Literature Arts and entertainment in India

rabindranath tagore won nobel prize literature. first nobel prize won asia.

indian literature acknowledged, not wholly established, oldest in world. india has 22 officially recognized languages, , huge variety of literature has been produced in these languages on years. in indian literature, oral , written forms both important. hindu literary traditions dominate large part of indian culture. apart vedas sacred form of knowledge, there other works such hindu epics ramayana , mahabharata, treatises such vaastu shastra in architecture , town planning, , arthashastra in political science. devotional hindu drama, poetry , songs span subcontinent. among best known works of kalidasa (writer of famed sanskrit play shakuntala) , tulsidas (who wrote epic hindi poem based on ramayana, called raamcharitmaanas).

tamil literature has been in existence more 2500 years. tolkaappiyam has been credited oldest work, whereas exact origins of thirukkural unknown. golden age of tamil literature during sangam period, 1800 years ago. classic works of period cilappatikaram, manimekalai, , sivakasinthamani. tamil literature known secular traditions, although authors had strong religious beliefs. thirukkural considered greatest of tamil works. kannada literature third oldest in indian literature next sanskrit literature , tamil literature. earliest reported work in kannada literature dates fifth century. first available literary in kannada kavirajamarga, written in eighth century amoghavarsha nrpatunga. hindi literature started religious , philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects avadhi , brij. famous figures period kabir , tulsidas. in modern times, khadi dialect became more prominent , variety of literature produced in sanskrit.

the renowned bengali writer nobel laureate rabindranath tagore, received nobel prize literature. in last century, several indian writers have distinguished not in traditional indian languages in english. india s native-born nobel laureate in literature bengali writer rabindranath tagore, vs naipaul, diaspora indian novelist born in trinidad, won nobel in 2001. other major writers either indian or of indian origin , derive inspiration indian themes r. k. narayan, vikram seth, salman rushdie, arundhati roy, raja rao, amitav ghosh, vikram chandra, mukul kesavan, shashi tharoor, nayantara sehgal, anita desai, ashok banker, shashi deshpande, jhumpa lahiri, , bharati mukherjee.