BCE

Treatise on statecraft, economy and military strategy

Used by later writers Strabo and Arrian

Describes geography, politics, various kingdoms, caste system

Covers travel of Alexander’s officer Nearchus from India to Babylon

Covers geography, esp. Indus and Ganges

Describes social structure

Describes seven castes, physical appearance, absence of slavery

Used Indika (Megasthenes) as source

Consists of 17 volumes of material

(date)

3^rd c. BCE

(Madhya Pradesh)

Dedicated by Heliodorus to god Vasudeva

Heliodorus was the Ambassador of Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to court of Sunga king Bhagabhadra

Describes relationship b/w Sungas and Indo-Greeks

(Orissa)

(Kalinga)

(150 BCE)

Main source of info about Kharavela

Mentions conflict with Demetrius

Mentions conflict with Uttarapatha

(Afghanistan)

127-151 CE

Describes Kushan dynasty

(Karnataka)

(date)

(5^th -4^th c. BCE)

(2^nd c. BCE)

Hindi film Utsav was based on this

(1^st BCE – 4^thCE)

He is considered to be one of most important Sanskrit authors (after Kalidasa)

Depicts story of Duryodhana after fight with Bhima

(4^th -5^th CE)

Gupta period

Agnimitra was the son and successor to Pushyamitra Sunga

Considered to be Kalidasa’s most popular play

One of Kalidasa’s most popular poems

(590-647 CE)

Contains one of the earliest references to festival Holi

(600 BCE-

300 BCE)

Ettuthokai contains 8 anthologies:

Ainkurunuru, Akananuru, Purananuru, Kalittokai, Kuruntokai, Narrinai, Paripatal, Patirrupattu

Each of these anthologies in turn contain hundreds of poems by multiple authors

Deals with two themes: Akam (personal life) and Puram (war, politics)

See here for more information on the Ettuthokai

Pathupattu contains 10 idylls (mid length books):

Tirumurugattruppatai, Kurinjipattu, Malaipatukatam, Maturaikkanji, Mullaipattu, Netunalvatai, Pattinappalai, Perumpanatrupatai, Porunaratruppatai, Sirupanatrupatai

Deals mainly with themes of nature

See here for more information on Pathupattu

The five epics were: Silappadhigaram, Manimegalai, Sivaka Chintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi

Specific epics described below

(1^st c. CE)

Describes in detail life, politics, trade, settlements of Greeks etc

Story evolves in themes of three: three kingdoms, three heroes, three heroines etc

Considered one of most important ancient Tamil literature

(1^st-2^nd c. CE)

Sequel to Silappadhigaram

Supposedly describes story of Buddhist monk Kundalakesi

Contains 1330 couplets

Thirukkural remains the book translated into most number of languages in the world

(1^st c. BCE)

1^st-2^nd c. CE)

It is a collection of astrology-related ideas borrowed from Greek world

Gives rules for building horoscopes

(Doctrine of Paul)

(c. 378 CE)

(Doctrine of the Romans)

It is the only Indian work based on the tropical system

(c. 550 CE)

Apasthamba and Katyayana developed these principles further

(4^th-2^nd c. BCE)

Also describes Pascal’s triangle, binomial theorem and Fibonacci numbers

(c 522 CE)

Describes heliocentric model of solar system

Explained lunar and solar eclipses

Gave duration of one year as 365 days 6 hrs 12 min 30 sec

Gave value of pi (3.1416)

Correctly calculated earth’s circumference as 24,835 miles

Aryabhata’s principles are still in use for fixing the Hindu calendar Panchanga

(c. 600 – 680 CE)

Solved Wilson’s theorem and Pell equation

(c. 630 CE)

Solve system of simultaneous indeterminate equations

Sum of series

Introduced the concept of zero

Formula for cyclic quadrilaterals

Rebutted the idea that moon is farther from earth than the sun