Classical Indian Literature

Gupta Era 320 ce 550 ce

Gupta dynasty was founded by Chandra Gupta I Development of Mahayana Buddhism Classical Age in north India Cave paintings at Ajanta Sakuntala, Jataka, Panchatantra and Kamasutra were written Aryabhattas Astronomy.
Kumardevi and Chandragupta I (Minted by their son Samudragupta) 335-370 ce Gold Dinar Weight: 7.8 gm Obverse: King and queen

 Buddhism split into two sects, Mahayana and Hinayana (Theravada). Mahayana laid stress on the concept of the Bodhisattva or `one destined to be the Buddha' and also conceived of Eternal Buddhas who resemble gods or deities. Hinayana regarded the Buddha as a man and had a doctrine, Theravada, stressing the salvation of the individual. The interaction of Mahayana philosophy and Hinduism gave rise to Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana.

Mahayana Buddhism

AJANTA CAVES
.

During the 4th century c.e. in a remote valley, work began on the Ajanta Caves to create a complex of Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls. As centuries passed, numerous Buddhist monks and artisans dug out a set of twenty-nine caves, converting some to cells, and others to monasteries and Buddhist temples. These caves are adorned with elaborate sculptures and paintings which have withstood the ravages of time

Ajanta Caves
The Ajanta caves depict the stories of Buddhism spanning from the period from 200 bce to 650 ce. The 29 caves were built by Buddhist monks using simple tools like hammer & chisel. The elaborate and exquisite sculptures and paintings depict stories from Jataka tales . The caves also house images of nymphs and princesses.

Scene From The Jataka

Samskrta
The Language of Classical Literature
Samskrta: Sanskrit
perfected, classified refined Correct speech Codified and frozen in the Astadhyahi : the rules of grammar Considered ideal language for classics

Prakrta: Prakrit
original or natural Dialects that changed and developed with spoken language

Kavya
Kavya the poetry of the classical
canon Permeated with the culture of the Gupta courts Kavi, learned poets, wrote under the patronage of kings for audiences of connoisseurs sahrdaya with heart, responsive rasika enjoyer of aesthetic mood Highly formulated norms and conventions Many works on poetic theory

Kavya Genres
Mahakavya: great poem or court epic contains lyric stanzas with elaborate figures of speech and emphasizes description Natya: drama employs both prose and verse includes Sanskrit and Prakrit wider range of characters lyrical description more than dramatic action Muktaka: short lyric poems Bhartrhari: pointed epigrams Kalidasa: idyllic verses on nature Amaru: erotic vignettes Katha or Akhyika: narrative tales Pancatantra: collection of animal fables Somadevas Kathasaritsagara (Ocean to the Rivers of Story): picaresque, marvelous tales, romances

Niti
Aims for Human Conduct, Worldly Wisdom
The Nagaraka gentleman, citizen, courtier cultivated life as art with the 4 aims for human conduct: Dharma: religious duty Artha: wealth, politics, public life Kama: erotic pleasure and the emotions
Vitsyayanas Kamasutra

Moksa: liberation from the chain of birth and death in which souls are trapped because of Karma
Karma implies fluid relationships between divine, human and animal worlds gods become human, humans may achieve bodhisattva status or may be reincarnated as animals

Women in Classical Literature

Courtly ideal wives like Sita chaste, loyal, submissive, long-suffering Wives in merchant-class stories chaste, independent, powerful Courtesans erotic, beautiful, intelligent, ruthless, rapacious, independent Religious contemplatives figures of authority and free agents

Visnusarmans Pancatantra ca. 2nd 3rd ce

Pancatantra: The Five Strategies

Collection of folk tales and fables within frame tales Brought by Arabs into Europe model and source for 1001 Nights, Boccaccios The Decameron, Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, Grimms Fairy Tales, La Fontaines Fables, etc. Central concern is niti conduct political expediency and social values Visnusarman allegedly used the fables to teach 3 dim-witted princes the science of politics

The Pancatantras

5 Strategies

Book I : The Loss of Friends

Leap and Creep The Blue Jackal Forethought, Readywit and Fatalist

Book II : The Winning of Friends Book III: Crows and Owls

strategies of alliance and war Mouse-Maid Made Mouse

Book IV: Loss of Gains Book V: Ill-Considered Action

The Loyal Mungoose

 Drsyakavya: poetry to be seen as opposed to sravyakavya: poetry to be heard Bharatas Natyasastra authoritative text on dramatic aesthetics and theory Abhinaya: a symphony of languages verbal text, stylized gesture, facial expression, eye movement, music, dance 8 fundamental emotions, bhava, expressed in 8 major rasas, stylized representations of the emotions universal rather than particular No tragedy in Indian drama impossible in the Hindu and Buddhist conception of the universe of karma linking humans with nature and the cosmos through networks of volition, Video on Indian Natya action and response open-ended cycles of time

Natya: Drama

Dramatic Conventions
Performed at seasonal festivals and celebrations such as weddings, the dramas were regarded as rites of renewal and order Characters are types, not individuals Contrasts and complements among diverse elements: lyric verse and prose dialogue erotic and heroic moods heroic king and gluttonous buffoon Sanskrit spoken by noblemen, Prakrit spoken by women, children and men of lower caste domestic and public worlds; worlds of the court and of nature; worlds of the human and divine emotional universes of men and women

 The dramatist and poet is regarded

as the greatest figure in classical Sanskrit literature. His three surviving plays are Abhijnanasakuntala (Sakunatala and the Ring of Recognition), Vikramorvasi, and Malavikagnimitra. These court dramas in verse, nataka, relate fanciful or mythological tales of profound romantic love intensified and matured by adversity. In Kalidasa's two epics, Raghuvansa and Kumarasambhava, delicate descriptions of nature are mingled with battle scenes. The other poems of Kalidasa are shorter and almost purely lyrical.

Kalidasa fl. 4th 5th c. ce

Sakuntala

Nataka: heroic romance play about love between a noble hero and a beautiful woman Dominant mood: the erotic rasa: tension between duty, dharma, and desire, kama King Dusyanta falls in love with Sakuntala, daughter of the nymph Menaka and foster daughter of the ascetic hermit-sage, Kanva.