BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, PILANI

K.K. BIRLA GOA CAMPUS

INSTRUCTION DIVISION
SECOND SEMESTER 2023-24
Course Handout (Part-II)

Date: 10/01/2024

In addition to part-I (General Handout for all courses appended to the timetable)
this portion gives further specific details regarding the course.
Course Code: HSS F338
Course Title: Comparative Indian Literature
Instructor-in-charge: AMITENDU BHATTACHARYA
Classroom : A-602 (T Th F 2)

1. Scope and objective of the course:

This course probes major themes and issues in the Indian literary scene through a
comparative study of a wide range of texts produced in different languages of
India. The aim of the course is to appreciate, analyze and problematize the
category of “Indian Literature”. It examines the impact of cultural, political,
social and economic forces on the production of literatures in India from the
classical age to the present time. The problems of literary translation as well as
its indispensability will form an important component of this scrutiny. At the end
of the course the students will get a sense of the enormous complexity of India,
and the ideological and practical implications of being an Indian.

2. Textbook:

Dev, Anjana Neira, Bajrang Bihari Tiwari, and Sanam Khanna, eds. Indian
Literature: An Introduction. New Delhi: Pearson, 2006.

3. Reference Books:

Chaudhuri, Amit, ed. The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. London:
Picador, 2001.

Department of English, University of Delhi. Modern Indian Literature: Poems and

Short Stories. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.

4. Reading Material:

Guha, Ramachandra. “Prologue: Unnatural Nation”. India After Gandhi: The

History of the World’s Largest Democracy. New Delhi: Picador, 2008. Xi-xxvi.
Ramanujan, A.K. “Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay”. The
Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan. Ed. Vinay Dharwadker. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
34-51.

Dev, Amiya. "Comparative Literature in India." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature

and Culture 2.4 (2000).

Satchidanandan, K. “The Plural and the Singular: The Making of Indian

Literature”. Indian Literature: Paradigms and Praxis. New Delhi: Pencraft
International, 2008. 11-17.

Ahmad, Aijaz. “Indian Literature: Notes towards the Definition of a Category”. In

Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. New Delhi: OUP, 1994. 243-285.

Mukherjee, Meenakshi. “The Anxiety of Indianness”. The Perishable Empire:

Essays on Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: OUP, 2000. 166-186.

5. Course Plan:

Lecture No. Topics to be Covered

1 Introduction to the course

2 Definition and exploration of the concept of “Comparative

Literature”

3-4 The ideas of India and the Indian nation

5-6 Literary history of India; Indian Literature/Indian literature

7 The pitfalls and necessities of literary translation

8-9 Indian Epics: a template for literatures in India

10 Medieval India: Bhakti and Sufi poets

11 Colonial India: Western Impact, Indian Response

12 The Nation and the Region

13 Orientalism and the birth of Western-educated Indian

intelligentsia

14 Classicism, Modernism, and the Indian Modern

15 Oral and folk narratives versus written narratives

 16-18 Literary works from Southern India (Reading & Analysis)

19-21 Literary works from Northern India (Reading & Analysis)

22-24 Literary works from Central and Western India (Reading &
Analysis)

25-27 Literary works from Eastern India (Reading & Analysis)

28 Comparative Study of Marginality

29 Introduction to the Literature of the Marginalized

30-33 Women’s literature, Dalit literature, LGBTQIA+ literature, and

literature from the Northeast (Reading & Analysis)

34-38 Guest lectures on the literary histories of select Indian

languages

39-40 Summing Up

6. Evaluation Schedule

Components Duration Weightage Date & Time Remarks

(%)
Quiz I 15 mins. 15 TBA Closed
Book
Quiz II 15 mins. 15 TBA Closed
Book
Mid-semester Exam 90 mins. 30 12/03/2024 Open Book
(4:00 - 5:30 PM)
Comprehensive 3 hrs. 40 09/05/2024 (FN) Open Book
Exam

Chamber Consultation Hour: A-309, Wednesday (10:00 - 11:00 AM)

Notices: Notices will be displayed on Quanta AWS.

AMITENDU BHATTACHARYA

Instructor-in-charge
HSS F338