Post-Gupta Period:

Que. Discuss the relationship between emergence of literature in vernacular languages and formation of regional Identities in early medieval India. [UPSC CSE-2021]

Approach:

(1) Give an overview on the literature in early Medieval India.

(2) Discuss the emergence of vernacular literature in early Mediaeval India.

(3) Discuss How this led to the formation of regional identities in early Medieval India.

(4) Conclude by stating regionalisation of India was a positive aspect in long term as it developed the regional culture which ultimately contributed to cultural heritage of India.

Introduction:

From the point of view of literature, the period between 750-1206 CE is considered as one of the most productive and creative periods of Indian history. Several literary works were composed under the patronage of royal courts. Like the earlier period, Sanskrit continued to be important in literature. It was the preferred language of court poets. At the same time, the practice of composing texts in vernacular languages gained momentum. While texts in Tamil language are known since 300 BCE, for the first time, literary compositions in regional languages of Kannada and Telegu appeared. Thus, Sheldon Pollock (2006) has considered this to be a transformative phase, a time when Sanskrit’s dominant literary position was challenged by vernacular languages.

Development of regional Literature:

One of the important features of the literary history of this period is the development of literature in regional languages in various parts of India. Regional languages which grew rapidly during this period in northern India included Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati. In South India, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, have a longer literary history than that of the north Indian regional languages. The literary history of the Tamil language goes back to the beginning of the Common Era.

(1) Hindi: Scholars have placed the origin of the Hindi language between 7th and 10th centuries. It was in this period that Hindi was evolving out of Apabhramsa.

Dialects: Hindi developed in various forms in the medieval period. The dialects of Hindi included Brajbhasha, Awadhi, Rajasthani, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Malawi, etc

Compositions: Most of the bardic poetical narratives were composed in the Rajasthani dialect of Hindi. The most famous of them is the Prithviraja Raso which is attributed to Chand Bardai, the court ministerial of Prithviraj (1177 AD-1192 AD), the most famous rajput ruler. Other heroic poetical narratives included Visaldeva Raso, Hammir Raso, Khumana Raso etc

(2) Tamil: The origin of this literary culture may be traced back to the sixth century when under the patronage of the two dynasties Pallavas and Pandyas the poets composed hymns dedicated to either Shiva or Vishnu.

Compositions: The first such compendium was compiled by Suntarar (780 AD – 830 AD) who collected the poems of 62 Nayanars. He also authored several new hymns which were added to the compendium in the 11th century by Nampi Antar Nampi (1080 AD-1100 AD). The Vaishnava canon ‘Nalayirativya- Prapantam’ (lit. means The Four Thousand Divine Work) was compiled later in the 10th century by Natamuni. It is a collection of 4000 hymns composed by 14 poets, of which 12 were Alvars.

(3) Kannada: The initial impetus to the development of Kannada literature came from the courts of Rashtrakutas and their feudatories.

Important Works: The first important Kannada work ‘Kavirajamarga’ (Royal Road of Poets) was written in the ninth century at the court of the Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha (814 AD-878 AD). It is considered as Sanskrit kavya; scholars note the influence of Dandin’s Kavyadarsha and Bhamaha Kavyalankara. It was intended as a guide for the poets in Kannada, making it a landmark work in the development of Kannada kavya.

(4) Telugu: The usage of Telugu in inscriptions goes back to the 6th century, but the first literary texts were composed in the early medieval period. 

Oldest Work: The oldest work in Telugu literature is a translation of the Adi and Sabha Parvas of the Mahabharata by poet Nannaya. It dates back to the 11th century CE. In the subsequent centuries, there were further translations of the Mahabharata.

Great Poets: Two poets Tikkana (1220 AD-1300 AD) and Yerrapragada (1280 AD – 1350 AD) respectively translated Virata-parva and Vana-parva. These works laid the foundation of Telugu literature, and are highly regarded as Kavitraya Languages and Literature. The other great Epic of Ramayana was translated in the 13th century by Kona Buddharaja. Thus, some of the oldest works in Telugu literature are translations of the great Sanskrit works.

How this led to the Formation of Regional Identities in Early Medieval India:

The identity of the various cultural groups is recognized by both foreign and Indian sources. The Chinese traveller Huien Tsang mentions several nationalities.

(1) Existence of eighteen major peoples or nationalities: The Jaina texts of the late eighth century notice the existence of eighteen major peoples or nationalities and describe the physical features of sixteen. They reproduce samples of their language and say something about their character. Vishakhadatta, an author of about the ninth century, speaks of different regions inhabited by peoples different in customs, clothing, and language.

(2) Birth of Apabhramsha: Since the seventh century, a remarkable development takes place in the linguistic history of India, the birth of Apabhramsha, the final stage of the middle Indo-Aryan. This language is placed roughly halfway between Prakrit that preceded it and modern Indo-Aryan languages that succeeded it. It roughly covers the period from AD 600 to 1000. Extensive Jaina literature was written in this language towards the end of this period.

(3) Emergence of Regional languages: Glimpses of modern languages are traceable in both Jaina and Buddhist writings in Apabhramsha. Buddhist writings from eastern India show faint glimmerings of Bengali, Assamese, Maithili, Oriya, and Hindi. Similarly, the Jaina works of the same period reveal the beginnings of Gujarati and Rajasthani. In the south, Tamil was the oldest language, but Kannada began to grow at about this time. Telugu and Malayalam developed much later.

(4) Isolation with others regions led to development of its own language: It seems that each region came to develop its own language because of its isolation from the other. When the Gupta empire broke up, several inde-pendent principalities rose, and this naturally hindered countrywide contacts and communication. The decline of trade meant lack of communication between the people of the various regions, and this promoted the growth of regional languages.

(5) Regional Scripts: Regional scripts became more prominent in seventh century and later. From Maurya to Gupta times, although the script changed to some degree, more or less the same script continued to be used throughout the greater part of India. Thus, a person who has mastered the script of the Gupta age can read inscriptions of that period from different parts of the country, but from the seventh century onwards, every region had its own script, and therefore it is not possible to read post-Gupta inscriptions from different parts without mastering the regional scripts.

Conclusion:

During the early medieval period, there was considerable development in the literature. However, the quality of the content in them was not of a high order. It was basically of general imitative and reproductive character.