A History of Indian English Literature

1983 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 687
Author(s):  
K. S. Narayana Rao ◽  
M. K. Naik
Keyword(s):  
English Literature ◽  
Indian English ◽  
History Of

Foreigners, Brahmins, Poets, or What? The Sociolinguistics of the Sanskrit “Renaissance”

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Henrich Hock ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Administrative Positions ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
General Terms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ex Nihilo

A puzzle in the sociolinguistic history of Sanskrit is that texts with authenticated dates first appear in the 2nd century CE, after five centuries of exclusively Prakrit inscriptions. Various hypotheses have tried to account for this fact. Senart (1886) proposed that Sanskrit gained wider currency through Buddhists and Jains. Franke (1902) claimed that Sanskrit died out in India and was artificially reintroduced. Lévi (1902) argued for usurpation of Sanskrit by the Kshatrapas, foreign rulers who employed brahmins in administrative positions. Pisani (1955) instead viewed the “Sanskrit Renaissance” as the brahmins’ attempt to combat these foreign invaders. Ostler (2005) attributed the victory of Sanskrit to its ‘cultivated, self-conscious charm’; his acknowledgment of prior Sanskrit use by brahmins and kshatriyas suggests that he did not consider the victory a sudden event. The hypothesis that the early-CE public appearance of Sanskrit was a sudden event is revived by Pollock (1996, 2006). He argues that Sanskrit was originally confined to ‘sacerdotal’ contexts; that it never was a natural spoken language, as shown by its inability to communicate childhood experiences; and that ‘the epigraphic record (thin though admittedly it is) suggests … that [tribal chiefs] help[ed] create’ a new political civilization, the “Sanskrit Cosmopolis”, ‘by employing Sanskrit in a hitherto unprecedented way’. Crucial in his argument is the claim that kāvya literature was a foundational characteristic of this new civilization and that kāvya has no significant antecedents. I show that Pollock’s arguments are problematic. He ignores evidence for a continuous non-sacerdotal use of Sanskrit, as in the epics and fables. The employment of nursery words like tāta ‘daddy’/tata ‘sonny’ (also used as general terms of endearment), or ambā/ambikā ‘mommy; mother’ attest to Sanskrit’s ability to communicate childhood experiences. Kāvya, the foundation of Pollock’s “Sanskrit Cosmopolis”, has antecedents in earlier Sanskrit (and Pali). Most important, Pollock fails to show how his powerful political-poetic kāvya tradition could have arisen ex nihilo. To produce their poetry, the poets would have had to draw on a living, spoken language with all its different uses, and that language must have been current in a larger linguistic community beyond the poets, whether that community was restricted to brahmins (as commonly assumed) or also included kshatriyas (as suggested by Ostler). I conclude by considering implications for the “Sanskritization” of Southeast Asia and the possible parallel of modern “Indian English” literature.

scholarly journals Gender and Religion in Kamala Das’ Poetry

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 5699-5702
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Indian English ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Voice

Kamala Das was one the illustrious poets in the history of Indian English literature. She represented a typical middle class Indian woman’s dual conflict of ideas through the portrayal of her own persona with the backdrop of Indian life and culture in her versatile poetry. Kamala Das was a champion of woman’s secret longings, aspirations and desires. Her poems are full of her personal feelings as a woman and the realization of own self. The present paper focuses on the voice she lends for every woman agonized in marriage and the reawakening of her soul, which she submits to God.

scholarly journals The Rise of Indian English and the Renaissance in Modern Indian Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S11) ◽  
pp. 2886-2888
Keyword(s):  
English Literature ◽  
Indian Literature ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Indian Language ◽  
British Rule ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru

This article is about The Rise of Indian English and The Renaissance in Modern Indian Literature. This also brings in to light how the Indian Novel in English came into existence during the British rule in India. The History of English literature in our country come forth when English people entered into Hindustan in the name of trading. Inorder to overcome the problem of communication in an alien land the Englishmen pleaded for the adoption of their Language. In the long uneasy and interminable task of making English as an Indian language, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were the central figures.

scholarly journals Exploring Sensibility in Modern Indian English Drama

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitthal V. Parab
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
English Literature ◽  
English Drama ◽  
Indian English ◽  
The People ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
History Of

The Indian English Drama has developed as an important and versatile body of English Literature and has caught attention of the global audiences. It has made a substantial progress by encapsulating various issues that India has been facing from time to time. It finds its impetus from Indian sensibility, philosophy, myths and religious beliefs and attracted attention of the people beyond boundaries. When one goes through the history of Indian English Drama, one comes to know that it has made a little progress than Indian English Fiction and Poetry. Though Indian English Drama came to the scene before these above-mentioned genres but failed to keep pace with them because of some reasons. Unlike Fiction and Poetry, Drama cannot be restricted to reading only. It needs a theatre, an encouraging audience, effective dialogues, efficient actors and other stagecraft. Indian English Drama passes many phases and at last comes to a whole new range of playwrights who have left no stone unturned to give it its due place. The present paper studies Indian English Drama with all its flaws and highlights the contribution of Modern Indian English Playwrights.

History of Contemporary Indian English Poetry: An Appraisal

POETCRIT ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-82
Author(s):  
Pravat Kumar Padhy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
English Poetry ◽  
Indian English ◽  
History Of

A Complete Replica of Contemporary Indian Society in the Fictional Works of Chetan Bhagat: A Detailed Literary Analysis of his Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The Three Mistake of My

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Vikram Patel
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Call Center ◽  
English Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Middle Class Family ◽  
Fiction Writers

hetan Bhagat is one of the most influential fiction writers of contemporary Indian English literature. Postmodern subjects like youth aspirations, love, sex, marriage, urban middle class sensibilities, and issues related to corruption, politics, education and their impact on the contemporary Indian society are recurrently reflected thematic concerns in his fictions. In all his fictions, he has mostly depicted the contemporary urban social milieu of Indian society. Though the fictions of Chetan Bhagat are romantic in nature, contemporary Indian society and its major issues are the chief of the concerns of all his fictions. He has focused on the contemporary issues of middle class family in his fictional works. All of the chief protagonists of his works are sensitive youth and they do not compromise with the prevalent situations of society. Most of the characters are like caricatures that represent one or the other vice or virtue of the contemporary Indian society. The author has a mastery to convince the reader about the prevalent condition of society so that one can easily reproduce in mind, a clear cut image of contemporary Indian society. The present article is a sincere endeavor to present the detailed literary analysis of the select fictions of Chetan Bhagat keeping in mind how the contemporary Indian society has been replicated in the fictions.

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