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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Language of the Snakes traces the history of the Prakrit language as a literary phenomenon, starting from its cultivation in courts of the Deccan in the first centuries of the common era. Although little studied today, Prakrit was an important vector of the kavya movement and once joined Sanskrit at the apex of classical Indian literary culture. The opposition between Prakrit and Sanskrit was at the center of an enduring “language order” in India, a set of ways of thinking about, naming, classifying, representing, and ultimately using languages. As a language of classical literature that nevertheless retained its associations with more demotic language practices, Prakrit both embodies major cultural tensions—between high and low, transregional and regional, cosmopolitan and vernacular—and provides a unique perspective onto the history of literature and culture in South Asia.
The Gathasaptasati is perhaps the oldest extant anthology of poetry from South Asia, containing our very earliest examples of secular verse. Reputed to have been compiled by the Satavahana king Hala in the second century CE, it is a celebrated collection of 700 verses in Maharashtri Prakrit, composed in the compact, distilled gatha form. The anthology has attracted several learned commentaries and now, through Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s acclaimed translation of 207 verses from the anthology, readers of English at last have access to its poems. The speakers are mostly women and, whether young or old, married or single, they touch on the subject of sexuality with frankness, sensitivity and, every once in a while, humour, which never ceases to surprise. The Absent Traveler includes an elegant and stimulating translator’s note and an afterword by Martha Ann Selby that provides an admirable introduction to Prakrit literature in general and the Gathasaptasati in particular.
LITERATURE A WORLD HISTORY An exploration of the history of the world’s literatures and the many varieties of literary expression Literature: A World Historyencompasses all the world’s major literary traditions, emphasizing the interrelationship of local and national cultures over time. Spanning global literature from the beginnings of recorded history to the present day, this expansive four-volume set examines the many varieties of the world’s literatures in their social and intellectual contexts. Its four volumes are devoted to literature before 200 CE, from 200 to 1500, from 1500 to 1800, and from 1800 to 2000, with four dozen contributors providing new insights into the art of literature, and addressing the situation of literature in the world today. Organized throughout in six broad regions—Africa, the Americas, East Asia, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, and West and Central Asia—Literature: A World History offers readers a clear and consistent treatment of diverse forms of literary expression across time and place. Throughout the text, particular emphasis is placed on literary institutions within different regional and linguistic cultures and on the relations between literature and a spectrum of social, political, and religious contexts. Features work by an international panel of leading scholars from around the globe, in Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and the United States Provides a balanced overview of national and global literature from all major regions of the world from antiquity to the present Highlights the specificity of regional and local cultures throughout much of literary history, together with cross-cutting essays on topics such as different writing systems, court cultures, and utopias Literature: A World History is an invaluable reference work for undergraduate and graduate students as well as scholars looking for a wide-ranging overview of global literary history.
This volume brings together eight contributions of Professor Madhav M. Deshpande relating to the historical sociolinguistics of sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The studies brought together here represent his continuing research in this field after his 1979 book: Sociolinguistic Attitudes in India: An Historical Reconstruction. The main thrust of these studies is to show that patterns of language, including grammatical theories are deeply influenced by political, religious, geographical, and other sociohistorical factors. This is true as much of ancient languages as it is for modern languages.
Rama Panivada has composed the Kamsavaho to celebrate the incident of the slaying of Kamsa by Krsna. The author has given the biography of Krsna up to his slaying of Kamsa.The Inclusion of the Chaya and the addition of the English translation and the critical and explanatory notes would go a long way to facilitate the understanding of the text.
A Selection From Old Tamil, Prakrit And Sanskrit Poetry While The Striped Frogs Croak And The Toads Peep, The Rains Have Begun. And Now, He Will Be The Monsoon Guest Of Your Fine Wrists And Ample Shoulders. Driving His Tall Chariot With Its Tinkling Bells, Our Lover Will Come Back Today. Ainkurunuru 468 Dating From The First To Late Fourteenth Centuries Ce, This Collection Of 188 Poems Is Gleaned From The Three Literary Languages Of Classical India Old Tamil, Prãkrit And Sanskrit. Martha Ann Selby Combines Her Unique Mastery Of These Languages With Her Scholarship And Poetical Skills To Offer A Pan-Indian Flavour Of The Changing Seasons. The Poems Celebrate The Rhythm And Beauty Of The Cycle Of Time: Summer, The Rainy Season, Autumn, Early Winter, Late Winter, And Spring. Nature Is Portrayed Through A Range Of Sensual, Sexual And Colourful Images And Allegories. The Autumn Poems, For Example, Depict A World Washed Clean By Rains, Ready For Love, Specifically, Clandestine Love, Set In The Hills Among Mists And Blooming Wild Cane At Night. Readers Will Appreciate The Collection S Fine Poetic Quality And Be Spellbound By The Unique Beauty Of India S Six Seasons.