Indian English Literature

Indian English literature

❖      Only about 150 years old.

❖      considerable contribution  from writers of indian origin and indians abroad in the post independence period

Early writers in english in india include

R.C.Dutt:Translated indian epics into english and wrote The economic history of india

●       Sarojini Naidu:One among first to write poems in english.Works include The indian weavers,The feather of the dawn,In the bazaars  of hyderabad etc

●       Aurobindo ghosh Translated many indian scriptures into english including Gita.He also wrote extensively on philosophy.

The three giants of early indian english literature are Mulk raj anand,R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao

Mulk Raj anand (1905-2004)

●       Famous for his work “The untouchable”(1935).It has an introduction   by  E.M.Forster

●       The untouchable is story of Bakha-a manual scavenger.

●       other novels:Coolie(1936),Across the black waters (1939),The Sword and the Sickle (1942)

R.K.Narayan (1906-2001)

●       Most of his works are based in a fictional town named malgudi.

●       Major works :Swami and his friends,The english teacher,The guide(won sahitya academy award),The world of Nagaraj,The mahabharata,The ramayana etc.

Raja Rao (1908-2006)

●       Works deeply influenced by hinduism.

●        Won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature 1988

●       Works:Kanthapura (1938),The Serpent and the Rope (1960,sahitya academy award),The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988),The Policeman and the Rose (1978),The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi, biography (1998) etc

Others(list of works are non exhaustive)

Writer		Type	Book
Salman Rushdie		●       Novel ●       childrens books	Midnight's children(1981) satanic verses(1988) The enchantress of florence(2008) Haroun and sea of stories
Kamala surayya		●       Poetry ●       Novel	The sirens(Asian poetry prize) The alphabet of lust
Nirad.C.Chaudhuri		●       non fiction	The autobiography of an unknown indian (1951) The continent circe (1965)(Duff cooper memorial prize) Scholar extraordinary(1974,on max muller,sahitya academy award)
	Vikram seth	●       Novel	The golden gate (1986) A suitable boy (1994)
	Ruskin Bond	●       Novel	A Flight of Pigeons The India I love The Blue Umbrella
	Khushwant singh	●       Novel ●       Autobiography	Train to pakistan (1956) Truth love and a little malice
	Amitav ghosh	●       Novel	The circle of reason(1986) The sea of poppies(2008)

Booker Prize winners

Writer	Book	Year
Arundhati Roy	The god of small things	1997
Kiran Desai	The inheritance of loss	2006
Aravind Adiga	The white tiger	2008

N.B:1)Salman rushdie(1981,Midnights children) was born in India but is a citizen of U.K.

●       V.S.Naipaul and Jhumpa lahiri are prominent writers of indian origin.Naipaul is a nobel and booker winner and jhumpa a pulitzer prize winner(had nomination for 2013 booker)

Other languages:

Its impossible to mention in details modern literature of all regional languages due to the enormous volume of literature produced in the modern age due to the full development of almost all major languages.I am choosing to mention some names from some languages here.

Language	Writers
Assamese	Hemachandra Barua (1835-96) Lakshminath Bezbarua (1864-1938) Bhabananda dutta(1919-59)
Gujarati	Dalpatram(1820-98) Narmad Govardhanram Thripati K.M.Munshi Raman Lal
Kannada	B M Shri(father of modern kannada lit) S.L.Bhyrappa U.R.Ananthamurthy(navya movement)
Malayalam	1)Kumaran Asan(1873-1924) 2)Ulloor 3)Vallathol(1-3 called modern triad in mal lit) Chandu menon(first proper novel in Mal) Thakazhi Vaikom muhammad basheer
Marathi	Sane Guruji (wrote shyamchi Aai) Vishnu Skayam Khandekar(wrote Yayati)
Oriya	Gopinath mohanty Radhanath ray(1848-1908)
Tamil	Subramanya bharathi Bharathidasan Kannadasan Kalki
Telugu	Veeresalingam pantulu(1848-1919) Gurajada appa rao (1861-1915) Viswanatha satyanarayana(1895-1976) Unnava lakshminarayana

Jnanpith awards

Jnanpith award along with sahitya akademi fellowship is the most prestigious of indian literary awards.Awarded by a trust founded by Sahu jain family(Times of india group)

●       G.Sankara kurup (malayalam) was the first winner

●       Ravuri Bharadhwaja(telugu) was the last to be awarded

Women winners of jnanpith

Name	Language	works
Ashapoorna Devi	Bengali 1976	Pratham Pratisruti* Swarnlata Bukul Katha	Known for her strong female characters
Amrita Pritam	Punjabi 1981	Kagaj te Canvas* Sunehe(won sahitya academy award) Pinjar(made into film)	First prominent punjabi  women poet First jnanpith for punabi First woman to win sahitya academy award
Mahadevi varma	Hindi 1982	Yama* Deepshika Agnirekha	1 of the 4 chhayavadi greats
Quratulain hyder	Urdu 1989	Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar* Patjhar Ki Awaz	1st woman from urdu to get the award
Mahashweta devi	Bengali 1996	Hajar Churashir Maa* The Queen of Jhansi	Magsaysay award winner prominent activist for tribal rights,against land acquisition  in west bengal
Indira goswami	assamese 2000	Chinnavar Srota (The Chenab's Current) Datal Hatir Une Khowa Howda (The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker ) Chinnamastar Manuh To (The Man from Chinnamasta)	Was prominent in assam social scene especially as mediator between GOI and ULFA
Pratibha Ray	Oriya

           *Won the award for this work

Table of major works by indian leaders

Name	Books
Jawaharlal Nehru	Discovery of india Glimpses of world history An autobiography
Rajendra prasad	India divided
Maulana Azad	India Wins Freedom
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan	Indian Philosophy Hindu View of Life
R Venkataraman	My Presidential Years
PV Narasimha Rao	The Insider
I.K.Gujral	Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography
L. K. Advani	My Country My Life
Hamid ansari	Travelling through conflict:essays on west asia

Prepared by: Rohit.Nandakumar