Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were originally composed in Sanskrit and later translated into many other Indian languages, and the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature and Sangam literature are some of the oldest surviving epic poems ever written.
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script.
Dhani Ram Chatrik was an Indian poet and typographer.
Purohita Thirunarayana Narasimhachar, commonly known as PuTiNa, was a playwright and poet in the Kannada language. Along with, Kuvempu and D. R. Bendre, he forms the well-known trio of Kannada Navodaya poets. He was a Sahitya Akademi fellow and the winner of the Pampa Award, awarded by the Government of Karnataka in 1991.
Dr. K. Ayyappa Paniker, sometimes spelt "Ayyappa Panicker", was a Malayalam poet, literary critic, and an academic and a scholar in modern and post-modern literary theories as well as ancient Indian aesthetics and literary traditions. He was one of the pioneers of modernism in Malayalam poetry, where his seminal works like Kurukshethram (1960), is considered a turning point in Malayalam poetry. Many of Ayyappa Paniker's poems and his several essays were an important influence on later generations of Malayalam writers.
Ponna (c. 945) was a noted Kannada poet in the court of Rashtrakuta Dynasty king Krishna III (r.939–968 CE). The emperor honoured Ponna with the title "emperor among poets" (Kavichakravarthi) for his domination of the Kannada literary circles of the time, and the title "imperial poet of two languages" for his command over Sanskrit as well. Ponna is often considered one among the "three gems of Kannada literature" for ushering it in full panoply. According to the scholar R. Narasimhacharya, Ponna is known to have claimed superiority over all the poets of the time. According to scholars Nilakanta Shastri and E.P. Rice, Ponna belonged to Vengi Vishaya in Kammanadu, Punganur, Andhra Pradesh, but later migrated to Manyakheta, the Rashtrakuta capital, after his conversion to Jainism.
Chamarasa was a 15th century Virashaiva poet in the Kannada language, during the reign of Vijayanagar Empire, a powerful empire in Southern India during 14th - 16th centuries. A contemporary and competitor to a noted Brahmin Kannada poet Kumara Vyasa, Chamarasa was patronised by King Deva Raya II. The work is in 25 chapters (gatis) comprising 1111 six-line verses (arupadi).
Nijaguna Shivayogi was an Indian poet and a prolific writer in the Kannada language. He lived in the 15th century. He was a follower of the Veerashaiva faith, which he attempted to reconcile with the Advaita Hinduism of Adi Shankaracharya. Tradition has it that Shivayogi was a petty chieftain of Kollegal taluk in modern Mysore district of Karnataka state, India. Considered a visionary of his time, his Vivekachintamani, written in encyclopaedic proportions and in prose style, and the Kaivalya Paddhati, a musical treatise consisting of songs are considered his most enduring works.
Mannikoth Ramunni Nair (1903–1943), better known by his pseudonym, Sanjayan, was a Malayalam writer, journalist and one of the pioneers of satirical writing in Malayalam literature. Along with E. V. Krishna Pillai, another of the notable Malayalam satirists, Sanjayan is known to have developed the genre of light essays in the language. Besides satires, he also wrote literary criticisms and translated Othello into Malayalam language.
Odia literature is literature written in the Odia language, mostly from the Indian state of Odisha. The modern Odia language is mostly formed from Tadbhava words with significant Sanskrit (Tatsama) influences, along with loanwords from Desaja, English, Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu), Persian, and Arabic. Its earliest written texts date from around 1000 CE. The earliest Odia newspaper was Utkala Deepika, first published on August 4, 1866.
Harihara was a noted Kannada poet and writer in the 12th century. A native of Halebidu in modern Hassan district, he came from a family of accountants (Karnikas) and initially served in that capacity in the court of Hoysala King Narasimha I. Later, he moved to Hampi and authored many landmark classics. Among his important writings, the Girijakalyana written in champu metre is considered one of the enduring classics of Kannada language.
Karoor Neelakanta Pillai was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and one of the founders of Sahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society. Some of his works such as Poovan Pazham and Marappavakal are counted by many among the best short stories in Malayalam. He was a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Children's Literature in 1960, which he received for his work Anakkaran, and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story in 1969, which he received for his short story Mothiram.
Asaga was a 9th-century Digambara Jain poet who wrote in Sanskrit and Kannada language. He is most known for his extant work in Sanskrit, the Vardhamana Charitra. This epic poem which runs into eighteen cantos was written in 853 CE. It is the earliest available Sanskrit biography of the last tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavira. In all, he authored at least eight works in Sanskrit. In Kannada, none of his writings, including the Karnataka Kumarasambhava Kavya that have been referenced by latter day poets have survived.
The Var, in Punjabi poetry, is a heroic ode or ballad which generally narrates legend such as stories of Punjabi folk heroes or a historical event. Examples include the feats of Dulla Bhatti Raja Rasalu, Amir Khusrau's Var for Ghazi Malik who took the throne of Delhi in 1320, the Vaar of Shaikha Khokhar, and Najabat's Nadar Shah Di Var which describes the invasion of India by Nadir Shah in 1739. The Var has also been used to evoke the mood of devotion or sacrifice, as in Guru Gobind Singh's Chandi di Var, or to narrate the mystical experience of a Pir, Bhagat or Guru.
Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated with Punjabi literature. He is part of the generation of Indian authors who mark the transition of India into an independent nation, scarred by the tragedies of partition.
Jinadattasuri was a Jain Apabhramsa poet.
Apno Dharma is 1916 Gujarati collection of articles on religion and philosophy written by Indian writer Anandshankar Dhruv.
Hardev Bahri was an Indian linguist, literary critic, and lexicographer of the 20th century, notable for his work in Hindi, Punjabi, and other related Indo-Aryan languages. He compiled numerous monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for both general and technical purposes in collaboration with the publisher Rajpal and Sons.
