History of Sanskrit Literature and Literary Criticism
History questions reward exact pairing of author, work, century and genre. The Kerala strand matters: several key discoveries and authors in Sanskrit literary history are Kerala's own.
Period map
- Vedic - four Vedas, Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas, Upaniṣads; the sūtra period follows.
- Epic - Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata; the eighteen Purāṇas.
- Classical (kāvya) - Aśvaghoṣa (Buddhacarita, early centuries CE); Bhāsa (pre-Kālidāsa, known from manuscripts found in Kerala in 1912 by T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī); Kālidāsa (Gupta age, 4th–5th c.); Bharavi (Kirātārjunīya); Māgha (Śiśupālavadha); Bāṇa (Harṣacarita, Kādambarī, 7th c.); Bhavabhūti (Uttararāmacarita); Daṇḍin (Kāvyādarśa, Daśakumāracarita); Viśākhadatta (Mudrārākṣasa); Śrīharṣa (Naiṣadhīya).
- Kerala Sanskrit - Melputtūr Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭatiri (Nārāyaṇīya, Prakriyāsarvasva), Rāmapānivāda (Sītāpariṇaya, Līlāvatī), Vāsudeva (Yudhiṣṭhiravijaya).
- Criticism lineage - Bharata → Bhāmaha, Daṇḍin → Vāmana → Ānandavardhana → Abhinavagupta → Mammaṭa → Viśvanātha → Jagannātha (Rasagaṅgādhara).
Worked example
A question asks why Bhāsa is dated before Kālidāsa. Reasoning: his plays were known only by name until the 1912 Kerala manuscript find; internal criteria (simpler diction, shorter plays, absence of Kālidāsa's refinements) and citations in later works place him earlier. The answer must mention the manuscript evidence, not guesswork.
Traps that cost marks
- Swapping Kāvyādarśa (Daṇḍin) with Kāvyālaṃkāra (Bhāmaha).
- Assigning Rasagaṅgādhara to Mammaṭa.
- Mixing the eighteen Purāṇas with the eighteen parvas of the Mahābhārata.
- Inventing precise years; use centuries or "Gupta period".