Dr.M.Mazumdar

C(S)ilappatikaram is an epic poem by Ilango Adigal. It is considered to be one of the best great epics of Tamil literature. The meaning of Cilappatikaran means jewelled anklet. According to an astrologer, Ilango will become the next Chera king and not his elder brother, Chenguttuvan. To disprove the prophecy, Ilango became a Jain monk so that his brother could become the king. So, Ilango was a Jain monk and a Chera prince. The meaning of Ilango in Jain means saint or ascetic. Time of Composition This epic poem by Adigal is based on a real incident and it was written in between 2nd or 3rd century. The exact time of writing is contested. Structure The epic contains three chapters and a total of 5270 lines of poetry. The three chapters are Puharkkandam, Maduraikkandam, and Vanchikkandam. Story The story starts in the chola kingdom's city of pohar, a flourishing sea port then. Kannagi and Kovalan is a couple who are the lead characters belong to the sea traders of pohar city. They love...

1. How do the different characters confront the absurdity of the plague? 10 2. What are the major issues focussed upon in Albert Camus' The Plague? 10 3. What does the plague symbolise? 2 4. What are the early signs of the plague?2 5. Who is Dr. Bernard Rieux? 2

1. Write a note on the central idea of the story , The Lady with the Dog? 10 2. What does the mirror symbolise in The Lady with the Dog? 2 3. How does Gurov initially view women? 2 4. 

1. Who is Sonia Marmeladov? 2 2. How does Katrina due? 2 3. What is the significance of 'Yellow' in Crime and Punishment?' 4. Justify the significance of the title of Dostovesky's Crime and Punishment? 10 5. Examine critically the character of Raskolnikov in C&P? 10

Author: Bertolt Brecht studied medicine and theater together. The Play: The original name of the play is "Leben des Galileo." It was written in 1938 but enacted in 1943. The setting is Renaissance, Italy. The story is about the genius of his times, Galileo Galili who was the first man to officially declare that the planets move around the sun and not the sun. He was the Professor of Mathematics in Padua University. Structure: It has 1 Act and 15 scenes. The genre is Epic Theatre. The theme is social responsibility of the scientists. The Plot: Galileo Galileo is the protagonist who used to tutor the small son Andrea of the landlord. One day, when the boy brought the breakfast, Galileo made the son of the housekeeper sit and started explaining how our solar system worked. The boy was corrected that sun didn't revolve but through a wooden model showed the reverse. And that from 2000 years, humans have been thinking it true but the speding science is correcting those old beli...

Rilke's solitude was quite metaphorical. He was born in a rigidly Catholic environment. He speaks about union. God is the other yet very near. He uses God in very intimate language like the poet Rumi. Both understood that our human longing for God is divine seeking in a direct or indirect way. A language of reverence is needed today. Many of Rilke’s poems touch on universal human experiences and are almost philosophical in nature. ‘What Survives’ can be read as an inquiry into suffering and survival; ‘To Music’ a reflection on the purpose and effect of music, and how it moves us. It reads: ‘You stranger: music. Space that’s outgrown us, heart-space’. "What Survives" is a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. Summary The poem reflects on what remains after loss, change, and the passage of time. Rilke suggests that physical things may disappear, but love, memories, emotions, and the deeper experiences of life continue to exist within us. He emphasizes that true human values and spiri...

Poetry in the 20th century is an International affair unrestricted to one country and hugely influenced by French, Latin and others. Poetry is now been done by the reader who recreates and shows good responsibility. Translation encompasses good focus. He wrote mainly in French. Rilke was born in 1875 in Prague, part of Austria-Hungary at that time. His best known poem about a panther in a zoo named "Der Panther" is one of his best known today. "The Sonnets", "To Orpheus", "The Duino Elegies" (10 Elegies), are other important ones. The German word "blick" or gaze is one of the major parameters in his poems. His "thing-poems" express the world beautifully. He recreates the interaction between the poet and the object. His first great love was the philosopher and psychologist Lou Andreas-Salome. He married and had a daughter with sculptor Clara Westhoff but they soon separated. The other women who came to his life inspired him a l...

1. Biography  Federico Garcia Lorca is Spain's one of the greatest poets, prose writers, theater directors, & playwrights of 20th century Spanish Literature. He was born in 1898. He was also musically gifted. He initially studied law at the university of Granada but soon became interested in literature and moved to Madrid to become a writer. studied at a conservative music school in Granada. He was a prominent member of the Generation of 27. His works, deeply rooted in Spanish folklore and surrealism, explored themes of love, passion, and the human condition. He revolutionised Spanish Literature. His iconic works were Blood Wedding, Yelma,  and The House of Barnarda Alba. His writings had intense lyrics and allusions to the natural world. He was heavily influenced by the symbolist movement in literature and the work of Spanish poets such as Antonio Machado and Juan Ramon Jimenez He had intimate non physical relation with Salvador Dali, the latter was gay and had complex se...

1. Charles Baudelaire was born in 1821 almost more than 200 years back. He died at the age of 46. He lived a bohemian life. He also took drugs and alcohol. He also wrote essays and translated apart from writing poetry. He had close connection with the then literary elite like Edgar Alan Poe. His single most poetry volume was fluer de mal (flowers of evil). Baudelaire is a very descriptive, graphic, and painting poet unlike the original very traditional French which were written in fancy calligraphy. He didn't shy away from disturbing subject matters as if his objective is to upset the readers. He had no problem with profanity. His aim was different with another set od particular aesthetic purpose in mind. His target is the educated middle class professionals, people who don't work manually as per European class definitions of the 19th century which is called the bouergeose class who are based on utilitarianism who are of usefulness. They are the ones who produces things but wit...

Bhavabhuti Bhavabhūti was born as Śrīkaṇṭha Nīlakaṇṭha and lived in between 680-c. 750 – c. 760 CE. He was born in Padmapura, Aamgaon, at Gondia district,in Maharashtra. He received his education at 'Padmapawaya', a place some 42 km South-West of Gwalior. Dayananidhi Paramahansa is said to be his guru.He is believed to have been the court poet of king Yashovarman of Kannauj. He was a classical Sanskrit scholar, poet, and playwright of eighth-century India. He is considered a key successor to Kalidasa and is often regarded as matching his literary stature. His best known work Uttararamacharita (translated as The Later Deeds of Rama), earned him, the title "Poet of the Karunā Rasa". Apart from these, Bhavabhuti is best known as the author of two plays: Mahaviracharita (“Exploits of the Great Hero”) and Malatimadhava (“Malati and Madhava”). Bhavabhuti’s mix of intellectual treatment and ornate diction was a departure from the use of simple spoken Sanskrit established in ...

The Golden Plate" is a Jataka tale contrasting two merchants: one greedy and dishonest, the other honest. When a poor girl offers a black, sooty bowl for trade, the greedy merchant scorns it, but realizes it's gold and tries to cheat her. The honest merchant recognizes its value, pays fair price, and the greedy one dies in rage. In length the story runs like this: Once upon a time, there lived a merchant of Seri, who sold brass and tin ware. He used to go from place to place, in order to sell his products. He was usually accompanied by another merchant, who also sold brass and tin ware. The second merchant was greedy. He wanted every thing for free and if he bought something, he paid as little as possible. One day, when they went to a town, they divided the streets between them so that none of them interferes in each other’s marketing. Both of them moved through the streets they had chosen and called, “Tin ware for sale. Brass for sale”. People came out of their homes and trad...

1.  2. What does the lighthouse symbolise in the novel "To the Lighthouse?" Marks-2. 2024. Ans: In "To the Lighthouse" (1927), the lighthouse functions as a complex, multivalent symbol. Throughout the novel, reaching the lighthouse represents the quest for meaning, understanding, and completion. In Part I ("The Window"), the planned trip is postponed, reflecting life's uncertainties and disappointments. In Part III ("The Lighthouse"), when the journey finally occurs after Mrs. Ramsay's death, it represents both achievement and anticlimax—the lighthouse, once reached, is just an ordinary structure, suggesting the gap between aspiration and reality. The lighthouse symbolizes how truth and meaning remain perpetually elusive, changing with perspective and time. While it touches on other themes, its primary symbolic function relates to the philosophical quest for meaning. 2. Discuss the novel "To the Lighthouse" as a stream of consci...

Here are key Jataka tales highlighting perseverance: Vannupatha Jataka (The Sandy Road): A caravan gets lost, loses hope, and gives up, losing everything. The wise leader, however, realizes that giving up is the real failure. He instructs his men to dig, leading them to find water just before they die of thirst. Prince Mahajanaka (Act of Vigour): After a shipwreck, Prince Mahajanaka swims in the open ocean for seven days, never giving up. When a goddess asks why he continues, he replies that even if there is no immediate hope, a person of strength must persevere to fulfill their duty, leading to his eventual rescue. The Mosquito and the Carpenter: Focuses on the folly of incompetent effort, showing that even if one works hard (like a mosquito trying to help), it is worthless without wisdom and proper approach (accidentally hitting a person with a hatchet). Mahānipāta Jātaka (Great Tales): These include several stories, such as Mahajanaka's dedication and Prince Nemi's determina...

The Jataka is part of the canon of sacred Buddhist literature, a collection of some 550 anecdotes and fables which depicts earlier incarnations, sometimes as an animal kr sometimes as a human of the being who would become Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha. Traditional birth and death dates of Gautama are 563-483 BC. The Jataka tales are dated between 300 BC and 400 AD. Jataka may mean births which are extremely popular stories of the former lives of Buddha, preserved in all branches of Buddhism. Some Jataka tales are scattered in various sections of the Pali canon of Buddhist writings, including a group of 35 that were collected for didactic purposes. These 35 constitute the last book, the Cariya Pitaka (“Basket of Conduct”), of the Khuddaka Nikaya (“Short Collection”). Beyond this, a Sinhalese commentary of the 5th century that is questionably attributed to a Buddhist scholar named Buddhagosa and called the Jatakatthavannana, or Jatakatthakatha, gathers together about 550 Jataka s...

  This tale is one of the Jataka tales — stories from the Buddha’s previous lives that teach moral lessons. 1. Two Merchant Friends: Two merchants who are close friends plan to travel with their caravans to sell goods. They decide not to travel together because each has many carts and it would be too crowded. One merchant chooses to go first, believing it’s better to be ahead. The other agrees and waits to follow later. 2. The First Merchant’s Mistake: The first merchant’s group reaches a dangerous region called the “Waterless Desert”. Locals had warned that demons lived there. In the middle of the desert, they meet strange people carrying water and plants. These strangers say there’s an oasis nearby and encourage them to discard their water. The merchant trusts them and dumps all his water. But the oasis doesn’t exist — it was a trick. The party becomes weak from thirst, falls asleep, and at night the disguised demons come and kill everyone. 3. The Second Merchant’s Wisdom: Months...

1. Ved Vyas is considered to be the reincarnation of God Vishnu by the Hindus. Satyabati and Rishi Parashar were his parents. (Dritirashtra and Pandava brothers are said to have been the sons of Rishi Parashar). The meaning of Ved Vyas is, the collector of Vedas. He compiled the Vedas, composed Mahabharata and 18 Puranas. He is said to have divided the Vedas into four parts. Shastras and Vedas have been written thousands of years back. But the fundamentals of these writings have remained the same. Birth, disease, old age and death are the inescapable relevant realities from Bhagwad Gita in Mahabharata. Vedas contents also preceded with Varna system, birth hierarchy, praises for Gods that represented the natural forces. Vedas consist of 6000 verses in each, that is total 24,000 verses. BORI or Bhandari Oriental Research Institute, UNESCO archives, and 15th century writings of Rig Vedas are some of the valuable sources of Vedas. (2) Shanti Parva Rajdharma The Mahabharata has been divided...

History and Genesis of Indian Aesthetics or Indian Classical Literature. The ancient literature of India reflects the cultural, social, religious, philosophical, and political development. There have been classical languages like Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil and many others. These worked upon the Indian literary traditions but affected global thought and culture. Indian classical literature is said to begin with the Vedas which is considered as the oldest and sacred text and composed around 1500-500/300 BC. Its Rig Veda is a collection of poems or hymns that formed the core of Indian spirituality. These texts were orally transmitted which continued for centuries. This vedic period continued in epic literature. These epic literature of manifested in Mahabharata and Ramayana. They were huge repositories of mythology, philosophy, society, culture, morality, and written in Sanskrit. Mahabharata written by Ved Vyas is the longer epic and contains around one lakh poems, covering stories of...

"Abhigyan Shakuntalam" has been considered the best known play in India and is also popular all over the world. It has been written by Kalidas who possibly belonged to the times of Chandragupta II or 3rd century AD. But for Kalidas, centuries doesn't matter. His this particular ancient play has transcended times. The word, Abhigyan means knowledge or recognition. And Shakuntalam means the narrative of Shakuntala. Ancient storytelling is, picking up a tale which was already available. And people would pick up episodes most of the time from the two great ancient epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. So is Shakuntala's narrative picked up from Mahabharata by Kalidas. He has gone into the details of the epic Mahabharata and visualised it with Shakuntala and Dushyant. However, kalidas has inserted a few changes in the story. It is estimated that he came after 400-500 years later than the writings of Mahabharata and there would be singers who would move from village to village s...

"Everyday Use" is a short story written by Alice Walker, an Afro-American writer. She was born in 1944 in Georgia in the US. She was hugely influenced by Martin Luther King Jr and became an activist in the civil rights movement under his influence. "Once" was her first collection of poetry. "Her famous novel "The Colour Purple" was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg. The story "Everyday Use" took place in the mid to late 1960s when Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech occurred in 1963. Setting: This era features the explosion of the civil rights movement when Malcolm X encourages African Americans to shake off the limitations of racism by any means necessary. He also helps establish the Nation of Islam while celebrating Black Nationalism. Analysis: The story "Everyday Use" has the themes of family, home, self-reflection, and tradition. The relationship between siblings and parents is dealt in this story....