A New History of Sanskrit Literature

by Krishna Chaitanya

The existing works either confine themselves to the classical period or, when they seem to cover the whole span, highlight the Vedic period. In this work, the author has steadily kept an overall balance as his ideal. It is probably the first time that the Epic hostiries--Ramayana and Mahabharata receive an extended and genuinely literary evaluation in any history of Sanskrit literature. Throughout, an endeavour has been made to see literary evolution as unfolding within the rich, inclusive matrix of a many-faceted life of the spirit. The author believes that, in the Indian tradition the final resolution of the problems of political order, moral living and philosophical understanding was managed by the aesthetic sensibility. His accounts of political, moral and philosophical thoughts, thus, are not merely useful material but intimately relevant to the real understanding of the integrated vision of the many planes of human action, which we see in Valmiki, Vyasa, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and others. With about 1,200 references, the work meets the most exacting demands of scholarship, while the ideal ever kept in mind has been to secure for this evaluation of literature some measure of literary worth on its own.