RBSE VU Sahitya Shastra key terms

One of six auxiliary disciplines attached to the Vedas-phonetics, ritual, grammar, etymology, metre, and astronomy-created to preserve correct recitation and interpretation of Vedic texts.

Vedic etymological glossary; Yaska's Nirukta explains difficult Vedic words and is counted among the Vedangas, offering derivations and semantic analysis rather than ritual instruction.

Vedic metre and the Vedanga that codifies it; treatises like Pingala's Chandahsastra classify metres such as gayatri, usnih, and tristubh by syllable count and pattern.

The most common Vedic and epic metre: four octosyllabic quarters, with cadence rules; used for narrative and didactic verses in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas.

A verse in anustubh metre, especially the epic stanza of four eight-syllable quarters; by extension, any Sanskrit verse, often used for praise or narration.

That which is heard: the corpus of Vedic revelation (samhita, brahmana, aranyaka, upanishad) accepted as authoritative, distinguished from smrti, the remembered tradition.

Remembered tradition: post-Vedic authoritative texts including dharmasastras, epics, and puranas, transmitted by human authorship and subordinate in authority to sruti.

Speculative Vedic texts teaching brahman and atman through dialogue and analogy; the Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka are early examples, and they close the Vedic corpus.

Vedic prose texts explaining ritual procedures, mantras, and their symbolic meanings; the Aitareya and Satapatha Brahmanas are principal examples.

Vedanga of ritual practice, comprising sutras on sacrifice (srauta), domestic rites (grhya), and dharma; it systematizes Vedic ceremonial into concise aphoristic rules.

Aphoristic literary form: extremely concise, elliptical statements meant to be memorized and expanded orally; characteristic of grammar, ritual, and philosophy.

Sanskrit grammar and linguistic analysis, one of the Vedangas; Panini's Astadhyayi is its foundational text, describing word formation, syntax, and accent with algebraic brevity.

Ancient Sanskrit grammarian (c. 4th century BCE) whose Astadhyayi, in about 4,000 sutras, describes classical Sanskrit with derivational rules and metalinguistic terms.

Patanjali's extensive commentary on Panini's grammar, discussing rules, usage, and philosophical issues; a foundational text of Sanskrit linguistic thought.

Sanskrit court epic: a long narrative poem on heroic or mythical themes, using elaborate descriptions, varied metres, and ornate figures; Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava are models.

Sanskrit minor or lyric poem: shorter than a mahakavya, often centered on a single theme or season, with polished description and sentiment; examples include Kalidasa's Meghaduta.

Classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist, author of Abhijnanasakuntala, Meghaduta, Raghuvamsa, and Kumarasambhava; celebrated for balanced style and tender sentiment.

Kalidasa's lyric poem in mandakranta metre, in which an exiled yaksha asks a cloud to carry a message to his beloved; a model khandakavya of separated love.

Ancient Sanskrit treatise on drama and performance attributed to Bharata, covering acting, gesture, music, stagecraft, and aesthetic emotion; it is the foundational text of Indian dramaturgy.

Principal Sanskrit drama genre: a full-length play on a heroic or romantic story, with a noble hero, a heroine, and a happy or elevated outcome, as in Abhijnanasakuntala.

Aesthetic relish or sentiment evoked in a qualified spectator by the combination of determinants, consequents, and transitory emotions; classical theory recognizes eight or nine rasas, including love and heroism.

Suggestion or resonance in poetry: the capacity of words to convey an implied meaning beyond literal sense; Anandavardhana's Dhvanyaloka makes it the soul of poetry.

Poetic ornament or figure of speech, such as simile, metaphor, or pun; in Sanskrit poetics, alamkara also names the broader discipline of literary embellishment and criticism.

Sanskrit prose literature: ornate narrative or biographical prose, often with long compounds and descriptive passages; Bana's Kadambari and Harisena's account of Samudragupta are examples.

Bana's elaborate Sanskrit prose romance, narrating intertwined rebirths and separated lovers; a landmark of gadya kavya known for rich compounds and lyrical description.

Mixed Sanskrit literary form alternating prose and verse to narrate a story; popular in medieval court literature and used for both epic and devotional themes.

Title meaning first poet, traditionally applied to Valmiki, the reputed author of the Ramayana, whose epic set conventions for later Sanskrit narrative poetry.

Valmiki's Sanskrit epic of Rama, Sita, and Ravana; traditionally regarded as the first kavya, it shaped later poetry, drama, and devotional literature across South Asia.

Vast Sanskrit epic of the Kuru dynasty and the Kurukshetra war, containing the Bhagavadgita and much didactic material; traditionally attributed to Vyasa.

Corpus of Sanskrit religious narratives on creation, genealogy, and devotion, traditionally eighteen major works; they transmit myth, ritual, and sectarian theology in accessible verse.

Early Sanskrit poet and Buddhist author, composer of the Buddhacarita and Saundarananda, whose courtly epics combine Buddhist doctrine with classical kavya style.

Seventh-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet, author of Kadambari and Harshacharita; his ornate, compound-heavy style is a benchmark of gadya kavya.

Devotional movement and sentiment emphasizing loving surrender to a personal deity; in Hindi literature it produced saguna and nirguna poet-saints and shaped medieval literary themes.

Western Hindi literary dialect used in early and devotional Hindi poetry, especially by Surdas and other Krishna poets; it remained a major medium of verse for centuries.

Mannerist Hindi poetic style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, emphasizing ornament, erotic sentiment, and technical display; Keshavdas is a leading theorist and poet.

Hindi romantic movement of the 1920s–1930s, marked by subjective lyricism, nature imagery, and mysticism; its major poets include Prasad, Nirala, Pant, and Mahadevi Varma.

Sanskrit and Hindi poetic classification of heroines by situation and temperament-such as the loyal, the estranged, and the self-willed-used to analyze erotic sentiment in literature.

Study of literature across languages, nations, and cultures, examining influence, translation, and shared themes; in India it often compares Sanskrit, Hindi, and regional traditions.