Background of Indian Literature
Indian literature is generally believed to be the oldest in the world. With the vast cultural diversities, there are 22 officially recognized languages in India. Over thousands of years, huge literature produced in various languages in India. It is to be noted that a large part of Indian literature revolves around devotion, drama, poetry and songs. Sanskrit language dominated the early Indian scene. It is also interesting to note that the Hindu Literary traditions have dominated a large part of Indian culture. These traditions are reflected in great works like the Vedas and epics such as Ramayana and Mahabrata. Treatises like Vaastu Shastra (architecture), Arthashastra (political science) and Kamsutra are a true reflection of the Indian literary excellence.
About 2000 B.C., a branch or the Aryan race gave Vedic Literature, Sanskrit epics, the Hindu religion and Caste system. Their civilization, however, appears to be very ancient; religion, philosophy, ethics, and literature all seem to have reached a high level of development before authentic records were kept.
The modern period of Indian literature began in the 18th century with the colonization of India by the British. There was not a complete break in the past, however. The influence of the early Sanskrit classics could still be seen in the modern novels, poetry, and drama that were being reshaped by the Western political ideas and literary styles.
The modern literature of all Indian languages was inevitably influenced by the desire for social reform, antipathy toward the British rule, the political activities of Mahatma Gandhi, and new ideologies coming from Europe- particularly SOCIALISM and MARXISM. Much of the literature tried to revive the great periods of Indian history, such as the Maurya, Gutpa and Mughal dynasties before British intervened.
KARMA
By: Khushwant Singh
About the author:
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956 (made into film in 1998), which became his most well-known novel.
Born in Punjab, Khushwant Singh was educated in Modern School, New Delhi, St. Stephen's College, and graduated from Government College, Lahore. He earned an LL.B. from King's College London and was called to the bar at the London Inner Temple. After working as a lawyer in Lahore High Court for eight years, he joined the Indian Foreign Service upon the Independence of India from British Empire in 1947.
He was appointed journalist in the All India Radio in 1951, and then moved to the Department of Mass Communications of UNESCO at Paris in 1956. These last two careers encouraged him to pursue a literary career. As a writer, he was best known for his trenchant secularism, humour, sarcasm and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioural characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit. He served as the editor of several literary and news magazines, as well as two newspapers, through the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1980-1986 he served as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. Khushwant Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974; however, he returned the award in 1984 in protest against Operation Blue Star in which the Indian Army raided Amritsar. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India.
Plot
Mohan Lal is a middle-aged man who works in the British Raj. He is ashamed to be an Indian and hence he tries to speak in English or in Anglicized Hindustani and dresses up as a high-ranked British official. He fills crossword puzzles, to show off his immense knowledge of English. His wife Lachmi is a traditional Indian woman and due to this difference they don't have a sweet married life. The important event occurs on a journey of Mohan Lal and Lachmi in a train. He makes Lachmi sit in the general compartment while he gets his seat arranged in the first class compartment, which was meant for the British. There he meets two British soldiers who try to abuse him. When the arrogant Mohan Lal opposes them, he is thrown out of the train. He could only look through the rails on the moving train.
Overview
The Lion Makers
A story from Panchatantra
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