BEGC 132 Selection from Indian Writing: Cultural Diversity Syllabus

BEGC 132 helps you to study writing from Indian writers both in English and in translation. It will also allow learners to access the thoughts and work of regional writers. It will cover a variety of genres like criticism and stories. Apart from this course addresses the most relevant issues like the politics of language, and the marginalization of minority groups/communities and women. The course will study writers and critics like Sujit Mukherjee, Sisir Kumar Das, Amrit Rai, MK Naik, Nabanita Deb Sen, Tillotamma Mishra, Eleanor Zelliot, Bulleh Shah, Akka Mahadevi, Meera, Raghuvir Sahay, Ayyappa Paniker, Kynphem Sing Nongkynrih, N.T. Rajkumar, Lakshmi Kannan, Pudhumaipithan, Indira Sant, and Naseem Shafaie.

BLOCK I- PLURALITY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

UNIT 1 ‘PROPOSITIONS’ BY SUJIT MUKHERJEE

1. Sujit Mukherjee- ‘Proposition’ Some Excerpts from his essay

UNIT 2 ‘THE MAD LOVER’ BY SISIR Mukherjee KUMAR DAS

1. Sisir Kumar Das- ‘The Mad Lover’

UNIT 3 BHAKTI AND SUFI MOVEMENTS IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

1. The Bhakti Movement in Medieval India
2. The Sufi Movement in India
3. Link between the Upanishads and the Quran
4. Bulleh Shah, the Sufi Mystic and Poet- Kafi, a form of Sufi poetry- ‘Kafi 7’ by Bulleh Shah
5. Unity of Being: Meeting of Advaita and Sufi Philosophy

UNIT 4 BAUL GAAN, AKKA MAHADEVI AND in Medieval India MEERABAI

1. Indian Religious Poetry
2. Rabindranath Tagore
3. ‘Baul Gaan’ (the Song)- Analysis of ‘Baul Gaan’
4. Akka Mahadevi- The Poem ‘Vacana’
5. Meerabai- The poem ‘Mere to Giridhara Gopal’

BLOCK 2- Language Politics: Hindi, Urdu and English

UNIT 1 UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE

1. Amrit Rai- Understanding Hindavi (An excerpt from her essay)
2. Amir Khusrau and Hindavi.
3. Language, Culture and Power: The case of Hindavi.

UNIT 2 ‘GHAZAL’ BY AMIR KHUSRAU AND ‘HINDI’ BY RAGHUVIR SAHAY

1. Amir Khusrau -A Reading of Khusrau’s ‘Ghazal’
2. Ghazal as an Art Form and its Interaction with Society
3. ‘Hindi’ by Raghuvir Sahay

UNIT 3 M.K. NAIK AND THE ISSUE OF LANGUAGE

1. M. K. Naik and the Issue of Language
2. Raja Rao and Indian English
3. Indian English: An Alternative Form of Expression?

UNIT 4 ‘MOTHER TONGUE’ BY PADMA Language SACHDEV; ‘PASSAGE TO AMERICA’ BY K. AYYAPPA PANIKER

1. Padma Sachdev (the Dogri Poet)- ‘Mother Tongue’
2. K. Ayyappa Paniker (the Malayalam Poet)- ‘Passage to America’

BLOCK 3- Marginalized Voices

UNIT 1 DALIT VOICES

1. Eleanor Zelliot- Excerpts from ‘Dalit Sahitya – The Historical Background’
2. What is Dalit Literature?

UNIT 2 DALIT VOICES – POETRY

1. Dalit Poetry
2. F M Shinde: ‘Habit’
3. NT Rajkumar: ‘Untitled Poem’

UNIT 3 LITERATURE FROM NORTH EAST INDIA

1. Tilottoma Misra- Excerpt from Introduction to The Oxford Anthology of Writings from the North East India

UNIT 4 LITERATURE FROM NORTH EAST India INDIA –POETRY

1. Poetry from North East India
2. – ‘Hijan Hirao’
3. – ‘Colours of Truth’

BLOCK 4- Women Speak

UNIT 1 A WOMAN’S RETELLING OF THE RAMA-TALE: THE CHANDRABATI RAMAYANA

1. Chandrabati, the Writer
2. Nabaneeta Deb Sen- Excerpts from Essay.

UNIT 2 LAKSHMI KANNAN AND INDIRA SANT: POEMS

1. Lakshmi Kannan and Rasha Sundari Debi- ‘Don’t Wash’
2. Indira Sant- ‘Her Dream’

UNIT 3 NASEEM SHAFAIE: POEMS

1. ‘Neither a Shadow Nor a Reflection’
2. ‘Solitude – For the Girl Child’

UNIT 4 ‘SAPAVIMOCHANAM’ (‘THE REDEMPTION’) BY PUDHUMAIPITHAN

1. Pudhumaipithan
2. ‘Sapa Vimochanam’ (‘The Redemption’)

This is a complete syllabus on an IGNOU course BEGC 132 SELECTION FROM INDIAN WRITING: CULTURAL DIVERSITY. It helps you while preparing for the Term-End examination. IGNOU study materials are usually very vast and they give many explanations for each and everything. Therefore the learners find it a little difficult to identify important topics. Here we help you solve this problem.