ANCIENT INDIA: SOURCES, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE

ANCIENT INDIA: SOURCES, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE

INFORMATION SOURCES FOR ANCIENT INDIA

Indian literary sources

Source	Author	Language	Date	Notes
Veda Samhitas	Various	Sanskrit	1st m. BCE	Gives account of life of people in addition to philosophy, religion etc
Arthashastra	Chanakya	Sanskrit	4th c. BCE	Covers Mauryan period under Chandragupta Maurya Treatise on statecraft, economy and military strategy
Sangam literature	Various	Tamil	c. 600 BCE – 300 CE	Primarily Dealt with everyday themes

Foreign literary sources

Source	Author	Language	Date	Notes
Indika	Megasthenes	Greek	4th c. BCE	Ambassador of Seleucus I to court of Chandragupta Maurya Used by later writers Strabo and Arrian Describes geography, politics, various kingdoms, caste system
Indica	Arrian	Greek	1st c. CE	Considered one of most important sources about India Covers travel of Alexander’s officer Nearchus from India to Babylon Covers geography, esp. Indus and Ganges Describes social structure Describes seven castes, physical appearance, absence of slavery Used Indika (Megasthenes) as source
Geographica	Strabo	Greek	1st c. CE	Descriptive history of people and places all over the world Consists of 17 volumes of material
	Fa-Hien	Chinese	Around 400 CE	Travelled to India/Ceylon to obtain Buddhist scriptures

Epigraphical sources

Note that more than 55% of epigraphical inscriptions in India are in Tamil

Inscription	Location	Attributed to (date)	Notes
Indus valley inscriptions	IVC	c. 2600 – 1900 BCE	Indus script remains undeciphered
Edicts of Asoka	All over India	Asoka 3rd c. BCE	In Praktrit, Sanskrit, Greek See here for details
Heliodorus pillar	Besnagar (Madhya Pradesh)	c. 110 BCE	In Sanskrit (Brahmi) Dedicated by Heliodorus to god Vasudeva Heliodorus was the Ambassador of Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to court of Sunga king Bhagabhadra Describes relationship b/w Sungas and Indo-Greeks
Hathigumpha incription	Udayagiri (Orissa)	Kharavela (Kalinga) (150 BCE)	In Prakrit (Brahmi script) Main source of info about Kharavela Mentions conflict with Demetrius Mentions conflict with Uttarapatha
Rabatak inscription	Rabatak (Afghanistan)	Kanishka 127-151 CE	In Bactrian (Greek script) Describes Kushan dynasty
Halmidi inscription	Halmidi (Karnataka)	c. 450 CE	Oldest inscription in Kannada (Brahmi script)

LITERATURE IN ANCIENT INDIA

Important ancient Sanskrit literature

Work	Category	Author (date)	Notes
Mahabharata	Epic	Vyasa
Ramayana	Epic	Valmiki
Ashtadhyayi	Treatise on grammar	Panini (5th -4th c. BCE)	One of the earliest known grammars of Sanskrit
Nirukta	Treatise on grammar	Yaksa
Mrichakatika	Play	Shudraka (2nd c. BCE)	Set in Pataliputra Hindi film Utsav was based on this
Karnabhara, Charudatta	Play	Bhasa (1st BCE – 4thCE)	Bhasa wrote about 13 plays He is considered to be one of most important Sanskrit authors (after Kalidasa)
Urubhanga	Play	Bhasa	Based on Mahabharata Depicts story of Duryodhana after fight with Bhima
Madhyamavyayoga	Play	Bhasa	Based on the Mahabharata
Malavikagnimitram	Play	Kalidasa (4th -5th CE) Gupta period	Tells the story of King Agnimitra falling in love with servant girl Malavika Agnimitra was the son and successor to Pushyamitra Sunga
Abhijanasakuntalam	Play	Kalidasa	Tells story of king Dushyanta and his marriage to Shankuntala Considered to be Kalidasa’s most popular play
Vikramaorvasiyam	Play	Kalidasa	Story of king Pururavas in love with celestial Urvashi
Raghuvamsa	Poetry	Kalidasa	Kings of Raghu dynasty
Kumarasambhava	Poetry	Kalidasa	Story of birth of Karthikeya
Rtusamhara	Poetry	Kalidasa	Describes six seasons using context of love
Meghaduta	Poetry	Kalidasa	Story of a Yaksha sending a message to his lover through a cloud One of Kalidasa’s most popular poems
Ratnavali	Play	Harshavardhana (590-647 CE)	Story of king Udayana and princess Ratnavali Contains one of the earliest references to festival Holi
Nagananda	Play	Harshavardhana	Describes prince Jimutavahana’s self-sacrifice to save serpents
Priyadarsika	Play	Harshavardhana
Kiratarjuniya	Poetry	Bharavi	Describes contest b/w Arjuna and lord Shiva
Shishupala Vadha	Poetry	Magha

Important ancient literature in Tamil

Note that Sangam literature itself contains about 2400 poems by more than 470 poets. For obvious reasons, not all of them can be listed here

Work	Category	Author	Notes
Ettuthokai	Poetry	Various (600 BCE- 300 BCE)	Part of Sangam literature Ettuthokai contains 8 anthologies: Ainkurunuru, Akananuru, Purananuru, Kalittokai, Kuruntokai, Narrinai, Paripatal, Patirrupattu Each of these anthologies in turn contain hundreds of poems by multiple authors Deals with two themes: Akam (personal life) and Puram (war, politics) See here for more information on the Ettuthokai
Pathupattu	Poetry	Various	Part of Sangam literature Pathupattu contains 10 idylls (mid length books): Tirumurugattruppatai, Kurinjipattu, Malaipatukatam, Maturaikkanji, Mullaipattu, Netunalvatai, Pattinappalai, Perumpanatrupatai, Porunaratruppatai, Sirupanatrupatai Deals mainly with themes of nature See here for more information on Pathupattu
Tolkappiyam	Grammar	Tolkappiyar	Earliest available work of Tamil literature
Aimperumkappiyam	Epics	Various	Collection of five large narrative epics The five epics were: Silappadhigaram, Manimegalai, Sivaka Chintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi Specific epics described below
Silappadhigaram	Epic	Ilango Adigal (1st c. CE)	Describes story of Kannagi in her quest to save husband Kovalan Describes in detail life, politics, trade, settlements of Greeks etc Story evolves in themes of three: three kingdoms, three heroes, three heroines etc Considered one of most important ancient Tamil literature
Manimegalai	Epic	Seethalai Sathanar (1st-2nd c. CE)	Story of Manimegalai, daughter of Kovalan Sequel to Silappadhigaram
Sivaka Chintamani	Epic	Tirutakkatevar	Story of man who becomes king and then renounces throne
Valayapathi	Epic	Unknown	Work lost
Kundalakesi	Epic	Nagakuthanar	Original work lost, only fragments survive Supposedly describes story of Buddhist monk Kundalakesi
Tirukkural	Ethics	Thiruvalluvar	Couplets of ethics Contains 1330 couplets Thirukkural remains the book translated into most number of languages in the world

SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIA

Work	Subject	Author	Notes
Vedanga Jyotisha	Astrology	Lagadha (1st c. BCE)	Describes rules for tracking motion of sun and moon
Yavanajataka	Astrology	Sphujidvaja 1st-2nd c. CE)	Translated it mean “Nativity as per the Greeks” It is a collection of astrology-related ideas borrowed from Greek world Gives rules for building horoscopes
Surya Siddhanta	Astronomy		Establishes rules to determine motions of stellar objects
Paulisa Siddhanta (Doctrine of Paul)	Astronomy		Based on works of Paul of Alexandria (c. 378 CE)
Romaka Siddhanta (Doctrine of the Romans)	Astronomy		Based on works of Rome It is the only Indian work based on the tropical system
Vasishta Siddhanta	Astronomy		Attributed to sage Vasishta
Panchasiddhantika	Astronomy	Varahamihira (c. 550 CE)	Work that compares five treatises on astronomy viz. Surya Siddhanta, Paulisa Siddhanta, Romaka Siddhanta, Vasishta Siddhanta and Paitamaha Siddhanta
Sulba sutras	Mathematics	Baudhayana (c. 800 BCE), Apasthamba (c. 600 BCE), Katyayana (c. 200 BCE)	Baudhayana enumerated the Pythagoras theorem. He also described square root of 2 and geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles Apasthamba and Katyayana developed these principles further
Chandahsastra	Mathematics	Pingala (4th-2nd c. BCE)	First known description of binary numeral system in the world Also describes Pascal’s triangle, binomial theorem and Fibonacci numbers
Aryabhatiya	Astronomy, mathematics	Aryabhata (c 522 CE)	Introduced decimal value notation Describes heliocentric model of solar system Explained lunar and solar eclipses Gave duration of one year as 365 days 6 hrs 12 min 30 sec Gave value of pi (3.1416) Correctly calculated earth’s circumference as 24,835 miles Aryabhata’s principles are still in use for fixing the Hindu calendar Panchanga
Mahabhaskariya	Mathematics, astronomy	Bhaskara I (c. 600 – 680 CE)	Representation of numbers in positional system Solved Wilson’s theorem and Pell equation
Brahmasputasiddhanta	Mathematics, astronomy	Brahmagupta (c. 630 CE)	Describes solution of linear equation Solve system of simultaneous indeterminate equations Sum of series Introduced the concept of zero Formula for cyclic quadrilaterals Rebutted the idea that moon is farther from earth than the sun

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