GOFREDO, RAMIL RIVAS

May 6, 2017
Learnings on South Asian Literature

In South Asia, the richness of both written and oral forms of literature already flourished and
intertwined with depths in time. In fact, people in the region began writing in the third
millennium in the third BCE in the Indus river valley
(http://www.ancientscripts.com/sa_ws.html.). As children first learn how to speak their mother
tongue, the same case happened in this part of Asia when oral traditions probably preceded
putting such traditions into writing.

Indian Literature

The journey of understanding the literary influences in the vast region must set off in India, the
largest and most popular country. The nations literary periods are divided into three, of which
Vedic Period (1500 B.C. 500 B.C.) came first. During the period, Vedas, the oldest sacred texts
of Hinduism, were being written (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Vedic_Period).
While some Indian citizens are Buddhists, this might explain why the majority of Indians follow
neither Christianity nor Islam. Hindus must take pride in the fact that Vedas went before either
the Bible of Christians or Koran of Muslims, and subsequently, they can be strong adherents of
Hinduism. Their faith might have been emboldened by two great Hindu epics, namely
Mahabharata and Ramayana. The two epics, however, show subtle differences in terms of
morals. In Ramayana, Rama, the main hero, sacrificed even his kingdom willingly. On the
contrary, Mahabharatas heroes manifested a lust for a kingdom, coveting for power. In terms of
familial relationships, Rama ventured to seek and join his wife. The characters in Mahabharata,
in contrast, wanted each others life (https://www.quora.com).

India has produced great writers. One of them is Kalidasa, considered the greatest Indian writer
of any time. In drama, his Abhijnanashakuntala is the most renowned and the best Indian literary
effort of any period. Another writer to note is Rabindranath Tagore, who won Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1913, becoming the first non-European to do so. In addition, his significant
contribution to Bengali Literature was making use of colloquial language; as a result, he freed
the language of classic Sanskrit-based models.
Several Indian writers of the modern times are known to the world. They include Salman Rushdie,
an award-winning writer, who is most known for his works, the Booker Prize-winning Midnights
Children (1981), and the controversial The Satanic Verses (1988). As probably mistaken, it is alleged
to be making fun of Islam, not Christianity. Consequently, some Muslims wanted him dead.
Another writer was Mulk Raj Anand whose first piece, Untouchable (1935), talks about a life of
a toilet cleaner who meets a member of higher caste.

Sri Lankan Literature

Prof. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, a Sri Lanka-born Canadian, points out that there have been three
literary influences or forces that shaped Sri Lankan Literature. They are Buddhism, South
Indian Colonialism and British Colonialism. The Buddhist religion first felt its presence in Sri
Lankan literature when the Buddhist scriptures were written in Pali language during the Fourth
Council 29 B.C. (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/10/20/forces-that-shaped-sri-lankan-
literature/). It is the fountainheadof Sinhalese literature. As to the impact of Indian colonialism, some
literary forms of India were passed down to Sri Lanka, primarily considering the minimal distance from
India, which is around 22 miles (35 kilometers). Notably, the South Indian film and dance forms like
Bharata Natyam, Kathak and Kathakali remain to influence on Tamil mass entertainment and art
in Sri Lanka. The Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore has had some influence in Sri Lanka writing
as well. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/101010/Plus/plus_26.html. British colonizers did some part
in the countrys literature, too. The first English novel in the country was published long before it
gained independence from Britain in 1948. Moreover, Rosalind Mendis became the first Sri
Lankan woman to write a novel, in the year 1928, with The Mystery of a Tragedy. Astonishingly,
speech patterns of both Sinhalese and Tamil languages have impact on Sri Lankan English
literature, however. (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/10/20/forces-that-shaped-sri-
lankan-literature/)

Bangladeshi Literature
Bangladeshi writing in English owes much to Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1774 -1833), the father of
Indian literature in English because he set a literary trend and influenced writings in India
including those in Bangladesh. The first book of poems in English in the country was The Shair
and Other Poems (1830) by Kashiprashad Ghose.
Pakistani Literature
As in the case of Indian and Bangladeshi literatures, the British have influence in Pakistan.
Hence, Pakistani Literature in English first appeared British Colonial times. The early phase of
the literature, as Pakistani writers call it, was the period of 1940s to 1960s. One remarkable
writer was Ahmad Ali (1910-1994) who wrote Twilight in Delhi (pub. 1940). It is a historical
novel, in which Mir Nihal, Asghars father, objected to his sons marriage to a girl from a lower
social class named Bilqeece. The two got married even without the fathers blessing, anyway.
Towards the end of the story, Mir Nihal died of the negativities that occurred in his life.

The 1970s and 1980s were seen as a period of poetry. This was the time when the Big Three
of Pakistani English poetry Taufiq Rafat (1927-1998), Daud Kamal (1935-1987) and Alamgir
Hashmi (born 1951) were in their best form. One of the best Alamgir Hashmis poems is Eid,
giving details about the observations of a Muslim child of people doing different jobs during this
Muslim holiday. He took notice of two groups of people, the rich offerers and beggars outside a
mosque. Feeling sympathetic for the poor, he considered the holiday a time to do moral
responsibility.

Nepalese Literature
When Nepal comes to mind, Mt Everest, the highest mountain in the world, easily pops up in a
reader, picturing out the steep hills and weary climbers with some oxygen tanks carried
piggyback. However, novels and the like having words carved out from imaginary minds have
flourished in this mountainous nation. One of those writings in English is Arresting God in
Kathmandu by Samrat Upadhyay, the first Nepali writer in English. The book containing nine
short stories depict the normal life in Nepal. It has irony, however, because nowhere in the book
God is involved. https://nirooj56.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/arresting-god/. Another written
piece is a novel entitled, Mountains Painted with Turmeric by Lil Bahadur Chettri (1950). It tells
a story of a farmer who is buried in debt and is eventually forced into exile.
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/nepal/articles/nepalese-writers-you-should-know-the-best-of-
modern-nepali-literature/