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Development of Indian Classical Language and Literature on Modern Creative Writing of India

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Development of Indian Classical Language and Literature on Modern Creative Writing of India Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 Development of Indian Classical Language and Literature on Modern Creative Writing of India Ceazer Gonsalves Assistant Professor Department of English Milagres College, Udupi, Karnataka Email: [email protected] Abstract Language is a medium through which we express our thought. While the literature is a mirror which reflects ideas and philosophies which govern our society, hence to know any particular culture and its traditions it is very important we understand the evolution of its language and the various forms of literature like poetry, plan drama, religious and non religious writing. Indian language play a very important role in our culture and one of the earliest language is Sanskrit ever since human being have invented scripts, writing has reflected the culture, life style, society and the polity of the contemporary society. Each culture evolved its own language and creates a number of literary bases and this literary base of civilization tells us about the evolution of its language and culture through the span of centuries. As we know Sanskrit language is a mother of most of the Indian language .The Vedas and Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana all these works were written in Sanskrit language and also variety of secular and regional literature created in the past so that we can understand better. It is among the 22 language listed in the Indian Constitution .Sanskrit gave importance to study linguist scientifically during 18th and 19th century. Sanskrit is the only language that transcended the barriers of regions and boundaries from the north to the south and east to the west .There is no part of India that has not contributed to all being affected by language. Keywords:Sanskrit, language, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Puranas. Volume XII, Issue XI, November/2020 Page No:6 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 Introduction American Author Oliver Wendell Holmes quoted “Every language is a temple in which the soul of those who speak in enshrined “Indian literature includes everything which is included in the word `literature` in its broadest sense: religious, epic, lyric, dramatic and didactic poetry, narrative and scientific prose, also oral poetry and songs therefore it is not correct to say that ancient Indian literature includes on the religious classic of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. But it also includes beyond religion and even the Jain narrative literature is full of realism under the Prakrit language. Role of Vedas on Indian classical literature Vedas are known has the earliest literature in Indian. This Vedas were originally written in Sanskrit language and were handed down orally from one generation to the other. The word Vedas literary means knowledge. This Vedas are considered as eternal divine revelations in Hindu culture. In order to understand the Vedas, it is necessary to learn about the Vedangas or the limbs of Vedas. These supplements of Vedas provide education (Siksha), grammar (Vyakarana) ritual (Kalpa), metrics and astronomy (Jyotisa) these Vedas were written in the form of precepts in the sutras. After the four Vedas a number of work called the Brahmanas were developed. Later these portions of the Brahmanas called the Aranyakas and the final part of the Aranyakas are philosophic books named Upanishads which belong to the latest stage of the Brahamanas literature. All this Brahmanas present scared explanation of the rituals have their origins in the philosophical discussion of the Brahmanas, which represents their traditional ritualistic symbolism of the Brahmanas and philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. each of these four Vedas have their own Brahmanas books Rig-Veda had Kaushitaki and Aitreya. Taitteriya belong to Krishna Yajur Veda and Shatpath belong to Shukla Yajur Veda and Panchvish and Jainmaniya belongs to Atharva Veda. through these Vedas we get the knowledge and information of the social political and religious life of the people. The Arayankas helps us to understand the soul, birth, death and life beyond it. All these works were in Sanskrit language. Were initially handed down orally and put writing much later. The word Upanishad is derived from the upa (nearby) and nishad (to sit down) that is “sitting down near “, group of pupils sit near the guru to learn from him in the guru shisha parampara or tradition.Upanishad makes the culmination of the Indian thoughts. It also contains difficult Volume XII, Issue XI, November/2020 Page No:7 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 discussion of the ultimate philosophical problems, which were thought at the end. That is why they are called the hand of Vedas. There are more than two hundred known Upanishad. The Upanishad forms an important part of our literary legacy. They deal with questions like the origin of the universe life and death, the material and spiritual world nature of knowledge and main other things. The Ramayana and Mahabharata The Ramayana of Valmiki is the original Ramayana. Valmiki is known has Adikavi. The Ramayana bring out the picture of ideal and modern society. Ramayana speaks about how an individual can achieve divines or holiness through his good deeds. It also deals with how to get Mokshas (liberation) karma (fulfilment of all the desires). Mahabharata is a great epic and when we say it’s an epic we also know that it’s a poem, a lengthy poem that has transferred generation to generation through an oral tradition. That means Mahabharata perhaps might have been a thought about as an epic well before the writing technology was invented. From the time to till today many of the scholars’ have analysed Mahabharata and have provided us different perspectives so we can learn lots of lesson by reading, understanding Mahabharata. In the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna his duty has a warrior when he tried to leave from his karma and he enlightens him. He preaches the self-contained guide to life. In modern days many of the writers help to inspire the Indian independence movement, they wrote many of the text to bring the same awareness among the people during the independence, they try to make realise their karma. This is mainly because of the holy book the Bhagavat Gita which brought the positivity in human action. They are Mahatma Gandhi, swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and many others. These two ancient epics Indian books are translated in most in all the Indian vernacular languages of India. Through referring these books many writers and writing were emerged in Indian society. These books have crossed the boards of this sub continent and became very popular in western land. Many of the foreign writers took these books as reference and helped to create modern society and culture. Volume XII, Issue XI, November/2020 Page No:8 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 These mythological works propagate religious and spiritual message through the parables and fables. They have a potent influence in the development of religious and spiritual lives of the people. These works gives us the geographical and historical information. Influence of classical Sanskrit literature on Indian society The great epic like Ramayana and Mahabharata are the part of Indian classical literature of the period. The classical Sanskrit literature is on the whole secular in character. The great grammarian Panini, analyse Sanskrit and its words formation in its unrivalled descriptive grammar Ashtadhyayi. Kalidasa is the one of the greatest writer who has contributed to epic like Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa. The main intention of the poem is to bring out the efficiency of a religious and cultural way of life. His plays were actually in poetic form like Abhijan Shakuntalam, vikramarvashi and Malvikaganimithram. Another greatest writer of this period is Bhasas (4th century B.C 2nd century Ad) his 13 plays were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, are accepted as the most remarkable stage of the Sanskrit theatre People has different types of questions about the Sanskrit and they are asking some questions: what relevant it has today in the age of science and technology? Also they think that this is the language of religion, rituals, and prayer. When we read the words of the Sanskrit language we are going to understand that Sanskrit is not a religion, ritual or prayer but it is the language which every subject and works has been written and kept, Sanskrit is a non religious and scientific literature than the text on the religion subject. People say that Sanskrit is difficult language because if we compare to English it may be difficult because English use one word for water whereas Sanskrit has more than 200 words for water. Sanskrit is not an object specific language but it context specific language. The creativity, immense flexibility, scientific structure of this language, makes the language relevant not just today but the progressive revaluation of the humanity. Comparison of the ancient language of India There are several languages which are existed from the classical languages of the country. Today those languages are used as their state language or the regional language and they related to one or the other Indian classical language. The modern language like Hindi, Volume XII, Issue XI, November/2020 Page No:9 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese and Urdu are the languages originated from the Indo-Aryan and 80%of these languages are used in different parts of India at present. Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam these languages which belong to the southern Dravida language and these are the most recognized literary languages of India. Conclusion Every Indian modern language has originated from one or the other ancient classical language of India. The languages of India are almost as old as Indian civilization.
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