By Roger Blackwell Bailey, Ph.D.
This Page is in Progress
Outline of the Literature of India


The Earliest Sanskrit Literature

The Rig Veda (1200-900 B.C. ). An ancient collection of more than one thousand perplexing hymns, about ten- percent of which have been translated with helpful notes and an engaging introduction by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. Penguin, 1981. On Line trans. T. H. Griffith.

The Upanishads ( 700-500 B.C.). One- hundred- eight texts which are the foundational scriptures of Hinduism.See Upanisads. A new translation by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford, 1996.
The Upanishads On Line trans. Max Müller.
Vedas and Upanishads Discussion and Translations from Sanderson Beck.

The Early Classical Period

The Mahâbhârata (400 B.C.-?A.D. 400). One of the two great Indian epics, whose length is likely to appall (eight times that of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined.) The Mahâbhârata Page A good place to start.

The Bhagavad Gîtâ, The Song of God ( 1st or 2nd c. ).A part of the work just preceding, it is India's most popular book of devotions. A one-sided dialogue between Arjuna, a character in the Mahâbhârata, and Krishna, who in this work is Jaruna's charioteer. Translation by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Supplement this translation with that of Franklin Edgerton ( Harvard, 1972 ). Edgerton's translation includes notes and an interpretative essay.

Valmiki (?), The Ramayana ( ?200 B.C.-A.D. 200). With The Mahâbhârata, it is one of India's two great epics. It is available in a retelling by William Buck ( California, 1976 ).
Ramayana On Line.

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