How Bengali language developed

[eastwatch]

Colonialism, politics of language and partition of Bengal


A short history of development of Bengali language and literature
by Nurul Kabir

Bangla has been developed over several centuries with its organic practice by both Muslims and Hindus of Bengal, while the Muslim rulers of Bengal, particularly those of the Sultani era, substantially contributed to the development of Bangla literature.

The Buddhist Pal dynasty ruled Bangladesh for four hundred years since the 8th century. Then, the Hindu Sen dynasty took over in the 12th century. It ruled the country for a hundred years.
The Pal kings, although Buddhists, accepted the cultural hegemony of the Hindu Brahmanism; therefore, the language of the Brahmins, Sanskrit, remained the official language. Still, under the Pal dynasty, people used to compose fairytale, ballad, etc in Bangla and read out to the kings.

But, under the Sen dynasty, people did not dare enter royal palaces with songs composed in Bangla. The Sen kings used to patronise Sanskrit literature and substantially obstructed the progress of Bangla language and literature. During the Sen rule, the Brahmins issued religious decree to the effect that ‘those who would even hear the religious texts in Bangla would suffer the eternal fire of Rourab — the worst of hells.’ The language spoken by the ordinary Bengalis, Buddhists or ‘lower caste’ Hindus, was to be hated and, therefore, got expelled from ‘standard’ literature of the 12th-century Bengal.

Things started changing after the Sen dynasty had fallen at Nadiya of Bengal to an invasion by a Muslim Turk — Ikhtiaruddin Muhammad Bakhtiar Khilji — in 1201. Dr Enamul Huq says the dethronement of Hindu king Lakshman Sen, and subsequent occupation of Bengal by Muslim rulers, ‘stood in the way of the practice of Sanskrit’ and ‘paved the way for that of Bangla in Bengal’. [Dr Enamul Huq, Muslim Bangla Sahitya, Pakistan Publications, Dhaka, first print, 1957, p 13]

However, throughout the Muslim rule, Persian had been the official language, and both Muslim and Hindu communities widely used Persian. While the Pal dynasty encouraged Bangla language, despite retaining Sanskrit as the official language, the Muslim dynasties helped Bangla language and literature flourish although Persian remained the official language.

Bengal came under the Sultan dynasty when Sultan Shamshuddin Ilias Shah conquered Gouda, Borendri, Samatat and Banga regions one after another, and completed the Muslim conquest of Bengal after conquering Sonargaon in 1352. Shamshuddin Ilias Shah took the name of ‘Shahe Bangalian’ and his successors ruled the country independently for more than two hundred years.

The Sultan dynasty made serious efforts ‘to understand the Hindu population and secure their sympathy’ for both ensuring good governance in Bengal and defending its independence from the rulers in Delhi. The Sultans, therefore, as Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah says, ‘inspired and patronised local literature. Bengali poet Chandidas appeared during this period. Side by side with the Hindus, the Muslims also entered the realm of Bangla literature.’ [(Dr) Muhammad Shahidullah, Bangla Sahityer Katha, Volume II, op-cit, p 11]

Probhatkumar Bondopadhay also believes ‘Bangla took shape as a language after the arrival of Islam in India, with the touch of Persian language and literature’. [Probhatkumar Bondopadhay, ‘Rammohan O Tatkaleen Samaj O Sahitya’, Bidyasagar Lecture delivered at Kolikata University in 1965, Biswabharoti, Reprint 1394 Bangla calendar (Gregorian calendar 1987), Kolkata, India, p 4] Bondopadhay rightly says Bangla found literary expression during this period, in the 12th century, in Padabali Keerton, in the composition of Charitraleelamrita as well as in the translations of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Dinesh Chandra Sen finds the Muslim rule in Bengal of crucial importance in terms of the flourishing of Bangla language and literature. Explaining the significance of the Muslim rule in this regard, Dinesh Sen writes: ‘Before the arrival of Muslims, Bangla was living in the rural huts of Bengal as the poor peasant women in humble attires did…

The Brahmin pundits used to consider Bangla as the language of the lower classes of people and drove it away from their lives…Unacceptable to the gentlemen class, Bangla was an object of its hatred, disaffection and indifference…’ [Dinesh Chandra Sen, ‘Bangabhashar Upar Musalmaner Probhab’ (Influence of Muslims on Bangla Language), in Dr Humayun Azad (ed.), Bangla Bhasha: Bangla Bhashabishayak Prabandhasankalan (The Bengali Language: A Collection of Linguistic Essays on the Bengali Language), Volume II, Second edition, Agamee Prakashani, Dhaka, 2001, p 597]

Dinesh Sen then asserts that it was the Muslim conquest of Bengal that enabled Bangla to come out of the rural huts to the highway of literature. He says, ‘Bangla was there in this country since long, even during the time of Buddha… But it would not be an overstatement to say that Bangla literature, in a way, is the creation of the Muslims.’ [ibid, p 598]

This is now an established fact of history that Sultan Nasrat Shah, his military commander Paragal Khan and the latter’s son Chunti Khan got certain episodes of Mahabharata translated into Bangla from Sanskrit. Besides, Shamshuddin Yusuf, aka Goonraj Khangot, had certain chapters of Srimad Bhagawat Gita translated into Bangla.

Dinesh Sen says the ‘Afghan Kings in Bengal really turned themselves to be Bengalis’ and ‘their deeds of agreements were being written at times in Bangla’. For the Afghan kings, ‘Sanskrit was inaccessible, while Bangla was the day-to-day language that they found comfortable to read.’ [Dinesh Chandra Sen, Brihat Banga, Second Volume, Dey’s Publishing, Kolkata, First Edition (1935), Third Print, 2006, p 657]

Thus, modern historical researches clearly suggest that there was tremendous growth and development of Bangla during the Sultani era, beginning from the conquest of Bengal by Ikhtiaruddin in 1201 to the defeat and murder of Pathan Sultan Daud Khan Karrani by the Mughals in 1576. In this period, writes Aniruddha Roy, ‘Bangla got developed by the influence of Persian.

The reason may be, after the establishment of Sultani regime, Sanskrit was ousted from the administrative affairs; mixing with Persian, Bangla gradually made inroad to the affairs of local administration, and consequently developed itself as a full-fledged language.’ [Aniruddha Roy, ‘Sultani Amole Bangla: Prasanga Misra Sangskriti’ (Bangla during Sultani Era: On mixed culture) in Shamshul Hossain (ed.), Abdul Karim Commemorative Volume, Adorn Publication, Dhaka, 2008, p 142]

The Delhi-based Mughals took complete control of Bengal in 1612. However, under the Muslim rulers, Turkic, Pathan or Mughal, Bengali Muslims and Bengali Hindus had lived in harmony. The situation started changing with the British taking over Bengal in the mid-18th century. Gopal Halder, a reputed historian of Bangla literature, rightly points out: ‘The nature of the relationship between Bengali Muslims and Bengali Hindus had always been different than that of the Muslims and Hindus elsewhere in India, because they not only spoke the same language, Bangla, but their lifestyle was also similar.

This remained unchanged under both the Pathan and the Mughal regimes. The non-Bengali ruling classes of those days had never objected to the Bengali lifestyle of the Muslims of Bengal. Rather, in the 18th century, the upper-class Bengali Hindus came closer to the upper-class Muslims by way of adopting the latter’s lifestyle, while the ordinary Hindus and Muslims of the rural societies got cordial among themselves much before that.

The “process” of this Bengali nationalism was rather obstructed in 1757, thanks to the takeover of power by a third force.’ [Gopal Halder, Bangla Sahityer Rup-Rekha (Outline of Bangla Literature), Second Volume, Aruna Prakashani, Kolkata, Fifth print, 1415 Bangla calendar, p 24]

The ‘third force’ in this case was the British East India Company that took over Bengal between 1757 and 1765, and almost the whole of India by 1857, and gradually created social, political and linguistic walls between the Muslim and Hindu communities of Bengal and beyond. With the inauguration of the British rule, Bengal’s Muslim aristocracy lost power while the upper class Hindus got closer to the new rulers.

The changeover contributed to the growth of political animosity between Muslim and Hindu aristocracies that eventually spilled over into ordinary Muslims and Hindus across Bengal. The British, on the other hand, not only deliberately nurtured the animosity between Muslims and Hindus, but also sharpened the divide between the two religious communities by way of distributing political and economic favours among Hindus and depriving Muslims.

 

[Md Akmal]

@ In the 15/16 century, the Persian and Arabian scholars played a vitol role in making the "Pothir Gan" in the Bengali culture. In those days Bangla was not in a written form but Bangla was widely spoken as a "Kotto Vasha" by the common people. On the other hand Persia was an official language in the administration. So, "Puthir Gan" came into being. It was through this "Puthis" that the various muslim adventures and conquests were dipicted. These muslim stories in the form of "Puthir Gan" were remained alive generation after generation.

@ Initially, the Hindus were jeolous about these "Puthir Gan" soon they invented "Kobir Gan" which became popular among the Hindus.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

EPIC FAIL -

Old Bengali - Best example is Charyapada is a collection of 8th–12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the tantric tradition in Kalinga.

Source - http://www.stat.wisc.edu/~deepayan/Bengali/WebPage/Archive/zzzCharyapad/archive.bn.html

 

[eastwatch]

In much older times Bangla, Gauri (Gaudi) and Maithili languages were born in a very closed region of greater Bengal. Charypadas are a collection of poetries written by the Buddhist Bhikkhus about 1000 years ago in order to spread the words of Gautam Buddha. But, it cannot be said that Charyapadas are written in pure or today's Bangla.

Rather, these were very near to the Maithili language spoken by the people of eastern Bihar and southern Nepal, although many of the Prakrit words and expressions used by the Bhikkhus have similarities with also Bangla. It may mean that both the languages were not yet fully developed or not yet fully separated.

At a certain point in history these two still underdeveloped but similar languages ultimately took different paths and accepted words from separate as well as similar sources, and became two distinct languages.

Old Maithili script looks almost like the Bangla script. But, at some point its users accepted Devnagri script to write. That is when this language drifted away from Bangla.

Anyway, it was a time when Bangla was still inside the womb. It took many more centuries of efforts by both the Hindus and Muslims of the region to make it a fully developed language.

 

[kalu_miah]

@eastwatch may be you can focus a little on how the Bengal Renaissance Hindu Bhadrolok class in Kolkata tried to re-introduce Sanskrit in Bengali and remove the Muslim influence. Bangkim Chandra is one of the best example, I read many of his works, if not most, full of Sanskrit words and no words of Islamic origin whatsoever.

The influence of this Bhadrolok class is still evident with urban "Secular" Bangladeshi's preference for Tagore Music that is around 100 years old.

 

[eastwatch]

@eastwatch may be you can focus a little on how the Bengal Renaissance Hindu Bhadrolok class in Kolkata tried to re-introduce Sanskrit in Bengali and remove the Muslim influence. Bangkim Chandra is one of the best example, I read many of his works, if not most, full of Sanskrit words and no words of Islamic origin whatsoever.

The influence of this Bhadrolok class is still evident with urban "Secular" Bangladeshi's preference for Tagore Music that is around 100 years old.

A language cannot be drastically changed by a few if the changes are not accepted by the critics and readers. Bankim Chandra creations are highly acclaimed by the literary society of Bengal. We cannot say his writings are in bad taste because these are not understood or appreciated by the general population.

Every language has turns and twists during the course of its formation. New words and expressions enter without people knowing who first introduced them. Similarly many old words and expressions cannot retain their old places. They go away.

At the formation stage of Bangla, people of both sects with little academic education introduced words that were spoken by the common people in writing their "Punthi Shahityo" or "Mymensing Geetika." They are our wealth, but were written with only the locally spoken words originated from Prakrit, Arabic, Turkic and Persian words.

The Muslims of Bengal stopped learning Bangla until it was early 20th Century. When they started to re-learn Bangla, the language was already very developed with words borrowed from Sanskrit. However, these words were broken and sounded more near to Bangla.

Note about the novel 'Bishad Shindhu' written by Meer Mosharef Hossain. It was a Karbala story, but was written in a form where there are not many Arabic and Persian words. It is neither like Bankimi nor like Sharat Chandra form. Its form is in between those two.

This book became very popular in those days also among the Hindus. Hindu housewives would weep when reading it. It means the language of this book was accepted by both the sects.

What I want to say, no one really hijacked the Muslim spoken words by force. If Muslims of today have the capability, they can easily write books in that form. But, it will not last if the population cannot appreciate it.

 

[khair_ctg]

A language cannot be drastically changed by a few if the changes are not accepted by the critics and readers. Bankim Chandra creations are highly acclaimed by the literary society of Bengal. We cannot say his writings are in bad taste because these are not understood or appreciated by the general population.

Every language has turns and twists during the course of its formation. New words and expressions enter without people knowing who first introduced them. Similarly many old words and expressions cannot retain their old places. They go away.

At the formation stage of Bangla, people of both sects with little academic education introduced words that were spoken by the common people in writing their "Punthi Shahityo" or "Mymensing Geetika." They are our wealth, but were written with only the locally spoken words originated from Prakrit, Arabic, Turkic and Persian words.

The Muslims of Bengal stopped learning Bangla until it was early 20th Century. When they started to re-learn Bangla, the language was already very developed with words borrowed from Sanskrit. However, these words were broken and sounded more near to Bangla.

Note about the novel 'Bishad Shindhu' written by Meer Mosharef Hossain. It was a Karbala story, but was written in a form where there are not many Arabic and Persian words. It is neither like Bankimi nor like Sharat Chandra form. Its form is in between those two.

This book became very popular in those days also among the Hindus. Hindu housewives would weep when reading it. It means the language of this book was accepted by both the sects.

What I want to say, no one really hijacked the Muslim spoken words by force. If Muslims of today have the capability, they can easily write books in that form. But, it will not last if the population cannot appreciate it.

@kalu_miah @Md Akmal
maybe no one hijacked Bengali. still Bengali WAS hijacked by Sanskrit culture. Bengali practiced until demise of Siraj ud Daula was closer to Farsi and Urdu. the formal Bengali used today in BD is Sanskrit-Bengali developed exclusively by Hindus, and has historically been considered a Hindu language (by the Bengal Muslims and other Muslims). many people from the pre-1947 generation would go to Calcutta from East Bengal to get scholarly orientation on Urdu and Farsi and Arabic, but also learned the Sanskrit-Bangla as a language of the ruling Hindus.

after collecting and reading some material, i have not found much mention that a standardized and official Musalman Bengali text existed. people who were the Bengali-speaking Muslims of Bengal talked in a wide range of accents and dialects heavy in the use of Farsi and Arabic words. this oral practise was Musalman Bengali. as Hindus developed the Sanskrit-heavy Bengali in colonial period, the language began to be used by Hindus sounded very foreign to the Muslim Bengali-speaker (even more foreign to the Urdu- and Farsi- speaking ones). as Hindus laid their claim to what Bengali language should be like, the Musalman-Bengali that existed from the Sultani and Mughal period even began to be considered as a type of Urdu, rather than a type of Bengali.

it leads me to conclude that a mass-standardized Musalman Bengali text maybe was not developed during the Sultanat and Mughal times, as Bengal Musalmans practised Urdu and Farsi, that continued through the colonial period. if a mass-standardized Musalman Bengali did exist, its later non-existence may be explained by a systematic genocide of people and heritage post-Siraj ud Daula; and that might explain a 'space' created for Sanskrit-loving Brahmins to decide what they wanted Bengali language to be like.

 

[kalu_miah]

@kalu_miah @Md Akmal
maybe no one hijacked Bengali. still Bengali WAS hijacked by Sanskrit culture. Bengali practiced until demise of Siraj ud Daula was closer to Farsi and Urdu. the formal Bengali used today in BD is Sanskrit-Bengali developed exclusively by Hindus, and has historically been considered a Hindu language (by the Bengal Muslims and other Muslims). many people from the pre-1947 generation would go to Calcutta from East Bengal to get scholarly orientation on Urdu and Farsi and Arabic, but also learned the Sanskrit-Bangla as a language of the ruling Hindus.

after collecting and reading some material, i have not found much mention that a standardized and official Musalman Bengali text existed. people who were the Bengali-speaking Muslims of Bengal talked in a wide range of accents and dialects heavy in the use of Farsi and Arabic words. this oral practise was Musalman Bengali. as Hindus developed the Sanskrit-heavy Bengali in colonial period, the language began to be used by Hindus sounded very foreign to the Muslim Bengali-speaker (even more foreign to the Urdu- and Farsi- speaking ones). as Hindus laid their claim to what Bengali language should be like, the Musalman-Bengali that existed from the Sultani and Mughal period even began to be considered as a type of Urdu, rather than a type of Bengali.

it leads me to conclude that a mass-standardized Musalman Bengali text maybe was not developed during the Sultanat and Mughal times, as Bengal Musalmans practised Urdu and Farsi, that continued through the colonial period. if a mass-standardized Musalman Bengali did exist, its later non-existence may be explained by a systematic genocide of people and heritage post-Siraj ud Daula; and that might explain a 'space' created for Sanskrit-loving Brahmins to decide what they wanted Bengali language to be like.

Then Muslim rulers made a mistake in not patronizing the Nastalik script for Bangla, rather they took the easy course of supporting the existing Bangla script. This step which looked pragmatic at the time, caused our doom, as the Kolkata Bhadroloks took full advantage of it to Sanskritize the original Bangla at their will, when Muslims lost their sovereignty to the British in 1757. So in 1947, we were pragmatic to support Pakistan and two nation theory, as no one could accept any extension of the domination from Hindu Zamindars. But this same Kolkata Bhadrolok generated Sanskritized Bangla was used again skillfully by India and pro-India population in East Pakistan to brain wash the population, so they could get help from their eternal enemy and break their ties with people who were really no threat to them and never killed them in large numbers till the civil war started in 1971. This is how we became "independent" and went under Indian boot.

And the brainwashing continues as we speak. Every time we open a Bangladesh TV channel, we see now mind numbing Tagore music droning on and on, sponsored by Indian agents like Nitol Motors (Tata agents) in Bangladesh. Tagore and his works is one of their biggest weapons in their arsenal. It is good material for brainwashing illiterate half educated population.

 

[khair_ctg]

Then Muslim rulers made a mistake in not patronizing the Nastalik script for Bangla, rather they took the easy course of supporting the existing Bangla script. This step which looked pragmatic at the time, caused our doom, as the Kolkata Bhadroloks took full advantage of it to Sanskritize the original Bangla at their will, when Muslims lost their sovereignty to the British in 1757. So in 1947, we were pragmatic to support Pakistan and two nation theory, as no one could accept any extension of the domination from Hindu Zamindars. But this same Kolkata Bhadrolok generated Sanskritized Bangla was used again skillfully by India and pro-India population in East Pakistan to brain wash the population, so they could get help from their eternal enemy and break their ties with people who were really no threat to them and never killed them in large numbers till the civil war started in 1971. This is how we became "independent" and went under Indian boot.

And the brainwashing continues as we speak. Every time we open a Bangladesh TV channel, we see now mind numbing Tagore music droning on and on, sponsored by Indian agents like Nitol Motors (Tata agents) in Bangladesh. Tagore and his works is one of their biggest weapons in their arsenal. It is good material for brainwashing illiterate half educated population.

written Bangla in Nastaliq script probably did exist among some Bengal Muslims, and it was probably THE Bengali that is thought to be "patronized" by administrations of Sultani and Mughal periods. but the Nastaliq Bangla *probably* did not get mass-standardized to become an organized language - assuming no systematic genocide and de-Muslimization under Hindu Bhadralok class during colonial period - this leads me to believe the "Nastaliq" Bangla was mostly in oral practise with many dialects and accents.

i think the "easy route" taken by the Muslim leaders during both pre- and post- Siraj ud Daula was the sole reliance on Farsi and Urdu for official and literary purposes. although i don't think they supported this existing script and vocabulary which was the product of the Sanskrit-loving Brahmins

 

[Mike_Brando]

EPIC FAIL -

Old Bengali - Best example is Charyapada is a collection of 8th–12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the tantric tradition in Kalinga.

Source - http://www.stat.wisc.edu/~deepayan/Bengali/WebPage/Archive/zzzCharyapad/archive.bn.html

Lol these BDians are desperate to prove that the Bengali language was developed by the muslim Turks and Arabs!!Actually Bengali language is nothing but an offshoot of the Sanskrit language which is practically the mother of all languages in the sub-continent although Sanskrit was never used by the common masses of Bengal just like it was never used in Magadha where the people's language were Magadhi and Ardha-Magadhi.Similarly Ardha-Magadhi was perhaps the language of the common masses during the reign of both the Palas and the Senas in Bengal.But during the rule of the Sena rulers the Ardha Magadhi language gradually started evolving and as a result the Old Bengali language took its birth.This language was very similar to both Maithili and the Kamrupi languages which were practically sister languages.Charyapadas which were Buddhist devotional songs were composed during this period.
During the course of the next 200 years this language also started to evolve slowly and the Middle Bengali language came to existence which was somewhat influenced by the Persian language,the official languages of the Sultans of Gauda but still heavily dependent on Sanskrit."Shree Krishna Kirtan" written by Boru Chandidas is perhaps the best example available.
Next came the Bengali renaissance during the 18th century when efforts were made to compile the grammar of the Bengali language.Renaissance authors like Raja Rammohan Roy,Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar played a crucial role in the development of the modern Bengali language but this language was still heavily sanskritized.So ultimately during the first half of the 20th century a few Bengali writers like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhay(he is known as "Kotha Shilpi" in Bengali) introduced the use of the colloquial Bengali through their works and this colloquial language gradually evolved to the Bpresent day Bengali language.
So you can clearly see that the Bengali language had no foreign influence whatsoever other than borrowing some Persian and Arabic words in the course of history.Bengali language was developed by the Dharmic Bengali people as an easy medium of communication but Sanskrit still remained the language of literature in Bengal well into the late 19th century.The brits when they conquered Bengal were astonished to find that there were more than 100,000 Sanskrit "tolls" or primary schools in Bengal province during the late 18th century.So you can clearly see the eagerness to learn Sanskrit which was known as the "Deva Bhasa" or the Language of the Gods among the Dharmic Bengali populace at that time.....

 

[jarves]

Lol these BDians are desperate to prove that the Bengali language was developed by the muslim Turks and Arabs!!Actually Bengali language is nothing but an offshoot of the Sanskrit language which is practically the mother of all languages in the sub-continent although Sanskrit was never used by the common masses of Bengal just like it was never used in Magadha where the people's language were Magadhi and Ardha-Magadhi.Similarly Ardha-Magadhi was perhaps the language of the common masses during the reign of both the Palas and the Senas in Bengal.But during the rule of the Sena rulers the Ardha Magadhi language gradually started evolving and as a result the Old Bengali language took its birth.This language was very similar to both Maithili and the Kamrupi languages which were practically sister languages.Charyapadas which were Buddhist devotional songs were composed during this period.
During the course of the next 200 years this language also started to evolve slowly and the Middle Bengali language came to existence which was somewhat influenced by the Persian language,the official languages of the Sultans of Gauda but still heavily dependent on Sanskrit."Shree Krishna Kirtan" written by Boru Chandidas is perhaps the best example available.
Next came the Bengali renaissance during the 18th century when efforts were made to compile the grammar of the Bengali language.Renaissance authors like Raja Rammohan Roy,Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar played a crucial role in the development of the modern Bengali language but this language was still heavily sanskritized.So ultimately during the first half of the 20th century a few Bengali writers like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhay(he is known as "Kotha Shilpi" in Bengali) introduced the use of the colloquial Bengali through their works and this colloquial language gradually evolved to the Bpresent day Bengali language.
So you can clearly see that the Bengali language had no foreign influence whatsoever other than borrowing some Persian and Arabic words in the course of history.Bengali language was developed by the Dharmic Bengali people as an easy medium of communication but Sanskrit still remained the language of literature in Bengal well into the late 19th century.The brits when they conquered Bengal were astonished to find that there were more than 100,000 Sanskrit "tolls" or primary schools in Bengal province during the late 18th century.So you can clearly see the eagerness to learn Sanskrit which was known as the "Deva Bhasa" or the Language of the Gods among the Dharmic Bengali populace at that time.....

Excellent post dude!!

 

[kalu_miah]

written Bangla in Nastaliq script probably did exist among some Bengal Muslims, and it was probably THE Bengali that is thought to be "patronized" by administrations of Sultani and Mughal periods. but the Nastaliq Bangla *probably* did not get mass-standardized to become an organized language - assuming no systematic genocide and de-Muslimization under Hindu Bhadralok class during colonial period - this leads me to believe the "Nastaliq" Bangla was mostly in oral practise with many dialects and accents.

i think the "easy route" taken by the Muslim leaders during both pre- and post- Siraj ud Daula was the sole reliance on Farsi and Urdu for official and literary purposes. although i don't think they supported this existing script and vocabulary which was the product of the Sanskrit-loving Brahmins

The existing Bangla script would not have survived if they banned it and replaced it with Nastaliq, so in that sense they definitely patronized it and allowed it to continue. Considering the low population count in those times, it would have been quite easy to change the script, but I guess they did not think about the future.

Changing script in any language is relatively easy, but changing a living language is nearly impossible. You just teach the new script as an option to new born babies and young children in schools throughout the country and within 2-3 generations the new script becomes widely practiced. When the new script becomes sufficiently wide spread, you can ban the old one and throw it to the dustbin of history. Uighur script was changed from Arabic to Latin and then back to Arabic. Turkish language script was changed from Arabic to Latin. Central Asian script was changed from Arabic or Nastaliq to Cyrillic. Korean script was changed from Chinese pictorial to newly invented phonetic Hangul. There are many examples in recent and past history.

We could still do it in the future if there is enough support from the population and intelligentsia, but first Bangladeshi population must get the true taste of Indian slavery. I expect a few famines in next few years and then Bangladeshi population will turn sufficiently against India. Then Indian agents from among our population will have to be eliminated with Chinese help and turn Bangladesh into a Chinese base. After that, a decision has to be made on cost benefit analysis. As long as we have a common script, these West Bengali low lives and their boot lickers in Bangladesh will continue to create trouble using the common script and the common sanskritized Bangla to brain wash our population. We need to permanently remove this convenient vehicle of subversion.

 

[baajey]

hmmmm....
bangla bhasha...
-----imported a few words from persian and turkic languages ....lol n behold......huge obodaan from muslims in bengali literature n language and wat not.
-----didnt change its script to nastaliq (plz excuse the spelling).....evil brahmans
*****and very conveniently lets all forget this language (and all the other languages in the subcontinent) is derived from sanskrit.
trying to show anything hindu about bengali is a sacrilege to these pseudo scholars.

@eastwatch
awesome post man....welcome back.....long time no see

 

[my2cents]

The existing Bangla script would not have survived if they banned it and replaced it with Nastaliq, so in that sense they definitely patronized it and allowed it to continue. Considering the low population count in those times, it would have been quite easy to change the script, but I guess they did not think about the future.

Changing script in any language is relatively easy, but changing a living language is nearly impossible. You just teach the new script as an option to new born babies and young children in schools throughout the country and within 2-3 generations the new script becomes widely practiced. When the new script becomes sufficiently wide spread, you can ban the old one and throw it to the dustbin of history. Uighur script was changed from Arabic to Latin and then back to Arabic. Turkish language script was changed from Arabic to Latin. Central Asian script was changed from Arabic or Nastaliq to Cyrillic. Korean script was changed from Chinese pictorial to newly invented phonetic Hangul. There are many examples in recent and past history.

We could still do it in the future if there is enough support from the population and intelligentsia, but first Bangladeshi population must get the true taste of Indian slavery. I expect a few famines in next few years and then Bangladeshi population will turn sufficiently against India. Then Indian agents from among our population will have to be eliminated with Chinese help and turn Bangladesh into a Chinese base. After that, a decision has to be made on cost benefit analysis. As long as we have a common script, these West Bengali low lives and their boot lickers in Bangladesh will continue to create trouble using the common script and the common sanskritized Bangla to brain wash our population. We need to permanently remove this convenient vehicle of subversion.

what percentage of BD people can read and write urdu? I am assuming a large percentage of your people learn arabic or urdu to read Koran. If it is substantial then it would be easy to teach bangla using urdu script. Pakistan was successful with urdu as their national language. You can do it too to promote your arabic roots.

By the way what is wrong with your Bangla language??

 

[kalu_miah]

what percentage of BD people can read and write urdu? I am assuming a large percentage of your people learn arabic or urdu to read Koran. If it is substantial then it would be easy to teach bangla using urdu script. Pakistan was successful with urdu as their national language. You can do it too to promote your arabic roots.

By the way what is wrong with your Bangla language??

You did not understand my post. I was not talking about introducing Urdu in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi's are perfectly happy with Bangla and there is no need to change it. The only thing we should change is the written script, from the existing Devnagari style Bangla script to Arabic based Nastaliq script. Naturally we would also like to bring back the Persian/Arabic/Turkic loan words that were dropped by the Fort William college gang led by Vidyasagar and drop the Sanskrit loan words introduced by this same gang. It will be bringing Bangla back to its natural state that existed before 1757.

Muslim rulers neglected this script aspect of the language, present day Bangladesh should take steps to bring the language to its natural destiny.

Most Bangladeshi's 90% can read Arabic (not all understand the meaning) and as a result they are familiar with Arabic script, so it will not be difficult to introduce Arabic based Nastaliq script (same as Urdu script).

Some Bangladeshi's speak Urdu, but most people today understand Hindi because of Bollywood movies. Once we change the script to Arabic/Nastaliq and bring back the Arabic/Persian/Turkic loan words, then Urdu will also become very familiar to all Bangladeshi's, thanks to Bollywood Indian movies Hindi lessons.

So Bangladeshi's will continue to speak Bangla, only written script will be changed and because of this change they will understand Urdu much better than before. I think it will good for communication between all 3 countries, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the only losers will be Indian Bengali's, who will no longer be able to read our new Bangla written words.