Rajasthan: Language and Literature

What the official syllabus says

RPSC, RAS/RTS Preliminary Examination, General Knowledge and General Science, under “History, Art, Culture, Literature, Tradition & Heritage of Rajasthan”:

• Language & Literature: Dialects of Rajasthani Language. Literature of Rajasthani language and Folk literature

Topics in detail

Rajasthani language

• Origin from Gurjari or Maru-Gurjar Apabhramsha; the term ‘Maru bhasha’ in Uddyotan Suri’s Kuvalayamala (8th century, Jalore)
• George Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India and his grouping of Rajasthani dialects (western, north-eastern, central-eastern, south-eastern, southern)
• Main dialects and where they are spoken: Marwari (Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Nagaur), Mewari (Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara), Dhundhari (Jaipur), Harauti (Kota, Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar), Mewati (Alwar, Bharatpur), Wagdi (Dungarpur, Banswara), Shekhawati (Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu), Malvi, Ahirwati, Bagri (Hanumangarh, Sri Ganganagar)
• Scripts: Devanagari and the old Mahajani (Muriya) script of trade accounts
• Dingal and Pingal: Dingal as the literary Marwari of the Charan poets, Pingal as the Braj-influenced style of the Bhat poets
• The demand for the inclusion of Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution

Forms of Rajasthani literature

• Raso (heroic narrative poem), Khyat (chronicle), Vat or Bat (prose story), Vigat (statistical account), Vachanika (prose-verse mix), Veli and Veli-geet, Dawavait, Marsiya (elegy), Pidhiyavali and Vanshavali (genealogies), Doha, Sortha, Kundaliya
• Charan literature (heroic and historical), Jain literature (religious and narrative), saint literature (bhakti), folk literature

Important works and authors

• Prithviraj Raso (Chand Bardai), Bisaldev Raso (Narpati Nalh), Khuman Raso (Dalpat Vijay), Hammir Raso
• Achaldas Khinchi ri Vachanika (Shivdas Gadan), Kanhadde Prabandh (Padmanabha), Dhola Maru ra Doha
• Veli Krisan Rukmani ri (Prithviraj Rathore of Bikaner), Hala Jhala ri Kundaliyan and Hari Ras (Isardas), Rajiya ra Sortha (Kriparam Khidiya)
• Muhnot Nainsi ri Khyat, Bankidas ri Khyat, Dayaldas ri Khyat
• Vansh Bhaskar and Veer Satsai (Suryamal Mishran), Veer Vinod (Kaviraja Shyamaldas), Chetavani ra Chungatya (Kesari Singh Barhath)
• Sanskrit works of Rajasthan: Shishupalavadha (Magha, of Bhinmal), Brahmasphutasiddhanta (Brahmagupta, of Bhinmal), Prithviraj Vijaya (Jayanaka), Harkeli Natak (Vigraharaja IV), Hammir Mahakavya, Raj Prashasti
• Modern Rajasthani writing: Vijaydan Detha (Bataan ri Phulwari), Kanhaiyalal Sethia (Pathal ar Peethal, Dharti Dhoran ri), Chandra Singh Birkali (Badli, Lu), Rani Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat, Narayan Singh Bhati, Annaram Sudama, Sitaram Lalas (Rajasthani dictionary)

Folk literature

• Folk epics and gathas: Pabuji ra Parvada, Devnarayan ri Phad (the Bagdawat story), Tejaji, Gogaji, Ramdevji
• Folk tales and love legends: Dhola-Maru, Moomal-Mahendra, Jethwa-Ujli, Nihalde-Sultan, Baat traditions
• Folk songs, proverbs (kahavat), riddles (aadi), lullabies and work songs; oral transmission by Charans, Bhats, Bhopas and Manganiyars

Institutions

• Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi (Udaipur), Rajasthani Bhasha, Sahitya evam Sanskriti Akademi (Bikaner), Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute (Jodhpur), Rajasthan State Archives (Bikaner)
• Collectors and scholars: Luigi Pio Tessitori (survey of bardic and historical Rajasthani texts), Komal Kothari (folk music and oral traditions)

Jain and Sanskrit-Prakrit writers of the region

• Haribhadra Suri of Chittor (Samaraichchakaha), Uddyotan Suri (Kuvalayamala, written at Jalore), Jinadatta Suri of the Kharatara gachchha (Ajmer)
• Jain bhandars (manuscript libraries) of Jaisalmer and other towns, which preserve palm-leaf and paper manuscripts

Hindi and Braj literature at Rajput courts

• Bihari’s Satsai, written at the court of Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber
• Vrind (Vrind Satsai) at the Kishangarh court; Nagaridas (Sawant Singh of Kishangarh) and his Braj poems
• Meera’s padavali and the vani literature of Dadu and Sundardas

Overlaps

Rajasthani language and important literary works are also in Mains Paper I (Unit I, Part A).