World Literature: An Indian Way of Thinking

Mrinmoy Pramanick

University of Calcutta

Page 076-089

Abstract: The idea of the world is a dynamic phenomenon, and the development of world literature is tied to both literary and extra-literary events. Worldwide literary centers can be found in many locations spanning both time and space. The concept of the world, or Visva (Sanskrit), is considerably older even if world literature has been a discursive framework that has affected the literary structures of many languages around the world since the 19th century. “Vasudhaiba Kutumbakam,” or the universal neighborhood, is a term from ancient Indian literature that attests to the age of the concept of Vasudha, or the world. As a result of numerous trade routes, cultural interactions, the expansion of ancient and medieval kingdoms, and the transit of literary writings, cosmopolitan literary spaces were created in various parts of t8he world. Additionally, the absence of modern cartography and the sovereign state system enabled constant changes in the borders of the empires, resulting in spaces with many languages. India has connections to several Asian nations dating back to ancient times, as well as to Europe since the medieval period. The diverse traditions of human thought from various parts of the world are carried in Indian literature. Significant literary contacts and the ongoing formation of new literary legacies were witnessed in the East, Middle East, South East, and South Asia of the present. The Sufi and Bhakti traditions, the reception of Indian epics as oral, written, and performative texts in South-East Asia, and the role of the royal courts as multilingual literary spaces continue to broaden the intellectual traditions of Bharat (India). Thus, the pre-modern development of world literature seemed intriguing and a subject worth exploring for literary professionals. This essay contends that ancient and medieval India and Bengal, particularly their languages, continually bargained to expand their intellectual frontiers.

Keywords: Visva-Sahitya, world literature, Tagore, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Indian literature, Bengali literature, universal humanism

DOI: 10.53397/hunnu.jflc.202302006

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