(Online Course) History for IAS Mains: Themes in Early Indian Cultural History - Languages and Texts

Themes in Early Indian Cultural History

Sanskrit remained the main language, and literature of various kinds continued to be written in it. Pali and Prakrit were used for writing the Buddhist and Jain religious literature.

Secular

Vakapati’s Gaudayaho, a biography of Yashovarman of Kanauj was the last major work in the older tradition of Prakrit. The last stage of Prakrit languages is represented by the Apabhramsha, which was considered important on account of the fact that the modern languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bangla have all evolved from it. The Ramacharita of Sandhyakara Nandi written during the reign of the Pala king, Mahipal, presents both the story of Rama and the life of, king Ramapala of Bengal. The Raghayaphandavija of Dhananjaya Shrutokriti describes the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata at the same time. The marriage of Shiva and Parvati, and Krishna and Rukmini are described in the Parvati-Rukminiya of Vidyamadhava, the court poet of the Chalukya king Somadeva. Hemachandra is also credited with having composed a work entitled Saptasandhana (having seven alternative interpretations). A large number of Jaina narratives dealing with the lives of Jain teachers were composed. The most famous are Adinathachrita by Vardhamana. Shantinathacharita by Devachandra. Prithvichandracharita by Shantisuri, Parshyanathachrita by Devabhadra, Kuarapalacharita and Neminathacharita by Hemachandra etc. The Sukumalacharita by Shrihara and the Neminathacharita by Haribhadra are wholly written in Apabhramsa. Many historical texts in the Kavya form were written during this period. The most remarkable of them is the Rajatarangini by Kalhana. The text is unique as it is the only known attempt at writing history in modern sense. The Prithviraja Vijay of Jayanka, Dyayashraya Mahakavya by Hemachandra and Kirtikaumudi by Someshvara and Vitcramankadevachrita of Bilhana, avasahasankachrita of Padmagupta and Kirtikaumudi of Somadeva belong to the same genre. A large number of treatises were written on poetics. The most important among such works are Kavyamimamsa by Rajashekhara, Dasharupa by Dhananjaya, Saraswati Kanthabharana by Bhoja, Kavyanushasana’ of Hemachandra and Kavikanthabharana by Kshemendra etc. In the field of prose literature, Brihatkathamanjari by Kshemendra, Kathasaritasagara by Somadeva, Kathakoshaprakarana by Jaineshvarasuri are famous.

The famous dramas are Lalitavigraharaja nataka by Somadeva, the Harikeli nataka by Visaladeva, Prasannaraghaya by Jayadeva, the Karnasundari by Bilhana. Abhidhana Chintamani, Deshi-namamala, nekarthasamgraha Nighantushesha written by Hemachandra. In the field of astronomy and mathematics, the famous mathematician Bhaskaracharya flourished in the twelfth century A.D. His SiddhantaShiromani comprises four parts - Lilavati,
Vijaganita, Grahaganita and Gola. The last one deals with astronomy. A very significant principle of Siddhanta Shiromani is that of perpetual motion which was transmitted by Islam about A.D. 1200 to Europe. King Bhoja of Paramara dynasty had written the Rajmariganka on astronomy. In the field of medicine in the eighth century, Charaka, Sushruta and Ashtangahridaya were rendered into Tibetan and Arabic. Dridhabala of Panchananda in Kashmir revised the text of Charaka-Samhita. Madhava wrote several works on medicine. His best known work is the Nidana or Rigvimshchana on Pathology translated into Arabic under the guidance of Harun-al Rashid. His other works are Chikitsa Kutamudgara and Yogavyakhya. Vagabhata II’s son Tisata wrote Chikitsakalika or Yoga-mala and Tisata’s son Chandratha wrote Yogaratnasamuchchhaya. -”Brinda of Bengal wrote his Siddhayoga between A.D. 975—1000. There are several commentaries on the religious texts. Krityakalpataru of Lakshmidhara and Chaturvarga Chintamani of Hemadri were compiled during this period. Vijnaneshvara wrote Mitakasara and commentry on the Yajnavalkyasmriti. Jimutavahana wrote Dayabhaga (Law of inheritance), Vyavaharamatrika and Kalaviveka. Manuvritti by Govindaraja, Smrityarthasara by
Shridhara, the commentary on the Yajnavalkyasmriti by Aparaka, Smriitichandrika by Devanna Bhatta are other outstanding creations of this period.

Various works on-polity such as Nitishastra by Mathara, Nitisara by Kamandaka, the Nitivakyamrita of Somadevasuri are important. One of the most famous works is Panchatantra written by Vishnu Sharma which was translated into Persian and Arabic in the eighth century A.D. and has been translated in almost all European languages since then. The popular work Hitopadesa is based on the panchatantra. The biography of Harsha, Harshacharita, written by Banabhatta is an outstanding work of the period. This period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini and Patanjali. Mention may also be made of three Shatakas of Bhartrihari. He has also been credited for writing the commentary on the Mahubhasya of Patanjali. This period is particularly memorable for the compilation of the Amarkosha by Amarasimha who was a luminary in the court of Chandragupta II. The Svetambara Jain canon was written in Ardha Magadhi Prakrit and religious texts of the Digambara Jains of the south were written in the Maharashtri and Sauraseni Prakrits. The well known Prakrit and Pali grammar works of the period are Prakritaprakasha written by Vararuchi and Prakritalakshana written by Chanda. The book on grammar of Pali is Katyayanaprakarna.

Tamil Literature

Among the Nayanar saints, Tirumular occupies a very high position. The hymns composed by them were collected into eleven Tirmurais which are held in great venerations by the people of India. Another important work contains the lives of sixty-three Saiva saints. The Vaishnava saints known as Alvars are traditionally twelve in numbers. The collection of their works known as Nalayiraprabandham, consists of 4,000 stanzas.

Foreign Accounts

Fa-Hien with four other monks came to India during the reign of Chandragupta II. He came to India via central Asia, Kashmir and travelled all over north India. He stayed at Pataliputra for three years, learning Sanskrit. As he was interested only in Buddhism, his report does not contain much political information but he has given a general description of northern India at that time. His report gives an idea of general peace and welfare during  Gupta period. Hiuen- Tsang visited India during Harsha’s reign. He spent thirteen years in India (A.D. 630-643) of which eight were in Harsha’s kingdom. He studied at Nalanda University which was at that time one of the most famous and prestigious centres of education. Like Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang also came to India via central Asia. But unlike Fa-Hien,. Hiuen-Tsang has left an account of his travels, giving details of the various Indian kingdoms visited by him. He was honoured by Harshavardhana of Kanauj and Bhaskarvarma of Assam. The greatest among these later pilgrims was I-tsing. He came to India via sea route spending several years in umatra and Sri Vijaya learning Buddhism. He stayed at Nalanda for ten years studying and translating Buddhist texts and returned to China with a collection of 400 Sanskrit manuscripts. He translated a number of texts and compiled a Sanskrit- Chinese dictionary. In his book entitled, “A record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archepelago”, he gives detailed account of Buddhism and general condition of the two countries.