Introduction:
Since ancient times, Bharat had been a city of intellects. It always had been a leading nation in providing the intellectual and philosophical base for the coming of new waves of thoughts. The most original literary contribution of Bharat to the world stands in the Vedas. Vedas are the oldest texts in the world.

Vedas not only depict a philosophy but they have the greatest literary values. The variety of topics dealt with in Vedas range from philosophy to music, from environment to medical concepts and from social values to descriptions of the cycles of nature. Going further, come the landmarks in the literary

history of the world- the two epics- Ramayana and Mahabharata. It is said that everything that exists in the world is there in Mahabharata and that which does not exist in Mahabharata does not eventually exist in the world. The Bharatiya literature owes it's root to this great tradition.

Though these original works are in Sanskrit- the mother of all languages, the medieval and modern day literature has found expression in around more than 40 local languages. In this topic we shall see the types of literature in Bharat, the various forms it has taken with the passage of time, new experiments which belong totally to the Indian soil, India's contribution to the world literature and modern currents in the literature.