Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
in the
Sanskrit language
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the lat ...
. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the
Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
, texts in
Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit. 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
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas=Descript ...
around 6th or 4th century BCE (after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm).
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
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...
, especially
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, but also
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, and
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
. Some
Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to the language used in a class of Indian Buddhist texts, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. BHS is classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language. It is sometimes called "B ...
or Buddhistic Sanskrit, which contains many
Middle Indic
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA; ...
(
prakritic) elements not found in other forms of Sanskrit.
Early works of Sanskrit literature were transmitted through an
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
for centuries before they were written down in manuscript form.
While most Sanskrit texts were composed in
ancient India
According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...
, others were composed in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
,
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
or
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
.
Sanskrit literature is vast and includes
religious scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...
, various forms of
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
(such as
epic and
lyric),
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
and
narrative prose. It also includes substantial works covering secular and technical sciences and the arts. Some of these subjects include:
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and
custom
Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to:
Traditions, laws, and religion
* Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom
* Norm (social), a r ...
,
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
,
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
,
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
-
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
,
arithmetic
Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
,
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
,
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
dramatics
Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychobiological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also e ...
,
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
, and
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
.
Overview
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
Devas may refer to:
* Devas Club, a club in south London
* Anthony Devas (1911–1958), British portrait painter
* Charles Stanton Devas (1848–1906), political economist
* Jocelyn Devas (died 1886), founder of the Devas Club
* Devas (band), ...
),
sacrifices
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...
and other concerns of the
Vedic religion. The language of this archaic literature (the earliest being the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
),
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
, is different in many ways (and much less regular) than the "classical" Sanskrit described by later grammarians like
Pāṇini
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas=Descript ...
.
This literature was transmitted orally during the Vedic period, only later was it written down.
Classical Sanskrit literature is more varied and includes the following genres: scripture (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain),
epics
The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software tools and applications used to develop and implement distributed control systems to operate devices such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large sci ...
, court poetry (
kavya), lyric,
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
, romance, fairytale, fables,
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, civil and religious law (
dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
), the science of politics and practical life, the science of love and sexual intercourse (
kama
''Kama'' (Sanskrit ) means "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature.Monier Williamsकाम, kāmaMonier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, pp 271, see 3rd column Kama often connotes sensual pleasure, sexual ...
),
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, medicine, astronomy, astrology and mathematics, and is largely secular in subject-matter.
[Iyengar, p. 5.] On the other hand, the Classical Sanskrit language was much more more formalized and homogeneous, partly due to the influence of Sanskrit grammarians like
Pāṇini
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas=Descript ...
and his commentators.
Sanskrit was an important language for medieval Indian religious literature. Most pre-modern
Hindu literature
Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...
and philosophy was in Sanskrit and a significant portion of
Buddhist literature
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
was also written in either classical Sanskrit or
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to the language used in a class of Indian Buddhist texts, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. BHS is classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language. It is sometimes called "B ...
. Many of these Sanskrit Buddhist texts were the basis for later translation into the
Chinese Buddhist Canon and
Tibetan Canon
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist schools (mostly Sarvastivada) and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon incl ...
. Many
Jain texts were also written in Sanskrit, like the
''Tattvartha sutra''.
Classical Sanskrit also served as a common language of scholarship and elites (as opposed to local vernacular who were only understood regionally).
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. However, Sanskrit remains in use throughout India, and is used in rituals, religious practice, scholarship, art, and other Indian traditions.
Vedic literature
Chronology
Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the literature of
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
:
#
Ṛg·vedic Hymns
#
Mantra
A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...
s
#
Saṃhitā
Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".[Brāhmaṇa
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within eac ...]
prose
#
Sūtras
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...
The first three are commonly grouped together, as the Saṃhitās comprising the four Vedas: 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.
[J&B, pp. 1-2.]
Ṛg·veda
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 ''maṇḍala''s, 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.
[J&B, pp. 2-3.]
The later Vedas
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
Soma may refer to:
Businesses and brands
* SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects
* Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems
* SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
sacrifice. This book is meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies, and may thus be called the book of chants, ''sāman''. The ''
Yajurveda
The ''Yajurveda'' ( sa, यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning "worship", and ''veda'' meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell C ...
'' 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''.
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.
Brāhmaṇas
The ''
Brāhmaṇas
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...
'' (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 Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
. The ''Brāhmaṇas'' intend to explain the relation between the sacred text and ritual ceremony.
The later part of the ''Brāhmaṇas'' contain material which also discuss
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
. These works were meant to be imparted or studied in the peace and calm of the forest, hence their name the
''Āraṇyaka''s ("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
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
'' (''"end of the Vedas"'') system.
Vedic Sūtras
The Vedic
Sūtras
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...
were
aphoristic
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
treatises concerned either with Vedic ritual (
Kalpa
Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu, Olvi Areena.
Team history
Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club r ...
Vedanga
The Vedanga ( sa, वेदाङ्ग ', "limbs of the Veda") are six auxiliary disciplines of Hinduism that developed in ancient times and have been connected with the study of the Vedas:James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Enc ...
) 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. The word ''sūtra'', derived from the root ''siv-'', 'to sew', thus meaning 'sewn' or 'stitched together' eventually became a byword for any work of aphorisms of similar concision. The sutras in many cases are so terse they cannot be understood without the help of detailed commentaries.
The main types of Vedic Sūtras include the ''
Śrautasūtras'' (focusing on ritual),
''Śulbasûtra'' (on altar construction), ''
Gṛhyasūtras'' which focus on
rites of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
and ''
Dharmasūtras.''
Hindu religious literature
![BhagavadGita-19th-century-Illustrated-Sanskrit-Chapter 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/BhagavadGita-19th-century-Illustrated-Sanskrit-Chapter_1.20.21.jpg)
Most ancient and medieval Hindu texts were composed in Sanskrit, either
Epic Sanskrit
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called ''Kavya'' (or ''Kāvya''; Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá''). The ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'', which were originally composed in ...
(the pre-classical language found in the two main Indian epics) or Classical Sanskrit (Paninian Sanskrit). In modern times, most ancient texts have been translated into other
Indian languages and some in Western languages.
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.
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witz ...
, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., , pages 68–71[William Graham (1993), Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion, Cambridge University Press, , pages 67–77] This verbal tradition of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, continued into the modern era.
Classification
Hindu Sanskrit texts are often subdivided into two classes:
* ''
Śruti
''Shruti'' ( sa, श्रुति, , ) in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: ''Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ'' ( ...
'' ("that which is heard") are believed to be 'revealed', examples being the
Veda
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Co ...
s and the early
Upaniṣad
The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are Vedic period, late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chic ...
s. Many scholars include the
Bhagavad·Gītā and
Āgamas as Hindu scriptures.
[Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, , page ix-xliii][Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition, State University of New York Press, , pages 46–52, 76–77] Dominic Goodall also includes
Bhagavata Purāṇa and
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
The ''Yajnavalkya Smriti'' ( sa, याज्ञवल्क्य स्मृति, IAST: ') is one of the many Dharma-related texts of Hinduism composed in Sanskrit. It is dated between the 3rd to 5th-century CE, and belongs to the Dharmasha ...
.
* The ''
Smṛti'' Sanskrit texts are a specific body of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
texts attributed to an author,
[Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1988), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, Manchester University Press, , pages 2–3] as a derivative work they are considered less authoritative than ''Śruti'' in Hinduism.
[James Lochtefeld (2002), "Smrti", The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N–Z, Rosen Publishing, , page 656–657] The ''Smṛti'' literature is a vast corpus of diverse texts, and includes but is not limited to
Vedāṅgas, the Hindu epics, the
Sūtras
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...
and
Śāstras, the texts of
Hindu philosophies
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (2 ...
, and the
Purāṇas, while some traditions also include Kāvya (courtly poetry), ''
Bhāṣyas'', and numerous ''Nibandhas'' (digests) covering politics, ethics, culture, arts and society.
[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, , pages 16–18]
Indian Epics
The first traces of
Indian epic poetry
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called ''Kavya'' (or ''Kāvya''; Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá''). The ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'', which were originally composed in ...
are seen in the
Vedic literature
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
, among the certain hymns of the
Ṛgveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one S ...
(which contain dialogues), as well as the Ākhyānas (ballads),
Itihāsas ('traditional accounts of past events') and the
Purāṇas found in the Vedic
Brāhmaṇas
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...
.
[Winternitz, 1972, pp. 311-12.] These poems were originally songs of praise or heroic songs which developed into
epic poems
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
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.
Another related genre were the "songs in praise of men" (
gatha
''Gāthā'' is a Sanskrit term for 'song' or 'verse', especially referring to any poetic metre which is used in legends, and is not part of the Vedas but peculiar to either Epic Sanskrit or to Prakrit. The word is originally derived from the S ...
narasamsi), which focus on the glorious deeds of warriors and princes, which also developed into long epic cycles. These epic poems were recited by courtly
bards
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
called ''sutas'', who may have been their own
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
and were closely related to the
warrior caste. There was also a related group of traveling singers called kusilavas. 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.
While there were certainly other epic cycles, only two have survived, the ''
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' and the ''
Rāmāyaṇa
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
''.
''Mahābhārata''
The ''
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' 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. 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.
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
Kaurava
''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wi ...
s (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 across 18+1 books.
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.
The most influential part of the ''
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' is the ''
Bhagavadgītā
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
,'' which became a central scripture for the Vedanta school and remains widely read today.
Another important associated text, which acts as a kind of supplement (''khila'') to the ''
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
,'' is the ''
Harivanhśa,'' which focuses on the figure of
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
''.''
''Rāmāyaṇa''
In contrast to the ''Mahābhārata'', the ''
Rāmāyaṇa
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
'' 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
Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c.200 BCE and 1200 CE.
This literary style, which includes both poetry and prose, is characterised by a ...
tradition. There are two parts to the story of the ''Rāmāyaṇa'', which are narrated in the five genuine books. The first revolves around the events at the court of King
Daśaratha at
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
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
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...
. 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
Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations.
In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...
of Lankā, leading Rāma to carry out to expedition to the island to defeat the king in battle and recover his wife.
Purāṇa
The ''
Purāṇa
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
'' are a large class of Hindu scriptures which cover numerous topics such as myth, legends of the
Hindu gods
Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati.
The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...
,
cosmogony
Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe.
Overview
Scientific theories
In astronomy, cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used i ...
,
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
, stories of ancient kings and sages, folk tales, information about temples, medicine, astronomy, grammar and Hindu theology and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
. Perhaps the most influential of these texts is the
''Bhāgavata Purāṇa'', a central text for
Vaishnava
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
theology.
Other ''Purāṇas'' center on different gods, like the ''
Shiva Purāṇa'' and the ''
Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa.''
Later Upaniṣads
The
principal Upaniṣads can be considered
Vedic literature
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
since they are included within the ''
Brahmanas'' and ''
Aranyakas
The Aranyakas (; sa, आरण्यक; IAST: ' ) are the part of the ancient Indian Vedas concerned with the meaning of ritual sacrifice. They typically represent the later sections of the Vedas, and are one of many layers of the Vedic texts. ...
''.
[Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanishads,'' Oxford University Press, , pages 12-14.][Bronkhorst, Johannes (2007). ''Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India'', pp. 258-259. BRILL.] 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:
* 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
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
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...
.
[Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pages 54–55]
The main ''Sūtra'' texts (sometimes also called ''
kārikās)'' on
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...
include:
[Keith (1956), pp. 470-520.]
*
''Sāṁkhyakārikā''
* ''
Sāṁkhyapravacanasūtra''
* ''
Mīmāṁsā Sūtra''
*
''Nyāya Sūtra''
* ''
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra
''Vaiśeṣika Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: वैशेषिक सूत्र), also called ''Kanada sutra'', is an ancient Sanskrit text at the foundation of the Vaisheshika school of Hindu philosophy. The sutra was authored by the Hindu sage Kana ...
''
*
''Yoga Sūtras'' of
Patanjali
*
''Brahma Sūtra'' (i.e. ''
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
sutra'')
* ''
Gauḍapāda
Gauḍapāda (Sanskrit: गौडपाद; ), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya ("Gauḍapāda the Teacher"), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the ''Advaita'' Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details o ...
Kārikā''
* ''
Pāśupata Sūtras''
*
''Shiva Sūtras''
* ''
Spandakārikā''
* ''Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā'' of
Utpaladeva
Utpaladeva (c. 900–950 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian from Kashmir. He belonged to the Trika Shaiva tradition and is the most important thinker of the Pratyabhijñā school of monistic idealism.Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpala ...
Commentaries
A manuscript of the , 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.">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.
These commentaries were written on numerous genres of Sanskrit texts, including on Sūtras, on Upaniṣads and on the Sanskrit epics.
[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]
Examples include the ''
Yogabhāṣya'' on the
''Yoga Sūtras'',
Shankara's ''Brahmasūtrabhāṣya,'' the ''Gitabhāṣya'' and ''
Sri Bhāṣya'' of
Ramanuja
Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
(1017–1137),
Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana
Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana was an Indian philosopher, commentator and logician of the Nyaya School. He is the author of the Commentary, "Nyāya", the first full commentary on the Nyāya-sūtra of Nyāya Sūtras, Gautama (c. 150 CE), which is its ...
'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.
Tantric literature
There are a varied group of Hindu
Tantric scriptures titled
Tantras
Tantras ("''doctrine''" or "''framework''" or "''system''" ) refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The religious culture of the Tantras is essentially ...
or
Agamas. Gavin Flood
__NOTOC__
Gavin Dennis Flood (born 1954) is a British scholar of comparative religion specialising in Shaivism and phenomenology, but with research interests that span South Asian traditions.
From October 2005 through December 2015, he served ...
argues that the earliest date for these Tantric texts is 600 CE, though most of them were probably composed after the 8th century onwards.
[Flood, Gavin D. (1996). ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', pp. 158-159. Cambridge University Press. .]
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
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
,
Vaishnava
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
,
Smarta
The ''Smarta'' tradition ( sa, स्मार्त), also called Smartism, is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Mimamsa, A ...
and
Shakta
Shaktism ( sa, शाक्त, , ) is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti ( Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, all ...
(perhaps excepting the
Srautas) became influenced by Tantric works and adopted some Tantric elements into their literature.
Other
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
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
), the ''
Yoga-Yājñavalkya'' and the ''
Devi Mahatmya'' (a key
Shakta
Shaktism ( sa, शाक्त, , ) is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti ( Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, all ...
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 ''Hanuman Chalisa'' (; '' Forty chaupais on Hanuman'') is a Hindu devotional hymn (''stotra'') in praise of Hanuman.Rambhadradas 1984pp. 1–8./ref> It was authored by Tulsidas in the Awadhi language, and is his best known text apart from the ...
'', the ''
Aṣṭāvakragītā'', ''
Bhaja Govindam
"Bhaja Govindam" ( sa, भज गोविन्दं, meaning "Praise/Seek Govinda"), also known as "Moha Mudgara" ("Destroyer of illusion"), is a popular Hindu devotional poem in Sanskrit composed by Adi Shankara. This work of Adi Shankara ...
,'' and the ''
Shiva Tandava Stotra
''Shiva Tandava Stotra'' ( sa, शिवताण्डवस्तोत्र, śiva-tāṇḍava-stotra) is a Sanskrit ''stotra'' (hymn) that is dedicated to the Hindu deity, Shiva. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to Ravana, t ...
.''
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).
Scientific & Secular literature
Over time, Sanskrit works on the
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
sciences (
''śāstra'' or ''
vidyā'') were composed on a wide variety of topics. These include: grammar, poetry, lexicography, geometry, astronomy, medicine, worldly life and pleasure, philosophy, law, politics, etc.
The learning of these secular sciences took place by way of a
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
expounding the subject orally, using works of
aphorisms, the
sūtra
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an ap ...
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.
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
Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927). in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is ...
'', 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.
The study of these secular works was widespread in India. Buddhist institutions like
Nalanda
Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.[Himalayan cultures, like ]Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, which not only adopted Buddhist religious literature but also these secular works.[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. The Tibetan scholar Sakya Pandita
Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་པཎ་ཌི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, ) (1182 – 28 November 1251) was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and the fourth of the Five S ...
(1182-1251) was a well known scholar of Sanskrit, and promoted the study of these secular disciplines among Tibetans.[Gold, Jonathan C. (2007). ''The Dharma's Gatekeepers, Sakya Pandita on Buddhist Scholarship in Tibet'', pp. 8-9. State University of New York Press.] The study of Sanskrit grammars and prosody was also practiced in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, even when the Pali language
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhis ...
focused Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
school rose to prominence in those regions.
Linguistic literature
Birch bark manuscript from 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.">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
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
study of the Sanskrit language. The main topics discussed in these works were grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
(''vyākaraṇa
''Vyākaraṇa'' (, ) refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, ancillary science connected with the Vedas, which are scriptures in Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vyakarana" in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen ...
''), phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
( ''śikṣā'') and etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
(''nirukta
''Nirukta'' ( sa, निरुक्त, , "explained, interpreted") is one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Nirukta" in The Illustrated Encyclope ...
''). These are traditionally part of the vedāṅga ("limbs of the Veda"), six auxiliary disciplines that developed along with the study of the Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
.[James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, , pages 744-745]
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
The early grammatical works of the linguist Yāska
Yāska was an ancient Indian grammarian and linguist st. 7th–5th century BCE(disputed)">disputed.html" ;"title="st. 7th–5th century BCE(disputed">st. 7th–5th century BCE(disputed) Preceding Pāṇini (some time between 7th and 4th century BCE), such as his ''Nirukta">st. 7th–4th century BCE(Controv ...
(some time between 7th and 4th century BCE), such as his ''Nirukta,'' provides the foundation of the study of Sanskrit grammar and etymology.
The most influential work for the Indian Sanskrit grammatical tradition is the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'' of
Pāṇini
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas=Descript ...
, 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). After Pāṇini, other influential works in this field were the ''
Vārttikakāra'' of
Kātyāyana
Kātyāyana (कात्यायन) also spelled as Katyayana (est. c. 6th to 3rd century BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. पतञ्जलीमहर्षिः Patanjali Maharsh ...
, the
of the grammarian Patañjali and
Bhartṛhari's ''
Vākyapadīya'' (a work on grammar and
philosophy of language
In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...
).
Over time, different grammatical schools developed. There was a tradition of Jain grammarians and Buddhist grammarians and a later tradition of Paninian grammarians.
Lexicography
There were numerous
lexicographical
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
works written in Sanskrit, including numerous dictionaries attributed to figures like Bana, Mayura, Murari, and Sriharsha. 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."
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." 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).
Dharma literature
A manuscript of the '' '', a ''Dharmaśāstra'' work which focuses solely on legal matters.">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
''Dharmasūtra''s 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''.
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. 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
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
, 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. 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
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.
Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
setting in.
Other secular literature
A Nepalese manuscript of the Kamasutra, with Buddhist illustrations.
Sanskrit literature also covers a variety of other technical and secular topics including:
* The ''
Bārhaspatya sūtras'', a work of the materialistic
Charvaka school of Indian philosophy.
*
Astrological
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
and
Astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...
literature (
Jyotisha), including the ''
Jyotiṣavedāṅga,'' the ''
Āryabhaṭīya
''Aryabhatiya'' (IAST: ') or ''Aryabhatiyam'' ('), a Indian astronomy, Sanskrit astronomical treatise, is the ''Masterpiece, magnum opus'' and only known surviving work of the 5th century Indian mathematics, Indian mathematician Aryabhata. Philos ...
'', the ''
Sūrya Siddhānta,'' and the ''Varāhamihira Bṛhatsaṃhitā.'' These works also discuss other topics like divination and agriculture.
* Closely associated with jyotisha are
Indian Mathematical works such as the ''
Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta
The ''Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta'' ("Correctly Established Doctrine of Brahma", abbreviated BSS)
is the main work of Brahmagupta, written c. 628. This text of mathematical astronomy contains significant mathematical content, including a good underst ...
''
*
Alchemical literature (
Rasāyana), including the works of
Nāgārjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
, such as the ''Rasaratanakaram''
* Works on politics, statecraft and other related topics, the most famous of which is the ''
Arthaśāstram.'' Others include the ''
Nitisara of Kamandaki'', the ''Nitivakyamrta'' of
Somadeva Suri
Somadeva Suri was a south Indian Jain monk of the 10th century CE ( fl. 959–66, possibly born in Bengal region about 920), author of a work known as "Upasakadyayana" "chapter on lay followers (''upasakas'')", a central work of Digambara ''shrav ...
and the ''Yuki-ḵalpataru'' ascribed to Bhoja.
* Works on archery (dhanurveda) and the science of horses (asvāyurveda).
* The study of jewels (
ratnaśāstra).
* Medical
Ayurvedic literature, including the great Ayurveda classics such as the ''
Carakasaṃhitā'', the ''
Suśrutasaṃhitā'' and the works of
Vāgbhaṭa''.''
*
Kāma Śāstras (works on love, pleasure and sexuality), the most famous of which is the ''
Kāma-sūtra.'' Other works include
Kokkaka's ''
Ratirahasya
The ''Ratirahasya'' (Sanskrit ) (translated in English as ''Secrets of Love'', also known as the ''Koka Shastra'') is a medieval Indian sex manual written by Kokkoka, a poet, who is variously described as Koka or Koka Pundit. The exact date of i ...
'' (13th century) and Kalyanamalla's (16th century) ''
Anangaranga
The ''Ananga Ranga'' ( hi, अनंगरंग, lit=Stage of Love) or ''Kamaledhiplava'' ( hi, link=no, कमलेधिप्लव, lit=Boat in the Sea of Love) is an Indian sex manual written by Kalyana malla in the 15th or 16th century. T ...
''.
*
Indian Architectural literature (
''vāstuśāstra''), such as the ''
Manushyalaya Chandrika
'' Manushyalaya Chandrika '' is a sixteenth century CE treatise in Sanskrit dealing with domestic architecture. The work is authored by Thirumangalath Neelakanthan Musath and is a summarization of the basic principles of domestic architecture th ...
'' and the ''
Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra.''
* Literature on arts and crafts (''
śilpaśāstra),'' such as works on
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
(such as the ''
Saṅgītaratnākara''), acting and dance (described in the ''
Nāṭyaśāstra)'', painting (''Vishnudharmottara''), etc.
Buddhist literature
In India,
Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
were often written in
classical Sanskrit as well as in
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to the language used in a class of Indian Buddhist texts, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. BHS is classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language. It is sometimes called "B ...
(also known as "Buddhistic Sanskrit" and "Mixed Sanskrit").
[Edgerton, Franklin (1953). ''Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary'', ''Volume 1,'' pp. 1-3. MOTILAL BANARSIDASS. .][Winternitz (1972) pp. 226-227.] While the
earliest Buddhist texts were composed and transmitted in
Middle Indo-Aryan
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA; ...
Prakrits
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usua ...
, later Indian Buddhists translated their canonical works into Sanskrit or at least partially Sanskritized their literature.
[Marcus Bingenheimer, Editor in Chief; Bhikkhu Anālayo 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][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).][Edgerton, Franklin (1953). ''Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary'', ''Volume 1,'' pp. 1-3. MOTILAL BANARSIDASS. .]
Beginning in the third century, Buddhist texts also began to be composed in classical Sanskrit.
[Marcus Bingenheimer, Editor in Chief; Bhikkhu Anālayo 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] Over time, Sanskrit became the main language of Buddhist scripture and scholasticism for certain Buddhist schools in the subcontinent, especially in
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
. This was influenced by the rise of Sanskrit as a political and literary
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
, perhaps reflecting an increased need for elite patronage and a desire to compete with Hindu
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
s. The Buddhist use of classical Sanskrit is first seen in the work of the great poet and dramatist
Aśvaghoṣa
, also transliterated Ashvaghosha, (, अश्वघोष; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; Chinese 馬鳴菩薩 pinyin: Mǎmíng púsà, litt.: 'Bodhisattva with a Horse-Voice') CE) was a Sarvāstivāda or Mahasanghika Buddhist philosopher, ...
(c. 100 CE). The
Sarvāstivāda
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
school is particularly known for having translated their entire canon into Sanskrit.
[Prebish, Charles S. (2010) ''Buddhism: A Modern Perspective'', pp. 42-44. Penn State Press.]
Other Indian Buddhist schools, like the
Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in ...
-
Lokottaravāda
The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsā ...
and
Dharmaguptaka schools, also adopted Sanskrit or Sanskritized their scriptures to different degrees.
[Eltschinger, Vincent]
Why did the Buddhists adopt Sanskrit? Open Linguistics 2017; 3: 308–326
egruyter. However, other Buddhist traditions, like
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
, rejected this trend and kept their canon in Middle Indic languages like
Pāli
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
.
[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).]
Sanskrit also became the most important language in
Mahayana Buddhism and many
Mahāyāna sūtras were transmitted in Sanskrit.
[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).] Some of the earliest and most important Mahayana sutras are the
Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, many of which survive in Sanskrit manuscripts.
Indian Buddhist authors also composed Sanskrit
treatises
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...
and other works on
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
,
logic-epistemology,
jatakas,
epic poetry
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
and other topics. While a large number of these works only survive in
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
translations, many key Buddhist Sanskrit works do survive in
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
form and are held in numerous modern collections.
Sanskrit was the main scholastic language of the Indian Buddhist philosophers in the
Vaibhasika,
Sautrantika,
Madhyamaka
Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhi ...
and
Yogacara
Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through ...
schools.
[Howladar, Mithun. ''Buddhist Sanskrit Literature : A Discussion.'' Research Guru: Online Journal of Multidisciplinary Subjects Volume-11, Issue-4, March-2018.] These include well known figures like
Kumāralatā,
Nāgārjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
,
Āryadeva
Āryadeva (fl. 3rd century CE) (; , Chinese: ''Tipo pusa'' 婆 菩薩 = Deva Bodhisattva, was a Mahayana Buddhist monk, a disciple of Nagarjuna and a Madhyamaka philosopher.Silk, Jonathan A. (ed.) (2019). ''Brill’s Encyclopedia of Budd ...
,
Asaṅga,
Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary ...
, Yaśomitra,
Dignāga
Dignāga (a.k.a. ''Diṅnāga'', c. 480 – c. 540 CE) was an Indian Buddhist scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian logic (''hetu vidyā''). Dignāga's work laid the groundwork for the development of deductive logic in India and ...
,
Sthiramati,
Dharmakīrti
Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century; Tibetan: ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་; Wylie: ''chos kyi grags pa''), was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā.Tom Tillemans (2011)Dharmakirti Stanfor ...
,
Bhāviveka
Bhāviveka, also called Bhāvaviveka (; ), and Bhavya was a sixth-century (c. 500 – c. 570) madhyamaka Buddhist philosopher.Qvarnström 1989 p. 14. Alternative names for this figure also include Bhavyaviveka, Bhāvin, Bhāviviveka, Bhagavadviv ...
,
Candrakīrti
Chandrakirti (; ; , meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the madhyamaka school and a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna () and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential w ...
,
Śāntideva
Shantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; mn, Шантидэва гэгээн; vi, Tịch Thiên) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka phil ...
and
Śāntarakṣita
(Sanskrit; , 725–788),stanford.eduŚāntarakṣita (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)/ref> whose name translates into English as "protected by the One who is at peace" was an important and influential Indian Buddhist philosopher, particul ...
.
Some Sanskrit works which were written by Buddhists also cover secular topics, such as grammar (
vyākaraṇa
''Vyākaraṇa'' (, ) refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, ancillary science connected with the Vedas, which are scriptures in Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vyakarana" in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen ...
), lexicography (koṣa), poetry (
kāvya
Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c.200 BCE and 1200 CE.
This literary style, which includes both poetry and prose, is characterised by a ...
), poetics (alaṁkāra), and medicine (
Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...
).
[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.
![Nalanda_university](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Nalanda_University.jpg)
The
Gupta
Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by se ...
(c. 4th–6th centuries) and
Pāla (c. 8th–12th centuries) eras saw the growth of large Buddhist institutions such as
Nālandā
Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.[Vikramashila
Vikramashila (Sanskrit: विक्रमशिला, IAST: , Bengali:- বিক্রমশিলা, Romanisation:- Bikrômôśilā ) was one of the three most important Buddhist monasteries in India during the Pala Empire, along wit ...]
universities, where many fields of knowledge (vidyasthanas) were studied in Sanskrit, including
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combin ...
. 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
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
, who studied Buddhism in Sanskrit at Nalanda and took over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts back to China for his translation project.
Chinese pilgrims to India like
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
described how in these universities, the study of Buddhist philosophy was preceded by extensive study of Sanskrit language and grammar.
During the Indian
Tantric Age (8th to the 14th century), numerous
Buddhist Tantras
The Buddhist Tantras are a varied group of Indian and Tibetan texts which outline unique views and practices of the Buddhist tantra religious systems.
Overview
Buddhist Tantric texts began appearing in the Gupta Empire period, though there are ...
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.
[Newman, John. "Buddhist Sanskrit in the Kālacakra 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.] These vernacular forms are often in verses (
dohas) which may be found within esoteric Sanskrit texts.
Jain literature
The earliest
Jain scriptures
Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the ca ...
, the Jain Agamas, were composed and orally transmitted in
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
. Later in the
history of Jainism
Jainism is a religion founded in ancient India. Jains trace their history through twenty-four ''tirthankara'' and revere Rishabhanatha as the first ''tirthankara'' (in the present time-cycle). Some artifacts found in the Indus Valley civilizatio ...
(after about the 8th century CE), Jain authors began composing literature in other languages, especially classical
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
while also retaining the use of Jain Prakrit.
The most important Jain Sanskrit work is
Umaswati
Umaswati, also spelled as Umasvati and known as Umaswami, was an Indian scholar, possibly between 2nd-century and 5th-century CE, known for his foundational writings on Jainism. He authored the Jain text ''Tattvartha Sutra'' (literally '"All Tha ...
's (c. sometime between the 2nd-century and 5th-century CE) ''
Tattvarthasūtra
''Tattvārthasūtra'', meaning "On the Nature '' ''artha">nowiki/>''artha''.html" ;"title="artha.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''artha">nowiki/>''artha''">artha.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''artha">nowiki/>''artha''of Reality 'tattva'' (also known as ...
'' (''On the Nature of Reality''). The ''Tattvarthasūtra'' is considered an authoritative work on
Jain philosophy
Jain philosophy refers to the ancient Indian philosophical system found in Jainism. One of the main features of Jain philosophy is its dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, consciou ...
by all traditions of Jainism and thus it is widely studied.
Other influential Jain Sanskrit authors include:
Samantabhadra,
Pūjyapāda (who wrote the most important commentary to the ''Tattvarthasūtra,'' entitled ''
Sarvārthasiddhi
''Sarvārthasiddhi'' is a famous Jain text authored by '' Ācārya Pujyapada''. It is the oldest extan commentary on ''Ācārya Umaswami's Tattvārthasūtra'' (another famous Jain text). Traditionally though, the oldest commentary on the Tatt ...
)'',
Siddhasēna Divākara (c. 650 CE),
Akalanka,
Haribhadra-s ūri (c 8th century) author of the ''
Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya
Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya ("Compendium of Yoga views") is a 228 verse Sanskrit work on Yoga by the Jain Svetambara philosopher Acharya Haribhadrasuri yakini putra (floruit 8th century). It is a particularly informative work of comparative religi ...
'',
Hemachandra
Hemachandra was a 12th century () Indian Jain saint, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian, law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gain ...
(c. 1088-1172 CE) who wrote the ''
Yogaśāstra
''Yogaśāstra'' (''lit.'' "Yoga treatise") is a 12th-century Sanskrit text by Hemachandra on Svetambara Jainism. It is a treatise on the "rules of conduct for laymen and ascetics", wherein "yoga" means "ratna-traya" (three jewels), i.e. right be ...
,'' and
Yaśovijaya (1624–1688) a scholar of
Navya-Nyāya
The Navya-Nyāya or Neo-Logical ''darśana'' (view, system, or school) of Indian logic and Indian philosophy was founded in the 13th century CE by the philosopher Gangeśa Upādhyāya of Mithila and continued by Raghunatha Siromani of Nabadwi ...
.
Kāvya
Kalidasa composing the '' ''">Meghadūta''
There is a large corpus of classical Sanskrit poetry from India in a variety of genres and forms. 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." Indian poetry includes epic and lyrical elements. It may be entirely in prose (gadya), entirely in verse (padya) or in a mixed form (misra).
[Lienhard (1984), pp. 2, 46.] Kāvya works are full of
alliteration
Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...
,
similes
A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors cr ...
,
metaphors
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with ...
and other figures of speech.
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).
Metrical Indian poetry can also be divided into two other categories:
* ''
Mahākāvya Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, ev ...
'' (''Major Poetry''), also known as ''sargabandha,'' which are large poems divided into sections or
cantos
''The Cantos'' by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a ''canto''. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date ...
(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."
Kāvya was employed by court poets in a movement that flourished between c. 200 BCE and 1100 CE. While the
Gupta era
The Gupta era is a historical calendar era that begins from c. 318–319 CE. It was used by the Gupta emperors, as well as their vassals and their successors in present-day northern India and Nepal. It is identical to the Vallabhi era (or Valabh ...
is considered by many to have seen the highest point of Indian Kāvya, many poems were composed before this period as well as after. Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced the literature of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
,
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
and the
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...
. The study of Sanskrit Kāvya also influenced
Tibetan literature Tibetan literature generally refers to literature written in the Tibetan language or arising out of Tibetan culture. Historically, Tibetan has served as a trans-regional literary language that has been used, at different times, from Tibet to Mongoli ...
, and was promoted by
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
scholars like
Sakya Pandita
Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་པཎ་ཌི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, ) (1182 – 28 November 1251) was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and the fourth of the Five S ...
.
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. 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). 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.
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." 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''.''
Laghukāvya
''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''.
[Lienhard (1984), pp. 65-66.] The earliest ''laghukāvyas'' were in prakrits, but some also began to be written in Sanskrit in time.
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.
[Lienhard (1984), pp. 71-75.] According to Lienhard "muktaka poetry generally paints miniature pictures and scenes, or else it carefully builds up a description of a single theme."
Some of the earliest of these early poems are found in the
Buddhist canon
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, 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.
There are also some surviving stanzas which are attributed to important figures like the grammarian Panini, the scholar
Patañjali
Patanjali ( sa, पतञ्जलि, Patañjali), also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hindu author, mystic and philosopher. Very little is known about him, and while no one knows exactly when he lived; from analysis of his works it i ...
, and
Vararuci, but these attributions are uncertain.
Some important Sanskrit poets whose collections of short poems have survived include
Bhartṛhari
Bhartṛhari (Devanagari: ; also romanised as Bhartrihari; fl. c. 5th century CE) was a Hindu linguistic philosopher to whom are normally ascribed two influential Sanskrit texts:
* the ''Vākyapadīya'', on Sanskrit grammar and linguistic philo ...
(
fl. c. 5th century CE), known for his ''
Śatakatraya The ''Śatakatraya'' ( sa, शतकत्रय, lit=The Three Satakas), (also known as , ) refers to three Indian collections of Sanskrit poetry, containing a hundred verses each. The three '' śataka's are known as the , , and , and are attribu ...
,'' Amaru (7th century), author of the ''
Amaruśataka'' (which mainly contains erotic poetry) and
Govardhana (12th century), author of the ''
Āryāsaptaśatī''.
There are numerous anthologies which collect short Sanskrit poetry from different authors, these works are our main source of short Sanskrit poems.
[Lienhard (1984), p. 87.] One widely celebrated anthology is the ''Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa'' (''Anthology of Well Said Jewels'') of the Buddhist monk and anthologist
Vidyakara
Vidyakara (c. 1050–1130) was a Buddhist scholar and poetry anthologist, noted for the Sanskrit poetry compilation ''Subhashitaratnakosha'' ( IAST: ''Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa''), which has been considered the "most celebrated" anthology of Sans ...
(c. 1050–1130).
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).
Samghatas and Khandakavyas
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
Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Chandas" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, , page 140 It is the study of poetic metr ...
and one theme (such as the six Indian
seasons
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
, love and eros, and nature). They are variously called "series of stanzas" (samghata) or khandakavya.
Examples of these medium length poems include: the ''
Ṛtusaṃhāra
''Ṛtusaṃhāra'', often written ''Ritusamhara'', (Devanagari: ऋतुसंहार; ऋतु , "season"; संहार , "compilation") is a long poem or mini-epic in Sanskrit attributed to Kalidasa. The poem has six cantos for the six ...
,'' the ''Ghatakarpara Kavyam,'' and the ''
Meghadūta }
''Meghadūta'' ( sa, मेघदूत literally ''Cloud Messenger'') is a lyric poem written by Kālidāsa (c. 4th–5th century CE), considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. It describes how a '' yakṣa'' (or nature spirit), wh ...
'' 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
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
work),
Vedanta Desika
Vedanta Desikan (1268–1369), also rendered Vedanta Desikar, Swami Vedanta Desikan, and Thoopul Nigamaantha Desikan, was an Indian polymath who wrote philosophical as well as religious and poetical works in several languages, including Sans ...
's ''
Hansasandeśa'', the ''
Kokila Sandeśa
The Kokila Sandeśa (Sanskrit: कोकिलसन्देश) or "The Message of The Koel" is a Sanskrit love poem written by Uddanda Śāstrī in the 15th century AD. A short lyric poem of 162 verses, it describes how a nameless hero, abducte ...
'', and
Rūpa Gosvāmin's ''
Haṃsadūta'' (16th century). Another genre of medium length poems were
panegyrics
A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Etymology
The word originated as a compound of grc ...
like the ''
Rājendrakarṇapūra'' of Sambhu.
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
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
,
Durga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.
Durga's legend centres around c ...
-
Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
(or Devi),
Ganesa,
Krsna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one o ...
(Govinda),
Laksmi
Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). A ...
,
Nrsimha,
Radha
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
,
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
,
Sarasvati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
,
Siva,
Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...
, the
Tathagatas, the
Tirthamkaras or Jinas, Vardhamana
Mahavira and
Visnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
." 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.
According to Lienhard, the literary hymns of the Buddhists are the oldest of these.
Aśvaghoṣa
, also transliterated Ashvaghosha, (, अश्वघोष; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; Chinese 馬鳴菩薩 pinyin: Mǎmíng púsà, litt.: 'Bodhisattva with a Horse-Voice') CE) was a Sarvāstivāda or Mahasanghika Buddhist philosopher, ...
is said to have written some, but they are all lost.
[Lienhard (1984), p. 132] 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.
There are also some Buddhist stotras attributed to other Buddhist masters like
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
(2nd-3rd century CE),
Chandragomin
Chandragomin (Skt. Candragomin) was an Indian Buddhist lay scholar and poet from the Varendra region of Eastern Bengal. The Tibetan tradition believes challenged Chandrakirti. According to the Nepalese tradition, Chandragomin's student was Rat ...
(5th century) and
Dignāga
Dignāga (a.k.a. ''Diṅnāga'', c. 480 – c. 540 CE) was an Indian Buddhist scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian logic (''hetu vidyā''). Dignāga's work laid the groundwork for the development of deductive logic in India and ...
as well as two Buddhist stotras by King
Harsha
Harshavardhana ( IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyav ...
vadana. Some important later Buddhist stotras are ''Sragdharastotra'' (about 700) by Sarvajñamitra, Vajradatta's ''Lokesvara-sataka'' (9th century), the tantric ''
Mañjuśrīnāma-saṃgīti'' and
Ramacandra Kavibharati
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra (known professionally as Rasta Thomas) was born on July 18, 1981 in San Francisco and is a dancer, martial artist, gymnast, and choreographer. Thomas is the founder of the Bad Boys of Dance and director/owner of the Show ...
's 15th century ''
Bhaktisataka'' (which is influenced by the
Bhakti movement
The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...
).
There are also many Sanskrit Jaina stotras, most of which are dedicated to the Jain
Tirthankara
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a ' ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the '' dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable pass ...
s. They include the ''Bhaktacamarastotra'' by
Manatunga
Acharya Manatunga (c. seventh century CE) was the composer of famous Jain prayer, ''Bhaktamara Stotra''. ''Acharya Manatunga'' is said to have composed the ''Bhaktamara Stotra'' when he was ordered to be kept in prison for not obeying the order ...
(7th century), Nandisena's ''Ajitasantistava,'' the ''Mahavirastava'' by Abhayadeva (mid 11th century) and the stotras of Ramacandra (12th century).
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
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
(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
Gangadevi, also known as Gangambika, was a 14th-century princess and Sanskrit-language poet of the Vijayanagara Empire of present-day India. She was wife of Kumara Kampana, the son of the Vijayanagara king Bukka Raya I (c. 1360s-1370s).
Ganga ...
,
Ramanuja
Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
,
Jayadeva
Jayadeva (; born ), also spelt Jaideva, was a Sanskrit poet during the 12th century. He is most known for his epic poem '' Gita Govinda'' which concentrates on Krishna's love with the '' gopi'', Radha, in a rite of spring. This poem, which pres ...
,
Rupa Goswami
Rupa Goswami ( sa, रूप गोस्वामी, bn, রূপ গোস্বামী, ; 1489–1564) was a devotional teacher (guru), poet, and philosopher of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. With his brother Sanatana Goswami, he is ...
, and
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa (17th century).
Mahākāvya
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). Sargabandhas commonly center around a
hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...
and also include
villains
A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...
. They almost never end in a tragic manner. Indian epic poetry like the ''
Rāmāyaṇa
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
'' forms an important influence on Sanskrit ''mahakāvya'' literature.
The oldest extant ''mahākāvyas'' are those of the Buddhist poet and philosopher
Aśvaghoṣa
, also transliterated Ashvaghosha, (, अश्वघोष; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; Chinese 馬鳴菩薩 pinyin: Mǎmíng púsà, litt.: 'Bodhisattva with a Horse-Voice') CE) was a Sarvāstivāda or Mahasanghika Buddhist philosopher, ...
(
c. 80 – c. 150
CE). His ''
Buddhacarita
''Buddhacharita'' (; ) is an epic poem in the Sanskrit '' mahakavya'' style on the life of Gautama Buddha by of Sāketa (modern Ayodhya), composed in the early second century CE.
The author has prepared an account of the Buddha's life and tea ...
'' (''Acts of the Buddha'') was influential enough to be translated into both Tibetan and Chinese. The Chinese pilgrim
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
(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."
[J.K. Nariman: Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism, Bombay 1919]
Aśvaghoṣa and his School
Another ''mahākāvya'' by
Aśvaghoṣa
, also transliterated Ashvaghosha, (, अश्वघोष; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; Chinese 馬鳴菩薩 pinyin: Mǎmíng púsà, litt.: 'Bodhisattva with a Horse-Voice') CE) was a Sarvāstivāda or Mahasanghika Buddhist philosopher, ...
is the ''Saundarananda'', which focuses on the conversion of
Nanda
Nanda may refer to:
Indian history and religion
* Nanda Empire, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, an Indian royal dynasty ruling Magadha in the 4th century BCE
** Mahapadma Nanda, first Emperor of the Nanda Empire
** Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), last ...
, Buddha's half-brother.
The great mahākāvyas
Kālidāsa, called by many the
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
of India, 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".
Kālidāsa's greatest Kāvyas are the ''
Raghuvaṃśa'' and the ''
Kumārasambhava
''Kumārasaṃbhavam'' ( sa, कुमारसम्भवम् "The Birth of Kumāra") is an epic poem by Kālidāsa. It is widely regarded as the finest work of Kālidāsa as well as the greatest kāvya poem in Classical Sanskrit. The style ...
.''
This ''
Raghuvaṃśa'' (''The Genealogy of
Raghu
Raghu () is a ruler of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism. According to the '' Raghuvamsha'', he is the son of King Dilīpa and Queen Sudakshina. His successors styled themselves as belonging to the eponymous Raghuvamsha dynasty, or the ' ...
'') chronicles the life of
Rāma
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...
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. The ''
Kumārasambhava
''Kumārasaṃbhavam'' ( sa, कुमारसम्भवम् "The Birth of Kumāra") is an epic poem by Kālidāsa. It is widely regarded as the finest work of Kālidāsa as well as the greatest kāvya poem in Classical Sanskrit. The style ...
'' (''The Birth of Kumāra'') narrates the story of the courtship and wedding of
Śiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
and
Pārvatī
Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi in ...
, 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.
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
Bharavi () was a 6th century Indian poet known for his epic poem ''Kirātārjunīya'', one of the six ''mahakavyas'' in classical Sanskrit.
Time and place
As with most Sanskrit poets, very few concrete details are available about Bharavi's life, ...
's (6th century CE) ''
Kirātārjunīya
''Kirātārjunīya'' ( sa, किरातार्जुनीय, ''Of Arjuna and the Kirāta'') is an Epic poetry, epic poem by Bhāravi, considered to be the most powerful poem in Sanskrit. Believed to have been composed in the 6th century or ...
'',
Māgha
Magha (c. 7th century) ( sa, माघ, ) was a Sanskrit poet at King Varmalata's court at Shrimala, the then-capital of Gujarat (presently in Rajasthan state). Magha was born in a Shrimali Brahmin family. He was the son of Dattaka Sarvacharya ...
's (c. 7th Century CE)
''Śiśupālavadha'', the ''
Bhaṭṭikāvya
' (; "Bhatti's Poem") is a Sanskrit-language poem dating from the 7th century CE, in the formal genre of "great poem" (mahākāvya). It focuses on two deeply rooted Sanskrit traditions, the ''Ramayana'' and Panini's grammar, while incorporating nu ...
'' (also known as ''Rāvaṇavadha'') and
Śrīharṣa
Shri-harsha ( IAST: Śrīharṣa) was a 7th century Indian philosopher and poet. Shri Harsha's works concern Advaita Vedanta, Nyaya and other themes in Hindu Philosophy.
Early life
Śrīharṣa was the son of Śrīhira and Mamalladevī. His fa ...
's (12th century CE) ''
Naiṣadhīyacarita,'' which is the most extensive and difficult of the great mahākāvyas (and contains many references to Indian philosophy)''.'' Over time, various commentaries where also composed on these poems, especially the ''Naiṣadhīyacarita.''
Later mahākāvyas
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). Later sargabandhas tended to be more heavily loaded with technical complexity, erudition and extensive decoration. Authors of these later works include the 12th century Kashmiri Shaivas
Kaviraja Rajanaka Mankha and Jayaratha, Jayadeva, author of the innovative and widely immitated ''
Gitagovinda
The ''Gita Govinda'' ( sa, गीत गोविन्दम्; ) is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship between Krishna, Radha and ''gopis'' (female cow herders) of Vrindavan.
The ''Gita ...
,''
Lolimbaraja's ''Harivilasa'' (mid 11th century), the Shaivite ''Bhiksatana(kavya)'' of Gokula, Krsnananda's 13th century ''Sahrdayananda,'' and the numerous works of ''
Ramapanivada.''
After the 8th century, many sophisticated Jain mahākāvyas were written by numerous Jain poets (mainly from
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
), including Jatasimhanandi's ''Varangacarita'' (7th century), Kanakasena Vadiraja Suri's ''Yasodharacarita'', and the ''Ksatracudamani'' by Vadibhasimha Odayadeva. Jain authors also wrote their own versions of
the ''Ramayana'' with Jain themes, such as the ''Padmapurana'' of Ravisena (678 A.D.).
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
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
'', c. 14th-century) by
Gangadevi
Gangadevi, also known as Gangambika, was a 14th-century princess and Sanskrit-language poet of the Vijayanagara Empire of present-day India. She was wife of Kumara Kampana, the son of the Vijayanagara king Bukka Raya I (c. 1360s-1370s).
Ganga ...
, which chronicles the life a prince of the
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
and his invasion and conquest of the
Madurai Sultanate
Ma'bar Sultanate ( fa, ), unofficially known as the Madurai Sultanate, was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. The sultanate was proclaimed in 1335 led by Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan declared his independenc ...
.
Some later poems focused on specific poetic devices, some of the most popular being
paronomasia
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...
(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.
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).
Prose mahākāvya
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
Bāṇabhaṭṭa ( sa, बाणभट्ट) was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet of India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'' in the court of the emperor Harsha, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in north India, first from Sthanvishvara (T ...
(author of ''
Kādambari'' and ''
Harshacarita''). Prose mahākāvyas replaced virtuosity in metre with highly complex and artistic sentences. Other important writers of Sanskrit prose poems include Bhūṣaṇa bhaṭṭa, Dhanapala (the Jain author of the ''
Tilakamañjari''), and Vadibhasimha Odayadeva (author of the ''
Gadyacintāmaṇi'').
Campū
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.
[Lienhard (1984), p. 265] The earliest Sanskrit example of this genre is Trivikramabhatta's ''Nalacampu'' (or ''Damayanticampu'', c. 10th century).
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."
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,'' and
Raghunathadasa's ''Muktacaritra.''
Works on prosody and poetics
There are also numerous Sanskrit works which discuss
prosody and
poetics
Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry.
History
The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...
. The earliest work which discusses poetics is Bharatamuni's ''
Nāṭyaśāstra'' (200 B.C. to 200 A.D.), a work which mainly deals with drama.
Piṅgalá (
fl. 300–200 BCE) authored the ''
Chandaḥśāstra
Acharya Pingala ('; c. 3rd2nd century BCE) was an ancient Indian poet and mathematician, and the author of the ' (also called the ''Pingala-sutras''), the earliest known treatise on Sanskrit prosody.
The ' is a work of eight chapters in the late ...
'', an early
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
treatise on
prosody.
Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri lists four main school of Indian poetics and their main figures:
* 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 The Kavyadarsha ( sa, काव्यादर्श, ) by Dandin is the earliest surviving systematic treatment of poetics in Sanskrit.
Contents
This work is divided into 3 ''pariccheda''s (chapters) in most of the printed editions, except one, ...
'' is influenced by the Alaṅkāra school and introduces the concept of ''
guna''. The ''
Kāvyādarśa The Kavyadarsha ( sa, काव्यादर्श, ) by Dandin is the earliest surviving systematic treatment of poetics in Sanskrit.
Contents
This work is divided into 3 ''pariccheda''s (chapters) in most of the printed editions, except one, ...
'' 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
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...
(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
Kshemendra (; ) was an 11th-century Sanskrit polymath-poet, satirist, philosopher, historian, dramatist, translator and art-critic from Kashmir in India.
Biography
Kshemendra was born into an old, cultured, and affluent family. His father wa ...
, Hemacandra's ''Kavyanusasana'', Vagbhata's ''Vagbhatalankara'', and
Rupa Gosvamin's ''Ujjvalanilamani''.
Subhāṣita
Outside of Kāvya proper are also numerous poetic works (often called
subhāṣita, "well said") which can be classified as
gnomic poetry
: ''For the map projection see Gnomonic projection; for the game, see Nomic; for the mythological being, see Gnome.''
Gnomic poetry consists of meaningful sayings put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes (c.f. the ...
and
didactic poetry
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need t ...
.
[Keith (1956), p. 227.] These are mainly poems which contain some wise saying,
aphoristic
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
lesson (often ethical), popular maxim or a
proverb
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
(lokavakya). These are thousands of
Subhāṣitas on many themes. The ''
Dharmapada
The Dhammapada (Pāli; sa, धर्मपद, Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka ...
'' is one important early collection of aphorisms.
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''. Another important collection of gnomic sayings is the ''Nisataka'' of
Bhartrhari.
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). There are also numerous anthologies of
subhāṣita, such as the ''
Cātakāṣṭaka''.
Sanskrit drama
_in_a_musical_of''_Shakuntala_(play)">Shakunthala''.html" ;"title="Shakuntala_(play).html" ;"title="Nirupama Rajendra in a musical of'' Shakuntala (play)">Shakunthala''">Shakuntala_(play).html" ;"title="Nirupama Rajendra in a musical of'' Shakuntala (play)">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. Sanskrit drama focuses on the sentiments and on heroic characters. Classically, the
endings are happy, never
tragic
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
. References to Sanskrit drama are found throughout ancient Sanskrit texts, including the great epics.
Some of the earliest Sanskrit dramas are those of
Aśvaghoṣa
, also transliterated Ashvaghosha, (, अश्वघोष; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; Chinese 馬鳴菩薩 pinyin: Mǎmíng púsà, litt.: 'Bodhisattva with a Horse-Voice') CE) was a Sarvāstivāda or Mahasanghika Buddhist philosopher, ...
(only a fragment of his ''
Śāriputraprakaraṇa'' survives) and the many plays of
Bhāsa
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kalidasa. His name was already well-known by the 1st century BCE and he belongs to the late-Mauryan (322-184 BCE) period at the earliest, but the thirt ...
(c.1st century BCE), most of which are based on the two great epics (''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'').
Kalidasa is widely considered to be the greatest Sanskrit playwright, hailed for his linguistic mastery and economy of style. He wrote three plays: ''
Vikramōrvaśīyam
''Vikramōrvaśīyam'' (Devanagari विक्रमोर्वशीयम्), meaning ''Ūrvaśī Won by Valour'') is a five-act Sanskrit play by ancient Indian poet Kālidāsa, who lived in the 4th or 5th Century CE, on the Vedic love story ...
,
Mālavikāgnimitram,
Abhijñānaśākuntalam
''Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, IAST: ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam''), also known as ''Shakuntala'', ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', ''The Sign of Shakuntala'', and many other variant ...
.''
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. His ''
Ratnavali
''Ratnavali'' (Precious Garland) is a Sanskrit drama about a beautiful princess named Ratnavali, and a great king named Udayana. It is attributed to the Indian emperor Harsha (606–648). It is a Natika in four acts. One of the first textual r ...
,
Nagananda
''Nagananda'' (''Joy of the Serpents'') is a Sanskrit play attributed to emperor Harsha (ruled 606 C.E. - 648 C.E.).
''Nagananda'' is among the most acclaimed Sanskrit dramas. Through five acts, it tells the popular story of Vidyadhar King Jimut ...
,'' and ''
Priyadarsika'' are well known Sanskrit dramas.
The
''Mattavilāsaprahasana'' (''A Farce of Drunken Sport'') is a short one-act
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
play. It is one of the two great one act plays written by Pallava King
Mahendravarman I
Mahendravarman I (600–630 CE) was a Pallava emperor who ruled the Southern portion of present-day Andhra region and Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was a scholar, painter, architec ...
(571– 630CE) in the beginning of the seventh century in Tamil Nadu.
Bhavabhuti
Bhavabhūti (Devanagari: भवभूति) was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, Vidarbha, in Gondi ...
(8th century) is one of the great playwrights after Kalidasa. Other major Sanskrit playwrights include
Visakhadatta,
Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa, Murari,
Rajasekhara Rajasekhara may refer to:
* Rama Rajasekhara/Cheraman Perumal "Nayanar" (''fl.'' 9th century), theologian, devotional poet and ruler from south India
* Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)
Rajashekhara (; ) was a Sanskrit poet, dramatist and critic. H ...
, Kshemisvara, Damodaramishra, and Krishnamishra.
Later Sanskrit dramaturgical texts also continued to be written in the second millennium, such as the ''
Shilparatna
{{Use Indian English, date=December 2019
Shilparatna is a classical text on traditional South Indian representational-performing arts. It is particularly influential in painting and theatrical performance. It was authored by Srikumara in 16th cen ...
'' which discusses dance and drama.
Other Sanskrit narratives
There are various classical Sanskrit collections of
fables
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
one of the most influential of which is the early ''
Pañcatantra,'' a work that was widely immitated''.'' Other works include the ''
Hitopadeśa'' and Srivara's ''Kathakautuka.'' 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
Kshemendra (; ) was an 11th-century Sanskrit polymath-poet, satirist, philosopher, historian, dramatist, translator and art-critic from Kashmir in India.
Biography
Kshemendra was born into an old, cultured, and affluent family. His father wa ...
's various works like the ''Avadānakalpalatā.''
Folk tale (or
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
) collections include the ''
Vetala Pañcaviṃśati,''
''Siṃhāsana Dvātriṃśikā'', and the
''Suktasaptati''. There is also Somadeva's ''
Kathāsaritsāgara
The ''Kathāsaritsāgara'' ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") (Devanagari: कथासरित्सागर) is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by the Shaivite Somadeva.
' ...
'' (''Ocean of the Streams of Stories'').
There are also poetic historical
chronicles
Chronicles may refer to:
* ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible
* Chronicle, chronological histories
* ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis
* ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed
* '' The Idh ...
like the ''
Rajatarangini
''Rajatarangini'' ("The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of India, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The ...
'' of Kalhana.
Hemacandra's (1088-1172) ''Trisastisalakapurusacaritra'' is one example of Jain didactic narrative in Sanskrit.
There are also abridged retellings of more ancient lost texts, such as
Budhasvāmin's ''
Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha
' (Brihat-katha-shloka-sangraha, बृहत्कथाश्लोकसंग्रह), ''"Verse Abridgment of the Great Story"'', is Budhasvāmin's abridgement into Sanskrit verse of the now lost ''Great Story'' ('). It tells the legend o ...
''.
Modern Sanskrit literature
![Sanskrit_College_1999_stamp_of_India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Sanskrit_College_1999_stamp_of_India.jpg)
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:
Most current Sanskrit poets are employed as teachers, either pandits in ''pāṭhaśāla''s or university professors.
[ However, Tripathi also points out the abundance of contemporary Sanskrit literature:
Similarly, , 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.][S. Ranganath (2009)]
''Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka''
, p. 7:
Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan:
Since 1967, the Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
, India's national academy of letters, has had an award
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An awar ...
for the best creative work written that year in Sanskrit. In 2009, Satyavrat Shastri
Satya Vrat Shastri (29 September 1930 – 14 November 2021) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar, writer, grammarian and poet. He wrote three Mahakavyas, three Khandakavyas, one Prabandhakavyas and one Patrakavya and five works in critical writing i ...
became the first Sanskrit author to win the Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...
, India's highest literary award.
Vidyadhar Shastri
Vidyadhar Shastri (1901–1983) was a Sanskrit poet and a scholar of Sanskrit and Hindi. He was born in the city of Churu in Rajasthan (India), received the degree of ''Shastri'' from Punjab University (Lahore), a Master of Arts in Sanskrit ...
wrote two epic poems (''Mahakavya''), seven shorter poems, three plays and three songs of praise (, he received the ''Vidyavachaspati'' award in 1962. Some other modern Sanskrit composers include Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra
Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra (born 1943) is a Sanskrit author, poet, lyricist, playwright and a former Vice-Chancellor of the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi.
He is the recipient of India's highly prestigious award Padma Shri 2020 for his ...
(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".[Mishra, Mayank. Karma ka Pujari. Chandigarh : Unistar Publications, 2010. Print]
See also
; Literature
* Sanskrit drama
The term Indian classical drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India. The roots of drama in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Rigveda (1200-1500 BCE), which contains a number of hymns in ...
* Hindu scripture
Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...
* Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
* Early Medieval literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of literature during the 6th through 9th Centuries.
The list is chronological, and does not include epigraphy or poetry.
For poetry, see: 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th century in po ...
* Indian literature
* List of Sanskrit poets
This is a list of Sanskrit-language poets.
A
* Manmohan Acharya
* Agasthya Kavi
* Amaru
B
* Bharavi
* Bhartṛhari
* Bhāsa
* Bhatta Narayana
* Budhasvamin
* Banabhatta
D
* Daṇḍin
* P. C. Devassia
* Rahas Bihari Dwivedi
G
* Shat ...
* List of ancient Indian writers
Many writers contributed to the large body of early Indian literature (here roughly taken to predate the 13th century Delhi Sultanate), consisting of poetry, drama, and writings on religion, philosophy, linguistics, mathematics and many other top ...
* Legendary creatures in Sanskrit mythology
; Revival and significance
* Sanskrit revival
Sanskrit revival is the accumulation of attempts at reviving Sanskrit that have been undertaken. This revival is happening not only in India but also in Western countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and in many European ...
* Clay Sanskrit Library
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the ...
* List of Sanskrit universities in India
The following is a list of at least 18 Sanskrit universities in India (3 central, 1 deemed and 14 state universities) which are only focused on Sanskrit revival and Sanskrit studies along with related disciplines like Ayurveda
Ayurveda () ...
* List of Sanskrit academic institutes outside India
* List of historic Sanskrit texts
* Symbolic usage of Sanskrit
* Sanskrit Wikipedia
Sanskrit Wikipedia ( sa, संस्कृत विकिपीडिया; IAST: Saṃskṛta Vikipīḍiyā) (also known as sawiki) is the Sanskrit edition of Wikipedia, a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia proje ...
Notes
Glossary
Brahmic notes
References
Bibliography
* Macdonell, Arthur Anthony, A History of Sanskrit Literature, New York 1900
*
* 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
*
* Bhattacharji Sukumari, ''History of Classical Sanskrit Literature,'' Sangam Books, London, 1993,
* Gonda, Jan (ed.) ''A History of Indian Literature'', Otto Harrasowitz, Wiesbaden.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* S. Ranganath
''Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka''
Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan
Central Sanskrit University, formerly Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, is a central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India, to promote Sanskrit. Established in 1970, it functions under the Ministry of Human Resource Dev ...
, 2009.
*
Studies on Modern Sanskrit Writings: Ādhunika-saṃskṛta-sāhityānuśīlanam.
Papers Presented in the Section on Modern Sanskrit Writings (Proceedings of the 15th World Sanskrit Conference, 2012)''. Edited by Jürgen Hanneder and Måns Broo with an introduction by R. V. Tripathi.
*
*
*
*
* Lienhard, Siegfried (1984). ''A History of Classical Poetry: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit'' (A History of Indian Literature Vol. III) Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
* Gaurinath Bhattacharyya Shastri (1987). ''A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature.'' Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
External links
a cumulative register of the numerous download sites for electronic texts in Indian languages.
Vedabase.net
Vaishnava literatures with word for word translations from Sanskrit to English.
Official page
of the Clay Sanskrit Library
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the ...
, 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
b
Sanskrit Literature
at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy
''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work concerning fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scot ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanskrit Literature
Indian literature by language
Indian literature
*
*
Medieval poetry
History of literature in India
Indian religious texts
Vedas
Ancient literature
Epic poetry
Oral literature
Vedic hymns
Nepalese literature by language