History of Sanskrit Literature (Sahitya Itihasa)
Sahitya Itihasa tests chronology, authorship, and genre. You need to place a work in its period, name its author, and recognise its type-Vedic, epic, kāvya, prose romance, drama, or poetics. For chronology, remember the broad sequence: Vedic → epic → classical → medieval; within classical, Kālidāsa precedes Bāṇa and Bhavabhūti.
Period map
- Vedic: four Saṃhitās-Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur, Atharva-then Brāhmaṇa, Āraṇyaka, Upaniṣad.
- Epic: Rāmāyaṇa (Vālmīki), Mahābhārata (Vyāsa).
- Classical kāvya: Kālidāsa; Bhāsa; Aśvaghoṣa (Buddhacarita); Bharavi (Kirātārjunīya); Māgha (Śiśupālavadha); Bhavabhūti; Daṇḍin; Bāṇa.
- Poetics: Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra, Ānandavardhana's Dhvanyāloka, Mammaṭa's Kāvyaprakāśa.
- Odisha's contribution: Jayadeva's Gītagovinda is the best-known Sanskrit work associated with Odisha.
Worked example
Match Kādambarī and Harṣacarita. Both are by Bāṇa, but Kādambarī is a prose romance (kathā) and Harṣacarita is a biography of King Harṣa. If the question asks for genre, do not answer only 'prose'-state the subgenre. Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita is a mahākāvya on the Buddha's life, not a Purāṇa.
Traps
- Bāṇa vs. Bhāsa: similar names, different genres.
- Kālidāsa is earlier than Bhavabhūti; do not reverse the order.
- Gītagovinda is not a play; it is a lyrical kāvya.
- Daśakumāracarita is Daṇḍin's prose romance; Kāvyādarśa is his poetics.