Indian literature just as one comprehends in contemporary times is a much different aspect as was conceived during the rather ancient or medieval ages. It is very much true that the Vedic Age or the later Medieval period of Sanskrit literature were the most initial blooming periods in the Indian literary scenario; however, with time, things that had come to such a phase, that every language established ever in India, possessed an intelligent plethora of literary works and bodies, each of them independently luminous by their own right. Be it in the ancient period, the medieval period, the colonial era, or the post-colonial era of Indian literature, time and again one thing does indeed come to surface. The point that needs to be established is that `Indian literature` as an all-encompassing, the authors, the writers, who have been penning since the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Had it not been for these indigenous Indian literary personalities, the magic, the mystery, the mesmerising factor, the machinated plots would never had come to life and readers would just missed something almost heavenly upon earth. Quite evidently, the highly venerated literary personalities in India deserve special mention in dedicated pages and not only extolling or analysing their work as an independent work of art.
Indian literary personalities are hence credited to make the pages of Indian Literature an exquisite weave of creation at the elevation of par excellence. Indian literature is mostly and universally regarded as one of the oldest literary body in the world. There exists 22 official languages under the Indian government and a huge variety as well as vast amount of literature has been written in these languages over the years. And the point that needs to be driven home over and over is the fact that such astonishing variety in the Indian languages and their literatures would never have been possible had it not been for the umpteen Indian literary personalities. These men and women have been triumphant and meritorious and capable enough to be lend the place they have been occupying since ages. The literary personalities from the Indian silhouette have enriched the Indian languages so far and have scripted and authored umpteen numbers of novels, short stories, classics, dramas, poetry and the like.
The first to alight in the scenario of Indian literature was of course, Sanskrit literature, under the tremendous influence of Hinduism. As such Sanskrit literary personalities like Kalidasa, Asvaghosha, Bana Bhatta, Jayadeva, Kalhana, Vishakadatta, Vishnusharma, or Valmiki and sage Vyasa since the most ancient ages have been motivating their future generations in various Indian languages. With the passage of time and gradual passing of period, however, the Vedic Age and Sanskrit literature was to face its first ever contender, though in a much smaller way, in Tamil literature. Tamil literature had initially begun with translational works from Sanskrit. However, with time, it had matured into an independent wing, with stellar presence of Tamil literary personalities like - Ilanko Adigal, Kamban, Bharati Dasan, C.S. Chellappa, Jayamohan, or Subramania Bharati. The medieval Indian times had witnessed a rush and overwhelming flow of Islamic rulers into India, completing forever altering the Indian quintessential essence of everything aboriginal or indigenous. With the advent of Islam into India, Urdu literature from Persian and Arabic literary influences had very much arrived into India, in an overmastering process. Urdu literary personalities would very much be grouped from the Sultanate or Mughal courts, comprising - Mirza Ghalib, Premchand, Abul Kalam Azad, Ismat Chughtai, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, or Saadat Hasan Manto.
The Indian languages structure was very much divided since the advent and subjugation of the Aryans. Indeed, the Aryan invasion upon Indian soil, was so much profound that the indigenous languages were divided into - Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. Owing to the southern Indian counterpart being rather aboriginal in their endeavours and also `tribal` in their approach, south Indian literary bodies were not much eulogised or heightened during those years; then again, north India was the seat of Islamic power, with that part of the country and eastern, western and central India receiving the most attention. South India always had served as independent regions since the arrival of the Britishers. As such, Dravidian literature, under Telugu literature had been clandestinely attempting to create masterpieces for its devoted readership. Indeed, Indian literary personalities carries on as if in a continuous thread of strange connexion, which binds the writers together, in spite of geographical boundaries. Telugu literary personalities, like - Srinatha, Bammera Potana, Gonabudda Reddy, Palakuriki Somanatha, Pingali Surana, Viswanatha Satyanarayan, Kandukuri Viresalingam Pantulu, or Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao, have tried to continuously uphold the extremely olden tradition of literature in India. Kannada literature is yet another stupendous domain, which though a comparatively later bloomer, nevertheless, possesses its intimate bunch of writers, taking time to capture the minds forever. Literary personalities in India, under the Kannada literary personalities would comprise men like - Pampa, Harihara, P.T. Narasimhachar, D.R. Bendre, Gopalakrishna Adiga, K. Shivarama Karanath, or Kuvempu.
Bengali literature was that much specialised Indian literary domain, which perhaps needs no further introduction or praising in any factors. Indeed, the arrival of British in India and with it, also was also inaugurated the rise of colonialism and colonial literature in India. However, Bengali literature was a completely heavenly body of works and litterateurs, which literally cannot be classified into any narrowed category. The genre of Indian literary personalities was just not only elevated to lofty heights with Bengali literary personalities, but also still is revered all over the world as being legendary and hugely versatile in each of its attempts. Literary personalities in Bengali literature, incorporating - Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhay, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Bibhutibhusan Bandhopadhyay, Madhusudan Dutta, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Manik Bandyopadhay, Sukumar Roy, or later men like Sankha Ghosh or Satyajit Ray, have taken Indian literature from colonial or post-colonial period, into enormously unprecedented and unimaginable heights. Side by side with Bengali and indeed, even more ancient to Bangla works itself, Hindi literature had also matured and has held its absolutely unwavering position since pre-Christian periods. The incredibly prestigious and prized list of Indian literary personalities under Hindi literary personalities would incorporate men as legendary like - Bihari, Kabir, Premchand, Tulsidas, Vishnu Prabhakar, Jaishankar Prasad, Mahadevi Verma, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Ramdhari Singh `Dinkar`, or S.H. Vatsyayan. Although aboriginal in their attempts, Konkani literary personalities from the coastal areas of Goa or the Lakshadweep, have earned great prestige with their expression of plight of daily lives of seafaring men and dwelling as the still downtrodden genus of Indian citizens.
The post colonial times and post-Independence India had changed much of the Indian literature scenario, which was now to witness a plethora of changes and metamorphosis in both Indian regional literature and of course, Indian writing in English. The latter topic was a comparatively fresh attempt in a highly Indian `set-up`, which was a gift from the British supremacy and their cousins. As such, Indian writers in English was one such consolidation into Indian English literature, which contains men like - Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Chandra, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Arundhati Roy, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Raj Kamal Jha, Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharti Kirchner, Khushwant Singh, Amit Chaudhuri, Amitav Ghosh, Vikas Swarup, Rohinton Mistry, or Kiran Nagarkar. In the realm of south India, however, literature simply just did not end in the Tamil or Telugu sphere only and stretched itself to domains in Malayalam literature, which south Indian literary personalities, intensifying themselves to independent status. Malayalam literary personalities comprises celebrated men like - Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, Kumaran Asan, Kunchan Nambiar, Madhavikutty, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Chandu Menon, and Tunchattu Ramanuja Ezhuttachchan.
Other than society and culture, these Indian literary personalities have instilled a passion amongst the countrymen to know more of other subjects like sports, films, adventure, education and the endless likes. Numerous journalists have also evolved as writers and produced regular columns in literary texts. Mukul Kesavan is one of such writer in English language whose focus is on sports. Raj Kamal Jha, a distinguished journalist was internationally applauded for his offbeat novels. Indian Literature is a vast domain and summing up every name in this domain shall reach to an unfathomable article. Khushwant Singh is a living legend and an Indian write in English language. Shashi Tharoor earned great name amongst the Indian literary personalities, as he explored the diversity of Indian culture, politics and glorious history and heritage through his writings. Ashok Kumar Banker is the multi-faceted talented writer, who expresses his humanistic views through his works.
Other than the mentioned names, there are uncountable other prima Indian literary personas, who have supplemented Indian Literature with rich and affluent works of art.
