| * Boldface
titles indicate works in the anthology. |
TEXTS
|
CONTEXTS
|
| ca. 2nd century
The Sanskrit Natyasastra
by Bharata, the authoritative work on drama, poetry, and
aesthetics, is completed |
|
| 2nd or 3rd century
Visnusarman completes the Sanskrit
animal tale collection Pañcatantra
|
|
ca. 375–425 Kalidasa, preeminent poet of the Gupta age, writes
the play Sakuntala and other works in Sanskrit
|
335–470
The reign of the Gupta emperors in north India, an age
of great achievement in arts, letters, science, international
trade, and conquest • Indian civilization spreads
to Southeast Asia |
|
5th century The Sanskrit epigrams of Bhartrhari are collected in
the Satakatrayam (The Anthology of Three Centuries)
|
|
| ca. 400–500
Tiruvalluvar composes the Tamil Tirukkural, a
collection of ethical aphorisms • Vatsyayana writes
the Sanskrit Kamasutra,
the authoritative treatise on the science of erotics |
ca. 400–500 A great Buddhist monastery and university are
founded in Nalanda in eastern India
454 The Huns invade India
|
|
late 5th century The Jaina monk Ilankovatikal writes the
Cilappatikaram (The Poem of the Anklet), an epic poem in Tamil
concerning the heroic deeds and apotheosis of the chaste wife Kannaki
|
|
|
7th century Amarusataka
|
|
| 600–700
The poet-leaders of the south Indian devotional (bhakti)
movements dedicated to the god Siva
compose Tamil hymns praising the god |
ca. 600–800 Pallava rulers of Kanchipuram in south India
patronize populist religious movements and poetry in the Tamil language
629–645 Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hsuan-tsang visits India
|
| |
ca. 711–715 Arabs conquer the province of Sind in western India,
bringing Islam to the region
|
|
ca. 800 Hindu philosopher Sankara writes commentaries on the
Upanisads and the Bhagavad-Gita
|
|
| 900-1000
Manikkavãcakar, preeminent devotional poet of south
India, writes the Tiruvãcakam (Sacred
Utterance), a sequence of hymns to the Hindu god Siva,
in Tamil • The Bhagavata Purana, the Sanskrit
sacred narrative (purana) of the life and deeds
of the god Krishna, is completed |
|
|
11th century Somadeva writes the Sanskrit compendium of stories
called Kathasaritsagara (Ocean to the Rivers of Story)
for Queen Suryamati of Kashmir
|
1000 The Cola king Rajaraja I builds a great temple for the
Hindu god Siva at Tanjore in south India
|
|
12th century Kampan authors the Iramavataram, a version
of the Ramayana epic in Tamil • The Buddhist monk
Vidyakara of Bengal (in eastern India) compiles the
Subhasitaratnakosa (Treasury of Well-Turned Verse), an anthology
of Sanskrit lyric poems • Cekkilar completes the Periyapuranam
(The Great Sacred History), a long poem
on the lives of the Tamil saints who are devotees of Siva • Jayadeva
composes the Sanskrit lyric-dramatic poem Gitagovinda in Bengal,
on Krishna's love for the herdswoman Radha, the central theme of later
poetry about Krishna
|
ca. 1100–1200 Buddhist monuments are built at Angkor Wat in
Cambodia
ca. 1193 Turkish warrior Qutb-ud-din Aibak captures the city of
Delhi, initiating a period of several centuries of rule in north India
by Delhi-based Muslim kings
|
 |
|
