Dias Mario Antony
B.A (hons.) History-I
A brief survey of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil literature. Scientific and technical treatises.
The Sanskrit language acquired its classical form , both in poetry and prose. ‘kavya’ is sometimes translated as poetry but has a broader meaning of literature as a work of art. It can take the form of prose (gadya), or verse (padya), or a combination of both, and it can be distinguished from other types of compositions such as agama(religious or canonical texts), itihasa(traditional history), and Shastra( treatise) on specific subjects.. ashvagosha was the first known writer to use Sanskrit for non –religious compositions. There was an increase use of prose in Sanskrit literature during the first century CE. In the mid 1st millennium BCE, the Prakrit dialects underwent a transition from the stage of intermediate Prakrit to the phase of the dialects known as apabramsha or deshi. The natyasastra prescribes that in Sanskrit drama, the high characters such as kings, ministers etc speaks in Sanskrit and low characters such as women and servants speak in prakrit. We know very little about the authors of the literary masterpieces of these centuries and don’t know very much about where and when they had lived. Kalidasa seems to have been connected with the city of ujjayini and is associated with the court of a king named vikramaditya , Kalidasa is counted among the most brilliant playwrights of this period , although there is uncertainty about exactly when he lived and wrote. His dramas –abhinjanashakuntala, malavikagnimitra, vikramorvashiya, and his lyrical poems – raghuvamsha, kumarasambhava and meghaduta are considered as masterpieces of Sanskrit literature. His style is considered an example of the style of vidharbha style. Banabhatta and dandin praise the sweetness of his writing. Bhasa another important playwright , was author of works such as madhyamavyayoga, ,duta-ghatotkacha, dutavakya,balachaitra and charudatta. Shudraka’s mrichchhakatika and bharavi’s kiratharjiniya are among the other prominent literary works of the period. Bhatti’s ravanavadha illustrates the rules of grammar while telling the story of rama’s life. Apart from kavya literature , there were the works that laid down the principles of poetics and dramaturgy. There is a considerable overlap in these two subjects bhamaha’s kavyalankara and dhandin’s kavyadarsha deal principally with poetics. The main function of kavya according to these treatises is to produce delight or joy. The natyasastra is the oldest known treatise on drama. Plays were performed in king’s palaces , and some kings were themselves gifted kavis. nagarakas were supposed to organize and participate in social gatherings and festivals that included dramas. It is notable that most of the kavis we know of seem to have been brahmanas.
Many important Sanskrit texts were compiled during 300-600 CE. These include the major puranas.- The Mahabarata and the Ramayana. They fall within the category of smriti as well as itihasa, although Ramayana sometimes classified as kavya(poetry). The two epics were clearly aware of each other. The composition of Mahabarata can be placed between c. 400 BCE and c. 400 CE and the Ramayana between 5/4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE. The epics are magnificent texts with powerful stories that have captured the imagination of millions of people over many centuries. According to the tradition , rama lived in the treta yuga and Mahabarata war was happened in the later dvapara yuga. But some other historians argue that the events happened in Mahabarata was slightly more earlier than the events of Ramayana. The strong women characters of Mahabarata suggest an earlier stage of social development, when women were less subordinate to men compared to later times. The practice of ‘niyoga’ in the Mahabarata also suggests a social stage that is prior to that of Ramayana, which reflects more strict controls over women.
The Mahabarata consists of 18 parvas which has two recensions- a northern and southern. The core story deals with the conflicts between kauravas and pandavas and as a result of that a great war was fought between both of the groups in kurukshetra. According to the tradition the book was composed by vyasa . it is a heroic story formed the core to which many other stories , sermons and didactic portions were added over centuries. The additions include the sermon on dharma given by bhishma as he lay dying on the bed of arrows and the stirring discourse of Krishna to arjuna on the end of the war , known as bhagavad gita.
The Ramayana exists in the form of two main recensions- the northern and southern. The epic consists of 7 kandas(books) of which the first (bala kanda) and the last(uttara kanda) are later interpolations. The basic story is about rama , the prince of kosala; his banishment to the forest due to the activities of his step mother, the abduction of his wife sita by ravana the ruler of lanka, sita’s rescue and rama’s return to his capital ayodhya to become the king. Valmiki appears in the balakanda, where is inspired to compose the epic and in the uttarakanda, where he gaves refuge to sita who has been disowned by rama. Apart from valmiki Ramayana, there are numerous other telling of the rama story – a jaina version(paumachariu of vimalasuri in orakrit), a Buddhist version(dasaratha jataka by kamban) and ramacharitamanas by thulasidas to name only a few.
In the field of grammar, bhartrihari wrote a commentary of patanjali’s mahabhashya. The Sanskrit grammarians ushered in ,linguistics as a formal science. Several dharmasastra works – the yajnavalkya, Narada, Katyayana, and Brihaspati smritis were composed in this time period. Kamandaka’s nitisara, a work on statecraft , belongs to this period, as does the kamasutra a treatise on sensual pleasure. The panchatantra is an example of a nidharsana- a work which shows through illustrations what should and should not be done. Its stories are presented as narratedby a sage named vishnusharman. The three princes whom he instructs in niti(polity,statecraft) through many engaging stories have names ending in the suffixes ‘shakti’. Philosophical texts reflect the debates of the time and refuse their rivals’ positions. New sections added in this period to the brahmasutras , yogasutras, and nyayasutras. The main philosophical texts of this period include the samkya-karika of ishvara krishna which give a systematic idea of samkya philosophy. Vyasa’s commentary on patanjali’s yogasutra may also belong roughly to this period.
Early Buddhist literature is generally divided in to canonical and non-canonical texts. Canonical texts lay down the basic tenants and principles of the religion. There are pali, Chinese and tibettan versions of the tipitakas(three baskets/collections). Pali was a literary language which develops out of a mixture of dialects. The tipidaka consists of three books.- the sutta , vinaya, and abhidhamma pidakas. Sutta contains buddha’s own doctrines. The vinaya pidaka consists of rules for monks and nuns of sangha. The abhidhamma pidaka is a later work which contains the studies on sutta pidakas. The three pidakas are divided into books known as nikayas. For instance suta pidaka consists of 5 nikayas. The jatakas- the stories of the previous births of Buddha. According to Buddhist tradition the sutta and vinaya pidakas were recited at the first councils of monks at rajagriha immediately after buddha’s death. Non canonical Buddhist literature includes the milindapana which consists of a dialogue between indo-greek Menander and nagasena. The pali or srilankan chronicles-the dipavamsa(4-5th centuries) and mahavamsha (5th century)- contain a historical account of buddha’s life, the Buddhist councils, spread of Buddhism etc Sanskrit Buddhist texts include ashvagosha’s buddhacharitha and the avadhana texts. Buddhist texts are important sources for the history of Buddhism.
The sacred books of jainas are known as siddhantas or agama. The language of earliest texts is prakrit. The jaina monastric order came to be divided into the shvetambara and digambara schools. The non canonical jaina works are partly in Sanskrit dialects especially maharashtri and partly in Sanskrit which started being used in early centuries CE. The jaina puranas are the hagiographies of the jaina saints known as ‘thirthankaras’. Jaina literature offers information regarding the history and doctrines of Jainism , the doctrines of life stories of the saints and the life of monks etc.
The earliest literature of south india is represented by a group of texts in old tamil often known as sangam literature. According to the traditions there were 3 sangam gatherings. 1st and 3rd was held in madhurai and 2nd at kapadapuram. The sangam corpus includes six of the eight anthologies of poems included in the Ettutokai(the eight collections) and nine of the ten pattus of pattupattu(the ten songs). The earliest parts of the first two books of the tholkappiyam(work on grammar) can also be included in the sangam literature. There are two kinds of sangam poems- akam and puram. Akam poems had love as their theme and puram were mostly about war. The most famous tamil didactic works were thiruvalluvar’s thirukkural, epics known as silappadikaram which tells about the story of kovalan and kannnaki and manimekalai which tella about manimekalai the daughter of the courtisan madhavi. Early medieval tamil literature includes the inspired devotional poetry of the vaishnava saints and shaiva saints. Of the many tamil renderings of Rama , the most famous is kamban’s Iramavataram.
The earliest evidence of ancient Indian astronomical knowledge is contained in the vedanga texts on jyotisha or astrology, the main focus on which was to fix the dates of sacrificial rituals. The Sanskrit names of the signs of the zodiac have greek origins and greek influence led to the sequence of planets being fixed in the names of the seven days of the week in Indian texts. A Sanskrit text known as yavanajataka reflects the transmission of Hellenistic astronomical ideas into india. Indian astronomers appear to have made certain major breakthroughs independently. Varahamihira’s panchasiddhantika summarizes the astronomical works. The earliest known historical astronomer in india is Aryabhata 1who wrote aryabhatiya, and aryabhata siddhanta which deals with astronomy and maths. He had an earth centric view of the universe( planets moved around the earth). He was the first astronomer to tell about eclipses and the reason behind that. He was the first one to tell that earth is rotating in its own axis. Varahamihira was an another astronomer and mathematician. His brihatsamhita is an encyclopedia tells about the diverse topics related with nature. Brahmaputta was another mathematician and astronomer who put forward the brahmaputasiddhanta which was the first Indian text deals with astronomical instruments. The roots of Indian mathematics can be traced to shulvasutras and shrautasutras. Shulva means measurement and shrauthasutras are the manulas for the preparation of sites where vedic sacrificial rituals were to be performed. In later times ganitha –shastra was the most frequently used term for mathematical science. The most important discoveries of the Indian mathematicians were the decimal system of notation and use of a symbol known as zero or bindu. The oldest notable evidence of the decimal place –value system of notation is in yavanajataka. The zero symbol was used in metrics by pingala in chandasutra. The decimal syatem was also refered by varahamihira and by aryabhatta. In the field of geometry aryabhatta describes the properties of the circle and gives accurate value for pie . he is regarded as the father of algebra. Trigonometry developed during this time by the use of sine functions and aryabhatiya gives tables for trigonometric ratio. Most famous later mathematicians are brahmagupta , bhaskara1, bhaskara II(author of lilavathi) and mahavira.
Although there were several different systems of medicine in ancient india the texts and traditions of only one of these- Ayurveda( knowledge of longevity) have come down to us. The charaka and shushruta samhitas are its earliest surviving texts. Some historians holds the roots of ayurveda in the Buddhist monasteries of india. The charaka samhita has several chronological layers. It is divided to 120 chapters arranged in 8 sections. The sushruta samhita dealt basically with surgery which is of 6 sections.it describes surgery as the most useful branch of medical knowledge. other important ayurveda texts are Vagbhata’s ashtangahridaya, ashtangasamgraha, sharnggadhara samhitha etc. so ayurveda is an ancient system of Indian medicine which has continued to our own times as one of the several traditional alternatives to the allopathic tradition of modern medicine.