literature of India

1. INDIA

2. FACTS: World’s second most populous nation Seventh largest in area 3,000 km wide Shoreline of about 7,000 km India and Bharat are both official names.

3. FACTS: Early settlers called their land “Bharat Varsha ” or “Bharat”. During medieval times, it was known as “Hind.”

4. FACTS: Earliest Indian civilization grew up in the Indus Valley from 4000 to 2500 BC. 1500 BC --- Aryan invaders entered India. Hinduism and the Caste system were the foundations of the Indian society.

5. Form parts of India’s borders WEST --- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tibet EAST --- Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet Topographically complex and divided into prominent elongated valleys and mountain ranges Highest mountain --- Karakoram Range HIMALAYAS

6. Part of a vast lowland extending across the subcontinent from Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) in the east Bordered on the north by foothills of the Himalayas, south of the Bramaputra basin, south of the Indo- Gangetic Plain, east of the Brahmaputra, and in the rest of India by the Ganges. NORTHERN PLAINS

7. LANGUAGES More than 200 languages are spoken Linguistic diversity provides an important key to understanding Indian civilization. Four major linguistic groups were represented. Most important are the Indo-Arab branch of the Indo-European group and the Dravidian language group.

8. RELIGIONS IN INDIA HINDUISM BUDDHISM JAINISM SIKHISM

9. Indian Caste System

10. GREAT PEOPLE : MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI Leader of the Indian Nationalist movement Known as Mahatma (great soul) Pioneered on civil disobedience or the philosophy of nonviolent confrontation Born on October 2, 1869, Porbandar

11. INDIAN LITERATURE

12. FACTS: Mostly written in Sanskrit (oldest extant Aryan language) A small portion was written in Prakrit (vernacular form of Sanskrit)

13. PERIODS OF LITERATURE

14. RELIGIOUS WORKS Oldest sacred literature is found in the four V edas.

15. RIG VEDA --- an anthology of 1028 hymns to various gods SAMA VEDA --- (Book of Chants) liturgies, mostly repetitions of hymns in the Rig Veda ATHARVA VEDA --- (Prayer Book) additional many prose formulas YAJUR VEDA --- (Book of Spells) incantations, notions about demonology and witchcraft

16. PROSE

17. EPICS Mahabharata --- written by Vyasa Longest poem in the world About 200,000 lines, nearly 8 times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey Greatest epic of India Circa 500 BC

18. EPICS Ramayana --- written by Valmiki Circa 500 BC to 200 AD About 96,000 lines, in seven books

19. DRAMAS The Toy Clay Cart --- attributed to King Sundra ; has three acts; a courtesan saves the life of a merchant because of his former kindness and generosity Sakuntala or the Fatal Ring --- attributed to Kalidasa (the Hindu Shakespeare)

20. TALES The Jatakas --- imaginative legends concerning the 550 births of Buddha and his early life The Panchanatantra --- (Five Books); probably intended as a manual of instruction for kings’ sons The Hitopdesa --- (Book of Good Counsels), forty-three tales The Sukasaptati --- (Seventy Stories of a Parrot) fairy tales

21. POETS Kalidasa --- leading lyricist famous for a large number of poems of sentiment; India’s foremost Sanskrit dramatist and poet Javadeva --- author of the Gitagovinda (love-making of Krishna)

22. Rabindranath Tagore --- Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 Famous collection--- Song Offerings ( Gitanjali ) Wrote 3,000 poems, 2,000 songs, 8 novels, 40 volume essays and short stories, and 50 plays

23. Thank you…