Department of Sanskrit

St. Stephen’s College, Delhi

One Day Seminar on Medieval Sanskrit Literature (1000 to 1700 CE)

The period from a little before the beginning of the Christian era to about the end of the first millennium was a very creative period for Sanskrit literarture. Bhāsa, Kālidsa, Daṇḍī, Bāṇa, Subandhu, Bhāravi, Bhavabhuti and many other well known poets led Sanskrit to great heights.
With the rise of many local and ‘foreign’ dynasties, the second millennium saw the growing influence of local and ‘foreign’ languages. Some scholars perceive this period as one in which Sanskrit ‘died’.
However, Sanskrit literature continues to thrive in different parts of the country even during this millennium. Poetry, religion and philosophy came together. Jaina Sanskrit literature emerged as a significant genre. Sanskrit works were translated into languages like Persian. Works in foreign languages were translated into Sanskrit.
Sanskrit continued to be a principal language of all intellectual discourse. A very large number of texts were written on darśana, vyākarana, kāvya śāstra, dharma śāstra, jyotiṣ and other disciplines.
This period saw the advent of a new political and social environment. Sanskrit evolved into many regional languages. Several foreign powers made India their permanent home and introduced many new languages and cultures.
This seminar seeks to study the impact of regional and foreign elements on the Sanskrit language and its literature.
Some issues it seeks to explore are – changes in the Sanskrit language itself, interaction between Sanskrit and regional languages and literatures, the impact of such interaction on the content and style of writing, nature of Sanskrit works during this period etc.
This seminar will have talks by distinguished scholars and serious researchers on medieval Sanskrit works.