta Era
320 ce 550 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,
Panchatantra and Kamasutra
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

Mahayana Buddhism
Buddhism 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.
.


AJANTA
CAVES
During the 4
th
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
From
The Jataka
Samskrta
The 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
Somadevas Kathasaritsagara (Ocean to the Rivers of Story):
picaresque, marvelous tales, romances

Niti
Aims 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
Vitsyayanas 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
Visnusarmans
Pancatantra
ca. 2
nd
3
rd
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,
Boccaccios The Decameron,
Chaucers The Canterbury Tales,
Grimms Fairy Tales, La
Fontaines 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 Pancatantras
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
Bharatas 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
Kalidasa
fl. 4
th
5
th
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.