The earliest known work of the Aryans in India was the Rig Veda which is a collection of 1028 hymns are in praise of different Vedic deities and were intended for recitation at the Yajnas (sacrifices). Many of them are beautiful descriptions of nature. Some of the most enchanting are addressed to Ushas, the goddess of dawn, like this one: In the sky’s framework she has gleamed with brightness: The goddess has cast off the robe of darkness. Rousing the world from sleep, with ruddy horses, dawn in her well-yoked chariot is arriving.
The Rig Veda was followed by three more Vedas – Yajur Veda which gives directions for the performance of the Yajna, the Sama Veda which prescribes the tunes for the recitation of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the Atharva Veda which prescribes rites and rituals. After the four Vedas, a number of works, called the Brahmanas, grew which contained detailed explanation of Vedic literature and instructions. The Aranyakas, which are an appendix to the Brahmanas, prescribed certain rites and also laid the basis of a body of more philosophical literature. It was the Upanishadic literature which dealt with questions like the origin of the universe, birth and death, the material and spiritual world, nature of knowledge and many other questions. The earliest Upanishads are the Brihad-Aranyaka and Chanddogya. The Upanishads are in the form of dialogues and express the highest thoughts in simple and beautiful imagery. Another body of literature to grow in the early period was the Vedangas which, besides rituals, were concerned with astronomy, grammar and phonetics. One of the most outstanding works of this period was a classic on Sanskrit grammar, the Ashtadhayi by Panini.
All these works were in Sanskrit. They were handed down from generation to generation orally and were put to writing much later.
The two great epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, were developed over a period of centuries and were perhaps put to writing in their present form in the second century A.D. The Mahabharata Contains about 100,000 verses and is the longest single poem in the world. Besides the main story of the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, a number of other interesting stories are woven into this epic. The Bhagvad Gita, a later addition to the Mahabharata, enshrines a philosophical doctrine and in it are described the three paths to salvation, viz. Karma, Gyan and Bhakti. The Ramayana, the story of Rama, is shorter than the Mahabharata and is full of interesting adventure and episodes. These two epics have influenced the thinking of millions of people for centuries.
This period abounds in both religious and secular literature in Sanskrit. The Puranas are important, for they were the main influence in the development from early Vedic religion to Hinduism. There were many other shastras and smritis. The shastras contained works of science and philosophy.
For example, the Arthashastra by Kautilya was a treatise on the science of governance. There were shastras on art, mathematics and other sciences. The smrities dealt with the performance of duties, customs and laws prescribed according to dharma. The most famous of these is the Manusmriti.
The early Buddhist literature was in Pali and consists of two sections. The Suttapitaka consists mainly of dialogues between the Buddha and his followers. The Vinayapitaka is concerned mainly with the rules of the organization of the monasteries. The Milinda-panha is another great Buddhist work consisting of dialogues between the Indo-Greek king Menander and the Buddhist philosopher Nagasena. Another great Buddhist work consists of hundreds of Jataka stories which became the subjects of Buddhist sculpture and are popular all over the world for their wisdom. Later many Buddhist works were written in Sanskrit. Of these the most famous is the Buddhacharita or ‘Life of Buddha’ by Ashvaghosha.
The period beginning a little before the reign of the Guptas ushered in the glorious period of Sanskrit literature, particularly secular. This was the greatest period for the growth of poetry and drama. The great writers of this period are well known-Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti, Bharavi, Bhartrihari, Bana, Magha and many others. Of these, Kalidasa is known all over the world. His works – the Kumarasambhava, the Raghuvamsha, the Meghaduta, the Abhijnanashakuntalam and others- are unrivalled for their poetry and style. Bana wrote the Harshacharita, a biography of King Harsha, and Kadambari.
Among the other famous works of the period are Bhavabhuti’s Utter-Ramacharita, Bharavi’s Kitarjuniya, Vishakhadatta’s Mudra Rakhshasa, Shudraka’s Mricchakatika. Dandin wrote the Daskumaracharita or the ‘tales of the Ten Princes’. The subjects of these and other works were political events, romances, allegories, comedies and philosophical questions. Besides these, there was also a growing body of philosophical literature. The most famous of these in the later period are the great commentaries of Shandaracharya. There were also great collections of tales and stories. The most famous collections are the Panchatantra and the Kathasarit-sagar which have been translated into many languages all over the world.
The four Dravidian languages- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam – developed their own distinct sctipts and literature. Tamil is the oldest of these with its literature going bank to the early centuries of the Christian era. According to traditions, three literary gatherings or Sangams were held at which many sages and poets recited their compositions. This body of literature consists of many themes like politics, war and love. The famous works of this body of literature include the Ettutogai (‘Eight Anthologies’), the Tolkappiyam (a work of Tamil grammar) and the Pattuppattu (‘the Ten Songs’). Thiruvalluvar wrote the famous Kural which, in verse, deals with many aspects of life and religion. The Silappadikaram and the manimekalai are some of the other most famous works of early Tamil literature.
