by: Shara May M. Anacay BSE - English

HINDU LITERATURE

World’s 7th largest country located in South Asia.

India and Bharat are both official names.

Derives from Indus river used by Greek.

India civilization grew up in the Indus Valley 4000 to 2500 BC.

INDIA

1. Himalayan Mountain system on the north

2. Northern plain drained by the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in North Central India.

3. Peninsular India in the South.

The earliest Indians may have migrated from Australia and Pacific Islands.

Language: more than 200 languages are spoken in India.

3 MAIN TOPOGRAPHIC REGIONS

1. Indo-Arab – branch of the Indo-European group (the major linguistic family in Europe).

2. Dravidian language group3. Hindi – the fourth most widely spoken

language in the world4. Indo-Aryan language.

4 MAJOR LANGUAGES:

1. Hinduism – adherent to the proscription against violence toward living things can escape from the cycle of rebirth and the doctrine also form a basis for vegetarian.

4 MAJOR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

2. Jainism – Non-violence is a core religious duty and followed so strictly that the most Orthodox devotes cover their faces with mask to prevent accidentally harming insect.

4 MAJOR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

3. Buddhism – non-violence is manifest in the Buddha’s emphasis on compassion and is also part of the faith’s moral codes.

4 MAJOR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

4. Sikhism - a monotheistic religion, and the basic Sikh belief is represented in the phrase Ik Onkar meaning “One God”.

- was founded in the Punjab region in India in the 15th century by Guru Nanak Dev.

4 MAJOR RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

1. Brahmins - priests, the highest caste2. Kshatriyas – warriors and kings3. Vaishyas – merchants4. Shudras – manual labourers

Dalits or untouchables – they have traditionally been tasked with work such as cleaning streets and working with human and animal corpses and waste. They are also known as Harijans.

Indian Caste System – major social system that groups people according to birth

Born in Pobandan India on October 2, 1869His father was a chief minister.Their family came from traditional caste of

grocers and moneylenders.They are under the Vaishyas system or group.His mother was a devout adherent JainismHe married by arrangement at 13He went to London to study law when he was

18.He fought to improve the status of the lowest

classes of society, the untouchables, whom he called Harijans.

Mahatma Gandhi

Sanskrit Literature – holy text

LITERATUREMahabharata and Ramayana –two great books

Michael Madhusudan Dutt and Jayashankar Prasad – introduced the black verse in sonnet into Indian poetry.

Aranucala Kavi – developed a utilitarian prose style

Madhusudan Dutt – wrote the 1st plays modeled on Western Drama.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore - introduces the short story to vernacular writing in India

Iqbal – major poets of the period

LITERATURE

1. The Vedic period2. Sanskrit period

Religious works• Poetryo The Rig Veda – sacred hymnso The Yajur Veda – knowledge and melodieso The Sama Veda – sacrificeo The Atharva Veda – magic spells and

other folk knowledge

2 PERIODS OF INDIAN LITERATURE

Secular works• Epics o The Mahabharata

o Bhagavad gita

o Nala and Damayanti

o The Ramayana

The toy clay cartSakuntala or The Fatal RingThe JatakasThe PachantantaraRomanorumThe HitopdesaThe Sukasaptati

Drama

Looks like an elephant

also known as Ganapati, is immediately recognizable as the elephant-headed god.

He is the god of wisdom and learning

Ganes

Creatorthe creator god in

the Trimurti of Hinduism.

He has four faces.Brahma is also

known as Svayambhu (self-born), Vāgīśa (Lord of Speech), and the creator of the four Vedas, one from each of his mouths

Brahma

Shiva-

destroyer

Vishnu-

preserver

Reincarnation – belief that the soul repeatedly goes through a cycle of being born into a body, dying, being reborn again in a new body.

Karma – a force that determines the quality of each life, depending on how well one behaved in a past life.

Hinduism says we create karma by our actions on earth. If we live a good life, you create good karma. If you live a bad life, you create bad karma.

KARMA AND REINCARNATION

Each time a Hindu soul is born into a better life, it has the opportunity to improve itself further, and get closer to ultimate liberation.

The ones who reach this state no longer struggle with the cycle of life and death.

The way to get Moksha is that do not create any karma.

MOKSHA

Vedas – collections of Sanskrit hymns

Upanishads - inner or mystic teaching that were passed down from guru (teacher) to disciple (student).

Sacred Writings

Mahabharata, Sanskrit for Great story , is one of the great epic poems of ancient India.

The story is about the battle of one family over a kingdom in northern India.

The Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) – contained in the Mahabharata. It is a dialouge between Krishna and the hero Arjuna on the meaning of life.

MAHABHARATA

Ramayana was written in 3rd century, and tells a story of Rama, and his wife, Sita.

Rama and Sita are generally seen as ideal examples of great manly heroism and wifely devotion.

RAMAYANA

Hinduism is about the sort of life one should lead in order to be born into a better life next time and ultimately achieve liberation.

4 Legitimate goals in life:1. Dharma (appropriate living)2. Artha (the pursuit of material gain by

lawful means)3. Kama ( delight of the senses)4. Moksha ( release from rebirth)

HINDU LIFE GOALS

4 Daily duties:1. Revere deities2. Respect ancestors3. Respect all beings4. Honor all humankind

HINDU DUTIES

MahabharataPachantantraPachantantra storiesBhagavad GitaRabindranath TagoreGitanjalikalidasa

STORIES:

Thank youfor

watching!