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Answer
The medieval literature is discussed in following points:
Literature developed in North India:
During the beginning of Medieval age, the language of literature in north India was Sanskrit. Two great works were written in Kashmir namely, Somdeva’s Kathasaritsagar and Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. Rajatarangini is of great importance as it depicts the histoiy of Kashmir. It is considered as the first historical book of India. Jaydeva wrote ‘Geetgovind’.
Literature developed in Apabharams: Those languages which did not strictly follow the norms of the Sanskrit language i.e. deviated were called Apabharams. Hindi is one such language originated from Apabharams. One of the earliest works in the form of Hindi was ‘Prithviraj Raso’ by Chandbardai. It is about the heroic deeds of Prithviraj Chauhan.
Literature developed in South India: Sanskrit and Telugu literature got more encouragement in the region of kings of Vijayanagar. Raja Krishnadevrai, the great king of Vijayanagar wrote the ‘Amukta Malayd’. Works on Jainism in Kannada language. Poet Pampa composed ‘Adipuran’ and Vjkramarjun Vijayant’. The poet Ponna wrote ‘Shantipuran’ describing the life of 16th Jain Tirthankaras. The poet Ranna composed books namely ‘Ajitnathpuran’ and Gada Yudh’. Poet Kamban composed ‘Ramayana’ in Tamil language. Also, several other famous literary works were written in Tamil language.
Development of Indian languages during the Delhi Sultanate: Indian languages and composition got a good encouragement during the Delhi Sultanate. During that period, two forms of Delhi language namely ‘Khadi Boli’ and ‘Brij Bhasha’ began to be used for writing literature. Many devotional songs were composed in these two languages.
Moreover, many heroic poems and stories were composed in Rajasthani language, which is similar to Hindi and Gujarati. The heroic works like ‘Alha’, Tidal’ and Visaldev Raso’were popular at the time. A book called ‘Chandrayan’ written by Mulla-Daod is the oldest book in Awadhi language.
Literature in Persian language: Persian was the language of court of Delhi Sultanate. Ziauddin Barani wrote the Tarikh-e-Firoz Shahi which gives an account of the region of the Khilji and Tughluq kings. He also wrote a book on political theory called Fatwa- e-Jahangiri.
Amir Khusro was the most outstanding literary figure of the Delhi Sultanate. He was a poet, historian, mystic saint and composer of music. He did several works in Persian language. He wrote the ‘Ashiquea’, the ‘Nah’, ‘Sipiher$1$, the ‘Kiratual Sadayan’, the ‘Khazain-ul-Futuh’ and several other works of poetry. He also composed verses in many other languages. He wrote a number of billingual quatrains and verses in Hindi and Persian languages.
Literature in Bhojpuri and Awadhi: Bhojpuri and Awadhi were the major dialects during those days. Kabir, the great saint and poet mainly composed his work in ‘Sadhukhadi’. Among them, Kabir’s dohas have become a part of folklore. Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote ‘Padmavati’ in Awadhi. Tulsidas wrote ‘Ramcharit Manas’ in Awadhi.
Apart from the main languages, there were several literatures done in other languages. Some of them are
discussed below: Kritta Vasa wrote Ramayana in Bengali. Famous poet Chandidas wrote hundreds of lyrics under the patronage of the rulers. Saint Chaitanya began the tradition of writing devotional songs. Narsinh Mehta wrote devotional songs in Gujarati and Namdev and Saint Eknath in Marathi. Important developments took place in Kashmir under Zainulabidin. Under his patronage, many Sanskrit works like the ‘Mahabharata’ and Rajtarangini were translated into Persian.
Development of literature during the Mughal period: Babar, the first Mughal ruler, was one of the most prominent Turkish poets. He wrote a valuable autobiography Tuzuk-e-Babar’ in Turkish. This was later translated into Persian under the name Babamama. Gulbadan Begum, sister of emperor Humayun, wrote ‘Humayunnama’. Jahangir wrote his great autobiography, Tuzuk-e- Jahangiri. Tulsidas and Surdas wrote during the Mughal period.
The great poet Keshavdas wrote on love and separation. Rahim’s ‘dohas’ are still popular all over India. Abul Fazl wrote the ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ and the ‘Akbamama’. Abul Fazl’s brother Faizi was great Persian Poet and he translated many Sanskrit works into Persian. Akbar had established an independent department for translation of Sanskrit works like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Atharvaveda, the Bhagwad Gita and the Panchatantra.
Development of literature in Urdu language: One of the most significant developments during the medieval period was the birth of Urdu language. Urdu language produced great poets like Wali, Mir Dard, Mir Taqi mir, Nazir Akbarabadi, Abdullah Khan, Galib, Iqbal and others. Urdu prose also developed in the early $18th$ century when the translation of most of the historical works from Sanskrit into Urdu began. Muhammad Hussain Azad’s Darbar-e-Akbari’ is one of the best works of Urdu language.
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