1 Handout of the lecture to be delivered in the Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on Indian Knowledge System: Revisiting Indian Literary and Cultural Traditions, Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, 24-29 June, 2024 Bharat as a literary area: an introduction to contact and convergence study of literature P Sreekumar Central University of Kerala Abstract: Through the contact of languages, literature of languages is in contact and convergence. This class is the first discussion on this phenomenon of literature in contact and convergence based on Malayalam. Firstly, the sociolinguistic context of contact is presented in which literature comes into contact and convergence. Contact and convergence literature and contact and convergence literary studies are defined based on convergence literature in Malayalam. Based on this, Bharat is defined as a literary area, and the primary methodology of contact and convergence study of literature is also introduced. Expected outcome: After this lecture, the participants will be able to: (1) Understand what the contact and convergence literature (2) Describe the contact and convergence phenomena in literature (3) Understand why Bharat as a literary area (4) Practice the studies on contact and convergence literature across languages. Content 1. Introduction 2. Context of literary contact 2.1. Multilingualism 2.1.1. Literary Multilingualism 2.1.1.1. Complete literary multilingualism 2.1.1.2. Partial literary multilingualism 2.1.1.3. Illiterate multilingualism 2.2. Absence of linguistic and cultural purity 2.3. Social dynamics 2.4. Lingua franca 2.5. Translation 3. Language contact of Malayalam 3.1. Multilingualism in Malayalam 3.1.1. Literary Multilingualism in Malayalam 3.1.1.1. Complete Literary Multilingualism in Malayalam 3.1.1.2. Partial Literary Multilingualism in Malayalam 3.1.2. Illiterate Bilingualism in Malayalam 3.2. Absence of Linguistic and Cultural Purity in Malayalam 3.3. Social Dynamics in Malayalam 3.4. Lingua Franca in Malayalam 3.5. Translation in Malayalam 4. Convergence literature in Malayalam 4.1. Convergence Classification 4.1.1. Convergence of Form 4.1.2. Convergence of content 4.1.3. Convergence of character 4.1.4. Convergence of Ideas 4.2. Character of Convergence 5. India as literary area 5.1. Methodology of contact and convergence literature 6. Summary References