Literature from Sangam to Colonial Era

5.1 Sangam Tamil Literature (3rd century BCE–3rd century CE)

The Sangam corpus is unique — secular, humanistic, and largely devoid of religious content. Composed by hundreds of poets, it was preserved in three literary academies (sangams) at Madurai.

The literature is divided by theme:

• Akam (interior/love poetry): eight anthologies (Ettuthokai) including Kurunthokai, Akananuru — systematic classification of love by landscape (tinai system: seashore = separation, mountain = union, forest = infidelity, etc.)
• Puram (exterior/heroic poetry): ten idylls (Pattuppattu); Purananuru (400 verses on war, death, generosity)
• Tolkappiyam (earliest Tamil grammar, c. 3rd century BCE): the oldest surviving grammar book for any language in India; establishes prosody, grammar, and the tinai landscape-emotion correspondence system

5.2 Bhakti Literature (7th–17th Century)

The Bhakti movement produced an explosion of vernacular literature across the subcontinent.

Vaishnava Bhakti

• Tamil Alvar saints (6th–9th century): 12 saints composed 4,000 Tamil hymns forming the Nalayira Divya Prabandham ("Four Thousand Divine Compositions"); Nammalvar's Tiruvaimoli is called "Tamil Veda"
• Mirabai (c. 1498–1547): Rajput princess who renounced royalty for devotion to Krishna; composed in Rajasthani and Brajbhasha
• Surdas (c. 1478–1583): Blind poet-saint of Mathura; composed ~125,000 verses in Brajbhasha in Sur Sagar — primarily on Krishna's childhood and youth
• Tulsidas (1532–1623): Composed Ramcharitmanas (1574–1577) in Awadhi — the North Indian vernacular Ramayana; ~10,902 lines in seven books (Sapta Kand)

Shaiva Bhakti

• Tamil Nayanmars (63 Shaivite saints, 6th–9th century): hymns collected as Tevaram (first 7 books of Tirumurai); Appar, Sundarar, Thirugnana Sambandar most celebrated
• Maharashtra Varkari sampradaya: Dnyaneshwar (composed Dnyaneshwari, Marathi commentary on Bhagavad Gita, 1290 CE, at age 16), Namdev (14th century), Eknath (16th century), Tukaram (1608–1650)

Nirguna Bhakti (Formless God)

• Kabir (c. 1440–1518): Weaver-poet of Varanasi; compositions in Sakhis (couplets) and Pads challenge both Hindu rituals and Islamic orthodoxy; Kabir Bijak is the primary collection
• Guru Nanak (1469–1539): Founder of Sikhism; his Japji Sahib forms the opening of the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib, compiled 1604 by Guru Arjan Dev)

5.3 Mughal Literary Culture (16th–18th Century)

Persian as Court Language

The Mughal court operated in Persian. Key texts:

• Baburnama (Babur, 1526–30): Autobiography in Chagatai Turkish, later translated to Persian — first modern autobiography by an Asian ruler
• Akbarnama (Abul Fazl, 1590s): 3-volume biography of Akbar; Ain-i-Akbari (Book 3) — comprehensive statistical survey of the Mughal Empire
• Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (Jahangir, early 17th century): Autobiography of Jahangir, valuable for art-historical insights (he was an astute connoisseur)

Urdu Literature

Urdu developed as a literary language in the 17th–18th century, combining Hindi grammar with Persian-Arabic vocabulary and Nastaliq script.

• Wali Deccani (1667–1708): "Father of Urdu poetry"
• Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810): Greatest early Urdu ghazal poet
• Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869): The supreme Urdu poet; wrote in both Urdu and Persian; his Diwan-e-Ghalib remains canonical; served at the last Mughal court in Delhi

Mughal Miniature Painting

The Mughal court patronised a distinctive painting tradition synthesising Persian and Indian styles:

• Akbar's atelier employed ~100 artists (including Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad)
• The Hamzanama (1562–77): 14-volume illustrated manuscript with 1,400 paintings on cotton cloth — the founding project
• Jahangir was the greatest patron — painters Ustad Mansur (natural history) and Bichitr (portraits) achieved remarkable psychological depth
• Rajput painting schools (Mewar, Kangra, Pahari) developed parallel miniature traditions

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