History of Literature

Riddhima Sen

Literature is a mirror of the society. It depicts what keeps on happening in the world around us. Be it a moment of heartbreak, or a moment of inspiration- simple yet elegant, these moments matter the most. When such a captivating moment is caught perfectly in the web of words, literature truly becomes something more than words, something meaningful and powerful. Literature actually originated from oral traditions, where memory served as the basis. Memory and listening go hand in hand, in the context of oral traditions. From oral to written, literature has changed vessels, moving from an earthern pot to a ceramic one.
In India, epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharat, were originally narrated – from guru to student, and from one student to the other. Numerous centuries later, the oral texts were converted into written, primarily written on manuscripts, mainly the skin of animals or even the barks of trees as well. Forward to numerous centuries later, books are printed on pages, white pages getting gradually filled with words which make up a lot of sense. The trajectory of literature is something worth observing , how modes and narratives keep on changing across a duration of time .

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