Talk:Indian literature

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The article needs to include a lot about literature in other Indian languages. Wait till somebody more knowledgable puts something here. utcursch 11:15, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Hindustani

LordSuryaofShropshire has removed the Hindustani section from Indian literature, saying Nonsense: Premchand wrote works entirely in Urdu and entirely in Hindi; Khusro's work is largely Persian and uses ancient Hindvi, which is 90% pure Sanskrit-Prakrit and is not Hindustani

But if you have read Amir Khusro's works, you will realize that earliest Hindustani can be seen in his poetry. (Also see Amir Khusro, which mentions that he wrote in Hindustani as well). Of course, very few of his works used Hindustani (in its earliest form). Again, if you read Premchand's short stories, you will realize that he rarely (if ever) used Sanskritized Hindi (which was used by Bhartendu Harishchandra, Dayanand Saraswati and later by others). His Hindi stories often have words of Persian/Arabic origin (like daftar, kameez etc) and also English words like pen, pant etc. In his most famous stories, he used a mix of Hindi and Urdu, which is, essentially, Hindustani. Here are some links :

  • listserv: Simply not a patch on the work of people like Munshi Premchand, who wrote in hindi/urdu/hindustani.
  • Boloji History: One of the earlier writers of Hindustani was Amir Khusarao (1253-1325)... and writers like Premchand have been claimed both by Hindi protagonists as well as Urdu spokesmen. The only difference was that the same writer wrote some times in modified Arabic (Persian) script and some times in Devanagari script. In this paper we would use the word Hindustani to include Hindi, Urdu and the other forms like Khariboli, Hindi, etc.
  • Language India: Premchand, who symbolized the confluence of Hindi and Urdu at a time when the two had traveled far apart
  • Tata NCPA: This is Motley's fourth production in a series that brings Hindustani literature to the stage. The focuss is on three modern stories: Munshi Premchand's two classics, "Elder Brother" and "The Chess Players

utcursch 09:24, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)

No way... Shatranj Ke KHilaadi, Bazaar-e-Husn, etc. were all Urdu... stories like Godaan were Hindi, notwithstanding the occasional loan, they were shuddha. As for Amir Khusro, he didn't speak or write Hindustani. It didn't exist back then. He spoke proto-Hindi (Hindvi). --LordSuryaofShropshire 07:01, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

Write-up on Shailendra Chauhan occupies inordinately large space considering that several other writers of more prominance (premchand, nirala, mahadevi verma, renu, muktibodh, dinkar, agyeya etc.) have not been covered. We need to keep this space balanced. Please add links to specific writers, if you can't write details about the vast field of hindi lit. I am removing the above mentioned writeup.

[edit] Need a section on Marathi literature

The section on "other Indian Languages" has some links to Marathi authors: P.L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar. These should be separated out into their own section, just like the Bengali and Tamil sections.

Thinking on that. Will create a Marathi section soon. utcursch 13:19, Dec 2, 2004 (UTC). Created it. Also see Marathi literature. utcursch 09:02, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Introductory paragraphs

I don't think the introductory paragraphs are very good at all. There needs to be at least a mention of Muslim literary traditions for they, too, are a large part of Indian culture and the introductory paragraphs make no mention of it. The paragraphs suggest that Indian literature is entirely Hindu classical. Modern indian literature also needs to be mentioned, for modern Indian literature is also very definitively significant Indian literature (Tagore etc.). I have therefore edited the introductory paragraphs accordingly. Tanzeel 23:35, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Section headings

Headings given like "Medieval and modern languages" are not appropriate. There are no such things called medieval and modern languages. Kannada, Tamil and Telugu were fully active and literature in these languages were abundantly produced back when Sanskrit literature was also at it's peak. So there is no certain line to distinguish the period of these literature. Also I moved Tamil literature from ancient languages to different Indian languages. You have to provide valid citations to prove that Tamil literature was active when Pali and Prakrit were at their full flow, before making changes. Gnanapiti 18:12, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What about Dalit literature?

There is no mention of Dalit literature at all here, what about it? You can't talk of American literature without talking of Black literature, in the same way, you can't talk of Indian literature without talking of the plight of arguably 75 % of the population. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Indian Indian (talk • contribs) 08:17, 4 May 2007 (UTC).

What next? Brahmin literature? Rajput literature? Baniya literature? Seriously, don't you Indians get tired of casteism? 202.54.176.11 17:42, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Good try

Hi 202.54.176.11, you are behaving as if you are not an Indian, but I've traced your IP address, its in India alright. Now what problem do you have with Dalit literature? It is a literature by itself, and needs to be given eminence. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Indian Indian (talk • contribs) 01:22, 12 May 2007 (UTC).