Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work.

The word literature literally means: "things made from letters". Literature is commonly classified as having two major formsfiction and non-fictionand two major techniquespoetry and prose. Literature may consist of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), a category that may also include polemical works, biography, and reflective essays, or it may consist of texts based on imagination (such as fiction, poetry, or drama). Literature written in poetry emphasizes the aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of languagesuch as sound, symbolism, and metreto evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, ordinary meanings, while literature written in prose applies ordinary grammatical structure and the natural flow of speech. Literature can also be classified according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. While the concept of genre has broadened over the centuries, in general, a genre consists of artistic works that fall within a certain central theme; examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods in English literature include Old English, Middle English, the Renaissance, the Elizabethan era of the 16th century (which includes the Shakespearean era), the 17th Century Restoration period, the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, the Romanticism of the early 19th century, the later 19th Century Victorian, and 20th Century Modernism and Postmodernism. Important intellectual movements that have influenced the study of literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, postmodernism, romanticism, and Marxism.

Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of Indiahas 22 officially recognized languages. All dates about the ancient Indian literature are not only uncertain, but are contested. European scholars from 18th century onwards estimated dates of various texts based on methods that Indian scholars consider arbitrary. The earliest works of Indian literature were orally transmitted. Sanskrit literature begins with the Rig Veda a collection of sacred hymns dating to the period 15001200 BCE. The Sanskrit epics Ramayana andMahabharata appeared towards the end of the first millennium BCE. Classical Sanskrit literature developed rapidly during the first few centuries of the first millennium BCE,[1] as did the Tamil Sangam literature, and the Pli Canon. In the medieval period, literature in Kannada and Telugu appeared in the 9th and 11th centuries respectively.[2] Later, literature in Marathi, Bengali, various dialects of Hindi, Persian and Urdu began to appear as well. Early in the 20th century, Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore became India's first Nobel laureate. In contemporary Indian literature, there are two major literary awards; these are the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith Award. Eight Jnanpith awards each have been awarded in Hindi andKannada, followed by five in Bengali, four in oriya,four in Malayalam, and three in Gujarati, Marathi and Urdu[3][4] and 2 each in Assamese, Tamil andTelugu

Literature in Sanskrit begins with the Vedas, and continues with

the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India; the golden age of Classical Sanskrit literature dates to late Antiquity (roughly the 1st century BC to 8th century AD). Literary production saw a late bloom in the 11th century before declining after 1100 AD. There are contemporary efforts towards revival, with events like the "All-India Sanskrit Festival" (since 2002) holding composition contests. Given its extensive use in religious literature, primarily in Hinduism, and the fact that most modern Indian languages have been directly derived from or strongly influenced by Sanskrit, the language and its literature is of great importance in Indian culture akin to that of Greekand Latin in European culture. Some Sanskrit literature such as the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads were translated into Arabic and Persian.[1] The Panchatantra was also translated into Persian. Devdas (Bengali: , Debdash; Hindi: , Devds) (also called Debdas)

(1917) is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaywhen he was only seventeen years of age. In many ways, it parallels the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi. Devdas is a young man from a wealthy Bengali Brahmin family in India in the early 1900s. Paro (Parvati) is a young woman from a middle class Bengali family. The two families lived in a village in Bengal, and Devdas and Paro were childhood friends. Devdas goes away for a couple of years to live and study in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). During vacations, he returns to his village. Suddenly both realise their easy comfortability in each other's innocent comradeship has changed to something different. Devdas realises Parvati is no longer the small girl he knew. Paro looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Of course, according to the prevailing social custom, Paro's parents would have to approach Devdas' parents and propose marriage of Paro to Devdas as Paro longed for. Paro's grandmother approaches Devdas's mother with a marriage proposal. Although Devdas's mother loved Paro very much she wasn't so keen on forming an alliance with next door neighbours. Also, Parvati's family had a long standing tradition of accepting dowry from the groom's family during a marriage rather than sending dowry with the bride, which was the established custom (and still is, in many parts of India). This alternative custom influenced Devdas's mother's decision of not considering Parvati as Devdas' bride, because she considered Paro's family to be "trading low caste" (becha-kena chotoghor) family, despite the fact that Parvati (like Devdas) was a Brahmin. The "trading" label was applied in context of the marriage custom followed by Paro's family. Devdas's father, who also loved the little Paro, did not want Devdas to get

married so early in life and wasn't very keen on the alliance. Paro's father, feeling insulted at the rejection, finds an even richer husband for Paro. When Paro learns of her planned marriage, she stealthily meets Devdas at night, desperately believing that Devdas will accept her hand in marriage. Devdas had never previously considered Paro that way. He feels surprised at Paro's bravery of visiting him alone at night and also feels pained for her. He decides he will tell his father about marrying Paro. Devdas' father disagrees. In a confused state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta, and from there, he writes a letter to Paro, saying that they were only friends. Within days, however, he realizes that he should have been bolder. He goes back to his village and tells Paro that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love. By now, Paro's marriage plans are in an advanced stage, and she declines going back to Devdas and chides him for his cowardice and vacillation. She makes, however, one request to Devdas that he would return to her before he dies. Devdas vows to do so. Devdas goes back to Calcutta and Paro is married off to the betrothed widower with three children. He is an elderly gentleman, a zamindar. He had found his house and home so empty and lustreless after his wife's death that he had decided to remarry. He spent most of his day in Pujas and looking after the zamindari. In Calcutta, Devdas' carousing friend, Chunni Lal, introduces him to a courtesan named Chandramukhi. Devdas takes to heavy drinking at Chandramukhi's place, but the courtesan falls in love with him, and looks after him. His health deteriorates because of a combination of excessive drinking and despair - a drawn-out form of suicide. Within him, he frequently compares Paro and Chandramukhi. Somehow he feels betrayed by Paro, never realizing that she was the one who had loved him first, that she had said it out loud first. He doesn't realise this, but Chandramukhi does, and tells him so. In his non-drunk state he would hate Chandramukhi and loathe her presence. So he drank, so that he could forget his prejudices. Chandramukhi saw it all, felt it all and suffered silently, but she had seen that real man behind the fallen, aimless Devdas he now was and couldn't help but love him. Sensing his fast-approaching death, Devdas returns to meet Paro to fulfill his vow. He dies at her doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of the death of Devdas, Paro runs towards the door, but her family members prevent her from stepping out of the door. The novella powerfully depicts the prevailing societal customs in Bengal in the early 1900s, which are largely responsible for preventing the happy ending of a genuine love story.

Literary meaning the first sight, Vishu an important festival is considered

as the beginning of the New Year by Keralites. Uniquely different from other

festivals, it is not linked with any religion but is celebrated with great solemnity as it is commonly believed that the fortunes of the forthcoming year depend on the object first seen by one in the morning of Vishu day. The most significant rite related to Vishu is the Kani Kanal. On the previous night of Vishu, a Kani (an omen) is prepared with all the materials that are considered auspicious. These are the first things looked at immediately on waking up. The kani consists of a round shaped metal bell-vessel known as Urule filled with raw rice. A folded new piece of cloth is spread over the vessel. It is then adorned with auspicious items such as a cucumber, betel leaves and nuts, a metallic mirror, beautiful yellow blossoms of Konna tree (cassia fistula), a book of palm leaves known as Grandha and some gold coins. These articles are illuminated by placing two coconut halves containing oil and lighted wicks, a metal bell lamp called nilavilakku is also placed next to the vessel. Early in the morning the eldest female member wakes up and lights the lamp, after which she awakens other family members to look at the Kani. It is also carried to the cattle-shed so that the cattle are not deprived of this special sight! Another significant event is the Vishu Kaineettam, which implies gifting of money to children and junior members of the family. The poor people are also remembered and silver coins along with raw rice are distributed to them. Celebrations then move from bursting crackers to enjoying some lip-smacking delicacies! Renowned temples like Guruvayur, Padmanaba Kshetram and Sabarimala are visited by devotees who come to look at the Vishukanis prepared in these temples. The Mahabharata or Mahbhrata (Sanskrit: , Mahbhratam, pron ounced [mabartm]) is one of the two majorSanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.[1] Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, the Mahabharatacontains much philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas (12.161). Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right. Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to Vyasa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.[2] The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century).[3] The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhrata dynasty". According to theMahabharata itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhrata.[4] The Mahabharata is the longest Sanskrit epic.[5] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 shloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana.[6][7] W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works ofHomer, Greek drama, or the Qur'an

Avatar In Hinduism, an avatar /vtr/ (Hindustani: [tar], from Sanskrit avatra "descent") is a deliberate descent of a deity to Earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being (e.g., Vishnu for Vaishnavites), and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation", but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation".[1][2] The phenomenon of an avatar (descent of God in human and other forms[3]) is observed in Hinduism, Ayyavazhi, and Sikhism only. Thus Avataravada is one of the core principles of Hinduism along with Ekeshwaravada (One Supreme Divine Reality), Veda Praman (Authority of the Vedas), Atman, Karma, Murti Puja, Ahimsa, and Punarjanma (Reincarnation).[4] The term is most often associated with Vishnu, though it has also come to be associated with other deities.[5] Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable.[6] The avatars of Vishnu are a primary component of Vaishnavism. An early reference to avatar, and to avatar doctrine, is in the Bhagavad Gita.[7] Shiva and Ganesha are also described as descending in the form of avatars. The various manifestations of Devi, the Divine Mother principal in Hinduism, are also described as avatars or incarnations by some scholars and followers of Shaktism.[7][8] The avatars of Vishnu carry a greater theological prominence than those of other deities, which some scholars perceive to be imitative of the Vishnu avatar lists. In Sikhism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a soul to earth in any form.[9] Guru Granth Sahib believes in the existence of the Dasavatara. InDasam Granth, Guru Gobind Singh wrote three composition on historical avatars which include Vishnu Avatar, Brahma Avatar, and Rudra Avatar