Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language – An Overview Bhikkhu Gyanabodhi (Sajal Barua) [email protected] 01. Introduction: Bengali or Bangla ( ) is the national language of Bangladesh. It is the second official language in India1, and seventh in the list of most spoken languages in the world.2 The six languages that come before it are Chinese, English, Hindi-Urdu, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese. As a language of more than two hundred million people around the world, it is spoken, apart from bangladesh, in the West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Bihar in India, and by sizable immigrant communities in Eorupe, USA and the Middle-East. According to the language family, Bengali is categorised as a Modern or New IndoAryan (NIA) language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. As Chatterji (1926, p. 1) notes, ‘[i]t has been in existence as an independent and characterized language, or, rather, as a distinct dialect group, for nearly ten centuries’. If we accept Chatterji’s remark, as about a hundred year has passed since the book was published, Bengali, as an independent language, has been in existence for about eleven centuries now. The present study provides an overview of the origin of the language and its development throughout these eleven centuries. 02. Origin and Development: Bengali alphabets and terms started to appear in the literatures of as early as 10th century A.C. Since then it had gone through significant stages of development to finally take the present shape. In the subsequent paragraphs I discuss the language affiliation of Bengali, its origin as a distinct speech and different stages of its development. 2.1 Language Affiliation: Bengali, together with Assamese and Oriya, is a speech belonging to the New IndoAryan (NIA) group. The Indo-Aryan (IA) is a major branch of the Indo-Iranian language subdivision consisting the easternmost group within the Indo-European (IE) language family. It has been classified into three periods considering its historical development and the phonetic and morphological connections. NIA is the last of the three stages of the development of the IA branch. In the subsequent paragraphs we will discuss that Bengali as a distinct speech has also 1 The following link presents a list of 22 official languages (http://rajbhasha.nic.in/UI/pagecontent.aspx?pc=MTUz) as included in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution. The ‘Concise Encyclopedia of Language of the World’ in Brown (2009, p. 148) in fact states that Bengali is the fifth largest language which is spoken by about 260 million people around the world. 2 1 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 been subdivided into three periods of historical development. Following chart displays the classification of IA speeches and the position of Bengali in it.3 Fig 1: Indo-Aryan Speeches Chatterji (1926, p. 17) explains that Vedic and Sanskrit dialects can be regarded as representatives of the Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) period. Representatives of Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) are various forms of Prakrits including Pāli that is used for the inscriptions of the Great Emperor Aśoka and the Theravāda Buddhist Canon. In the period between MIA and OIA, there existed Apabhraṃśa speeches and in the process of the development of different dialects, Prakrits had died out and various NIA tongues came into existence. Taking into account the diverse changes that took place during the MIA period, it is again subdivided into four successive stages. They are: 1) Early (c. 600 – 200 B.C.), 2) Transitional (c. 200 B.C – 200 A.C.), 3) Second (c. 200 – 600 A.C.), and 4) Late (c. 600 – 1000 A.C.). In the Early stage, the use of primarily Aśokan Prakrit and Pāli were in existence. Some significant characteristics of this form of speech, as noted by Chatterji (1926, p. 18), are – lost of ṛ and ḷ; simplification of āi, āu, aya, and ava into ē and ō; dropping of final consonants and visarga, the reducing of ś, ṣ, and s into one sibilant, s or ś. The general feature of the speeches in this period was largely simplification of vowels and consonants. Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī, these two writing systems were prominent in the transitional period. The notable difference between the two systems was that the former was written from right to left, whereas the latter was written from left to right. Salomon (1998, p.7) remarks that Kharoṣṭhī died out without any descendants whereas Brāhmī became the parent of most of the MIA speeches and writing systems.4 3 For more details about the classification of IA speeches, see: Chatterji (1926, pp. 6-20); Chowdhury (1957, pp. 813); Sen, S. (1939, pp. 1-5); Munshi (2009, p. 522); and Sen, D.C. (1896, p.1). 4 Also see: Munshi (2009, p. 524). 2 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 In the second MIA stage, among the popular speeches were Dramatic Prakrits, such as, Śaurasēnī, Mahārāṣṭrī, Māgadhi and Ardha-māgadhi. Distinct characteristics of the speeches of this period were that the word order became stereotype, and rather than the verbal phrase, nominals were preferred in writing.5 In the late or final stage of the period of MIA speeches, Śaurasēnī and Apabhraṃsa were primarily in use. The main change in the language was the use of rhyme in versification. One other notable feature of the speeches of this period was the existence and use of loan words (new tat-samas, semi-tat-samas) from Sanskrit and Prakrits of earlier stage.6 Following is a map showing the distribution of IA languages in the Ancient India7: Fig 2: IA Language Distributions 5 Chatterji (1926, p. 19). 6 Ibid. 7 The map is collected from the URL: http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Indoaryanmap.html. 3 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 2.2 Origin of Bengali as a Distinct Language: Vaṅga-Bhāsa, the language of Vaṅga, was a language of the people living on the eastern part of Indian subcontinent. The place was referred to as Vaṅga-Desa, because it was a country where Vaṅga community/people would have lived. The term ‘Vaṅga’ first appears in the Aitareyya Brāhmana (vāyāṃsi vaṅga vagadhaścerapādāh).8 Historically, the Modern day Bengal (consisting of both Eastern and Western parts) was a conglomeration of several territories. The most notable among them were: 1) Vaṅga (East Bengal), 2) Rāḍhā-Suhma (West Bengal), 3) Varendrī Puṇḍra (North Bengal), 4) Catrala (Southeast Bengal), and 5) Samataṭa (East Bengal).9 Regarding the early history of Bengal, Chatterji (1926, p. 67) states, ‘Bengal originally did not form one country and one nation. The Ganges (Padmā or Paddā) with its branch the Bhāgīrathī or Hugli and the Brahmaputra divide the country into four tracts, in which dwelt, several hundred years before Christ, …, the tribes of the Puṇḍras, …, the Vaṅgas, …, the Rāḍhas, … and the Suhmas…’ The speeches of the non-Aryan tribes in Bengal, before being Aryanised, were Kol, Austric, and various Dravidian dialects. Scholars believe that the Aryanisation took place in Bengal during the closing centuries of the first millennium B.C.10 However, in his magnificent work ‘The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language’, Chatterji precisely says, “North and West Bengal, contiguous to Magadha and Kaliṅga, were under Aśoka in the 3rd century B.C. From that time, we might assume, there was the commencement of a vigorous movement towards Aryanisation in Bengal.”11 And thus he is of the opinion that, in the subsequent periods, the native dialects and speeches were replaced gradually by the Aryan speech that was brought, from Magadha and beyond, by Magadhan officials, soldiers, Buddhist and Jain missionaries and priests, and traders and so on.12 Considering the existence of a number of Sanskrit vocabularies and phonological and morphological similarities, many scholars argue that Bengali as a distinct language developed from Sanskrit. In fact, the oldest epigraphical record found in Bengal was a very short Sanskrit inscription belonging to the circa 4th to 5th century A.C.13 But there is strong evidence to prove that Bengali has actually derived from a form of Prakrit dialect. Those upholding Prakrit to be the parent language of NIA (vernacular) speeches argue that the IA language had two descendants – Sanskrit and Pāli. The former was a language of the aristocrats. It was a furnished language used mostly for the literary purposes. The latter, together with other Prakrit dialects, was a speech of the common folk. It was relatively vulgar, unsophisticated and incomplete. In fact, it is said that Prakrit was a name given, by the speakers On ‘Vaṅga’ and the Aryan settlement in Vaṅga, refer to: Sen, D.C. (1911, p. 1); Mazumdar, (1920, p. 20); Sen, S. (1940, p. 3); and Sharif, (1971, p. 7). 8 9 Chowdhury (1957, p.16). 10 Chatterji (1971, p. 376). 11 Chatterji (1926, p. 72). 12 Ibid, p. 73. 13 Ibid, p. 75. 4 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 of Sanskrit as a derogatory term, to the dialects of the ordinary people.14 The NIA speeches, such as Bengali, are said to have derived from Prakrit, not Sanskrit. Hindi, Oriya, Maithilā, Assamese are among the NIA speeches that had developed from Prakrit. The Prakrit speeches, such as Pāli, received literary status with the teachings of the Buddha and Jain leaders. Chatterji (1926, p. 53) remarks that during MIA stage, Sanskrit became almost identical with Prakrit except for Phonetics, and Inflection which remained true to the OIA stage. In other words, languages like Pāli and Ardha-Magadhī became rival literary languages for Sanskrit.15 The Buddhist Vinaya text records of an incident in which a certain monks went to the Buddha with a request to make his teachings available only in Sanskrit. The Buddha rejected their idea saying that his teachings should be understood and practiced in one’s own (mother) tongue.16 Thus together with Pāli, four more speeches – Śauraseni, Mahāraṣṭrī, Māgadhī and Paiśachī – obtained the status of literary language. Over the time these speeches of Prakrits gave way to the rising of diverse Apabhraṃśas, and Bengali specifically belongs to this category of speech.17 From the above discussion it can be said of Bengali language that it developed as a distinct speech from a form of ‘Māgadhī Apabhraṃśa’. The first literature that marks the beginning of Bengali language and literature was a Buddhist text, known variously as Caryāgīti, Caryāpada, Caryācaryaviniścaya and so on, and was composed between 9th and 12th centuries A.C.18 Languages used in this text were Apabhraṃśa and Śauraseni.19 According to the above explanation, Bnegali as a distinct language came into being no more than 10th century A.C. Following chart, prepared based on Bhudev’s explanation, presents precisely the stages of development of Bengali as a distinct NIA tongue from OIA speeches. Fig 3: Origin of Bengali as NIA speech 14 Chowdhury (1957, p.11). 15 Also see, Mazumdar (1920, pp. 55-56). Vin II 139: Anujānāmi bhikkhave sakāya niruttiyā buddhavacanaṃ pariyāpuṇitunti. Also see, Sen, D.C. (1908, p. 17); Chowdhury (1957, pp. 11-12). 16 17 Chowdhury (1957, p. 13). 18 See: ‘Charyapada’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Charyapada (May 10, 2016). 19 Chowdhury (1957, p. 12). 5 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 2.3 Three Main Periods of Development: Bengali language and literature started to take shape since 10th century A.C. As it has been mentioned earlier, the first literature identified to have composed in old/archaic form of Bengali was the Caryāpada. Considering the changes and developments that took place throughout the eleven centuries, starting with 10th century A.C. till now, the history of Bengali language and literature have been classified into three major periods. Following chart presents different historical periods of Bengali language. Fig 4: Three Periods of Developemnt 2.3.1 Formative Period: The period between 10th and 12th/13th centuries is regarded as the formative period of the Bengali language. It was a period of proto-Bengali stage. The only representative text of this period was the Caryāpada. It was a text, containing 47 songs (also called caryās or padas) in total that were composed by 23 Siddhas or mystic teachers over a period of about 200 years. These Siddhas were practitioners of the Sahajiya sect of the Tantrika (Tantric) or Late Mahāyāna Buddhism.20 Scholars differ on the exact period of the composition of the text. The Banglapedia Encyclopedia, for example, states the date to be between 9th and 12th centuries A.C.21 Chatterji opines the text to have been composed in the beginning of 12th century A.C.22 However, the text has been discovered, edited and published by the great Ācariya Pandit Hara Prasad Shastrī (1853-1931) in 1916.23 20 Chatterji (1926, p. 110). 21 See: ‘Charyapada’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Charyapada (retrived on May 10, 2016). 22 Chatterji (1926, p. 110): some (Rākhāl-Das and so on) even think the period to be early 14 th century. 23 Pandit Hara Prasad Shastri discovered the text from the royal court of Nepal in 1907, and after editing, published it together with two Dohakosas and Dakarnava in a compilation with the title ‘Hājār Bochorer Purāṇa Bāngālā Bhāśāy Bouddha Gān O Doha’ – (Buddhist Songs and Couplets in the Bengali Language a Thousand Years Old) in 2016. For more on H. P. Shastrī, see: http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shastri,_Haraprasad (retrived on April 27, 2016). 6 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 Fig. 5: Photo of a page from Caryāpada24 The language of Caryās was proto-Bengali, it had significant influence of Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa, and also Sanskrit and literary Prakrits. Observing the declensions in the language which is more close to MIA than NIA, Chatterji (1926, p. 115) remarks that the literary languages and models that were present before the Caryās were Sanskrit and various literary Prakrits, specifically Śauraseni Aphabhaṃśa. The meter used in the text was ‘Mātrā-vṛtta’, not ‘Payār’, probably because it was not yet fully developed in this period.25 The subject-matter of the Caryāpada is basically mystic or yogic experience of the Siddhas. But it also presents discussions of the mediaeval Bengali society, different occupations of the people, and their life and so on. 2.3.2 Middle Period: As shown in the chart above, this is the transitional period (c. 1200 – 1300 A.C.) between Old Bengali and Middle Bengali. According to Chatterji (1926, p. 130), ‘[t]he language had all its Bengali characteristics fully established during this period, so that from the speech of the Caryās it was transformed into that of the Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Kīrttana’’. The significant work of this period was the ‘Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Kīrttana’ of Baru Caṇḍī-dāsa. It was a text about extolling the love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇā, two godly figures in the Hindu Mythology. The text contains 418 devotional lyrics presented in 13 chapters. It was discovered and edited by Basanta Ranjan Ray in 1909 and published by Vangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1916. Chatterji notes that the text was composed in the late 14th century A.C. Among the significant changes and characteristics in the language of the text was the change of the old mātrā-vṛtta to akśaras, a syllabic meter of 8+6=14 akśaras and the development of ‘Payār’ meter and so on. Among other important works of this period were – Mānik-candra Rājār Gān, Maynāmatīr Gān, Gopi-cand legend, Śunya-purāṇa and the proverbial distiches of Dāk and Khanā and so on.26 Chatterji (1926, p. 132) is of the opinion that the language that was used in these texts was good middle Bengali, and in their grammar there was nothing archaic. 24 Collected from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charyapada (retrived on April 28, 2016). Chatterji (1926, p. 117); for more on ‘Prosody’, see: http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Prosody (retrived on April 25, 2016). 25 26 See: Chatterji (1926, p. 131). 7 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 Fig.6: Photo of a page from the Śrī-Kṛśṇa-Kīrttana27 In the early middle period (c. 1300 – 1500 A.C.), many significant literary works were produced which became classics of the Bengali Language. Among the literature were the Rāmāyaṇa of Kṛtti-vāsa, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and the Mahābhārata. A great influence of Sanskrit, specifically the use of significant amount of tatsama terms, can be seen in these texts. Linguistically, among the notable changes that were evident in the literature of this period were that the conjugations of the verb in the past tense became solely active, strong compound tenses came to existence.28 The late middle period (c. 1500 – 1800 A.C.) had contributed enormously in Bengali language. During this period, Vaiṣṇava literature became prominent under the strong influence of Caitanya (c. 1485-1533) and his students. A new genre of literature called biography had started in this period. Chatterji (1926, p. 133) notes that a great influence of Sanskrit, and of Maithilī and a restricted form of Western Hindī can be seen on both language and literature. At the closing period of this era is seen an influence of Persian and Portuguese on the vocabulary. In his words, Chatterji (1926, p. 134) writes – “All these ushered in, by the end of the 18th century, the Modern stage of the language; and the medieval spirit in Bengali literature was entirely done away with by the middle of the next century.” 2.3.3 Modern or New Period: The final development of Bengali language and literature took place in the Modern period. The proper prose writing in Bengali had been successfully established in this period. The prose writing had actually begun in the late middle period, but with a heavy influence from Sanskrit. Chatterji (1926, p. 134) compares it with ‘‘Modern English’ with a Chaucerian grammar and a super-Johnsonian vocabulary’. The modern period began with the foundation of the Fort William College 29 in 1800 A.C. in Calcutta and with the writing of Christian ecclesiastics and Sanskrit scholars and educationists. It was mainly for the administrative and proselytizing purposes that the prose writing had started. Richard Colley Wellesley30, a governor general of British India, realizing the need to learn the native languages, cultures and life philosophy, to successfully rule the British India, established the college and inviting scholars expert in different local languages and cultures, produced a number of text books, dictionaries and grammar texts. ‘Vocabulario em idioma bengalla e portugueza’ (Vocabulary of Bengali language and Portuguese) of Manoel da Assumpcam was the first bilingual dictionary published in 1743. The first Bengali grammar ‘A 27 Taken from Banerji (1919, p. 61). 28 For more on the linguistic changes, see: Chatterji (1926, pp. 132-133). For more about the college, see: ‘Fort Willam College’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Fort_William_College (retrived on May 11, 2016). 29 About ‘Lord Wellesley’, click: http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Wellesley,_Lord (retrived on May 11, 2016). 30 8 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 Grammar of the Bengali Language’ was written by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (1751-1830) in 1776. William Carey (1761-1834) was another British Missionary who wrote ‘Mathi Rachita Mabgal Samachar’, a Bangla translation of the bible in 1800 and ‘A Grammar of the Bengali Language’ in 1818. The two famous exponents of Bengali language and literature of this period were the great Rājā Rāmmohan Roy (1772-1833)31 and the great Ishwarchandra Vidyāsāgar (18201891).32 Roy was proficient in many oriental languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindi and Bengali. Having seen the corrupt writings of the non-Bengali writers, he, together with few more Bengali educationists, contributed to the writing of Proper Bengali Prose. Among his other contributions was the establishment of the ‘Brahma-Samāj’, a society that denounced idolatry and various forms of superstitions including ‘Sati-Dāho’ or widow immolation. He wrote several books that include – Vedānta Grantha (1815), Vedāntasār (1815), Kenopanisad (1816), Ishopanisad (1816), Sahamaran Virodhi Pustika, Sahamaran Visay (1828) and so on. Ishwarchandra Vidyāsāgar was a Sanskrit scholar, writer, educationist, humanist pundit, social reformer and philanthropist, all at the same time. He is regarded as the father of Bengali Prose, sometimes even the father of Modern Bengali language. Two prestigious colleges where he worked most of his life were the Fort William College and the Sanskrit College in Calcutta. It was Vidyāsāgar who introduced the Bengali alphabets to everyone with his extraordinarily brilliant work ‘Barnaparichay’, an introduction to the alphabets. Among his other notable books are: Bodhoday (1851), Kathāmālā (1856), Charitābalī (1856), Jibancharit (1859), Samskrita Byakaraner Upakramanikā (An Introduction to Sanskrit Grammar) (1851), and Byākarankaumudi (1853-1863). Among other notable writers who had contributed to the development of Bengali language in this period are Peary Chand Mitra (1814-1883), Kali Prasanna Singh (1840-1870), Rajendralal Mitra (1822-1891) and so on. They had popularized Calita Bhāṣā (colloquial language) in literature, whereas Vidyāsāgar firmly established the use of Sādhu-Bhāṣā (chaste language) in writings. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838-1894) was the first novelist to write in Modern Bengali followed by the great Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). By this time Bengali language and literature became firmly established. Different genre of literary works had been produced. Tagore was the charismatic figure who had contributed in all genres of Bengali literature equally in this period. He wrote rich and varied forms of poetry, plays, novels, short stories, essays and thousands of songs. He was the first Asian to receive the prestigious noble prize for his literary work ‘Geetanjali’ in 1913. He had created an era for himself that would be remembered as the era of Tagore in the history of Bengali literature. The distinguishing features of Bangla literature of this period, as noted by the Banglapedia, were: (a) the rise and development of powerful prose literature; (b) the influence of Sanskrit scholars on prose during the first half of the 19th century; (c) the influence of western literature; (d) the diversification of subjects; (e) the rise of periodical literature; (f) the elevation See: Sen, D. C. (1911, pp. 931-989); and ‘Raja Rammohun Roy’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Roy,_Raja_Rammohun (retrived on May 9, 2016). 31 See: ‘Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Vidyasagar,_Ishwar_Chandra (retrived on May 9, 2016). 32 9 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 of colloquial language to the status of a literary language; (g) the development of new poetic genres.33 2.4 Sādhu and Chalita Bhāṣā: Apart from different spoken dialects in different states of both East and West Bengal, literatures have been written particularly in two specific dialects. The two dialects – Sādhu and Chalita – became popular in Bengali literature during 19th and 20th century A.C.34 Sādhu literally means ‘sage’ or ‘chaste’. So, Sādhu-Bhāṣā means ‘language of the sage’ or ‘chaste language’. It was a literary language as opposed to the colloquial Chalita, which is reffered to as the language of the common people. Its syntax is more defined and vocabulary is full of ‘tatsama’ (literally, the same as that, meaning Sanskrit) words. Two giant literalists of Bengal, namely, Ishwar Chandra Vidyāsāgar and Bankimcandra Chattopadhyay made this form of speech popular in literature. Sādhu-Bhāṣā was prominently used till the early 19th century, before the writings of Peary Chand Mitra and Kali Prasanna Singh. It is during these two great educationists in the Bengali literature that the Chalita Bhāṣā or the colloquial language became well known. The Chalita Bhāṣā saw its full growth with the literary journal ‘Sabujpatra’ edited by a great essayist Paramatha Chowdhuri (1868-1946) who had also contributed significantly in writings. Sādhu was established under the umbrella of Sanskrit with the purpose that this should be just a language of literature, away from the touch of common folk. On the contrary, the Chalita was the language that has got Pāli, Prakrit, Austroasiatic, even Persian and Arabic words in it. Among others the fundamental difference between the two forms is that the pronouns, verbal endings and others are longer in Sādhu than the Chalita Bhāṣā. following chart provides an example of some words in both forms: Sadhu karitechi karila karitechila karibe pronouns āmādigake tāhārā āmādiger kāhāke others ekkhane tatpar verbs Chalita karchi karla karchila karbe āmāderke tārā āmāder kāke ekhan tārpar English Meaning doing done had been doing will do to us they our to who now then Fig. 7: Examples of Sadhu and Chalita Words See: ‘Bangla Literature’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bangla_Literature (retrived on May 5, 2016). 33 34 Chāki (2013, pp. 48-59) discusses extensively on ‘Sadhu’ and ‘Chalita’. 10 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 2.5 Loan or Foreign Words: A significant amount of loan and foreign words can be found in the Bengali language. Throughout its development over different phases of time, it has come in contact with people of diverse tongues. Since the settlement of the Indo-Aryan people, there came the Turkish, the Portuguese, the British and various Austro-Asiatic people in Bengal. They came for various purposes such as preaching, business, invasion, proselytizing and so on. The Bengali language absorbed many of their vocabularies into it and developed along with that. Broadly the Bengali vocabulary can be categorized into three groups: 1) tatsama, tatbhava and Austro-Asiatic. Below I present a list of some borrowed words in Bengali.35 Types Loan words Tatsama aṅga (part), akkhi (eye), agni (fire), asva (horse), iṣṭa (desire), iśvara (god), udara (stomach), aikya (unity), aihika (worldly), krodha (anger), kriṣi (agriculture), gagana (sky) nakśatra (star), carana (foot), etc. Tadbhava āj < adya (today), āṭ < aṣṭa (eight), ār < apara (again), kāṭh < kāṣṭha (wood), gā < gātra (body), khet <kṣetra (field), ghar < gṛiha (house), cokh < cakṣu (eye), etc. Arabic ākkel (wisdom), āsal (real), elākā (area), ojan (weight), kabar (grave), khabar (news), garib (poor), jabāb (answer), tārikh (date), duniyā (world), nakal (fake) etc. Persian āynā (mirror), ārām (comfort), āste (slowly), kāgaj (paper), khodā (god), garam (hot), caśma (glasses), cākuri (job), etc. Turkish cakmak (sparkle), dādā (elder brother), bābā (father), nānī (maternal grandmother), bāburci (cook), etc. English ofis (office), jel (jail), dāktār (doctor), puliś (police), skul (school), hāspātāl (hospital), kāp (cup), ceyār (chair), tebil (table), etc. Fig. 8: List of Loan Words 3. Bengali Scripts/Alphabets: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, in his book ‘Barnaparichay’ (1855), introduced 12 vowels and 40 consonants to be found in the Modern Bengali language. However in the list of alphabets in modern books, two letters, one from vowel cluster and one from consonant cluster, are not in use. Thus, the alphabets found presently in Modern Bengali are 11 + 39 = 50 in total. The two letters are marked in the chart below: 35 For more on loan/borrowed words in Bengali Language, see: Chaki (2013, Pp. 27-37). 11 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 vowels অ(a), আ(ā), ই (i), ঈ (ī), উ(u), ঊ(ū), ঋ(ri), ঌ(li), এ(e), ঐ(ai), ও(o), ঔ(ou), consonants ক(ka), খ(kha), গ(ga), ঘ (gha), ঙ(ṅa), চ (ca), ছ (cha), জ(ja), ঝ(jha), ঞ(ña), ট(ṭa), ঠ(ṭha), ড(ḍa), ঢ(ḍha), ণ(ṇa), ত(ta), থ(tha), দ(da), ধ(dha), ন(na), প(pa), ফ(pha), ব(ba), ভ(bha), ম(ma), য(za), র(ra), ল(la), ব(va/wa), শ(śa), ষ(ṣa), স(sa), হ(ha), ড়(ṛa), ঢ়(ṛha), য়(ya), ৎ (khanda-ta), ং(anusvara), ঃ(visarga), ঁ(candra-vindu) Fig. 9: Vowels and Consonants It was the Vidyāsāgar who standardized the Bengali scripts for writing. But it has gone through more than a thousand years of evolution before its final development into the present state. The parent script of Bengali is said to be Brāhmī, one of the two well known writing systems of the ancient India; the other being the Kharoṣṭhī. Kharoṣṭhī is said to have developed from the Aramaic script, but Brāhmī was developed locally from the Indus Valley writing system. A number of rock edicts belonging to the Aśokan period were found to have inscribed in Brāhmī Script. It was from the Northern Class of Brāhmī that Bengali script developed. Other modern scripts that derived from this script are Nāgarī, Sāradā, Tamil, Telegu, Marathi, Gujrati, Gurumukhi, Malaya etc. There can be seen some alphabets of ‘Proto-Bengali’ appearing on some copper plates of 9th century A.C. But proper Bengali scripts developed with the mixture of Nāgarī and specially Kuṭila36 scripts between 11th and 12th centuries. Caryāpada was the first text of this period. It had texts on several languages such as Oriya, Maithila, Bengali and Assamese. Some of its texts were incomprehensible, while some were comprehensible. Due to that its language was designated as ‘Alo-Andhari’ (light and shadow) or ‘Sandhya’ (twilight). It was during 12th – 13th centuries that manuscripts were written with complete Bengali alphabets. Well known among the manuscripts of this period are: Laghukālacakraṭka of Vimalaprabha, Kālacakrāvarta of Abhayakāragupta, Pañcarakṣa, Guyhāvalīvivṛti, and Vajrāyānasādhanaṇgāni.37 Interestingly enough these were all Buddhist texts of the Sahajiya sect. And as has been mentioned in §2.3.2 above, Srī Caitanya’s Vaiśnava-texts and the Canḍidāsa’s Kṛṣṇa-Kīrttan of the 15th century A.C. were among the texts that were composed with more developed form of Bengali alphabets. In brief, Bengali script developed from Brāhmī through Nāgarī and Kuṭila into the present form. 4. Conclusion: Bengali is certainly an ancient language which was originated from the IA group of language family. It is either a first or second language of more than 200 million people around the world. With the composition of Caryāpada between 10th and 12th century C.E. it has made its first ever appearance in written form. But it was only in the 19th century C.E. that Bengali has been firmly established as a distinct literary and colloquil language. During its long evolution of about eleven hundred years, it has absorved a great number of native as well as foreign words. A 36 For more on Kuṭila language, see: Sen, D.C. (1908, pp. 10-11). See, ‘Bengali Script’ in http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bangla_Script (retrived on May 18, 2016); and also Sen, D.C. (1908, pp. 12-13). 37 12 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 large number of words were mainly Tatsama, Tatbhava and Austro-Asiatic. The Bengali writing system originally derived from the Brāhmī script. But with the evolution of many centuries, it has been finalized in the 19th century in the hand of Rām Mohan Roy and Vidyāsāgar. Today Bengali stands as a distinct language with its own unique characteristics in the history of human civilization. ************** 5. Bibliography: Banerji, R. D. (1919). The Origin of the Bengali Script. Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Bengali language. (2010). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. Brown, K. and Ogilvie, S. (Ed.). (2009). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages in the World. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd. Carey, W. (1818). A Grammar of the Bengali Language (4th ed.). Serampore: Mission Press. Chāki, J.B. (2013). Bangla Bhasar Byakaran (a grammar of the Bengali language). Calcutta: Ananda Publishers Private Limited. Chatterji, S. K. (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. (Vol. I & II). Calcutta: Calcutta University Press. Chatterji, S. K. (1971). Rise of Vernacular Literatures. In Majumdar, R.C. (Ed.). The History of Bengal (Vol. I). Lohanipur: N.V. Publications. Chowdhury, B. (1957). Bangla Sahityer Itikotha (A Chronicle of Bengali Literature). Calcutta: Bookland Private Ltd. Masica, C. P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mazumdar, B. C. (1920). The History of The Bengali Language. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press. Munshi, S. (2009). Indo-Aryan Language. In Brown (Ed.) Concise Encyclopedia of Languages in the World. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd. Ray, R. (1958). Bangla Sahiyte Pramatha Chowdhury (Pramatha Chowdhury in Bengali Literature). Calcutta: East and Company. Salomon, R. (1998). Indian Epigraphy. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sen, D. C. (1908). Bangabhasa O Sahitya (Bengali Language and Literature) (3rd ed.). Calcutta: Indian Publishing House. Sen, D. C. (1911). History of Bengali Language and Literature. Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Sen, D. C. (1914). Vanga Sahitya Parichay or Selections from the Bengali Literature (Part I). Calcutta: University of Calcutta. 13 Gyanabodhi Draft-2016 Sen, S. (1939). Bangla Sahityer Kotha (A Discussion of Bengali Literature) Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Sen, S. (1940). Bangla Sahityer Itihas (History of Bengali Literature). Calcutta: Modern Book Agency. Sharif, A. (1971). Bangali O Bangla Sahitya (Men and Literature of Bengal) (Vol I). Dacca: Barnamichil. Sharif, A. (1971). Bangali O Bangla Sahitya (Men and Literature of Bengal) (Vol II). Dacca: Barnamichil. Shāstrī, H. P. (2005). A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanscrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection (Vol. I). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. (Originally Published in 1917). Vidyasagar, I. C. (1930). Barnaparichay (An Introduction to the Alphabets). Calcutta: Prabodhcandra Mazumdar and Brothers. 14