01 Understanding Literary and Archaeological

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# The composition of the Mahabharata can be placed between

c. 400 BCE and c. 400 CE, and the Ramayana between the
5th/4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
Excavations at the site of Ayodhya have indicated the
existence of a settlement here from the Northern Black
Polished Ware (NBPW) phase, which may go back at the

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earliest to c. 700 BCE.
A Jaina version (the Paumachariu of Vimalasuri, in
Prakrit), a Buddhist version (the Dasharatha Jataka in Pali),
a 12th century Tamil version by Kamban (the
Iramavataram)
In Paumachariu, Ravana is presented as a tragic hero who is
killed by Lakshmana, not by Rama (who embodies all the
Jaina virtues, including non-violence).
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Buddhist Literature Sutta Pitaka contains the Buddha’s discourses on various

doctrinal issues in dialogue form.
Sutta Pitaka consists of five Nikayas- the Digha, Majjhima,
Samyutta, Anguttara, and Khuddaka Nikayas.
Vinaya Pitaka has rules for monks and nuns of the sangha
(monastic order). It includes the Patimokkha = a list of
transgressions against monastic discipline and atonements
for these.
Abhidhamma Pitaka is a later work, and contains a thorough
study and systemization of the teachings of the Sutta Pitaka
through lists, summaries, and questions and answers.

The Khuddaka Nikaya also contains the Dhammapada (a

collection of verses dealing mainly with ethical sayings), and
the Theragatha and Therigatha (songs of Buddhist monks

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and nuns)
The Therigatha, which describes women’s experience of
renunciation, is especially important because it is one of the
very few surviving ancient Indian texts composed by or
attributed to women.
First council of monks @ Rajagriha patroned by Ajatashatru
2nd @ Vaisali patroned by Kalashoka
Third council convened in the 3rd century BCE during the
reign of Ashoka @ Pataliputra,
4 th @ kashmir patroned by Kanisk
Pali includes the Milindapanha (1st century BCE–1st century
CE) which consists of a dialogue on various philosophical
issues between king Milinda ; the Indo-Greek Menander and
the monk Nagasena.
Nettigandha or Nettipakarana (The Book of Guidance)
belongs to the same period and gives a connected account
of the teaching of the Buddha Commentaries on the Tipitaka
include a 5th century work by Buddhaghosha.
First connected life story of the Buddha occurs in the
Nidanakatha (1st century).
The Pali or Sri Lankan chronicles—the Dipavamsa (4th–5th
centuries) and the Mahavamsa (5th century ) contain a
historical-cum-mythical account of the Buddha’s life, the
Buddhist councils, the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the kings of

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Sri Lanka, and the arrival of Buddhism on that island.
Sanskrit intensified in the Mahayana schools,
Mahavastu, which has some Mahayana elements, gives a
hagiography (sacred biography) of the Buddha and
describes the emergence of the monastic order in mixed
Sanskrit–Prakrit
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Lalitavistara (1st–2nd centuries), a hagiography of the
Buddha associated with the Sarvastivada school but
strongly tinged with Mahayana elements, is in Sanskrit and
mixed Prakrit-Sanskrit.
Sanskrit Buddhist texts include Ashvaghosha’s
Buddhacharita (1st/2nd century) Avadana texts. The latter
contain stories of noteworthy deeds with a moral; they
include the Avadanashataka (2nd century) and the
Divyavadana (4th century) which have stories connected
with the Buddha and the Maurya emperor Ashoka
Ashtasahasrika-prajnaparamita and Saddharma-pundarika
offer accounts of the various Buddhas, bodhisattvas (future
Buddhas), and Mahayana doctrines
Later works of Mahayana thinkers such as Nagarjuna,
Vasubandhu, Asanga, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, and Dignaga
are all in Sanskrit.

Jaina Literature Shvetambara canon includes the 12 Angas, 12 Uvamgas

(Upangas), 10 Painnas (Prakirnas), 6 Cheya Suttas (Cheda
Sutras), 4 Mula Suttas (Mula Sutras), and a number of
individual texts such as the Nandi Sutta (Nandi Sutra) and
Anugodara (Anuyogadvara).
Shvetambara tradition, the Angas were compiled at a council
held at Pataliputra.
Jaina Puranas (the Shvetambaras call them Charitas) are
hagiographies of the Jaina saints known as tirthankaras
(literally ‘ford makers’), but they contain other material as
well.
Adi Purana (9th century) narrates the life of the first
tirthankara Rishabha, also known as Adinatha.
8th century Harivamsha Purana gives a Jaina version of the
stories of the Kauravas, Pandavas, Krishna, Balarama, and
others.
Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana by Jinasena and
Gunabhadra (9th century) has life stories of various Jaina
saints, kings, and heroes. It also has sections on topics such
as life-cycle rituals, the interpretation of dreams, town
planning, the duties of a warrior, and how a king should rule.
Parishishtaparvan (12th century) by Hemachandra gives a
history of the earliest Jaina teachers and also mentions
certain details of political history
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Sangam Literature Sangams or literary gatherings in ancient times.

and later Tamil The first is supposed to have been held in Madurai for 4,440
years, the second at Kapatapuram for 3,700 years, and the
works third in Madurai for 1,850 years
Six of the eight anthologies of poems included in the
Ettutokai (The Eight Collections), and nine of the ten pattus
(songs) of the Pattuppattu (The Ten Songs).
Super-anthologies (i.e., anthologies of anthologies) called
the Ettutokai and the Pattuppattu.
Tolkappiyam can also be included in Sangam literature.
Tolkappiyam is essentially a work on grammar, but it also
includes a discussion of phonology, semantics, syntax, and

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literary conventions.
Sangam poems—akam and puram.
Akam poems had love as their theme, while puram poems
were mostly about war s puram poetry as ‘public poetry’
Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, a work on ethics, polity, and love
(5th– 6th centuries).
Tamil epics, two of the best known are the Silappadikaram
and Manimekalai.
Vaishnava saints (Alvars) and Shaiva saints (Nayanars or
Nayanmars)
Vaishnava poetry took off with the compositions of Peyalvar,
Puttalvar, and Poikaialvar.
Nathamuni collected the Alvar hymns into the canon known
as the Nalayira Divya Prabandham.
The Alvarvaipavam is a sacred biography of the Vaishnava
saints Shaiva devotional literature began with the
compositions of Tirumular and Karaikal Ammaiyar.
Hymns of the Nayanmar saints were compiled in the 10th
century by Nambi Andar Nambi and this compilation formed
the core of the Shaiva canon, the Tirumurai.
Nambi also wrote a work called the Tiruttondar Tiruvantati
about the saints.
In the 12th century, the accounts of the Shaiva saints were
collected in a text called the Periyapuranam.
Kalampakams were poetic compositions in which the last
line, word, foot, or syllable of the preceding poem formed the
beginning of the succeeding one.
Kovai were poems in which the verses are arranged in a
thematic sequence
Pantikkovai, a 6th/7th century work written in honour of the
Pandya king Netumaran;
Manikkavachakar’s Tirukkovaiyar (9th century) in praise of
the god Shiva;
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Poyyamolip Pulavar’s Tanchaivanan Kovai (13th century)
about Tanchaivanan, a minister and general of a Pandya
king.
Ula literature comprised songs in praise of gods, sung
when the image of the deity was taken out in procession
Tutu poetry consisted of poems in which a message is
delivered to a god, lover, or someone else
Madurai, capital of the Pandya king.
Rama legend, the most famous is Kamban’s
Iramavataram is Tamil versions of the Mahabharata story.

Early Kannada and Kannada inscriptions date from the 5th/6th century
Telegu Literature onwards, but the oldest surviving piece of literature in this
language is the Kavirajamarga (The Royal Road of the
Poets), a 9th century work on poetics.
The best known poets of the 10th century were Pampa,
Ponna, and Ranna, all of whom wrote Jaina Puranas
Pampa, author of the Adi Purana (an account of the life of
the first tirthankara Rishabha or Adinatha), also wrote the
Vikramarjunavijaya, based on the Mahabharata story.
Ponna wrote both in Sanskrit and in Kannada, and was given
the title of Ubhaya-kavi-chakravarti (imperial poet in both
languages)
Chavunda Raya, a general and minister under the Ganga
kings, wrote the Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana, an account
of the 24 Jaina saints, in continuous prose
Nagachandra or Abhinava Pampa wrote the
Ramachandracharitra Purana, one of many Jaina versions of
the Rama story.
Kannada works of the 12th century include Neminatha’s
Lilavati, in mixed verse and prose, which tells the love story
of a Kadamba prince and a beautiful princess.
Tikkana, a minister associated with the court of
Manumasiddhi, a ruler based in the Nellore area, added 15
Parvas to Nannaya’s Mahabharata
Nanne Choda—author of the Kumarasambhavamu—who
describes himself as a ruler of a small principality
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Other ancient texts , The earliest Sanskrit poets and playwrights include
biographies and Ashvaghosha and Bhasa.
Ashvaghosha was the author of the Buddhacharita (which
histories he describes as a mahakavya), Sariputraprakarana, and
Saundarananda.
Bhasa wrote several dramas including the Pancharatra,
Dutavakya, Balacharita, and Svapna-Vasavadatta
Kalidasa (4th–5th centuries), author of the dramas
Abhijnana-Shakuntala, Malavikagnimitra, Vikramor-
vashiya, and poetic works such as the Raghuvamsha,
Kumarasambhava, and Meghaduta.
Major early medieval poets and writers include Bharavi,
Rajashekhara, and the poetess Vijayanka.
Vishakhadatta’s Mudrarakshasa (7th/8th century) revolves
around the manoeuvres of Chanakya to win over Rakshasa,
a minister of the Nandas, to Chandragupta’s side. His
Devichandragupta centres on an incident set in the reign of
the Gupta king Ramagupta
Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and Patanjali’s Mahabhashya.
Aryabhata’s Aryabhatiya and Varahamihira’s Brihatsamhita
are important astronomical texts
literature belonging to the Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya,
Vaisheshika, Purva Mimamsa, and Uttara Mimamsa schools.
Ideas of schools whose texts have not survived, such as the
materialist Charvaka or Lokayata school.
Sanskrit biographies include Banabhatta’s Harshacharita
(7th century) about king Harshavardhana.
Vakpati wrote the Prakrit Gaudavaha (8th century) about
Yashovarman of Kanauj. Bilhana’s Vikramankadevacharita
(12th century) is woven around the Chalukya kings,
especially Vikramaditya VI.
Royal biographies in Tamil include the anonymous
Nandikkalambakkam (9th cen- tury), a long poem about the
events of the reign of the Pallava king Nandivarman III
Kalinkattupparani by Cheyankontar, is based on the war
between the Chola king Kulottunga and Anantavarman
Chodaganga, the ruler of Kalinga.
Prithvirajaraso by Chand Bardai is an epic poem in the early
Braj-bhasha dialect, woven around the Rajput king Prithviraja
Chauhan
Sandhyakara Nandi’s Ramacharita is a Sanskrit work with
double meaning, simultaneously narrating the story of the
Ramayana and of Ramapala, an 11th/12th century king of
Bengal
12th century
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Kumarapalacharita by Hemachandra is a long poem in
Sanskrit and Prakrit, which tells the story of the Chaulukya
kings of Gujarat and simultaneously illustrates the rules of
Sanskrit and Prakrit grammar.
Rajatarangini, the 12th century historical chronicle of
Kashmir by Kalhana.
later Vedic texts contain certain types of compositions that
reflect a historical consciousness. These include the
danastutis, gathas, narashamsis, and akhyanas.

Account of foreign Indica of Megasthenes, ambassador of Seleucus Nikator to

writers the court of Chandragupta Maurya include the works of
Arrian, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, and the anonymous
Periplus Maris Erythraei (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea).
These texts are especially important for the history of Indian
Ocean trade.
Indian travels are Faxian (Fa Hien) and Xuanzang (Hiuen
Tsang).
Faxian’s travels extended from 399 to 414 CE and were
confined to Northern India. Xuanzang left his home in 629
CE and spent over 10 years travelling the length and breadth
of the country.
Yijing, another 7th century Chinese traveller, lived for 10
years in the great monastery of Nalanda
Arabic KalilawaDimma collected fables from various places,
including India.
Al-Biruni helped modern historians identify the initial year of
the Gupta era. The Tahqiq-i-Hind states that the Gupta era
began 241 years after the beginning of the Shaka era.
Shahnama of Firdausi, a classic of Persian poetry, and the
Gulistan by the famous poet Saadi, refer incidentally to
aspects of Indian trade.
#Megasthenes > Faxian > Xuanzang > Yijing