Gujarati Literature, Language and Dialects

What the official syllabus says

GPSC Preliminary Examination, General Studies, under the heading History and Culture:

• Gujarati Literature: Modes, Streams, Litterateurs, Literary work and Literary Organizations, Gujarati language and dialects, etc.

Topics in detail

Learn writers with their era, their main works and their genre. A short table of the Gujarati Jnanpith winners is below.

The Gujarati language

• Origin: from Gurjar Apabhramsha through Old Western Rajasthani (Maru-Gurjar); Hemachandra's Apabhramsha grammar
• The Gujarati script: derived from Devanagari, written without the top line (shirorekha)
• Gujarati in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution; Gujarati Bhasha Din (24 August, Narmad's birth anniversary)
• Narmad's dictionary (Narmakosh) and the standardisation of spelling (Sarth Gujarati Jodnikosh of the Gujarat Vidyapith)

Dialects

• Surti, Charotari, Kathiawadi (Sorathi), Mehsani, Pattani, Ahmedabadi
• Kachchhi (a separate language, written in the Gujarati script), Parsi Gujarati, Bhili dialects of the tribal belt

Modes (forms) of medieval literature

• Rasa and Phagu; Bharateshvar Bahubali Rasa (Shalibhadra Suri, 1185) as the earliest work in Gujarati
• Barmasi, Prabandha (Kanhadade Prabandha by Padmanabh), Pad, Bhajan, Garbi
• Akhyan (Bhalan, Premanand), Padyavarta (Shamal), Chhappa (Akho)

Streams (eras) of Gujarati literature

• Medieval: Narsinh Mehta, Mirabai, Bhalan, Akho, Premanand, Shamal, Dayaram
• Sudharak Yug (reform era): Narmad, Dalpatram, Navalram, Nandshankar Mehta (Karan Ghelo, the first Gujarati novel)
• Pandit Yug: Govardhanram Tripathi (Saraswatichandra), Manilal Dwivedi, Narsinhrao Divetia, Balwantray Thakore, Kalapi, Ramanbhai Nilkanth (Bhadrambhadra), Kavi Kant
• Gandhi Yug: Gandhi (Satya na Prayogo, Hind Swaraj), Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Jhaverchand Meghani (Saurashtra ni Rasdhar; 'Rashtriya Shayar'), K. M. Munshi (Patan novels), Dhumketu, Umashankar Joshi, Sundaram, Pannalal Patel (Malela Jiv, Manvi ni Bhavai)
• Post-Gandhian and modern: Suresh Joshi and modernism, Rajendra Shah, Niranjan Bhagat, Raghuveer Chaudhari, Chinu Modi; the Gujarati ghazal after Kalapi (Shayda, Mareez, Amrut Ghayal)
• More novelists and story writers: Ramanlal V. Desai, Ishwar Petlikar, Chunilal Madia, Manubhai Pancholi 'Darshak', Kundanika Kapadia, Dhiruben Patel, Varsha Adalja, Dhruv Bhatt
• More poets: Nanalal, Balmukund Dave, Makarand Dave, Harindra Dave, Ramesh Parekh, Labhshankar Thakar, Sitanshu Yashashchandra
• Drama: Ranchhodbhai Udayram Dave, Chandravadan Mehta, Madhu Rye
• Firsts: Narmad's Mari Hakikat (the first Gujarati autobiography), Nandshankar Mehta's Karan Ghelo (the first novel), Narmad's Narmakosh (dictionary)
• Journalism and literature: Narmad's Dandiyo, Gandhi's Navajivan, Buddhiprakash of the Gujarat Vidya Sabha
• Prose forms: novel, short story, essay, biography and autobiography, travel writing, children's literature (Gijubhai Badheka)

Literary organisations and awards

• Gujarat Vidya Sabha (Gujarat Vernacular Society, 1848); Forbes Gujarati Sabha (Mumbai)
• Gujarati Sahitya Parishad (1905; its first conference presided over by Govardhanram Tripathi)
• Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak; Narmad Suvarna Chandrak
• Gujarat Sahitya Akademi (Gandhinagar); Sahitya Akademi awards in Gujarati
• Literary magazines: Buddhiprakash, Kumar, Sanskriti

Overlaps

Mains Paper I, Gujarati Language, tests the language itself; the literature here also feeds General Studies-I (B) Cultural Heritage.