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A 6 1.
grind.
dim and distant past. As time rolled on they attained a
definite form and became popular. Going through, probably,
many stages it was admitted into Sanskrit and Prakrit
literatures.
Thus it probably began to appear gradually in
the earlier Brahaminical and Buddhist literature. The se
stories and fables first appear in prose form, then partly
in prose and partly in verse form and it is at a later time
we come by works of narrative literature written wholly in
verse. Thus the assimilation of these tales and fables
into Indian literature seems to have gone through a long
process. These two catagories of narrative literature, viz.
the tales or stories and fables, afterwards separated from
each other.
Growth of Narrative Literature
and Other Works
-
Panchtantra, Brahatkatha
n
The earliest representative works of the above two
catagories in definite form are the 'Panchatantra' written
in Sanskrit and the 'Brahatkatha' of Gunadhaya written in
the Prakrit Paishachi language. The Panchatantra' was
afterwards followed by 'Vetalapanchavim satika, Simha-
sanadvatrisatika and Suka saptati etc. and the Brahatkatha
by 'Brahatkathamanjari' 'Kathasaritsagara' and the 'Braḥat-
katha slokasamgraha", all written in Sanskrit.
3. Narrative Literature of Kavya Type
One more form of this narrative literature also
developed during the 6th and 7th century A.D. in which all
the grace and refinement of the 'Kavya' are transformed from