Sahitya Akademi recognised & scheduled languages Assamese literature The Buddhist
Charyapadas are often cited as the earliest example of Assamese literature. The Charyapadas are
Vajrayana Buddhist songs composed in the 8th to 12th centuries. These writings bear similarities to Oriya and Bengali languages as well. The phonological and morphological traits of these songs, some of which are extant, bear very strong resemblance to Assamese. A comprehensive introductory book
Assamese Language-Literature & Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa originally authored by leading Assamese littérateur of
Awahon-Ramdhenu Era and pioneer Assam economist
Bhabananda Deka together with his three deputies, Parikshit Hazarika, Upendra Nath Goswami and Prabhat Chandra Sarma, was published in 1968. This book was officially released in New Delhi on 24 Nov 1968 by then President of India
Zakir Husain in commemoration of the birth centenary celebration of doyen of Assamese literature
Lakshminath Bezbaroa. After almost half a century, this historic book has been recovered and re-edited by Assamese award-winning short-story writer & novelist Arnab Jan Deka, which was published by Assam Foundation-India in 2014.
Bengali literature , the author of many works, including
Gitanjali and India's national anthem '
Jana Gana Mana'. He was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for "his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West." He was the first person of non-European lineage to win a Nobel Prize. , the author of India's National Song '
Vande Mataram'. The first evidence of Bengali literature is known as Charyapada or Charyageeti, which were Buddhist hymns from the 8th century. Charyapada is in the oldest known written form of Bengali. The famous Bengali linguist
Hara Prasad Shastri discovered the palm leaf Charyapada manuscript in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907. The most internationally famous
Bengali writer is Nobel laureate
Rabindranath Tagore, who received the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his work "Gitanjali". He wrote the national anthem of India and Bangladesh namely, "Jana Gana Mana" and "Amar Sonar Bangla", respectively. He was the first Asian who won the Nobel Prize. Rabindranath has written an enormous number of poems, songs, essays, novels, plays and short stories. His songs remain popular and are still widely sung in Bengal.
Hindi literature Hindi literature started as religious and philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects like
Avadhi and
Brij. The most famous figures from this period are
Kabir and
Tulsidas. In modern times, the
Dehlavi dialect of the
Hindi Belt became more prominent than
Sanskrit.
Gujarati literature is known as father of modern
Gujarati literature. Gujarati literature's history may be traced to 1000 CE.
Kannada literature winner for the year 1994,
U. R. Ananthamurthy The oldest existing record of Kannada prose is the
Halmidi inscription of 450 CE, and poetry in
tripadi metre is the
Kappe Arabhatta record of 700 CE. The folk form of literature began earlier than any other literature in Kannada.
Gajashtaka (800 CE) by King Shivamara II,
Chudamani (650 CE) by Thumbalacharya are examples of early literature now considered extinct.
Kavirajamarga by King Nripatunga
Amoghavarsha I (850 CE) is the earliest existing literary work in Kannada. It is a writing on literary criticism and poetics meant to standardise various written Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The book makes reference to Kannada works by early writers such as King
Durvinita of the 6th century and Ravikirti, the author of the Aihole record of 636 CE. An early
extant prose work, the
Vaddaradhane by Shivakotiacharya of 900 CE provides an elaborate description of the life of Bhadrabahu of
Shravanabelagola. Since the earliest available Kannada work is one on grammar and a guide of sorts to unify existing variants of Kannada grammar and literary styles, it can be safely assumed that literature in Kannada must have started several centuries earlier.
Pampa who popularised
Champu style in Karnataka wrote the epic "
Vikramarjuna Vijaya". He also wrote "
Adipurana". Other famous poets like Ponna wrote "shantinatapurana", "Bhuvanaikaramabhyudaya", "Jinaksharamale", and "gatapratyagata". Ranna wrote "Shantipurana" and "Ghadayudha". The Jain poet
Nagavarma II wrote "Kavyavalokana", "Karnatabhashabhushana" and "Vardhamanapurana" . Janna was the author of "Yashodhara Charitha". Rudhrabhatta and Durgashima wrote "Jagannatha Vijaya" and "Panchatantra" respectively. The works of the medieval period are based on
Jain and
Hindu principles. The
Vachana Sahitya tradition of the 12th century is purely native and unique in world literature.
Kashmiri literature Konkani literature Konkani is a language with a complex and much-contested history. It is one of the few Indian languages to be written in five scripts—Roman, Nagari, Kannada, Persian-Arabic and Malayalam-and also has an extensive oral literature.
Malayalam literature Even up to 500 years since the start of the
Malayalam calendar which commenced in 825 CE, Malayalam literature remained in preliminary stage. During this time, Malayalam literature consisted mainly of various genres of songs.
Maithili literature Maithili literature is the entire collection of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the
Maithili language. The Maithili script, Mithilakshara or Tirhuta as it is popularly known, is of a great antiquity. The
Lalitavistara mentions the Vaidehi script. Early in the latter half of the 7th century CE, a marked change occurred in the northeastern alphabet, and the inscriptions of Adityasena exhibit this change for the first time. The eastern variety develops and becomes the Maithili script, which comes into use in Assam, Bengal, and Nepal. The earliest recorded epigraphic evidence of the script is found in the Mandar Hill Stone inscriptions of Adityasena in the 7th century CE, now fixed in the Baidyanath temple of
Deoghar. The language of the Buddhist
dohas is described as belonging to the mixed Maithili—Kamrupi language.
Modern Meitei literature Modern Meitei literature, the descendant of
Ancient Meitei literature, is written in
modern Meitei language (also known as
Manipuri language), composed by writers from Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The history of Meitei literature can be traced back to thousands of years with the flourish of
Meitei civilization. , the
third longest Indian epic poem, next to the
Mahabharata and the
Ramayana, is a Meitei
epic poem, based on the classic tale of
Khamba and Thoibi, having 39,000 lines, is regarded as the
national epic of the
Manipuris.
Marathi literature Marathi literature began with saint-poets like
Dnyaneshwar,
Tukaram,
Ramdas, and
Eknath. Modern Marathi literature was marked by a theme of social reform.
Nepali literature Odia literature Odia is another ancient and rich language among the various language groups in the Indian subcontinent. Ashokan Inscriptions of 3rd cenctury BC at Dhauli and Jaugarh is the ancient unchanged evidence of Odia language. Odia language literary history started with the Kharavel's
Hatigumpha inscription (40 B.C.) was the real evidence of past Odia cultural, political, ritual and social status and it is the first poetic stake inscription. Though
Ashoka created many
rock edicts and inscriptions before
Kharavela, his instructions for administration were written in a rude and chocked language. On the other hand, the Hatigumpha inscriptions show the flexibility of a language in a sweet flow. The buddhist charyapadas written in the 7th century CE on the period of
Bhauma-Kara dynasty . Odia has a rich literary heritage, the medieval period dating back to the 13th century.
Sarala Das who lived in the 14th century is known as the
Vyasa of Odisha. He translated the
Mahabharata into Odia.
Punjabi literature The first work considered to be Punjabi literature is the 16th century biography of Guru Nanak, Janam-sakhi, written by his companion Bhai Bala. However, some say that Punjabi literature may have evolved much earlier, perhaps in the 9th or 10th centuries, based on the high level of Punjabi poetry written by Baba Farid, Guru Nanak, and Bhai Gurdas. Baba Farid (1173–1266) is often considered the first major Punjabi poet, and his Sufi poetry was compiled after his death in the Adi Granth. Wikipedia
Sindhi literature Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than 2500 years (
Sangam period: 5th century BCE-3rd century CE.)
Tolkaappiyam (3rd century BCE) has been credited as the oldest work in Tamil available today.
Telugu literature Telugu, the Indian language with the third largest number of speakers (after Hindi & Bengali), is rich in literary traditions. Literature has existed from 300 BCE in the form of inscriptions. The earliest written literature dates back to the 7th century CE.
Urdu literature Among other traditions, Urdu poetry is a fine example of linguistic and cultural synthesis.
Arab and
Persian vocabulary based on the Hindi language resulted in a vast and popular class of ghazal literature, usually written by Muslims in contexts ranging from romance and society to philosophy and Tassawuf (Sufism).
Sahitya Akademi recognised but non scheduled languages Indian English literature In the 20th century, several Indian writers have distinguished themselves not only in traditional
Indian languages but also in English, a language inherited from
the British. As a result of British colonisation, India has developed its own unique dialect of English known as
Indian English.
Rajasthani literature Non Sahitya Akademi recognised & non scheduled languages Bhojpuri literature Chhattisgarhi literature Literature in Chhattisgarh reflects the regional consciousness and the evolution of an identity distinct from others in Central India.
Kodava literature When Kodava was written, it was usually with Kannada script, sometimes with minor modifications.
Mizo literature Mizo literature is the
literature written in
Mizo ṭtawng, the principal language of the
Mizo peoples, which has both
written and
oral traditions. It has undergone a considerable change in the 20th century. The language developed mainly from the
Lushai language, with significant influence from
Pawi language,
Paite language and
Hmar language, especially at the literary level.
Nagpuri literature Nagpuri literature refers to literature in the
Nagpuri language, the language of
Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh and
Odisha. The earliest literature started in the nagpuri language when the
Nagvanshi king and king of
Ramgarh Raj started writing poetry in the 17th century. Since then, various literature has been written. Although in the present century, Nagpuri was never considered worthy of literary development, a small but dedicated writers have engaged in writing short stories, plays and poetry.
Tripuri literature Tripuri(Kokborok/Tiprakok) is the native language of Tripuri people in present Tripura state in North East of India.
Tulu literature The written literature of Tulu is not as large as the literature of other literary Dravidian languages such as Tamil. ==In foreign languages==