Old Bengali was the earliest recorded form of the Bengali language, spoken in the Bengal region of eastern Indian subcontinent during the Middle Ages. It developed from a Apabhraṃśa of Magadhi Prakrit around 650 AD, and the first Bengali literary works date from the 8th century. Between 1200 and 1350 AD, no written form or literary work of Bengali language is found; during this period the Islamic invasion took place in Bengal.[1][2] It is marked as the barren age, and also marks the end of the Old Bengali era, as the Middle Bengali language developed later.
| Old Bengali | |
|---|---|
| Adi Bangla | |
 Page-39 of the Charyapada manuscript, a sign of the Old Bengali | |
| Region | Bengal region |
| Ethnicity | Bengalis |
| Era | Mostly developed into Middle Bengali by the 14th century |
Early forms | Proto-Gauda–Kamarupa
|
| Gaudi script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Old Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language that is one of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, and its closest relatives are Old Odia and Kamarupi Prakrit. Like other Old Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, it is distinct from Modern Bengali and is not fully incomprehensible to Modern Bengali speakers without study. Within Old Bengali grammar, the verb evolved and a letter is omitted from a ligature formed by consonants.
History
editOld Bengali was spoken in the Bengal region which became the Pala Empire and the Sena kingdom. These included present-day Bangladesh, the Indian state West Bengal and its western border areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, the Barak Valley of Assam.
According to Suniti Kumar, it overlapped the last Apabhraṃśa phase. Proto-Bengali was the last stage of an already decayed order, so it inflection less than later languages with its new postpositional affixes and other devices. Chatterji compares it to the 'Sea Old' period of modern Romance and Teutonic languages. Old Bengali is dated to 650 AD, and it originated from proto-Bengali, a form of the Bengali language of the period before 600 AD.[3]
Vajrayani and Sahajani Acharyas composed charyas between the tenth and twelfth centuries AD. There is disagreement among historians about the period of composition. According to Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, the Charyapadas were composed between the 10th and 12th centuries; but Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah Hall and Rahul Sankrityayan put this period back by another 200 years and expressed the opinion that the period of Charya's composition was from eighth to twelfth century AD. Some of the Old Bengali songs compiled in Mānasollāsa—also known as Abhilashitartha Chintamani—were composed in the third decade of the twelfth century. Chalukya king Someshvara III was the patron of the book. The songs were composed in the Bengal and circulated as far as Maharashtra.[4]
Phonology
editSound changes
editSome of the major sound changes that took place in the history of Old Bengali were as follows:
- One of the consonants of the ligatures was lost, and the preceding vowel was lengthened to compensate for this loss. Exception to this rule is found in the Ardha-tatsama words. There is a loss of assimilative consonant but the preceding vowel is not lengthened. Ligatures formed by joining with nasal consonants are also often unassimilated; however, in Old Bengali the preceding vowel of such added consonants is lengthened.[5][6]
- The nasal consonant was lost in many cases, and as a result the preceding vowel became nasal.[5][7]
- Widespread use of /s/ (স্) in place of (/ʃ/) (শ্).[5]
- Multiple vowels located side by side were retained. But multiple vowels at the end of words were pronounced as compound vowel and eventually two together became a single vowel.[5][6]
Grammar
editMorphology
editSigns of Sanskrit, Prakrit and Avahatta can be found in the grammar of Old Bengali in various—part of speech,declension for case, genders, numbers etc.[8]
In Old Bengali, adjectives had gender, which has declined in Modern Bengali. In the case of adverbs, the suffix /ɛ/ (এ) or /ɛm̐/ (এঁ) was added. Besides, adverbs are made by adding /i/ (ই) or /jə/ (ইয়া) to infinitive verbs.[9]
There were two types of pronouns—personal and demonstrative. Personal pronouns were of two types, and demonstrative pronouns were of five types—general demonstrative, near demonstratives, far demonstrative, relative demonstrative and indefinite demonstrative or indefinite demonstrative. There were no gender differences in pronouns. I used to refer to any gender, male or female.[10]
Literature
edit
The collection of Old Bengali literature is small but still significant, with only a few surviving manuscripts. Many of the written works of the Buddhist Tantric Sahajiyas mingle in Old Bengali, which is one of the richest and most significant bodies of literature preserved among the early language groups derived from Magadhi Prakrit.[11]
The most important surviving work of Old Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of devotional song; which is considered as the best sign created in Old Bengali.[12] According to Tibetan sources, the original manuscript was called Charyagiti-koshavrtti and contained 100 verses. But till now 51 Padas or verses of the manuscript have been discovered. There are also some literary works, such as few Bengali songs compiled in Sekshuvodaya, some rhymes and poems of Bidagdha Mukhomandal.[11] Bandyaghatiya Sarbananda wrote the note on the Sanskrit lexicon Amarkosh by Amar Singh, which contains about 400 Bengali words which are considered to be traces of Old Bengali.[12]
Some of the songs written in Old Bengali were compiled in Mānasōllōsa or Abhilaṣitārthacintāmaṇi. These Bengali songs were placed in the gitbinod section of the Sanskrit text. The theme of the songs was the story of Krishna's lila with the gopis and Vishnu in various incarnations.[4]
References
edit- ^ Shahidullah 1998, p. 42.
- ^ "Bengali literature". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ Chatterji 1926a, p. 17.
- ^ a b Ray 2022, p. 764.
- ^ a b c d Shaw 1984, p. 601.
- ^ a b Bhattacharya 2012, p. 147.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2012, p. 148.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2012, p. 191.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2012, pp. 192.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2012, pp. 194–1945.
- ^ a b Shaw 1984, pp. 600–601.
- ^ a b Shaw 1984, p. 600.
Bibliography
edit- Mukherji, Tarapada (1963). The old bengali language and text (PDF). Calcutta (now Kolkata): Calcutta University Press. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- Shaw, Dr. Rameswar (21 February 1984). সাধারণ ভাষাবিজ্ঞান ও বাংলা ভাষা (in Bengali). Kolkata: Pustak Bipani. ISBN 81-85471-12-6. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
- Bhattacharya, Subhash (2012). ভাষার তত্ত্ব ও বাংলা ভাষা (in Bengali). Kolkata: Bangiya Sahitya Samsad. ISBN 978-93-82012-12-2. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926a). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Vol. 1. Kolkata: Calcutta University Press. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926b). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Vol. 2. Kolkata: Calcutta University Press. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- Shahidullah, Dr. Muhammad (1998). Bangla Vasar Itibritto (in Bengali). Dhaka: Mowla Brothers. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- Ray, Niharranjan (1993). বাঙ্গালীর ইতিহাস: আদি পর্ব Bāṅgālīra itihāsa: Ādiparba [History of Bengalis: Early Phases] (PDF) (in Bengali) (Dey's [3rd] ed.). Kolkata: Dey's Publishing. ISBN 81-7079-270-3. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- Ray, Niharranjan (2022). বাঙ্গালীর ইতিহাস: আদি পর্ব Bāṅgālīra itihāsa: Ādiparba [History of Bengalis: Early Phases] (in Bengali) (Dey's [17th] ed.). Kolkata: Dey's Publishing. ISBN 978-81-295-1977-1.