Sanskrit literature

ancient Hindu text on erotic love

thumb|The first page of oldest surviving Panchatantra text in Sanskrit thumb|An 18th-century Pancatantra manuscript page in Braj ("The Talkative Turtle")

body of Indic literature

Ashtavakra (, ) is a revered Vedic sage in Hinduism. His maternal grandfather was the Vedic sage Aruni, his parents were both Vedic students at Aruni's school. Ashtavakra studied, became a sage and a celebrated character of the Hindu Itihasa epics and Puranas.

In Hinduism, Itihasa-Purana, also called the fifth Veda, refers to the traditional accounts of cosmogeny, myths, royal genealogies of the lunar dynasty and solar dynasty, and legendary past events, as narrated in the Itihasa (Mahabharata and the Ramayana) and the Puranas. They are highly influential in Indian culture, and many classical Indian poets derive the plots of their poetry and drama from the Itihasa. The Epic-Puranic chronology derived from the Itihasa-Purana is an influential frame of reference in traditional Indian thought.

collection of Indian tales

Kumārasambhavam ( ) (transl. - "The Birth of Kumāra") is an epic poem by Kālidāsa. It is widely regarded as the finest work of Kalidasa as well as the greatest kāvya poem in Classical Sanskrit. The style of description of spring set the standard for nature metaphors pervading many centuries of Indian literary tradition. Kumārasaṃbhavam narrates the birth of Kumāra (Kārtikeya), the son of Shiva (Śiva) and Pārvatī (Umā). The period of composition is uncertain, although Kalidasa is thought to have lived in the 5th century.

In Indian literature, Kāma-Śāstra (कामशास्त्र ), refers to the tradition of works about kāma (broadly desire; particularly love, erotic, sensual and sexual desire in this case). Kāma-shastra aims to instruct the townsman (nāgarika) in the attainment of enjoyment and fulfillment.

epic poetry of the Indian subcontinent

dramatic tradition of classical India

Bhashya () is a "commentary" or "exposition" of any primary or secondary text in ancient or medieval Indian literature. Common in Sanskrit literature, Bhashyas are also found in other Indian languages such as Tamil. Bhashyas are found in various fields, ranging from the Upanishads to the Sutras of Hindu schools of philosophy, from ancient medicine to music.

Vasavadatta is also a character in the Svapnavasavadatta and the Vina-Vasavadatta thumb|right|Vasavadhata - oil painting by Rajasekharan Parameswaran. Vasavadatta (, ) is a classical Sanskrit romantic tale (akhyayika) written in an ornate style by Subandhu, whose time period isn't precisely known. He is generally taken to have written the work in the second quarter of the seventh century. However, scholar Maan Singh has stated that he was a courtier of the Gupta emperors Kumaragupta I (414-455) and Skandagupta (455-467), dating him between 385 and 465 AD.

Nitisara () or the Nitisara of Kamandaki, is an ancient Indian treatise on politics and statecraft. It was authored by Kamandaka, also known as Kamandaki or Kamandakiya, traditionally identified as a disciple of Vishnugupta (Kautilya). It is traditionally dated to the 4th-3rd century BCE, though modern scholarship variously dates it to between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE between Gupta and Harsha period and its in fact a recension based on Sukra Nitisara of 4th century BCE. It contains 19 sections. The work has been dedicated to Chandragupta of Pataliputra.

Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: kāvyá) was the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c. 200 BCE and 1200 CE.

Indian fairy tale

Champu or Chapu-Kavya (Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A champu-kavya consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kavya) and poetry passages (Padya-Kavya), with verses interspersed among prose sections.

storytelling format

varied group of Indian and Tibetan texts

Vaishnavite text

The term ashtakam (), also often written astakam, is derived from the Sanskrit word aṣṭā, meaning "eight". In context of poetic compositions, 'ashtakam' refers to a particular form of poetry, written in eight stanzas.

Prabandha is a literary genre of medieval Indian Sanskrit literature. The prabandhas contain semi-historical anecdotes about the lives of famous persons. They were written primarily by Jain scholars of western India (Gujarat and Malwa) from 13th century onwards. The prabandhas feature colloquial Sanskrit with vernacular expressions, and contain elements of folklore.

indic philosophy of aesthetics

Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit

Prabandha-Chintamani (IAST: Prabandha-cintāmaṇi) is an Indian Sanskrit-language collection of prabandhas (semi-historical biographical narratives). It was compiled in c. 1304 CE, in the Vaghela kingdom of present-day Gujarat, by Jain scholar Merutunga.

Buddhist sūtra

Shukranīti (–), also known as Shukranītisara (–) and ''Shukracharya's System of Morals, is a part of the Dharmasastra. It is a treatise on government, instructing how to use political theory to uphold morality. The code is authored by Shukracharya, also known as Usanas, and was claimed to have been written during the Vedic period. However, modern historians claim the composition could date as early as the 4th century AD during the Gupta period, or as late as a 19th-century forgery. The term Niti is derived from the Sanskrit word which translates to To Lead. Shukra-Niti focuses on morality, whi