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Sanskrit literature

December 20, 2023

Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit.[1][a] Literature in the older language begins with the composition of the Ṛg·veda between about 1500 and 1000 BCE, followed by other Vedic works right up to the time of the grammarian Pāṇini around 6th or 4th century BCE (after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm).[3][b]

A 17th-century Devimahatmya manuscript written in Newari script
Sanskrit Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra manuscript written in the Ranjana script. India, early 12th century.
Jain Manuscript, Kalakacarya Katha.

Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the extensive liturgical works of the Vedic religion, while Classical Sanskrit is the language of many of the prominent texts associated with the major Indian religions, especially Hinduism, but also Buddhism, and Jainism.[c] Some Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or Buddhistic Sanskrit, which contains many Middle Indic (prakritic) elements not found in other forms of Sanskrit.[6]

Early works of Sanskrit literature were transmitted through an oral tradition[d] for centuries before they were written down in manuscript form.[8][9][10]

While most Sanskrit texts were composed in ancient India, others were composed in Central Asia, East Asia or Southeast Asia.

Sanskrit literature is vast and includes religious scripture, various forms of poetry (such as epic and lyric), drama and narrative prose. It also includes substantial works covering secular and technical sciences and the arts. Some of these subjects include: law and custom, grammar, politics, economics, medicine, astrology-astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, music, dance, dramatics, magic and divination, and sexuality.[11]

Overview edit

Literature in the Vedic and the Classical language differ in numerous respects. The Vedic literature that survives is almost entirely religious, being focused on the prayers, hymns to the gods (devas), sacrifices and other concerns of the Vedic religion.[12] The language of this archaic literature (the earliest being the Rigveda), Vedic Sanskrit, is different in many ways (and much less regular) than the "classical" Sanskrit described by later grammarians like Pāṇini.[13] This literature was transmitted orally during the Vedic period, only later was it written down.[14][15]

Classical Sanskrit literature is more varied and includes the following genres: scripture (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain), epics, court poetry (kavya), lyric, drama, romance, fairytale, fables, grammar, civil and religious law (dharma), the science of politics and practical life, the science of love and sexual intercourse (kama), philosophy, medicine, astronomy, astrology and mathematics, and is largely secular in subject-matter.[16] On the other hand, the Classical Sanskrit language was much more formalized and homogeneous, partly due to the influence of Sanskrit grammarians like Pāṇini and his commentators.[17]

Sanskrit was an important language for medieval Indian religious literature. Most pre-modern Hindu literature and philosophy was in Sanskrit and a significant portion of Buddhist literature was also written in either classical Sanskrit or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.[18] Many of these Sanskrit Buddhist texts were the basis for later translation into the Chinese Buddhist Canon and Tibetan Canon.[19][20] Many Jain texts were also written in Sanskrit, like the Tattvartha sutra, Bhaktamara Stotra, etc.[21][22]

Classical Sanskrit also served as a common language of scholarship and elites (as opposed to local vernacular who were only understood regionally).[23]

The invasions of northern India by Islamic powers in the 13th century severely damaged Indian Sanskrit scholarship and the dominance of Islamic power over India eventually contributed to the decline of this scholarly language, especially since Muslim rulers promoted Middle Eastern languages.[24][25][26] However, Sanskrit remains in use throughout India, and is used in rituals, religious practice, scholarship, art, and other Indian traditions.[27]

Vedic literature edit

 
Hymn 10.85 of the Rigveda, which includes the Vivaha-sukta (above). Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals.[28][29]

Chronology edit

Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the literature of Vedic Sanskrit:[30][31][e]

  1. Ṛg·vedic Hymns
  2. Mantras
  3. Saṃhitā prose
  4. Brāhmaṇa prose
  5. Sūtras

The first three are commonly grouped together, as the Saṃhitās[A] comprising the four Vedas:[B] ṛk, atharvan, yajus, sāman, which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the canonical foundation both of the Vedic religion, and the later religion known as Hinduism.[35]

Ṛg·veda edit

Main article: Ṛgveda

The Ṛg·veda, the first and oldest of the four Vedas, is the foundation for the others. The Ṛg·veda is made of 1028 hymns named sūktas, composed of verses in strictly regulated meters. These are collected into saṃhitās. There are about 10,000 of these verses that make up the Ṛg·veda. The Ṛg·vedic hymns are subdivided into 10 maṇḍalas, most of which are attributed to members of certain families. Composition of the Ṛg·vedic hymns was entirely oral, and for much of its history, the Ṛg·veda has been transmitted only orally, written down likely no sooner than in the second half of the first millennium of the Common Era.[36]

The later Vedas edit

The Sāmaveda is not an original composition: it's almost entirely (except 75) made of stanzas taken from the Ṛgveda and rearranged with reference to their place in the Soma sacrifice. This book is meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies, and may thus be called the book of chants, sāman. The Yajurveda like the Sāman is also largely made of verses taken from the Ṛgveda, but also contains several prose formulas. It is called the book of sacrificial prayers yajus.[37]

The last of the four, the Atharvaveda, both by the internal structure of the language used and by comparison with the Ṛg·veda, is a much later work. However, the Atharvaveda represents a much earlier stage of thought of the Vedic people, being composed mainly of spells and incantations appealing to demons, and is rife with notions of witchcraft, derived from a much earlier period.[38][f]

Brāhmaṇas edit

Main article: Brāhmaṇas

The Brāhmaṇas (a subdivision within the Vedas) concern themselves with the correct application of Vedic ritual, and the duties of the Vedic priest (hotṛ: 'pourer, worshiper, reciter') the word being derived from bráhman meaning 'prayer'. They were composed at a period in time by which the Vedic hymns had achieved the status of being ancient and sacred revelations and the language had changed sufficiently so that the priests did not fully understand the Vedic texts. The Brāhmaṇas are composed in prose, unlike the previous works, forming some of the earliest examples of prose in any Indo-European language. The Brāhmaṇas intend to explain the relation between the sacred text and ritual ceremony.[39][g]

The later part of the Brāhmaṇas contain material which also discuss theology and philosophy. These works were meant to be imparted or studied in the peace and calm of the forest, hence their name the Āraṇyakas ("Of the forest") The last part of these are books of Vedic doctrine and philosophy that came to be called Upaniṣads ("sitting down beside"). The doctrines in the Vedic or Mukhya Upaniṣads (the main and most ancient Upaniṣads) were later developed into the Vedānta ("end of the Vedas") system.[40]

Vedic Sūtras edit

The Vedic Sūtras were aphoristic treatises concerned either with Vedic ritual (Kalpa Vedanga) or customary law. They arrived during the later period of the Brāhmaṇas when a vast mass of ritual and customary details had been accumulated. To address this, the Sūtras are intended to provide a concise survey of Vedic knowledge through short aphoristic passages that could be easily memorized. The Sūtras forego the need to interpret the ceremony or custom, but simply provide a plain, methodical account with the utmost brevity.[h] The word sūtra, derived from the root siv-, 'to sew', [i] thus meaning 'sewn' or 'stitched together' eventually became a byword for any work of aphorisms of similar concision.[j] The sutras in many cases are so terse they cannot be understood without the help of detailed commentaries.[41]

The main types of Vedic Sūtras include the Śrautasūtras (focusing on ritual), Śulbasûtra (on altar construction), Gṛhyasūtras which focus on rites of passage and Dharmasūtras.

Hindu religious literature edit

See also: Vedas, The Upaniṣads, and Bhagavad-Gītā
 
A 19th-century illustrated Sanskrit manuscript from the Bhagavad Gita, composed c. 400 BCE – 200 BCE.

Most ancient and medieval Hindu texts were composed in Sanskrit, either Epic Sanskrit (the pre-classical language found in the two main Indian epics) or Classical Sanskrit (Paninian Sanskrit).[42] In modern times, most ancient texts have been translated into other Indian languages and some in Western languages.[43] Prior to the start of the common era, the Hindu texts were composed orally, then memorized and transmitted orally, from one generation to next, for more than a millennium before they were written down into manuscripts.[44][45] This verbal tradition[k] of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, continued into the modern era.[44][45]

Classification edit

Hindu Sanskrit texts are often subdivided into two classes:

Indian Epics edit

The first traces of Indian epic poetry are seen in the Vedic literature, among the certain hymns of the Ṛgveda (which contain dialogues), as well as the Ākhyānas (ballads), Itihāsas ('traditional accounts of past events') and the Purāṇas found in the Vedic Brāhmaṇas.[53] These poems were originally songs of praise or heroic songs which developed into epic poems of increasing length over time. They were originally recited during important events such as during the Vedic horse sacrifice (the aśvamedha) or during a funeral.[53]

Another related genre were the "songs in praise of men" (gatha narasamsi), which focus on the glorious deeds of warriors and princes, which also developed into long epic cycles.[54] These epic poems were recited by courtly bards called sutas, who may have been their own caste and were closely related to the warrior caste. There was also a related group of traveling singers called kusilavas.[55] Indian kings and princes seem to have kept bards in their courts which sung the praises of the king, recite poems at festivals and sometimes even recite poetry in battle to embolden the warriors.[56]

While there were certainly other epic cycles, only two have survived, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa.[57][58]

Mahābhārata edit

The Mahābhārata is in a sense not just a single 'epic poem', but can be seen as a whole body of literature in its own right, a massive collection of many different poetic works built around the heroic tales of the Bharata tribe.[59] Most of this literature was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE by numerous authors, with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE.[60]

Already in the Ṛgveda, the Bharatas find mention as a warlike tribe, and the Brāhmaṇas also speak of Bharata, the son of Duṣyanta and Śakuntalā. The core of the Mahābhārata is a family feud in the royal house of the Kauravas (the descendants of Bharata), leading to a bloody battle at Kurukshetra. Over the centuries, an enormous mass of poetry, myths, legends, secondary tales, moral stories and more was added to the original core story. The final form of the epic is thus a massive 100,000 ślokas [l] across 18+1 books.[61][62]

According to Winternitz, the Mahābhārata also shows the influence of the Brahmin class, which he argues was engaged in a project of appropriating the poetry of the bards (which was mainly a secular heroic literature) in order to infuse it with their religious theology and values.[63]

The most influential part of the Mahābhārata is the Bhagavadgītā, which became a central scripture for the Vedanta school and remains widely read today.[64]

Another important associated text, which acts as a kind of supplement (khila) to the Mahābhārata, is the Harivanhśa, which focuses on the figure of Krishna.[65]

Rāmāyaṇa edit

In contrast to the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa consists of only 24,000 ślokas divided into seven books, and in form is more purely regular, ornate epic poetry, a form of style which is the basis of the later Kāvya tradition.[66][67] There are two parts to the story of the Rāmāyaṇa,[68] which are narrated in the five genuine books. The first revolves around the events at the court of King Daśaratha at Ayodhya with one of his wives vying for the succession of the throne to her own son Bharata in place of the one chosen by the king, Rāma. The second part of the epic is full of myth and marvel, with the banished Rāma combating giants in the forest, and slaying thousands of demons. The second part also deals with the abduction of Rāmā's wife, Sītā by king Rāvaṇa of Lankā, leading Rāma to carry out to expedition to the island to defeat the king in battle and recover his wife.[69]

Purāṇa edit

Main article: Purāṇa

The Purāṇa are a large class of Hindu scriptures which cover numerous topics such as myth, legends of the Hindu gods, cosmogony, cosmology, stories of ancient kings and sages, folk tales, information about temples, medicine, astronomy, grammar and Hindu theology and philosophy.[70] Perhaps the most influential of these texts is the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, a central text for Vaishnava theology.[71][72] Other Purāṇas center on different gods, like the Shiva Purāṇa and the Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

Later Upaniṣads edit

The principal Upaniṣads can be considered Vedic literature since they are included within the Brahmanas and Aranyakas.[73][74] However, numerous scriptures titled "Upaniṣads" continued to be composed after the closure of the Vedas proper. Of these later "Upaniṣads" there are two categories of texts:[75][76]

  • 95 canonical Upaniṣads which are part of the Muktikā canon. These were composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through about 15th-century CE.
  • Newer paracanonical Upaniṣads, which were composed through the early modern and modern eras and which deal with numerous non-Vedic topics.

Post-Vedic aphoristic literature edit

 
19th-century manuscript of Patanjali's Yoga-bhāṣya, preserved at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sūtra style aphoristic literature continued to be composed on numerous topics, the most popular being on the different fields of Hindu philosophy.[77]

The main Sūtra texts (sometimes also called kārikās) on Hindu philosophy include:[78]

Commentaries edit

 
A manuscript of the Isha Upanishad, the small text in the margins and edges are an unknown scholar's notes and comments in the typical Hindu style of a minor Bhāṣya.

The various Sanskrit literature also spawned a large tradition of commentary texts, which were called Bhāṣyas, Vṛṭṭis, Tikas, Varttikas and other names.[78] These commentaries were written on numerous genres of Sanskrit texts, including on Sūtras, on Upaniṣads and on the Sanskrit epics.[79][80][81]

Examples include the Yogabhāṣya on the Yoga Sūtras, Shankara's Brahmasūtrabhāṣya, the Gitabhāṣya and Sri Bhāṣya of Ramanuja (1017–1137), Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana's Nyāya Sūtra Bhāshya and the Matharavṛṭṭi (on the Sāṁkhyakārikā).

Furthermore, over time, secondary commentaries (i.e. a commentary to a commentary) also came to be written.[82]

Tantric literature edit

Main article: Tantras (Hinduism)

There are a varied group of Hindu Tantric scriptures titled Tantras or Agamas. Gavin Flood argues that the earliest date for these Tantric texts is 600 CE, though most of them were probably composed after the 8th century onwards.[83]

Tantric literature was very popular during the "Tantric Age" (c. 8th to the 14th century), a period of time when Tantric traditions rose to prominence and flourished throughout India. According to Flood, all Hindu traditions, Shaiva, Vaishnava, Smarta and Shakta (perhaps excepting the Srautas) became influenced by Tantric works and adopted some Tantric elements into their literature.[83]

Other edit

There are also numerous other types of Hindu religious works, including prose and poetry.

Among prose works there are important works like the Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha (which is important in Advaita Vedanta), the Yoga-Yājñavalkya and the Devi Mahatmya (a key Shakta work).

When it comes to poetry, there are numerous stotras (odes), suktas and stutis, as well as other poetic genres. Some important works of Hindu Sanskrit poetry include the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, the Hanuman Chalisa, the Aṣṭāvakragītā, Bhaja Govindam, and the Shiva Tandava Stotra.

Another group of later Sanskrit Hindu texts are those which focus on Hatha Yoga, and include the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (13th century), the Gorakṣaśataka (13th century), the Haṭhayogapradīpikā (15th century) and the Gheraṇḍasaṁhitā (17th or 18th-century).[84]

Scientific & Secular literature edit

Main article: Śāstra

Over time, Sanskrit works on the secular sciences (śāstra or vidyā) were composed on a wide variety of topics.[85] These include: grammar, poetry, lexicography, geometry, astronomy, medicine, worldly life and pleasure, philosophy, law, politics, etc.[86]

The learning of these secular sciences took place by way of a guru expounding the subject orally, using works of aphorisms, the sūtra texts, which on account of their terseness would be meaningful only to those who knew how to interpret them. The bhāṣyas, the commentaries that followed the sūtras were structured in the style of student-teacher dialogue wherein a question is posed, a partial solution, the pūrvapakṣa, proposed, which is then handled, corrected and the final opinion established, the siddhānta. In time, the bhāṣyas evolved to become more like a lecture.[87]

The sūtras were initially regarded as definite. This was later circumvented, in the field of grammar, by the creation of vārttikas, to correct or amend sūtras. Another form often employed was the śloka, which was a relatively simple metre, easy to write and remember. Sometimes a mix of prose and verse was used. Some of the later work, such as in law and poetics, developed a much clearer style which avoided a propensity towards obscurity that verse was prone to.[88]

The study of these secular works was widespread in India. Buddhist institutions like Nalanda also focused on the study of four of these secular sciences, known as the vidyāsthānas. These are: linguistic science (sabdavidya), logical science (hetuvidya), medical science (cikitsavidya), science of fine arts and crafts (silpakarmasthanavidya). The fifth main topic studied at Buddhist universities were the spiritual sciences (adhyatmavidya).[89] These Indian Sanskrit language disciples also had an influence on Himalayan cultures, like Tibet, which not only adopted Buddhist religious literature but also these secular works.[90] The Tibetan scholar Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) was a well known scholar of Sanskrit, and promoted the study of these secular disciplines among Tibetans.[91][92] The study of Sanskrit grammars and prosody was also practiced in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, even when the Pali language focused Theravada school rose to prominence in those regions.[93][94]

Linguistic literature edit

See also: Sanskrit grammar
 
Birch bark manuscript from Kashmir of the Rupavatara, a grammatical textbook based on the Sanskrit grammar of Panini. It was composed by the Sinhalese Buddhist monk Dharmakirti. The manuscript was transcribed in 1663.

By the time of the Sūtra period, the Sanskrit language had evolved sufficiently to make increasing parts of the older literature hard to understand, and to recite correctly. This led to the emergence of several classes of works intended to resolve this matter. These works were styled like the religious Sūtras, however they were not religious per se but focused on the linguistic study of the Sanskrit language.[m] The main topics discussed in these works were grammar (vyākaraṇa), phonetics (śikṣā) and etymology (nirukta). These are traditionally part of the vedāṅga ("limbs of the Veda"), six auxiliary disciplines that developed along with the study of the Vedas.[96]

One of the earliest and most important of these works is the Vedic era Prātiśākhya Sūtras, which deal with accentuation, pronunciation, prosody and related matters in order to study the phonetic changes that have taken place in Vedic words.

The Sanskrit grammatical tradition edit

The early grammatical works of the linguist Yāska (some time between 7th and 4th century BCE), such as his Nirukta, provides the foundation of the study of Sanskrit grammar and etymology.[97]

The most influential work for the Indian Sanskrit grammatical tradition is the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini, a book of succinct Sūtras that meticulously define the language and grammar of Sanskrit and lay the foundations of what is hereafter the normative form of Sanskrit (and thus, defines Classical Sanskrit).[98] After Pāṇini, other influential works in this field were the Vārttikakāra of Kātyāyana, the Mahābhāṣya of the grammarian Patañjali and Bhartṛhari's Vākyapadīya (a work on grammar and philosophy of language).[99]

Over time, different grammatical schools developed. There was a tradition of Jain grammarians and Buddhist grammarians and a later tradition of Paninian grammarians.[100]

Lexicography edit

There were numerous lexicographical works written in Sanskrit, including numerous dictionaries attributed to figures like Bana, Mayura, Murari, and Sriharsha.[101] According to Keith, "of lexica two main classes exist—synonymous, in which words are grouped by subject-matter, and homonymous (anekartha, nanartha), but the important synonymous dictionaries usually include a homonymous section."[101]

One of the earliest lexicons (kośaḥ) is Amarasiṃha's Nāmalingānusāsana, better known as the Amarākośa. According to Keith, Amarasiṃha, who possibly flourished in the 6th century, was "certainly a Buddhist who knew the Mahāyāna and used Kālidāsa."[102] Other lexica are later works, including the short Abhidhānaratnamālā of the poet-grammarian Halāyudha (c. 950), Yādavaprakāsha's Vaijayantī, Hemacandra's Abhidhānacintāmaṇi and Anekarthasabdakosha of Medinikara (14th century).[103]

Dharma literature edit

Main article: Dharmaśāstra
 
A manuscript of the Nāradasmṛti, a Dharmaśāstra work which focuses solely on legal matters.

The Vedic practice of sūtras pertaining to the correct performance of ritual was extended to other matters such as the performance of duties of all kinds, and in social, moral and legal spheres. These works came to be known as Dharmasūtras and Dharmaśāstras in contradistinction to the older gṛhyasūtras and śrautasūtras although no distinction was felt initially. Like other sūtras, this was terse prose peppered with a few ślokas or verses in triṣtubh metre to emphasize a doctrine here and there. More broadly, works in the field of civil and religious law come under the banner of dharmaśāstra.[104]

Examples of such works are:

  • Gautamīya dharmaśāstra
  • Hāritā dharmaśāstra
  • Vasiṣṭha dharmaśāstra
  • Baudhāyana dharmaśāstra
  • Āpastambīya dharmasūtra
  • Vaiṣṇava dharmaśāstra
  • Vaikhānasa dharmaśāstra

The most important of all dharma literature however is the Manusmṛiti, which was composed in verse form, and was intended to apply to all human beings of all castes.[105] The Manusmṛiti deals with a wide variety of topics including marriage, daily duties, funeral rites, occupation and general rules of life, lawful and forbidden food, impurity and purification, laws on women, duties of husband and wife, inheritance and partition, and much more. There are chapters devoted to the castes, the conduct of different castes, their occupations, the matter of caste admixture, enumerating in full detail the system of social stratification. The Manu·smṛti has been dated to the couple of centuries around the turn of the Common Era.[106][107] According to recent genetic research, it has been determined that it was around the first century CE that population mixture among different groups in India, prevalent on a large scale from around 2200 BCE, ground to a halt with endogamy setting in.[108]

Other secular literature edit

 
A Nepalese manuscript of the Kamasutra, with Buddhist illustrations.

Sanskrit literature also covers a variety of other technical and secular topics including:[109]

Buddhist literature edit

 
Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha-sutra, Eastern India, Pala period.
Main article: Sanskrit Buddhist literature

In India, Buddhist texts were often written in classical Sanskrit as well as in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (also known as "Buddhistic Sanskrit" and "Mixed Sanskrit").[115][116] While the earliest Buddhist texts were composed and transmitted in Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrits, later Indian Buddhists translated their canonical works into Sanskrit or at least partially Sanskritized their literature.[117][118][115]

Beginning in the third century, Buddhist texts also began to be composed in classical Sanskrit.[117] Over time, Sanskrit became the main language of Buddhist scripture and scholasticism for certain Buddhist schools in the subcontinent, especially in North India. This was influenced by the rise of Sanskrit as a political and literary lingua franca, perhaps reflecting an increased need for elite patronage and a desire to compete with Hindu Brahmins.[119] The Buddhist use of classical Sanskrit is first seen in the work of the great poet and dramatist Aśvaghoṣa (c. 100 CE).[120] The Sarvāstivāda school is particularly known for having translated their entire canon into Sanskrit.[121]

Other Indian Buddhist schools, like the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda and Dharmaguptaka schools, also adopted Sanskrit or Sanskritized their scriptures to different degrees.[122][123] However, other Buddhist traditions, like Theravada, rejected this trend and kept their canon in Middle Indic languages like Pāli.[118]

Sanskrit also became the most important language in Mahayana Buddhism and many Mahāyāna sūtras were transmitted in Sanskrit.[118] Some of the earliest and most important Mahayana sutras are the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, many of which survive in Sanskrit manuscripts.[124][125]

Indian Buddhist authors also composed Sanskrit treatises and other works on philosophy, logic-epistemology, jatakas, epic poetry and other topics. While a large number of these works only survive in Tibetan and Chinese translations, many key Buddhist Sanskrit works do survive in manuscript form and are held in numerous modern collections.[126]

Sanskrit was the main scholastic language of the Indian Buddhist philosophers in the Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools.[127] These include well known figures like Kumāralatā, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Yaśomitra, Dignāga, Sthiramati, Dharmakīrti, Bhāviveka, Candrakīrti, Śāntideva and Śāntarakṣita.[127] Some Sanskrit works which were written by Buddhists also cover secular topics, such as grammar (vyākaraṇa), lexicography (koṣa), poetry (kāvya), poetics (alaṁkāra), and medicine (Ayurveda).[128]

 
The Buddhist Nalanda university was a major center of Sanskrit language learning in India from the 5th century CE until the 12th century.[129]

The Gupta (c. 4th–6th centuries) and Pāla (c. 8th–12th centuries) eras saw the growth of large Buddhist institutions such as Nālandā and Vikramashila universities, where many fields of knowledge (vidyasthanas) were studied in Sanskrit, including Buddhist philosophy.[130] These universities also drew foreign students from as far away as China. One of the most famous of these was the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who studied Buddhism in Sanskrit at Nalanda and took over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts back to China for his translation project.[131][132] Chinese pilgrims to India like Yijing described how in these universities, the study of Buddhist philosophy was preceded by extensive study of Sanskrit language and grammar.[133]

During the Indian Tantric Age (8th to the 14th century), numerous Buddhist Tantras and other Buddhist esoteric literature was written in Sanskrit. These tantric texts often contain non-standard Sanskrit, prakritic elements and influences from regional languages like apabhramśa and Old Bengali.[134][135] These vernacular forms are often in verses (dohas) which may be found within esoteric Sanskrit texts.[136]

Jain literature edit

 
A 12th-century manuscript of Hemachandra's Yogasastra, notable for the miniaturized Devanagari script.

The earliest Jain scriptures, the Jain Agamas, were composed and orally transmitted in Prakrit.[137] Later in the history of Jainism (after about the 8th century CE), Jain authors began composing literature in other languages, especially classical Sanskrit while also retaining the use of Jain Prakrit.[138]

The most important Jain Sanskrit work is Umaswati's (c. sometime between the 2nd-century and 5th-century CE) Tattvarthasūtra (On the Nature of Reality). The Tattvarthasūtra is considered an authoritative work on Jain philosophy by all traditions of Jainism and thus it is widely studied.[139]

Other influential Jain Sanskrit authors include: Samantabhadra, Pūjyapāda (who wrote the most important commentary to the Tattvarthasūtra, entitled Sarvārthasiddhi), Siddhasēna Divākara (c. 650 CE), Akalanka, Haribhadra-sūri (c 8th century) author of the Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya, Hemachandra (c. 1088-1172 CE) who wrote the Yogaśāstra, and Yaśovijaya (1624–1688) a scholar of Navya-Nyāya.[140]

Kāvya edit

Main article: Kāvya
 
Kalidasa composing the Meghadūta

There is a large corpus of classical Sanskrit poetry from India in a variety of genres and forms.[141] According to Siegfried Lienhard in India, the term Kāvya refers to individual poems, as well as "poetry itself, i.e., all those works that conform to artistic and literary norms."[142] Indian poetry includes epic and lyrical elements. It may be entirely in prose (gadya), entirely in verse (padya) or in a mixed form (misra).[143] Kāvya works are full of alliteration, similes, metaphors and other figures of speech.[144][145]

Indians divided poetry into two main categories: poetry that can be seen (drsya, preksya, i.e. drama/theater) and poetry that can only be listened to (sravya).[146]

Metrical Indian poetry can also be divided into two other categories:[143]

  • Mahākāvya (Major Poetry), also known as sargabandha, which are large poems divided into sections or cantos (sargas)
  • Laghukāvya (Minor Poetry), shorter poems or single stanzas

According to Lienhard "whereas metrical poetry led a flourishing existence both as mahakavya and laghukavya, prose poems (gadya) and literature in mixed prose and verse (campu) tended to assume the major form. The only exceptions are the panegyric inscriptions (prasasti) and religious epistles (lekha) commonly found in Buddhist societies which may both be composed in the kavya style. Both are written either all in prose or in a mixture of alternately prose and verse and must therefore be counted as belonging to the minor form representing prose kavya or campu - a point that Indian theorists seem to have neglected."[147]

Kāvya was employed by court poets in a movement that flourished between c. 200 BCE and 1100 CE.[n] While the Gupta era is considered by many to have seen the highest point of Indian Kāvya, many poems were composed before this period as well as after.[149] Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced the literature of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Malay Archipelago.[150] The study of Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced Tibetan literature, and was promoted by Tibetan Buddhist scholars like Sakya Pandita.[89]

Sanskrit Kāvya poetry also flourished outside the courts, in towns, learned schools and the homes of pandits and other elites and continues to be composed and studied today.[151] Kāvya was often recited in public gatherings, court receptions and in societies which gathered specifically for the study and enjoyment of poetry. Kavis (Kāvya poets) also competed with each other for rewards and for the support of elites and kings (who often appointed court poets).[152] Kavis were highly educated and many of them would have been pandits with knowledge of other sciences such as grammar, lexicography and other fields. Indian authors held that an important quality of these poets was said to be pratibhā, poetic imagination.[153]

The beginnings of Kāvya is obscure. Lienhard traces its beginnings to "the close of the Late Vedic Period (about 550 B.C.)...as this was a time that saw the slow emergence of poetic forms with characteristics of their own, quite different both functionally and structurally from previous models."[154] The earliest Kāvya poems were short stanzas in the minor form (laghukāvya), sometimes just being one stanza poems (muktakas). Few of these early works have survived.[155]

Laghukāvya edit

Laghukāvya mainly refers to short poems, which can be single stanza (muktaka), double stanza poems (yugmaka), and several-stanza poems (kulakas). Short poetry was also termed khandakavya and a collection of stanzas or anthology was called a kosa.[156] The earliest laghukāvyas were in prakrits, but some also began to be written in Sanskrit in time.[156]

The earliest laghukāvyas where muktakas (also sometimes called gāthā), single stanzas. These were most commonly lyrical nature poems, lyrical love poems, religious poems or reflective didactic poems.[157] According to Lienhard "muktaka poetry generally paints miniature pictures and scenes, or else it carefully builds up a description of a single theme."[157]

Some of the earliest of these early poems are found in the Buddhist canon, which contain two the verse anthologies: the Theragāthā (Verses of the Elder Monks) and Therīgāthā (Verses of the Elder Nuns). Only the Pali versions of these survive, but they also existed in Prakrit and Sanskrit.[158]

There are also some surviving stanzas which are attributed to important figures like the grammarian Panini, the scholar Patañjali, and Vararuci, but these attributions are uncertain.[159]

Some important Sanskrit poets whose collections of short poems have survived include Bhartṛhari (fl. c. 5th century CE), known for his Śatakatraya, Amaru (7th century), author of the Amaruśataka (which mainly contains erotic poetry) and Govardhana (12th century), author of the Āryāsaptaśatī.[160]

There are numerous anthologies which collect short Sanskrit poetry from different authors, these works are our main source of short Sanskrit poems.[161] One widely celebrated anthology is the Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa (Anthology of Well Said Jewels) of the Buddhist monk and anthologist Vidyakara (c. 1050–1130).[162][163] Other important anthologies include: Jalhana's Subhāṣitamuktāvalī (13th century), Sridharadasa's Saduktikarṇāmṛta (1205), Śārṅgadharapaddhati (1363) and Vallabhadeva's Subhāṣitāvalī (Chain of Beautiful Sayings, c. 16th century).[161]

Samghatas and Khandakavyas edit

In between muktaka and mahākāvya there are medium length Sanskrit poems which are linked stanzas (between eight and one hundred stanzas) using one Sanskrit metre and one theme (such as the six Indian seasons, love and eros, and nature). They are variously called "series of stanzas" (samghata) or khandakavya.[164]

Examples of these medium length poems include: the Ṛtusaṃhāra, the Ghatakarpara Kavyam, and the Meghadūta of Kālidāsa (the most famous of all Sanskrit poets) which popularized the sandeśa kāvya (messenger poem), Jambukavi's Candraduta (8th to 10th century), Jinasena's Parsvabhyudaya (a Jain work), Vedanta Desika's Hansasandeśa, the Kokila Sandeśa, and Rūpa Gosvāmin's Haṃsadūta (16th century).[165] Another genre of medium length poems were panegyrics like the Rājendrakarṇapūra of Sambhu.[166]

Religious medium length kāvya style poems (often called stotras or stutis) were also very popular and they show some similarities with panegyrics. According to Lienhard, some of the figures which are most widely written about in medium length religious poems include: "Gautama Buddha, Durga-Kali (or Devi), Ganesa, Krsna (Govinda), Laksmi, Nrsimha, Radha, Rama, Sarasvati, Siva, Surya, the Tathagatas, the Tirthamkaras or Jinas, Vardhamana Mahavira and Visnu."[167] Only some of the Sanskrit hymns to the gods can be considered literary kāvya, since they are truly artistic and follow some of the classic kāvya rules.[168]

According to Lienhard, the literary hymns of the Buddhists are the oldest of these. Aśvaghoṣa is said to have written some, but they are all lost.[169] Two Buddhist hymns of the poet Mātṛceṭa* (c. 70 to 150 CE), the Varṇārhavarṇa Stotra or Catuḥśataka and the Satapancasataka or Prasadapratibha ((Stotra) on the Splendour of Graciousness (of the Buddha)) have survived in Sanskrit. They are some the finest Buddhist stotras and were very popular in the Buddhist community in India.[169] There are also some Buddhist stotras attributed to other Buddhist masters like Nagarjuna (2nd-3rd century CE), Chandragomin (5th century) and Dignāga as well as two Buddhist stotras by King Harshavadana.[170] Some important later Buddhist stotras are Sragdharastotra (about 700) by Sarvajñamitra, Vajradatta's Lokesvara-sataka (9th century), the tantric Mañjuśrīnāma-saṃgīti and Ramacandra Kavibharati's 15th century Bhaktisataka (which is influenced by the Bhakti movement).[171]

There are also many Sanskrit Jaina stotras, most of which are dedicated to the Jain Tirthankaras. They include the Bhaktacamarastotra by Manatunga (7th century), Nandisena's Ajitasantistava, the Mahavirastava by Abhayadeva (mid 11th century) and the stotras of Ramacandra (12th century).[172]

There are numerous literary Hindu hymns which were written after the time of Kālidāsa. Some of the most important ones are Bāṇabhaṭṭa's Caṇḍīśataka, the Suryasataka by Mayurbhatta, numerous hymns attributed to Adi Shankara (though the majority of these were likely not composed by him), the Mahimnastava, the Shaiva Pañcāśati (14th century), Abhinavagupta's Shaiva stotras, the southern Mukundamala and Narayaniyam, the Krishnakarṇāmrutam, and the poems of Nilakantha Diksita, Jagannātha Paṇḍitarāja, Gangadevi, Ramanuja, Jayadeva, Rupa Goswami, and Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa (17th century).[173]

Mahākāvya edit

According to Lienhard, the most important feature of mahākāvya (Long poems) is that they are divided into chapters or cantos (sargas). Fully versified Mahākāvyas (called sargabandhas) are written in many different metres. Mahākāvyas may also be written fully in prose or in a mixture of verse and prose (mostly called campu).[174] Sargabandhas commonly center around a hero and also include villains. They almost never end in a tragic manner.[175] Indian epic poetry like the Rāmāyaṇa forms an important influence on Sanskrit mahakāvya literature.[176]

The oldest extant mahākāvyas are those of the Buddhist poet and philosopher Aśvaghoṣa (c. 80 – c. 150 CE).[176] His Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha) was influential enough to be translated into both Tibetan and Chinese.[177][178][179] The Chinese pilgrim Yijing (635–713 CE) writes that the Buddhacarita was "...extensively read in all the five parts of India and in the countries of the South Sea (Sumātra, Jāva and the neighbouring islands)...it was regarded as a virtue to read it in as much as it contained the noble doctrine in a neat compact form."[180] Another mahākāvya by Aśvaghoṣa is the Saundarananda, which focuses on the conversion of Nanda, Buddha's half-brother.[181][182]

The great mahākāvyas edit

Kālidāsa, called by many the Shakespeare of India,[o] is said to have been the finest master of the Sanskrit poetic style. Arthur Macdonell describes this great poets' words as having a "firmness and evenness of sound, avoiding harsh transitions and preferring gentle harmonies; the use of words in their ordinary sense and clearness of meaning; the power to convey sentiment; beauty, elevation, and the employment of metaphorical expressions".[184] Kālidāsa's greatest Kāvyas are the Raghuvaṃśa and the Kumārasambhava.[p][185]

This Raghuvaṃśa (The Genealogy of Raghu) chronicles the life of Rāma alongside his forefathers and successors in 19 cantos, with the story of Rāma agreeing quite closely that in the Rāmāyaṇa. The narrative moves at a rapid pace, is packed with apt and striking similes and has much genuine poetry, while the style is simpler than what is typical of a mahakāvya. The Raghuvaṃśa is seen to meet all the criteria of a mahākāvya, such as that the central figure should be noble and clever, and triumphant, that the work should abound in rasa and bhāva, and so on. There are more than 20 commentaries of this work that are known.[186][187] The Kumārasambhava (The Birth of Kumāra) narrates the story of the courtship and wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī, and the birth of their son, Kumāra. The poem finishes with the slaying of the demon Tāraka, the very purpose of the birth of the warrior-god. The Kumārasambhava showcases the poet's rich and original imaginative powers making for abundant poetic imagery and wealth of illustration. Again, more than 20 commentaries on the Kumāra·sambhava have survived.[188][189]

These two great poems are grouped by Indian tradition along with four more works into "the six great mahākāvyas". The other four greats are: Bhāravi's (6th century CE) Kirātārjunīya, Māgha's (c. 7th Century CE) Śiśupālavadha, the Bhaṭṭikāvya (also known as Rāvaṇavadha) and Śrīharṣa's (12th century CE) Naiṣadhīyacarita, which is the most extensive and difficult of the great mahākāvyas (and contains many references to Indian philosophy).[190] Over time, various commentaries where also composed on these poems, especially the Naiṣadhīyacarita.[191]

Later mahākāvyas edit

Between Kālidāsa's time and the 18th century, numerous other sargabandhas were composed in the classic style, such as Mentha's Hayagrīvavadha (6th century), King Pravarasena II's Setubandha, the Sinhalese poet Kumaradasa's Janakiharana, Rajanaka Ratnakara's Haravijaya, the Nalodaya, the Buddhist Sivasvamin's Kapphinabhyudaya (9th century), and Buddhaghosa's Padyacudamani (a life of the Buddha, c. 9th century).[192] Later sargabandhas tended to be more heavily loaded with technical complexity, erudition and extensive decoration.[193] Authors of these later works include the 12th century Kashmiri Shaivas Kaviraja Rajanaka Mankha and Jayaratha, Jayadeva, author of the innovative and widely imitated Gitagovinda, Lolimbaraja's Harivilasa (mid 16th century),[194] the Shaivite Bhiksatana(kavya) of Gokula, Krsnananda's 13th century Sahrdayananda, and the numerous works of Ramapanivada.[195]

After the 8th century, many sophisticated Jain mahākāvyas were written by numerous Jain poets (mainly from Gujarat), including Jatasimhanandi's Varangacarita (7th century), Kanakasena Vadiraja Suri's Yasodharacarita, and the Ksatracudamani by Vadibhasimha Odayadeva.[196] Jain authors also wrote their own versions of the Ramayana with Jain themes, such as the Padmapurana of Ravisena (678 A.D.).[197]

Other later mahākāvyas are poems based on historical figures which embellish history with classic poetic themes such as Parimala's Navasāhasāṅkacarita, Bilhana's Vikramāṅkadevacarita (11th century) and Madhurāvijayam (The Conquest of Madurai, c. 14th-century) by Gangadevi, which chronicles the life a prince of the Vijayanagara Empire and his invasion and conquest of the Madurai Sultanate. Rashtraudha Kavya by Rudrakavi chronicles the history of Maratha Bagul kings of Baglana and Khandesh and details their role and position in military history involving important figures such as the Bahmanis, Mahmud Begada, Humayun, Akbar, Murad Shah,etc.[198][199][200][201]

Some later poems focused on specific poetic devices, some of the most popular being paronomasia (slesa) and ambiguous rhyme (yamaka). For example, the poems of Vasudeva (10th century), such as Yudhiṣṭhira-vijaya and Nalodaya, were all yamaka poems while the Ramapalacarita of Sandhyakara Nandin is a slesakavya.[202]

One final genre is the Śāstrakāvya, a kāvya which also contains some didactic content which instructs on some ancient science or knowledge. Examples include Halayudha's Kavirahasya (a handbook for poets), Bhatta Bhima's Arjunaravaniya (which teaches grammar) and Hemacandra's Kumarapalacarita (grammar).[203]

Prose mahākāvya edit

While most early mahākāvyas were all in verse, the term mahākāvya could also be applied to any long prose poem and these became more popular after the 7th century, when the great masters of prose (gadya) lived. These are Daṇḍin (author of the Daśakumāracarita) Subandhu (author of the Vāsavadattā) and Bāṇabhaṭṭa (author of Kādambari and Harshacarita).[204] Prose mahākāvyas replaced virtuosity in metre with highly complex and artistic sentences.[205] Other important writers of Sanskrit prose poems include Bhūṣaṇa bhaṭṭa, Dhanapala (the Jain author of the Tilakamañjari), and Vadibhasimha Odayadeva (author of the Gadyacintāmaṇi).[206]

Campū edit

Campū (also known as gadyapadyamayi) is a poetic genre which contains both verse and prose. This genre was rare during the first millennium CE, but later grew in popularity, especially in South India.[207] The earliest Sanskrit example of this genre is Trivikramabhatta's Nalacampu (or Damayanticampu, c. 10th century).[207] While many other Sanskrit works also contain a mixture of verse and prose, like Āryaśūra's Jātakamālā, Lienhard notes that these are not true campūs. This is because "in true campū there is a calculated balance between prose that is as perfect as possible and stanzas in the genuine kavya style."[208]

Some important campūs include Somaprabha Suri's Yaśastilakacampū (9th century, Jain), Haricandra's Jivandharacampū (Jain), the Ramayanacampū, Divakara's Amogharaghavacampu, the 17th century female poet Tirumalamba's Varadambikaparinaya, Venkatadhvarin's Visvagunadarsacampu, Jiva Gosvamin's voluminous Gopalacampu, Raghunathadasa's Muktacaritra, and the 18th century Maithili poet Krishnadutta's Shri Janraj Champu.[209]

Works on prosody and poetics edit

Main article: Chandas

There are also numerous Sanskrit works which discuss prosody and poetics. The earliest work which discusses poetics is Bharatamuni's Nāṭyaśāstra (200 B.C. to 200 A.D.), a work which mainly deals with drama.[210] Piṅgalá (fl. 300–200 BCE) authored the Chandaḥśāstra, an early Sanskrit treatise on prosody.

Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri lists four main school of Indian poetics and their main figures:[211]

  • The Alaṅkāra school which draws on Bhāmaha's (c. 7th century) Kāvyālaṅkāra, Udbhaṭa's Alankarasamgraha and Rudrata's Kāvyālaṅkāra.
  • The Riti school - Daṇḍin's (fl. 7th–8th century) Kāvyādarśa is influenced by the Alaṅkāra school and introduces the concept of guna. The Kāvyādarśa was very influential for Vāmana, the 8th century founder of the Riti school and author of the Kāvyālaṅkāra Sūtra.
  • The Rasa school draws on the Nāṭyaśāstra's aphorism on rasa (emotional flavor). The key figure of this school is Bhaṭṭanāyaka, author of the Hṛdayadarpaṇa.
  • The Dhvani school which makes use of Anandavardhana's (c. 820–890 CE) Dhvanyāloka and the commentary of Abhinavagupta (who also wrote the Abhinavabharati, a commentary on the Nāṭyaśāstra). This school emphasizes "aesthetic suggestion" (dhvani).

Later influential works on poetics include Mammaṭa's (11th century) Kāvyaprakāśa, the writings on poetics by Kshemendra, Hemacandra's Kavyanusasana, Vagbhata's Vagbhatalankara, and Rupa Gosvamin's Ujjvalanilamani.[212]

Subhāṣita edit

Main article: Subhashita

Outside of Kāvya proper are also numerous poetic works (often called subhāṣita, "well said") which can be classified as gnomic poetry and didactic poetry.[213][214] These are mainly poems which contain some wise saying, aphoristic lesson (often ethical), popular maxim or a proverb (lokavakya).[215][216] These are thousands of Subhāṣitas on many themes.[217] The Dharmapada is one important early collection of aphorisms.[213]

There are also many didactic works attributed to Cāṇakya (but actually written by numerous authors), such as the Rājanītisamuccaya, Cāṇakyanīti, Cāṇakyarājanīti, Vṛddha-Cāṇakya, and the Laghu-Cāṇakya.[218] Another important collection of gnomic sayings is the Nisataka of Bhartrhari.[219]

Later examples of this genre include the Jain Amitagati's Subhasitaratnasaridoha, Kṣemendra's Cārucaryā, Darpadalana and Samayamatrka, Kusumadeva's Dṛṣṭāntaśataka, Dya Dviveda's Nitimañjari (1494), and Vallabhadeva's Subhāṣitāvalī (15th century).[220][221] There are also numerous anthologies of subhāṣita, such as the Cātakāṣṭaka.[222]

Sanskrit drama edit

Further information: List of Sanskrit plays in English translation
 
Nirupama Rajendra in a musical of Shakunthala

Indian classical drama (dṛśya, nātaka) was also mainly written in Sanskrit and there are many examples of this Sanskrit literary genre. Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra (3rd century CE) is the earliest work which discusses Sanskrit dramaturgy.[223] Sanskrit drama focuses on the sentiments and on heroic characters. Classically, the endings are happy, never tragic.[224] References to Sanskrit drama are found throughout ancient Sanskrit texts, including the great epics.[225]

Some of the earliest Sanskrit dramas are those of Aśvaghoṣa (only a fragment of his Śāriputraprakaraṇa survives) and the many plays of Bhāsa (c.1st century BCE), most of which are based on the two great epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana).[226][227] Kalidasa is widely considered to be the greatest Sanskrit playwright, hailed for his linguistic mastery and economy of style.[228] He wrote three plays: Vikramōrvaśīyam,[E] Mālavikāgnimitram,[F] Abhijñānaśākuntalam.[G]

Other important plays include the Mṛcchakaṭika (The Little Clay Cart, 5th century) and the Mudrārākṣasa.

Harṣa, a 7th-century Indian emperor, was also known as a great playwright with a simple and delicate style.[229] His Ratnavali, Nagananda, and Priyadarsika are well known Sanskrit dramas.[230]

The Mattavilāsaprahasana (A Farce of Drunken Sport) is a short one-act Sanskrit play. It is one of the two great one act plays written by Pallava King Mahendravarman I (571– 630CE) in the beginning of the seventh century in Tamil Nadu.[231]

Bhavabhuti (8th century) is one of the great playwrights after Kalidasa.[232] Other major Sanskrit playwrights include Visakhadatta, Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa, Murari, Rajasekhara, Kshemisvara, Damodaramishra, and Krishnamishra.[233]

Later Sanskrit dramaturgical texts also continued to be written in the second millennium, such as the Shilparatna which discusses dance and drama.

Other Sanskrit narratives edit

There are various classical Sanskrit collections of fables one of the most influential of which is the early Pañcatantra, a work that was widely imitated.[234] Other works include the Hitopadeśa and Srivara's Kathakautuka.[235] Buddhist Jatakas (tales of the Buddha's past lives) is a similar genre and includes the Divyāvadāna, Āryaśūra's Jātakamālā (a collection of Buddhist fables), and Ksemendra's various works like the Avadānakalpalatā.

Folk tale (or fairy tale) collections include the Vetala Pañcaviṃśati, Siṃhāsana Dvātriṃśikā, and the Suktasaptati.[236] There is also Somadeva's Kathāsaritsāgara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories).

There are also poetic historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini of Kalhana, Rashtraudha Kavya of Rudrakavi, Shivbharata and Paramanandkavya of Paramananda, Rajaramcharitra of Keshavbhatt, Sri Janraj Champu of Krishna Dutta.[237]

Hemacandra's (1088-1172) Trisastisalakapurusacaritra is one example of Jain didactic narrative in Sanskrit.[238]

There are also abridged retellings of more ancient lost texts, such as Budhasvāmin's Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha.[239]

Modern Sanskrit literature edit

See also: List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Sanskrit
 
A 1999 stamp dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the Sanskrit College

Literature in Sanskrit continues to be produced. These works, however, have a very small readership. In the introduction to Ṣoḍaśī: An Anthology of Contemporary Sanskrit Poets (1992), Radhavallabh Tripathi writes:[240]

Sanskrit is known for its classical literature, even though the creative activity in this language has continued without pause from the medieval age till today. [...] Consequently, contemporary Sanskrit writing suffers from a prevailing negligence.

Most current Sanskrit poets are employed as teachers, either pandits in pāṭhaśālas or university professors.[240] However, Tripathi also points out the abundance of contemporary Sanskrit literature:

On the other hand, the number of authors who appear to be very enthusiastic about writing in Sanskrit during these days is not negligible. [...] Dr. Ramji Upadhyaya in his treatise on modern Sanskrit drama has discussed more than 400 Sanskrit plays written and published during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In a thesis dealing with Sanskrit mahākāvyas written in a single decade, 1961–1970, the researcher has noted 52 Sanskrit mahākāvyas (epic poems) produced in that very decade.

Similarly, Prajapati (2005), in Post-Independence Sanskrit Literature: A Critical Survey, estimates that more than 3000 Sanskrit works were composed in the period after Indian Independence (i.e., since 1947) alone. Further, much of this work is judged as being of high quality, both in comparison to classical Sanskrit literature, and to modern literature in other Indian languages.[241][242]

Since 1967, the Sahitya Akademi, India's national academy of letters, has had an award for the best creative work written that year in Sanskrit. In 2009, Satyavrat Shastri became the first Sanskrit author to win the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award.[243]Vidyadhar Shastri wrote two epic poems (Mahakavya), seven shorter poems, three plays and three songs of praise (stavana kavya, he received the Vidyavachaspati award in 1962. Some other modern Sanskrit composers include Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra (known as Triveṇī Kavi, composer of short stories and several other genres of Sanskrit literature), Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (known as Kavikularatna, composer of two epics, several minor works and commentaries on Prasthānatrayī).

Another great Sanskrit epic that remained largely unrecognised till lately is "Dhruv Charitra" written by Pandit Surya Dev Mishra in 1946. He won laurels of appreciation by renowned Hindi and Sanskrit critics like Hazari Prasad Dwiedi, Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay "Hariaudh", Suryakant tripathi "Nirala", Laldhar Tripathi "Pravasi".[244]

See also edit

Literature
Revival and significance

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Since the Renaissance there has been no event of such worldwide significance in the history of culture as the discovery of Sanskrit literature in the latter part of the eighteenth century" - Macdonell[2]
  2. ^ "The Ṛg·veda is a monumental text with signal significance for both world religion and world literature" - Jamison & Brereton [4]
  3. ^ 'The style of the [Vedic] works is more simple and spontaneous while that of the later works abounds in puns, conceits and long compounds. Rhetorical ornaments are more and more copious and complex and the rules of Poetic and Grammar more and more rigidly observed as time advances.' - Iyengar,[5]
  4. ^ The preeminent Sanskritist Sir William Jones is said to be the first who ever printed an edition of a Sanskrit text - the Ṛtusaṃhāra of Kālidāsa.[7]
  5. ^ "The literature of the Veda is one of the most original and interesting productions of human endeavor." - Jan Gonda[32]
  6. ^ Originally only the first 3 Vedas were taken as canonical, being termed the trayī·vidyā, 'three-fold knowledge'
  7. ^ The Brāhmaṇas produced "a ritual system far surpassing in complexity of detail anything the world has elsewhere known" - Macdonell
  8. ^ "According to [a characteristic aphorism that's been preserved] the composers of grammatical Sūtras delight as much in the saving of a short vowel as in the birth of a son"! - Macdonell
  9. ^ compare Latin sutura (suture)
  10. ^ An example is the Anukramaṇīs, indexes, designed to preserve the text of the Vedas from loss or change, each of which quotes "the first word of each hymn, its author, the deity celebrated in it, the number of verses it contains, and the metre in which it is composed. One of them states the total number of hymns, verses, words, and even syllables, contained in the Ṛg·veda, alongside other minute details" - Macdonell
  11. ^ "The Vedas are still learnt by heart as they were long before the invasion of Alexander, and could even now be restored from he lips of religious teachers if every manuscript or printed copy of them were destroyed.", Macdonell, 1900 [46]
  12. ^ the account based on the actual historical 18-day battle itself takes up 20,000 ślokas
  13. ^ "In various branches of scientific literature, in phonetics, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and law, the ancient Indians also achieved notable results. In some of these subjects their attainments are, indeed, far in advance of what was accomplished by the Greeks.", Macdonell[95]
  14. ^ While it has been demonstrated that there was a vigorous court-epic tradition during this entire period, almost none of it from the first few centuries has survived.[148]
  15. ^ Monier Williams said to be the first to do so.[183]
  16. ^ "both distinguished by independence of treatment as well as considerable poetic beauty" - Macdonell

Glossary edit

  1. ^ 'compiled', 'put together'[33]
  2. ^ from vid-, 'to know', cognate with Eng. 'wit'[34]
  3. ^ hearing, heard
  4. ^ commentaries
  5. ^ Vikrama and Urvaśī
  6. ^ Mālavika and Agnimitra
  7. ^ The Recognition of Śakuntalā

Brahmic notes edit

Brahmic transliteration

References edit

  1. ^ Fortson, §10.23.
  2. ^ Macdonell, p. 1.
  3. ^ Burrow, §2.1.
  4. ^ Jamison & Brereton p. 1.
  5. ^ Iyengar, p. 2.
  6. ^ Edgerton, Franklin. The Prakrit Underlying Buddhistic Hybrid Sanskrit. Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 8, No. 2/3, page 503.
  7. ^ Macdonell, p. 3.
  8. ^ Keith, §1.
  9. ^ Macdonnell, §1.
  10. ^ Burrow, §2.9.
  11. ^ Winternitz (1972) Vol I, pp. 3-4.
  12. ^ Iyengar, p. 4.
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  • Winternitz, M. A History of Indian Literature Vol. I. Introduction, Veda, National Epics, Puranas and Tantras. Oriental books, New Delhi, 1972
  • Winternitz, M. A History of Indian Literature Vol. II. Buddhist literature and Jaina literature. Oriental books, New Delhi, 1972
  • Witzel, Michael (1989), Colette Caillat (ed.), Tracing the Vedic dialects, in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes (PDF), Paris: de Boccard

External links edit

  • GRETIL: Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages a cumulative register of the numerous download sites for electronic texts in Indian languages.
  • TITUS Indica
  • : Vaishnava literatures with word for word translations from Sanskrit to English.
  • Official page of the Clay Sanskrit Library, publisher of classical Indian literature with facing-page texts and translations. Also offers numerous downloadable materials.
  • Sanskrit Documents Collection: Documents in ITX format of Upanishads, Stotras etc., and a metasite with links to translations, dictionaries, tutorials, tools and other Sanskrit resources.
  • MAHE Mahabharata Digital Concordance by Department of Philosophy - Manipal
  • Sanskrit Literature at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy

December 20, 2023
sanskrit, literature, broadly, comprises, literature, sanskrit, language, this, includes, texts, composed, earliest, attested, descendant, proto, indo, aryan, language, known, vedic, sanskrit, texts, classical, sanskrit, well, some, mixed, standard, forms, san. Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto Indo Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non standard forms of Sanskrit 1 a Literature in the older language begins with the composition of the Ṛg veda between about 1500 and 1000 BCE followed by other Vedic works right up to the time of the grammarian Paṇini around 6th or 4th century BCE after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm 3 b A 17th century Devimahatmya manuscript written in Newari scriptSanskrit Aṣṭasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra manuscript written in the Ranjana script India early 12th century Jain Manuscript Kalakacarya Katha Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the extensive liturgical works of the Vedic religion while Classical Sanskrit is the language of many of the prominent texts associated with the major Indian religions especially Hinduism but also Buddhism and Jainism c Some Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or Buddhistic Sanskrit which contains many Middle Indic prakritic elements not found in other forms of Sanskrit 6 Early works of Sanskrit literature were transmitted through an oral tradition d for centuries before they were written down in manuscript form 8 9 10 While most Sanskrit texts were composed in ancient India others were composed in Central Asia East Asia or Southeast Asia Sanskrit literature is vast and includes religious scripture various forms of poetry such as epic and lyric drama and narrative prose It also includes substantial works covering secular and technical sciences and the arts Some of these subjects include law and custom grammar politics economics medicine astrology astronomy arithmetic geometry music dance dramatics magic and divination and sexuality 11 Contents 1 Overview 2 Vedic literature 2 1 Chronology 2 2 Ṛg veda 2 3 The later Vedas 2 4 Brahmaṇas 2 5 Vedic Sutras 3 Hindu religious literature 3 1 Classification 3 2 Indian Epics 3 2 1 Mahabharata 3 2 2 Ramayaṇa 3 3 Puraṇa 3 4 Later Upaniṣads 3 5 Post Vedic aphoristic literature 3 6 Commentaries 3 7 Tantric literature 3 8 Other 4 Scientific amp Secular literature 4 1 Linguistic literature 4 1 1 The Sanskrit grammatical tradition 4 1 2 Lexicography 4 2 Dharma literature 4 3 Other secular literature 5 Buddhist literature 6 Jain literature 7 Kavya 7 1 Laghukavya 7 2 Samghatas and Khandakavyas 7 3 Mahakavya 7 3 1 The great mahakavyas 7 3 2 Later mahakavyas 7 3 3 Prose mahakavya 7 4 Campu 7 5 Works on prosody and poetics 8 Subhaṣita 9 Sanskrit drama 10 Other Sanskrit narratives 11 Modern Sanskrit literature 12 See also 13 Notes 14 Glossary 15 Brahmic notes 16 References 17 Bibliography 18 External linksOverview editLiterature in the Vedic and the Classical language differ in numerous respects The Vedic literature that survives is almost entirely religious being focused on the prayers hymns to the gods devas sacrifices and other concerns of the Vedic religion 12 The language of this archaic literature the earliest being the Rigveda Vedic Sanskrit is different in many ways and much less regular than the classical Sanskrit described by later grammarians like Paṇini 13 This literature was transmitted orally during the Vedic period only later was it written down 14 15 Classical Sanskrit literature is more varied and includes the following genres scripture Hindu Buddhist and Jain epics court poetry kavya lyric drama romance fairytale fables grammar civil and religious law dharma the science of politics and practical life the science of love and sexual intercourse kama philosophy medicine astronomy astrology and mathematics and is largely secular in subject matter 16 On the other hand the Classical Sanskrit language was much more formalized and homogeneous partly due to the influence of Sanskrit grammarians like Paṇini and his commentators 17 Sanskrit was an important language for medieval Indian religious literature Most pre modern Hindu literature and philosophy was in Sanskrit and a significant portion of Buddhist literature was also written in either classical Sanskrit or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit 18 Many of these Sanskrit Buddhist texts were the basis for later translation into the Chinese Buddhist Canon and Tibetan Canon 19 20 Many Jain texts were also written in Sanskrit like the Tattvartha sutra Bhaktamara Stotra etc 21 22 Classical Sanskrit also served as a common language of scholarship and elites as opposed to local vernacular who were only understood regionally 23 The invasions of northern India by Islamic powers in the 13th century severely damaged Indian Sanskrit scholarship and the dominance of Islamic power over India eventually contributed to the decline of this scholarly language especially since Muslim rulers promoted Middle Eastern languages 24 25 26 However Sanskrit remains in use throughout India and is used in rituals religious practice scholarship art and other Indian traditions 27 Vedic literature edit nbsp Hymn 10 85 of the Rigveda which includes the Vivaha sukta above Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals 28 29 Chronology edit Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the literature of Vedic Sanskrit 30 31 e Ṛg vedic Hymns Mantras Saṃhita prose Brahmaṇa prose SutrasThe first three are commonly grouped together as the Saṃhitas A comprising the four Vedas B ṛk atharvan yajus saman which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the canonical foundation both of the Vedic religion and the later religion known as Hinduism 35 Ṛg veda edit Main article Ṛgveda The Ṛg veda the first and oldest of the four Vedas is the foundation for the others The Ṛg veda is made of 1028 hymns named suktas composed of verses in strictly regulated meters These are collected into saṃhitas There are about 10 000 of these verses that make up the Ṛg veda The Ṛg vedic hymns are subdivided into 10 maṇḍalas most of which are attributed to members of certain families Composition of the Ṛg vedic hymns was entirely oral and for much of its history the Ṛg veda has been transmitted only orally written down likely no sooner than in the second half of the first millennium of the Common Era 36 The later Vedas edit The Samaveda is not an original composition it s almost entirely except 75 made of stanzas taken from the Ṛgveda and rearranged with reference to their place in the Soma sacrifice This book is meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies and may thus be called the book of chants saman The Yajurveda like the Saman is also largely made of verses taken from the Ṛgveda but also contains several prose formulas It is called the book of sacrificial prayers yajus 37 The last of the four the Atharvaveda both by the internal structure of the language used and by comparison with the Ṛg veda is a much later work However the Atharvaveda represents a much earlier stage of thought of the Vedic people being composed mainly of spells and incantations appealing to demons and is rife with notions of witchcraft derived from a much earlier period 38 f Brahmaṇas edit Main article Brahmaṇas The Brahmaṇas a subdivision within the Vedas concern themselves with the correct application of Vedic ritual and the duties of the Vedic priest hotṛ pourer worshiper reciter the word being derived from brahman meaning prayer They were composed at a period in time by which the Vedic hymns had achieved the status of being ancient and sacred revelations and the language had changed sufficiently so that the priests did not fully understand the Vedic texts The Brahmaṇas are composed in prose unlike the previous works forming some of the earliest examples of prose in any Indo European language The Brahmaṇas intend to explain the relation between the sacred text and ritual ceremony 39 g The later part of the Brahmaṇas contain material which also discuss theology and philosophy These works were meant to be imparted or studied in the peace and calm of the forest hence their name the Araṇyakas Of the forest The last part of these are books of Vedic doctrine and philosophy that came to be called Upaniṣads sitting down beside The doctrines in the Vedic or Mukhya Upaniṣads the main and most ancient Upaniṣads were later developed into the Vedanta end of the Vedas system 40 Vedic Sutras edit The Vedic Sutras were aphoristic treatises concerned either with Vedic ritual Kalpa Vedanga or customary law They arrived during the later period of the Brahmaṇas when a vast mass of ritual and customary details had been accumulated To address this the Sutras are intended to provide a concise survey of Vedic knowledge through short aphoristic passages that could be easily memorized The Sutras forego the need to interpret the ceremony or custom but simply provide a plain methodical account with the utmost brevity h The word sutra derived from the root siv to sew i thus meaning sewn or stitched together eventually became a byword for any work of aphorisms of similar concision j The sutras in many cases are so terse they cannot be understood without the help of detailed commentaries 41 The main types of Vedic Sutras include the Srautasutras focusing on ritual Sulbasutra on altar construction Gṛhyasutras which focus on rites of passage and Dharmasutras Hindu religious literature editSee also Vedas The Upaniṣads and Bhagavad Gita nbsp A 19th century illustrated Sanskrit manuscript from the Bhagavad Gita composed c 400 BCE 200 BCE Most ancient and medieval Hindu texts were composed in Sanskrit either Epic Sanskrit the pre classical language found in the two main Indian epics or Classical Sanskrit Paninian Sanskrit 42 In modern times most ancient texts have been translated into other Indian languages and some in Western languages 43 Prior to the start of the common era the Hindu texts were composed orally then memorized and transmitted orally from one generation to next for more than a millennium before they were written down into manuscripts 44 45 This verbal tradition k of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts from one generation to next continued into the modern era 44 45 Classification edit Hindu Sanskrit texts are often subdivided into two classes Sruti that which is heard are believed to be revealed examples being the Vedas and the early Upaniṣads Many scholars include the Bhagavad Gita and Agamas as Hindu scriptures C 43 47 48 Dominic Goodall also includes Bhagavata Puraṇa and Yajnavalkya Smṛti The Smṛti Sanskrit texts are a specific body of Hindu texts attributed to an author 49 as a derivative work they are considered less authoritative than Sruti in Hinduism 50 The Smṛti literature is a vast corpus of diverse texts and includes but is not limited to Vedaṅgas the Hindu epics the Sutras and Sastras the texts of Hindu philosophies and the Puraṇas while some traditions also include Kavya courtly poetry Bhaṣyas D and numerous Nibandhas digests covering politics ethics culture arts and society 51 52 Indian Epics edit The first traces of Indian epic poetry are seen in the Vedic literature among the certain hymns of the Ṛgveda which contain dialogues as well as the Akhyanas ballads Itihasas traditional accounts of past events and the Puraṇas found in the Vedic Brahmaṇas 53 These poems were originally songs of praise or heroic songs which developed into epic poems of increasing length over time They were originally recited during important events such as during the Vedic horse sacrifice the asvamedha or during a funeral 53 Another related genre were the songs in praise of men gatha narasamsi which focus on the glorious deeds of warriors and princes which also developed into long epic cycles 54 These epic poems were recited by courtly bards called sutas who may have been their own caste and were closely related to the warrior caste There was also a related group of traveling singers called kusilavas 55 Indian kings and princes seem to have kept bards in their courts which sung the praises of the king recite poems at festivals and sometimes even recite poetry in battle to embolden the warriors 56 While there were certainly other epic cycles only two have survived the Mahabharata and the Ramayaṇa 57 58 Mahabharata edit The Mahabharata is in a sense not just a single epic poem but can be seen as a whole body of literature in its own right a massive collection of many different poetic works built around the heroic tales of the Bharata tribe 59 Most of this literature was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE by numerous authors with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE 60 Already in the Ṛgveda the Bharatas find mention as a warlike tribe and the Brahmaṇas also speak of Bharata the son of Duṣyanta and Sakuntala The core of the Mahabharata is a family feud in the royal house of the Kauravas the descendants of Bharata leading to a bloody battle at Kurukshetra Over the centuries an enormous mass of poetry myths legends secondary tales moral stories and more was added to the original core story The final form of the epic is thus a massive 100 000 slokas l across 18 1 books 61 62 According to Winternitz the Mahabharata also shows the influence of the Brahmin class which he argues was engaged in a project of appropriating the poetry of the bards which was mainly a secular heroic literature in order to infuse it with their religious theology and values 63 The most influential part of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavadgita which became a central scripture for the Vedanta school and remains widely read today 64 Another important associated text which acts as a kind of supplement khila to the Mahabharata is the Harivanhsa which focuses on the figure of Krishna 65 Ramayaṇa edit In contrast to the Mahabharata the Ramayaṇa consists of only 24 000 slokas divided into seven books and in form is more purely regular ornate epic poetry a form of style which is the basis of the later Kavya tradition 66 67 There are two parts to the story of the Ramayaṇa 68 which are narrated in the five genuine books The first revolves around the events at the court of King Dasaratha at Ayodhya with one of his wives vying for the succession of the throne to her own son Bharata in place of the one chosen by the king Rama The second part of the epic is full of myth and marvel with the banished Rama combating giants in the forest and slaying thousands of demons The second part also deals with the abduction of Rama s wife Sita by king Ravaṇa of Lanka leading Rama to carry out to expedition to the island to defeat the king in battle and recover his wife 69 Puraṇa edit Main article PuraṇaThe Puraṇa are a large class of Hindu scriptures which cover numerous topics such as myth legends of the Hindu gods cosmogony cosmology stories of ancient kings and sages folk tales information about temples medicine astronomy grammar and Hindu theology and philosophy 70 Perhaps the most influential of these texts is the Bhagavata Puraṇa a central text for Vaishnava theology 71 72 Other Puraṇas center on different gods like the Shiva Puraṇa and the Devi Bhagavata Puraṇa Later Upaniṣads edit The principal Upaniṣads can be considered Vedic literature since they are included within the Brahmanas and Aranyakas 73 74 However numerous scriptures titled Upaniṣads continued to be composed after the closure of the Vedas proper Of these later Upaniṣads there are two categories of texts 75 76 95 canonical Upaniṣads which are part of the Muktika canon These were composed from about the last centuries of 1st millennium BCE through about 15th century CE Newer paracanonical Upaniṣads which were composed through the early modern and modern eras and which deal with numerous non Vedic topics Post Vedic aphoristic literature edit nbsp 19th century manuscript of Patanjali s Yoga bhaṣya preserved at the University of Pennsylvania Sutra style aphoristic literature continued to be composed on numerous topics the most popular being on the different fields of Hindu philosophy 77 The main Sutra texts sometimes also called karikas on Hindu philosophy include 78 Saṁkhyakarika Saṁkhyapravacanasutra Mimaṁsa Sutra Nyaya Sutra Vaiseṣika Sutra Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Brahma Sutra i e Vedanta sutra Gauḍapada Karika Pasupata Sutras Shiva Sutras Spandakarika isvarapratyabhijnakarika of UtpaladevaCommentaries edit nbsp A manuscript of the Isha Upanishad the small text in the margins and edges are an unknown scholar s notes and comments in the typical Hindu style of a minor Bhaṣya The various Sanskrit literature also spawned a large tradition of commentary texts which were called Bhaṣyas Vṛṭṭis Tikas Varttikas and other names 78 These commentaries were written on numerous genres of Sanskrit texts including on Sutras on Upaniṣads and on the Sanskrit epics 79 80 81 Examples include the Yogabhaṣya on the Yoga Sutras Shankara s Brahmasutrabhaṣya the Gitabhaṣya and Sri Bhaṣya of Ramanuja 1017 1137 Pakṣilasvamin Vatsyayana s Nyaya Sutra Bhashya and the Matharavṛṭṭi on the Saṁkhyakarika Furthermore over time secondary commentaries i e a commentary to a commentary also came to be written 82 Tantric literature edit Main article Tantras Hinduism There are a varied group of Hindu Tantric scriptures titled Tantras or Agamas Gavin Flood argues that the earliest date for these Tantric texts is 600 CE though most of them were probably composed after the 8th century onwards 83 Tantric literature was very popular during the Tantric Age c 8th to the 14th century a period of time when Tantric traditions rose to prominence and flourished throughout India According to Flood all Hindu traditions Shaiva Vaishnava Smarta and Shakta perhaps excepting the Srautas became influenced by Tantric works and adopted some Tantric elements into their literature 83 Other edit There are also numerous other types of Hindu religious works including prose and poetry Among prose works there are important works like the Yoga Vasiṣṭha which is important in Advaita Vedanta the Yoga Yajnavalkya and the Devi Mahatmya a key Shakta work When it comes to poetry there are numerous stotras odes suktas and stutis as well as other poetic genres Some important works of Hindu Sanskrit poetry include the Vivekacuḍamaṇi the Hanuman Chalisa the Aṣṭavakragita Bhaja Govindam and the Shiva Tandava Stotra Another group of later Sanskrit Hindu texts are those which focus on Hatha Yoga and include the Dattatreyayogasastra 13th century the Gorakṣasataka 13th century the Haṭhayogapradipika 15th century and the Gheraṇḍasaṁhita 17th or 18th century 84 Scientific amp Secular literature editMain article SastraOver time Sanskrit works on the secular sciences sastra or vidya were composed on a wide variety of topics 85 These include grammar poetry lexicography geometry astronomy medicine worldly life and pleasure philosophy law politics etc 86 The learning of these secular sciences took place by way of a guru expounding the subject orally using works of aphorisms the sutra texts which on account of their terseness would be meaningful only to those who knew how to interpret them The bhaṣyas the commentaries that followed the sutras were structured in the style of student teacher dialogue wherein a question is posed a partial solution the purvapakṣa proposed which is then handled corrected and the final opinion established the siddhanta In time the bhaṣyas evolved to become more like a lecture 87 The sutras were initially regarded as definite This was later circumvented in the field of grammar by the creation of varttikas to correct or amend sutras Another form often employed was the sloka which was a relatively simple metre easy to write and remember Sometimes a mix of prose and verse was used Some of the later work such as in law and poetics developed a much clearer style which avoided a propensity towards obscurity that verse was prone to 88 The study of these secular works was widespread in India Buddhist institutions like Nalanda also focused on the study of four of these secular sciences known as the vidyasthanas These are linguistic science sabdavidya logical science hetuvidya medical science cikitsavidya science of fine arts and crafts silpakarmasthanavidya The fifth main topic studied at Buddhist universities were the spiritual sciences adhyatmavidya 89 These Indian Sanskrit language disciples also had an influence on Himalayan cultures like Tibet which not only adopted Buddhist religious literature but also these secular works 90 The Tibetan scholar Sakya Pandita 1182 1251 was a well known scholar of Sanskrit and promoted the study of these secular disciplines among Tibetans 91 92 The study of Sanskrit grammars and prosody was also practiced in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia even when the Pali language focused Theravada school rose to prominence in those regions 93 94 Linguistic literature edit See also Sanskrit grammar nbsp Birch bark manuscript from Kashmir of the Rupavatara a grammatical textbook based on the Sanskrit grammar of Panini It was composed by the Sinhalese Buddhist monk Dharmakirti The manuscript was transcribed in 1663 By the time of the Sutra period the Sanskrit language had evolved sufficiently to make increasing parts of the older literature hard to understand and to recite correctly This led to the emergence of several classes of works intended to resolve this matter These works were styled like the religious Sutras however they were not religious per se but focused on the linguistic study of the Sanskrit language m The main topics discussed in these works were grammar vyakaraṇa phonetics sikṣa and etymology nirukta These are traditionally part of the vedaṅga limbs of the Veda six auxiliary disciplines that developed along with the study of the Vedas 96 One of the earliest and most important of these works is the Vedic era Pratisakhya Sutras which deal with accentuation pronunciation prosody and related matters in order to study the phonetic changes that have taken place in Vedic words The Sanskrit grammatical tradition edit The early grammatical works of the linguist Yaska some time between 7th and 4th century BCE such as his Nirukta provides the foundation of the study of Sanskrit grammar and etymology 97 The most influential work for the Indian Sanskrit grammatical tradition is the Aṣṭadhyayi of Paṇini a book of succinct Sutras that meticulously define the language and grammar of Sanskrit and lay the foundations of what is hereafter the normative form of Sanskrit and thus defines Classical Sanskrit 98 After Paṇini other influential works in this field were the Varttikakara of Katyayana the Mahabhaṣya of the grammarian Patanjali and Bhartṛhari s Vakyapadiya a work on grammar and philosophy of language 99 Over time different grammatical schools developed There was a tradition of Jain grammarians and Buddhist grammarians and a later tradition of Paninian grammarians 100 Lexicography edit There were numerous lexicographical works written in Sanskrit including numerous dictionaries attributed to figures like Bana Mayura Murari and Sriharsha 101 According to Keith of lexica two main classes exist synonymous in which words are grouped by subject matter and homonymous anekartha nanartha but the important synonymous dictionaries usually include a homonymous section 101 One of the earliest lexicons kosaḥ is Amarasiṃha s Namalinganusasana better known as the Amarakosa According to Keith Amarasiṃha who possibly flourished in the 6th century was certainly a Buddhist who knew the Mahayana and used Kalidasa 102 Other lexica are later works including the short Abhidhanaratnamala of the poet grammarian Halayudha c 950 Yadavaprakasha s Vaijayanti Hemacandra s Abhidhanacintamaṇi and Anekarthasabdakosha of Medinikara 14th century 103 Dharma literature edit Main article Dharmasastra nbsp A manuscript of the Naradasmṛti a Dharmasastra work which focuses solely on legal matters The Vedic practice of sutras pertaining to the correct performance of ritual was extended to other matters such as the performance of duties of all kinds and in social moral and legal spheres These works came to be known as Dharmasutras and Dharmasastras in contradistinction to the older gṛhyasutras and srautasutras although no distinction was felt initially Like other sutras this was terse prose peppered with a few slokas or verses in triṣtubh metre to emphasize a doctrine here and there More broadly works in the field of civil and religious law come under the banner of dharmasastra 104 Examples of such works are Gautamiya dharmasastra Harita dharmasastra Vasiṣṭha dharmasastra Baudhayana dharmasastra Apastambiya dharmasutra Vaiṣṇava dharmasastra Vaikhanasa dharmasastraThe most important of all dharma literature however is the Manusmṛiti which was composed in verse form and was intended to apply to all human beings of all castes 105 The Manusmṛiti deals with a wide variety of topics including marriage daily duties funeral rites occupation and general rules of life lawful and forbidden food impurity and purification laws on women duties of husband and wife inheritance and partition and much more There are chapters devoted to the castes the conduct of different castes their occupations the matter of caste admixture enumerating in full detail the system of social stratification The Manu smṛti has been dated to the couple of centuries around the turn of the Common Era 106 107 According to recent genetic research it has been determined that it was around the first century CE that population mixture among different groups in India prevalent on a large scale from around 2200 BCE ground to a halt with endogamy setting in 108 Other secular literature edit nbsp A Nepalese manuscript of the Kamasutra with Buddhist illustrations Sanskrit literature also covers a variety of other technical and secular topics including 109 The Barhaspatya sutras a work of the materialistic Charvaka school of Indian philosophy Astrological and Astronomical literature Jyotisha including the Jyotiṣavedaṅga the Aryabhaṭiya the Surya Siddhanta and the Varahamihira Bṛhatsaṃhita These works also discuss other topics like divination and agriculture Closely associated with jyotisha are Indian Mathematical works such as the Brahmasphuṭasiddhanta Alchemical literature Rasayana including the works of Nagarjuna such as the Rasaratanakaram Works on politics statecraft and other related topics the most famous of which is the Arthasastram 110 Others include the Nitisara of Kamandaki the Nitivakyamrta of Somadeva Suri and the Yuki ḵalpataru ascribed to Bhoja 111 Works on archery dhanurveda and the science of horses asvayurveda 112 The study of jewels ratnasastra 113 Medical Ayurvedic literature including the great Ayurveda classics such as the Carakasaṃhita the Susrutasaṃhita and the works of Vagbhaṭa 114 Kama Sastras works on love pleasure and sexuality the most famous of which is the Kama sutra Other works include Kokkaka s Ratirahasya 13th century and Kalyanamalla s 16th century Anangaranga Indian Architectural literature vastusastra such as the Manushyalaya Chandrika and the Samaraṅgaṇasutradhara Literature on arts and crafts silpasastra such as works on sculpture music such as the Saṅgitaratnakara acting and dance described in the Naṭyasastra painting Vishnudharmottara etc Buddhist literature edit nbsp Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha sutra Eastern India Pala period Main article Sanskrit Buddhist literature In India Buddhist texts were often written in classical Sanskrit as well as in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit also known as Buddhistic Sanskrit and Mixed Sanskrit 115 116 While the earliest Buddhist texts were composed and transmitted in Middle Indo Aryan Prakrits later Indian Buddhists translated their canonical works into Sanskrit or at least partially Sanskritized their literature 117 118 115 Beginning in the third century Buddhist texts also began to be composed in classical Sanskrit 117 Over time Sanskrit became the main language of Buddhist scripture and scholasticism for certain Buddhist schools in the subcontinent especially in North India This was influenced by the rise of Sanskrit as a political and literary lingua franca perhaps reflecting an increased need for elite patronage and a desire to compete with Hindu Brahmins 119 The Buddhist use of classical Sanskrit is first seen in the work of the great poet and dramatist Asvaghoṣa c 100 CE 120 The Sarvastivada school is particularly known for having translated their entire canon into Sanskrit 121 Other Indian Buddhist schools like the Mahasaṃghika Lokottaravada and Dharmaguptaka schools also adopted Sanskrit or Sanskritized their scriptures to different degrees 122 123 However other Buddhist traditions like Theravada rejected this trend and kept their canon in Middle Indic languages like Pali 118 Sanskrit also became the most important language in Mahayana Buddhism and many Mahayana sutras were transmitted in Sanskrit 118 Some of the earliest and most important Mahayana sutras are the Prajnaparamita sutras many of which survive in Sanskrit manuscripts 124 125 Indian Buddhist authors also composed Sanskrit treatises and other works on philosophy logic epistemology jatakas epic poetry and other topics While a large number of these works only survive in Tibetan and Chinese translations many key Buddhist Sanskrit works do survive in manuscript form and are held in numerous modern collections 126 Sanskrit was the main scholastic language of the Indian Buddhist philosophers in the Vaibhasika Sautrantika Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools 127 These include well known figures like Kumaralata Nagarjuna Aryadeva Asaṅga Vasubandhu Yasomitra Dignaga Sthiramati Dharmakirti Bhaviveka Candrakirti Santideva and Santarakṣita 127 Some Sanskrit works which were written by Buddhists also cover secular topics such as grammar vyakaraṇa lexicography koṣa poetry kavya poetics alaṁkara and medicine Ayurveda 128 nbsp The Buddhist Nalanda university was a major center of Sanskrit language learning in India from the 5th century CE until the 12th century 129 The Gupta c 4th 6th centuries and Pala c 8th 12th centuries eras saw the growth of large Buddhist institutions such as Nalanda and Vikramashila universities where many fields of knowledge vidyasthanas were studied in Sanskrit including Buddhist philosophy 130 These universities also drew foreign students from as far away as China One of the most famous of these was the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who studied Buddhism in Sanskrit at Nalanda and took over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts back to China for his translation project 131 132 Chinese pilgrims to India like Yijing described how in these universities the study of Buddhist philosophy was preceded by extensive study of Sanskrit language and grammar 133 During the Indian Tantric Age 8th to the 14th century numerous Buddhist Tantras and other Buddhist esoteric literature was written in Sanskrit These tantric texts often contain non standard Sanskrit prakritic elements and influences from regional languages like apabhramsa and Old Bengali 134 135 These vernacular forms are often in verses dohas which may be found within esoteric Sanskrit texts 136 Jain literature edit nbsp A 12th century manuscript of Hemachandra s Yogasastra notable for the miniaturized Devanagari script The earliest Jain scriptures the Jain Agamas were composed and orally transmitted in Prakrit 137 Later in the history of Jainism after about the 8th century CE Jain authors began composing literature in other languages especially classical Sanskrit while also retaining the use of Jain Prakrit 138 The most important Jain Sanskrit work is Umaswati s c sometime between the 2nd century and 5th century CE Tattvarthasutra On the Nature of Reality The Tattvarthasutra is considered an authoritative work on Jain philosophy by all traditions of Jainism and thus it is widely studied 139 Other influential Jain Sanskrit authors include Samantabhadra Pujyapada who wrote the most important commentary to the Tattvarthasutra entitled Sarvarthasiddhi Siddhasena Divakara c 650 CE Akalanka Haribhadra suri c 8th century author of the Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya Hemachandra c 1088 1172 CE who wrote the Yogasastra and Yasovijaya 1624 1688 a scholar of Navya Nyaya 140 Kavya editMain article Kavya nbsp Kalidasa composing the MeghadutaThere is a large corpus of classical Sanskrit poetry from India in a variety of genres and forms 141 According to Siegfried Lienhard in India the term Kavya refers to individual poems as well as poetry itself i e all those works that conform to artistic and literary norms 142 Indian poetry includes epic and lyrical elements It may be entirely in prose gadya entirely in verse padya or in a mixed form misra 143 Kavya works are full of alliteration similes metaphors and other figures of speech 144 145 Indians divided poetry into two main categories poetry that can be seen drsya preksya i e drama theater and poetry that can only be listened to sravya 146 Metrical Indian poetry can also be divided into two other categories 143 Mahakavya Major Poetry also known as sargabandha which are large poems divided into sections or cantos sargas Laghukavya Minor Poetry shorter poems or single stanzasAccording to Lienhard whereas metrical poetry led a flourishing existence both as mahakavya and laghukavya prose poems gadya and literature in mixed prose and verse campu tended to assume the major form The only exceptions are the panegyric inscriptions prasasti and religious epistles lekha commonly found in Buddhist societies which may both be composed in the kavya style Both are written either all in prose or in a mixture of alternately prose and verse and must therefore be counted as belonging to the minor form representing prose kavya or campu a point that Indian theorists seem to have neglected 147 Kavya was employed by court poets in a movement that flourished between c 200 BCE and 1100 CE n While the Gupta era is considered by many to have seen the highest point of Indian Kavya many poems were composed before this period as well as after 149 Sanskrit Kavya also influenced the literature of Burma Thailand Cambodia and the Malay Archipelago 150 The study of Sanskrit Kavya also influenced Tibetan literature and was promoted by Tibetan Buddhist scholars like Sakya Pandita 89 Sanskrit Kavya poetry also flourished outside the courts in towns learned schools and the homes of pandits and other elites and continues to be composed and studied today 151 Kavya was often recited in public gatherings court receptions and in societies which gathered specifically for the study and enjoyment of poetry Kavis Kavya poets also competed with each other for rewards and for the support of elites and kings who often appointed court poets 152 Kavis were highly educated and many of them would have been pandits with knowledge of other sciences such as grammar lexicography and other fields Indian authors held that an important quality of these poets was said to be pratibha poetic imagination 153 The beginnings of Kavya is obscure Lienhard traces its beginnings to the close of the Late Vedic Period about 550 B C as this was a time that saw the slow emergence of poetic forms with characteristics of their own quite different both functionally and structurally from previous models 154 The earliest Kavya poems were short stanzas in the minor form laghukavya sometimes just being one stanza poems muktakas Few of these early works have survived 155 Laghukavya edit Laghukavya mainly refers to short poems which can be single stanza muktaka double stanza poems yugmaka and several stanza poems kulakas Short poetry was also termed khandakavya and a collection of stanzas or anthology was called a kosa 156 The earliest laghukavyas were in prakrits but some also began to be written in Sanskrit in time 156 The earliest laghukavyas where muktakas also sometimes called gatha single stanzas These were most commonly lyrical nature poems lyrical love poems religious poems or reflective didactic poems 157 According to Lienhard muktaka poetry generally paints miniature pictures and scenes or else it carefully builds up a description of a single theme 157 Some of the earliest of these early poems are found in the Buddhist canon which contain two the verse anthologies the Theragatha Verses of the Elder Monks and Therigatha Verses of the Elder Nuns Only the Pali versions of these survive but they also existed in Prakrit and Sanskrit 158 There are also some surviving stanzas which are attributed to important figures like the grammarian Panini the scholar Patanjali and Vararuci but these attributions are uncertain 159 Some important Sanskrit poets whose collections of short poems have survived include Bhartṛhari fl c 5th century CE known for his Satakatraya Amaru 7th century author of the Amarusataka which mainly contains erotic poetry and Govardhana 12th century author of the Aryasaptasati 160 There are numerous anthologies which collect short Sanskrit poetry from different authors these works are our main source of short Sanskrit poems 161 One widely celebrated anthology is the Subhaṣitaratnakoṣa Anthology of Well Said Jewels of the Buddhist monk and anthologist Vidyakara c 1050 1130 162 163 Other important anthologies include Jalhana s Subhaṣitamuktavali 13th century Sridharadasa s Saduktikarṇamṛta 1205 Sarṅgadharapaddhati 1363 and Vallabhadeva s Subhaṣitavali Chain of Beautiful Sayings c 16th century 161 Samghatas and Khandakavyas edit In between muktaka and mahakavya there are medium length Sanskrit poems which are linked stanzas between eight and one hundred stanzas using one Sanskrit metre and one theme such as the six Indian seasons love and eros and nature They are variously called series of stanzas samghata or khandakavya 164 Examples of these medium length poems include the Ṛtusaṃhara the Ghatakarpara Kavyam and the Meghaduta of Kalidasa the most famous of all Sanskrit poets which popularized the sandesa kavya messenger poem Jambukavi s Candraduta 8th to 10th century Jinasena s Parsvabhyudaya a Jain work Vedanta Desika s Hansasandesa the Kokila Sandesa and Rupa Gosvamin s Haṃsaduta 16th century 165 Another genre of medium length poems were panegyrics like the Rajendrakarṇapura of Sambhu 166 Religious medium length kavya style poems often called stotras or stutis were also very popular and they show some similarities with panegyrics According to Lienhard some of the figures which are most widely written about in medium length religious poems include Gautama Buddha Durga Kali or Devi Ganesa Krsna Govinda Laksmi Nrsimha Radha Rama Sarasvati Siva Surya the Tathagatas the Tirthamkaras or Jinas Vardhamana Mahavira and Visnu 167 Only some of the Sanskrit hymns to the gods can be considered literary kavya since they are truly artistic and follow some of the classic kavya rules 168 According to Lienhard the literary hymns of the Buddhists are the oldest of these Asvaghoṣa is said to have written some but they are all lost 169 Two Buddhist hymns of the poet Matṛceṭa c 70 to 150 CE the Varṇarhavarṇa Stotra or Catuḥsataka and the Satapancasataka or Prasadapratibha Stotra on the Splendour of Graciousness of the Buddha have survived in Sanskrit They are some the finest Buddhist stotras and were very popular in the Buddhist community in India 169 There are also some Buddhist stotras attributed to other Buddhist masters like Nagarjuna 2nd 3rd century CE Chandragomin 5th century and Dignaga as well as two Buddhist stotras by King Harshavadana 170 Some important later Buddhist stotras are Sragdharastotra about 700 by Sarvajnamitra Vajradatta s Lokesvara sataka 9th century the tantric Manjusrinama saṃgiti and Ramacandra Kavibharati s 15th century Bhaktisataka which is influenced by the Bhakti movement 171 There are also many Sanskrit Jaina stotras most of which are dedicated to the Jain Tirthankaras They include the Bhaktacamarastotra by Manatunga 7th century Nandisena s Ajitasantistava the Mahavirastava by Abhayadeva mid 11th century and the stotras of Ramacandra 12th century 172 There are numerous literary Hindu hymns which were written after the time of Kalidasa Some of the most important ones are Baṇabhaṭṭa s Caṇḍisataka the Suryasataka by Mayurbhatta numerous hymns attributed to Adi Shankara though the majority of these were likely not composed by him the Mahimnastava the Shaiva Pancasati 14th century Abhinavagupta s Shaiva stotras the southern Mukundamala and Narayaniyam the Krishnakarṇamrutam and the poems of Nilakantha Diksita Jagannatha Paṇḍitaraja Gangadevi Ramanuja Jayadeva Rupa Goswami and Bhaṭṭa Narayaṇa 17th century 173 Mahakavya edit According to Lienhard the most important feature of mahakavya Long poems is that they are divided into chapters or cantos sargas Fully versified Mahakavyas called sargabandhas are written in many different metres Mahakavyas may also be written fully in prose or in a mixture of verse and prose mostly called campu 174 Sargabandhas commonly center around a hero and also include villains They almost never end in a tragic manner 175 Indian epic poetry like the Ramayaṇa forms an important influence on Sanskrit mahakavya literature 176 The oldest extant mahakavyas are those of the Buddhist poet and philosopher Asvaghoṣa c 80 c 150 CE 176 His Buddhacarita Acts of the Buddha was influential enough to be translated into both Tibetan and Chinese 177 178 179 The Chinese pilgrim Yijing 635 713 CE writes that the Buddhacarita was extensively read in all the five parts of India and in the countries of the South Sea Sumatra Java and the neighbouring islands it was regarded as a virtue to read it in as much as it contained the noble doctrine in a neat compact form 180 Another mahakavya by Asvaghoṣa is the Saundarananda which focuses on the conversion of Nanda Buddha s half brother 181 182 The great mahakavyas edit Kalidasa called by many the Shakespeare of India o is said to have been the finest master of the Sanskrit poetic style Arthur Macdonell describes this great poets words as having a firmness and evenness of sound avoiding harsh transitions and preferring gentle harmonies the use of words in their ordinary sense and clearness of meaning the power to convey sentiment beauty elevation and the employment of metaphorical expressions 184 Kalidasa s greatest Kavyas are the Raghuvaṃsa and the Kumarasambhava p 185 This Raghuvaṃsa The Genealogy of Raghu chronicles the life of Rama alongside his forefathers and successors in 19 cantos with the story of Rama agreeing quite closely that in the Ramayaṇa The narrative moves at a rapid pace is packed with apt and striking similes and has much genuine poetry while the style is simpler than what is typical of a mahakavya The Raghuvaṃsa is seen to meet all the criteria of a mahakavya such as that the central figure should be noble and clever and triumphant that the work should abound in rasa and bhava and so on There are more than 20 commentaries of this work that are known 186 187 The Kumarasambhava The Birth of Kumara narrates the story of the courtship and wedding of Siva and Parvati and the birth of their son Kumara The poem finishes with the slaying of the demon Taraka the very purpose of the birth of the warrior god The Kumarasambhava showcases the poet s rich and original imaginative powers making for abundant poetic imagery and wealth of illustration Again more than 20 commentaries on the Kumara sambhava have survived 188 189 These two great poems are grouped by Indian tradition along with four more works into the six great mahakavyas The other four greats are Bharavi s 6th century CE Kiratarjuniya Magha s c 7th Century CE Sisupalavadha the Bhaṭṭikavya also known as Ravaṇavadha and Sriharṣa s 12th century CE Naiṣadhiyacarita which is the most extensive and difficult of the great mahakavyas and contains many references to Indian philosophy 190 Over time various commentaries where also composed on these poems especially the Naiṣadhiyacarita 191 Later mahakavyas edit Between Kalidasa s time and the 18th century numerous other sargabandhas were composed in the classic style such as Mentha s Hayagrivavadha 6th century King Pravarasena II s Setubandha the Sinhalese poet Kumaradasa s Janakiharana Rajanaka Ratnakara s Haravijaya the Nalodaya the Buddhist Sivasvamin s Kapphinabhyudaya 9th century and Buddhaghosa s Padyacudamani a life of the Buddha c 9th century 192 Later sargabandhas tended to be more heavily loaded with technical complexity erudition and extensive decoration 193 Authors of these later works include the 12th century Kashmiri Shaivas Kaviraja Rajanaka Mankha and Jayaratha Jayadeva author of the innovative and widely imitated Gitagovinda Lolimbaraja s Harivilasa mid 16th century 194 the Shaivite Bhiksatana kavya of Gokula Krsnananda s 13th century Sahrdayananda and the numerous works of Ramapanivada 195 After the 8th century many sophisticated Jain mahakavyas were written by numerous Jain poets mainly from Gujarat including Jatasimhanandi s Varangacarita 7th century Kanakasena Vadiraja Suri s Yasodharacarita and the Ksatracudamani by Vadibhasimha Odayadeva 196 Jain authors also wrote their own versions of the Ramayana with Jain themes such as the Padmapurana of Ravisena 678 A D 197 Other later mahakavyas are poems based on historical figures which embellish history with classic poetic themes such as Parimala s Navasahasaṅkacarita Bilhana s Vikramaṅkadevacarita 11th century and Madhuravijayam The Conquest of Madurai c 14th century by Gangadevi which chronicles the life a prince of the Vijayanagara Empire and his invasion and conquest of the Madurai Sultanate Rashtraudha Kavya by Rudrakavi chronicles the history of Maratha Bagul kings of Baglana and Khandesh and details their role and position in military history involving important figures such as the Bahmanis Mahmud Begada Humayun Akbar Murad Shah etc 198 199 200 201 Some later poems focused on specific poetic devices some of the most popular being paronomasia slesa and ambiguous rhyme yamaka For example the poems of Vasudeva 10th century such as Yudhiṣṭhira vijaya and Nalodaya were all yamaka poems while the Ramapalacarita of Sandhyakara Nandin is a slesakavya 202 One final genre is the Sastrakavya a kavya which also contains some didactic content which instructs on some ancient science or knowledge Examples include Halayudha s Kavirahasya a handbook for poets Bhatta Bhima s Arjunaravaniya which teaches grammar and Hemacandra s Kumarapalacarita grammar 203 Prose mahakavya edit While most early mahakavyas were all in verse the term mahakavya could also be applied to any long prose poem and these became more popular after the 7th century when the great masters of prose gadya lived These are Daṇḍin author of the Dasakumaracarita Subandhu author of the Vasavadatta and Baṇabhaṭṭa author of Kadambari and Harshacarita 204 Prose mahakavyas replaced virtuosity in metre with highly complex and artistic sentences 205 Other important writers of Sanskrit prose poems include Bhuṣaṇa bhaṭṭa Dhanapala the Jain author of the Tilakamanjari and Vadibhasimha Odayadeva author of the Gadyacintamaṇi 206 Campu edit Campu also known as gadyapadyamayi is a poetic genre which contains both verse and prose This genre was rare during the first millennium CE but later grew in popularity especially in South India 207 The earliest Sanskrit example of this genre is Trivikramabhatta s Nalacampu or Damayanticampu c 10th century 207 While many other Sanskrit works also contain a mixture of verse and prose like Aryasura s Jatakamala Lienhard notes that these are not true campus This is because in true campu there is a calculated balance between prose that is as perfect as possible and stanzas in the genuine kavya style 208 Some important campus include Somaprabha Suri s Yasastilakacampu 9th century Jain Haricandra s Jivandharacampu Jain the Ramayanacampu Divakara s Amogharaghavacampu the 17th century female poet Tirumalamba s Varadambikaparinaya Venkatadhvarin s Visvagunadarsacampu Jiva Gosvamin s voluminous Gopalacampu Raghunathadasa s Muktacaritra and the 18th century Maithili poet Krishnadutta s Shri Janraj Champu 209 Works on prosody and poetics edit Main article ChandasThere are also numerous Sanskrit works which discuss prosody and poetics The earliest work which discusses poetics is Bharatamuni s Naṭyasastra 200 B C to 200 A D a work which mainly deals with drama 210 Piṅgala fl 300 200 BCE authored the Chandaḥsastra an early Sanskrit treatise on prosody Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri lists four main school of Indian poetics and their main figures 211 The Alaṅkara school which draws on Bhamaha s c 7th century Kavyalaṅkara Udbhaṭa s Alankarasamgraha and Rudrata s Kavyalaṅkara The Riti school Daṇḍin s fl 7th 8th century Kavyadarsa is influenced by the Alaṅkara school and introduces the concept of guna The Kavyadarsa was very influential for Vamana the 8th century founder of the Riti school and author of the Kavyalaṅkara Sutra The Rasa school draws on the Naṭyasastra s aphorism on rasa emotional flavor The key figure of this school is Bhaṭṭanayaka author of the Hṛdayadarpaṇa The Dhvani school which makes use of Anandavardhana s c 820 890 CE Dhvanyaloka and the commentary of Abhinavagupta who also wrote the Abhinavabharati a commentary on the Naṭyasastra This school emphasizes aesthetic suggestion dhvani Later influential works on poetics include Mammaṭa s 11th century Kavyaprakasa the writings on poetics by Kshemendra Hemacandra s Kavyanusasana Vagbhata s Vagbhatalankara and Rupa Gosvamin s Ujjvalanilamani 212 Subhaṣita editMain article Subhashita Outside of Kavya proper are also numerous poetic works often called subhaṣita well said which can be classified as gnomic poetry and didactic poetry 213 214 These are mainly poems which contain some wise saying aphoristic lesson often ethical popular maxim or a proverb lokavakya 215 216 These are thousands of Subhaṣitas on many themes 217 The Dharmapada is one important early collection of aphorisms 213 There are also many didactic works attributed to Caṇakya but actually written by numerous authors such as the Rajanitisamuccaya Caṇakyaniti Caṇakyarajaniti Vṛddha Caṇakya and the Laghu Caṇakya 218 Another important collection of gnomic sayings is the Nisataka of Bhartrhari 219 Later examples of this genre include the Jain Amitagati s Subhasitaratnasaridoha Kṣemendra s Carucarya Darpadalana and Samayamatrka Kusumadeva s Dṛṣṭantasataka Dya Dviveda s Nitimanjari 1494 and Vallabhadeva s Subhaṣitavali 15th century 220 221 There are also numerous anthologies of subhaṣita such as the Catakaṣṭaka 222 Sanskrit drama editFurther information List of Sanskrit plays in English translation nbsp Nirupama Rajendra in a musical ofShakunthalaIndian classical drama dṛsya nataka was also mainly written in Sanskrit and there are many examples of this Sanskrit literary genre Bharata s Naṭyasastra 3rd century CE is the earliest work which discusses Sanskrit dramaturgy 223 Sanskrit drama focuses on the sentiments and on heroic characters Classically the endings are happy never tragic 224 References to Sanskrit drama are found throughout ancient Sanskrit texts including the great epics 225 Some of the earliest Sanskrit dramas are those of Asvaghoṣa only a fragment of his Sariputraprakaraṇa survives and the many plays of Bhasa c 1st century BCE most of which are based on the two great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana 226 227 Kalidasa is widely considered to be the greatest Sanskrit playwright hailed for his linguistic mastery and economy of style 228 He wrote three plays Vikramōrvasiyam E Malavikagnimitram F Abhijnanasakuntalam G Other important plays include the Mṛcchakaṭika The Little Clay Cart 5th century and the Mudrarakṣasa Harṣa a 7th century Indian emperor was also known as a great playwright with a simple and delicate style 229 His Ratnavali Nagananda and Priyadarsika are well known Sanskrit dramas 230 The Mattavilasaprahasana A Farce of Drunken Sport is a short one act Sanskrit play It is one of the two great one act plays written by Pallava King Mahendravarman I 571 630CE in the beginning of the seventh century in Tamil Nadu 231 Bhavabhuti 8th century is one of the great playwrights after Kalidasa 232 Other major Sanskrit playwrights include Visakhadatta Bhaṭṭa Narayaṇa Murari Rajasekhara Kshemisvara Damodaramishra and Krishnamishra 233 Later Sanskrit dramaturgical texts also continued to be written in the second millennium such as the Shilparatna which discusses dance and drama Other Sanskrit narratives editThere are various classical Sanskrit collections of fables one of the most influential of which is the early Pancatantra a work that was widely imitated 234 Other works include the Hitopadesa and Srivara s Kathakautuka 235 Buddhist Jatakas tales of the Buddha s past lives is a similar genre and includes the Divyavadana Aryasura s Jatakamala a collection of Buddhist fables and Ksemendra s various works like the Avadanakalpalata Folk tale or fairy tale collections include the Vetala Pancaviṃsati Siṃhasana Dvatriṃsika and the Suktasaptati 236 There is also Somadeva s Kathasaritsagara Ocean of the Streams of Stories There are also poetic historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini of Kalhana Rashtraudha Kavya of Rudrakavi Shivbharata and Paramanandkavya of Paramananda Rajaramcharitra of Keshavbhatt Sri Janraj Champu of Krishna Dutta 237 Hemacandra s 1088 1172 Trisastisalakapurusacaritra is one example of Jain didactic narrative in Sanskrit 238 There are also abridged retellings of more ancient lost texts such as Budhasvamin s Bṛhatkathaslokasaṃgraha 239 Modern Sanskrit literature editSee also List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Sanskrit nbsp A 1999 stamp dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the Sanskrit CollegeLiterature in Sanskrit continues to be produced These works however have a very small readership In the introduction to Ṣoḍasi An Anthology of Contemporary Sanskrit Poets 1992 Radhavallabh Tripathi writes 240 Sanskrit is known for its classical literature even though the creative activity in this language has continued without pause from the medieval age till today Consequently contemporary Sanskrit writing suffers from a prevailing negligence Most current Sanskrit poets are employed as teachers either pandits in paṭhasalas or university professors 240 However Tripathi also points out the abundance of contemporary Sanskrit literature On the other hand the number of authors who appear to be very enthusiastic about writing in Sanskrit during these days is not negligible Dr Ramji Upadhyaya in his treatise on modern Sanskrit drama has discussed more than 400 Sanskrit plays written and published during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries In a thesis dealing with Sanskrit mahakavyas written in a single decade 1961 1970 the researcher has noted 52 Sanskrit mahakavyas epic poems produced in that very decade Similarly Prajapati 2005 in Post Independence Sanskrit Literature A Critical Survey estimates that more than 3000 Sanskrit works were composed in the period after Indian Independence i e since 1947 alone Further much of this work is judged as being of high quality both in comparison to classical Sanskrit literature and to modern literature in other Indian languages 241 242 Since 1967 the Sahitya Akademi India s national academy of letters has had an award for the best creative work written that year in Sanskrit In 2009 Satyavrat Shastri became the first Sanskrit author to win the Jnanpith Award India s highest literary award 243 Vidyadhar Shastri wrote two epic poems Mahakavya seven shorter poems three plays and three songs of praise stavana kavya he received the Vidyavachaspati award in 1962 Some other modern Sanskrit composers include Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra known as Triveṇi Kavi composer of short stories and several other genres of Sanskrit literature Jagadguru Rambhadracharya known as Kavikularatna composer of two epics several minor works and commentaries on Prasthanatrayi Another great Sanskrit epic that remained largely unrecognised till lately is Dhruv Charitra written by Pandit Surya Dev Mishra in 1946 He won laurels of appreciation by renowned Hindi and Sanskrit critics like Hazari Prasad Dwiedi Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay Hariaudh Suryakant tripathi Nirala Laldhar Tripathi Pravasi 244 See also edit nbsp Literature portalLiteratureSanskrit drama Hindu scripture Buddhist texts Early Medieval literature Indian literature List of Sanskrit poets List of ancient Indian writers Legendary creatures in Sanskrit mythologyRevival and significanceSanskrit revival Clay Sanskrit Library List of Sanskrit universities in India List of Sanskrit academic institutes outside India List of historic Sanskrit texts Symbolic usage of Sanskrit Sanskrit related topics Sanskrit WikipediaNotes edit Since the Renaissance there has been no event of such worldwide significance in the history of culture as the discovery of Sanskrit literature in the latter part of the eighteenth century Macdonell 2 The Ṛg veda is a monumental text with signal significance for both world religion and world literature Jamison amp Brereton 4 The style of the Vedic works is more simple and spontaneous while that of the later works abounds in puns conceits and long compounds Rhetorical ornaments are more and more copious and complex and the rules of Poetic and Grammar more and more rigidly observed as time advances Iyengar 5 The preeminent Sanskritist Sir William Jones is said to be the first who ever printed an edition of a Sanskrit text the Ṛtusaṃhara of Kalidasa 7 The literature of the Veda is one of the most original and interesting productions of human endeavor Jan Gonda 32 Originally only the first 3 Vedas were taken as canonical being termed the trayi vidya three fold knowledge The Brahmaṇas produced a ritual system far surpassing in complexity of detail anything the world has elsewhere known Macdonell According to a characteristic aphorism that s been preserved the composers of grammatical Sutras delight as much in the saving of a short vowel as in the birth of a son Macdonell compare Latin sutura suture An example is the Anukramaṇis indexes designed to preserve the text of the Vedas from loss or change each of which quotes the first word of each hymn its author the deity celebrated in it the number of verses it contains and the metre in which it is composed One of them states the total number of hymns verses words and even syllables contained in the Ṛg veda alongside other minute details Macdonell The Vedas are still learnt by heart as they were long before the invasion of Alexander and could even now be restored from he lips of religious teachers if every manuscript or printed copy of them were destroyed Macdonell 1900 46 the account based on the actual historical 18 day battle itself takes up 20 000 slokas In various branches of scientific literature in phonetics grammar mathematics astronomy medicine and law the ancient Indians also achieved notable results In some of these subjects their attainments are indeed far in advance of what was accomplished by the Greeks Macdonell 95 While it has been demonstrated that there was a vigorous court epic tradition during this entire period almost none of it from the first few centuries has survived 148 Monier Williams said to be the first to do so 183 both distinguished by independence of treatment as well as considerable poetic beauty MacdonellGlossary edit compiled put together 33 from vid to know cognate with Eng wit 34 hearing heard commentaries Vikrama and Urvasi Malavika and Agnimitra The Recognition of SakuntalaBrahmic notes editBrahmic transliterationReferences edit Fortson 10 23 Macdonell p 1 Burrow 2 1 Jamison amp Brereton p 1 Iyengar p 2 Edgerton Franklin The Prakrit Underlying Buddhistic Hybrid Sanskrit Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London Vol 8 No 2 3 page 503 Macdonell p 3 Keith 1 Macdonnell 1 Burrow 2 9 Winternitz 1972 Vol I pp 3 4 Iyengar p 4 Richard Gombrich 2006 Theravada Buddhism A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo Routledge pp 24 25 ISBN 978 1 134 90352 8 Meier Brugger Michael 2003 Indo European Linguistics Walter de Gruyter p 20 ISBN 978 3 11 017433 5 Keith A Berriedale 1993 A History of Sanskrit Literature Motilal Banarsidass p 4 ISBN 978 81 208 1100 3 Iyengar p 5 Gerard Huet Amba Kulkarni Peter Scharf 2009 Sanskrit Computational Linguistics First and Second International Symposia Rocquencourt France October 29 31 2007 Providence RI USA May 15 17 2008 Revised Selected Papers Springer pp v vi ISBN 978 3 642 00154 3 John Kelly 1996 Jan E M Houben ed Ideology and Status of Sanskrit Contributions to the History of the Sanskrit Language BRILL Academic pp 87 102 ISBN 978 90 04 10613 0 Stephen K Stein 2017 The Sea in World History Exploration Travel and Trade 2 volumes ABC CLIO p 147 ISBN 978 1 4408 3551 3 Charles Taliaferro 2010 A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion Bloomsbury Publishing pp 245 246 ISBN 978 1 4411 8504 4 J F Staal 1976 Herman Parret ed History of Linguistic Thought and Contemporary Linguistics Walter de Gruyter pp 102 130 ISBN 978 3 11 005818 5 Paul Dundas 2006 Patrick Olivelle ed Between the Empires Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE Oxford University Press pp 395 396 ISBN 978 0 19 977507 1 Burrow Thomas 1973 The Sanskrit Language 3rd revised ed p 60 London Faber amp Faber Pollock Sheldon 2001 The Death of Sanskrit Comparative Studies in Society and History 43 2 392 426 doi 10 1017 s001041750100353x S2CID 35550166 Hanneder J 2002 On The Death of Sanskrit Indo Iranian Journal 45 4 293 310 doi 10 1163 000000002124994847 JSTOR 24664154 S2CID 189797805 Deshpande Madhav M 1993 Sanskrit amp Prakrit Sociolinguistic Issues Motilal Banarsidass pp 118 124 ISBN 978 81 208 1136 2 Moriz Winternitz 1996 A History of Indian Literature Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass pp 37 39 ISBN 978 81 208 0264 3 Singh N 1992 The vivaha marriage Samskara as a paradigm for religio cultural integration in Hinduism Journal for the Study of Religion 5 1 31 40 JSTOR 24764135 Vivekananda Swami 2005 Prabuddha Bharata Awakened India Prabuddha Bharata Press pp 362 594 ISBN 978 81 7823 180 8 Witzel 1989 p 1 Burrow p 43 Gonda p 1 MWW p 1123 MWW p 963 J amp B pp 1 2 J amp B pp 2 3 Macdonell p 30 Macdonell pp 30 31 Macdonell p 31 32 Macdonell p 34 Macdonell pp 35 36 Winternitz 1972 Vol I p 46 a b Dominic Goodall 1996 Hindu Scriptures University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 20778 3 page ix xliii a b Michael Witzel Vedas and Upaniṣads in Flood Gavin ed 2003 The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Blackwell Publishing Ltd ISBN 1 4051 3251 5 pages 68 71 a b William Graham 1993 Beyond the Written Word Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 44820 8 pages 67 77 Macdonell p 8 Klaus Klostermaier 2007 A Survey of Hinduism Third Edition State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0 7914 7082 4 pages 46 52 76 77 RC Zaehner 1992 Hindu Scriptures Penguin Random House ISBN 978 0 679 41078 2 pages 1 11 and Preface Wendy Doniger O Flaherty 1988 Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism Manchester University Press ISBN 0 7190 1867 6 pages 2 3 James Lochtefeld 2002 Smrti The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol 2 N Z Rosen Publishing ISBN 978 0 8239 3179 8 page 656 657 Purushottama Bilimoria 2011 The idea of Hindu law Journal of Oriental Society of Australia Vol 43 pages 103 130 Roy Perrett 1998 Hindu Ethics A Philosophical Study University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0 8248 2085 5 pages 16 18 a b Winternitz 1972 pp 311 12 Winternitz 1972 pp 314 Winternitz 1972 pp 315 Lienhard 1984 p 58 Winternitz 1972 p 314 sfn error no target CITEREFWinternitz1972 help Winternitz 1972 pp 314 15 Winternitz 1972 pp 316 318 Austin Christopher R 2019 Pradyumna Lover Magician and Son of the Avatara Oxford University Press p 21 ISBN 978 0 19 005411 3 Winternitz 1972 pp 317 321 sfn error no target CITEREFWinternitz1972 help Macdonell p 282 Winternitz 1972 pp 317 319 Eliot Deutsch Rohit Dalvi 2004 The Essential Vedanta A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta World Wisdom p 97 Inc ISBN 978 0 941532 52 5 Winternitz 1972 pp 443 444 Macdonell p 303 310 Winternitz 1972 p 467 sfn error no target CITEREFWinternitz1972 help Keith p 43 Macdonell pp 311 314 Bailey Gregory 2001 Leaman Oliver ed Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy pp 437 439 Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 17281 3 Thompson Richard L 2007 The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Motilal Banarsidass Publishers p 10 ISBN 978 81 208 1919 1 Dominic Goodall 1996 Hindu Scriptures University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 20778 3 page xli Patrick Olivelle 2014 The Early Upanishads Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 512435 4 pages 12 14 Bronkhorst Johannes 2007 Greater Magadha Studies in the Culture of Early India pp 258 259 BRILL Olivelle Patrick 1992 The Samnyasa Upanisads pp 5 8 9 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 507045 3 Varghese Alexander P 2008 India History Religion Vision And Contribution To The World vol 1 p 101 Atlantic Publishers amp Distributors ISBN 978 81 269 0903 2 Gavin Flood 1996 An Introduction to Hinduism Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 43878 0 pages 54 55 a b Keith 1956 pp 470 520 Richa Vishwakarma and Pradip Kumar Goswami 2013 A review through Charaka Uttara Tantra International Quarterly Journal of Research in Ayurveda Volume 34 Issue 1 pages 17 20 Karin Preisendanz 2005 The Production of Philosophical Literature in South Asia during the Pre Colonial Period 15th to 18th Centuries The Case of the Nyayasutra Commentarial Tradition Journal of Indian Philosophy Volume 33 pages 55 94 PV Kane 2015 Reprint History of Sanskrit Poetics Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 81 208 0274 2 page 29 Winternitz 1972 Vol I p 4 a b Flood Gavin D 1996 An Introduction to Hinduism pp 158 159 Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 43878 0 Mallinson James 2016 Saktism and Haṭhayoga In Wernicke Olesen Bjarne ed Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism History Practice and Doctrine Routledge pp 109 140 ISBN 978 1 317 58521 3 Keith 1956 p 403 Keith 1956 pp 403 408 Keith pp 406 407 Keith pp 409 411 a b Gold Jonathan C 2007 The Dharma s Gatekeepers Sakya Pandita on Buddhist Scholarship in Tibet pp 14 15 State University of New York Press Matthew Kapstein Other People s Philology Uses of Sanskrit in Tibet and China 14th 19th Centuries L espace du sens Approches de la philologie indienne The Space of Meaning Approaches to Indian Philology 2018 Pal Pratapaditya 1997 Tibet tradition and change p 49 Albuquerque Museum Gold Jonathan C 2007 The Dharma s Gatekeepers Sakya Pandita on Buddhist Scholarship in Tibet pp 8 9 State University of New York Press Gornall Alastair 2022 Rewriting Buddhism Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka 1157 1270 pp 37 63 UCL Press Bronkhorst Johannes The Spread of Sanskrit in Southeast Asia in Pierre Yves Manguin A Mani Geoff Wade 2011 Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia https doi org 10 1355 9789814311175 015 Macdonell p 10 James Lochtefeld 2002 Vedanga in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol 1 A M Rosen Publishing ISBN 0 8239 2287 1 pages 744 745 Bronkhorst Johannes 2016 How the Brahmins Won From Alexander to the Guptas p 171 BRILL Macdonell pp 38 39 Keith 1956 pp 426 429 Scharfe Hartmut 1977 Grammatical Literature A History of Indian Literature Vol V Otto Harrassowitz Verlag a b Keith 1956 p 412 Keith 1956 p 413 Keith 1956 p 414 Keith p 437 Keith pp 439 440 Keith pp 442 444 Deshpande p 85 Priya Moorjani Kumarasamy Thangaraj Nick Patterson Mark Lipson Po Ru Loh Periyasamy Govindaraj Bonnie Berger David Reich Lalji Singh 5 September 2013 Genetic Evidence for Recent Population Mixture in India PDF The American Journal of Human Genetics 93 3 422 438 doi 10 1016 j ajhg 2013 07 006 PMC 3769933 PMID 23932107 Retrieved 10 April 2021 Sanskrit Scientific Literature SKT2C08 University of Calicut Kerala Keith 1956 p 452 Keith 1956 pp 462 463 Keith 1956 pp 464 65 Keith 1956 p 465 Ayurveda Sahapedia Retrieved 2022 06 27 a b Edgerton Franklin 1953 Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary Volume 1 pp 1 3 MOTILAL BANARSIDASS ISBN 0 89581 180 4 Winternitz 1972 pp 226 227 a b Marcus Bingenheimer Editor in Chief Bhikkhu Analayo and Roderick S Bucknell Co Editors The Madhyama Agama Middle Length Discourses Vol I Taishō Volume 1 Number 26 Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai America Inc 2013 BDK English Tripiṭaka Series p xvi a b c Wayman Alex The Buddhism and the Sanskrit of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol 85 No 1 Jan Mar 1965 pp 111 115 5 pages Johannes Bronkhorst Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism Handbook of Oriental Studies Leiden Brill 2011 46 47 129 Burrow Thomas The Sanskrit Language page 62 Prebish Charles S 2010 Buddhism A Modern Perspective pp 42 44 Penn State Press Eltschinger Vincent Why did the Buddhists adopt Sanskrit Open Linguistics 2017 3 308 326 Degruyter von Hinuber Oskar 1989 Origin and Varieties of Buddhist Sanskrit In Caillat Colette ed Dialectes dans les langues indo aryennes 341 367 Paris College de France Institut de Civilisation Indienne Williams Paul Buddhist Thought Routledge 2000 p 131 Williams Paul Mahayana Buddhism The Doctrinal Foundations 2nd edition Routledge 2009 p 47 Nariman J K Introduction to the Early Buddhist Texts in Sanskritised Prakit from Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism Archived 2021 05 14 at the Wayback Machine Ch 1 6 a b Howladar Mithun Buddhist Sanskrit Literature A Discussion Research Guru Online Journal of Multidisciplinary Subjects Volume 11 Issue 4 March 2018 2019 Shakya M 2019 The Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Project Problems and Possibilities Volume 1 Digital Humanities and Buddhism pp 111 126 Berlin Boston De Gruyter Barua Jyoti Ancient Buddhist Universities in Indian Sub Continent Fulton Books Inc 2016 The Gupta Empire by Radhakumud Mookerji p 133 sq Buddhism in Andhra Pradesh story of Buddhism Buddhism in Andhra Pradesh story of Buddhism Archived from the original on 2007 03 14 Retrieved 2006 06 27 Garfield J L Westerhoff J 2015 Madhyamaka and Yogacara Allies Or Rivals Oxford University Press pp 139 142 ISBN 978 0 19 023129 3 Gold Jonathan C 2007 The Dharma s Gatekeepers Sakya Pandita on Buddhist Scholarship in Tibet p 21 State University of New York Press Newman John Buddhist Sanskrit in the Kalacakra Tantra 1988 Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Davidson Ronald M 2004 Indian Esoteric Buddhism Social History of the Tantric Movement pp 267 277 Motilal Banarsidass Publ Stephenson Jackson Barkley 2021 Bliss beyond All Limit On the Apabhraṃsa Doha in Tantric Buddhist Texts Religions 12 11 927 doi 10 3390 rel12110927 Winternitz 1972 p 427 sfn error no target CITEREFWinternitz1972 help Winternitz 1972 p 427 Dundas Paul 2006 Olivelle Patrick ed Between the Empires Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE pp 395 396 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 977507 1 Keith 1956 pp 497 498 Lienhard Siegfried 1984 A History of Classical Poetry Sanskrit Pali Prakrit A History of Indian Literature Vol III Otto Harrassowitz Wiesbaden Lienhard 1984 p 1 a b Lienhard 1984 pp 2 46 Macdonell pp 325 326 Keith p 42 Lienhard 1984 p 45 Lienhard 1984 p 46 Keith ch 2 Lienhard 1984 p 48 Lienhard 1984 p 50 Lienhard 1984 p 2 Lienhard 1984 pp 16 18 Lienhard 1984 p 19 Lienhard 1984 p 53 Lienhard 1984 pp 63 64 a b Lienhard 1984 pp 65 66 a b Lienhard 1984 pp 71 75 Lienhard 1984 pp 75 76 Lienhard 1984 p 79 Lienhard 1984 pp 88 99 a b Lienhard 1984 p 87 Vidyakara 1968 Sanskrit poetry from Vidyakara s Treasury Translated by Daniel Ingalls Harvard University Press pp 346a ISBN 0 674 78865 6 Mohan Lal Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature Volume Five Sasay To Zorgot Volume 5 Sahitya Akademi p 4480 Lienhard 1984 pp 104 105 Lienhard 1984 pp 107 127 Lienhard 1984 pp 128 Lienhard 1984 pp 128 129 Lienhard 1984 p 130 a b Lienhard 1984 p 132 Lienhard 1984 p 133 Lienhard 1984 p 134 Lienhard 1984 p 136 Lienhard 1984 pp 137 149 Lienhard 1984 pp 161 162 Lienhard 1984 p 161 a b Lienhard 1984 p 164 Macdonell p 319 Keith ch 3 E B Cowell trans The Buddha Carita or the Life of the Buddha Oxford Clarendon 1894 reprint New Delhi 1977 p X introduction J K Nariman Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism Bombay 1919 Asvaghoṣa and his School Archived 10 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Yoshichika Honda Indian Buddhism and the kavya literature Asvaghosa s Saundaranandakavya Hiroshima Daigaku Daigakuin Bungaku Kenkyuuka ronshuu vol 64 pp 17 26 2004 1 Japanese Johnston E H 1928 Saundarananda PDF Lahore University of Panjab Kale p xxvi Keith p 101 Macdonell p 326 Macdonell pp 326 327 Keith 4 7 Macdonell p 328 Keith 4 6 Lienhard 1984 pp 171 192 Lienhard 1984 pp 172 194 Lienhard 1984 pp 196 201 Lienhard 1984 p 202 Lolimbaraja and his work Lienhard 1984 pp 201 211 Lienhard 1984 pp 212 213 Lienhard 1984 pp 213 214 Ernst Carl W 1992 Eternal garden mysticism history and politics at a South Asian Sufi center Illustrated ed SUNY Press p 297 ISBN 978 0 7914 0884 1 Jackson William Joseph 2005 Vijayanagara voices exploring South Indian history and Hindu literature Illustrated ed Ashgate Publishing pp 61 70 ISBN 978 0 7546 3950 3 Chattopadhyaya Brajadulal 2006 Studying Early India Archaeology Texts and Historical Issues Anthem Press pp 141 143 ISBN 978 1 84331 132 4 Lienhard 1984 pp 215 221 Lienhard 1984 pp 222 224 Lienhard 1984 pp 225 227 Lienhard 1984 pp 228 234 247 Lienhard 1984 p 233 Lienhard 1984 pp 258 263 a b Lienhard 1984 p 265 Lienhard 1984 p 226 Lienhard 1984 pp 268 272 Lienhard 1984 p 54 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 150 153 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 154 155 a b Keith 1956 p 227 Sternbach Ludwik 1974 Subhasita Gnomic and Didactic Literature A History of Indian Literature Vol IV 1 Otto Harrassowitz Verlag L Sternbach 1973 Subhashita A forgotten chapter in the histories of Sanskrit literature in Indologica Taurinensia Torino Vol I pp 169 254 Sternbach Ludwik 1974 Subhasita Gnomic and Didactic Literature pp 1 2 A History of Indian Literature Vol IV 1 Otto Harrassowitz Verlag Kashinath Sharma 1952 Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara A collection of over 10 000 subhasitas Nirnaya Sagar Press Keith 1956 p 228 Keith 1956 p 231 Sternbach 1974 pp 2 8 Keith 1956 pp 237 240 Keith 1956 p 234 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 85 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 8 92 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 95 Samir Kumar Datta 1979 Asvaghoṣa as a Poet and a Dramatist A Critical Study p 123 University of Burdwan Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 97 103 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 104 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 107 Harsha 2006 The Lady of the Jewel Necklace and The Lady who Shows Her Love Translated by Wendy Doniger New York University Press p 18 Mahendravikramavarma Pallava 600 Lockwood Michael Bhat Vishnu eds Mattavilasa Prahasana The Farce of Drunken Sport Christian Literature Society Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 109 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 111 119 Keith 1956 pp 244 245 259 263 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 pp 137 138 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 p 138 Lienhard 1984 p 218 Keith 1956 p 294 Keith 1956 pp 272 a b Radhavallabh Tripathi ed 1992 Ṣoḍasi An Anthology of Contemporary Sanskrit Poets Sahitya Akademi ISBN 81 7201 200 4 S Ranganath 2009 Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka ISBN 978 81 86111 21 5 p 7 Contrary to popular belief there is an astonishing Sanskrit writing is qualitatively of such high order that it can easily be treated on par with the best of Classical Sanskrit literature It can also easily compete with the writings in other Indian languages Adhunika Sanskrit Sahitya Pustakalaya Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan The latter half of the nineteenth century marks the beginning of a new era in Sanskrit literature Many of the modern Sanskrit writings are qualitatively of such high order that they can easily be treated at par with the best of classical Sanskrit works and they can also be judged in contrast to the contemporary literature in other languages Sanskrit s first Jnanpith winner is a poet by instinct The Indian Express Jan 14 2009 Mishra Mayank Karma ka Pujari Chandigarh Unistar Publications 2010 PrintBibliography editBurrow T 2001 The Sanskrit Language 2001 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 1767 2 Deshpande Madhav M 1993 Sanskrit and Prakrit 1993 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 1136 4 Fortson Benjamin W 2010 Indo European Language and Culture 2010 ed Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 4051 8895 1 Gonda Jan ed A History of Indian Literature Otto Harrasowitz Wiesbaden Studies on Modern Sanskrit Writings Adhunika saṃskṛta sahityanusilanam Papers Presented in the Section on Modern Sanskrit Writings Proceedings of the 15th World Sanskrit Conference 2012 Edited by Jurgen Hanneder and Mans Broo with an introduction by R V Tripathi Iyengar V Gopala 1965 A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature Rs 4 Jain Vijay K 2011 Acharya Umasvami s Tattvarthsutra 1st ed Uttarakhand Vikalp Printers ISBN 978 81 903639 2 1 nbsp This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Jaini Padmanabh S 1998 1979 The Jaina Path of Purification Delhi Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 1578 5 Jamison amp Brereton Stephanie amp Joel 2020 The Rigveda A guide Oxford ISBN 978 0 19 063336 3 Kale M R 1972 A Higher Sanskrit Grammar 2002 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 0177 6 Keith A Berriedale 1956 A History of Sanskrit Literature Great Britain Oxford University Press Lienhard Siegfried 1984 A History of Classical Poetry Sanskrit Pali Prakrit A History of Indian Literature Vol III Otto Harrassowitz Wiesbaden Macdonell Arthur Anthony A History of Sanskrit Literature New York 1900 Monier Williams Monier A Sanskrit English Dictionary London Oxford Clarendon Press Prajapati Manibhai K 2005 Post Independence Sanskrit Literature A Critical Survey Standard Publishers India S Ranganath Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan 2009 Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri 1987 A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature Motilal Banarsidass Publ Bhattacharji Sukumari History of Classical Sanskrit Literature Sangam Books London 1993 ISBN 0 86311 242 0 Whitney William Dwight January 2008 Sanskrit Grammar 2000 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 81 208 0620 7 Winternitz M A History of Indian Literature Oriental books New Delhi 1927 1907 Winternitz M A History of Indian Literature Vol I Introduction Veda National Epics Puranas and Tantras Oriental books New Delhi 1972 Winternitz M A History of Indian Literature Vol II Buddhist literature and Jaina literature Oriental books New Delhi 1972 Witzel Michael 1989 Colette Caillat ed Tracing the Vedic dialects inDialectes dans les litteratures Indo Aryennes PDF Paris de BoccardExternal links editSanskrit literature at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks nbsp Resources from Wikiversity GRETIL Gottingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages a cumulative register of the numerous download sites for electronic texts in Indian languages TITUS Indica Vedabase net Vaishnava literatures with word for word translations from Sanskrit to English Official page of the Clay Sanskrit Library publisher of classical Indian literature with facing page texts and translations Also offers numerous downloadable materials Sanskrit Documents Collection Documents in ITX format of Upanishads Stotras etc and a metasite with links to translations dictionaries tutorials tools and other Sanskrit resources MAHE Mahabharata Digital Concordance by Department of Philosophy Manipal Sanskrit Literature at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sanskrit literature amp oldid 1185657864 Classical poetry, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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