Bengali Language and Literature

Bengali is spoken by 25 million people

in Bangladesh West Bengal Assam
Tripura and epatriot all over the world
 Origin of Bengali Language
• Indo European Family of Languages
• Prakrit and Apabhramsa stages of Indo-
European Branch of the Family
• Dr. Shahidullah – Bengali Developed from
Gaudi Prakrit and Gaudi Apabhramsa in 7th CE.
• Sukumar Sen – Maghadi Prakrit and Maghadi
Apabhramsa in 10th cm.
• Oriya Bengali and Assamese belonged to the
same stream.
 Evolution of Bengali Language
• Bengali lot of changes – Sanskrit and Aryan
and Pre Aryan languages
• Foreign words – Persian, Arabic, Portuguese,
English, French
• Sadhu, Chalti, Dialects
• Bengali script derived from an eastern variety
of Brahmi script
 Growth and Earliest Example
• Old ( 7th to Century), Middle (13-18th century)
and Modern ( 19th c – todate)
• Till 18th century and then 19th cen. Printing
Press
• Charyagiti - Buddhist mystic songs- provides
glympses of social life and a guide to Tantric
Buddihists.
• Krishna and Radha – early fifteenth century.
 Evolution of Bengali Literature
• Various genres – Translation – Ramayana etc.
• Translation from Persian, Hindi and Awadhi
• Mangal Kavya-Narrative Poems in praise of local
deity- depicts social cultural economic life.
• Mansa, Chandi and Dharma Mangal
• Vaisnav Literature – Sri Chaytanya ( 1486-1533)-
Devotion to Radha Krishna, repudiation of caste
system and equality of all men and women.
 Other traditions
• From 18th century – Kabiwalas – Dobashi
• Eastern Bengal Ballads – Mymensing Gitika-
eternal human love and weals and woes of
simple folk told in unadorned language and
style.
• Baul Songs – Buddhisim, Vaisnavasim and
Sufism
 Form of Literature
• Until the end of 18th ce the vehicle of Bengali
literary works was poetry and this was meant
to be sung in accompaniment of musical
instruments. Although religion played a major
part there were also secular poetry and poetry
that bore the mark of religious syncretism.
• There is much in pre-modern Bengali
literature which we can take pride in.
 Rise of Prose
• College of Fort William – to learn native
language by the Company’s employees gave
birth to prose literature of Bengali language.
• But prose was practiced since 16th century.
Varieties of Bengali prose between 16th and
18th century.
• William Carey – published 13 books in prose
for his students
 Fort William College
• Ramram Basu, Rammohun Roy, Pearichand
Mitra Bankim Chandra Chatterjee evolved
Bengali Prose
• Novels, Short stories and Essays & Theatre
• Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Michael
MODHUSUDHAN Dutt, Dinabandhu Mitra
• Rabindra Nath Tagor, Sarat Chandra
• Muslim Writers – Meer Mosharaf Hussain,
Kaikobad, Mohammad Najibar Rahman
 Writers
• Nazrul Islam
• Proliferation of formal essays on
contemporary social,religious and political life
• Begum Rokeya Shakwat Hossain
• Between two WW leftist literature.
• Journals
• Poet Jasimuddin
• Literary Societies –
 Under Independent Pakistan and
Bangladesh
• Bengali literature now have two separate
centers –Kolkatta and Dhaka
• Novels short stories and Essays continued
• Urdu and bengali in Arabic Script
• People fought against it.
• Farrukh Ahmed Ahsan Habib, Syed Waliullah
• Alauddin Azad, Quazi Motahar Hussain
• Abul Fazl
 Bangladesh
• Great enthusiasm –poetry, novels, stories,
translations, essays dramas
• Humayan Ahmed