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Assignment 3

The document provides an overview of the Gujarati language, tracing its origins from Old Gujarati in the 12th century through its evolution during the Medieval and Modern eras, highlighting key literary figures and movements. It also discusses Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography 'My Experiments with Truth', detailing his life journey, principles of truth and non-violence, and personal experiments that shaped his philosophy. The text emphasizes the cultural significance of both the Gujarati language and Gandhi's contributions to India's independence movement.

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10 views5 pages

Assignment 3

The document provides an overview of the Gujarati language, tracing its origins from Old Gujarati in the 12th century through its evolution during the Medieval and Modern eras, highlighting key literary figures and movements. It also discusses Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography 'My Experiments with Truth', detailing his life journey, principles of truth and non-violence, and personal experiments that shaped his philosophy. The text emphasizes the cultural significance of both the Gujarati language and Gandhi's contributions to India's independence movement.

Uploaded by

habhaidrive
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ASSIGNMENT

NAME : AARNA SAH


COURSE : B.sc(H) ZOOLOGY
COLLEGE : DAULAT RAM COLLEGE
EXAMINATION ROLL NO. : 23014569002
GUJARATI: A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORIGIN
INTRODUCTION :
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and
spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people; regional language officially
recognized by the Constitution. It is written in Gujarati script, an abugida very
similar to Devanagari (the script used for Sanskrit and Hindi), but without the
continuous line at the top of the letters. This language is said to have derived
partly from Sanskrit and Prakrit.

HISTORY:
OLD GUJARATI (1200 CE-1500 CE) : The history of the language can be traced back
to 1200 CE. A formal grammar of the precursor, of this language was written by
Jain monk and eminent scholar Acharya Hemachandra Suri in the reign of the
Chalukya king Jayasimha Siddharaj of Anhilwara. This was called Apabhramsa
grammar, signifying a language which is a corrupted form of languages like
Sanskrit and Ardha-magadhi. The language was used as literary language as early
as the 12th century. Texts of this era display characteristic Gujarati features
such as direct/oblique noun forms, postpositions, and auxiliary verbs. It had
three genders, as Gujarati does today, and by around the time of 1300CE, a
fairly standardized form of this language emerged.

MEDIEVAL ERA : Also referred to as Praag Narsinh yug. During the 15th century,
Gujarati literature had come under the tremendous sway of the Bhakti
movement, a popular cultural movement to liberate religion from entrenched
priesthood. Narsinh Mehta (1415-1481 A.D.) was the foremost poet of this era.
His poems delineated a very saintly and mystical sense and bore an intense
reflection of the philosophy of Advaitism. The story of Narsinh Mehta himself,
capturing his simplicity and his disregard for worldly divisions of caste and class
was composed as a long narrative ballad by Premananda, accorded the title
"mahakavi" or great poet by modern historians of the language. Premananda was
a "vyakhyakar", a travelling story teller, who narrated his subject in song form
and then perhaps elaborated on the lines in prose. His style was so fluent that
the long poems running into hundreds of lines were memorised by the people and
are still sung during the morning routines. In this sense the oral tradition of the
much more ancient Vedas was clearly continuing in India till late. His famous
poetry-stories deal with epic themes couched in stories of mythical kings, and
the puranas.

MODERN ERA (1800-PRESENT) : The Gujarati spoken today takes considerable


vocabulary from Persian due the more than five centuries of the rule of Sultan
kings who were Muslim. These words occur mostly in reference to worldly and
secular matters. Modern exploration into Gujarat and its language is credited to
British administrator Alexander Kinlock Forbes. During the nineteenth century
at a time when the British rule was more consolidatory and progressive, Forbes
carried out an extensive investigation of Gujarati culture and literature over
the previous thousand years and amassed a large collection of manuscripts. An
organisation named after him, called the Farbas Gujarati Sabha, dedicates
itself to the preservation of Gujarati literature and language and history from
its headquarters in Mumbai.
During this period, the Gandhiji and Gujarat Vidyapith became the nerve-centre
of all literary activities, where new values emerged and more emphasis was given
to Gandhian values, Indianisation and simplification. Novels, short stories,
diaries, letters, plays, essays, criticisms, biographies, travel books and all kinds
of prose began to flood Gujarati literature.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Gandhiji, Ramnarayan Pathak, K. M. Munshi,
Swami Anand, Umashankar Joshi, Sundaram, Jhaverchand Meghani, Pannalal
Patel, Jyotindra Dave, Chandravadan Mehta, Zinabhai Desai ("Snehrashmi"),
Manubhai Pancholi ("Darshak"), and Ishwar Petlikar are the main contributors of
this age.
Post-independence Gujarati poetry displays a higher form of subjectivity and
explores newer philosophies and lines of thought and imagery. The poems
became more subjective and brutal, discarding old imageries and symbols and
replacing them with new ideas. Prominent Gujarati poets of the post-
independence era include critically acclaimed poets like Suresh Joshi, Gulam
Mohamed Sheikh, Harinder Dave, Chinu Modi, Nalin Raval and Adil Mansuri, and
others. Post-independence prose literature in Gujarati had two distinct trends,
traditional and modern. The former dealt more with ethical values and its main
writers were Gulabdas Broker, Mansukhlal Jhaveri, Vishnuprasad Trivedi and
others. Existentialism, surrealism and symbolism influenced the latter.
MY EXPERIMENTS WITH THE TRUTH :
MAHATMA GANDHI
My Experiments with Truth" is the autobiographical work of Mahatma Gandhi,
also known as the "Father of the Nation" in India. The book chronicles Gandhi's
life from his childhood to the early 1920s, providing insights into his spiritual
and political evolution.

Gandhi explores the concept of truth (Satya) and non-violence (Ahimsa) as the
guiding principles of his life. He discusses his experiments with various spiritual
practices, dietary choices, and lifestyle changes as he seeks to align his actions
with his ideals. The narrative delves into his experiences in South Africa, where
he developed his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, known as Satyagraha.

The book is an introspective journey that reveals Gandhi's struggles, failures,


and successes in his pursuit of a life in harmony with truth and non-violence. It
remains a significant source for understanding Gandhi's philosophy and the
principles that shaped the Indian independence movement.

The writer is led by a barrage of experiments ranging from elocution classes to


purge his shyness and fear of public speaking, to shaking a leg on the dance
floor, to taking up singing sessions. He endeavoured to learn Latin and treated
diseases by dietic modifications. He walked 10 miles a day, staunchly followed a
vegetarian diet and practiced rigorous fasting. You often turn to look at the
cover page mulling whether this mild-looking dhoti clad figure who gave up salt
for 10 years to wrangle against British rule would be so adventurous, so
determined to find the 'truth' about every aspect of life that he carried out
his own unbiased research into it and refused to be satisfied with anybody
else's notions of right and wrong.
Through candid reflections, Gandhi shares his personal struggles, spiritual
experiments, and the evolution of his philosophy. From his early years in India
to the formative experiences in South Africa, the narrative unfolds with a
commitment to self-examination and moral growth. Gandhi's unwavering pursuit
of truth (Satya) and nonviolence (Ahimsa) as guiding principles shapes his
approach to social and political change, ultimately influencing the course of the
Indian independence movement. The autobiography not only serves as a
testament to his enduring convictions but also inspires readers to contemplate
the profound impact of individual choices on personal and societal
transformation.

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