THE
HISTORY OF THE BENGALI LANGUAGE
THE HISTORY OF THE
BENGALI LANGUAGE
BY
BIJAYCHANDRA MAZUMDAR,
LECTURER IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY,
ANTHROPOLOGY AND INDIAN VERNACULARS,
CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY
PUBLISHED BY THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1920
PRINTED BY ATULCHANDRA BHATTACHARYYA
AT THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY PRESS, SENATE HOUSE, CALCUTTA
The following lectures on the History of the Bengali
Language are intended to give a sketch, in broad outline,
of the origins of that language and the various influences,
linguistic, ethnic, social, that shaped and moulded its earlier
history. One essential requirement of a scientific procedure
ill an investigation of this sort, I have steadily kept in
view. The ethnic as well as the social history of a people
or group of peoples must corroborate and light up the
linguistic history, if the latter is to be rescued from the
realm of prehistoric romance to which the story of philo-
logical origins, as so often told, must be however reluctantly
assigned by the critical or scientific historian of to-day.
One or two incidental results of my application of this
anthropological test may be here mentioned. I have had
no occasion to invent different Aryan belts for the imaginary
migratory movements of some unknowable patois-speaking
hordes, to account for the distinctive and peculiar pheno-
mena of the provincial languages or dialects, e.g., those of
Bengal : they are fitly explained by the successive ethnic
contacts and mixtures with neighbouring or surrounding
indigenous peoples. Similarly I have had no hesitation in
recognizing within proper limits, the principle of miscege-
nation in the growth of language, as of race, provided that
the organic accretions from outside grow to the living
radicle or nucleus which persists as an independent or
individual entity. In this way I have sought to explain
many of the phenomena, regarding the grafting of Dravi-
dian structural and syntactical elements, on some languages
or dialects of so-called Aryan stock (including those of
Bengal). One interesting example of this is to be seen in
2004643
PREFACE
the accent systems of the different Bengali dialects, which
natural!}- show traces of that ethnic miscegenation to which
the anthropological history of the people, bears an unmis-
takable testimony, the more so as tone and accent are
among what may be called tertiary racial characters of
speech, and in their deep working predispositions, and
relative stability, supply fit material for experimental
variations of th*s sort.
In the course of these lectures, I have dealt with the
more important topics relating to the origins of the
Bengali language, explaining my own views and conclusions,
rather than combating the theories that hold the field, and
I have used the illustrative material briefly and sugges-
tively, rather than exhaustively.
A few words may be necessary to explain the occasion
of the present publication. It was in 1909 that I first
gave a definite shape to the results of my study of the
Bengali language and its history, but certain eye troubles
which began at about that time, interfered with the im-
mediate completion of my plans. Three or four years
later, after those troubles had ceased with the total loss of
eye-sight, I turned to my materials again, and worked at
them, till in 1917, not knowing what to do with these
unpublished papers, I sent them at the instance of a friend,
to the Hon'ble Sir Asutosh Mukerjee, President of the
Council of Post-Graduate Teaching in Arts in the Uni-
versity of Calcutta to see if any use could be made of them
in connection with that scientific study of the Vernacular,
which had long been one of Sir Asutosh's cherished projects
in his scheme of University reconstruction and extension.
To my great surprise, not unmixed with thankfulness, I
found myself called upon, months later, to deliver a course
of lectures on the History of the Bengali Language, in the
Post-Graduate Department in the University of Calcutta.
PREFACE vii
I took the advantage of the opportunity so generously
afforded, to revise my original papers, in view of a number
of facts, that had been since brought to light. I have to
thankfully acknowledge, that when revising these papers,
I was very much benefited by some highly valuable sug-
gestions, which my friend, the eminent scholar Dr. Brojen-
dranath Seal very generously offered.
Having had to use an amanuensis, and being without
the means of inspecting either the manuscripts or the
printed proofs, I am afraid, the following pages must
contain numerous errors and misprints, for which the reader
will, I know, excuse me. 1 am thankful to my young
friend and colleague Babu Hemantakumar Sarkar, M.A.,
who has prepared the indexical contents and has brought
several serious misprints to my notice.
I cannot end these prefatory words, without giving an
expression, however feeble and halting, to the feeling of
deep gratitude which overpowers me, when I think of the
opportunity, which Sir Asutosh as the presiding genius of
University education in Bengal, has opened to one circum-
stanced like me, an opportunity not only of that active self-
expression, which has now become the staff of my life, but
also of the fruition of my life's studies and constructive
endeavours in one important direction.
B, C. MAZUMDAR
INDEXICAL CONTENTS
LECTURE I
INTRODUCTION
A. Preliminary. How Philology is related to Ethno-
logy pp. 1-2 ; the unscientific methods of Philologists cri-
ticised by Karl Pearson, pp. 2, 3 ; Grierson's theory, about
the origin of Indian Dialects, pp. 3, 4; Rislev's explanation,
p. 6 ; Grammar and not vocabulary which gives a dialect
its character, p. 6. B. Preparatory. Bengali-speaking
tracts, pp. 7, 8 ; Bengali loosely called a sanskritic
language, p. 8 ; Aryan vernacular, a better name, p. 8 ;
the term Aryan has no ethnic significance, p. 8 ; structure
and accent system are great factors in a language, p. 8 :
for derivation of words sound suggestions are misleading,
p. 9 ; subjects necessary to discuss, as a preparatory
measure : (1) Geographical limits of Ancient Yanga
or Bengal and the character of the Pre-Aryan tribes
of Bengal, ( - i) The form of Aryan speech first intro-
duced in Bengal, (3) The Aryan or Aryanized and
the non-Aryan hordes which made inroads into Bengal
from the earliest known time to the end of the 12th
century A. D., p. 9 ; some important propositions stated :
(1) Linguistic miscegenation Keaue's view struc-
ture may be influenced to some extent by foreign influence
the mixture of vocabularies is not of much conse-
quence The example of Urdu pp. 10-11.
(2) When a new structure is gradually built with
new elements on a fresh basis, a new language is evolved ;
The natural and organised mode of thinking of a people
can never be radically changed, p. 12.
INDEXICAL CONTENTS ix
(3) What is called a patois or vulgar speech is
never a separate language Isolation and want of culture
bring about deformities, p. 12 ; Phonetic peculiarities and
the anatomical structure of the vocal organs, p. 13 ; How
pronunciation may at times be wholly due to the education
of the ear, p. 13. Difference in pronunciation may at times
be explained by climatic conditions as well as by the social
life of ease cr difficulty, pp. 14, 15; Racial character of
speech, p. 15; Heredity and variation Wundt's inheri-
table predisposition, p. 15; Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
racial characters in speech, pp. 15, 16 ; unity or homo-
geneity of a race cannot be postulated on linguistic basis
alone, p. 17. [pp. 1-17.
LECTURE II
ANCIENT BENGAL AND ITS PEOPLES.
Section I. The antiquity of the names Vanga and
BUngla
The Veda samhitas and the early Vedic literature do
not mention the name Vanga Atharva Veda mentions
Anga In the Atharva Veda Parisista the word Vanga
occurs with Magadha as a component of a compound
word The value of this silence, p. 18 ; Aitareya Brahman a
mentions Vanga as a country of the barbarians, p. 20 ;
Early Buddhistic literature is as silent as the Vedas ;
Vanga not colonised by the Aryans till 6th century B. C.,
p. 20; the aboriginal tribes known by their totem names,
p. 21 ; the story of Vijaya Sinha and the colonisation of
Bengal, p. 22; Early Magadhi influence in Ceylon, p. 23;
Remnants of Bengali vocabulary and accent system in
Sinhalese, p. 24 ; First Aryan settlement in Bengal,
pp. 24, 25; Baudhayana's and Vasista's limits of Aryavarta,
x IN HEX 1C A L CONTEXTS
pp. 25-2H ; The unholy Vanga, p. 26 ; sea voyage allowed
in some northern countries of the Aryans, p. 26 ; Re-
searches in Farther India by Phayre and Gerini Early
colonisation of Burma by the Dravidians and then by the
Aryans, p. 27 ; Telegu supremacy in Arakan and Chitta-
gong in 850 B.C. Bengali colony in Annam not later than
7th century B.C., p. 27; the leader of the Bengali adven-
turer Luck-lorn coming from the province of Bong-long,
p. 28 ; belonged to Naga Yamsa Bong-long the original
form of Bangla people of Bong-long known by the name
Bong Vanga as the name of a tribe in old Hindu Litera-
ture Anga, Vanga, Kalinga regarded by the Aryans to
have been of non-Aryan origin Kins of Bong tribe
replaced by Huddhist Ksatriyas of Magadh in Annam in
second decade of 3rd century B. C., p. 28 ; Dravidian tradi-
tion regarding many Na^a-worshipping tribes proceeding
to south from Bengal and its neighbourhood The Marans,
Clients and Pangala Tirayers, the most important, p. 29 ;
The Paugalas, or people of \ffa^ founded kingdom at
Kanchi, p. 30 ; The Yangas, a sea-faring people, p. 31.
[pp. 18-31.
LECTURE III
ANCIENT BENGAL AND ITS PEOPLES (could.}
Section //. The GevgrapJiy of Old Bany!* >ind >/' u/Jfr
n-Lded tritcfs
Home of the non-Aryan Yangas as we find in the
Mahabharata and Puianas A portion of Kiilaka-vana,
came to be designated as Jhajakhamja A portion of
Jhw.iakhai.K.-a got the name Racllia or Ladha, p. 32 Temple
of Yaidyanath situated in Radha Anga corresponds
to Bhagalpur, Suhma to portions- of Miduapur, with
INDEXICAL CONTENTS xi
Tamralipti for its capital five sons of Bali, progenitors
of the allied races An gas, Pundras, Yangas, Suhmas and
Kalingas. Account of Bali Raja from a Dravidian source,
p. 33 The value of the story of Behula, p. 85 Original
inhabitants of Bengal were by race and habits allied to
those who are now designated as Dravidians, p. 35 The
situation of Vanga as in the Raghuvarhsa, p. 35 Banga
not Eastern Bengal Situation of Uttara Racjha, Daksin
Radha, Vanga and Barinda as appears from Tirumalai
Inscriptions. The significance of Tippera- Raj-Ensigns,
bearing representations of pan and fish, 3(>. Vanga called
Samatata in the Yrhatsamhita, p. 37. Hinen Tsiang's
Topography and Geography Kaichu-ho-khilo Culture
of Magadha prevailing all over Bengal, pp. 38-39
Assam inhabited by a Mongolian tribe, p. 39
Karnasuvarna in Rajha, Narendra Gupta's capital,
pp. 39-40 How Oriya is related to Bengali, p. 40
Utkalas mentioned in the Puranas and in the Raghu-
vamsa, p. 4-1 Geography of Utkala, pp. 41-42. Mu<;U
Kalinga became Trikalinga in the language of the Aryans
Trikalinga = Telinga = Telegu, p. 42. [pp. 31-42.
LECTURE IV
ANCIENT BENGAL AND ITS PEOPLES (coin-Id.}
Section IJL Ganda, HadJni and Bftnya
The name Gau-> is of comparatively recent origin,
p 43 Geography of Gani'a, in the 8th century A. D.,
]>. 43 Meaning of the word Gauda, p. 44 Alberuni's
reference to Gauda. p. 44 A. K. Iyer, on the Gaura
(Triholrapur) origin of some Cochin Brahmins, p. 45.
Political condition of Bengal from 8th- 12th century A. D,
xii INDEXICAL CONTENTS
daring the Pala Rajas, p. 45 Northern Bengal under
the Kambojes, p. 46 Transfer of the capital of the
Pala Rajas from Magadha to Bengal, p. 46 Affinity
between Eastern Bihari and Bengali, p. 47 Bihar under
the sway of Westerners, Bengal the real representative
of old Bihar, p. 47. The Pravangas, ris., Malas, Mahi-
?ikas and Manabattika?. The Kosala Guptas and the
Bengalis, p 48 Vanga as general name of the country,
p. 49 The Kayastha and the Babus, pp. 49-50. The
Vaidyas, pp. 50-53. The origin of the Sena Rajas
of Bengal, pp. 50-51. The Ambattans, p. 52. The
invasion of the Indo-Chinese people, p. 53 Unexplained
Geographical names in Bengal, p. 54. [pp. 43-54.
LECTURE V
THE INFLUENCE OF THE DRAVIDIAN SPEECHES ox BENGALI
How changes in a language and deviations from the
norm may be explained, p. 55 The non-Aryan influence
on the Aryan speeches, p. 55 Stenkonow's remarks on
the 3hange of Aryan dentals into cerebrals, pp. 55-56.
Cerebrals are never initials of genuine Dravidian words,
p. 56 Bengali cerebrals are not so much cerebral as
dental, p. 57 Mongolian influence, p. 58 Sir R. G.
Bhandarkar's explanation criticised, p. 58 Dravidian
phonetic peculiarities noticeable in the formation of Pali
and other Prakrita words, p. 59 Bengali ' C$ ' from
Dravidian ' f/ p. 59 Caldwell Trumpp, Beams and
Bhandarkar on the point, pp. 59-60 Stenkonow on the
similarity between Etruscan and Dravidian, p. 61 Some
of their common characteristics distinctly noticeable in
Bengali language, p. 61 Illustrations of Early Dravidian
INDEXICAL CONTENTS xiii
influence, pp. 62-63 List of Dravidian words in use in
Bengali, pp. 03, 67 Some essential Grammatical pecu-
liarities of the Dravidians noticeable in Bengali, p. 67
Origin of plural forming '^f^ and ^1, pp. 67, 68 Position
of the negative particle srl betrays Dravidian influence,
pp. 68-69 Cf*lt words which cannot be traced either to
any Sanskritic origin or to any other n on- Aryan origin,
pp. 09-74. [pp. 55-74,
LECTURE VI
BENGALI PHONOLOGY
Bengali vowels, pp. 75-76 Pronunciation of Bengali
^, pp. 75-76 Oriya % p. 76 The Vedic sarhvrta *r,
pp. 76-77 Vedic <sf and *sft carried at times a half nasal
sound, pp. 77-78 The nasal of ^1, pp. 78-79 Pronun-
ciation of <srt, p. 79 Words of one letter in Bengali
pronounced long as in Tamil, p. 80 Change of ^fl to ^,
pp. 80, 81 ^ changed to 4, 3, pp. 80-82 Pronuncia-
tion of ^, $, pp. 8-!-85 %, fe, p. 854, ^, , $, pp. 85-89
Rabindranath's rule regarding the pronunciation of tj
accepted and expanded, p. 88 Visarjaniya, pp. 89-90
The nasal sound, p. 90 q, ^, *l, ^, P- 93 ^, ^|, v\ and s>,
pp. 94-96 Bengali consonants, pp. 96-105 Phonetic
value of Tamil consonants, pp. 96-97 Consonants of the
Aryan speech, pp. 97-98 <F, % 5f, ^, p. 975, ^, ^, 3f,
p. 98 Sibilants, pp. 99-100--? and f, pp. 100-102 Rules
relating to the occurance of non-?^ final, pp. 102.
[pp. 75-105.
xiv INDEXICAL CONTEXTS
LECTURi: VII
SOME FACTORS RELATING TO PHONOLO<;Y AND ACCENT
Section 1. A Comparative Study of Accent.
Meaning of Aksara, p. 106 Accent in Vedicand Classi-
cal Sanskrit, p. 106 Sentence accent in Yedic, pp. 106-
107 ^jtfrs, ^ffTs and ^f?R, p. 107 Change of meaning by
change of accent, pp. 107-109 Veclie accent in metrical
composition, p. 109 Accentual peculiarities in the vocative
case, p. 110 Pronunciation of the word <5fffl in the
Veda, pp. 110-111 Survival of Vedic accent in Pali and
Prakrit, p. Ill Jacobi's criticism, p. Ill Emphasis on
phrases in Sanskrit, p. 112 Accent system in Oriya, p. 113
Marked peculiarities of the Accent system in Bengali,
p. 114 Central and East and West Bengal pronunciation,
114 Dravidian influence, 115. [pp. 100-116.
LECTURE VIII
PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT (mi ft?.)
Section 2. Bengali Metrical System.
Bengali Metrical system based on syllables and not on
letters Metrical system of early Vaisnava Poets is artificial,
p. 117 Character of Bengali syllables, p. 118 frfa
metre based on 14 syllables and not 14 letters, p. 1 18
Illustrations of Bengali metrical system, p. 118 How
from indigenous songs literary verses originated, p. 120
The opinion is wrong that spTS words do not practically
exist in old Bengali, p. HO Madhusudan and Hem-
chandra's versification, p. HI Evolution of our Metrical
system, p HI Sanskrit metres of late origin, p. 121.
Their Bengali prototypes, pp. 12 1-1 2(5 Hindi and Oriya
modes of reciting poetry, p. 12(5. [pp. 117-27.
1NDEXICAL CONTEXTS xv
LECTURE IX
PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT (<-on<:/(J.}
Section 3. Accent traced in Sandhi and Compound
Formation .
Yedic and Sanskrit Sandhi, p. 128. Sandhi in
Pali, p. 129. Bengali Sandhi system, p. 130. Samasa,
p. 133. Adverbial compounds ^r^jft^st^, p. 133. Deter-
minative or ^3^ -(1) <F3|-*ttR (2) ^-SfoK (3)
<j?<r1-fsff^ (4) ^W-TT^, (o) ^rtMsMT^ (6) *^i-^t5^,
(7) ^fa-^ffi ^tW, pp. 1 34-5. Descriptive or ^fatsra, p. 135.
f^ ^ftf?[ 1% p. 135. Duplicated words of nine classes,
pp. 136-39. Appendices to Lectures VI to IX.
Appendix I. A study of some Onomatopoetic Desi
words, pp. 1-10-3.
Append! r II. The Phenomenon of Sandhi, pp.
144-55. [pp. 128-55.
LECTURE X
How ClIAXDASA IS RELATED TO LATEK Al!YA\
SPEECHES.
Relation between Vedic, Sanskrit and Vernaculars, p.
156. Keane, on the spread of Aryan speech amongst non-
Aryan peoples, p. 157. The linguistic strata in the Vedas,
p. 158. Personal Pronoun in the Vedic, p. 159. Their
various stems, p. 159. Lost forms of Pronouns, p. 163.
The literary character of the pre- Vedic language, p. 164.
The Chandasa language, a very rich and well developed
literary speech, p. 164. It was a living language, p. 165.
The phenomenon of phonetic decay or ' Apabhransa ' in
Chandasa, p. 160. Loss of initial conjunct mutes, p. 166.
xvi INDEXICAL CONTENTS
Losses in words denoting Numerals, p. 167. Vedic man-
tras preserved as a hieratic speech, p. 169. The term
'Jaukika' for Sanskrit, p. 170. The term ' Sanskrta,' p.
173. Provincial dialect at the time of Patanjali, p. 174.
That the Prakrta dialects are derived from Sanskrit is an
erroneous proposition, p. 175. Variety of past forms in
Sanskrit, p. 175. Pronunciation, p. 177. Dual, p. 178.
AVhy later Prakrtas were more Sanskritic, p. 179. Prakrta
forms Sanskritized, pp. 181-85. Vernacular words traceable
to the Vedic, pp. 185-87. Append i.r. Pseudo-Sanskrit
words drawn from Prilkrts, pp. 189-91. [pp. 156-91.
LECTURE XI
PALI AND OTHER OLD PRAKRTAS
Prakrta defined, p. 19:1. Prakrta the language of the
common people, p. 193. Pali defined, p. 193 . Pali, an early
Magadhi Prakrta, p. 193. The character of Pali, p. 196.
Pali, a literary speech, p. 197. The Gatha language, a
curious mixture of Sanskrit and Apabhransa, p. 199.
Artificial literary Prakrta the language of the old Prakrta
works, p. 199. The language of the Asoka inscriptions
not artificial, p. 199. Old Magadhi Prakrta or Pali and
Bengali, p. 200. Similarity of Accent system, p. 201.
Survival in Vocabulary, p. 201. Morphological comparison
between Pali and Bengali, p. 206. Origin of a class of
long-winded Samasa compounds, p. 207. Jaina Prakrta,
p. 207. A link between Pali and Modern Vernaculars,
p. 207. Study of Jaina Praktra essential for the history
of Bengal, p. 208. Points of agreement between Jaina
Prakrtu, and Bengali, p. 210. Peculiarity of Bengali
names, p. 213. [pp. 192-213.
IXDKXICAL COXTKXTS xvii
LECTURE XII
THE LITERARY PRAKRTAS
Prakrta speeches of the dramas were not spoken Ver-
naculars, p. 214. Some examples from Gauda Baho Kavja
and Setubandha, p. 215. Words 'that have not undergone
any decay in Bengali from remotest antiquity, p. 216.
Magadhi, Sauraseni and Maharastri Prakrtas, p. 216.
Some anomalies in the survivals of Maharastri and Saura-
seni forms. Maharastri as the name for the standard
Prakrta, p. 217. The real significance of the name indi-
cates culture centre, p. 220. Standard Prakrta, a language
fabricated by reducing Sanskrit to Prakrta forms, p. 221.
The significance of various dialect names for different
classes of Dramatis persona-, p. 228. The language of
Gatha Saptasati, p. 228. The Prakrta Paingala, p. 225.
Aryan Vernacular as well deveolped literal y languages
before 14th century, p. 225. Metrical } eculiarities of
these Vernaculars, p. 226. Verses in Prakrta written when
modern vernaculars were current, p. 227. Proto- Bengali
verses, pp. 228-82. Mixed character of the language of
some Prakrta verses, p. 229. Literary languages r.\. Ver-
nacular speeches, pp. 288-84. [pp. 2)4-84.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
P. 2, L. 33 for spaeks /vW speaks.
P. 32, L. 18 Avaranga read Ayaranga (AcSranga)
P. 68, L. 2o ffo .'-: IN
-26 -Jiffa ^ffa
Addition. Of words listed in pp. 71 74 the following
have been traced by me to known origins : (1) 'srtfa
(Dravidian), ('2) ^f% (Mongolian see Lecture XIII), (3)
C& (from wl, see Lecture XIII), (4) fe^fa (from
(5) ^q (from f^*q,see Lecture XIII), () iftfa (Dravidian,
see Lecture XIII), and (7) rfi? (from ^?^6, see Lecture
X1I1).
P. 72, L. 26, the words <?/V to should go over to
column 2 before words l keep fish.'
P. 83, L. 14 also at other places -for metathysis read
metathesis.
P. 131, last line,/"/- ^fl-^fl />W ^t^f*f.
P. 1 69, L. 7, for hiyeratic r<>a<1 hieratic and other places.
P. 175, L. :26, for time rend tense.
P. 176, L. 20, for heterogenuous refill heterogeneous.
P. 177, L. 10, for ?rf3 rend 3^.
P. 1 78, L. 9, for recent rend accent.
P 179, L. 18, for mflinteinance read maintenance.
For p. 343 read p. 243.
The History of the Bengal
Language
LECTURE I
INTRODUCTION
A. PRELIMINARY
I should state at the outset, that my inquiry regarding
the origin and development of the Bengali Language will
necessarily lead me to consider and discuss some facts
relating to the ancient and modern inhabitants of Bengal ;
for, in my opinion, a discussion which is merely philological
and does not take into account the people or peoples, whose
language is the subject-matter of inquiry, is bound to
prove abortive. The philologists, for example, may
establish, by a comparative grammatical study of the
modern vernaculars of Northern India, that the inhabi-
tants of different provinces speak one form or another of
some common ancient speech. So far so good. The
linguistic taxonomists, again, may classify the modern
vernaculars in different groups by looking into their essen-
tial structural peculiarities, and may also, with reference to
the phonetic peculiarities of each speech, set down some
rules to indicate what sound or peculiarity of one speech
should be equated with what other sound or peculiarity of
another. No one can belittle the usefulness of this work,
2 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
but we cannot afford to forget that neither Vararuchi nor
Grimm nor Verner, nor all of them taken together, can
be wholly relied upon to explain all the deviations from
the norm. How the ear of a man will be the recipient of
a sound, or how he will imitate it in speech, will depend
upon his culture ; what the " apabhramsa " will be in oue
stage of culture, will not be so in another. Consequently,
the generalised rules of equation applicable to some words
of one speech, may not be applicable to other words of that
very speech. There are also other good reasons why we
cannot acknowledge the all-sufficiency of the rules alluded
to, but it will be a digression to adduce them here. What
I want to bring out prominently is that, we cannot study
the phonetic changes in a speech without taking the speakers
of it into account. After observing the differences among
the sister dialects, we raise the question, why the parent
tongue underwent different sorts of changes in different
provinces, we ask why the " apabhramsa " forms in use in
Hindi for example, did not become current in Bengali ?
What were the solvent elements in different provinces that
brought about the characteristic changes noticeable in
different speeches of common origin ? To get to the facts,
which induced different sorts of changes and modifications
in different provinces, we must direct our attention to
provincial racial peculiarities, as well as to the physical
conditions of life, which were present in those provinces.
This is exactly what is not done by many philologists.
And we shall presently see how they create imaginary races
to explain away their difficulties without caring to study
the actual racial peculiarities existing in different provinces.
This is the reason why many scientists look to the philo-
logists and their work with much disfavour. Such an
eminent man of science of our time as Karl Pearson spaeks
slightingly of the philologists, as 'they do not generally
LECTURE I 3
pursue the scientific method in their inquiry, for they ask
us to enter into the "play-room for their individual
fancy," and accordingly we cannot always get into the
domain of philology any classified fact or system " inde-
pendent of the individual thinker " (vide " Grammar of
Science," p. 10). Grierson's fanciful theory regarding
the origin of Indian dialects may be adduced as a
fitting example of this sort of philological vagaries. As
the theory of this oriental scholar appears in an essay
contributed by him to such a work of authority as the
" Imperial Gazetteer of India," a brief discussion of it
seems called for.* To show up obscurantism is to pave the
way to the true scientific method of inquiry.
I set forth first of all the propositions which Grierson
has asked us to accept on his authority and from which he
has drawn all his conclusions. They are :
(?) Modern Aryan languages were not derived from
Sanskrit. " Some pastoral tribes (long before the Vedic days)
found their way across the Hindukush " and spread their
languages over the whole of Northern India as far as
Dibrugarh in the extreme east of Assam, and Canara to
the south of Bombay. All the modern vernaculars have
their origin in the " patois of these pastoral tribes."
(*Y) The latest comers of the Indo-Aryans settled them-
selves in the so-called Midland by forcing the earlier
immigrants " outward in three directions to the east, to
the south and to the west." The latest comers would not
necessarily be on good terms with their predecessors, who
quite possibly opposed them as intruders, nor did they
speak the same language." One particular Indo-Aryan
* Remarks I here offer are abridged from what I wrote in 1908 in
criticism of Sir George Grierlon's views published in the " Imperial
Gazetteer," Yol, I. My criticism appeared in " Modern Review,"
August 1908.
4. HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
dialect of these late comers may be taken to represent the
archaic language of the Rigveda.
(Hi) Sanskrit is the polished form of the archaic Vedic
tongue. This polish was given to the Vedic tongue by
the labours of the grammarians, culminating in the work
of Panini. This Sanskrit was never a vernacular, and even
in olden times it was learnt as a second language.
(iv) The other languages (i.e., the languages derived
from the patois of the earliest settlers), namely, Marhatti,
Bengali, Oria, etc., remain unaffected in their essence by
the speech of the Midland.
It is very difficult to meet Sir George Grierson, for he
has not chosen to cite authorities, nor has he adduced reasons
in support of his propositions beyond what he has added at
the end of his paper by way of his own signature. Where
he has adduced reasons, he has rather stated new proposi-
tions in the name of reasons which stand equally in need
of support. As to the original cradle-land of the pre-
historic Aryans, nothing has yet been settled ; and the
oldest record of the Aryans, the Vedas, being far from
replete with evidence as to their original home and migra-
tory movements, the question relating to the appearance of
Aryans in India is still a matter for careful inquiry and
research. However, we do not hold Grierson responsible
for the unscientific theory about the origin of the Aryans,
which seeks to establish ethnic unity among races of men
of different countries on the basis of some linguistic
agreement. This is not the place for me to show that the
facts established by the anthropologists tend to demolish
the theory of there being necessarily any genetic affinity
between the races of men speaking different Aryan dialects.
We shall only notice here that Grierson has put the old
theory into shadow by formulating a new theory of con-
siderable proportions by the sheer force of his imagination.
LECTURE I 5
He has mapped oat the whole imaginary cradle-land of the
Aryans and given a graphic description of the migratory
movements of some unknown people of an unknown time.
May we ask what facts justified Grierson in taking up the
vague suggestion of Hoernle as an established fact and to
put down with confidence that the patois of some pre-Vedic
pastoral tribes had taken root in India before the Vedic
dialect prevailed ?
The evidence is declared to be linguistic, and, it is said,
has been obtained by Grierson while pursuing his linguistic
survey. The method of reasoning, the fact set forth in
support of the proposition, and the proposition itself, may
be briefly stated thus : The Aryan languages in use in
Northern, Eastern and South-Western countries not only
differ from the languages of Mid-India, but also differ
from one another*; the Vedic Aryans must have occupied
the Midland j hence it is established, in the opinion of
Grierson, beyond any doubt that the languages other than
those of the Midland originated from the patois of some
pastoral tribes who preceded the Vedic Aryans. The
method of reasoning is wholly unscientific. All the dialects
are admitted to be Aryan in origin, but as they differ from
one another, their origin has been presumed to be different.
The very fact that they are so many dialects, shows that
they must not be one and the same, and they must have
marked points of difference, even though they might have
been derived from one and the same language. Dialectic
variations always take place because of distance from a
centre and because of contact with other tribes or races.
Facts have not been adduced to show that the dialects in
question were not thus formed, as they are formed normally
everywhere. On the other hand with reference to Grierson's
remarks in the " Report of the Census of India, 1901 "
and in his monograph on the " Pisacha Languages," I
6 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
am constrained to say that the learned author has built
a stupendous structure with very weak materials, on
the foundation of a fancy of his own. Sir Herbert
Risley has very rightly remarked that without at all
resorting to the theory of patois -speaking hordes, the
changes in the dialects of Central India can easily be
explained, with reference to the people speaking them.
Need I make a statement of the well-known truth, that it
is " grammar " and not " sound " or " vocabulary " which
gives a dialect its character ? Merely because some tribes
of the Punjab frontier use some words of Aryan origin,
Grierson concludes that these tribes -ire remnants in hilly
countries of the oldest Aryan people. It is on the evidence
of sound and vocabulary he has thought out different
origins for some dialects of Northern India. It is such
reckless assumptions that have brougnt philology into
disrepute with all anthropologists, though philology as a
branch of knowledge has a useful sphere of its own.
Merely from similarity of sounds Grierson has inferred
that the " Pakthas " of the Rigveda are the modern
Pathans without caring even to ascertain if those, who are
now called Pathans, existed in the Vedic days with such
a tribal name. I would not have wondered if the Afridis,
who, to serve the convenience of a theory, may be called
Apridis, were similarly put forward as the authors of the
Apri hymns. I cannot bring myself to imagine that
Grierson, who is widely known to be a great oriental
scholar, has made his authoritative statements regarding
our archaic and classical languages without possessing
sufficient knowledge of them. But, on the other hand, it
appears so strange that one having (-ven a very common
acquaintance with the languages of old India could for a
moment think that Sanskrit is the polished form of the
Vedic language. The grammarians, who have been given
LECTURE I 7
the credit of having polished the Vedic language, called
this language by the name " Chhandasa " and described
what is now called Sanskrit by the term " Laukika-Bbasa "
(or current language). Grierson could not but have noticed
the matter in Paniui's book, but he has not attempted to
explain it. The great oriental scholar must also have
noticed in Panioi's Grammar that the Chhandasa language
was an object of reverential study, and nobody could even
dare to handle it with a view to reform it. There are
stringent rules that under no circumstances the Vedic form
should be deviated from ; it has been stated that to do so
will be to commit sin. I should not discuss the point at
any further length, for later on I shall have to deal with the
character of the Vedic language in an independent lecture.
The reasons why the Classical Sanskrit varied from the
Vedic language will be discussed in its proper place. I have
only suggested here that the history of a language involves
the history of the people speaking it, and as such we
cannot trace it by philological research alone.
B. PREPARATORY.
If we exclude the recently acquired district of Dar-
jeeling from the political map of Bengal, the entire
indigenous population of the Presidency of Bengal will be
found to be wholly Bengali-speaking. The district of
Sylhet to the north of the Chittagong Division and the
district of Manbhum to the west of the Burdwan Division,
though falling outside the Presidency of Bengal, are but
Bengali-speaking tracts and nearly three million souls live
in those two districts. By eliminating the exotic elements
from the Bengali-speaking areas indicated above, we get a
population of not less than fifty million that has Bengali for
its mother-tongue. It is quite an interesting history how
Bengali was evolved, and how it became the dominating
8 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
speech of various tribes and races who were once keen
in maintaining their tribal integrity by living apart from
one another, over the vast area of eighty thousand square
miles.
Bengali is called a Sanskritic language by some philo-
logical scholars, but what these scholars definitely mean by
the term Sanskrit is not always explicitly stated. If we
can only tolerate such a loose use of the term as to make
it indicate indiscriminately the Chhandasa speech of the
early Vedic days as well as the speech which Panini de-
scribed as Laukika, the nomenclature of the philological
scholars may be allowed to stand. I consider it, however,
safer to call the Bengali speech as an Aryan vernacular to
avoid the suggestion that the language in which the poets
from Kalidasa to Jayadeva composed their works was the
progenitor of Bengali. It has to be distinctly borne in
mind that the word " Aryan," as used by me, has not even
remotely any ethnic significance ; it will indicate the
Vedic speech and those speeches which are allied to, or
have affinity with, the Vedic speech.
Let me repeat explicitly what I have suggested above
just now : that a language is mainly, if not wholly, deter-
mined by its grammar or structure and not by its vocabu-
lary which may always swell by the process of word-
borrowing. I should also add here that the accent system
is a great factor in a language, and should be considered
as an essential element of it ; different forms of
"apabhramsa " in different dialects of one common original
speech are partly due to different accent systems. It will
be necessary, therefore, to refer to the accent systems of
our neighbouring tribes to solve some points of difficulty.
In ignorance of the fact that some non-Aryan speeches
exercised some influence upon Bengali, and misled by the
description of our language as Sanskritic, many capable
LECTURE I 9
scholars have devoted themselves of late to the ingenious
but wasteful work of digging out Sanskrit roots and stems
for such Bengali words and inflections as are entirely of
other origin. This work is conducted on the flimsy basis
of feeble sound suggestions. It may interest you to know
that this very unscientific method was once resorted to in
Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, and many
scholars attempted to reduce all languages to Hebrew and
in some cases to an original Gothic on the strength of
some remote or imagined sound similarity.
If our work is not to be barren of good results, we
must direct our inquiry to the solution of the following
questions, as preparatory to the analysis of our language,
with a view to detect and unravel all the influences which
were at work in building it up : (1) We have to consider
carefully the geographical limits of ancient Vanga or Bengal
which has given our language its distinctive name and
the character of the tribe or tribes which inhabited the area
previous to the settlement of the people who brought in
what may be termed a form of Aryan speech. Along with
these must also be considered the ancient political or ethni-
cal character of other tracts which, together with the
ancient Vanga, constitute now the province of Bengal in
which Bengali is the dominant language. (2) As far as
it can be traced, we must determine what form of Aryan
speech was first brought into or superimposed upon the
country roughly defined above. (3) The Aryan or Aryan-
ised and the non-Aryan hordes which made inroads into
Bengal, from the earliest known time to the end of the
12th century A.D., i.e., up to the time of the Muhammadan
influence in Bengal, and secured settlements in different
parts of the country, must also be taken into account to
explain some factors which generally appear anomalous in
our language.
2
10 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
It is too much to expect that we shall succeed in map-
ping out definitely how the stream of our language flowed
with an unbroken continuity from a well-defined source
and received in its bosom many affluents in its successive
course of progress. No doubt what is true in all cases is
true in respect of the evolution of our language, that
nature never allowed any break to occur in her process of
upbuilding, but as many earlier forms, while fading away
imperceptibly into new and newer forms, were not preserved
in literary records, we may only surmise their existence
from a very small number of what may be termed " fossil
words."
Before entering upon my subject, I set forth and dis-
cuss some propositions which are generally accepted as
correct and are of such value as no one should lose sight
of in such an inquiry. The first proposition, if put in the
language of A. H. Keane, will stand as follows : There
is no such phenomenon as linguistic miscegenation. I fear
I cannot accept the proposition as universally correct. It
will be noticed later on that in our syntactical forms, that
is to say, in the very structure of our language, some
elements foreign to our language have accommodated
themselves. This sort of mixture cannot but be recognised
as miscegenation. I admit, however, that the foreign
elements which no doubt change the structure are absorbed
by the main organism ; this assimilation by intussusception
takes place according to the active principles inherent in
the organism. Consequently the new structure which
becomes wholly separate and independent cannot be said
to be mixed as a language in the individuated form. No
language of this world can coincide with another, for every
language has its own separate grammar or structure ; but
it can be shown that in their growth many languages in
India incorporated many foreign elements and had adopted
LECTURE I 11
foreign methods of expression. We can only say that no
two languages are identical, but as in the case of human
races, so in the case of human speeches, absolute purity
cannot be thought of. I must no doubt acknowledge that
we are at times misled by some instances of mixed voca-
bularies and wrongly pronounce a language to be mixed
on that account. If Mr. Keane has emphasized upon
this proposition in stating that there cannot be any mis-
cegenation of languages 1 am in entire agreement with
the views of the distinguished anthropologist. AS an
example, I may cite the case of the so-called Urdu
speech by endorsing the valuable opinion of Mr. Keane
which is wrongly supposed to be different from Hindi and
is asserted by some to be a mixture of Hindi, Persian and
Arabic. My suggestion to do away with the name Urdu
as an additional name for the standard Hindi language
was no doubt accepted by Mr. L. S. S. O'Malley during
the census operations of the year 1911, but the sentiment
of some people for the ridiculously unscientific term had to
be, I fear, respected. The whole structure of the speech
is Hindi ; the Hindi pronouns are conjugated with verbs
in all tenses and moods according to the Hindi rules, yet
forgetting the fact that no amount of word -borrowing
can change one language into another, Urdu has been set
up as a different language. That the words of Persian and
Arabic origin are much in use in Hindi and more free
use of them is possible, is lost sight of. Words of such
foreign origin are prevalent in Bengali and Oria as well.
If we borrow European words more freely and adopt what
is called Roman script in our writing, will the Bengali
language be entitled to claim another name ? The vulgar
people confound language not only with vocabulary but
also with script. The Nagri letters which have no better
pretensions to antiquity than Bengali letters, are called
12 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
even by many educated persons " Sanskrit Aksar," merely
because to serve some convenience, many Sanskrit books
are published in Bengal in Nagri character. One word
more regarding word-borrowing. It must be noticed that
the words borrowed from other languages have all to
conform to the genius of the languages into which they
are adopted. This is what takes place in the Bengali
language and this is what as a matter of course takes
place in Hindi even though the speakers, through whose
agency the adoption is accomplished, are Muhammadans.*
That an adherence to an 'unscientific situation has a
mischievous effect on education must be duly appreciated.
(it) The second proposition I should put forward
is, that it is only when a new structure is gradually built
with new elements on a fresh basis, a new language is
evolved ; but that this new language, by merely coming
in contact with other languages cannot change its own
structure, for such change means nothing but death or
extinction of that language. The imperceptible slow
change with which a new language is developed is by
itself a matter for study. Never can a living people
change radically or discontinuously, nor can its natural and
organised mode of thinking, which expresses itself in the
form or structure of its speech, be radically changed.
(Hi) My next proposition is that what is called a
patois or a rude or vulgar speech, is never a separate
language. Isolation and want of culture bring about
deformities, and these deformities characterise a language
as a rude dialect. The language of the Mai Pahadjs is as
much Bengali as the language of the peasants of Northern
* The sort of composition which at times our Sanskrit Pandits
and Arabic scholars indulge in by introducing artificially Sanskritic or
Arabic forms to make a flourish of pedantry, can hardly be classed
under any dialect of the world.
LECTURE I 13
Yorkshire is English. Such an unscientific term as " Sub-
dialect " cannot be tolerated.
I come now to another matter of great interest and
significance in this inquiry. The shibboleth test is usually
applied to distinguish one race from another, but without
duly judging its value. I cannot therefore conclude this
lecture without uttering a word of caution in that
direction.
That different phonetic systems do exist as racial
peculiarities must be fully recognised and appreciated both
by the anthropologists and philologists, though we may
avoid treading the debatable ground as to whether the
phonetic peculiarities imply necessarily in all cases differ-
ences in the anatomical structure of the vocal organs.
For all practical purposes we can safely leave aside the
extreme case of the Papuans illustrated by Miklukho-
Maclay, for I shall presently show that the races I have
to deal with in this book are not absolutely incapable of
imitating those utterances with which we are here con-
cerned. We may spare the vocal organs an inspection
when differences may be clearly explained by climatic
influences or by the long-standing habit acquired by un-
conscious imitation of the sounds of some neighbours.
The shibboleth test may be of practical value when
two races remain apart from each other. It must, however,
be borne in mind that the pronunciation of words in a
particular manner does not necessarily indicate peculiarity
in the structure of the vocal organs ; it may at times be
wholly due to the education of the ear. If an infant born
in England of pure English parents be nurtured wholly in
an Indian home he will not display the peculiarities
of English pronunciation, and will never mispronounce
Indian names. I can speak from what I have carefully
observed myself that the English baby born in India and
14 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
brought up by Indians utter with perfect ease, when
grown up, those words which the English people say it is
impossible for them to pronounce. Bengalis who have
settled in Orissa, but have not mixed their blood with the
Orias, pronounce Bengali words in Oria fashion with Oria
pronunciation and Oria intonation. Not to speak of the
higher caste people of Bengal, there is overwhelming
evidence that the very people whose environment has
changed the pronunciation of even the Brahmans in East
Bengal, do change their pronunciation when they settle
in the district of Hooghly.
The racial peculiarities in the matter of uttering vocal
sounds are no doubt very marked but my personal ex-
amination of various Indian tribes in the matter of their
capacity to utter certain sounds has strengthened my view
that there is no difference between man and man as far as
the inhabitants of this country are concerned as to the
construction of the organ or organs of speech. I have
found the ears of some practically isolated tribes so trained
that they fail to catch certain sounds uttered to them and
accordingly they imitate them very badly ; but when they
are for some time with us, the}- do not betray any or-
ganic defect in uttering new sounds. The Muiu'as and
the Onions are well known for their very settled phonetic
peculiarities, but when employed in our houses as domestic
servants they learn to speak Bengali very faultlessly,
though when speaking their own tongue they do not de-
viate from their own path in the matter of pronouncing
their own words.
The hilly accent of Manbhum, the nasal twang of
Bankura and Burdwan, the drawl of Central Bengal,
which becomes very much marked in the slow and lazy
utterance of words by women, and the rapid wavy swing
with which the words are uttered in quick succession in
LECTURE I 15
East Bengal may to a great extent be explained by climatic
conditions as well as by the social life of ease or diffi-
culty ; but the influence of the tribes of different localities
among whom the speakers of the Bengali language had
to place themselves, must not be either minimised or ignor-
ed. It should be remembered that a man of the so-called
Aryan descent may lose the power of uttering such sounds
as are generated, for example, by "sh " or " bh " because
of the dominant environing influence of the people of
other races. That the disability is not organic and cannot
invariably be considered to be a racial characteristic has
been partly demonstrated.
It is desirable that I should here clearly deh'ne what
I mean by a racial character of speech.
All phonetic or linguistic peculiarities that mark off
one race or stock from another are not necessarily racial
characters in the scientific sense of the term. By a
primary racial character I mean only such of the linguistic
peculiarities, or marks of a people as have an organic or
physical basis in the cerebral or vocal mechanism and as
are also transmitted from parent to offspring under the
operation of the principles of Heredity and Variation.
The capacity for speech, for example, is such a primary
character for the human race. But I am free to admit
that over and above such hereditary organic characters,
there are secondary characters of speech, racial peculiarities,
which, though not embedded in the physical conformation,
are accompanied by what Wundt has called inheritable
predisposition and which, therefore, appear in individuals
from generation to generation under the normal condi-
tions of existence though, no doubt, in the absence of suit-
able stimulus or under very marked changes of environment
they do not persist but give place to acquired or induced
variations. I am inclined to think that the forms and
16 HISTORY OF BENGALI LANGUAGE
relations of thought, which lie at the basis of the syntax
of different families of languages, though not the gram-
matical structures or paradigms themselves, constitute
secondary racial characters of the nature of predisposition.
There is reason to believe also that accent systems,
though originally acquired under persistent climatic,
dietic and social conditions, have now come in many cases
to be more or less stable, more or less transmittable
characters and may have given rise to predispositions of
the sort. But besides these primary and secondary charac-
ters there is a third sort of racial peculiarities of speech
which, no doubt, distinguish one people from another but
which are acquired under the influence of the tradition
or of the environment, physical and social, and have to be
so acquired by the individuals from generation and genera-
tion, and which disappear whenever the tradition or
environment is changed. This traditional element in a
speech constitutes that part of it which is a social tradi-
tion and has no ethnic significance in the biological sense
of the term. Among these traditional elements of speech,
which may be loosely termed tertiary racial characters,
I would place the phonetic system (the vowel and consonant
system) as well as the grammatical paradigm (including
the feense-formatives) of a language or family of languages.
But as we have seen, all the racial characters, secondary
no less than tertiary, the predispositions no less than the
merely traditional elements, are liable to be changed under
change of environmental conditions, and replaced by newly
acquired or induced characters.
The fact, therefore, stands that different sections of the
Bengali people have the capacity of speaking the Bengali
speech alike. But I must utter a caveat here lest a wrong
anthropological use be made of this philological fact as hai
been done in so many cases. On the basis of this fact we
LECTURE 1 17
cannot necessarily postulate a unity or homogeueit ' of race.
We cannot necessarily formulate the theory that either
there has been a thorough-going miscegenation of blood
among all the sections, or that these sections do not re-
present different races of bygone days. I purposely strike
this note of caution, though I am perfectly aware that
there has been considerable miscegenation of blood among
many races of India, for I consider it unsafe to draw any
conclusion from facts furnished by linguistic investigation
alone.
We are not much concerned in this inquiry with those
linguistic phenomena which fall legitimately within the
province of the physiologists, L though it is pretty certain
that the time is not distant when to explain even the
ordinary phonetic changes in a speech, the help of the
physiologists will be requisitioned in preference to that
of the linguists as philologists. We shall have to study
carefully the settled and abiding peculiarities of some
races of men in the matter of their accent systems and
syntactical forms to measure the influence of those races
in the upbuilding of our language, but as to how a par-
ticular race became settled in its habits to a particular
mode of thinking or in a particular way of intonating
certain sounds, will not concern us in pushing on our re-
search. Practically speaking, accent being a thing of
very hard growth, it survives through many changes ; as
such a comparative study of the accent system of different
races may help us in determining the origin of many
peculiarities disclosed by the people of different prov-
inces of Bengal.
ANCIENT BENGAL AND ITS PEOPLES
LECTURE II
SECTION 1
The antiquity of the names Vanga and Bangla
It is a fact that the Veda Samhitas and the early
Vedic literature do not mention the name Vanga either in
connection with the names of Indian tribes or in any
enumeration of the countries owned by the Aryans as
well as by the non-Aryans. The Rigveda Samhita does
not know even Anga, but this Anga country is mentioned
in the Atharva Veda. In the Atharva Veda Parisista,
however, the word Vanga occurs with Magadha as a
component of a compound word ; but as the scholars do
not attach any value to it owing partly to the lateness of
the Parisista itself, I advisedly leave this mention out
of consideration. It will be quite unscientific, however,
to come to such a positive conclusion on the basis of this
silence, that the Vedic fathers had no knowledge of the
country or tribe which bore the name Vanga. I cannot
too highly speak of the critical acumen of the learned
scholars who have attempted to reconstruct the history of
the Vedic times with the materials furnished by the Veda
Samhitas, but we have no patience with those who have
gone the length of making this bold statement with much
confidence that the state of things not disclosed by the
Vedic mantras was non-existent in the olden days. The
uncritical scholars do not see that, even if it be conceded
that all the mantras or prayers to gods, as had
been composed at different times by the Rsis, were
LECTURE II 19
wholly collected and we get them now fully preserved
in the Samhitas, it cannot be asserted that a complete
picture of the Vedic times can be presented with the help
of the mantra material alone. Let me take up a hypothe-
tical case just to illustrate the force of my remarks. Just
fancy that a cataclysm sweeps away all that we possess
and are proud of to-day, and some historical critics arise,
after the deluge, to write a history of our time with the
help of such a prayer-book as the Brahma Sanglt of the
Brahmas, or a collection of Ramprasad's songs, unearthed
in the debris of some buildings, will the material be
sufficient for the purpose ? Will not such an inference
on the basis of the hymns and prayers of the Brahmas,
that the Bengalis of our imaginary pre-deluged era were
all monotheists of the Brahma type, be a gross misstate-
ment of faet? Is there anything in the hymns of the
Brahmas to indicate that there is such an institution as
the Calcutta University or that this country is being
ruled by the British people ? Ramprasad's songs may
supply the information that we had such a thing as oil-
pressing machine, and that machine was worked by bullocks
being blindfolded ; but will not this be a very poor picture
of the civilization of Ramprasad's days ? We meet with
an entertaining passage in a drama of our celebrated
dramatist and humourist, the late D. L. Roy, which pur-
ports to be a taunting challenge to the effect should we
think that the GopTs of Brindaban did not know the use
of jira marick, since there is no mention of this condiment
in the Srimadbhagabatam ? We cannot afford to forget
that however much the Vedas relate to the general condi-
tions of life of the ancient times, they are but ideal prayers
and hymns, which, again, only a section of the Indian
Aryans offered to the gods. There is ample evidence in
the very Veda Samhitas, that all the Aryans of India did
20 ANCIENT BENGAL
not pursue the religion which is reflected in the Vedic
mantras.
No doubt we do not meet with the name Vanga in the
Veda Samhitas and the Atharvan mentions only Anga as
the outermost border country lying to the south-east of
the territories of the Aryas ; but when we come upon
this fact, that the later Vedic literature such as the
Aitareya Brahmana mentions Vanga as a country held
by a barbarian tribe, while the early Buddhistic literature
(not likely of a date earlier than the Brahmana) is as silent
as the Vedas are, it becomes difficult to attribute such a
silence to ignorance. From these facts we can only make
this plausible inference that Vanga and its adjacent parts
were not colonized by the Aryans till the 6th century
B. C. Let me discuss this important point of chronology
by considering the value of the facts disclosed by the
aforesaid literature.
It is evident from the manner in which the border
tribes have been mentioned in the 22nd Sukta of the 5th
Book of the Atharva Veda that the Magadhas and the
Angas were alien barbarous people who resided outside the
pale of Aryan country but it is also clear that the countries
of these barbarians were in close proximity to the land of
the Rsis. In this Sukta this wish has been expressed
in offering a prayer to Agni that the fever called "takman "
may leave the holy land of the Aryas and may reside in
such border countries as Anga and Magadha which are
really the home (okah) of the fever. This fever which is con-
sidered to be of malarial type has been asked in the prayer
to assail the barbarians and specially their wanton fugitive
women (described as Sudras) on account of their having
left the Aryan protection in Aryan homes. It is rather
clear from this mention that the Rsis of the Atharva
Veda utilised the services of the people of Magadha and
LECTURE II 21
Anga and were particularly keen about keeping the Sudra
women in Aryan villages. Looking to what has been
stated of Anga we may only provisionally hold that Vanga,
which lay still farther off to the south-east, was only
inhabited in those days by people other than the Aryans.
We get in the Satapatha Brahmar.a of a much later date
that the holy sacrificial fire travelled as far east as Videgha
(Videha) in Mithila. It is, therefore, pretty certain
that the Aryans did not even then come in any real
contact with the Vangas of Bengal. We notice in the
Atharva Veda that the Kirata people of the Himalayan
region were the neighbours of the Aryans and the
Kirata women supplied such roots and herbs as were used
for charms and for medicine ; such a peaceful relation
with the south-eastern border tribes is not indicated in
any Sukta. In the Aitareya Aranyaka the Vanga tribe
finds only a bare mention in conjunction with the Magadha
people. Some early references relating to the people of
Magadha, of Anga and of other neighbouring barbarian
tracts in such a fashion, that they were beasts or snakes,
have been misinterpreted by some scholars. We cannot
forget the fact that almost all the tribes were known by
the totem names of their clans or tribes ; it is therefore
strongly suspected that when the Aryans knew the totem
names of different tribes, they had some intimate know-
ledge of them. When the tribes are not made identical
with the names of birds and snakes, quite another inter-
pretation has to be given. In the history of the conquest
of the rude aboriginal tribes, we get one and the same
mythical account all over the world : the rude tribes in
their mountain fastnesses and forest tracts are represented
as giants or dwarfs with mysterious powers, or they are
imagined to possess power of transforming themselves into
beasts or birds. The Fsis were no doubt of superior
22 ANCIENT BENGAL
mental and spiritual powers, but they represent the Raksas
and the Yaksas as magicians and Mayavis, as invested
with abiding authority over the elements. The reason is
not far to seek. The aboriginal people who knew every
part of their land in the hills and the forests, could appear
suddenly and could escape unnoticed to places which were
difficult of access to the conquering trespassers ; moreover
the rude tribes, who were unable to cope with the civilized
intruders, took to some subterfuges which made their
hostility to be dreaded in proportion to its secrecy. When
the blow was struck in darkness, the awe-struck Aryans
who had supreme contempt for the valour of their foes,
were led to attribute it to supernatural or non-human,
rather than to human agency. In any view of the case,
knowledge on the part of the Aryans of the people of their
country may be presumed. It has been just mentioned,
that in the early Buddhistic literature, where detailed lists
appear of many countries and peoples, the name Vanga is
conspicuous by its absence (" Buddhist India " by Rhys
Davids, pp. 23-29). The importance of this omission lies
in this, that Buddha, who flourished towards the end of the
6th century B.C., had his activities mostly in Magadha
which is not far off from Bengal. The story of Vijaya
Simha, on the other hand, points to a pre-Buddhistic colo-
nization of Bengal by the Aryans. How far we can rely
upon the Sinhalese account, based upon a tradition merely,
or rather upon a legendary account, that Vijaya Simha was
a king of Bengal and that he led his victorious campaign
into Ceylon the very year the Buddha attained his Nirvana
has not yet been critically discussed. It can, however, be
asserted on the evidence of linguistic palaeontology, that
the early conquerors of their land went from the eastern
Gangetie valley, and carried with them the speech which
prevailed in Magadha at least during the 4th century B.C.
LECTURE II 23
Not only the Sinhalese, but even the Vaeddas and their
very wild congeners, use a large number of Magadhi
words in their speech, which are of the time I have spoken
of. The use of the words " gini " for fire, " gona " for
cows, " goya"and "goyi" (the Prakrta forms of godha and
godhika), " vaso " to indicate residence (as in kaeto-vaso,
forest residence), " ini " from the root ^ = to go (as in
gamanini), etc., which occur in the old Magadhi Prakrta, by
even such Sinhalese as lead a rude life in distant forest
tracts, raises a presumption in favour of very early
Magadhi influence in Ceylon. It has to be noted that
the Sinhalese are non-Aryan people, and the Tamil-
speaking Hindus, who have most influence with them, are
not at all familiar with the Magadhi words noticed above.
As the early chroniclers of Ceylon could always prevail
upon the Gotama Buddha to visit the island off and on,
it is unsafe to rely upon the dates given by them in their
pious zeal for the cause of religion.
The account that Vijaya and his successors proceeded to
Ceylon from Vanga, cannot also be easily dismissed, for
there are indelible marks of the influence of the eastern
Gangetie valley on the speech of the Sinhalese. It is a
fact that many words and grammatical forms, as had their
origin in the soil of Bengal at a comparatively recent
time, are current in the speech of even some isolated forest
tribes of Ceylon, along with the Magadhi words of earlier
date as just now noted above. This argues in favour of
the proposition that the later immigrants must have pro-
ceeded directly from Bengal. Whoever the early con-
querors of Ceylon may be, it will be quite reasonable to
suppose that even when the old Magadhi of .the 3rd or
4th century B.C. changed its own character considerably
in farther east, lots of people of the lower Gangetie valley
continued to pour into Ceylon, to exercise linguistic and
24 ANCIENT BENGAL
other influences upon the aboriginal races of that island.
As to the currency of the modern Bengali forms in Ceylon,
I may just by way of illustration refer to the following
words, namely Macha (fish), gacha (tree) (occurs also as
gaha in one tribal speech), petti (small) (the Bengali word
peti or pati is used now to signify contempt). A good
deal will have to be said in a subsequent lecture, regarding
the accent system of our speech, by comparing the pre-
vailing system with the systems of some Dravidian races,
and the old and the modern grammatical forms will have to
be similarly considered. As such we cannot do anything
beyond pointing out here, that in Ceylon, the word "bhumi "
is pronounced as " bumi " or " bimi/' the word " bhat "
is pronounced as " bat " and the form " karana " (to do), of
which the modern Bengali form is " kara," is in use. I may
only note in passing, that in some eastern districts of Bengal,
"ba " is nearly the sound of " bha " and "karana" is
the form of " kara "; the sentence Ar ki deon jay for
Ar ki deoa jay occurs in a humorous song composed by
our poet Rajani Kanta Sen whose early death we all
mourn. As to Sinhalese accent system, the remarks of
Mr. R. L. Turner may be profitably quoted. He writes :
" With regard to Sinhalese, it is hard to come to a
decision, because, firstly, all long vowels have been shortened,
and, secondly, an extensive umlaut has taken place/' The
importance of the phenomenon, noticed by Mr. Turner,
will be appreciated by you when you will be treated to our
Bengali accent and phonetic system. The facts relating
to Ceylon, as have been discussed here rather perfunctorily,
do not fail to show, that men of Aryan speech and civiliza-
tion commenced to colonize Bengal from a time not
later than the 4th century B.C.
Probabilities, however, seem to be on the side of the
supposition, that an appreciable number of Aryans chose
LECTURE II 25
to make Vanga their home, even when the Aryans of the
holy Midland country had neither occasion nor liking to
take any notice of the eastern tracts of the barbarians.
Even when the notice of the tracts was forced upon them
later on, they looked down upon those of them who resided
among the barbarians. Some statements in the old
Dharmasastras warrant us in making this inference.
There are some good reasons to suppose, that the
Dharmasastras fathered upon Baudhayana and Vasistha,
though older than many other Dharmasastras, cannot be
placed beyond the 6th century B.C. Baudhayana has
given the limits of Aryavarta in the following words :
Aryavarta lies to the east of the region, where the river
Saraswati disappears to the west of the Kalaka-vana
(the forest region which extended over a large area
to the south and south-east of Magadha), o the north of
the Paripatra mountains, to the south of the Himalayas
(I Pr., I Ch., K. 2). That Bengal is here excluded from
the land of the Aryans, is sufficiently clear. After stating
the accepted orthodox view regarding the geography of
the Aryavarta, Baudhayana as well as Vasistha very grudg-
ingly extends the limits of the Aryavarta, on the authority
of " some " who have been mentioned as " others." By
virtue of the extended definition, Bengal and some other
countries fall within Aryavarta ; for, according to this
definition of the holy laud, Aryavarta lies to the south of
the Himalayas and to the north of the Vindhya range
being limited east and west by the two oceans (Vasistba I,
8 and 9). The conclusion seems inevitable, that the
stray settlements of the Aryas, at places beyond the limits
of the holy land, commenced long before the time of
Baudhayana, and the settlers were being recognized with
some reluctance during the time of Baudhayana and
Vasistha. This proposition will receive full confirmation
i!6 ANCIENT BENGAL
from the following facts. Baudhayana, whom all the
authors of the old-time Dharmasastras follow, has laid
down some model rules of life for the twice-born Aryas in
the second Kanaka, of the 1st Prasna of his work; I
give here the purport of the whole Kanrjika because of its
special importance. It has been stated on the one hand,
inverses XIII and XIV, that 'the people or peoples of
Ariga, Magadha, Avanti, and other lands lying close to
the land of the Aryas, are of the mixed origin, while
the lands of the Puwjras, the Vangas and the Kalingas
are so unholy that one should go through a penance on
one's return from those countries ; or? the other hand,
it has been stated, in noting certain deviations from the
model rules of the holy Madhya Desa or Panchala country,
that those who reside in southern countries, marry the
daughters of maternal or paternal uncles, and those,
who belong to some northern countries, follow the trade
of arms and go to sea. As these deviations have been
excused on the ground of their being special provincial
customs, we cannot fail to see, that the Aryas who were of
the twice-born rank, became the settled inhabitants of the
unholy lands, long before the time of Baudhayana. We
notice that Puncjra and Vanga were separate countries in
those days, and that there were Aryan settlements in
Punrira and Vanga, though they might not have been as
extensive as in Magadha and Anga. We should further
notice, that sea voyage was allowed in olden days in some
northern countries of the Aryans, which fell outside the
limits of the Madhya Desa. This fact is in support of
the proposition, that the Aryans of the eastern Gangetic
valley proceeded to Ceylon as early as in the 4th century
B.Ci We thus see that however scanty be our materials, we
cannot definitely assert that the Aryans did not commence to
colonize Vanga, during or earlier than the 6th century B.C.
LECTURE II 27
Let us now discuss some other facts for further light
on the subject ; let us now see what accounts we may
get of the ancient Vanga people, on examining some
records of non-Aryan activities of a time when the Aryans
disdained to take any notice of the tribes, who were not
within the pale of Aryavarta. Recent researches in Farther
India by such scholars as Mr. Phayre and Col. Gerini
have disclosed these facts, that the Telegu-speaking and
Tamil-speaking Dravidians of India reached Farther
India both by land and sea, and established colonies and
political supremacy in many parts of Farther India ; and
that the Hindus poured in, only subsequently, to dominate
that land by displacing the Dravidian supremacy. The
earliest date we get of the Hindus, who went to Burma,
is 923 B.C. I accept this date on the authority of some
scholars, but I cannot vouch for its correctness. The
Ksatriya adventurers, who are said to have proceeded
from Hastinapur and to have established an extensive
territory in Upper Burma with Bhamo for its capital
in 923 B. C., are reported to have displaced the
Dravidians who had organised their new Kalinga Ratta
previous to the Aryan inroads into the country. This
should* lead us to suppose, that the Dravidian invasion
in Farther India took place at least a century before
923 B. C. It is also reported of the Telegu adven-
turers, that they established their supremacy over Arakan
and the tract of country now covered by the Chittagong
Division in about 850 B. C. The accounts of Kyauk-pan-
dang by Mr. Phayre in his history of Burma may be
profitably referred to in this connection.
What concerns us principally here is that the people of
Bengal formed a powerful colony in Annam in Farther
India not later than the 7th century B. C., when they were
being despised and not taken any notice of by the Aryans
8 ANCIENT BENGAL
in India. The traditional and legendary accounts relatin g
to Annam, as are reported to appear in some Chinese
records, affirm that the leader of the Bengali adventurers,
who became the king, of Annam, bore the name Luck-lorn,
and that he married one Annamese girl named Auki. It
has been gathered from these records, that the province of
India to which Luck-lorn and his people belonged, was
called Bong-long, and that Luck-lorn and his followers
were of Naga Vamsa or rather had Naga for their tribal
totem. It becomes pretty clear, that the name of the land,
which was then unknown in Aryavarta, was Bong-long
(the original form of Bangla) and the people of
Bong-long were known by the name Bong. That the
term Vanga indicated the name of a tribe may be amply
proved on the authority of the old Hindu literature. You
may refer to Col. Gerini's accounts regarding the Bong-
long kings in his work entitled " Researches in Ptolemy's
Geography. " Archaeological research in Cambodia and
Annam by Ayomounier, De la Ponte and other European
antiquarians should be carefully studied in the interest of
the History of India. We will presently see that those
who bore the names Anga, Vanga and Kalinga, were re-
garded by the Aryans to have been of non-Aryan* origin.
I should also mention here, that the kings of Bong tribe
reigned till the second decade of the 3rd century B. C.,
when some Buddhist Ksatriyas of the Magadha country
became supreme in Annam. It is known that eighteen
kings of Bong-long origin reigned for over 350 years in
Annam. We find that the compound letter or suffix
" long " was added to " Bong " to signify the country be-
longing to the Bong people. I am inclined to think that
this " long " is the Annamese form of the non-Aryan suffix
" la," and that not only the name Bong or Vanga as the
name of a tribe, but the word " Bangla " is as old as the
LECTURE II 29
word Vang a. I shall not be accused of giving reins to wild
imagination, if I consider this non-Aryan suffix " la " to be
still persisting in our language, and that ive detect this suffix
in such words as " phogla," " totla/' etc. I should, however,
note that the " la " or its derivative " la " which indicates
past tense (as in karila or karila), has nothing to do
with the " la " spoken of here. Be that as it may, we get it
as a certain fact, and that is a great gain with us, that the
word Bong-long or Bangla was the name of some in-
definite portion of our present Bengal, at least as early as
the 7th century B. C., and the name Vanga (which origin-
ally signified a people) is of great antiquity.
We learn this good lesson from the accounts of the
Vanga people, that we should not invariably make the
Aryan activities in a province the sole starting point for the
historic period in that province, and should not consign
all pure and unmixed non-Aryan activities to the limbo of
all forgotten formations, by writing the convenient term
" Pre-historic time " over the events of the non-Aryan
people. We see that trie Vangas, previous to their being
influenced by the Aryan civilisation, created a history in
this world. Far from therefore being ashamed, we are
rather proud of this ethnical record, that those who have
to be presumed to form the bulk of our population to-day,
are the Vangas, who founded once a ruling house in An
nam in Farther India.
Another fact of great historical significance relating
to the early migratory movements of the people of Bengal
has to be narrated from the records of the Dravidians of
Peninsular India. Very ancient Tamil books inform us
that many Naga-worshipping tribes proceeded from
Bengal as well as from other parts of Northern India to
establish their supremacy in the Tamilakam country. Of
these tribes, the Marans, the Cheras and the Pangala
30 ANCIENT BENGAL
Thiraiyar interest us most. The Cheras, it is stated, pro-
ceeded to Southern India from the north-west of Pangala
or Bengal and established the "Chera" kingdom of much
historical note. It is significant that the Cheras are men-
tioned in the old Brahman literature as occupying the
eastern tract of the Magadba country. As to the Marans,
who are said to have been the neighbours of the Cheras in
Northern India, it is equally important to note, that the
mighty Pandya kings claim to be of Maran descent. The
Marans, who were also called Maravars, are reported to
have been a very fierce and warlike people, and that they
worshipped the goddess Kali on the top-knot of whose
hair stood an infuriated cobra snake. The Pangala
Thiraiyars are recorded as the latest immigrants, and
it is narrated of them, that they proceeded from the sea-
coast of Bengal by boat and founded the Chola kingdom
at Kanchi. As the phrase Pangala or Bangala Thiraiyar
is equivalent to \ffa-^ (Tlra-Vanga), we can assert un-
hesitatingly, that these people had received Aryan
influence in Bengal before they left for the Madras
coast. These traditional or legendary accounts may not be
strictly correct in all their details, but the general story
must be accepted as historical truth, since the ancient
Tamil writers knew nothing of Bengal and its neighbour-
ing tracts, when they recorded these traditional accounts.
We shall see later on, that these accounts are quite in
harmony with what will be narrated in a subsequent lec-
ture.
Let me mention another fact of importance in this con-
nection. It is narrated in the old Tamil books, that when the
Naga-worshipping tribes were colonising Southern India,
the Makkalas were the principal and the most influential
people in the South. As this Dravidian term Makkala or
Makkada could be easily transformed into Markata, I
LECTURE II 31
suppose the poet of the Ramayana was pleased to make
monkeys of them. To do justice to the Makkalas, it must
be mentioned, that they have a very high social status in the
Tamil-speaking country and many aristocratic zamindar
families belong to the clan of the Makkalas. It is
reported, that these Makkalas once occupied those high-
lands of Central India, which are included in the Danda-
karanya of the Ramayana. Be that as it may, these
Makkalas once freely intermarried with the Naga tribes
and brought about racial homogeneity in many parts of
Southern India. We associate nothing but rudeness and
barbarity with the term non-Aryan; but adverting now to
the momentous activities of the high class non- Aryan
people of olden days, we should do well to change or
modify our notions considerably.
We have noticed that the Thiraiyars, or the sea-coast
people of Pangala or Bangla, took a sea-route to proceed to
Southern India ; we also notice that the Bong people
established a ruling dynasty in Annam when the Telegu
people were influential in Burma. It will therefore be
very reasonable to conclude, that the Vangas of ancient
time were a sea-faring people, and reached the coast of
Tonquin Bay by a sea-route.
LECTURE III
SECTION 2
The Geography of Old Bangla and of other related tracts
In order to fix with some definiteness the land which
was the principal home of the non-Aryan Vangas, let us
follow the geography of the ancient time, as we find in
the Mahabharata and in the Puranas. I am strongly
inclined to think, that the eastern portion of the indefinite
tract which was once called Kalaka-vana, and which once
formed the eastern boundary of Aryavarta, came to be
designated as Jhadakhanda in comparatively later times.
It is pretty clear that the name Jhadakhanda came to be
associated with the tract which lay to the south of Gaya,
to the east of Shahabad, to the south of Bhagalpur and
to the west of Bankura and Midnapur. The temple of
Baidyanath at Deoghar in Bengal (now in Bihar), is still
considered to be situated in the JhaVakhamJa tract, for the
priests of Baidyanath recite a mantra by indicating this
geography, in worshipping the image of Baidyanath.
A portion of JhaYjakharuJa got the name Ra jha or Ladha
as we notice in the Jaina records. The Avaranga Sutta
of the Jainas, though it narrates things of Buddhistic
and pre-Buddhistic era, was composed at a time which
may be regarded recent. According to the accounts of
this book, the temple of Baidyanath is in Ra/Jha or Ladha
country. The people who inhabited Racjha are described
to be black-skinned and rude in manners, and are reported
to have been fond of robbing the pious Jaina intruders.
LECTURE III 33
In the Brahmanda section of the Bhavisya PuriSna, the
whole tract lying to the north of the Darukesvara river
and extending along the Panchkot hills, has been called
the llalha country and the temple of Baidyanath has
been mentioned as existing in that tract.
That the main portion of the Bhagalpur Division \vas
designated as Anga country, is well established now, and
there is no need of demonstrating it here. It has also
been well ascertained that the Suhma country which had
Damalipti or Tamralipta for its capital, must be identified
with a very considerable portion of the district of Midnapur.
We get in the Mahabharata, that the five sons of Bali
were the progenitors of the allied races of the Angas, the
Pundras, the Vangas, the Suhmas, and the Kalingas
(Adi, .V. IV, 4-U7-21). All these tribes have been so
described in the Mahabharata, as 'to indicate that they
lived in close proximity to one another. The Punijras
have been mentioned as Snhmottaras in the Matsya Purana,
and in the Mahabharata too, the Puiyjras and the Suhmas
have been placed near to each other (Adi, C. XIII, 24, 58).
No doubt the Pundras proceeded northward subsequently,
and founded Pundravardhan in North Bengal, but their
early distribution points to the fact, that they occupied
the tract of Bengal which lies to the north of Midnapur.
The account we get of Bali Raja from the Dravidian
source should interest us all. The Hindu account is that
^rikrisna by resorting to a godly trick sent Bali, to Patala
or Nether world. It is interesting that Bali, who was a
Daitya, is worshipped in Southern India as an ideal Raja
of the good old days, and there is a town by the sea-coast
of the name Mahabalipuram over which Bali presides.
Bali is called Mabali or Mahabali, and there is a religious
festival of high importance to celebrate his memory in
the Malayalam tract of the Madras Presidency ; this
5
34 ANCIENT BENGAL
festival is called Onam. It is narrated, that no one ruled
the earth with so much justice as Bali did, and all sorts
of sins and iniquities were unknown in his time. The
song that is sung at the Onam festival, relates these
accounts; two lines of it are given here, which purport
to say that in Bali's time theft and other crimes were
unknown :
MSveli nadathu bajjum kalain
Kalla khedilla kalabhu milla
You can clearly see that it is the Southern country
which is our Patala, and the Pauranic account relates to
the invasion of the country by the Aryans. That Bali
was considered to be the forbear of the Vanga people as
well as of other allied races, shows that the non- Aryan
origin of all these races was fully known to the Aryans.
That Bali's queen gave birth to Anga and his brothers,
was narrated to Hiuen Tsiang when he was at Monghyr.
The feminine form of Bali as Bali-am ma, is the name of
the principal goddess of the Sinhalese and the Vaeddas of
Ceylon ; her consort Kande has assumed now the name
Skanda because of Tamil-Hindu influence.
Let us now halt to consider a point of ethnic interest.
The writer of the passages occurring in the Mahabharata
and the Puranas as relate to the history of the non-
Aryan tribes, did not certainly make a scientific ethno-
logical study of the tribes in question, but the facts
narrated above justify us in holding that they carefully
observed and noted some important points of agreement
and difference between those tribes. The Angas, the
Vangas, the Pundras, the Suhmas and the Kalingas were
noted in the first place as tribes perfectly distinguishable
from one another, and in the second place as peoples
closely allied to one another. It was noticed that they
were all Naga-worshippers and that they were all the sons
LECTURE III 35
of Bali. Regarding Naga worship, I may remark in
passing, that the story of Behula commemorates how the
new-comers in the lands of the Angas and the Vangas
had to accept and venerate the religious cult of the original
inhabitants. We can see from the account we now ob-
tain of Bali, that the name of the common ancestor of the
tribes under review was not .the creation of a fancy of
the Aryans. It has been stated in the previous section, that
those who proceeded to Southern India from Bengal, and
its neighbourhood, had Naga for their totem, and we have
now seen that Bali is still worshipped in the Southern
Presidency. The cumulative effect of the whole evidence
is in favour of this supposition, that the original inhabitants
of Bengal were by race and habits allied to those who are
now designated as Dravidians.
The Vangas who were always connected with the
Puncjras and the Suhmas, must have occupied the tract of
country which lay to the east of our modern Burdwan
Division. The fact that the Parujavas conquered Vanga
after subverting the Pundras, and ' led their victorious
soldiers to Suhma after devastating Vanga, supports this
position fully (M. Bh., Sabha, XXX, 23-25). We find
also in the Raghuvamsa, that Raghu conquered the
Vangas after finishing his task with the Suhmas, and
planted his victorious banner in the midstream of the
Ganges. The popular notion that Vanga, as described by
Kalidasa, should be identified with the modern Eastern
Bengal, is erroneous. To clear up the point, I have first to
note that in all old records we get the Vangas in close
proximity to the Pundras and the Suhmas ; we may then
refer to the historical fact, that when Suhma lost its old
name and became a sub-province with the name Daurja-
bhukti, it became a Bhukti or sub-province of Banga.
The Tirumalai inscriptions decide this point clearly and
36 ANCIENT BENGAL
unmistakeably. It has been recorded in the inscriptions
(E. I., Vol. 9) that the celebrated Chola Raja first came
upon Daksina Rarjha on crossing the northern frontier
of Orissa ; he then raided Vanga, and at a place in the
north of Vanga (not in Barinda, nor in any other prov-
ince) defeated the then Pala Raja in a battle, and just
after finishing that work came upon Uttara Radha which
was the adjoining country. It was from Uttara Radha, i.e.,
from the tract covered by the districts of Hooghly, Burdwan
and Birbhum, that the adventurer proceeded to the coast of
the greater Gauges on the other side of which lav Barinda.
What was the extent of this Vanga in olden days, has
next to be ascertained. With reference to the geography
of the Mahabharata and the Puranas, we may say that the
main portion of Northern Bengal and some portion of the
district of Mymensingh were included in the Pragjyotita
country or Assam, over a portion of which the Kiratas
predominated. The Tripura country or the Chittagong
Division was no doubt once under the sway of the Telegus
of Kalinga, but as the Vaugas also extended their influence
over Annam in Farther India, their extension in the Tri-
pura country in the dim past cannot be very much doubted.
It is highly interesting that not knowing them to be the
relics of bygone days, the present ruling chiefs of Tippera
use the ensigns of those old rulers who are now almost
forgotten in history. The ensign bearing the representa-
tion of a fish and the pan or betel-leaf-shaped ensign are
used among other ensigns on ceremonial occasions. Let
me mention, that fish has alwa}-s been a subject of venera-
tion and an emblem on the royal banner of a powerful
section of the Dravidians, and a broad leaf is the emblem
of the Kiratas, who now reside in the wild tracts of Cachar.
As to the eastern limit of Vanga, we have obtained a rough
and indefinite idea only. We have to approach this point
LECTURE III 37
again, after considering some other facts which are import-
ant for the history of our language.
In the Vrhatsamhita of Baraha Mihira (6th century
A.D.), Vanga is mentioned by the name Samatata but no
definite geography is indicated ; all that we know is, that
Samatata lay between Utkala and Mithila. This state-
ment tends to show, that even as early as the 6th century
A.D., one general name Samatata could be used for all
the provinces of Bengal, as lay between Orissa and North
Bihar. In this connection it is interesting to learn, that
in the enumeration of some tribes of minor importance,
dwelling in the Racjha country on the Bengal frontier, the
Puradas have designated the tribes as Pravangas. The
extension of the name Vanga to the Radha country, is
clear in this statement. Let us then refer to the accounts
of Hiuen Tsiang who is not much removed in time from
Varaha Mihira. The celebrated Chinese traveller went
from Champa in Bhagalpur to a place called Kie-chu-ho-
khi-lo which was 4-00 li from Champa to the east. The
traveller or pilgrim kept the hilly or jungly tracts of
Rajmahal to the right, and proceeded to this place, follow-
ing the stream of the Ganges. No identification of this
place las yet been made, but this country or province
appears to have been composed of the northern portion
of the Burdwan Division, the whole of the district of
Berhampore and a considerable portion of the district of
Nadia, since, going from this country eastward and cross-
ing the Gauges after trudging the distance of about 600 li,
Punrlrabardhan was reached. At this time Kie-chu-ho-
khi-lo contained six or seven Buddhistic monasteries and
there were 300 Buddhist priests there. 1 It has been
1 Kuchiakol is a familiar village name in this tract ; it is not unlikely
that such a name the capital town of this province or political unit
bore in the 7th century A.D.
38 ANCIENT BENGAL
stated that the people were fond of learning and were
simple and honest. It is reported that the people spoke a
dialect of the Midland language. By "Midland" the
Magadha country is meant. Existence of ten Hindu
temples was also noticed by the traveller. It appears from
his description, that the country had then only recently
lost its independence and was being governed by the king
of a neighbouring country, before oiladitya Harsavardhan
annexed it to his kingdom. It will be presently seen, that
the Radha country was at this time being ruled by Raja
Sasauka or rather by his descendants who were sworn
enemies of Harsavardhan. I think therefore, that the
neighbouring Raja who then dominated Kie-ehu-ho-khi-lo
was, of the family of asanka alias Narendra Gupta. The
description that somewhere on the northern portion of this
country, not far from the Ganges, was a high tower made
of bricks and stones, and that this structure was ornamented
with rare sculptures, and on the four faces of the tower
there were sculptured figures of the saints, Devas and
Buddhas in separate compartments, is of great archaeolo-
gical interest. Looking to the fact that wild elephants
roamed about on its southern frontier, it may be supposed
that between Samatata (which stretched along the coast
of Bay of Bengal) and Kie-chu-ho-khi-lo, lay a tract
covered with wild vegetation, which could invite the wild
elephants of Rajmahal hills. Who kuows that Banagram
(now the headquarters of a sub-division) does not carry
in its name the memory of the old physical aspect of the
locality?
The description given of Pundravardhan of rather vast
area, shows that a very considerable portion of Northern
Bengal was then under the influence of the culture of
Magadha country, and that this country extended to the
frontier of Assam. It is to be noted, that the culture of
LECTURE III 39
Magadha which prevailed over all parts of Bengal, was
absent in Assam, where Buddhism could not make any
impression. This phenomenon partly explains why the
Assamese speech was not then exactly identical with that
of Northern Bengal. The people of Assam of those days
are reported by the traveller to have been " of small
stature and of dark-yellow complexion " ; this description
leads me to think, that the Mongolian element predomi-
nated then in Assam, and because of this ethnic, character,
the language of mid-India became slightly different in
Assam. Hiuen Tsiang then goes to Samatata of Bengal,
after travelling a very long distance from Kamrup. As
particulars of that route are not on record, the geography
remains incomplete as to the extent of Vanga to the east.
But it seems to be implied in a statement, that the hilly
tracts of Tippera and Chittagoug which were not visited
by the traveller, were included in the Samatata country,
for the traveller speaks of those tracts, when describing the
Samatata country, as a wild country difficult of access.
Another fact is quite clear, that just to the west of Samatata
was the Suhma country. This tallies exactly with what
we inferred regarding the geography of old Bengal from
ancient Indian records. It must be specially noted, that the
influence of Buddhist priests and Magadha culture were
as extensive in Samatata as they were in Suhma, Kie-chu-
ho-khi-lo, Punrlravardhan and Karnasuvarna. The Pun-
dras, the Suhmas, and the Vangas, who were kindred
tribes, were dominated by one and the same cultural
influence, during the seventh and very likely during the
sixth century A.D.
^asanka or Narendra Gupta who annexed some por-
tions of Orissa and Ganjam to his empire, had his principal
seat at Karnasuvarna in the seventh century A.D. This
Karnasuvarna was no doubt located somewhere to the
40 ANCIENT BENGAL
south of the wild tract which stretched forth from the
Rajmahal hills, since going 700 li north-west from Tanira-
lipta, Karnasuvarna was reached. Having narrowed
down the limits of different provinces with the help of
Hiuen Tsiang's topographical survey, it may be safely
asserted that Karnasuvarna was the capital of the Ka-.'ha
country, in the seventh century A.D. The records of
moral and intellectual advancement of the people of Karna-
suvarna, as left behind by Hiuen Tsiang, justify us in
making this inference, that all over the country which
forms now the presidency of Bengal, the influence of the
Magadha civilization of the seventh century A.D. did
effectively and extensively prevail.
I have related several facts which have some bearing
upon the province which is now known by the name Orissa ;
it will be necessary also to relate what relation subsisted
between Bengal and Orissa, to explain some points of
linguistic unity between the languages of those provinces.
I have just now mentioned that Sasauka alia* Narendra
Gupta annexed some portions of Orissa, but it must be
stated that his influence can only be traced in Kongada
(*.*., over the Puri district) and in some parts of G an jam,
where Oria language now 'prevails. It must be made
clear, that the Kalinga country of historical note and the
territories of 3asanka had no connection with the land,
which was possessed in ancient time by the tribes which got
the names Odra and Utkala. With reference to the people
of that part of Orissa, which was within the range of
^asanka's influence, we get this account from Hiuen Tsiang,
that with respect to their written characters, they were the
same as those of Mid-India, but their language and mode
of pronunciation were quite different.
It is a significant fact, that we do not get a well-defined
country bearing the name Utkala in the Mahabhurata
LECTURE III 41
though the situation of Kalinga to the south of Suhma
and Vanga, is rather well defined in many parts of that
work. In the Visma Parva for instance (IX, 348), the
Utkalas have been mentioned as rude people, and nothing
has been stated regarding their owning any country in an
organised form. Vanga seems to have been in olden times
connected with Anga on one side, and with Kalinga on the
other; for the Angas, the Vangas, and the Kalingas are
found constantly linked together in the Mahabharata, as
people closely allied by race and position. [Vide for
instance Drona Parva (Chap. LXX).] In the Puranas
also the Utkalas have been distinctly mentioned as a rude
tribe of very early origin, having no affinity with the races
around them. (Vide Markan<>ya Purana, Canto LVII,
Hari-vamsa, X, 631-32.) From the description given by
Kalidasa in the 4th Canto of the Raghuvamsa, it becomes
clear that just on crossing the river Kapisa, the country of
the Utkalas was reached. Here too, there is mention
of the Utkalas, i.e., of a tribe but not of any country
possessed by that tribe. The river Kapisa is the modern
Kasai or Kansai, which Hows through the southern parts of
both Chutia Nagpur and Midnapur. The Utkalas in Kali-
dasa's days, had no political organization, for Raja Raghu
had not to conquer the country of the Utkalas, and the
people only showed the soldiers of Raghu their way leading
to Kalinga. Again, in the Puranas the Utkalas have been
mentioned in the east, near about the Bay of Bengal,
and in the west, in connection with the wild tribes of
Mekhala of the districts of Raipur and Bilaspur in the
Central Provinces. It is also to be noted, that in the Pura-
nas, the river Vaitarani is described to be flowing right
through the Kalinga country. All these facts taken
together lead us to suppose, that the hilly and wild tract
of the Utkalas, extended from Nilgiri and Mayurbhanj to
42 ANCIENT BENGAL
the borders of Bilaspur and Raipnr, and that the Utkala
country lay to the south of the river Kansai, and did not
extend much to the south beyond the northern portion of
the district of Balasore. The sea-board districts of Orissa
were then within the Kalinga country, and the whole of
the Kalinga country as far as the Godavari to the south,
had the designation of Mudu (three) Kalinga. This Mudu
Kalinga became Trikalinga in the language of the Aryans,
and the people who had their sway over the country, got the
name Trikalingas or Telingas or the Telegu people. Thus
we see, that a very long and narrow strip of land, extending
mainly through hills and forests, was recognised in olden
days, as the land of the Utkalas. But about 200 years
after the time of Kalidasa, the political situation was much
changed. A considerable portion of the district of Midna-
pur to the south, was no doubt still then a part of Utkala
or O(jra, but the bulk of the population continued to be the
rude Utkalas, whom Hiuen Tsiang describes as uncivilised,
tall of stature and of a yellowish black complexion.
Some portions of the districts of Balasore and Cuttack,
seem to .have been included at this time in the O(.ra
country, and the Rajas having -their seat somewhere
in the district of Midnapur (J. R. A. S., N. S.,
Vol. VI, p. 249) presumably governed the newly
formed Utkala country, during the seventh century
A.D. That the capital town of Utkala, during the
earliest days of Hindu influence, was in Midnapur, is fully
supported by the statement of Hiuen Tsiang, that the
capital of " U-cha " (Utkala) was over 200 miles to the
north of " Kongada " country. It has now been estab-
lished by the discovery of old inscriptions that, the district
of Puri bore the name Kongada in the seventh century
A.D., and Sasanka alias Narendra Gupta of Karna-
suvari.-a was about then its mighty lord. The country of
Kaliuga 'became limited at th time to the territories
where Telegu is now spoken
LECTURE IV
SECTION 3.
Gaiida, Radha and Vang a
It is regrettable, that it is too often assumed by some
Bengali scholars devoted to historical research, that in the
tenth century and earlier, the name GauJa signifies Bengal.
That the name Gaucja is of comparatively recent origin, and
that we do not meet with the name during the time of the
Imperial Guptas, must be admitted by all. In the Calcutta
edition of the Matsya Purana (Ch. XII, 30), it has been
stated that Sravasti, was founded in the Gauxja desa by
Raja ^ravasta, son of Yuvanasva of the Iksaku family.*
The date of this passage is unknown, but it can be said that
for the well-known town Sravasti to have been founded
by the Raja in the Gauca desa, Gauria must have been
lying to the north of Kosala ajid to the north-west of
Mithila. That this was the geography of Gaucja in the
eighth century A.D., is perfectly clear from poet Vakpati's
description in his Gauda-vaho Kabya. The hero of the
poem first proceeded against the king of Magadha who
was also the Lord of Ganr'a, and after having slain him,
led 1m army against the king of Bengal, whose territory
lay far to the east near the sea coast (verses 413, 417, 418
and 419). On noticing the fact, that Yasovarman did
not proceed to any other part of Bengal, and some time
* On reference to the text of the Parana, it will be unmistakably
seen that the old Kosala conntry of the Iksakus, has been described and
place names in Oudh and its neighbourhood, have "been strictly dis-
cussed ; there will then be no room for supposition, that this reference
to Sravasti is to any other Sravasti of any other province lying outside
the Oudh territory.
44 ANCIENT BENGAL
after his return home at the termination of his warlike
expedition, went straight to Oudh to erect a pillar at
Ayodhya, to signify his already accomplished conquest of
Magadha cum Gau<ja, we cannot but be inclined to
hold, that Gau>ja at this time lay to the north of Magadha.
The meaning or import of the word Gawja is not
very clear. Those who keep cattle and sell milk are
called Gauda in Orissa ; here this term must either be
the Apabhrarnsa form of Gopala or a slightly changed
form of the Vedic word Gaura which meant wild ox as
well as buffalo. If the origin of the name has anything
to do with the term Gopala, we may identify Gopala
Kaksa of Mahabharata with the Gau .'a country of our
inquiry, since Gopala Kaksa is placed near about Kosala,
and not far away from the Kausiki Kaccha or the valley
watered by the Kusi (M. Bh., Sabha, XXX, 3). The
evidence of the Puranas is in support of this identification,
We get the name of a tribe called Gomanta (those who
keep cattle) just after the name of the Magadha people,
in the enumeration of the eastern tribes in the 44th verse
of the 57th chapter of the Markanrjeya Purana. In the
Vayu Purana (XLV, 12-3), after enumerating the tribes
of Assam and North Bengal, the Videhas and other tribes
of north Bihar have been mentioned ; in this enumeration
the Govindas come after the Magadhas, while we get
Gomanta for Govinda in the Markam.'eya. The geography
of Gaufja as indicated above and the presence of a tribe
near about that Gauda with the name Gomanta or Govinda,
persuade me- to believe, that the word Gauda is derived
from the name of a tribe who grazed cattle and kept
dairy.
When Alberuni visited India, Thaneswar was included
in the Gauda country. Mr. Jackson has rightly observed
with reference to this extension of Gaurja country, that
LECTURE IV 45
" this explains why the Sarasvat Brahmanas of the holy
Sarasvati are the Gaudas pare .c.ellcnce, and why Gau'Ja
and Vanga are mentioned separately in the Bai'oda grant
of 8H A.D. We find in the second volume of the Cochin
tribes and castes by Mr. A. K. Iyer, that the Brahmanas
in that country who claim to be Gaiv'a Brahmanas, and
have now no manner of knowledge of the geography of
northern India, assert on the strength of their family
tradition, that a place called Trihotrapur was their original
home. This Trihotrapur must be identified with Tirhut
or Terhot, which also once fell within the limits of Gau(Ja.
Mr. Iyer says, that these Brahmanas still use some words
in their speech, which belong to the Prakrta of Magadha
and Mithila,. I myself noticed, that the women of this
sect of the Brahmanas, wear a single Saree like the women
of Mithila and Bengal, and do not dress themselves like
the other Brahmana women of the southern country.
The political condition of Bengal from the latter "half
of the eighth century to the twelfth century A.D. during
the supremacy of the Rajas, who on account of their
having compounded their names with the word Pala,
are known as Pala kings, has been clearly set out by
Babu Rakhaldas Banerjee, in two easily available works.
I shall therefore refer briefly, to those facts alone of that
period, as have direct bearing upon my subject. The early
Pala rulers were principally lords of Gaurja and Magadha,
and ruled Bengal from their headquarters in Bihar.
As a dependency or as an annexed province of Magadha
cnm Gauc'a, Northern Bengal which lies between Vithila
and Assam, could at this time be called Gauda or a
part of Gaur'a, but it must not be forgotten, that in
the Geography of the Puranas, Northern Bengal has
always been mentioned as a tract lying outside the limits
of Gau<..'a and Mithila. Let me cite an analogous case to
64 ANCIENT BENGAL
explain the situation. When Orissa constituted a part
of the Presidency of Bengal, the term Bengal could be
found, in some works of history and geography, to signify
Orissa along with Bengal proper ; if because of such political
inclusion of Orissa in Bengal, no portion of Orissa
could be confounded with Bengal proper, no one will be
justified to identify any portion of the Barinda country,
with the Gauda Desa of the 10th century, or of earlier
times.
When the Westerners such as the Gurjaras and the Ras-
trakutas became supreme all over Bihar, the successors of
Narayana Pala, ruled over a limited area which is supposed
to be the Rarjha country, having lost Gauc'a and Magadha.
When these successors of Narayana Pala, lost their real
dignity, Northern Bengal came into the possession of a
Mongolian tribe, known in History as the Kambojas.
Very likely these Kambojas came from Farther India,
but no discussion on the point is here necessary. W 7 hen
Mahlpala regained the possession of Northern Bengal, he
styled himself as Gau(. 7 esvara in memory of the past
glory of the family. True it is, that Mahlpala and his
successors regained subsequently a footing in Mithila and
Magadha, but the good old time did not return. Constant
invasion of Bihar by the Westerners and the permanent
domination of the province by some of them, wrought
such changes as had far-reaching effect both in BihSr and
Bengal.
We have seen that in Racjha, Punc'rabardhan, and
Variga, that is to say all throughout the country of
Bengal, Magadhi culture including the Magadhi speech
was prevailing since long ; and now we see that at the
transfer of the capital of the Pala Rajas from Magadha
to Bengal, the chance for a very free development of
Magadhi civilization in Bengal became very great. If we
LECTURE IV 47
compare to-day, the eastern Bihari speeches with Bengali
on one side, and with what is called Western Bhojpuri on
the other, we find that the Eastern Bihari speeches, in their
colloquial and vulgar form, agree in many essential points,
with Bengali, and differ much from Western Bhojpuri.
This fact has been noted by Hoernle and Grierson. The
fact is, that Bihar of to-day is altogether a changed
country on account of the mighty influence of the
Westerners, while Bengal continues to be the I'eal heir and
representative of old Bihar.
Incessant migrations and displacements of various
tribes, make it uncertain as to \\ hich people formed the
substantial lower stratum in Raoha, when the civilisation
fostered in Karnasuvarna, was humanizing the frontier
lands of Vaiiga. The Puru'ras are found mentioned in
the Puranas, once in conjunction with the Suhmas and
another time in North Bengal, on Assam frontier in the
company of two other tribes, namely the Pravijayas and
the Bhargavas. It seems that the Puri(Jras thrived better
in North Bengal, while in Radha they could not secure
any prominent position. Of the other tribes mentioned in
the Markand^eya Purana, either under the general name
the Pravangas (/.., the tribes of Vanga frontier), or as
stray tribes such as Mala, Mahisika, and Manabattika,
we get to-day the representatives of the Mai people in
Bankura and Manbhum, and the Manas or the Manabat-
tikas may only be surmised to have been the originators
o the geographical name Manbhum.
The epigraphic records of a line of rulers of some
parts of Orissa and Paksina Kosala, during the tenth and
eleventh centuries, disclose some facts which are of real
interest in the history of Bengal. I have given elsewhere
these rulers, the designation Kosalendras, as their volitical
activities lay principally in the Sambalpur tract.
48 ANCIENT BENGAL
These Kosala Guptas, though they originally came of the
family of iva Gupta cf Rajim and Ratanpur (Chattisgarh
Division, C. P.), their immediate ancestors, or rather the
branch of the Kosala family to which they belonged, got
something to do in ruling some parts of Bengal. It is
found recited in the plates of Yayati, who is the second
ruler of this line (vide ray paper in J.B. & O., March, 1916)
that his father Janamejaya, and after him he himself,
became Kosalendra as well as the lords of Trikalinga or
the sea-board tracts of Orissa and Ganjam, and that the
family to which they belonged, was a ruling family some-
where in Vaiiga, as clearly distinguished from Radha
and Varinda. These KoSala Guptas had a large number of
Bengali Kayasthas in their service (ride my paper Ep. I.
XI), and in the course of their inroads into the Sam-
balpur tract, helped lots of Bengali people to settle per-
manently in Sambalpur, Sonepur and Bolangir-Patua.
The Tewars (or Tivaras or Dhivaras) who migrated from
Bengal in large number, call themselves Bengalis, though
in language as well as in other matters, they have become
Oria, and do not even know where Bengal is. The Orias
call it a Bangali Parja, where the Tewars live. It is
amusing to note that the Tewars who live now over 400
miles away from (he farthest limit of Bengal, and do not
know even a syllable of our language, returned Bengali
as their language at the census of 1911, to the census
officer of Bolangir Patna. As we meet with the Kalitas in
Northern Bengal, and also get a very large number of
Kultas in the Sambalpur tract, and as the widely apart
Kultas and Kalitas agree in many social customs, I
throw out this suggestion, that a clan of the Punoras bore
the caste name in question, and those of them who did
not proceed to North Bengal, got into the Sambalpur
tract, in the time of the Kosalendras, as Sudra cultivators.
LECTURE TV 49
That a large number of Aryanised people was necessary
for the new Rajas in a backward country, full of abori-
ginal tribes, cannot be much doubted.
I shall show what indelible marks our language put
upon the Oria speech, as prevails in the Sambalpur tract,
when in a subsequent lecture, I shall take notice of the
old forms of our language. The epigraphic records of
Bengal proper, of the Kosala Guptas and of the Chola
kings, have amply proved that even during the time of
the later Palas, the different parts of Bengal bore different
country-names of Varendra, Uttara Radha, Daksina Radha
and Vanga, though the general name Vanga prevailed as
the country-name over all the tracts. It is only to be
noted that, Suhma which lost its name long ago, became
then a province of Vanga, and the tract covered by the
Kantai subdivision, got th " a me Dandabhukti and be-
came a Bhukti or subdivision ot Vanga.
Some facts which reveal the plasticity of the society
of Bengal, during the time of the Palas and Senas, may
be noted, to examine the old formative elements of our
population. I have just spoken of the Bengali Kayasthas,
as were in the service of the Kosala Guptas ; these
Kayasthas with their surnames Ghosa, Dutta, and Naga,
have described themselves as Ranakas, that is to say, as
descendants of the Anabhisikta families of the Rajas of
Kosala, who must be regarded as Ksatriyas. The Kosala
Guptas were Ksatriyas, even though their remote ancestor
comes of a clan of the ^abaras, since from Tibaradeva
do svn wards, the Rajas of this line formed their marriage
alliance with the recognised Ksatriya families of Northern
India ; the Rajas of Kosala and their descendants,
assumed the title Gupta from the time of their connection
with the Magadha Guptas. I may mention here that the
rule or custom still continues in the Raj families of Orissa,
7
50 ANCIENT BENGAL
that the descendants of the Anabhi^ikta members of
the Raj family, become Babus,* and these Babus are
employed as ministerial officers.
More interesting seems to me the history of the
Vaidyas of Bengal, who like the Kayasthas are in no way
inferior to the Brahmans, in intellectual powers and moral
virtues. The term Vaidya, we all know, is singularly
peculiar to Bengal, to indicate a caste ; this term for
medical profession may be assumed, by any man of any
caste from Brahman downwards, in other parts of India.
It is an interesting history, how a high class of people
got Vaidya as a caste-name in Bengal. As the Vaidyas
acknowledge universally, because of their family tradi-
tion, that their origin has to be traced from the Sena
Rajas of Bengal, we should see what history we may
get of the origin of these Senas.
That the Senas described themselves as Karnata
Ksatriyas, i.e. the Ksatriyas of the Dravidian country, is
well known. Referring to these Senas and the rulers
of their kin, who once became supreme in the Northern
Mithila, Mr. R. D. Banerjee writes in the Memoirs of
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, No. 3 :
The invasion of the Co}a King did not change the
political divisions of the country, but it left one permanent
mark in the shape of a body of settlers, who occupied the
thrones of Bengal and Mithila, as the Sena and Karnata
dynasties, during the latter days of the Palas (p. 73). To
unveil the mystery of the warlike people who came
with Rajendra Cola and settled in Western Bengal,
* The term Babu is a diminutive of Baba and is a term of endear-
ment generally ; the Bengali word Bapn to signify this meaning is of
similar origin being derived from Bapa ; BapS is another variant of
LECTURE IV 51
we have to peep into the history of some castes of
Southern India.
Regular Brahmanic supremacy and the settlement of
new Brahmans in Southern India, commenced no doubt
from the 10th century A.D., when Jaina supremacy came
almost wholly to an end, but Brahmanic ideas had com-
menced to prevail over Jain ism nearly a century earlier, to
pave the way for the new condition of things, which dates
from the 10th century A.D. Very likely those who had
priestly functions in the Jaina temples, assumed Brahmanic
rank during the earliest period of Brahmanic influence,
for we get such genuine Dravidian sects as the Kammalas
and the Visva-Brahmans, who though not recognised by
the modern Brahmans as men of Brahmanic order, do return
themselves as Brahmans, and perform priestly functions,
in the houses of many people of lower order. The Vellalas,
who were superior to the sects named above, and who
were known for their military prowess, became Brahmans
some time earlier than the 10th century A.D. As to the
derivation of the term ' Vellala/ there are two views ;
according to one it comes from ' Vellam ' (flood) and
' alam ' (ruler). According to the other derivation the
word comes from ' vel ' the god of war. Both these
derivations suit the Vellalas who were once dominant
people in the country. It is a historical fact, that these
Vellalas of warlike disposition, studied the Vedas and
performed fire- rights, when Brahmanic influence com-
menced to grow in the land ; on account of their knowledge
or rather the study of the Vedas, they got the designation
Vaidya in southern country. This term Vaidya does not
signify or relate to medical profession. That besides being
engaged in Vedic studies, the Vellalas or the Vaidyas,
became military leaders and high civil officers of the
Rajas, is what we know from the old records. Many
52 ANCIENT BENGAL
Vaidyas are known to have become the priests of the
Dravidian Kings, and their occupying the situation of
high class officers of the Co-a as well as the PanJya Rajas,
is also on record. It is also very significant to note, that the
Vaidyas or the Vellalas who were not employed in the
Raj service as mentioned above, followed very generally
the medical profession, though this profession did not give
them the name Vaidya. In Southern India, the physicians
were called AmbaUa-is and not Vaidyas. The barbers
once took largely to the medical profession, and now the
barbers in general are called by the honorific name
Ambattan, though the term does not really indicate the
barber caste.
I strongly suggest that the Vaidyas of Bengal,
owe their origin to the Vellala Vaidyas, on reference
to the above facts, which may be summarized as
below :
(a) The Vellalas were Vaidyas because of their Vedic
studies, were recruited as high officers of the Rajas and
were physicians very commonly.
(b) The Vellala Vaidyas are known to have been in the
service of the Cola Rajas.
(c) Those who came in Bengal at the time of the Cola
invasion, described them as the people of Karriata.
(d) Those who claim to be the descendants of the
Senas, are physicians by profession, wear Brahmanieal
thread, call themselves Vaidya, and assert the right and
privilege to read the Vedas.
(<?) The term Vaidya as the name of a caste is un-
known elsewhere in Northern India and is peculiar to
Bengal alone.
Though the surname Sena can be easily explained
without referring to any . caste-name in the southern
LECTURE IV 53
country, I may mention this fact that a section of the
Vellala Vaidyas in the Tamilakam country is known by
the name Shanan. If my suggestion is not a bad one and
may at least be considered arguable, I point out the fact
that an early Raja of the Sena dynasty had the name
Ballala, which is meaningless in a sauskritic language but
is honorific in the South Indian speech, according to the
derivation already given. I may consider another fact
along with it. The name of the ancestor of the Senas,
who first settled in Bengal is not known, but the claim of
the Senas that th<-y belong to the Candra Vamsa, has some
reference perhaps to the name of their ancestor ; that the
first military leader, from whom the Senas trace their
pedigree, bore the name Candra, appears pretty certain from
what the poet Gobardhan Acarya has written in his Arya
Saptasati ; the word ^t^l (f"U moon) as occurs in the 39th
verse is what I allude to here. The line of the verse
stands as :
To complete my survey of the races and tribes of
different parts of the presidency of Bengal, who after
adopting the speech which flowed in from Magadha and
Mithila, developed some provincial peculiarities in the
language, I should mention, that the Indo-Chinese people
of Farther India, raided Bengal from time to time. The
sway which the people of the Mekhong Valley established
once in Eastern Bengal is perhaps still commemorated
in some geographical names. I suspect that the river
Meghna in eastern Bengal is the changed form of the
name Mekhong. As to the Indo-Chinese origin of the
name Dacca I do not entertain any doubt : the word
Dhakka means " old Ganges " in the language of the
54 ANCIENT BENGAL
people of the Mekhong Valley, and we get the river Burli-
Granga, flowing past the town called Dacca.*
Lots of geographical names in the Bengal Presidency
as well as in other parts of India, remain unexplained, and
such names as Hooghly, Bentra, Talci, Jagulia, etc., appear
meaningless to us, though it is perfectly certain that our
meaningless geographical names had some meaning, in
some forgotten speeches of past time. That the anthro-
pologists and the philologists have collected a deal of
information, regarding the old races and their languages,
by rightly interpreting the seemingly meaningless geogra-
phical names, is perhaps too well-known. In Bengal it is
a huge task fraught with numerous difficulties. In the
first place, many old tribal dialects have now died out
altogether ; secondly, many names have been partly trans-
formed into other names, because of the altered pronun-
ciation of them, by people who speak now quite a different
speech ; and thirdly, in our mania to Sanskritise the old
names, we have intentionally effaced the history which was
impressed upon the old geographical names. As this
subject requires a separate and independent treatment, I
need not dilate on it any further.
* The Laos have been the principal people of the Mekhong Valley ;
this induces me to suppose that the name Lao Sen as a name of an old
time Emperor of Bengal, is only a generalised form to indicate that
the Lau people once came into Bengal. The carious form of the name
is altogether nou-Indian, for Lau (a gourd) is not likely to be tne name
of an anointed Hindu Emperor.
LECTURE V
The Influence of the Dravidian Speeches on Bengali
The Vedic or the Chandasa speech was very much
changed when the Brahmanas were composed ; the language
of the Brahmanas again differs widely in many essential
particulars from what is called the classical Sanskrit, as
well as from the speech which has unfortunately come to
be designated by the name Pali. That the later Prakrtas
and the provincial vernaculars, differ similarly from one
another, as well as from the earlier speeches, is a well-
known fact. Even the scholars who are mere linguists,
and have only made a comparative study of all the speeches
of N. India, without any reference to the characteristics
of the speakers thereof, have not failed to notice, that the
changes and deviations from the norm cannot be wholly
explained by those laws, which the philologists have
formulated, to account for all sorts of linguistic changes
and modifications. The orthodox philologists have how-
ever been forced to admit, either directly or by implication,
that the influence of some people other than the original
speakers of the Aryan tongues, must have been at work
in bringing about the aforesaid changes, though no parti-
cular non- Aryan people has been pointed out, from whom
this influence emanated. Looking to the fact that cerebral
sounds prevail very much in the Dravidian speeches, it has
been vaguely asserted that some Dravidian people, as
speakers of the Aryan speeches, induced dentals to be
changed into cerebrals. Mr. Stenkonow's remarks on this
point, as appear in the IVth volume of the Linguistic
Survey of India, are very correct in my opinion. Since
such a change of a dental into a cerebral is not wholly
56 ANCIENT BENGAL
unknown in some Indo-European languages, Mr. Stenkonow
considers quite possible, that the Indo-Aryan cerebrals
developed quite independently, without there being any
special inducing cause. Referring then to the phenomenon
in the later Prakrta speeches, that there is almost a whole-
sale change of dentals into cerebrals, the learned scholar
offers a very reasonable suggestion which I quote in his
own words :
" The cerebral letters, however, form an essential
feature of Dravidian phonology, and it therefore seems
possible, that Dravidian influence has been at work, and at
least given strength to a tendency which can, it is true,
have taken its origin among the Aryans themselves."
It has not, however, been noticed by the philologists,
that even though cerebral letters prevail very much in
Dravidian speeches, these letters are never initials of
genuine Dravidian words. No doubt, we observe this very
peculiarity in the Vedic as well as in the earliest classical
Sanskrit, but we notice that in later Sanskrit as well as in
the Prakrta speeches, there are many words, which though
not onomatopoetie in origin, have cerebrals for initials.
ly% (the top of the hill), ^ft or ^t^ (a word of respect),
vg^ (a musical instrument), and U^ (to signify entering
into) are some examples. As India has been the home of
diverse races of men, since remotest antiquity, it is diffi-
cult or rather unsafe to particularize definitely the influence
of any special non-Aryan race, as the sole cause of any
unusual linguistic change.
I must, however, notice in this connection, an important
peculiarity of Bengali phonology, which has not to my
knowledge, been noticed hitherto by any philologist. I
have made it sufficiently clear in a previous lecture, that
the people closely allied to the Dravidians, or rather who
have to be presumed to be pure Dravidians, form the bulk
LECTURE V 57
of our Bengali-speaking population ; yet it is to be noted
as a fact, that the cerebral letters are not so much cerebral
as they are dental in our speech. If we carefully notice
our pronunciation of the letters of the ' fe ' class, we will
see that we articulate ' TJ ' and ' \5/ for example, almost
like English T and D without turning up the tip of the
tongue much away from the region of the teeth. We can
detect this peculiarity very clearly, if we compare our.
sounds with those of the Mahrattas. As we articulate
\5 and more as dentals than cerebrals, we have been
required to introduce two new consonants \5 and I? to pro-
duce special cerebral sounds ; that for the latter sounds the
letters \5 and 1? quite do in other Indian speeches, is well
known. This natural organic aversion to articulate cerebral
letters with distinctness explains why the cerebral f is
uttered wholly as dental ^, and why in some eastern dis-
tricts \5 and 1? are wholly pronounced as ^ and 5 ; in
Eastern Bengal the letters are not articulated by the
learners of the Alphabet, but their physical appearance is
described as \5 4 *J27 and U 4 ^ letters.
I am perhaps creating new difficulties without seeking
to explain things by a Dravidian influence. To be able
to face all difficulties properly, is better than offering a
plausible solution.
The phenomenon I have spoken of, may be partly ex-
plained by postulating a Kiranti influence ; but since when
and to what extent this influence has been in existence,
need be inquired into. The earliest reference to the
Kiratas occurs in the Atharva Veda which discloses a good
deal of knowledge of the eastern lands, from where the
original form of out speech flowed into our country. We
find in the Atharva Veda (X, 4. 14) that the Kirata
women were employed to dig out medicines for use as
charms in the Himalayan region. That the Kiratas were
58 ANCIENT BENGAL
mountaineers, is clear from some statements in the Vaja-
saneyi (XXX, 16, etc.) and in other later Samhitas. These
hilly people have been mentioned however in Manu
(X, 44) as Vratya Ksatriyas. We get in the Brahmana
literature, in connection with the story of Asamati, that the
Kirata priests, who knew charms came into prominence in
the Aryan society. I cannot say if the dark yellow colour
of skin ascribed to the Ksatriyas in the Kathaka ( ^t^O
Sarhhita, has anything to do with Kirata ( f^f^ ) inter-
mixture. The Kirata cult of magical charms and mystic
mantras being universal in Northern India, a special
influence of the Kiratas in Bengal cannot be formulated.
It is true that in Eastern as well as in Northern Bengal,
direct Mongolian influence can be formulated from some
known facts of history. It is also true that the inability
to articulate *5 and 5 occurs in some eastern districts only,
but not in Northern Bengal. The consonants of 5 class,
however, are made very much palatal in Eastern Bengal,
unlike what the Mongolians do, while these consonants are
made semi-dentals or i-ather pronounced by almost closing
the teeth, in Central Bengal. This question, however, will
be discussed in a subsequent lecture.
It is really very curious, that some peculiarities which
are doubtless due to Dravidiau influence, have been sought
to be explained by some eminent philologists by a cause
other than the real one. Such an eminent scholar as Sir
Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar considers such changes in
the oldest known Prakrta, as *O1 for *R', *P?t?ri for *IW,
t^Tl^P for C?lt^, etc., to be due to the natural vocal tenden-
cies of the Aryan speakers themselves. Explanation for
these changes was not sought anywhere outside the mouth
of the speakers, as the influence of the Dravidians who
now reside far .away from the limits of Northern India,
could not be thought of forty years ago, when the Wilson
LECTURE V 59
Philological lectures were delivered. The fact that the
Dravidians could once be the neighbours of the Aryans in
the Northern country, did not suggest to the scholars.
I have mentioned before, that according to the Dravidian
traditions, all the dominant tribes of S, India migrated
from Northern provinces to Peninsular India. It is a
distinct and a definite characteristic pf essential nature, in
the Tamil language, that an initial of a word can never be
formed of double consonants, and compound letters formed of
consonants of different Varga can occur nowhere in a word.
If we refer the changes under consideration to the essential
peculiarities of the Tamil speech, our problem will be
solved. Compounding of ^ with s[ as in ?ffi and T with f
as in 3p?^ cannot be tolerated according to this rule, and to
maintain the long sounds of the compound letters in
question, the very letters have to be doubled. This is how
at first in Prakrta, the consonants joined unto ^ were
doubled by dropping the 3 or (C^p), and then in giving
Sanskritic form to the changed words additional '(C^p) was
added, and the new rule was formulated that a consonant
may be optionally doubled if it is joined unto a ^ in the
shape of a '(CsJ). If we compare the early Prakrta forms
or the so-called early Pali forms with the later Prakrta
forms, we can see that as time went on, the Dravidian
influence went on increasing ; the early forms such as
^t^ 6 !, C^, etc., as have been considered to have been
exceptions by Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, were reduced to
WfTR or cWt**R and to fr^ or C 5 ^, etc., at a later time.
When, by about 1865, Bishop Caldwell suggested that
the Tamil ^ as a dative-denoting suffix was identical with
Oriya f>, Bengali C<$, and Hindi C^Fl, denoting exactly the
dative case, a host of critics ruse up to throw away the
right suggestion of the Bishop. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar
clearly saw the mistake of Trumpp and Beams, but could
60 ANCIENT BENGAL
not accept the suggestion of Caldwell, as he thought that a
Dravidian language could not possibly influence the Aryan
speeches in that manner. Trurnpp suggested that C$ of
Bengali came from ^Fs and Beams rightly rejected the
derivation, as ^U could not signify the sense conveyed
by C^. Beams himself, however was wrong, when he
sought to derive the suffix denoting the dative from old
Hindi ?R[. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar showed that as in no
Prakrta, either ^F or'^pf (derived from ^^ according to
Mr. Beams) signified any dative sense, the proposed
derivation could not be accepted. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar
is right that for many case-denoting suffixes we have to
look to pronouns and pronominal roots, but his imaginary
case that C^ff as well as C*f| might have been in use to
signify instrumentality, and C^ff might have been
subsequently used to denote a dative case cannot be accepted,
or rather may be easily rejected, by using the very
argument with which the learned scholar himself has
rejected the theory of Mr. Beams. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's
suggestion that ^t in a phrase as ^ff ^t might mean
at first " Rama's somewhere," and thence the sense " to
give to Rama," might have originated, is very faulty
as the old time forms do not warrant such transformation.
The derivation would not have been sought in such a
roundabout manner, if the cause of such changes as *f*3,
>T^?t and f*rcrft^Fl could then be rightly detected.
How the Dravidian people could influence the speakers
of the Aryan speeches in dim past, should be a subject of
special research. Many ethnological problems, relating to
the Dravidians, have not yet been solved. The ethnologists
of our time agree in the main, that the Dravidians have
been autochthonous in India : even though this proposition
is not free from doubts and difficulties, the situation of the
Dravidians in India as neighbours of the Aryans, since
LECTURE V 61
the earliest time of Aryan activities, cannot be denied.
Again, adverting to a list of the races of man, made
out either by the ethnologists or by the linguists, we can
see that the representatives of all races in greater or smaller
number came to live in India, and did not find the country
an uncongenial home. How the jetsam and flotsam of the
floating races of the world were absorbed in the main body
of the Indian population, is impossible now to ascertain.
I cannot discuss all these questions here ; but one fact
relating to the range of influence of the Dravidians during
the days of early migrations of peoples will be noticed
here to draw the attention of scholars to some hither-to-
neglected facts of great importance.
The ethnologists agree to some extent in holding that
the old inhabitants of Etruria in Italy proceeded to the
latter country from some parts of Asia-Minor. It is also
very reasonably supposed that the language of the
Etrurians did not belong to the family of speech which
is generally known by the name Indo-European. Mr.
Stenkonow has shown in his essay on " Etruscans
and Dravidian" (J. B. A. S., 1912) that there are many
interesting points in which the language of the Etruscan
follows the same principles as that of the Dravir-as. It
is interesting to note, that the plural-forming suffixes ' gal'
and ' ar ' of the Dravidians are in existence in Italy, the
Etrurian verbs like those of Malayalam do not change for
number, and words in genitive case are freely used in
Etrurian as adjectives. We shall see that all these
Dravidian and Etruscan characteristics, are distinctly
noticeable in Bengali language. If the Dravidians have
been autochthonous in India, their migration to western
countries indicates a state of their early social condition,
which has not been hitherto considered. The influence of
this people upon the proud Soma-pressers and their
62 ANCIENT BENGAL
successors cannot make us wonder. I am concerned, as
my subject indicates, with the Dravidian influence on the
Bengali language ; as such I give a few examples only
to show that our early speeches were not also free
from the Dravidian influence. Patanjali's Mahabhasya
proves that much was done to maintain the purity
of the classical Sanskrit : yet borrowing of words from
Dravidian sources could not be altogether stopped.
(I) In genuine colloquial Tamil (which is called
Kudam) the word sft^Tl signifies flower ; this word to indi-
cate a garland, does not occur in the Vedic speech and we
first meet with 3^1 or stf 9 !! in the Upanishads, which were
written in the land of the Kosalas and Videhas. (2) >3nr| ^
properly ^^1 of Telegu speech became C*rF5l as a desi
word ; this 0^51 was no doubt Sanskritised into C^t^
for such a synonym of "Sf^ is unknown not only in the
Vedic, but also in old Sanskrit. In the district of Barisal
the Telegu pronunciation of the word as ^3<Tl is
maintained. (3) ^fo signifies a mountain in the Tamil
as well as in the Malayalam language ; very likely in the
3rd centuiy B.C., when the Aryans after some acquaintance
with the people of the south, confounded the general name
for a mountain, with the name of a particular mountain,
a sfsf^ f5ff?r (tautology) was made the seat of the spring
breeze flowing from south. (4) ffa as a word to signify
' fish' was unknown not only in the Vedic speech but
also in very old classical Sanskrit, but this sffa or fish
which was on the ensign of the Pandyas and was the name
of the Dravidian tribe Minavar, became a synonym for
3f<^ and fish-god as well, very likely when the Pamlya?
established some relation with the northerners. ' Mina '
of Tamil is also Min in the Kui dialect of the Kands, and
Minu in the Canarese tongue. We meet also with many
Dravidian words in Pali ; I cite only two examples here :
LECTURE V 63
^Tt 1 indicates 'assent'; this is exactly the meaning of
the Tamil word ^rfr, ^\g*f signifies ' come here' in the
imperative mood. Compare Tamil ^\t^>, Mahrati ^?J05
and Telegu ^<5l indicating the same meaning. But
occasional word-borrowing does not signify much. I
proceed to notice now such Dravidian words as are in use
in Bengali, as imply a very close and intimate relationship,
between the Dravidians and the so-called Aryans of Bengal.
Those words which may be borrowed in consequence of the
existence of a trade, or on account of some occasional
social touch, will not be included in the list ; for example
we have got fofsM (S. O^Tt^t, Oriya ^1% ) and ^|
(kitchen knife) of Mundari which can be explained by
occasional touch in market places. Some words, common
to Bengali and Dravidian, however, which are extremely
indecent, and which cannot be traced to any classical
origin, and which one people can learn from another if both
of them happen to be close neighbours, are of importance;
but they cannot certainly find a mention here. I think the
list of words I append below, will go a great way to
establish the social influence of the Dravidians upon us, in
a past time.
N..In the following list T. stands for Telegu,
Tm. for Tamil and B. for Bengali.
(1) ^t'Ftft (Tm. and T.) hunger, Gondi <srf<Ffa (famine).
B. ^5rt^t*1 (famine) ; that it is not from Sanskrit ^-f ^rfq
will be presently discussed. (2) ^e^ Tm. stone is also
pronounced as t*Tj it is 9fs|^ in Ceylon ; there is only one
letter in Tm. for ^ *f 5f and ^; our ^ (a mortar) was
originally of stone only and hence the name. This word
occurs in Sanskrit as an inseparable portion of the word
<S5(9l. (3) <Ftt (Tm.) vegetable in general, as in ^rft tfo
(from ^tfr comes B. 97^tft and Anglo-Indian currv) ;
or as in <J^j ft^ (tamarind) ; we can see that from j
64 ANCIENT BENGAL
^t^ came the simple obsolete Bengali word ^t^ to signify
tamarind; ^t^ f^fs still signifies tamarind seed. (4) ^r
(Tm.) to leap; this word is of general use in northern
India. (5) C^t^l and C^tf^F son and daughter as in
C^PFt^ ^t^, ^t'fa ^t5, B. C*rfl and sffo are derived
from them. The E. B. equivalents are exactly c'^1^1 and
^f^f. The Mundari c^t\5l and <gfs are perhaps in exis-
tence in Eastern Bengal in the form of C^fl and ^fif.
(6) ^ft^t1 sea in Tm.; it is very significant that our
Uf ^fTft* is called *(t% The very word ^S^\ is in
use in some parts of Bengal to indicate the stagnant
portion of a river which may fitly be called a pool.
(7) 3[\3$\ (Tm.) to pick up or gather = C$\$\ to pick
up in B. (8) <ff1 Tm. to bind, the upper edge of our
lower garment when tightened around the waist and a
portion is tucked in to fasten the tie is called C*f tT? v -
(9) *tf1^ (Tm.) a piece of wood or fuel ; compare B.
C^ft^l a peg and E.B. 3[fjj>3l (pronounced in Jessore as
ff| ^ ^ ) a log. Compare E.B. *f^5 fuel or firewood;
there is also another word *ffg in Tm. to signify forest.
(10) ^tt5l C^T T. a tumult or noise = B. 9|>Wfsr.
(11) C*tt^ (Tm.) Gum = B. fa. (12) C^5l T. wall,
hence basis or foundation. B. C^tl^l indicates beginning or
lower or base portion of a thing. (13) 5t*fl (T.) a mat
(is pronounced as scapa ; there is only one letter for 5 and
T in Tm. = -ft of B. as in "ft Flfcfc (14)
T. beautiful = f^f of B. as in ' f^Fl ^N ' or
(15) fall T. and Tm. = small. The old use of this word
may be noticed in f5Tft^t^ or fbC'iC^'t^ a tiny leech. In
certain parts of Bengal the form has been wrongly reduced
to fewcsTt^- The Oria form of the word is Jfj 7{ and in
Nepalese also the word is in use in that sense and form.
In the district of Sambalpur the third brother who is
next below artful (lit. middle) or the second brother is
LECTURE V 65
called Tffa Ttf^l and sometimes in the contracted form
*ffa fi?f1 or *ftf^3l which corresponds exactly with c*TC3l
of B. as in C 7 ^ fl, both in form and meaning, and so the
word >Tfa is imbedded in the word ClOSrl. (16) CFf^lf
(Tin.) maize, in T. common name for grain of gram class;
CS>t*Ti f B. comes from it, the Sanskrit name for which is
5FF. (18) <5l *rl T. and vgtfo Tin. head, we get in such
a phrase as ^rHt^f C55ETl, Sanskrit \t^ bears another mean-
ing and has no connection with it. (19) vSrfsjfsT T. and \t3
Tm. signifies mother or one of the rank of a mother. It
is interesting to note that the word ^rppf| is also used to
signify the same meaning. We have the words ^t*!^ or
^tf| in masculine and ^tbf or spf^ in feminine to
indicate respectable persons who are of the rank of father
and mother. (20) ftfisrH (T.) true, compare fa'^s?^ of B.
(21) tt^(T.) or *$*[ Tm. milk, in the word ' 1t*Tfa ' signi-
fying ' udder ' of a cow, this word is retained in B.
(22) *^fe T. and Ti^. silk and silk cloth. Cf. <tfo *fe ^
(23) fWi^ Tm. or f^ffil (T.) a child ; occurs in some
compound words in B. as in CI?^ f^K^f, in E. B. CtN is
in use. (24) f*^ (T.) cat = f^C^ Oria and Kui = E.
B. f^Tt^ (even in old Sanskrit f^5t*1 is unknown, the word
was sjt^tW ; f^lt^l Y ftTfl or fwH of Pali comes from
Dravidian; in B. f^fi an d C^^t 5 ! are in use). (25) ^| ^
(T.) rain = B. <rfa flood. (26) ^| sf) Tm. flag, same in Oria
and same in old B. as in Chandidasa. (28) CTf T> (T.)
(pronounced, as it should be as CTtl?!, C^t^ Tm.), a heavy
bundle of luggage, same in B., in the district of Sambalpur
it is pronounced as (TfllJl following Dravidian pronuncia-
tion. (29) ^t^ as in >s?(W ^t$ the central stem like
solid portion of banana plant. B. C^t^ seems to be derived
from ' ^\^- } It is curious that banana flower and this
^^ or C^Jt^ are used as vegetable food in Bengal and in
the Madras Presidency only.
66 ANCIENT BENGAL
Those who try to trace all our words to some
Sanskrit origin, may on reference to the foregoing list
suggest some Sanskrit words for the Dravidian words
depending upon very remote sound similarity; for instance
the word ^rt^tf% may be rejected, as the Sanskrit word
^fl may anyhow be made to be a component of 'ST^Fl^I.
With a view to point out the right method that has to be
pursued in such an enquiry, let me show that the sugges-
tion of the Sanskritists on the point will be wrong. We
do not get any word, either in Sanskrit or in the old
Prakrtas, which has ' ^ft\ ' for stem to signify the idea
conveyed by &f*s*J (famine). What led our ancestors
then, to coin a new word in Bengali agreeing with Tamil
and Gondi, to express an old and familiar idea, is difficult
to imagine. It is curious that the word which was current
in Prakrta was given up and an unidioaiatic expression
was introduced in a slovenly way by joining ^ and ^fsj
together. If <5rt^t*t be said to be a/jorruption of ^sf^rj^
the argument will not be stronger, for no Sanskrit or
Prakrta lexicon will give us the word -*|<*>H to signify
famine. A word may anyhow be made to look like a
Sanskrit form, but it is to be seen whether such a form or
its prototype was at all in common use in old time. In
their zeal to derive all Bengali words from Sanskrit roots
and stems, such old and obsolete words are at times drawn
out of the Sanskrit Dictionary as were not even in use
in Sanskrit for centuries previous to our time. We cannot
avoid looking to the people and their antecedents in our
inquiry relating to language. Let me also cite an example
of contrary character to illustrate the right method of get-
ting a derivative. The word 'TtC^I (bridge) looks like a
desi word and is treated as such, for it is difficult to see
that the word comes from *K + ^5. With our knowledge
of Oria we can see that ^f is the Oria word for a bridge
LECTURE V 6?
which is in a less decayed or <5J*f3;*t form. One who
knows Pali cannot fail to notice that the Pali word ^'^
derived from 1? + ^v5 is the adjective form from which
*f5f as noun came out; ^^ in Pali signifies 'put
together ' ' constructed,' ' prepared.' That we are not to
follow sound alone, but have to look to many other facts
in this sort of research, is what I want to impress upon
you all.
I have spoken of some essential grammatical peculiari-
ties of the Dravidian language as have been detected in the
Etruscan speech of Italy ; that these very peculiarities are
noticeable in Bengali, is a highly interesting fact to take
note of. As to this phenomenon that as in Dravidian and
in Etruscan, the Bengali verbs do not distinguish between
singular and plural, nothing beyond a mention of the fact
seems necessary; as to the use of genitive forms as adjec-
tives such idiomatic expressions as ta& 4
(first-rate cheat), fjR tf)<T \5ffi (third part)
(happy news) C?rftR ^f1 (a complicated affair)
(a dish of fish hot in preparation), etc., may be referred
to. The use in Bengali of the Dravidian plural forming
suffixes ' gal ' and ' ar,' must however be explained care-
fully. That ^1% or its variant ^1 (in use in Beng. and
Oriya only) comes from 5f5f will be evident from the follow-
ing facts: (1) In the Jataka stories composed in old
Magadhi Prakrta or Pali, we get *^J1 ^f (lit. many
flowers) to signify a nosegay; (2) in the Prakrta works of
later days, we notice such expressions as ^ spl TN ^P^
fa 5fffj 3[-<5f 5|q, etc., as plural forms; (3) ^ft or 13^1 of
Beng. and Oriya signifies plurality exactly as 5pf does in
Tamil and as it did in old Prakrta as 'noted above. We
notica that ^3^1 has assumed the form f^ll or f^Tt^ in
that Bengali-speaking tract which is quite close to Assam ;
Mr. Laxmi Narayan Bejbarua has suggested to me that
68 ANCIENT BENGAL
the Assamese f^lt^ is very likely a variant of
since that Assamese form cannot be traced to any
Mongolian sonrce.
That our plural-forming suffix ^1 originates from
Tamil <SRJ need be discussed next. We have to notice first
that the plural form with ^1 is peculiarly Bengali as
distinguished from Magadhi, Oriya and Assamese. We
have next to notice that neither any Prakrita form, nor any
provincial idiomatic use can be cited in support of the
view that the possessive case-ending ' 3" ' became the
plural-forming suffix ' ^1.' That this suffix was adopted
in Bengali on the soil of Bengal, is quite evident ; being
a new suffix of vulgar or popular origin it was not much
used in the literary language of olden days ; the Editor of
Sree Krsnaktrtau has noted only three instances of its use
in the whole book. One early use of the suffix exactly in
the form of <5[3 may be noticed in the formation of the
word tlfa ( 9 fW = 9 t^ + ^ra) which signifies a couplet or
verse of two lines. We will see that ' <Q\ ' became once a
plural-denoting suffix in <2Tt^ ; that this ' <5f1 ' could natu-
rally be compounded with ^ to give rise to the suffix ' ?rl '
can be easily formulated, since ' such compounding of
different suffixes in the formation of one new suffix is
noticeable in other cases : for example, ' ^ ' of ^^5^
^(, etc. was joined with honorific ftl of
., and the whole portion (i.e., ^fa+^) was
compounded with possessive-denoting ' ^ ' to form the
suffix tiftsf^. I shall have to discuss this question, over
again, later on.
The position of negative-indicating particle ^ in a
sentence in Bengali seems also to be due to Dravidian
influence; in Chandasa, in Sanskrit, in Pali and in later
Prakritas, the negative-indicating 5? has its place before the
verb, and this idiomatic use is current in Hindi, while in the
LECTTJRE V
Sanskritic Vernaculars of the tracts bordering on the lands
of the Dravidians, this particle has its place after the verb;
that Assamese is naturally expected to agree with Bengali
and Oriya in this respect as well as in many other
points of significance, will be explained in a subsequent
lecture.
I have made out a list of hundred words which may be
called Of% and which cannot be traced either to any
Sanskritic origin or to any other non-Aryan origin. On
reference to this list as appears in the form of an appendix
to this lecture, you will notice that in their physical
appearance they do not look either like Dravidian words or
like the Kiranti words. As many tribes have lost their
original speeches and speak one form or another of the
Aryan speech, it is difficult to get to the origin of these
words. It is not the place where I can discuss the ethno-
logical problems but I can say on the strength of some
known facts of Southern India, that the word Dravidian
does not cover the whole ground, when we take even those
tribes into consideration, who speak uniformly one Dravi-
dian speech. I purposely avoid here the question of
fusion of races in Bengal. I notice here a very familiar
saying of the Tamil country, that an Akallan became a
Maravan, the Maravnn became an Agambadiyan and an
Agambadiyan became a Vellalan. That the tribes who are
quite mixed up now spoke once different speeches, may be
detected from such a phenomenon that, in the Tamil
language there are 31 synonyms for the word ' wind,'
50 for ' water/ 35 for ' cloud,' 62 for 'earth ' and 60 for
' mountain.'
We cannot dissolve a thoroughly mixed-Op people into
their original elements, but we can push on our research to
see if the words of unknown origin and the terms of
expressions not in agreement with the idioms of Aryan
70 ANCIENT BENGAL
speeches or the idioms of the known Dravidian speeches,
can be traced to some other origin or origins. I shall
consider the influence of the Dravidian accent system in
my next lecture when a comparative study of all the
accent systems, Aryan as well as non- Aryan, will be special-
ly dealt with.
APPENDIX TO LECTURE V
The following words of uncertain origin are given in
two lists as owing to their nasal sound, the words on the
first list (left hand side) seem to be different from those
on the second list (to the right hand side), in the matter
of origin. ,
LIST I.
LIST II.
(i) "aftS? (a scratch),
(2) Wt^f^fl, (in Bengal
and Sambalpur, a man not
blessed with progeny), (3)
<5T t^j tight ^t^l (gum) seems
to be connected, since ^i$\
(to stick or to paste) is the
verb form. (4) <5r[^, a mar-
ket (^t^ seems connected
as it signifies a farm), (5)
or <4l?S, a reen or un-
ripe jack fruit, (6) f*f (in
eastern parts of Jessore and
in some parts of E.B. it indi-
cates a cockroach), (7) ^sT's
(as in ^F<s <tF1 said of an
animal, addressing itself to
swoop upon the object of
prey), (8) ^f^3 = branch of a
bamboo, (9) ^5\ (the form
is <H^ in Hemchandra's
Cf^t TfRfll ) = husking or
(1) <5[^ (veritable as ^fSf -
9 ltffafel)j (2) <srtfq, in
Bengali and Oriya, a female
friend of a female, (3) ^,
white ant, (4-) ^, thatching
grass, (5) f^, a blow, (6)
<T?1, a straw, (7) ^f%,
twenty (is it connected
with ^*fW ^fj> in its count-
ing to the number making
up a score unit ?), (8) ^,
winnowing fan, (9) C^tTf
(fafff) perverse or strong de-
termination, ( 1 0) C^tfi? (used
in Sanskrit but not in use
in Vedic ; it is to be noted
that C^tfi' in vernacular form
used as Crore, though nor-
' ( mally a word made up of
, compound consonants is re-
I duced to simpler form and
' not viceversa), (11)
ANCIENT BENGAL
APPENDIX TO LECTURE V contd.
LIST I.
LIST II.
polishing, (10) C^CBl, earth-
worm, (11) <*ft5l (a cage),
(12) CWI, a broom, (13)
^x5l (a variant of V 8^1) =
dust-like particles, (14) C^5,
the stump or rather the
hard upper portion of root.
(15) C5^5l (bearing almost
the sense of a flippant) ; in
E. B., a young boy, (16)
Efftf? (a basket, Flctflf^ in
Pali), (17) C5W, a pipe,
(18) C5t5, a thin bamboo
slip with sharp cutting edge,
(19) CFN (worthless), (20)
Sf^T in Sans, also, (1) 4rT^,
a multitude as in a flight of
birds, (22) <ffa (a broom),
(23) 3f tf , a screen, and a
sudden falling in water ;
(Oriya ^Tft in the latter sense
and W\ in pseudo-Sanskrit) ;
Is ^l**| an intensive variant
of <p*f? (24) <&?rl as in ctfo
dicates high mound in
Assamese; compare also
fc, or Tjlfs?, or cfeff a raised
bamboo platform), (eel to
keep fish), (12) tfsfr, (to
I roll), (13) 5ffi| (5|5^ or $tl>
and ^3^ or C^tt^l in Prakrta
and in vernacular equally of
non-Sanskritic origin), (14)
sffffl, a heap and also the
| dorsal portion of a fish, (15)
j ^$ or ^"ji? or ?[$ (in
Assamese and in Nepalese ^|
means a fruit, a 'fruit in its
early stage is so called in
Bengali ; a small piece of hard
clay or stone is also called a
^*f), (16) C^ffffl, a head or a
leader as in *f|t*l*r C^fPfl,
(17) ^5f (sleep) in Bengali
and in old Oriya) may be
from to close which is Dkama
S.; compare ft^ c^\\ (he
has slept) in Marathi, (18)
^5, shoulders or neck. (19)
F|ffTj a roof, (20) 5t^5 (com-
pare Oriya 5tQ quickly)
eagerness as in tf| ^tc^f 5^5
($$, (21) fFt^l (young plant),
(22) <rft (basket), (23) Cft^
(may be a variant of *tt$,
from *j3r we get $% as well
as m in old Prakrt, from ^
APPENDIX 73
APPENDIX TO LECTURE V contd.
LIST I.
LIST II.
(25) cfo, a leg, Hindi fo,
(26) drfsflj a cup made of
leaves or of paper, (27) ^|5f1,
land as opposed to water
(may be connected with
either CT>5f^ of Assamese or
^5ffa, a hillock of Goudi), j
(28) f^l or CvStSfl, a boat
(f^f_ is to leap as f^srfa or j
in f^jTtft), (29) R, a fashion !
or a queer mode, (30) Clff^ 5 , j
husking machine, (31) Clff?1> j
(hollow) hence inoffensive
as cift^l Ttf, (32) (Trf'sifl,
unclean, (33) ^t^l (used
in E. B. only = sham kind-
ness), (34) *fn>1> a goat (in
Oriya the feminine form
C^ is in use), (35) C*ffa
(entrails of an animal), (36)
x, a grasshopper, (37)
(a disturbing obstruc-
tion), (38) C^<N also in
Sambalpur, a careful hand-
ling, (39) C<ft5l, snub-nosed
(40) ^t^tfa, a bamboo slip
used, say for the thatch of
a house, (4 1 ) C^"t^1; a
bundle, (42) v<5?, a show of
10
we may get ^$ or *$\$ and
so from ]j>^, dtll and then
CCfr (24) ^S\ a verse
and sprinkling of water,
(25) fst x (a fishing rod),
(26) w$, root, (27) ^?,
forest, (28) fa, baldness,
(29) ^fn; a bait, (30) c^fl
a school, (31) M^^ (pseudo
Sans. ^f% a term of res-
pect), (32) tT*l, jeering
(Oriya & ), (33) ^, a
gesture, (34) (^5^1, a shame-
less bold fellow, (35) Ffal,
a cover, (36) CFtTlj to enter
also in pseudo-Sanskrit),
1, a fit in a fever,
(38) vstl, a bundle, (39)
^T^t, (a plant in general in
Itf^l ; Hem Chandra simply
mentions as a flf% word ;
now a special aromatic plant),
(40) *Tft1, the paw of an
animal, and one handful.
(41) CWHused in E.B. only
to signify 'down/ (42) SffTl, a
basket, (43) ^fft (beggar's
bag), (44) ^efl, a paw, or one
having the arm paralysed,
(37)
74 ANCIENT BENGAL
APPENDIX TO LECTURE V conoid '.
LIST I.
LIST II.
vanity, (43) C^Ffr, to imi-
tate one by gestures, to
irritate that one (may be
from <5f), (4-4) ^?, as in
^ C*f*fH to hold out a false
hope, (45) C5 t^l, dull-edged,
(46) ?ft5, widow (?ftft, a
bad woman in Hindi), (47)
Ctftfa, a riddle, (48)
meanly craving for food
(45) C*rc*1, a pretender or one
who shams, (46) C*fl>1 as a
C5^1 ^, one who cannot use
his right hand. [In E. B.
the word C\5^1 is in use,
which is also in use in
Oriya and Nepalese.] (47)
C*IT> ( C 9 ^ in Marathi), the
belly; (48) CTW> a worm,
(49) C^Sl (burning), (50)
(without teeth), (51)
, a goat, or a silly fellow
is the form in 2ttfv5
as noticed by Hem Chandra]
(52) ^1, down stream,
shallow water in Sambalpur,
(53) twl^ to bring to the
shore as a boat, (54) f&$^
crowd, (55) ^I, mistake,
(56) 3R (40 seers), (57) ?Ttfr,
a woman (^Tt^t a wife in
Behari), (58) ftfe (thin),
(59) (?iH, ^o dose, as in
^ CTfH, (60) W, as the
woi'd C^t^t> so i ^^ a
non-A edic term, (61) fff,
secret signs, (62) I^H to
slip away unnoticed, (63)
JTt^l, (alarm), (64) ^,
market.
BENGALI PHONOLOGY
LECTURE VI
An analysis of the character of our vocalic and
consonantal sounds can only lead us to form a definite idea
regarding our provincial accent system. As such, a com-
parative study of Bengali phonology should be carefully
pursued, though this sort of study involves a detailed
consideration of the phonology of not only the ancient
Vedic and the post-Vedic languages, but also of the
Dravidian accent system. It is a hard work to do ; but I
must make an attempt in this direction, in the hope that
my failure may lead to success, by attracting the attention
and calling forth the energies of worthier scholars.
The letters of the ancient alphabet, which are not
articulated in our pure Bengali speech, and which we keep
in stock for the only purpose of representing the words of
the ancient languages of India, will be dealt with only
briefly.
<sr. (?) The usual sound of this vowel may be
represented by ' o ' as it is pronounced in pot, not, hot, etc.
The sound of it in ancient times, may be presumed to have
been like ' u ' in but, cut, hut, etc., and so the long sound
of this short 'Sf may easily be made into <5T| (as ' a' in part,
calm, large, etc.). This may explain why ^\ is the long
form of "51, as Ir and ^ are ther long forms of ^ and ^.
In Marathi, Canarese, Tamil and Telegu, ^T is pronounced
as short fl ; this sound is exactly similar to our short
unaccented ^ sound as in ^tlt^, ^t^ftW, ^tFfa, etc.
The Mundas and the Oiaons of Bengal frontier do also
76 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
pronounce <5f as ^r) short. The Bengali sound of % as
verging upon the sound of ' ^/ is naturally subdued when
it is in the beginning or in the middle of a word, but it
is distinct at the end of a word, when the final vowel, as a
matter of course, is not 3?f in sound. Forgetting this
natural mode of pronunciation, some writers unnecessarily
write ?U3\ for 3f\s (like), <tWl for *&\*\ (good), C^tt^l for C^fr
(certain), etc. This process may be called wasting the
black paint to paint a Negro black. The spelling
reformers, moreover, fail to see that the sound of ^ as a
final, only approaches the sound of ^8, and it will be creat-
ing confusion, if this sound be made identical with '<$'.
(ii) The pronunciation of <5f in Oriya is midway
between the Bengali and the Tamil pronunciation. The
sound in Oriya is similar to ' a ' in ball ; while we pronounce
^f^ as Robi, the Oriyas pronounce it as Raw-bi. This
Oriya pronunciation of ^ is the highest exercise we make
in producing the ancient sound, when reading Sanskrit,
and this is the sound we produce, when accent is put upon
<5[ not followed by ^ or ^ sound in a word. For example,
when there is an accent on <5T of <5f\5 (so much), the ^
sounds like ' aw ' in raw or like ' a ' in ball. <BT in rf%,
however, does not change the normal Bengali sound, even
though accented, as the ^ sound follows it. Our spelling
reformers may also take notice of the fact, that even when
we attempt to maintain the purity of the sound of <5[, as
in *V5, the sound is almost an ' \s ' to the men of other
provinces of India.
The Vedic sound for <5f may no doubt be presumed to
be our short ^\, but we notice in the Atharvan Pratisakhya
(e.g., 1,36) that besides the open sound, there was also a
close or, samvrta, sound of ^5f, which it appears, we have
only inherited in Bengal. It is difficult to say, if this
LECTURE VI 77
sarfavrta sound has come down to us through Pali and
other later Magadhi Prakrtas, for we have no Prakrta
Pratisakhyas to bear evidence to such a transmission.
No doubt in Pali, i.e., in the old Magadhi Prakrta, all
nouns ending with the vowel sound of ^ are found in the
form 5}3l, ^fUSf!, etc., in nominative singular, but this
cannot perhaps be said to have been due to the peculiarity
of the pronunciation of ^ at the end of a word, for
though there was no visarjania in use in Pali, it may be
said that, in its origin the sound came out of an elision of
visarjania. It is, however, worth noting, that besides a
general samvrta sound for 'Sf, we can detect in the Vedic
itself a tendency of <5I (as final) to be reduced to the sound
of \S when joined to the visarjaniya : we first notice it
very unmistakably in several euphonic combinations, where
the final ^ sound with the conjoined visarjaniya is reduced
to ^ ; we again may notice that the dual form of Of^:, for
example, is C^ft^n ; the word (TRS must have been pronounced
as OR3\ (as in Pali) for, to create a dual form by the
lengthening of the final sound, the long sound of ^ (which
is ^) was reached, and this became the dual denoting
suffix. It should be mentioned here, that the dual with ^
is later in date in the Vedic language, and that the earlier
f^f% is noticed as ^rj in Chandasa.
In consequence of their settled habit of pronouncing
<5[ with its long and open sound, the people of Upper India,
when pronouncing such words as ' long,' ( follow,' etc., by
half adopting them in Hindi, utter those words as art 5 ?,
*Fft?Tt, etc. The Bengali boys on the other hand, not being
accustomed to emit the sound of ' i ' and ' u ' as in 'bird '
and ' cut,' pronounce them as ^|-^ (bard) and ^1-fe, etc.
We gather from the works on Vedic phonology, that
both^sf and <5Tl carried in their full-bodied open utterance,
a half-distinct nasal sound. We can detect that the
78 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
half-distinct nasal sound developed into a full-bodied
nasal letter, when the sound in ^ and <5Tf was very long
drawn to create, for instance, the plural form ; this is why
<3^f% became ^^f%_, and we get in the Vedic speech ^f%
as an additional plural form by the side of 1^f%. How a
fM sound naturally evolves a nasal, will be noticed
presently. For want of any work on phonology, relating to
the old Magadhi speech, we cannot say, if the Prakrta
speakers of old Magadha displayed the peculiarity noticed
in the case of the Vedic speech. It is, however, a fact
that in the district of Bankura, as well as in the western
portion of Burdwan, a final half-nasal occurs at the ends
of such words as ^f?T3l, *tt^9l, etc., and they are pronounced
as <piWt, *ft^$fl, etc. We also find that in some cases of
our 'Sf^vf words, where <5rj or any other vowel is accented
to maintain the long sound, occurring in the original
word, we put a half-nasal " on the accented vowel, though
the derivation of the word, does not justify the nasal, ^ti?
(from S. <5rf% or ; 3lTt), C*Tfr (from ^C^ffaF), and pfal
(from fw) are some fitting examples. That in old
Magadhi Prakrta a nasal was introduced in similar cases,
can be presumed from some ^^?*t forms ; for example,
from ^3? comes ^, and from Vedic f>9f comes the
form T^l ; our vernacular forms tfal and $t<*fl, I need
hardly say, are from 3$ and ^1 respectively. We may
note that ^ and ^1 were adapted in Sanskrit from Pra-
krta. *ft*f from >ff in Hindi may be compared with the
above forms.
The nasal of ^Tl. I proceed now to show, that there
is a natural basis in our very organ of speech, for the
occurrence of this phenomenon, that ^\ carries at times
a nasal sound with it. To do this, I have to also notice
that < ar! is sometimes transformed into ^ in the lengthen-
ing of the voice, as will also be pointed out presently.
LECTURE VI 79
To serve our purpose, the results of a scientific research
touching" the origin and character of the vowel sounds,
may be briefly stated here. Helmhotz and Koenig made
very accurate and delicate experiments, in the mouth
of men, and thereby accomplished a nice analysis of
the natural sounds, produced by our vocal organs; it
has been established by these experiments, that U (^)
is musically speakiug the lowest, I (^) the hightest,
and A (<5f) the central of all the vowels. This scientific
evidence in support of this proposition, that <5[, ^, and ^
are the three cardinal vowels, shows with what degree of
accuracy, the old grammarians of India, analysed and classi-
fied the vowels, as well as the consonantal sounds, many
centuries before the Christian era. We all know that
^^ is the first sftC^^t ^3f, with which the old Sanskrit
Grammar starts. It will not now be difficult to see, how^rf
becomes ^ in the Vedic speech in the lengthening of that
long vowel, some examples regarding which will be
presently adduced. It has also been established by physi-
cal experiments, referred to above, that if <sj or ^r| sound is
lengthened without allowing the sound to reach a high
pitch, that is to say, without allowing it to develop into
^ sound, the lengthened voice is sure to become nasal ; this
is why ^r| carries with it a nasal when the sound is leng-
thened.
<ST|. (') Generally speaking our ^ is a short vowel and
it becomes long only when there is accent upon it. In
respect of all long sounds, it has however to be noted, that
there are different grades of them, and one sound, though
long, may not be so long as another long sound may be.
It is difficult to symbolise these grades of length, but we
may formulate at least a ' half-long ' sound, as inter-
mediate between short and long. When ^ is followed by
a 3*^3, consonant, that is which does not carry a vowel
80 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
sound, it becomes a half-long vowel as <5Tl in
^5, tfa, etc. In the words i srt*fa, ^tt5, *TFs1,
etc., ^1 is short; this short sound of a long vowel may be
termed as the normal long sound in Bengali. We do not
make any distinction between lon<* and short sounds of
vowels according to Sanskrit rules. As a rule, the single
letters when uttered separately, as independent syllables or
words, ara uttered long ; our children, unlike those of Upper
India, pronounce ^ % ^Tl *ft, ^ ^, $r ^, ^ *Q,
3 <si, etc., when learning the alphabet. Words of one
letter are pronounced long, as it is the case in the Tamil
speech. In Tamil, there are 42 one-letter words and they
are all sounded long. The Bengali one-letter word ' ?Tl,'
to indicate a reply in the negative, is rather long, while it
is short in fl srtfr, Tfa *fi, etc., where it has been joined to,
or compounded with other words. The initial letter of a
word of two letters is pronounced long, when the final letter
is ^Jfg ; cf. ^v\, ffy ^5, etc. ; it is to be noted, that here
the words of two letters are words of one syllable, and as
such, the rule regarding one syllable is applicable.
() I have spoken of the nasal sound which ^\ develops
at times ; it may be noticed that when <5Tl carries a nasal
sound in Bengali, it has the tendency to be pronounced
long, no matter whether it is followed by a ^7^ consonant
or not ; the long sounds of W t in ^f||ri>, <sftW> ^frK tt*ft
tf^ are examples.
(m) In the Vedic speech, ^1 when made very long,
was at times transformed into ^ sound ; compare f^*frf%
and *Tfaf5 (succeeds), ft^S (teaches) and f*f| (taught) ; this
is especially marked in final ^Tl, as fi$3 from ^f, %5 from
5f|, f)H as a variant of 5ft<*[, ft^ from W\ and ffa from ^1
(Macdonell's Vedic Grammar, p. 4). We may notice in this
connection, that in the ^fgft'f formation of i rl from ^f ,
LECTURE VI 81
the ^ sound of the original has been reduced to *rl in
Bengali.
It will be noticed that in a large number of cases, the
final <ST| followed by ^ sound is changed into c), as it is
in the Vedic speech. Here the rule of law is, the pre-
ceding vowel sound influences the one coming after.
This is the inverse of ' umlaut.' In our pronunciation fs&|
becomes fsrcfc, f?TWl becomes fw?, f^stt^ becomes ffofo, etc.*
If however, the final 'Sfl comes after the ^ sound, the <sr| is
changed into ^, <j>l>|, *fa1, ^51, etc., are pronounced as fRH?!,
*2prl, ^p?1, etc. If the final "5ft is attached to 3 (which is
pronounced as ^ in Bengali) in a word of more than two
letters, the whole of the final letter fl is changed into <4
or ^ as the case may be, and this i) or ^9 takes the place
of ^ or ^ of the next preceding letter ; ^ftfl becomes ^(f,
etc., f5f^|, fvf?|1, qq\, ^\ } etc., being words of two letters
they will be changed into fVft?, fff^f, ^p|1, ^3Tl
(^p(t^5tW contracted into CSft^^t^), etc. We thus see, that
though ' 3 ' is seemingly pronounced as ' <5f ' the ^-^ sound
is partly in our ears, to effect the phonetic change des-
cribed above. Since the words are sure to be pronounced
in the manner indicated above, even though they are spelt
correctly in their original form, our spelling reformers
may give up the attempt of spelling the words by repre-
senting all sorts of change of sounds, caused by phonetic
decay. The writers, I speak of, want to introduce the
verbs only in their contracted forms, but not the nouns,
adjectives, etc. With what logic this distinction is sought
to be made, is not easy to see. Why should we not write
, fotfTf, fel, "fe^ (as in ^t5ft fe<T), etc.,
* As in Eastern Bengal the last syllables are accented, the final
of fr&1 and such other words, does not change into 4.
II
82 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
if ^t?T, faiSIC^, etc., for ^f?Jfl, f^tff^ ete., may be intro-
duced with propriety.
Having enunciated the rule regarding the change of
final "srl into if), I must further note that the change spoken
of, takes place even though other words are compounded
with the words ending with <5fl, and even when suffixes or
inflections come after the final "5f| ; 3TC^fl>T from sifo^tf^j
(Sft from ^Ttt^j <3W5 from ^tfPt^, (33 from ?t^*> etc.,
may be noted. No one should confound the forms ^tt^5>
STt^Fs, Ft^, etc., with *rfe, tftCS, *rf$U3, etc.; in the
former series, the letter f ^ ' of the verb stems, has only lost
the sharp aspirate sound, and as such ?fff3\5, Tt%/5, and
5T%5 have been reduced to the softened down forms ;
it will therefore be ridiculous, if one would attempt a
further contraction of the words of the first series into
C^t5j C^TC^, C5C5, on the analogy of C^5, C*fc and
which are the contracted forms oP Tt^, *fi%< and
We shall see from other examples later on, that even
where we use the letter ' ^,' our tongue glides over the
sound of f ^ J almost unawares, to allow the letter to perform
its physiological work.
f , ^r. I have said that there is no vowel in Bengali
which has an inherent long sound ; as such, 5r and ^
are used onlj to spell the words of Sanskrit origin.
I have also noticed, that the vowels are sounded long,
when we put accent or emphasis upon them, and they
are all short when not accented. In pronouncing the
Sanskrit word lK^ we do not really make ^ long, but only
a slight long sound is uttered as the result of our pronun-
ciation of the compound letter which follows ^; all
letters become slightly long in our pronunciation, when it
is followed by a duplicated or a compound letter , no
distinction can be made between the sounds of ^ and 5r
LECTURE VI 83
when we pronounce ^5^1 and &ft. Since we cannot indicate
by phonetic representations, the long or rather accented
sounds of % <5f|, -^\, and ^, and since 5r has not got a long
sound in Bengali, it is hardly correct to write ^t for 1% to
indicate accent or emphasis; for example, when we put
emphasis upon the word ^fsf (you) in such a sentence as
^tTlW C Tfa3 ? ^fsf ? no one can seriously think of
spelling the word as ^f.
1 have shown under the heading ^ how this sound
is changed into <4 ; it is also to be noted that when
as a general rule, the aforesaid change takes place in
our pronunciation, one exception is observed in some
parts of Eastern Bengal. In the district of Dacca, the ^
sound without being changed into d\, a metathysis in the
sound occurs ; for example ^f?fl1 becomes ^?Tl, Ttf^BTl
becomes Sfftfl (&&\ = sandy), etc. It is to be further noted,
that this phenomenon also occurs when the compounded
^-^ sound which is represented by what is called *HpTl
is taken by a consonant after the ^ or the ^r| sound, and
so 5f?fT aad TftJ are pronounced in some eastern districts,
as s^*f *f and ^1^,5. As a letter with ^-^fl is pronounced
in Bengali as a duplicated letter, the ^ sound comes before
a compounded letter, specially when there is an aspirate
sound at the end of the compound letter ; thus the word
3t^t will bs pronounced 3t^fi in Dacca. T. must point out
in this connection, that we meet with the forms ^T and
5f^ for ^-f?TT and *ff?|T, in our old Bengali books which
were composed in the Radha country. I have shown in a
preceding section, that the Pundra people, who inhabited
the Ra jha-land, proceeded to North Bengal in early times,
and a large number of them migrated also to the Sambal-
pur tract, during the time of the Kosala Guptas. There
may be or may not be any causal relation between this
fact and what I am going to state now ; it is curious, that
84 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
unlike their neighbours on all sides, the people of Sambal-
pur reduce "ttfr, Ttf*I, Ttfo, etc., to tftsi, Tt^I, Tf^I, etc.;
a line of a song composed in the vulgar speech of the
Rangpur district, will disclose the above peculiarity in that
far off locality in Northern Bengal :
husband) f
(Wt).
We utter the ^ sound in some eases to prepare
the ground as it were, for pronouncing a compound
letter, of which sibilant is a component part. The
English word school is pronounced sa-kul in the Punjab,
e-skool in the U. P., us-kul in some parts of Orissa and
is-kul in Bengal, in the sea-board districts of Orissa, and
in the Madras Presidency. I nafty remark in passing, that
the disinclination to pronounce a compound letter as an
initial, is India-wide ; as the speakers of Aryan speeches
in Europe pronounce the initial compound letters aright,
and as it is a rule in the Dravidian speeches, that the
initial letter can never be a compound letter, I am inclined
to formulate a widespread Dravidian influence since a
remote past, to explain this peculiarity in our pronuncia-
tion. It will be noticed later on, that this inclination to
drop the letter ' s' as a first part of a compound initial letter,
is noticeable in the Vedic speech as well. In the II . P., the
introductory vowel sound becomes <sft, when the initial
compound letter terminates with ^r| sound, and so ^Tfa is
uttered as Tfafa ; i n the case of other terminal vowel
sounds, if) becomes the introductory sound. In the Punjab,
the compound letter is split up, and one letter is pronounced
after the .other ; in the Tamil pronunciation however, ^
must be pronounced not only before the compound letters
of the class spoken of above, but even before other initial
compound letters ; if even the second letter of a word is
LECTURE VI 85
a compound letter, and the initial letter is a simple one,
the ^ sound is uttered by the Tamil people ; the Tamil
Apabhransa of ?TfaR is ^ + ^t^^*Rj this is also a rule in the
Tamil speech, 'hat an introducing vowel is added to a
word beginning with 3".
^ ^. I need hardly repeat that ^ has got no place
on the list of pure and genuine Bengali vowels. ^ is
changed into ^Q, when as a pure vowel it is followed by
^r| or accented % in a word of two syllables ; we may
notice this change in ^, \s^1 and ^^51. In the Chittagong
division, \s is changed into ^ sound in some cases ; I
could not obtain a sufficiently large number of words to
frame a generalised rule for this peculiarity of pronuncia-
tion in Chittagong.
In our vulgar Bengali pronunciation, a compound or
duplicated letter with final ^ sound, takes ^ or ^ when
followed by ^ or ^ in the syllable, and so ^|, ^| (f 33),
fsfl, etc., become ^fr, f%f (in C^Wfolt), and f^fc and *j|,
<$l and ^65 become *fl , <l and ^5 : it will be noticed
*. ^ ^ *> d^ *.
that at the dropping of one 5, the long sound of ^ has
generated the half nasal 5^f^^. Consideration of the
sound of t)| will follow after taking notice of the sounds of
q, <T, 1 and ^ (v).
(f\, i^, ^3, ^. These vowels or dipthongs have lost
their original sounds and are pronounced as ' e ' in met
(or as ' a ' in mate), as ^, as ' o ' of the English vowel,
and as <5p. The original sounds of these vowels have
been partially retained in Tamil and Telegu ; or rather,
the Dravidian sounds of those letters nearly approach the
ancient Aryan sounds of them. We learn from the re-
marks of the ancient Grammarians (e.g., Vartika of
Katyayana,VIII-2, 106; under Mahabhasya, 1-1, 48), that
(f\ is equal to <3f + ^ and 3 is equal to ^ + ^, and <*? and ^
86 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
being respectively the farther long sounds of ^ and ^9,
the sound ^ for ^ has to be prefixed to ^and ^ respec-
tively, to obtain the proper sounds generated by *<? and ^.
The following examples collected by Prof. Macdonell in
his Vedic grammar, may be profitably cited. We get in
saptami singular <5p^ + ^ = '3T^, fff + 3r = *faf , and ^-i-lrs
= v^; ; notice also ^+5?=^ (twin sisters). When we
get ^9\ (pond) from ^ + ^Tf% we see that ^ has become
long under the influence of succeeding <sr|. The two
examples s5Tl + <| = ; fo and C*Rfl + <*l = C*f^7 are illu-
minating. I may notice in passing, that in Orissa, ^ is
pronounced as <*^ and ^ as 'sfl^. It is clear that our
Bengali pronunciation is wholly peculiar to us. ^ and
^ being merely long or augmented forms of (\ and ^
respectively, they ceased to be in use in the Prakrta
speeches.
(<). (i) The sound of the vowel as indicated above
is after the ancient Aryan sound of it, and this sound is
uttered only in pronouncing the words which are at times
designated by the technical term vg^R. The initial sound
of tfl in indigenous Bengali words, can be represented
by* a' in mat. This normal sound of Bengali 14 is so
very exclusively peculiar to Bengali, that no letter or
letter-signs of our ancient script, can represent it. It
took me full six days to make a boy of the U. P. to
pronounce the English word ' bat ' correctly ; the sound
was altogether new ro his ears and he was constantly
varying his pronunciation from bet to bate. It is very
important to note, that this a sound, as it occurs in bat,
mat, etc., exists in the Dravidian tongue of Tamil ; the
pronunciation of the word ^1 (stone) as Kail or of
"31^ (cajoling) as anbu, are examples. Some Bengali
writers, who do not know what the real sound of 5 is,
make at times the unscientific and useless attempt to
LECTURE VI 87
represent the sound by ^ + ^Tl to convey the peculiar
Bengali sound to the ears of the foreigners. They do not
know that the spelling sfJt*T for C^T is highly misleading
to the people all over India, for ^ ^ is the sound of both
3, and ^ ^pefl, outside the presidency of Bengal. The
Indians of all other provinces, as well as the Europeans,
who come to learn Bengali after studying Sanskrit or
Hindi, are sure to pronounce 5|I|1 as fait 5 !. This method
of representation will therefore be of no help to the
outsiders, and will have the mischievous effect of teaching
the Bengali boys a very wrong sound of y, which they
have to deal with in their Sanskrit text-books. The
Bengali boys learn the normal sound of Bengali ($ even
when they commence to lisp in their early infancy. All
that we should do, is to frame rules regarding the normal
and Sanskritic pronunciation of the vowel t|. As we
have to learn the sounds of the vowels of the foreigners
from the foreigners, our special Bengali sound has to be
learned by those who are not Bengalis. To indicate
this special sound of 4, we shall put a circumflex upon it.
I have stated that the initial <n in the ^5^^ words,
does not become the normal Bengali^ 4. I could notice
A A A A A
only four words, namely, 4^, C^ or C*Rl C3Tl and C^*Tl,
which only seemingly form exception to the rule; we
see that the old <W became 49 in the Prakrta, and
so the newly formed Bengali word <PF, is not, iuspite
of its physical identity, identical with the original
Sanskrit form ; the words C^H and C^fl are not of ^PT
origin, and they were only adopted in Classical Sanskrit
from Prakrta ; words with *j initial are suspected to be
non- Aryan in origin; *Ff*T, <?R and 5pf are the only
words which occur in the Vedic language, of which C*R
88 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
alone belongs to the Aryan stock, being perhaps a decayed
form of spena. I notice here that in the Northern and
Eastern Bengal, the general tendency is to pronounce the
A
initial <$ of even the WR words, as i), and so C^*!,
A
CWT, Cft, CW51, C*ft, etc., are pronounced with <n initial.
tfj as a single letter, and as an adjective, taking indicative
particles as fi> or frl, or particles of emphasis ^ or ^, or
being joined to other altogether separate words as 3i% >^%
etc., retains its Sanskritie sound. The initial <) sound in
a monosyllabic word, where the final consonant is ^TS, is
pure; compare (fa (to perceive) and CGfal (one who
A A
squints) and Ott (much) and CTJ^I (clumsy as in G?s1 *&).
When however the final 3pFS consonant is nasalised, the
normal tfl sound will prevail, as C^"F (a sound), C*fo-
C$$ (sumptuous feast), C3ff^, C5^ (a fish), df ^, C^5f
Cl^ (slow teasing murmur), etc.
The words which are designated by some as
including the <5T*f^1 words, are subject to the rule
governing the indigenous words. In Sir Rabindranath
Tagore's highly suggestive work *ftr5^, the rule regarding
the Sanskritie sound of 4, where normal Bengali sound
might be expected, has been very nicely enunciated. His
statement, that the c*i sound when followed either by t or
A
^ sound, does not change into cfl, is quite correct, the
other rule formulated by him as noted below, should also
receive universal acceptance. When the Prakrta or
^tq^f or Of*tt root or stem of a word has an initial ^,
the word derived from it with an initial tfl will be
pronounced with pure ^ sound ; C^5?1 begins with pure ill
sound as the original stem or root is 1%^ (compare the
forms fcf^Tfa, faftatff*!, fte.), while C^l having C3t> v and
LECTURE VI 89
not 1%2R for its origin, is pronounced otherwise ; CWl from
ftH (of. fif?R, ftf^mt 5 !), CFSl from foa (cf. fofa*l), (3Ptt from
f*P*f s (#" f*ff*fff5) ar >d Cfll from f^ (e/ 1 . ft^H, frf1F$) are some
examples. CWl from fsjs^may be contrasted ivith (*Hv\\ (many)
which claims no root having the ^ initial. This will give
us a clue to see that <)SR, C^*R, C^t^Tl, etc., are not the direct
descendants of ^^ f%*f> ^Ft 5 ? > &c., but are derived from
the Prakrta forms <<&*,, C^R and C*TT respectively. It is
to be noted that when f ^ } as a particle of emphasis, comes
after the 4 sound (<4-^), the normal pronunciation is
not changed ; in t), f% ? however, c| is an independent
word and so it retains the Sanskritic sound. Those who
resorting to an unseientific method, do not keep ^ and *$,
indicating emphasis, distinct and separate from the words
to which they are joined, must see on looking to the two
foregoing forms, what a confusion may be created by
their wrong spelling ; if ^ of -emphasis is joined to SpT5-^
final of the word <4^ in the shape of ^-^ft"> the two forms
illustrated above will be identical. It becomes physically
impossible to make ^ or ^8 indicating emphasis, an insepar-
able part of such following words as <|>fsj, C^T, TftsTl, etc.,
and one is bound to write ^ft-^, ^f*P3, CT-f, Cfi-', TfCTl-^
<5Tfr 5 Tl-'S, etc.; why then such an exception should be made
as to spell O^tWl for C^faQ when the emphasis itself is
drowned in the new spelling, is difficult to understand.
It must be pointed out, in this connection, that though $ is
not pronounced as ^ + ^, th* sound ^ is in our ears uncon-
sciously, as it were since the general rule governs our
pronunciation of such following words as C^fl, C^BTt^
CCTt^. (chair), CSBTffi, CWt*t, Cf*H CWnl, d^fa, Ct*tf*k etc.
Fisarjaniya. Neither the sign nor the sound of it was in
use either in Pali or in the later Prakrta speeches ; properly
speaking, we do not use it in Bengali, and only three or
four Sanskrit words as are spelt with visarjaniya, have
90 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
been adopted in Bengali ; these Sanskrit words again, are
pronounced in the very fashion in which they were pro-
nounced by the speakers of the ancient Prakrta tongues ;
^:*f is pronounced as $^*f and fa: 1 ^ as t^*f s -*ft^ Some
of our Pandits in their zeal and eagerness to give the
Bengali language the sort of dignity which ^Esop's
jackdaw sought in the land of fables in dim backward
of time, persuade us in vain to believe, that it is not SR
but ?R^ which is the original word with us. They forget
that we have borrowed 1Wt^4, ^R^Tt^f, etc., in their entirety
from what is called the Sanskrit language, and not that
we have made euphonic combinations of *^ N +^, etc.,
in our current speech, following the stringent Sandhi rule.
The Sanskritists of the olden days borrowed Jffi^f ungrudg-
ingly from a Prakrta speech, and JRtFtiT is not found fault
with, though CFfa is a Sanskrit word; why should
then our Pamjits shy at SR-^I or similar other forms in
Bengali ? Our natural sound has a history, and it cannot
be obliterated. I may notice by the way (even though
it is a digression) that in the Vedic speech we can notice
; simple 5R by the side of sfpj, as disclosed by such a
term as ^1*1 & signifying having the mind or disposition
to be friendly.
The nasal sound The sound of the full-bodied final
nasal is what may be represented by 'si^'fr; it is
something like ^-( N in Bengali while it is <5R in Sanskrit.
In Telegu and Tamil there is an indigenous ^ which
is articulated as a final nasal at the end of all words, which
are nouns. The Andhras and the Tamil people have not
got the half-nasal" in their script, and they do not also
utter the sound involved by it ; they have an abundance
of ' am ' and ' un ' as terminal endings, but the half-nasal
is altogether wanting. As the Mongolians are notorious
for their excess of nasal sound, we cannot attribute the
LECTURE VI 91
inability of the people of Eastern Bengal to utter the
half-nasal sound to Mongolian influence. I may note that
the half-nasal or " is freely used by the people of Assam.
The absence of the half -nasal must therefore be due to
excessive Dravidian influence, in Eastern Bengal.
vg and <p which are not strictly speaking indepen-
dent letters, but indicate only the sort of nasal sound which
must be generated, when occurring in conjunction with
the letters of T-^f and 5-^^f respectively, have now lost
their original sounds. *f5f and ^5P are pronounced almost
as >T'-^f and ^V^f ; the full sound of *t is always subdued
in 5f?f|, ?f^, Jfsp, etc. When iip sound comes first and the
letters of 5-^f are pronounced next, ^p is pronounced as
f^|, <3[gR, 3tyj are pronounced as ^^5l, Tt^,
and ^^D. When tfp comes after ^, the sound becomes
peculiar ; s? which is no doubt a variant of 5|, is replaced
by 5f, and the final nasal is uttered as half -nasal ; 'STfa -<41
<srfisr| and tsfsf^-i'p'l (2f1 are pronounced as < 5lt*t v -C'f and
<2H s -'fl in Bengal and Orissa.
|. 1 is never sounded correctly iu Bengal, and it
is useless as a letter to spell the indigenous Bengali words.
The use of | is limited within the sphere of spelling the
Sanskrit words. It is worth noting, that though in the
sea-board districts of Orissa, and in the eastern Garjat
states, i is pronounced with considerable distinctness, the
Oriyas in the Sambalpur tract, do not pronounce this letter,
unless they are forced to produce the sound in schools,
by abandoning their natural ^ sound. Though we get
enough of | in the script, representing Magadhi speech of
old, we notice the rule in the Prakrta Grammar by Hem
Chandra that ? takes the place of <1 in the Magadhi
Prakrta. This is a very good evidence of the fact, that
we have been pronouncing the cerebral j as ? since long.
(to dig) comes from the Prakrta word fM, and
92 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
hence a half-nasal and the cerebral ^ have evolved out of
| sound. lu C^| and fife or folj for ^^ and f^ the
cerebral 1> has been substituted to represent the cerebral
sound. The initial 4 of C*p|, comes from the tendency to
pronounce ^ for ^ ; it is no doubt a rare tendency, but
it is noticeable in the pronunciation of C33F5 for ^5, by
some villagers, who attempt at Sanskritic pronunciation.
I may notice, that the Iranian pronunciation of 31 was
<*l^-'5f in near approach of the old Vedic pronunciation
of the vowel t||.
As we do not pronounce ^i^ ^ and identify it with
^ of *f-^f, we do not keep the ^^T separate from it,
and compound it with 3f which is the nasal sound of the
letters of *l-^f ; we write and pronounce ^TVf, fc^l and
<3^fa*f ; this practice has been in vogue since long, as we
meet with the above sort of spelling in ancient epigraphic
records ; I think this wrong use should be avoided, as
it is necessary to know, which nasal sound is appropriate
to which class of letters. We meet with such wrong
spelling of words as ^Sffi and 'srpf in the old epigraphic
records of East Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. The people of
Orissa, pronounce <srt^ and not Tfr, and even now write
\5t^ for v5t5 in rural districts ; it is noteworthy, that
in some parts of Bengal rtT is pronounced as ^srft and
^fil as $fa1.
. It is significant, that when sf becomes a *F*Tl or nasal
adjunct of a consonant, it is not at all pronounced in
Bengal, and the consonant with which it is compounded,
is pronounced as if it is duplicated ; *t! and T^t are pro-
nounced as *f^f and ^T^fo, while our silent 1 is distinctly
pronounced in all other parts of India including Urissa.
In s<>me cases, it is noticed, that the consonant to which
5f is coqjoined, is dropped altogether, and sf is alone
articulated ; .as from "Wfa the word 3T"ftf has been
LECTURE VI 93
derived. It is worth noting here, that this particular
word " *Pffa " as the ^^Vf of 1 $*tfa, is in use in some
parts of Western India as well ; the Pali apabhransa form
was "^Rt 5 ?," from which our "*t*ft*f," has originated. I
may notice one ^f^^f of this class, which is in common
use all throughout Northern India : *%2p was first reduced
to sfsj 5 and then to sj^ in old Prakrta, and from this H?\3(
the forms C 5 ft5 s and 01^1 came into use, and are still in use
in some modern Vernaculars. I have shown in a previous
lecture, that the peculiarity here noticed, is fully in
accordance with the rule of grammar, as obtains in the
Dravidian speeches; according to this rule, the initial
letter of a word can never be a compound letter, and that
double or triple consonants of different vargas, cannot
occur anywhere in a word. The word ^t*T ( ^-^"fa ) has
the pronunciation of ' gan ' ; but when the compound letter
is a medial as in R STfa, the pronunciation will be ' Dham-
ma-ggan' without any nasal sound.
3, ?r, 1, ^. Though these letters are regarded as conso-
nants, their real character as compound vowels, has always
been admitted by the old Sanskrit Grammarians. That 3 is
a compound sound of ^ + ^ has been pointed out before.
As q is pronounced as ^ in Bengali and Oriya, special
mark has been added to the letter to signify the ' y ' sound.
It is worth noting, that in old Prakrta speeches, we get Sf
for ^ and (7Tf^*f for instance was pronounced as
* In Bengali as well as in Oriya, 3 as an initial or taking another ?
as a *fZ(\ is uttered as Sf and in any other situation, it is 5 as a rule.
In Oriya.T could notice a single exception to the rule in the pronun-
ciation of 15 K -which is pronounced as 3RS % That this general rule,
I have stated obtained in old Prfikrta, is pretty well known. It is
noticeable in later Magadhi speech, that the name wfo for example
has been spelt with the usual flf initial, while this word occuring after
*| or rather compounded with (5*t, ^Wf'T has been the form adopted.
94 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
3", t|(, <?I and i. The reason why I take up to discuss the
sounds of the vowel t(| and S along with the discussion of the
value of ^ and ?\ will be clear from the remarks I offer
hereunder.
3". I should explain that ^ originated from the com-
pounding of tn + <5f. It may be gathered from the Prati-
sakhyas (Rk. Pra-8-14 ; Atharvan. Pra-I. 37, 71) that
the sound of a liquid was the final sound which ^ produced.
Again we get in the Vajasaneyi-Pratisakhya (IV. 145).
that the initial half of t|| had almost an <5f sound. The
Punjab frontier tribes pronounce 31 as ^-^ ; the old Iranian
pronunciation of tjl, as may be detected in A vesta literature,
was <SFH-(\ and ^-^ at times. We may notice that
in ancient Prakrta, fo^T? became a variant of f^5, ^5
became ^5 and *p> became T5 ; this shows I hat *N
had once the initial <5[ sound. The vulgar tendency to
reduce ^5 to CW and the pronunciation of ^R3 as
C^cll, and of ^ as c<^Wl (as in C^C^I-^^) remind
us of the old Iranian pronunciation of H. In the
Rangpur district, the letters ^1 and ?f are interchan-
geable, when they are initials; this tendency is not wholly
unknowu among the populace in central Bengal as well.
That the Prakrta forms with ^ and ^ finals, were reduced
to forms with ?f and ?p finals may also be noticed, though
in this case, the flat and boneless Prakrta forms were really
given stronger or more easily-pronouncible forms ; thus
we get \ftiT, from ^Ifrsr (g*-n.) and 5ft 5 , from ^ (c*ft).
We may further notice, that when <T is the adjunct to
an initial letter of a 3>^5[ word, the sound <H is induced
in pronunciation : <2ftfl, <2pfr, ^^T^f, 3JW, etc., are reduced to
C*t'Jfa (^er^T in H.), c*f1?T (WR. in H.), C^
in H.), C^^ (T^5? in H.); contrast the forms
^^r ^, 3F$1{, etc., from fsr^, 1^5, ^S, etc., where the letters
with It-adjunct are not initials.
LECTURE VI 95
UK. It becomes perfectly clear from the Pratisakhyas,
that the Aryans in India were settled in their pronuncia-
tion of <d as ' ri.' Adverting however to such apabhranisa
forms as ^Jj from lf, ^ from ^vjj, etc., some scholars have
wrongly asserted, that the Dravidian pronunciation ' Ru '
for || was in vogue in Northern India, when Pali prevailed
as a Northern Prakrta speech. They have failed to
see that only when the sound of *N had to be har-
monised with the dominating ^ sound in a word,
that this vowel sound ^ took the place of <H ; we get
1% or f^f from ^p5 where neither ^ nor ^ sound has
to be assimilated ; from tnf*f however, we get ^f*f,
while from *NVJ> we get ^j|> because of the final ^ sound.
^ (v) is compounded of ^ and ^ ; so the vowel <D conjoined
to the accented ^ (v) changes into ^ ; thus we get 3^*f,
3\5 5 or ^l, ^^, etc., from |^[, ^jj, |^, etc. When how-
ever the final ^ is not accented, and the letter joined
with D is accented, <H is not reduced to ^; for example,
^J has been reduced to 3(65 , because of the accent on i||
of ^ preceding a compound letter.
?T Grammatically considering i generated 1, but
this vowel never got any prominence. We should not for-
get to notice, that there was a field of a very free inter-
changeability of ?r and 9\ in the Vedic as well as in the post-
Vedic speeches of the Aryans ; this being an essential
feature of the Dravidian speeches, the Dravidian influence
in this matter as well is generally formulated. An addi-
tional '?T as a mixed sound of ( ^ ' + '^5 ' occurs in all the
Dravidian speeches ; this ' \ ' producing a cerebral sound,
is in full use in Oriya and Mahrathi. Though this letter
did not get admittance into the Vedic alphabet, the trans-
formation of ^ into ' ^5 Ms recognised in the Vedic Gram-
mar ; we meet with the Vedic phonetic rule, that when
' 1 ' occurs between two vowel sounds, the letter may be
96 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
optionally pronounced as l ?! ' or ' ^5 ' and so ' x ' C*1 may be
uttered as '^fU5.' We have not got this cerebral in
Bengali, but there are a few words in Bengali, which dis-
close the transformation of ' v\ ' into ' *S ' ; ^5 (to-dy)
the juice of Tal (palm), may be an imported word, but <|>f^>
from ^t% (bud), ^\ (extremity) from ^, *ftS\ from *f?ft
(village), f"fa^? (on account of the chainlike ramifications
of the roots) from ffare| ( c k. *$$&, Pr. f*teTF?and fWtfo)
etc., are pure Bengali words. These forms, however, should
not be confounded with those in which '^g'or'xS' has
originated from f if ' or ' \5.'
Though ? (P) has lost its position in the Bengali alphabet,
its ^-<3p sound is retained in many words of ra origin ; ^$1
from ^Tft*, (Tf^RT from C*R3", 5Tfr from ^fr, ^Tt^l from
ft^, C^tTt 5 ? from ^ , and (TTfttW from Tt?, are some in-
stances. It must be familiar to the students of Prakrita,
that at times no distinction is made between ' b ' and ' v '
and that in the later Magadhi, ' v ' as an adjunct to a
consonant, drops out altogether ; such as, fa is reduced to
simple fw. The reduction of ' v ' to 'b' cannot be said
to be due to Dravidian influence, as distinction between
' b ' and ' v ' is strictly mantained in Telegu, Tamil,
Malayalam and Canarese ; but the dropping out of ' v/
when it is an adjunct to a consonant, can be explained by
the rule of the Dravidian Grammar, which does not allow
consonants of different classes to form a compound. Accord-
ing to this rule, f^and ^1 of Ttff have to be reduced to fff or 5
and to (TTl or fl, if they are initial letters ; but if they occur
as medials, they have to become fw and >prl respectively ;
compare the forms 5^, and CTfal, Tff or ^ff on the one
hand, and the p -enunciation of the words 'srfcf? Offasfa)
and f^>|>it^ (f^Tt?) on the other.
Consonants. As the question of Dravidian influence is
being considered all along, I should add here a few remarks
LECTURE VI 97
regarding the Dravidian alphabet system. In the Tamil
sqript, we get only ^ to represent all the consonants of f -
^sf and this ^ is uttered with slight variations to pronounce
*f, 5| and .^. The usual Tamil sound of T is almost *f to
our ears. Similarly there are only T>, 1> and *f for all the
letters of their ^f or class. There is only one letter to
represent 5 and *f and the sound of 5 is peculiarly sibilant
in all the Dravidian languages. In connection with the
phonetic value of the Tamil consonants, a few remarks
relating to the consonants of the Aryan speech, may be
fittingly introduced.
From the admirable scientific analysis of the sounds
of our letters, in old grammatical works, we get consider-
able information, regarding the genesis of the consonants.
Professor Sayce, after considering the value of the gram-
matical works of the Greeks and other peoples, has rightly
made this remark, regarding the Sanskrit grammar and
phonology : " Far more thorough-going and scientific
were the phonological labours and classification of the
Hindu Pratisakhyas The Hindus had carefully
analysed the organs of speech, some centuries before the
Christian era, and composed phonological treatises which
may favourably be compared with those of our own
day."
That ?F changes into 5f by slightly raising the accent
(^ + -^f=^t$t*f) and that ^ and ^ are but aspirated
sounds of ?F and 5|, need not be demonstrated ; that 5 is a
variant of ^, ^ is an aspirated sound of 5, that ^ and 5f
are always interchangeable, may be detected even on
reference to the Sandhi rules. To serve the purpose I have
in view, let me adduce here some examples from the Vedic
or Chandasa speech. From ^l? (glow of light) we get
<5^ and $<|, both of which are identical in form and
13
98 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
meaning, as ?T and \ are one and the same ; we get also
fo (to perceive), C^5 (desire) and CF5 ( = fF) lined
together in one series. We may also notice, that from
C?t5 v (bright with light) c^fa (light) was derived ; the
later word < 5Tft ! ltT owes its origin to C^t^ or CTfa with an
addition of ^ as a prefix to the word. I draw the atten-
tion of the readers to the words C&\^ (Ct^t), 3^ (C^t^t),
fas? (c^5f) and <5f, (^3). Thus we see that the ^ of
Tamil may fitly represent the whole series of letters of
the T-?^f ; similarly 1?, \5 and f may be made as the sole
legitimate fathers of the letters of their class. That 1
is the same as 5 may also be shown by phonetic analysis ;
in the old Iranian ^, *f and *T were interchangeable.
The pronunciation of the consonants of class is
nearly as sibilant in Eastern Bengal, as it is in the
Dravidian speeches ; to represent this sound in letters I
write here 5, ^, ^ and ^f as scha, ssa, dza, zha.
That the letters ^, ^ and ^f were imported into ihe
Tamil script, some time after the introduction of what is
called the ' Vatteluttu alphabet,' can be detected on com-
paring the modern Tamil alphabet with the ' Grantba
character ' (prevailing now in Malabar) as well as with
the Telegu script. The Telegu script, which agrees in
the main with the Canarese, came into existence, at least
as early as the 7th century A. D., since Hiuen Tsang
speaks of the script, in the accounts of his travels in India.
The epigraphic records show, that in the 6th century A.D.,
northern script was in use in the Tamilakam country,
and that the modern Vatteluttu cannot be traced to
a time earlier than the 8th century A. 0. The Granth
character was introduced in the 10th century A. D., to
represent the North Indian Alphabet completely. At
this day, the speech of Malabar was identical with
LECTURE VI 99
the Tamil speech, and some letters from the Grantha script
were adapted in the Vatteluttu. These remarks will be
sufficient to show, that when the Dravidian people first
adopted the Northern script, they could, if they liked, intro-
duce all the letters of the North Indian script ; they elected
to adopt a limited number of letters, so as to represent
their natural sounds, they did not require all the letters
for their use.
What I have stated in the previous lecture, of the
origin and character of the cerebral letters, may just serve
the purpose we have in view. I proceed now therefore, to
consider the sound value of the sibilants and of the
letter ^.
8. It appears that 3 was derived from sibilant 5
which is intimately connected with *f in the matter of
origin ; fff^t is pronounced *n|ft in the U. P. and in
Orissa, and *f represents ^ in many speeches in Western
India ; in the Canarese script ^ is written by giving one
additional stroke to *[. Since ^3f, which is identical with
^?pf in the Vedic speech, became ^ in early > s anskrit, to
signify small (as in ^5^5 = ^1), we mav safely assert,
that ^ was pronounced as *[ in very early times, and this
peculiarity is not due to corrupt pronunciation in Bengal.
We must not forget, that in Pali and in the later Prakrtas,
^ *f was written to represent ^ as well as *f, occurring
after a f^*TSsH)3. ^ is clearly pronounced as 1 in Bengal and
is never reduced to the sound of v\. The sound of "f prevails
in our speech, and this *f is pronounced as T, only in some
cases where compounded with ^ and i, as in H), 'snffrsy, etc.
?f is pronounced as a dental only when compounded with <3
and *t. For purely Bengali words t is the only sibilant
that can be used.
Let me notice here some words of onomatopoetic
origin, in which besides other sounds, ^ and $ played a
100 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
good part. ^ indicated a heavy and solemn sound, while
$ (v5 included) signified a roaring sound ; f and ^ also
conveyed or were made to convey a sonorous sound. ^,
f*^> 1 *^f^ signified the sound of a horse or an elephant ;
C^fa comes from ^; (a heavy dull sound) + *[ ; ^^j is com-
posed of ^' 4-1*1 (^1 being the sound produced by striking
something which is hard). Compare also the words C*R
C CT ' + ^ indicating sound), csffi, ^, C$$\, ^, ^fa, ?[f^, C<Tft
OF + 3)i Tt^ (^ or ^l v sound + *), and ^ (from the
sound ^ s occasioned at the dryiug-up of water on fire).
In the Sanskrit language of a comparatively later time,
as well as in the Prakrtas, ^ may be pointed out as the
letter which has been used to indicate an awe-inspiring
sonnd ; 3v + v5=^3 of the later Vedic speech, may also be
noted. Our ^F, (&?S, Cfh?, ^5 ^5, ^ ^5, ^ ^5, etc.,
are examples in point.
^ and 1. The aspirate sound of ^ which has
created the extra consonants *f, % ^, ^f, etc., is not as is
very distinctly marked, fully pronounced in Eastern
Bengal ; the subdued sound of it is something like ^ ^
which cannot be properly pictured ; ^ as an initial letter,
is very clearly pronounced in other parts of Bengal, but
that there is a tendency to soften its sound when it occurs
as a medial or a final, is to be duly noted. It is a pecu-
liarity all over Bengal, that ^t"(3 is pronounced almost
like f*ft^ by dropping ^ and by retaining a portion of
the sound of the final 9 or ^ + ^1 ; sff^ is pronounced as (TTft
by introducing the long ^ sound compensating the loss of 3,
and ^1 appears in our speech and script as ^s$1. Even
when we omit to write ^ in such a word for . example as
'Sf^fr, our tongue glides a little over the ^ sound, and thus
we can distinguish this word in our pronunciation from ^t?T
to signify either ' wire ' or ' taste.' When ^ takes a *J-
it is pronounced as ^-^ in Bengali as well as in Oriya-
LECTURE VI 101
The pronunciation of ^ or <y\\5 is not exactly
5|?r or ^F* in Eastern Bengal, but is something like ^-^
or ^1'5r|-\s, while in Dravidian pronunciation, they are
uttered as 5f3 [and ^S. The non-aspirated pronunciation
of ^, *f, \5, etc., seems therefore due to Dravidian influence.
I remind you, that I noticed previously, the similar pro-
nunciation of the people of Ceylon. In the Chittagong
division of Eastern Bengal, however, the Mongolian in-
fluence has been so very much predominant, that in some
points, regarding the articulation of sounds, the Dravidian
peculiarities (though not obliterated) have been drowned;
unlike their neighbours of the Dae. a division, the people
of the Chittagong division, breathe the ' h ' sound into ^,
5, T, v5 and *f, and pronounce ^f^ (1t^), *PR fa*R), |*f ^T,
(*f ^0, etc. ; not having done away with the original
Dravidian influence, they do not pronounce ^ and ^S,
but they pronounce them as $|$t?r and ^^5 by doubling
the initial letters as it were.
Though the letters 5 to ^ are made markedly sibilants
in Eastern Bengal, as they are done in the Dravidian
lands, *f is seldom rightly pronounced by the ordinary
people of Eastern Bengal ; the reduction of *f to f in
Eastern Bengal (or more properly to a half ^ with
a wavy swing) cannot wholly be attributed to Mongolian
influence, since such a change of sound, may be noticed in
other parts of Bengal as well ; the word C^tHt 5 ! has been
changed into cft-ft*! or C^tTfa all throughout Bengal.
In the Sambalpur tract, we hear C^fl (there) for (Tf^fl
of standard Oriya ; this substitution of ^ for *f is
noticeable in Marhatti as well. I have already stated,
that the sound of ( *f ' predominates in Bengali ; I
should mention also, that Hem Chandra has noted in his
Prakrta Grammar, that '*f' takes the place of ' *f ' all
throughout, in the Magadhi speech, though the representa-
102 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
tion in script of the Magadhi Prakrta, shows the use of
dental Jf for the palatal *f.
Non-^fRS final. We cannot conclude without noticing
a peculiarity in the pronunciation of a simple consonant
occurring as a terminal in a word. On reference to the list
of words arranged in pairs below, it will be observed that
final letters of the first words of the pairs are pronounced
as distinct syllables, while those of the second words of the
pairs are ^Tg or silent. *5\*\ and ^Tfa, 3T5 and sj\5 (opinion),
^tq (black) and *fK ^5 and %s, <2Rf and ft<f, faf^s and
CTtf^S, constitute the short list in question, to illustrate
roughly this peculiarity. Let us frame tentative rules,
regarding the pronunciation of the simple consonants,
when they are final. We must first note, that as a rule,
the final simple consonants are 3?TS in Bengali, unlike
what the case is in Oriya ; the following are the rules for
what form exceptions.
(1) When the penultimate is ^*fS, no matter whether
the penultimate and the final are made into one compound
letter or not in spelling, the final is bound to be pronounced
as a distinct syllable, unlike what is the case in Hindi ; "fes,
^f, T&, etc., are examples. (2) The final simple conso-
nants of the verbs in the Imperative mood, second person,
are distinct syllables as in ^, ^f, $v\, etc., where the impera-
tive-indicating final ^ has now been dropped ; when the
expression is either non-honorific or highly honorific, ^T5
sound prevails, as ^3, ^ , PT , etc. and ^?R, ^f, 5^.
etc. (3) () When the final letter is the representative
of a compound letter of the original word, or (b] where
the final letter of our vernacular word has become final by
the decay of a syllable or of some syllables, ^f3
pronunciation prevails. It is not asserted, that in all
cases of such origin of words, the final simple consonant,
LECTURE VI 103
must as a rule be pronounced as non-3pf^ ; what is
pointed out is, that where the normal ^T^ pronunciation
is deviated from, the words disclose the history of
their origin as formulated above. *5\e\ (from ^5f = <ff),
43 (from 43t^), ^t* (from ftff*t = ^t^*t), etc., are
some examples. Contrast sffl, 3t*I, <4^, f%f> TF,
Jf*f, etc. Notice also 5f\5 (like) decayed form of our
vernacular *T5^ and Sf (opinion). It has also to be noticed,
in the history of such words as C$$, ^5, ^5\e\, etc., that
their earlier forms were Gstft, ^1, ^fll, etc. ?F[*[= black
is pronounced as Tt*Tl in Eastern Bengal, and this form
TtTl obtains in Upper India. It is further noticeable, that
~5fl, like ^-'srj and ^-<5r| is found conjoined f o many noun
sterns, to indicate the adjective forms of the nouns ; we are
not, however, concerned with that phenomenon here. (4)
The participle-forming \ (but not ^5) is pronounced as a
distinct syllable, as <^5, J^e, <S?t\5 ; '^rf^f, etc.; contrast
with them ^f^s, CTt%, ff^s, etc. (5) The past-indi-
cating T suffix, which owes its origin to participle-forming
^>, is pronounced uon-^ff, as ^f?R, (ffi, ^^\, etc. ; the ^
ending of the suffix ^rf^ (occurring in second person only) is
also similarly pronounced, as <sr% ^f^^, ffafo etc. (6)
When the initial letter is compounded with ^ or *I, and (a)
vowels other than ^ do not come between the initial and
the final, and (b] the consonant ^ or ^ does not intervene,
the final letter is pronounced as a distinct syllable ; e.g.,
3&, 3T5, (SWf (contrast with *f*M of ^fg ending), ?fcf, etc.;
but notice the ^^ finals of (a) sfff , <2fff, Itl, <2ft1i <2PTl?i
*2tft% C^It^, GH, ^-^, etc., where vowels other than ^
intervene ; mark again, (b) <2f^ and ^^\, where ^ and ^
intervene. As an exception to the general rule, we get
first, the word ^, the final of which is uttered as a
syllable ; we notice the general exception, where f is final ;
as 1R, qf, at?, etc. (7) The simple finals of the words of
104 BENGALI PHONOLOGY
two letters are ^t^, when the initial letter has t|i for its
adjunct ; e.ff., f*f, ^5, [*l, ^*f, etc. ; contrast with them
the ^S sounds of the finals of f W, ^*H, ^fW, etc. (8)
The finals of only a few re-duplicated words develop into
sounds, when emphasis is put upon the words, as
in ' fo *ICT&t ^Hg[ " and *{< *?5 in
In the name of framing rules, the cases where
pronunciation prevails, have been set out in a classi-
fied order ; to frame regular rules, we have to find out the
essential underlying cause or causes, governing the pheno-
menon. latuleNo. 1, we observe convenience in the
matter of pronunciation. In rule No. 3, we notice, tlvat to
compensate the loss of letters at the end, a T^1~ sound is
drawn long; this is virtually the guiding cause in rule
No. 2, since ?F?T, PT, ^, etc., are the reduced forms of
^^, 5*Tf> ^^j etc. As to other oases, I fail to enunciate
any natural law, which causes the occurrence of the
sound.
The scope of my subject did not allow me to notice
the allied and cognate sound peculiarities as occur in other
Aryan languages ; I refer you however to a few Iranian
peculiarities, just to suggest how wide our field of research
is. In the first place we may notice, in connection with
the sound of the vowel 31, that in Iranian, the radical ' ar '
(Hi) is reduplicated by ^ ; that the Indian sound of t|( has
always been ' ri ' and not ' ru,' is clearly demonstrated by
it. In the second place, we may observe without any
reference to the ethnic composition in Iran, that ' s/ is
generally reduced to ' h,' which has been noticed as a
special peculiarity in Eastern Bengal. In the third place,
we may refer to the phenomena of Epenthesis and Prothe-
sis, as occur in the old Iranian speech for comparison with
LECTURE VI 105
similar phenomena, noticed before. As an example of
Iranian Epenthesis, we may notice that the Vedie \<?f\5
stands as Bava-i-ti in Iranian ; by Epenthesis, I mean the
introduction of anticipatory ^ or ^ in the middle of a
syllable. As to Prothesis, i.e., regarding the introduction
of an anticipatory ^ or ^, initially before a consonant, we
may cite the example of t *H1 3^> which corresponds to
Vedic <N e tf% 5 . Many other Iranian peculiarities, as agree-
ing with some provincial peculiarities in India, may be
studied very profitably by the Indian students of Com-
parative Philology.
SOME FACTORS RELATING TO PHONOLOGY
AND ACCENT
LECTURE VII
SECTION I
A Comparative Study of Accent
The term aksara (literally " undying/' i.e., the ever-
living and essential factor in human speech) signifies a
letter as well as a syllable in the Vedic and so also in
the later Sanskrit language. Diffei ent sounds of letters
coalescing themselves in euphonic combination, and
eonsonauts unvitalized by vowel sounds, being joined
to other consonants, generate compound letters; these
compound letters, as well as the simple letters, being
so many independent syllables in a word, must be
separately pronounced. No doubt, in this method of
pronunciation, we find the Vedic in agreement with the
Sanskrit speech, but we have to notice that in the matter
of accent, Vedic language differs very widely and radi-
cally from Sanskrit. In the Vedic language, the vowel
sounds were not so very rigidly and unalterably fixed as
long or short, as they are in Sanskrit ; though, no doubt,
a definite value is found assigned to each and every vowel,
we can clearly see, on reference to the pada-patha system,
that the accentual stress of ^fF, ^fa 1 ^, and ^f^ft^j change
what may be called the normal sounds of the vowels.
We have to first notice, that the final vowel of many
flexional endings and of several adverbs, is given by the
text, sometimes as short, sometimes as long. We have to
notice next in the Vedic accent system, that not only the
syllables, the words, and the phrases, but even many
sentences are found accented. This fact, which discloses
LECTURE VII 107
the living character of the speech, may be studied in the
excellent analysis and discussion of the matter, in Prof.
Macdonnel's Vedic Grammar. It may no doubt be said
of the Vedic verses, that the general rythm of versification
is not affected by accents j but that because of musical
stress and accents, the verses are not lifeless quantitative
ones (as in Sanskrit), should be duly appreciated. Since
it is a fact, that natural gestures and modulations of voice,
which contribute to the growth of the human speech, do
survive as living factors in some proportion in each and
every developed speech, since it is undeniable, that every
real and living speech must have an accent system of its
own, a few examples of the Vedic accent should be adduced
here, to form some notions regarding the Vedic, as well
as the post- Vedic classical languages. Before citing
the examples, I should note that ^Jff^i (as the meaning of
it indicates) is the high accent in the Sama Veda, while
as a later innovation, 3 ^1% ( ? 1 of the next grade, is the high
accent in the Kg veda ; it will therefore be convenient
to name the grades of accent by high, middle and low
pitch or accent.
The first example I cite, is to show how by change
of accent, a Vedic word changes its meaning. If the
high accent be put upon ^1 of ^t^*J<3, the word will mean
(being constructed as ^fff^) ' a person who is the father
of sons who are or became kings ' ; but if the last letter ^
is accented, the meaning will be, in the ^5VJ?R compound,
' the son of a king. ' For A similar change of meaning
in Bengali, let me cite a few examples : if the Bengali
word ^R is accented on the first syllable ^, the meaning
will be ' a graft/ but with accent on the last syllable ?R,
it will mean ' a pen.' How because of change in pronun-
ciation, occasioned by difference in stress, a word varies
in meaning, should be studied to realize the importance
108 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
of accent in Bengali. Cf. ^tf\ (flour) and ^rf$\ (gum),
^1% (beam) and ^5 (shell), <Pt^1 (blind) and ^t^l (edge),
CTN (open) and C*TN (tile), c|t^1 (boy) and c|t^1 (to
throw), CSft^l (a knot) and C^ft^l (as derived from <5fc
signifying ill luck), ITfa (a bath, derived from ^fsj) and 5t*[
(he wants), *TtT> (bathing place) and ^Ttl> (dereliction of
duty), etc. Notice again, a case of accent where gesture
becomes partly prominent. If a smell be pleasing, the
word for our agreeable sensation will be normally accented,
and the word ^ will be accented on the first syllable, but
our feeling of disgust about bad smell, will be expressed
by putting a long accent upon the last letter, without any
qualifying adjective being added : the utterance ^-^-^i
is sufficiently expressive. To express agreeableness, the
particles of interjection in Bengali, are accented closely
on the letter when the particle is of one letter, and on the
first syllable, when the word is of more than one syllable ;
while on the other hand, in expressing our painful feeling
or feeling of disgust, the accent is on the last syllable, and
when the interjection is of one letter, the accent is put in
such a manner on the letter, as to generate an additional
syllable with a drawl sound upon it. For example, in
expressing the feeling of admiration, the first syllables of
4t^1 and Ttlt^ will be accented, and a close accent
will be put upon the letter 31 ; on the other hand 3t*lpr
(not as exclamation of admiration), is accented on the last
syllable, to express the feeling of pain. Similarly <5fl !
gets a broad accent, generating a drawl, to express pain or
disgust. It may again be noted, that Tf^l ! will be
something like ^1-^8-^1? with accent on the second
syllable, when there is a banter in the tone ; to signify
such a sentiment, the interjection 31 will be so modulated,
as to make it a word of three syllables, with two ^Tl sounds.
This is difficult to express in script. We may consider
LECTURE VII 109
also, that the emphasis-indicating ' very much ' tends to
duplicate the final consonant of a word ; <5H5\5 from ^^5
and <SF5^ (so much !), ^J (very small), C^t^ft^i C^tt^l
from C*tt5l, C5tH yfa from ff% or ct^, fW and H**\,
Wl from *FW, ^5J5, ^$^ from Wl, ^5f| from C^fl? ^t%>
as in ;|^3f, from rfs, and ^l^t 5 ! G^Tl (very early in the
morning) are examples. We may compare similar forms
in Oriya of Sambalpur, as *f\5^5| (to fry) to indicate C^%
^5 ^US 3Ft^ xot^fl (to make crisp by overdoing), and ($V$\
(for C 5 !^ = moustache) ^f% (twirling) to express one's
defiant attitude.
For my second example, regarding Vedic accent in
metrical composition, I quote a Vedic verse, which is full
of emotional sentiments. In this verse, the mixed feeling
of eager solicitude and despondency has been expressed.
The first portion of the first verse of the 95th Sukta of
the 10th Mandal, which is addressed by Pururava to his
fugitive wife Urvasi, on meeting her accidentally, stands
with accents as follows :
SfttS 5^*11 f%&
We cannot fail to notice, that many long vowels have
been made either short or semi-short, with accents of lower
grade upon them, and the short syllable 5? in SR^fl has a high
accent on it. How on account of the subdued utterance
of ' 3>t3/ and a high accent on the final syllable of ' SfftV
the feeling of coaxing with fervour, has been expressed,
may be explained and appreciated, if in the first place, the
verse is correctly recited, and in the seeoiH place, we care-
fully consider, how to express this very sentiment, we
accentuate, our words and modulate our voice to-day. If
we translate ^S SfftS by SC^II ^% or by ^etffte, we can
110 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
see that to express anxious solicitude or cajoling, we have
only to half accentuate ^t^fl, but have to fully accentuate *ft
of ^^*t, or the last ^ of ^SC^fl-S, with a peculiar modulation
of voice. This thorough agreement of Bengali accent, with
the Vedic, in this particular instance, may be merely a
chance agreement, but all the same, it is interesting to note,
that in Hindi, as well as in Oriya, the method of accent is
different. In the corresponding Hindi form of the expres-
sion, as C9 ^^*ft or tc$ f*faft^, the interjection 3^3 will be
pronounced with high accent or great emphasis ; similarly
'4' of if) ^% or <n <R of Oriya idiom, will require the high
accent to be placed on ($. Even though <$ comes before a
name in the vocative case in Bengali, the name itself is
modulated peculiarly, to signify address, and the interjection
portion is not so vigorously pronounced, as it is done in
Hindi ; the forms, ^fa C^l (Hindi) and ^ C^l 3t*l (Sambal-
pur Oriya) may be compared with our corresponding
Bengali form. In the Nepalese, cfj must invariably come
before a word in the vocative case. When thus noticing
different accentual peculiarities in the vocative case, I
should note, that in the Dravidian speeches, interjections do
not occur before the words in the vocative case.
The third example, I cite 'for Vedic accent, relates to
the pronunciation of the word Agni, as occurs in the Sama
Veda, the Maitrayani Samhita, and the Kathaka Samhita ;
we find the high accent placed upon the compound letter
ftf (i.e., to sav upon the final ft) and not upon the initial
% which alone should be pronounced long in the Sanskrit
'language. That with this very accent on the second
syllable, the word ^Sfftf was pronounced in our oldest-known
prakrta (misnamed Pali), may be gathered from some facts
which I should notice here. We get ftft and W^ftl, as two
different decayed forms of ^rf?t in the aforesaid Prakrta ;
they represent presumably, two different provincial forms
LECTURE VII 111
of the old time. We can clearly see in the history of the
word fVffsr, that on account of accent on the last syllable,
the unaccented first syllable dropped out, following the
natural rule of phonetic decay. In our consideration of
the form ^tfa, we first notice, that according to our previ-
ously formulated rule (stated in illustrating the Dravidian
influence),^ of the second syllable has been doubled, as letters
of different ^f cannot form a compound; the word is there-
fore, more in a changed form than in a decayed state. As
to the pronunciation of it, I refer to a line of a verse
composed in $sr<q@l, as occurs in the Thera Gatha :
<8H|f9t ^ is^SffaffSl Wftsf (like the fire blazing in the
midnight). The metre ^liere is only seemingly faulty,
as the second syllable of wf^t is not long ; but if we
accept the proposition, that the short syllable in question
has a high accent on it, it will be admitted that the accent
makes up for the shortness in question.
We notice, both in the so-called Pali and the later
Prakrta dialects, that their speakers changed the spelling
of the words according to accent and pronunciation, but did
not introduce like the Dravidians, such additional vowels
as short <) and short ^3. The fact however, that long and
short vowels were articulated short or long, following the
natural accent, can be easily determined by referring to the
prose composition with which the Prakrta literature
abounds. Professor Pischell has rightly asserted in his
work on the Prakrta Grammar, that the Vedic accent or
tone did not die out, but existed in the so-called Pali
Prakrta. The learned scholar came to this conclusion, by
looking deep into the causes, that led both to the phonetic
decay and the accretion of new letters in the Pali words.
Professor Jacobi, misled by the modern artificial method of
reading Pali, has criticized this view, and has asserted, thai
the Vedic tone did not survive in the Pali speech, but only
112 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
it was a sort of stress, that was in use in the- utterance of
words. We must remember, that accent is a thing of hard
growth and cannot die out easily. By the introduction
of new racial elements, the old accent system of a speech
may undergo some change, but the system itself is not
wholly effaced.
We have seen, that a very regular and thorough-going
accent system prevailed in the Vedic speech ; we have
also seen from an example of a Vedic verse, that emotions
were freely expressed in the Chandasa speech, and in
consequence thereof, the vowels could not be kept
rigidly fixed in their long or short pronunciation. It is
on the other hand perfectly clear, that the Vedic text
for illustration (beginning with 3J3 ^113, etc.) will be a
lifeless quantitative verse in Sanskrit, requiring artificial
and meaningless raising and lowering of vowel s <unds in
the following form :
We should not however overlook, that inspite of
rigidity of rules, we have to put different stress upon
different words occurring in a Sanskrit verse, when there
is a feelingly recitation in contradistinction with what
may be called metrical articulation. No doubt, we can see,
that this sort of putting emphasis upon phrases, is not
due to the living character of the language, in which the
poems are composed; there are many good Sanskrit
verses, wherein we find, that their poets by virtue of their
skill, have arranged the words of long vowels in such
a manner, that the feelingly expressions may be appro-
priately brought out, by putting emphasis upon the long
vowel? only : The example of the verse in the ^f$*t^,
beginning with f^fl ^tf^ fr^fl *f1wl ^<T1, is in point.
This is rather infusing life in dead bones.
LECTURE VII 113
I have judged here the Sanskrit language, by taking
the question of accent only into consideration ; other
facts, as are necessary to be discussed in determining the
character of a language, will certainly be discussed
relevantly in a subsequent lecture, but we should not
forget, that accent is the life breath which vitalizes the
words, and a speech without accent is a contradiction in
terms. We have seen from the accent point of view
only, how unnaturally rigid the Sanskrit language is; we
will see on references to other facts, that this artificial
rigidity is due to the fact, that Sanskrit had to accommo-
date itself within a frame-work of generalized rules,
which some mighty grammarians constructed in their
zeal to perpetuate linguistic purity, when in consequence
of a natural change, the speech of the holy Vedas was
transformed into a new popular speech.
I should mention in this connection, that some persons
are very wrong in their opinion, that such a living speech
as Oriya, is without an accent system. The misconception
is due to the fact, that in Oriya, as in Sanskrit, all the
letters are pronounced as distinct independent syllables.
That inspite of it, the letters and words are accented by
the Oriyas, without any reference to the long or short
sound of a vowel, is instructive. I cannot deal with the
Oriya accent system here ; I adduce only one example
to serve my purpose. ^Tl (gone) as an exclamation of
surprise, will be articulated with accent on the first syllable,
which is short, and the word will sound like 5j-^r-^c[|
(Oh ! it is gone), while the accent on the second syllable
in similar feeling of surprise will bring in another 5tTl
as <2f53 or accumulated unaccented letters, like a tag to
the word, and the sound will be like sffil-^rfsffll. I should
inform you in this connection, that in Oriya the final
syllable of a word is generally accented and this is why,
15
114 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
(a) the final simple consonants are not pronounced ?T3,
(6) 3t^1 has been reduced to ^1 and the Apabhraiisa
form of ^\?& is ^*Tl, and (c) the half nasal " is placed
on the final letters of such words as ^rfff", ^, etc. ; it is
noticeable, that when the Bengalis write the Oriya words
^tf^f* ^f > e te., they represent them as ^tf^> 3f^, etc.
In my general criticism relating to the question of
accent, I have noticed many peculiarities of ours ; I pro-
ceed now to consider some other marked peculiarities,
as should engage the attention of all scholars. As a
general rule, in our standard Bengali speech, the first
syllables are accented, while curiously enough the last
syllables are accented in Eastern Bengal. Mr. J. D.
Anderson, late of the Bengal Civil Service, has written
of late some very suggestive and learned notes in the
J. R. A. S. on the character of Bengali syllable and
accent. To the students of philology these original notes
are of very high value. Misled by the wrong idea
or information, that the people of the districts of
Mymensingh and Dacca, have the tendency to make
the first syllable accented, Mr. Anderson has com-
pared the Assamese mode of pronunciation with that of
Eastern Bengal, and has subjected the Eastern Bengal
accent system to Assamese influence. As the case is quite
the contrary, we must look to some other influence for
this phenomenon. Let me just give a few examples as
to how the words are accented differently in Eastern
Bengal and Central Bengal. In Central Bengal, ^f*f1
having the accent on the first syllable, the unaccented
syllable is pronounced soft, and T sounds like ^5 ; in East
Bengal, however, srNt, 3>'f1, C^tif , etc., are the accented
forms. With accent on the first syllable, the final g of
C^t*tfa is wholly or partially dropped in Central Bengal,
while the accent on the last syllable in Eastern Bengal
LECTURE VII 115
brings out Rfl and 9 distinctly. As a result of accent
being placed on the first syllables, the unaccented second
syllables of many words, have undergone a natural phonetic
decay, in the common speech of the people of Central
Bengal, and thus the unaccented ^ sound in the second
syllables of ^f<R, <?f?r$r| and ^fa^Tfa have become extinct,
and the forms ^^, ~^8 and <Ml - t5( have prevailed. As
in Eastern Bengal the last syllables of ^1^*1, 'srf^Jf, etc.,
are accented, and the first portions must be uttered to
come to the last syllables, almost no change takes place
in those words ; but when the first portions are accented,
the two vowels < 5Tl and t, coalesce and long *$, which is
the combination of ^ and ^ takes the place of the first
two letters ; thus iil and <fi take the place of ^^1 and
'srf^f. In Manbhum and in some parts of Bankura, which
are contiguous to the lands of the Dravidiaus, the last
syllables are mostly accented; in the sentence 0t*Tfr C^T*I
^tT^j ? (Is he your son ? ) the last, syllables of all the three
words are accented. Because of change of accents, C^l
is pronounced (3$\ in Central Bengal. ^><?f, the old Prakrta
or proto- Bengali form of C^Tfl still survives in Manbhum,
partly because of the hilly accent, and partly because the
accent is placed on the last syllable. It is notorious, that
the last syllables of words are generally very much
accented by the Draridians. The final 'Sfi of foreign nouns
are for this reason made into ai, as for example sff*tW^Tl
becomes sff^sWfr. This is why the vulgar people in the
South, pronounce the English words ' government/ 'and/
etc., as governmen-ta, an-d, as, etc. I have spoken before
of the Dravidian element in Bengal ; it is the excess of this
element which I suppose to be the cause of Eastern Bengal
peculiarity. In the Chittagong Division however, where
the Mongolian influence is considerable, the first syllables
are mostly accented vigorously, by almost duplicating
116 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
the accented syllables, and thus ffa, C^tTt^, etc., are
reduced to Wfc, CTtTfa, etc. ; but in other respects the wide-
spread Dravidian influence of basic character, peeps through
the thin Mongolian veil.
I have spoken before of the general disinclination in
Bengal, of not fully articulating ^, when it is not an initial
letter, and that thus we have got such forms as ^Tt^,
*T^, *^w>, etc., for ^flfec, *iRc^, nfec, etc. When the
tendency to put the stress of accent upon the first syllable
is coupled with this phenomenon, we see how ^t^T and
xsl^lto are reduced to \st^ and \5ftv5. That in spite of the
decay of ^, the sound of the letter is partially retained in
our tongue, can be detected in the mode of our pronunciation
of those words, in contrast with the pronunciation of \5t^
meaning taste or wire and \5t5, a verb which signifies
"becomes hot." Really speaking therefore,^ is not dropped,
but its sound fades into indistinctness, after the accented
^5t^ ; as such, it is improper and useless to leave out ?[ in
our spelling in these cases ; those who elect to pronounce
Ngfa for ^fit^Tfr will do so in spite of the letter ^, for accent
on the first syllable will soften the sound of the letter ^.
The so-called reformers should see, that if f is re-
tained, it will not be sounded much because of the accent
on the preceding syllable; again presence of 3> will main-
tain the right pronunciation of the words concerned.
SOME FACTORS RELATING TO PHONOLOGY
AND ACCENT
LECTURE VIII
SECTION 2
Bengali Metrical System
We should do well to proceed now to ascertain the
character of the Bengali accent of olden days, by examining
the metrical system, preserved in the poetical works of old
Bengal. Adverting to the fact, that the early Vaisnava
poets of Bengal treated each and every letter as a syllable,
and made the final consonantal sounds non-hasanta, by
imitating the old fashionable poet Vidyapati of Mithila,
many people have formed two wrong notions ; one is that
Bengali was derived from Maithili, and the other is
that our mode of pronunciation and of counting syllables,
was of the type presented by those poets. Mithila became
no doubt, at one time, a portion of old Gaucj which extended
to the foot of Nepal if not into Nepal itself, but the
Maithili speech of the days of the Vaisnava poets, had
nothing to do with our Bengali language. As to elements,
common to Bengali and Maithili, we have to look to the
older Magadhi speech of which, notice will be taken
later on. From the earliest known time, our Bengali poets
(excepting those who followed the Maithili fashion) have
uniformly composed their poems, not by counting letters
but by counting syllables. Looking to the fact, that the
fourteen letters of the *ftft verse for example, are the same
as fourteen matras of fourteen syllables, the tffW may be
seemingly regarded as composed of fourteen letters ;
but that it is a syllable (which may consist of more than
118 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
one letter) and not a letter which is the unit in a
Bengali word, should never be lost sight of . How is it
that consistently with or rather in harmony with the
phenomenon, that our metrical system is grounded on a
syllabic and accentual basis, a fixed number of letters come
in a chanda, will be explained presently, after considering
some facts leading to the point.
To explain the character of Bengali syllables, let
me set forth some words with their syllable divisions by
marking the syllables off, by the sign hyphen : fl-^j 'STl-fl-
&W> ^H^C^fOj ^f-^-^t^> etc., will show that there may be
less number of syllables than the number of letters in a
word. Mr. J. D. Anderson has rightly remarked with
reference to our phrase accents as well as in respect to the
syllables in a word, that this special aspect of phrase accent
in a word, " is sufficiently dominant to be the basis of
accentual verse in Bengali." Mr. Anderson has very
successfully demonstrated what I once feebly pointed out
in a Bengali essay, that the assertion of our Pandits, that
the *fSfS metre is not composed of syllables but of fourteen
letters, is wrontr. The two lines quoted by Mr. Anderson
from Krttivasa in J. R. A. S., 1913, 861, maybe cited to
show, that the lines of fourteen letters consist of twelve
and thirteen syllables respectively, and that the verse moves
on with syllables and not with letters. The lines, as
accented by Mr. Anderson stand as :
It will be noticed that it is the accent on C*R of
in the second line, which ha? given the easy motion required
by the rhythm, and by virtue of accents, lines of seemingly
unequal syllables have agreed in the metre. I adduce
now another example, to illustrate our metrical system.
LECTURE VIII 119
Take first a line of verse which accommodates fifteen letters
which coincide with fifteen syllables :
Let us then notice, that maintaining this very metre,
lines of fifteen syllables may be introduced in a verse,
though counting by letters, the lines may contain twenty
or twenty-two letters :
To indicate caesura, I have divided the lines above keep-
ing eight syllables in the first foot. The first line of the
verse contains twenty-two and the second twenty letters.
Refer to whichever poet of the past time you please, except-
ing the Vaisnava pouts, who imitated non-Bengali forms,
you will find that our verses are all based on accentual
basis. I quote here only some lines from Dasarathi Ray
and Isvar Gupta, who preceded our immortal poet
Madhusudan.
If read according to the natural accents of the words,
it will be seen that the syllables being taken as units, there
are eight distinct sounds of eight letters in each of the first
two feet, and sounds of ten letters occur in the third,
fulfilling the requirements of number of letters for such a
f^*fft metre. Next after this verse of Dasarathi, a verse
of Isvar Gupta in our indigenous C^Ft^f may be noticed.
tfa'l
120 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
Before proceeding to show, how from our indigenous songs
which unmistakably disclose our accent system of old
times, not only the literary Bengali verses but the Sanskrit
verses as well originated, let me notice here the wrong
opinions of some eminent Bengali writers, regarding the
character of our versification. It has been wrongly held
by some, that in the old poetry of Bengal, ^Jfg words
practically do not exist. It has been wrongly asserted, that
in our old poetry, natural accent was not o.ared for and the
" unnaturalness of recitation was made up for by chanting
the verses to a tune." This is only true of those writers,
who imitate the old Vannava poets in the matter of their
versification and diction, that an adventitious artificial
jingle has been introduced.
In addition to what I have quoted from the old poets,
I quote below another verse from Krttivasa to substantiate
my statement and to show the incorrectness of the opinion
just referred to.
I
The word fetVs rhyming with i>srfsr<J, leaves no room for
even a careless reciter to articulate its final \5 with a vowel
sound ; that C^5 and Tft*fa carry normal pronunciation,
is absolutely clear. The supporters of the contrary opinion
are found even to name ^nl 3 ^! of Bharatchandra in the
list of the delinquents, without noticing that if we leave a
few artificial Sanskritic verses out of consideration, Bharat-
chandra must be given the credit of having composed
verses with words of common use with their natural accent.
'ST^fl^Sfffl as well as his other works, abounds with verses
like:
LECTURE VIII 121
When, more than fifty years ago, we read Madan-
moban's poem *ft%\ 5R, etc., we were not asked by our
village teachers to deviate from the usual pronunciation,
and did never read *R, <R, ^^, iTNK 1** *IH f"IWt (?ff
5H, etc., with final ^ sound.
Despite the fact that Madhusudan has drawn largely
upon the Sanskrit vocabulary for some effect in the
blank verse, his verses have to be read by putting proper
accents upon the words. Is it not true, that far from
imposing an adventitious artificial jingle upon our verse,
and far from throttling our natural accented words to
death, Hemchandra has made the Bengali verse to move
with natural accent, with uncommon vigour and rapidity ?
I think I have made it clear, that Bengali words with
their accent have always been used in our Bengali verse,
and the exception to the rule has only been occasional,
where there has been an imitation of the forms of some
Vaisnava poets. The imported metrical system of some
Vaisnava poets could never take root in Bengal.
I proceed now to show from the history of evolution
of our metrical system, '[ that the accent system which
now prevails, has been the accent system of the Bengali-
speaking people, from the time about which faint sug-
gestions can only be made, by taking a stand at the
shadowy threshold of dim past. The history of the evo-
lution of human institutions has made us familiar with
this phenomenon, that our verse with our metrical system
owes its origin to tribal festive songs, which in their turn
originated from primitive expressions of emotions. In
its normal condition, therefore, no metrical system of any
race, can have any other basis than an accentual one.
To ensure convenience, I refer first of all to such
Sanskrit metres as are of undoubted late origin. srfrWf-3^5
is a <$^f of late origin and its origin in Magadha-Gauda
16
122 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
cannot be seriously doubted. The hemistiches of
one line of this verse are divided below by partition
lines :
? I TO* i t * w i sm TO* i
Each hemistich is really a complete foot, and the
characteristics of it are repeated in subsequent hemistiches.
A portion of our nursery rhyme will be seen to be exactly
in accord with it. It is as follows :
| 5TT? Of^ I tf tfS I C^t^fl tfa I
The apparent inaccuracy in the second hemistich of
the first foot disappears if the 3f?T or tune underlying the
Sanskrit as well as the Bengali verse is rightly caught.
Uniformity in Sanskrit metre is maintained by the fixity
of long and short sounds, while without following the
Sanskrit rule, mere tune may maintain the purity of the
metre with natural accent in the Bengali verse. Compare
the same !pf in another nursery rhyme :
fclf*W *ttm, fr!^ TIES ; S5tf fRtf<R ^tfo ^IW I
It will be seen that how the four aksaras required in each
hemistich in Sanskrit, correspond exactly to the four
syllable-unit of Bengali. No one will venture to say, that
our village girls or matrons imitated the *CH4$1<4|v|? ; that
the Pancjits utilised the indigenous chhanda for a Sanskrit
metre verging upon Ulc^^ve, cannot be doubted. When
songs were composed with matras, numerous chhandas
cropped up in Sanskrit, and the verses were set in indi-
genous tunes. To illustrate this properly, I take a verse
of a very familiar song from the ^St^ftf^ 5 *. I divide
the lines for the purpose of my analysis, and put the tag
portions in brackets.
^fr qfr i fcfotffa |
i
LECTURE VIII 123
i ^ ^R i (raroi) i
I (SWfaO II
etc., as sj3l or refrain.
It is first to be noticed, that each portion divided by
partition lines consists oi either five letters or five matras.
The beginning of the refrain portion if divided similarly,
a great artificiality will be noticed, since the first division
will take in only the first three letters f<2ten>1 ; but if sung
according to the tune, this unnaturalness will disappear,
and the whole refrain will be found to be set in music
with all regularities. Compare with it the line composed
in Bengali C^^t^^f, already quoted above, and is quoted
again, for facility of reference :
If we exclude the introductory STtsTtrfa Tf 5 T|c^ci which is
pronounced as ^ffFs, and if we set apart the word srffa as
a tag, the essential agreement between the Bengali metre
and the Sanskrit metre, will be obvious ; the word ^tfr if
pronounced with lengthening sound as is done in reciting
a verse of the C*r*tWfj its agreement with C^fr'> will also
become clear. In C*T<FfSpf there is an introductory portion
which is of pecuUar nature ; the first portion of the
first line becomes the independent introductory portion of the
verse. The introductory line (?\ (3 C^f! *$1% ^VS, must fi'st
be articulated as ^^WtS, and then it is to be repeated as
^TF with the other portions gf the verse. The verse then
will stand thus
124 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
That the refrain portion, therefore of the Sanskrit song,
originates from the introductory tag, becomes rather clear.
No doubt there has been some lengthening of the tune in
Sanskrit in the refrain portion, but this is because a
uniformity of the metre has been maintained. To explain
the matter more clearly, let me notice here a verse which
has been composed by exactly adopting the metre of Jaya-
deva's song wfa tftf, etc. ; it will be observed in this verse
that the essential character of the chhanda has not been
affected, even though there has been either a little length-
ening or a little shortening of some matras, in conformity
with the genius of the Bengali metre. The Bengalicised
Sanskrit verse runs as :
If the portions ^fs, etc., and C*1bilfo>, etc., of Jayadeva's
gong, and the corresponding lines of the Bengali verse be
put aside, the following Bengali verse composed after an
indigenous Bengali metre, will be found to be in perfect
agreement with the chhanda in question :
* Cft CW\ CWft, 3
^CT,
For an example of a Sanskrit metre, corresponding
to or agreeing with the Bengali I^*tfl, which may
easily be conceived to have evolved the longer or ftffsptft,
I lay again the poet Jayadeva under contribution. In his
LECTURE VIII 125
if f^C5t1 be separated from the third foot, the three feet
will be found to be of equal length in quantity. We can
therefore see, that the final fa'CSt^* comes in as a tag to
break the monotony. Consquently, to trace the origin of
the chhanda, we may safely take into consideration, the three
feet of the verse leaving the tag portion out. Corresponding
exactly to these three feet in form and tune, we get the
lines of a country song, which is sung in a game, that may
be fitly described as choral dance. In this game a boy
usually stands in the centre of a ring, formed by a num-
ber of little boys and girls standing hand in hand : the
boy in the centre, seeking slyly the opportunity to
break through the circle to run away, goes on singing
an action song <p^ ^ Tffa, and the boys and girls
who encircle him, sing half dancing the chorus- C3\ Wl
3tf*1, C^l C^l 3tf*U It is significant to note, that this
very game of Bengal, prevails in the far off Sambalpur
tract, and it is this very C^l C3\ Ttf*l> conveying no meaning
to us, is sung as chorus in the country places of that tract ;
that the game and the song originated in remote past, is
forcibly indicated by this very circumstance. Again, when
C^l C^l Tffa is sung twice as chorus, the whole portion
becomes a ^T^lwfft minus the tag, which may be an
improvement upon the song, in the line set forth above.
The Pandits who look for our 'fafa, a respectable
origin, make the Sanskrit ^3$ vg } the forbear of our
humble "fttS, though the tune and the form of the one
do not agree with those of the other. That our nursery
rhyme ftU t5 frf^T Tj^S, etc., is wholly in accord with
our *f3t<T, cannot even for a moment Le doubted. Though
the lines move on keeping time with the note of a tune
imbedded in syllabic accent, they contain fourteen letters,
and at the end of the first foot of a line consisting of
eight letters, we get the requisite caesura. It will be
126 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
noticed in the last line of the verse quoted below, that
<Tl of tTffi being lengthened by the stress of an accent, the
loss of one letter has been made up for. The verse is :
? it* i
The purpose I have in view, does not allow me
to write elaborately on the genesis of our metrical system ;
a separate treatise should be devoted to the execution of
the work. The nature of our accent, the accentual basis
of our metrical system, and the fact that our accent has
been retaining its peculiar character since long, are factors
which should principally engage our attention. That
in respect of our accent, a long continuous current may
be observed to have flown through ages, will be clearer
when we consider other facts, and the readers will have to
form their opinion, by considering the effects of what may
be called cumulative evidence.
As to the origin of many Sanskrit metres from popular
rhymes, such non-Sanskritic names as 0*11>4 ( indicating
special emphasis on the third letter f%3T? + ^F ), Cfft^
(of equal length with Cttv^, leaving out the initial and
the final accented syllables ; the accent falls regularly after
two intermediate unaccented syllables i. e., ^ or ffa1 or
' push ' comes after ' Ofl ' or two) ^fat C*ffi (the word c*f*l
indicates the origin), etc., may be referred to.
I cannot certainly deal with our metrical system at
a greater length here, but I cannot at the same time con-
clude this section of my lecture without referring you to
the Hindi and the Oriya modes of reciting poetry, in
contrast with our mode. I speak of the mode of recita-
tion only, as it is not possible to analyse here the metrical
LECTURE VIII 1*7
system of Oriya and Hindi. I doubt not, that you have
heard in this city the Oriyas and the up-country men to
read aloud their verses. It must be a familiar experience,
that from the sound alone from a good distance, a Bengali
can know whether an Oriya poem or some Hindi Ott^l's
are being recited. Even where there is no musical chant-
ing, the character of the metres will indicate the charac-
teristic difference. All this is due wholly to different
accent systems. As the style of a language is the ex-
pression of the thought of the speakers, so is the metrical
system in a language, due to the special accent system
of the people. The Oriya verse of lines of 9 aksaras, if
read in Bengali fashion, the composition will sound like a
disjointed prose piece ; so also it will be with such
lines of Upendra Bhanja, as :
Similarly if the lines of a Hindi C^Tl be not read in
the Hindi fashion, the music of the lines will fade away.
Without pronouncing any definite opinion as to whether
the lines quoted below, were composed in old Bengali or
Hindi, I may bring to your notice, the basic Hindi charac-
ter of the metre of the lines; the non-hasanta sound of the
final syllable and the long sound of the penultimate, as
have to be maintained in rightly reciting the lines, are
to be duly noted. The lines are :
I do not mean to be exhaustive here ; I want however to
impress upon you, that we can solve many linguistic pro-
blems at least partly, if we take the factor of accent, deep-
ly into our consideration.
SOME FACTORS RELATING TO PHONOLOGY
AND ACCENT
LECTURE IX
SECTION 3
Accent traced in Sandhi and Compound Formations
Sandhi. The phenomenon of euphonic combination or
Sandhi should engage our attention next, as by a study
of it we can partly ascertain many phonetic and accentual
peculiarities. How some stiff Sanskrit rules of Sandhi
can be simplified on reference to the original Vedic sound-
value of some letters, has been discussed separately, and
this discussion has been relegated to an appendix to this
lecture. It is true, that unlike what is noticeable in Greek,
Chandasa does not allow any hiatus to exist in a word,
but the rigid Sanskrit Sandhi-rules by virtue of which
two or more independent words are linked together in
an agglutinated unit, do not appear to have obtained
in Chandasa. I need hardly assert, that in a living speech,
in which ease and fluency in the matter of articulation of
sentences can never be disregarded, and in which words
must be uttered in an intelligible manner, Sanskrit rules
of Sandhi cannot be strictly enforced. The component
parts of Purohita for example, may not be allowed to stand
separate, since the newly-formed word, has a distinct
signification of its own, but the force of the word Adya,
("5H)) for example, disappears, if Adyendrasya oic'&ar^ be
substituted for *TS ^. We get such a line as ^ "STS
LECTURE IX 129
^1 in the Vedic Padapatha, while the Sanskritic
form of the text gives us ^qwidt* C&fe\, which involves
the loss of three syllables required by the metre. I cannot
speak here anything regarding what is called g ^<f^ i as
noticed in the Vedie pronunciation of ^f?T for ^3, but
the example will fully show, how the rigid Sandhi rules
of Sanskrit Grammar make a simple speech, unintelligible.
We find in the Vedic verses, as is natural in a living
speech, that each foot, nay each hemistich, stands apart,
without being united in Sandhi with a succeeding foot
or hemistich. We observe only in some rare cases in
Sanskrit, that one hemistich is not united with another
in a verse, where Sandhi combination is possible; the
following is a couplet which illustrates this sort of
deviation from the usual rule :
It becomes perfectly clear, that once when the Vedic
language became obsolete, various cases of euphonic combi-
nation occurring in that language were studied very care-
fully, and a good number of generalized artificial ^1%
(Sandhi) rules were framed for their rigid application in
what is called the Sanskrit language. This is why the
processes noticeable in Chandasa in such euphonic combi-
nations, as are due to the influence of accent (which is a
living factor in a living speech), are not at work in
Sanskrit; instances of lengthening the accented vowel,
as in faltfag (fat + fas) or ^*f (^ + <qff) O r of
dropping the unaccented vowel as in Fft't<F ( Ffa + ^ ),
are not obtainable in Sanskrit.
It is a fact that the rules of Sandhi, as are noticeable
in Pali, are not wholly in agreement with the Vedic rules ;
that this very deviation shows the living character of
17
130 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
that earliest-known Magadhi Prakrta, is what we should
duly appreciate. How because of the natural accent of
the speakers, and owing to the changed value of the sound
of some letters, such euphonic combinations occurred in
Pali, as OKffe ( <?W + $f% ), *fa?TCT^R ( feraOT + ^ ),
1t*ftfo ( ft?* + ^fs ), etc., should be a subject of special
study. That the Sanskrit Sandhi-system does not support
this claim of Sanskrit, that it was naturally evolved
out of Chandasa should be duly noted ; we can very clearly
see, that the natural Vedic rules of euphonic combination
have only been artificially extended in Sanskrit, to cases
where combination brings about stiffening of the speech
and unintelligibility of meaning.
It is certainly very true, that our Bengali Sandhi
system is not worked by the rules of the old time speeches,
but we proceed to show that the very principle which
governed the phenomenon of euphonic combination, in the
speeches of ancient times, governs to-day the Sandhi
system of ours. Before I cite examples to substantiate
my proposition, I should notice an objection which i s
raised by some in this direction. On the basis of a
superficial and unscientific observation of the fact, that
the rules which govern the formation of such combinations
as ^<sltf^, 1Wt^> etc., do not prevail in Bengali, some
scholars have gone the length of asserting that the
natural phenomenon of euphonic combination does not at
all exist in Bengali. We have certainly borrowed the words
^5Jtf? and IS^S in their entirety, and cannot disjoin
them in our language; no doubt our ^f% means finish, ^rtf?
means original, and $\*jlfo means etcetera ; again there is
no such word as SRTJ in Bengali, nor the word 5$, if not
a name of a man, can have any meaning independently.
It is also true that ^ and < rl do not combine according to
Sanskrit rule to form jj, but we have noticed previously,
LECTURE IX 131
that they coalesce in Bengali quite in another fashion.
Non-observance of Sanskrit rules does not however justify
us to formulate, that euphonic combination is unknown
in Bengali.
In Bengali, we do not and cannot combine different
words into one agglutinated whole, for we utter our
words one after the other, to convey distinct meaning
of them to other ears; but different vowel sounds and
allied consonants do combine to form one word. With
the *Pfq?t word ^tl, the Sanskrit word ^rfr (enemy)
being joined in sandhi, we have got one word to mean
the distinct article 'Ktfr (mosquito curtain) to signify
a special sort of ^sft^i (bulb) the adjective C^ttT and ~^fa
have been joined to form the word C^tt^I Tt^; the
word ^t5l as an adjective of ^ref! does not and cannot
change its form, but when the words are combined to-
gether 10 signify the sort of ^Tl which is used as vege-
table, the final 'Sfl of the adjective being dropped, the
word 4>|b<^1 has been formed ; we may also get the
examples CTt^l + ttt^ = CTt^ttfo C^5l + tf*fl = CTt^tl1,
C4te1 -j- 55 = C3t^53f (fool), etc. In such examples as
%5 <F*Vl, CTt^t*n> etc., we notice the loss of unaccented
"ST! h'nals of the first component parts of the words ; simi-
larly we find the loss of $ of ^ in the phrase 4|tbfcv1$,
where the accented ?fcl in the form of ?l occurs as the
first component. We have seen that in the Vedic lan-
guage, there were elision of the final vowel sounds of
the unaccented syllables in their euphonic combination
with unaccented syllables, and that is why the final ^
of 5t^ dropped in euphonic combination with accented
^tf , to form the word 9ftfr to signify a man of per-
suasive speech.
That the lengthening of vowel sound as noticeable in
the Yedic words, foltftar, lHff*tS etc., is also noticeable
13-2 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
in the old Prakrtas as well as in modern Vernaculars,
requires to be pointed out. We may notice, for example,
the Pali idiomatic expression *prl*pq (various sorts of
fruits) in such a sentence as *p*lt*J<1 *ffi ^MJl { Tfa, to see
unmistakeably that the word has not been formed by the
combination of ^q + T^T. This sort of duplication to
indicate either variety or etcetera is very much current
in Bengali ; it is also the rule in Bengali, that in the process
of duplication, an ^r| comes in as a joining link. We
must clearly see, that the Bengali words vp*lt*P e 1> \k^>] f^>,
r*1i^, b^ji?*!, etc., do not combine good and bad ideas
together ; bltbt*IH ?Tfa1 does not signify the path for going
and not going. The ' ^Tl ' that comes in here as a join-
,ing link, indicates emphasis only, when occurs in the
formation of compound words ; compare the emphasized
forms ^tl^t, 5T?t*IT>, t>*tfl?' ! 1 , etc., with the ordinary forms
^*fa*t, 51>1T>, !>11>*f, etc. I feel tempted to notice, that in
common parlance it is difficult to many of us to keep the
purity of the Sanskrit word ^^^1 ; because of accent on
"SR^I the word is pronounced usually as Wfa^l-
The natural rule by which one consonant is changed
into another, because of the genetic affinity between the
consonants, is also at work in Bengali ; <|^ -f- 5f3f| =
*fc + ^ = *ft$H, c^ti? (Cffc = younger) + iffffl =
^5 + f^ = ?rf^ are examples. The Sandhi rules of
Prakrta Grammar as are still at work, should be carefully
studied by the students in this connection ; I point out
here a few cases only, where Bengali is in agreement with
the old Prakrtas, in the matter of euphonic combination.
From F? N 4- 5^ we get 55F5 and from ^fc + ^j we get
^$fa^j ; final s, is very often dropped in Pali even though
there is no euphonic combination with the initial letter of
a succeeding word, for example, fM^ is the form for
and Tf^ft is the representative of the fuller form
LECTURE IX 133
I may remark in conclusion, that the Dravidian
m ethod of Sandhi combination, is noticeable in some rare
cases only; in Tamil *3f + ?Ft^ ' and ' C + t^' for
example, will be it 9 ? t^ (mango) and OS^ft (cocoanut)
respectively; this growth of nasal sound in Sandhi has
only been noticed by me in C*ffTl + ^fs = C^It^rfr f^f&-
Samasa >Rt^. I have spoken above, that change of
vowel as well as of consonant takes place in the formation
of compounds called samasa (^TfT) ; but as many noted
scholars are of opinion, that barring a few stray examples,
we canuot get samasa compounds of genuine Bengali
words, I must show that compounds or samasa of all sorts
exist in Bengali. I consider this question to be important,
for it is to be seen, whether the old mode of thinking which
brought about samasas in particular forms, is still our
inheritance or not ; it must be borne in mind, that the
racial peculiarity in the matter of thinking, governs the
style and structure of a language. I cite below the Bengali
samasa forms exactly in that classified order which is
maintained in authoritative Sanskrit Grammars.
<5RTfFt3 Adverbial Compounds. I. In the following
examples, ^13 words do not occur as in Sanskrit, but the
compound forms indicate the sense of the
*PTf*T () indicating ^ft^l *ffa $*], ^5 ^^
, etc. ; (4) I3R TOMr, f*lff*lf , etc. ; (r)
, TO tffa, 11 ttfsr, etc. The following examples may
be contrasted which are not compound forms, viz,
(quickly), t^TTS F^T5 (by excessive walking),
(in the course of growth) sfon C*F\, ^1
(just on falling) ^>(^cn f^R, etc. ; in these
cases, infinitives being doubled, the sense of repetition
has been expressed, but the words do not form Samasa
compounds, (fl) The following examples indicating "the
whole of " are closer in relation with <5ftjf^fa forms than
134 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
with others : srfrjre srft, <Tt5?1<rc^ ^larfa, *KFf *K, etc. (?)
Where to indicate t^FS (up to) ' ^\' occurs in Sanskrit, as
in 'STt^, <5rfa etc., only the doubling of the word takes
place in Bengali ; e.g., c 5fTft sfsrft ' ^tt^fl, ' TfatS ^fafa ' ^Tl,
etc., <& C^fol CTfa, ^tlT?, 1n>fV ^4t may be compared
with these forms, as indicating the sense of ^Rjft^t^ I
^*(?R Determinative 2. If the examples grouped
under the following sub-heading (1) be regarded as I
suggest, as of ^,*j^ class (being Determinative, or rather
Dependent) wherein the nominative case predominates, we
may hold that we have <<s*jlR with vengeance in Bengali.
I may then classify the ^*(?R forms as ^| <5jsffr, <p? <2f*Tfa
and so forth, looking to the sense which the forms convey.
(1) The ^'J^ of nominative prominence, or "^fl
<2f*ffa \5<s*J^ : For this entirely new class of Bengali
compounds, my examples are, ffl^rt^tlj ^t^t^Sl, etc. We
have to note that such Sanskrit forms as fcsrfa3, ^ffclJ,
etc., are construed as vp\ift1 ^5^*J^R ; the form ^ftTffl may
be construed as ^<H2frfa W^R, but ^M^t^tl cannot be
so construed ; we have also to notice that the forms of my
example cannot be classed under 4&3lf3>, for, in ^ftff forms
a person or thing must be indicated irrespective of the
meaning of the component parts. This is why I have
suggested this new nomenclature for a class of compound
words. Mine is a suggestion merely, and not an authorita-
tive statement. Compare all the compound forms occurring
in the sentence 'STfTfr lFK*fC$ C^T-sjf^ sflSTfr ^ ^1^1
^t^fN^tft* 1t^-C5tt1 ttf-Tfal ^TJT W?ft ?ffi-*rN ; the
1st is ^Jlf^, the 2nd is ^pw of 4th class, the 3rd is qt|
^*l?W, the 4th is ffo1 <S^n, the 5th is ift ^^^ ; and
so now the character of ffffl-^Tt^tl may be appreciated.
(2) ^<2tTfa ^^R (object-indicating) : ^^
(as a tiger), ^ ^Tfr, ^^ <Hrt (as a f*\ or machine),
(as in ft <f?1 f^l), etc., are examples.
LECTURE IX 135
(3) ^l-t2t*ffa or agency-indicating :
CWl, i^-^5f-f>f& (signifying ^| or less by one) ; at times
' 4 ' is added to the final letter of the first part of the com-
pound as ^$fmfll-5ifcl (*Tl*Tl-5tfcl is another form),
CfC^ <e?rl (also Cf^-^^l), etc. In ^\W$ C^fTl, the final letter
does not take an ' (*) ' \
(4) Purpose-indicating or ^w ^t5<F : C^-^f^ (cloth
worn for besmearing the person with oil), tJ-SfW (for fl, i.e.,
trousers), JHrt-^fal (wailing befitting the occasion of death
in the family), ^*rV3t^t (house intended for dwelling), etc.
(5) 'SfttTfa-^^, to signify ' away from ': fffi-^N
(straying away from the nock or herd), ^(^-^51 (different
from what is usual), ^-' 9 ttTfa C^1 (a run-away boy),
It^-^Tl ( *ftCt^ C^^ ) fl, etc.
(6) Relation-indicating or >f^ ^t5^ : ^ ^ (the
word ^ does not affect the character of the compound in
Bengali), fTOHfpft, TpHFfat*, ^-C^fl, etc.
(7) Locative or ^t? ^t*^ ^t5^ : tt^-'fW (npened on
the tree), (T^I-^Tl Clt^ (*.*., C^Wt^f full p in the boat),
^ CTW, etc.
^5ft^?( Descriptive 8. (1) TrtWlfr, ^fTC^5l (an
inauspicious owl) ; (2) $t5l *tfFl (ripe and unripe),
^tsrl q%\ ; ^3) frf N -ffI (black like f^ff or black tooth powder,
here the final t of ftf*f has been dropped), C^C1^f^i, ^t5-
C*ttn (looking like glass), (Tft^-^ (a lentil, like gold in
colour), etc.
f^ Numeral compounds 4. 'tfF-^tf^ (as a cloth),
C5-^tf5, Sj-f*td? (lit. having two sides), <& CFl^l (as a
judgment, disclosing partiality).
^^ftf^ Possessive compounds 5. Tl-^1, ftf^C^Tl
(long-faced), t|^1 C^t^tj ^tt*t ^fl (one who does nothing),
etc.
^Copulative 6. srt^^-^, <?Pf-$tl1,
*f, etc.
136 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
Duplicated Words. The words which are duplicated on
accoinl of emphasis, to indicate repetition, or to express
the idea of excessiveness, should be noticed and classified
here, to distinguish them from the Sarrasa compounds.
I need hardly remind you that according to the ^5
rule and by the rule of the 't^iSfxaH, words are duplicated
in Sanskrit to indicate repetition or excess. I refer you
to the whole section of the Siddhanta Kaumudi entitled
Dvirukta Prakaranam which begins with the rule i^w,
wherein reduplication of various sorts has been illustrated.
1. (a) The adverbs <7ftrftfa (q uite direct), ffftftfr
(close by the side), arWTtf% (right through the middle),
etc. (indicating ' very much '), and tfTTtf5, ^t^j ^Ht^tf^
etc., (indicating ' repetition '), may be classed under one
head. Such adverbs as CTt^f!? from CTtT? (total ; taking the
whole roughly into consideration) and C^tt^^f^ from C^fP5l
(beginning from the very beginning) come also under
this head, as the idea involved in the words is that (3$ or
C>fT5l is taken repeatedly or much into- consideration. The
vowel changes in this class of duplication must be noted.
(b) ^tl>1^tfi>, TWTtfr, l1$>Rl, ^tetf^> etc., fall also
under this head as a sub-class, as a slightly-differing sense
of reciprocity in fight is indicated by them. ^Tf^lR (tete-a
fete), C5l*tl CFffa (each seeing the other), C*t*TtWtf*I (the
act of embracing), etc., are also of this class.
2. Though the idea " very much " is in the following
words, they differ from the first class in meaning as well
as in form; the words are duplicated without undergoing
any change. Thinking too much of, or having anxious
solicitude for, or making too much of, will be found to
be the idea involved in ^ffis ^tf?, *TtWl fW, a d
l, in the following sentences, ^tTt^ 3 R1
LECTURE IX 137
3. When duplication takes place to indicate ' almost
like,' or ' similar to/ no change of vowel takes place.
The forms ^ftl ^Ifl, [* *S1, ft1 ft!, 1ft$ Hft$, etc.,
are examples.
4. In the class of duplication noticed below, there is
this special peculiarity, that in the process of duplication,
the original word without being repeated, is conjoined to a
synonym of it. Agglutination of two seemingly different
words, should not mislead us to consider the word as a
Samasa compound. The adverbs ^IWFSf, CC<lfbM!,
C*K1^t^, ^Cl^c^l, Cft^lt^, etc., are fitting examples. The
noun forms ^^tf^> C^ft^^, (TTt^ff 5 !, Tt*fl^> 'MtT5^> etc.,
are also similarly duplicated. Some duplicated words of this
class, may elude detection of their character, as in either
the first or the last augmented portion, some obsolete or
unfamiliar words appear. I give a few examples. In
the word < 5rft*f*tft*f, the first portion is the Vedic word
^Tt*Ti, which has the same meaning as fft of Bengali ;
the adverb R*^*! and the noun form (B*tf*ft?\ may also
be considered ; the word f*M1 is a Dravidian word for
child, and the word ?j^Tl meant walking in old Bengali,
and in that sense the word is still in use in Oria ; in
the word *[t& C^fcS, the last portion c*fc$ or *ft1 comes
very likely from Hindi tf^l (?/' *fF1 C*ff^ ftw\, no trace
is obtained) ; the word *ftf% in Tff Itfs ^fwl C^$,
seems to be also of the same origin. Let me adduce a
few examples to show, that a word of foreign origin or
of classical origin, though really a synonym of a word,
is used either as an adjective or an adverb to its synonym,
because the real import of the foreign or classical word
is lost sight of, or is imperfectly understood ; the word
5fi is a corruption or <*fgvt of Pali ftfa (Sanskrit ^fa) ;
this ^"tevt form is found retained in the phrase >fty&
. The word or stem ^ is of Kolarian origin, and
Ib
138 PHONOLOGY AND ACCENT
it signifies walking ; it is this ^ which we meet with in
our ^^ ^frsl C5t1. These words should not be
confused with the words of onomatopoetie origin. In
*ttf*K*tt3ffrj the second Persian word is a synonym of the
first. I have heard school boys saying ^t^t"l ^5 clear
*tfwfa 5&K& ; as a translation of police investigation we
at times meet with 15fTfat^ ^RPT^tt^ in our Bengali
newspapers. Whatever that may be,*let me add a few
more examples as may fall under this class. They are :
etc.
5. Almost connected with the fourth class is the
class I now describe. To give special emphasis to an
idea, two words are so joined together, as the second por-
tions may indicate the consequence or completion of the
action, indicated by the first portions of the compounds.
A few examples are : ! 5It1 TtWl, ^*H> *tt1I>,
= to see),
6. Such duplications as sjft^ ^f^ } t^ 6 ! fft c 1 should
perhaps be classed separately, as they indicate anyhow
saving or protecting srpff (honour) and ffl (life).
7. It is difficult to say whether the second portions
of the following compounds are meaningless additions, or
that they once had some significance, and as such should be
grouped under the fifth class. The words are: ^1%W Tff^C3,
3jr? C5C5, ^t*P5 CFfT?- If the last named example is the
representative of the 5Tff\5 idiom W^-f^JS, <5t*F? may
be easily explained.
8. To indicate etcetera or ' the like,' the words are
generally duplicated with the loss of the initial letters and
by the substitution of t> for the initial letters, ^t^ ^^
<5fa %F5, Tte t>tf are very familiar examples. When
LECTURE IX 139
disgust is sought to be expressed, the initial letter of the
duplicated portion is usually changed into *p, as <ii
^t^ fa ? etc. It is to be noticed, that in some cases,
duplication is made not with the l> initial but with some
other letters. &tS *Tft% ?t*R C*t*R, il^ *Wl, etc.
are examples; it is rather difficult to enunciate any
general rule for these irregular forms. It may be, that
in the cases of these exceptions, the augmented portions
are but representatives of some obsolete words, and if
so, must be grouped under class four. As in [w! * 5 ftl the
augmented portion is a contracted form of ^T^1, so there
may be many augmented forms, the meaning of which
may be traced.
9. Such onomatopoetic words as ^>5 , *fv, fT>, *?& are
generally duplicated in their use. It is worth noting
here, that many words simulate onomatopoetic origin,
though they are really but ^*t^?*t forms ; sf3*R3 is from SRsf
(white) or from C*Tfa1 (washed clean), fsj*rfot*f is from fsff*f
(black tooth powder), ffefflj is from Sanskrit *^, f^<I
is from Sanskrit *Tj^, ^^ i g from ^1% (much). A
special class of onomatopoetic words as &\g^ &5^ ^ ^*(,
^ ^T6, etc. is of special interest in the Prakrta dialects
in olden times the use of such words as well as of
Desi words of all sorts was prohibited by the Sanskrit
Grammarians because of their vulgar origin. This is
exactly why they are of importance in a history of lan-
guage. I reproduce in Appendix I. my paper on onomato-
poetic words which was published in the Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society in 1905.
APPENDICES TO LECTURES VI TO IX
APPENDIX I
A STUDY OF SOME OxOMATOPOKTIC DfiSI WORDS
(Reprinted from J.R.A.S. 1905.)
There can be no doubt, that onomatopO3ia and inter-
jeetional cries played a great part in the formation of our
languages. It is (.rue that the ' Bow-wow ' theory alone
is insufficient to trace the origin of all words; and it is
not true, what Professor NoirS would have us believe,
that all roots can be traced to some interjectional cries
of primitive men. But it is true that a carefully insti-
tuted philological analysis can disclose the influence of
onomatopoeia and interjectional cries in the formation
of a very large number of Vedic and Laukika roots.
When by strict, rigid, and thorough-going rules of
grammar, an artificial check was placed upon the growth
of the Sanskrit language, new words could not be coined
except by the fixed rules of grammar, from the definitely
established list of roots. How jealously the purity of
the literary language was being guarded in the second
century B.C., can be known from the Mahabhasya of
Patanjali. It has been declared sinful in that book, to
use words, other than what are strictly Vedic and
Laukika.
In the Sanskrit works which have been, with consider-
able certainty, fixed to a time previous to the second
century B.C., no other words than Vedic and Laukika
(in the strictest Panini sense) can be met with. Since
the Mahabharata abounds in words not strictly Laukika,
APPENDIX I Ul
may we not venture to say that this is evidence, so far
as it goes, that the building up of the poem did not com-
mence till at least a century later than the time of the
Mahabhasya ? Such an orthodox work as the Maha-
bharata came eventually to be, could not have departed
from the much respected orthodox rules, if time had not
then made the rules almost obsolete. What is true of
the Mahabharata, is true also in respect of the Ramayana,
as we now have it. To my humble thinking, the latter
shows signs of lateness to a great extent.
Of words formed by imitating natural sounds and un-
derivable from the fixed stock of Sanskrit roots, kolahala,
kilikila and the like are only found in the eighteen lengthy
Parvas of the Mahabharata. Halahala, Gadgada and
Humbha (lowing of the cow) are found used in the
Ramayana ; in the :2-Srd Chapter of the Aranyakanrja,
we find exact sounds of birds used as Sanskrit words.
" Chlchlkuchitl vasyanto babhubustatra sarika," would
have defiled the purity of language in the second century
B.C. This very " chlchlku " we find also in the Hari-
vamsa. These words, as well as the words Khat-khat,
Than -Than, Jhau-Jhan, and RaUarayaka of still later
literature, have been called Desi wonte (words of Provincial
origin) by Hemchandra. It is known to all that Hem-
chandra's Desi Namamala contains such words as were
considered not to have been derived from Sanskrit roots.
It is true that Hemchandra has declared such a few
words to be Desi, as are really apabhransa words, but
I must also note that some ingenious attempts have been
made at a forced affiliation of many real Desi words to
some recognised roots ; I do not however consider it
worth while to offer any criticism on this point.
When literature grew, the writers felt the want of
words, and were forced to borrow many words from the
142 APPENDIX I
Prakrtas. To commence with, it was only sparingly done
but when once it was tolerated and approved, the writers
introduced the Prakrta words very largely. This infer-
ence receives full corroboration, from the languages of the
old inscriptions which have now been chronologically
arranged in many books.
The Desi words of onomatopoetie origin, such as
Jhankara, maijnwja, Pat-pat, and the like, are nowhere
found in the works of Kalidasa and Bharavi.* It might
be plausibly argued, that the use of such words in digni-
fied Kavyas was studiously avoided by the poets. But
it is worthy of note, that Kalidasa has not used these
words even in the Prakrta dialogues in his drama, while
Mrcchakatika and Ratnavali abound with such expressions.
It is also not true, that the use of " Gharghara " for
Nirghosa and ' Jhankara ' for Aliruta lessen the dig-
nity of the language. These words have been profitably
used, to heighten the effect of grand descriptions, by
Bhavabhuti in his Uttara-carita and Malatfmadliava.
The poet Subaudlm flourished towards the end of the
sixth century, say about a century after the death of
Kalidasa. We find the use of a small number of ouoma-
topoetic words in his Vasavadatta as nouns only. Three
or four such words of this class as are found in Maha-
bharata and Ramayana are also found used as nouns, -as
I have already shown. This is the sort of use made of
them (though very sparsely) in the Paficatantra. Kola-
hala is the only word I have met with in the existing
Paficatantra, even though this is not exactly the book
which was written in the fifth century.
* It should be noted that the word Marmara (and not Madmada)
is derived from the root Mr, and as such cannot be treated as a word
of onomatopoetie origin.
, APPENDIX I 143
In the writings of Banabhatta, Bhavabhuti, and
Sudraka, these words have been very freely and largely
used. Verbs also were made of them, and expressions
like Khat-khatayate, Phurphurayati, and Madmadaisma
are found frequently. The use of these words as verbs
commenced only in the seventh century, so far I have
been able to ascertain. From the seventh century onward,
there is scarcely any Sanskrit composition, wherein these
DesT words of onomatopoetic origin are not found.
I should like what I have asserted to be tested by
reference to the books, the dates of which have been fairly
established. If the use of this particular class of DesI
words grew in the manner indicated in this paper, the
words will have a special value in determining the chrono-
logy of some old books.
APPENDIX II
I
i
i if% c^t^t
CT
APPENDIX II 145
*l <rft ^froi, 'tiprtcfr 1 cw* irf% -rft,
ff 1 5fl
19
' *Pl ftf *f ;
Classical
146 APPENDIX II
f ,
APPENDIX II 147
""*t*ii C<R " ^ " ^ " ^n
rt i itvtni^ *nr
?f9i c^!, 'Stfl rl
4 fr^n ^trf^i ^Tt^w <^ f^^i ^ ^ } ^rtfir
f^i^ ^3f^f^
CT, $59 fa*
*ttt
148 APPENDIX II
tiHTOnr tffoi ^Ffri ^farai JICT ^ i ^
5% stst* ft* 'srftt* rs:^ *faf*i c*
f^Ff
^ i
APPENDIX II
Accent
Aocent-
'I I
iff
Accent
Accent
, <2f -f tU^r* i2! ; ff% ^CT
<pfiti
ctfi
150 APPENDIX II
t
; 1, *,
it i
' "f '
, ^sw ' "f '
i
^t * r }
fnr I
5 ^8 ^ ^Cf^ fe55t^1 <Sfft
I 5 ^tTtt|?T 5 ^S f ^S 5ft?
APPENDIX II 151
I
x ) + ^
t^Ttf? I
152 APPENDIX II
f?r 5,
generalised
*rtt c*, T
*$s\
*ftfI
f^nrt ig^itf ca^i
APPENDIX ii 153
I <**t *N> fa ytl (
spire: ssc^ws: (f,
' ^ ' tor
nrl TO CT,
TO
I IX
Ttar i
154 APPENDIX It
(idiomatic use)
" 4^ " i ^^"fe "
j f^^ rtCT dfcstfi i
i fsi; + ^55 5t^^s itf'i ^sftts,
^ I
I
APPENDIX II 155
Analogy ff5
^rfes ^ ^f^ii wrt^ Jiara fwfa
f^* 5 ! *(\ I f^
HOW CHHANDASA IS RELATED TO LATER
ARYAN SPEECHES.
LECTURE X
ChhSndasa, i.e., the Vedic language of old, has been
spoken of in these lectures, by implication generally, as
the source-head from which the Indian Aryan speeches of
all times and of all provinces have evolved. I am aware,
some noted European names are associated with theories,
which run counter to this proposition or assumption ; but
as those theories rest wholly upon the authority of noted
names, and not on facts which can be handled and dis-
cussed, no one can possibly combat them : facts, I have
adduced before, I adduce presently in this lecture, and
I shall have to adduce in subsequent lectures, should all be
considered together, to test the correctness of my proposi-
tion. I have stated in some detail, of the influence of the
speakers of non- Aryan tongues, to explain various devia-
tions from the norm ; I shall try to show in this, as well
as in another subsequent lecture, how in a prakrta or
natural way, many Prakrtas or provincial vernaculars
arose from Chhandasa, and how the ever-progressing
Prakrita speeches went on modifying and being in turn
modified by the literary language of curious genesis, which
has come to be designated q,s Sanskrit. It will be seen,
how failing to notice the influence of a mixed people,
in the matter of formation of the Prakrta speeches, and
how failing to observe the influence, which could not but
be exercised by the living vernaculars, upon an artificially
set-up literary language, some philologists (Dr. C. C.
Ullenbeck, whose words I presently quote, is one of them)
have asserted that " the Sanskrit dialect of middle countrv
LECTURE X 157
descends from some other old Indian dialects than the
dialect met with in the Vedas." As to this part of our
proposition, that the growth of various Prakrtas has been
partly due to diverse ethnic influences, a good deal has
already been said, and something more will have to be
said later on ; I may however notice here, what Mr.
A. H. Keane has observed, regarding the cause of wide
diversity existing among the speeches of various groups of
Aryan origin (both Asiatic and European), after consider-
ing all the groups on a comparative table at p. 412 of his
Ethnology. His words are : " The profound disintegration
which is shown in this table and which is immeasurably
greater than in the Semitic family, is mainly due to the
spread of Aryan speech amongst non- Aryan peoples by
whom its phonetic system and grammatical structure were
diversely modified." That for the very reason, the |
Chhandasa speech in its turn, has transformed itself into i
various dialects in different provinces of Northern India,
is what has all along been emphasized.
As in all sober and serious investigations into the
causes of phenomena, we have to determine the natural
causes and not their supernatural seemings, we have to
push on in the matter of our enquiry an intensive study
of actual facts, and should not seek to explain things by
what might have dropped from the skies by importing
some imaginary patois-speaking hordes from elsewhere.
If even the explanation, we offer, prove inadequate, there
will not be any justification in setting up the figments of
our imagination in the name of theories, to solve our
difficulties.
We have to first direct our attention to the character
of the language of the Vedas, called Chhandasa. I use the
word Veda in a very restricted sense here ; in this restrict-
ed sense the word Veda, indicates the mantra literature,
158 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
preserved in the four Samhitas, viz., the Saman, the
Rk, the Atharvan, and the Yajur. The very term
Samhita clearly signifies, that Mie Mantras or hymns and
prayers as were extant (no matter whether in writing or
in the memory of some priestly families) at the date of
the compilation, were compiled either exhaustively or by
making a selection of them in the books named above.
We can very unmistakably see, from the arrangement of
the contents of the Samhitas, and from what has been said
of the Vedas in the old time works relating to them, that
different ritual purposes led to the compilation of different
Samhitas.
It is to be noted however, on the one hand, that the
old orthodox works from which the purpose of compiling
the Vedic mantras can be gathered, show by their sug-
gestions and discussion regarding the Vedie vocabulary
and the Vedic Grammar, that at the date of the compilation
of the Samhitas, the mantras of varying times (i.e., both
old and new) were old and archaic enough to the com-
pilers ; on the other hand, we have to notice, that though
many mantras are much removed in time fro'm one another,
the language of the Vedic Samhitas may be declared to be
one and the same. What Whitney has said by comparing
the oldest and the latest linguistic forms occurring in the
Vedas, may be profitably quoted here, in support of the
latter statement ; the scholar writes in his well-known
Sanskrit Grammar, that " the language of the ^sf^t^ff
though distinctly less antique than that of the Rigveda, is
nevertheless truly Vedic. The students should do well to
study Professor Macdonnell's excellent work on the Vedic
Grammar to learn aright the character of the Chhandasa
speech, and to see clearly how the language even of the oldest
Brahmana literature differs from the Vedic. I can there-
fore say, that since the compilers of the Vedas got
LECTURE x 159
together the then extant hymns and prayers, no matter
whether they had been composed at a very early date or
at a comparatively recent time, it cannot be asserted with
any degree of propriety, that any portion of the contents
of a Samhita, is a later addition or interpolation in that
Samhita. The language of the mantras, new or old, was
old to the compilers, and lateness in the matter of com-
position, did not or rather could not detract from the
religious merit of any mantra. The western scholars, I
have stated before, have set forth distinctly, what elements
are old and what are new in the Vedic language. The
contents of the Vedic Samhitas may now be arranged in a
rough chronological order on the basis of linguistic evidence.
The light furnished by this research, enables us to make
this important discovery, that even in the earliest known
times, the Aryans of India spoke various dialects of one
common speech, and that the mantras were composed in a
standard central language, which as a literary language
dominated all the provincial dialects, and at times helped
the fusion of those dialects. I use the word ' literary ' very
advisedly, and propose to explain the significance of it
later on. The facts which warrant us in arriving at this
conclusion, that even the earliest Vedic mantras point to
the currency of many dialects in ancient India, cannot be very
fully and fitly discussed here, but as we have to build a
good deal on the basis of this proposition, some examples
should be adduced to prove its soundness. As of the
essential factors which determine a language, the pronouns
have a high value, let me put forward here very briefly, the
evidence which the personal pronouns tender in this
direction.
Prof. A. A. Macdonell has observed with his usual
scholarly acuteness in his monumental work on the Vedic
Grammar, that the personal pronouns seem to be derived
160 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
from several roots or combinations of roots, as they are
specially anomalous in inflexion. An analysis of the
pronouns will perhaps justify us in striking' a less uncertain
sound.*
<5f^ (^spsfff) and . ^ ('3^0 are accepted by all the
old grammarians as the basic words for the pronouns of the
1st and 2nd person respectively. I need hardly point out,
that the very <5ffl and ^f x occur in many formations in
the declension of pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person respec-
tively. It has to be noted that the personal pronouns in
the nominative case take ^^ like a suffix (cf. ^ + <5R =
^3R and also the ^ endings in dual and plural), and this
<5f*j in like manner occurs in the Nominative Singular of
the Demonstrative '^HW and the Reflexive ^$?. I do
not feel inclined to accept the suggestion that this
case-differentiating ^pf came from the Dravidians who affix
*5W to nouns of all classes, though the close proximity of
the Dravidians to the Aryans of the earliest time cannot
be very reasonably denied. That f*J v and ^\ are reducible
to <5is and ^| in Sanskrit, need not be stated. That the
Yisarjaniya of ^l develops the simple aspirate of ^ in pro-
nunciation, is also very clear. We can see, that denuded
of the appendage ^, ^1 stands as ^ x . We may
note in passing that this ^ corresponds with Ich of
German, I of English, lo of Italian, or rather Ego of Latin
* I have nothing to do with the theory of Aryan migration, nor with
the hypothetical parent tongue of the so-called Indo-Germans, as I
have to study the speeches as actually developed on Indian soil. The
unscientific theory of the philologists who may be said to be represented
by Brugmann, regarding the imaginary old pronouns of a supposed old
language, may be left out of consideration, as we are concerned here
with the forms of which actual evidence may be collected. The Dodo
birds of nasal sonants of an unknowable people may be allowed to
remain in the fancy museum of the philologists, for we have to deal with
the actual fossils as may be found imbedded here in India.
LECTURE X 161
and Egon of Greek. ^ however, does not appear to have
been the only form in the Nom. Singular ; a pronoun either
of simple 1 basis or in the form of a ft is strongly sup-
posed to have been a form, in use in a dialect when ^ s was
current in another dialect, for in the first place afsf is found
agglutinated with the Parasmaipadi verbs in the first
person singular, and in the second place the singular
forms 5(1, srft (fl + ^sf), 1*1, 1?, CT, and Ufa point
to a simple sj base with which etymologically they must
be connected. That no sf can be traced either to <5j^ or
W\ is pretty clear. Moreover such a Vedic form as Tf^
(like me, cf. ^t^J like you) shows that s(1 was treated as
a stem, i.e., a word unchanged in form in the process of
declension. While considering the early fossils of the
pronouns of the 1st person, we have to notice that besides
vj>, ^ is a form of the pronoun of the 2nd person, though
the latter form occurs only in dual and plural.
For further fossils let us analyze the interesting dual
forms of the personal pronouns. In the language of the
early Samhitas, we get ^ as the dual form of <5ffi and this
very ^ is the accusative dual of ^ or ^ . The form
'STftl^ is a very late form, occurring not earlier than the time
of the <^stfra gW, while the *fs*W gt^l gives perhaps
the earlier form **fr\ . We know that <ffi occurs as a
plural form of the personal pronoun of the 2nd person and
5ffl as a plural form of the personal pronoun of the 1st
person. The dual ^ff appears pretty distinctly as the
combination of ^ + '5[ + : 5ffi to signify ' you and I' together.
Perhaps to avoid confusion, ^ of ^ was further prefixed
to Tt^ to signify the 1st person, while additional ^was
prefixed to signify the second person in creating the forms
<5Tfrt^ and ^fty. In the plural form W[, we only notice
the lengthening of the penultimate vowel sound with a
stress to denote plurality as if by the primitive case-denoting
162 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
gesture or modulation of voice. This ^ or rather ^}
and 3?Pl no doubt occur as plural forms only here in India
as well as in other Aryan speeches elsewhere; but we find
in India Cft as a dual and ^ in conjunction with <5[ of ^
in some dual formations. As &ft can be detected as a com-
paratively later time formation, I am strongly inclined to
suppose by looking to the use of ^ and ^ in the Vedic
language, that Vffi of the 1st person and ^ of the 2nd, were
such very early forms in an Aryan dialect as denoted all
numbers and cases alike, and their various significations
could only be gathered from such accents of the speakers as
are allied to primitive case and number-denoting gestures.
In this connection I just refer to the personal pronoun of
the 1st person in use in Dravidian tongues which has only
seemingly the ' 5? ' stem. I refer to this fact to show that
there is no connection or affinity of Aryan ^ with the
Dravidian ^ ; I should point out that 3\ of Tamil and
(( of Telegu (as in (&% or (7^ ) which signify ' I/ are
based not on ^, but on % as the early Dravidian forms
show.
We thus see, that pf, ^ and a pronoun of sf stem for
the pronouns of the 1st person, and ^, ^j, and ^ for the
pronouns of the 2nd person were once in use in pre- Vedic
days. The remarks of Joseph Wright as recorded in his
Comparative Grammar of the Greek language, are no doubt
correct that many forms of one single pronoun may come
into existence in one and the same dialect, and that by
virtue of different sort of accent on different forms of a
pronoun, one form may represent one case and another, the
other ; but when altogether different forms occur, it is
reasonable to hold, that they come from different dialects,
since looking to the history of different languages and to
human psychology, we have to admit that to express a
common or familiar or oft-occurring idea, more than one
LECTURE x ies
word does not become current in a dialect. Ethnology
discovers to us that the Aryans were not a homogeneous
people, but as forming a culture group, they were composed
of various ethnic elements ; I think what we have discussed
confirms the proposition of Ethnology.
Just another fact regarding the lost forms of pronouns.
I have spoken of the verbal suffix f*[ as a fossil of a personal
pronoun of the Jst person ; let us now inquire into the
origin of ft of the second person as in ^rsdfr, and of f^s
of the 3rd person as in ^^t^- As for f we can trace
the origin to \sW stem which is virtually but a simple ^5,
for excepting in the Nominative Singular the stem 1> does
not lose its identity. Adverting to the cases of ft and f, it
may be naturally supposed, that f^ of the '2nd Person Sing,
was not an arbitrary symbol at starting, but that ft must
have been originally connected with a stem of the personal
pronoun of the second person. I am not competent to say
if the German form " sich " lends some support to this
view. Referring to the history of some Greek suffixes,
Joseph Wright has rightly remarked, that though little is
known of the origin of numerous suffixes, it may be
reasonably supposed that those suffixes had originally an
independent meaning and that in some cases they were
independent words. A word of caution, how r ever is needed
here : some symbols or endings to denote case, or number,
or person, as simple ^ or ^ or ci for instance may be
reasonably supposed to have originated from primitive
gestures and modulations of voice, and not from words
conveying independent meaning. I may add that the
Dravidian pronouns <sr, ^, 4 and ^ as well as the Aryan
sf of *5(J\ and ^ of ^ might have originated from mere
gestures accompanying sounds in primitive days.
We have not discussed words and forms of various
classes, but all the same our brief discussion leads us to
164 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
hold, that long before the dissemination or dispersion of
Aryan speech or speeches in Europe, the Aryans developed
a central dominating language, amid a good number of
dialects of theirs. This dominating language seems to
have attained such a perfection in the dim past, as charac-
terizes a literary language, even though lettera or art
of writing did not come into existence. I just cite two
examples, in addition to what has already been stated,
to explain what I mean by the literary character of the
pre-Vedic language. Such natural lispings or utterances
of children, as have been the roots of words for father
and mother in many languages of the world, as Ba, Abba,
Pa, Amma, Ma, etc., are found in well shaped forms in all
Aryan speeches, and the forms f*F5^ and srfl>? framed
by a generalized grammatical rule, are found grouped
with other relation-indicating words, such as ^s\, and
fi^53. For the next example, I refer to the tense system ;
on the evidence of tense system of old Greek as agreeing
with those of Vedic, we may hold that the pre-Vedic
language attained a high literary character.
I have thrown out suggestions, as to what was in all
probability, the position and character of the Aryan language
in pre-Vedic days. It goes however without saying that
the Chhandasa language as disclosed by the early Vedic
Samhitas, is a very rich and well-developed literary speech.
It has to be borne in mind, in this connection, that inspite
of the unifying influence of a central literary language,
the provincial dialects do not all necessarily die out, and
they may at times continue to live with full vigour, getting
fresh lease of life under some changed conditions. That
the Vedic language became in course of time purely hieratic,
because of the sacredness of the mantras, and was not, or
rather could not therefore be allowed to be changed with
the changing conditions of time, can be well established
LECTURE X 165
by the evidence of the Vedic Grammarians. Every lan-
guage is bound to be transformed into a new and a newer
form with the progress of time, but if for any reason
any particular class of a people seek to keep the
obsolescent speech intact, the old speech becomes the
special property of the particular class, and ceases to be
the language of the people. Moreover, when a people
loses its homogeneity, or when class differences occur
because of cultural difference, and as a compensating measure
a wide mass education through the standard literary
language is not adopted, provincial dialects grow with
great vigour, and no class, howsoever influential, can keep
the literary speech alive. We notice a gap between the
language of the Vedas, and that of the Brahmanas, and
a wider gap between the language of the Brahmanas and
the language which may very fitly be designated as
Sanskrta, to signify its character as dressed up, polished
or perfected. That these gaps have to be explained by
circumstances broadly indicated above, will be discussed
presently.
Our discussion will no doubt be extremely brief for
the subject ; but all the same we have to take all the
salient points into consideration step by step. First of
all we have to notice, that Chbandasa discloses the character-
istics of a living language. That the artificial rigid rules
of Sandhi or euphonic combination were not in force in
Chhandasa, and that a regular and thoroughgoing accent-
system existed in the speech, have been shown in some
previous lectures. That we are required to read Sanskrit
verses (which are wholly quantitative) by raising or lower-
ing our voice according to the unalterably fixed vowel
sounds as long or short, and not according to word accent
or phrasal accent, has also been noticed before, to show
the artificiality of Sanskrit, from accent point of view.
166 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
\
As it is impossible for a real human speech to be without
an accent system of its own, so is it that a living speech
must undergo to some extent, what is called phonetic decay.
I proceed to show that the phenomenon of phonetic decay,
which can be fitly translated in our Vernacular by the
term * Apabhransa, is distinctly noticeable in Chhandasa.
Shades of Prakrta grammarians ! What a heterodoxy
it is to notice apabhransa in the holy speech of the
Risis !
Before giving some examples of loss of letters in the
Vedic words, we may remark that during the Vedic days
(specially the later Vedic days) the speakers did not very
much tolerate initial conjunct mutes ; that in the Dravi-
dian language Tamil, such a thing is not tolerated as a rule
has been distinctly stated in a previous lecture. The
examples of loss of vowels and of change of sounds
cannot be taken up for discussion, as that task in-
volves detailed exposition of the Vedic morphology. I
have already spoken of the reduction of many dentals into
cerebrals and of the growth of such forms as f^T> from
f%^5 and tSfal?* from cf{^. I give here below, first some
examples of loss of consonants, and then some examples
relating to general phonetic decay, as the history
of the forms for numerals indicates. (1) We get
* Apabhransa, in its proposed use requires an explanation. Very
arbitrarily, this term which literally means decay or rather phonetic-
decay, has been made to denote a class of Prakrfca speech of no definitely
distinctive character. As all the Prakrta dialects grew by varying
from the norm (no matter what that norm is), and as no standard
Prakrta can really be set up without resorting to an artificial and
unscientific method, the term Apabhrania cannot be misused to designate
a particular class of Prukrta speech. We cannot forget that all our
provincial vernaculars have always been called Prakrta by the Hindu
scholars. Consequently the word Apabhransu may be fitly used in
its literal sense to indicate phonetic decay.
LECTURE X 16?
Kambhana for Skambhana in many passages in the
Rgveda, though Skambhana is not extinct ; (2) Scandra
(brilliant) occurs no doubt in many passages, but
candra (brilliant) is generally met with ; the word candramas
derived from it, is the only form to signify moon ; (3)
and (4) along with ?&tfw$ , (from ^( thunder) and *$\\
(thief from stena) we get tanayitnu and tayu ; (5) we
get the earlier form str as well as the later form tr for
star ; the feminine form 3ft (wife, one who shines in the
house) retains the original stem ; (6) we notice the loss
of initial consonant in ^jffa (fourth) derived from the
word 5^. Such examples of decay as have been
rightly inferred by Prof. Macdonell from the words of
cognate languages, are purposely left unnoticed in this
lecture.
Numerals. In the history of the growth of many
numeral forms, as discussed hereunder, all such losses will
be noticed as are characteristic of downright apabhransa
words of the Prakrta grammarians. In the compound
cardinals of genuine early formations, we should notice
that ^ which develops into ^1 in euphonic combination,
indicates two, while f^ signifies ' twice ' and i$3 : and FS^
signify ' three ' and ' four ' respectively, while fa and
signify ' three times ' and ' four times ' respectively ;
(two + ten), ajBlttPi (three + ten) and Fj^f (four + ten)
may be contrasted with the forms analysed below. (1)
In the formation of the word f^f we get f^ + ff*f; there
has first been the loss of initial ff, and then we notice that
to compensate for the loss of Vf of ff*f, a long ?ound comes
in, which is represented by ^Tfr ; that a nasal naturally
develops at times in making a sound long, has been fully
discussed in the 6th Lecture. As to the decade indicating
f^ which occurs unchanged as final in f^*ff, 3ft, 1$fe etc.,
and in ajchanged form in f^'"^, E^fas*! 1 ?,, and *W*K, some
168 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
remarks will presently follow. I may remark by the way,
that in the formation of ^t*n% in Pali, the loss of ^THT
has been made up for by the fH ^- (2) In the formation of
' ; 5p^f% (<5f! or 'Sfll + fpf + fs) we notice the loss of the second
and the 3rd syllables, and the penultimate is conjoined
to the long vowel 5r. (3) In the formation of (7Tf^"f (^ +
Jf*f) the compensating long Q and the development of
cerebral sound ^ may be explained by *ff% rules partly. (4)
The history of decade indicating 'fe' is shrouded in
mystery. When we compare, for example f^t*ff% with
Venti of Italian, we may say that the latter form is merely
a reduced form of the former, but when we take the history
of 'ty '-ending of twenty, for example, our difficulty increa-
ses ; the word twenty is derived from twain (old mas-
culine form of two) shortened form of twegen, + tig;
the last component tig is from Gothic tigjus = ten.
Here we see that *ty' represents the number ten ; if
we suppose that our fa had such a history to become
naturally a decade indicating suffix, we must admit that
in the formation of Vedic Compound-Cardinals an addi-
tional or unnecessary suffix was added. In Vedic Com-
pound Cardinals Sasti (^\ + f%), Saptati and Navati,
' multiplication by ten ' is indicated by ' f% ' alone ; if
these three be really the earliest forms, * f% ' may be
regarded as a fossil of a word for ten as might have been
current in one dialect of the Aryan language beside Fff
of another.
Though our illustrative examples have been a few
only, we think we cannot fail to see from the examples of
some pronominal forms and from the historv of some
words, that Chhandasa was subject to the processes of
dialectic regeneration and phonetic decay, processes to
which all living languages have always been and ever will
be subject. I mention over again, that by its regular and
LECTURE X 16d
thoroughgoing accent system, Chandasa discloses the
character of a living speech.
I have said that we do not know when the Vedic
Mantras were compiled as Samhitas. We do not also know
what became the form of the language of the people, when
the Mantras having been an object of special preserving
care of the priestly class, a hiyeratic speech had to be neces-
sarily maintained, as Latin was once maintained in Italy,
to express religious thoughts with such purity of speech
as the gods were supposed to demand. That a long time
intervened between the time when the Vedic language
was current and the time when a scholastic revival took
place can be inferred from lots of statements occurring
in the Brahmanas. The fanciful history we get of the
Vedic Mantras, the manner in which the Mantras have
been explained and grammatical and accentual pecu-
liarities of the Vedic language have been discussed, war-
rant us in holding that the earliest Brahmana must be
much removed in time from the latest Vedic Mantta.
The propositions in the Brahmanic literat ire, that the
Vedic forms should never be deviated from, and the proper
accent of the Vedic words, should be carefully studied
and learnt, very distinctly show, that for religious purposes
a hiyeratic speech was artificially maintained, on the Vedic
lines. I am going to adduce many facts in support of
my position in the course of this lecture, but the facts
noted above justify us in holding tentatively, that when
the Samhitas were compiled with the Mantras of varying
times, the grammarians of the priestly class studied the
language of the holy works with an astonishing scientific
accuracy and framed artificial generalized rules to make
some heterogeneous elements look like one homogeneous
whole. This is why various shades of meaning of
many forms merged into a dead unity in the artificial
170 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
language adopted by the priests in writing on the subject
of the Vedas.
As to the true nature of successive changes (I pur-
posely use the word successive and not progressive) noticeable
in the polished literary speech or speeches from the post-
Vedic days onward, as differing essentially in character
from what may be noticed in a living language in its
course through ages, a deal will have to be stated presently ;
as a preliminary step, I offer my observations, as to
why it could be possible for the Brahmana and the cog-
nate literature produced at different times to present
essentially one and the same language. It is a familiar
phenomenon, that even to-day our high class Pandit*
imitate very closely and wonderfully not only the ancient
language, but also the style of some ancient works when
dealing with them, or when writing something new
after those ancient works. For a disquisition, or disserta-
tion on the subject of 3\fc> or polity for example, scholars
of a very late time have been noticed to have adopted
the form and style of the old time Sutras : such a
work of a very late time (not earlier than the 6th
century A.D.) as the ^PTN^H will be found executed
in the style of and partly in the language of the ancient
Brahmanas.
I cannot say when the term laukika as occurs in
Panini's grammar came into use to designate the hiyeratic
language of post-Vedic days ; in all likelihood it was long
after the time of Gautama Buddha, since that sage who
was undoubtedly a great sist-a person, did not know the
term as my reference to the Vinaya Pitaka (Cullalvagga
V. 33. 1) will clearly prove. Two Brahman disciples
of the veritable ista class who avoided speaking the
vulgar speech of the time and spoke the speech which was
then associated with culture and prosperity in life re-
LECTURE X 171
quested their master that his words or teachings might
be allowed to be recorded in the language used by the
cultured Brahmans, ri~., the Chandasa (^ft^Ti '^rfr^'ft't 5 !'
are the words in the text) and should not be allowed to be
vulgarized by being recorded in the current speech of the
people (*T^ft fa^ifslil are the words in the text). The
celebrated orthodox commentator of the Vinaya text
rightly interprets the polite language by the Sanskrta
language of the Fedas, and explains T^f^^f% as sffiTCTt^t^1
i.e.) the language then current in the Magadha Country.
The whole of this important text is given in the foot-note
below for reference.*"
We have to first notice, that if the polished respectable
literary language of the time were known by the name
laukika as distinguished from the obsolete Chhandasa,
Budha and his learned Brahman disciples were sure to use
the term laukika, for it was the Classical Laukika of the
Brahmana literature as distinguished from the real Vedic
language, which came into vogue in those days as the fit
vehicle for all serious thought.
I [Then Buddha says, .........
I s ] The commentary has : i^fl, etc.,...
etc., Tf^t^ fsnpf^l = [ In the ]
N.B. -It should be noted that though there is mention
of ordinary 1%^% to have been recruited from various sec-
tions it has not been said that the teaching were being put
m LATER AR^AN SPEECHES
We have to consider, in the second place, that if the
hieratic language in which holy thoughts relating to the
Vedas were being expressed, were regarded as altogether
different from Chandasa, the literature relating to the
Vedas, would have much suffered in the estimation of the
people. The language in question, we must therefore
hold, was worked out on the Chandasa lines, when
Chandasa became altogether an obsolete speech ; this is
why, in spite of very close imitation, this language differs
from Chandasa in many essential particulars. I proceed
presently to take note of some of the important characteris-
tics of this hieratic language. What I specially emphasize
upon here is that in the days of Gautama Budha there was
at least in the Magadha country a living vulgar speech,
called ?(5ft C^t^t* by Buddha Ghosha and there was by
the side of the dialect (or many other dialects) one literary
language which still then claimed the name ^t^T-
It is now agreed, on all hands, on reference to the
rules for C^fa^ in *ltf*ffa's Grammar, that generally
speaking the language of the Brahmanas cau be designated
as laukika. We do not exactly know when the term
laukika, came into use, but we may infer on reference to
the import of the term, that when secular literature
composed in the hieratic language, forced itself to the
recoguitiou of the orthodox class, the term laukika, a?
distinguished from Chandasa became the name of the
fashionable literary language. We do not also know
in various speeches for, in the first place we get the instru-
mental singular of ft?pf% and in the second place we
do not get ( ^^\^t *I^tS' to indicate as usual 'even-body'?
own ' ; as the commentator gives only 3JW^t^tt<Jl for the
fa$>fts3 dialect in question, the word T^ft should % be
carefully judged for its proper significance.
LECTURE X 173
when the term f\^5 was brought into use as a substitute
for pjjfPFi but it is an undoubted fact that the
grammatical rules for C^tfo^F as occur in ttf*tfr as well as
in the ^t^^J of the hid Century B.C., are essentially the
rules of standard Sanskrit Grammar of later days. We
iind that what is called cHtf%^ at one time and
>KT3 a t another, is closely related etymologically with
the Chandasa language ; at the same time it must be
observed, that even in early times, the Classical Sanskrit
or the Laukika language of Panini so very materially
differed from the Vedie or Chandasa speech, that a fresh
set of rules had to be framed to give the Classical Sanskrit
a well-defined individuality. We should not here fail to
notice that those orthodox Grammarians who gave to C*uf%^
the name ^'^5, were perfectly aware of the character of
the language as a polished, dressed-up and perfected speech.
The Yedic has all along been, from Panini, downwards,
the object of veneration, as an ideal language and conse-
quently the polish or perfection referred to above, could
not be given to the Vedic for the formation of a laukika
in the sinful days; that a polish was given to the vulgar
speeches or dialects of natural growth will be abundantly
clear from the remarks of the Grammarians themselves.
In the grammatical work of Panini (which will never
fail to extort a high tribute of wonder and respect) and
in its learned commentories, we meet with this definite
statement that the forgotten things of the Chandasa
speech should be diligently resuscitated while things
occurring in the popular speeches should be studiously
eschewed to save one's soul from being contaminated by
sin. It has been stated under a sutra, that the enemies of
the cultured Aryas met with defeat and discomfiture for
having uttered their barbarous apabhransa word C^ffl ; we
get also one statement of emphatic expression that to
174 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
know the Vedic words is to acquire religious merit, while
to know the popular or vulgar speech is to commit sin.
Writes the author of the Mahabhasya I^^Rf^ "far
(meanngi Vedic words) *tfi <H? <5[*i*faf tP^*H^Sj
^t^^t <2Tfr?!tf% etc, etc.
In his tirades against the popular speeches, Patanjali
gives us materials to find out that many provincial dialecs
were current during his time. That the pure Vedic words
were very limited in number while the vile words were
very many, has been thus expressed
"farts ^bi^lf^ rW TOSTfSVtTs ;
*ttft CTfft CfN C*fft*tt^f*IWraHl1f(1 ^Wl^1q*"!t: I
We meet with c*lt% and its plural ctttl in the
standard Prakrta called *tlfsf, and meet also sparingly with
the form 5ffft in a <2ft^5 dialect which though despised
by the sages assumed the form 5ftt in the classical
Sanskrit itself at a later time. We can very well see that
in the second century B.C., many Prakrta dialects flourished
in N. India. No doubt for the evidence of this fact we
have other definite records but I make the sage *F3|f*l
to give evidence on the point, to serve a special purpose
I have in view. I have to show that the sages and
f*fl's made an infructuous attempt to rule the dialects
which were rolling on all around like the waves of the
sea by taking a boat of literary language on the waves,
not seeing that the boat itself was bound to be
tossed about and the waves were not to be dominated.
It is interesting that the sage Patanjali knew other
forms of Prakrta than what we learn not only in the
Bhudhistic works but also in the Asoka inscriptions.
It has been mentioned that for the usual standard word
of 5R origin S^fs was in use in (TfatJ? and ^^f% in the
North-Western India. We may note that ^f^> (is crawling)
is the Oriya form which has, come on somehow or other, as
LECTURE X 175
a further ^f*te?*f of 3T^f^, and ' w$ ' by itself came into use
in later Sanskrit in a secondary or tertiary sense ; again
though ' ^*J[ ' of ^f% is not uow in use either in Surat or
in any part of Western or Northern India, the direct
descendant ^3( (to crawl) on all fours may be unmistakably
identified with our Bengali ^-fsrl as in ^Tl C?3l.
The existence of various provincial Prakrta dialects by
the side of the old laukikn or classical Sanskrit is not
denied bv the scholars ; but some want us to accept the
proposition that the Classical Sanskrit evolved naturally
from the Vedic speech and the Prakrta dialects were
formed by corrupting the Sanskrit language. The facts
which are principally adduced in support of the proposition
are: (1) All the past-indicating forms, viz., f^l$ !$ and *&
are in use in Sanskrit while there is principally but one
generalised past form of finite verbs in the Prakrtas old
and new. (2) The dual form unknown in the Prakrtas is
fully maintained in Sanskrit. (3) The Prakrtas of a very
late date are more Sanskritic than the earlier ones and
as such these late time Prakrtas cannot be said to have
descended from the older Prakrtas. I proceed to examine
all these points which stand against my proposition.
The variety of Past Forms It is true that all the
systems of past tense are set forth in the Sanskrit Gram-
mars, old and new, but is it true that in their use in litera-
ture the time systems represent their value correctly ? Can
it be denied, as was pointed out long ago by Whitney? that
in the Brahmanas, the distinction of tense value between
perfect and imperfect is almost altogether lost, as in the
later Sanskrit language? It is giVen, no doubt in the
Grammatical works, that the perfect is to be used in the
narration of facts not witnessed by the narrator, but
Whitney has rightly remarked that there is no evidence of its
being either exclusively or distinctively so employed in the
176 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
literature. That in the Vedas, the case is quite different.
may be seen on reference to Maodonell's Vedic Grammar.
It is to be noted that all the varieties of the Aorist, as
occur in the Vedas, have been bound together in the Post-
Vedic times, and have been made into one system. In the
Classical Sanskrit, the Aorist forms are only preterites
and are freely exchangeable with imperfects and perfects.
Whitney remarks, after collecting examples, that the aorist
of the Classical Sanskrit is simply a preterite, equivalent
to the imperfect and perfect, and frequently co-ordinated
with them. It is a significant thing to note that adverting
to a particular use of the Aorist in the Vedas (though that
use is not exclusive in the Vedas) a definite generalized rule
was framed for the use of the Aorist sis is disclosed by the
Brahmana literature ; the use of Aorist as a tense of narra-
tion is very closely observed in the language of the
Brahmanas, the Upanishads and the Sutras of early time.
I have already remarked that to create a hieratic language
on the Vedic lines, generalized rules were framed and
thereby the naturally developed heterogenuous elements
were reduced to a state of homogeneity. Indiscriminate
use of the past systems distinctly shows that the past sys-
tems in their variety were only maintained in grammar to
make the hieratic language look respectable when in reality,
the classical language had no natural link to bind itself
with the Vedic language. It has to be specially and parti-
cularly noted that ff$ , T5^and ^g forms do not only exist
in the early *ttf^ forms but their use in Pali, unlike what
we have noted just now in the Brahmana literature is
much after the Vedic use : the supposed irregularities in
the Vedic speech, have been artificially avoided in the
Brahmana literature by framing some generalized rules.
Again the simplified past system of the later Prakrtas.
shows what naturally came into use in the country in the
LECTURE X 177
speech, in contrast with the unmeaning retention of
various obsolete systems in Classical Sanskrit, in its un-
natural attempt to get away from the natural state of
things. It is notorious that the Ramayana, and the
Mahabharata in all its parts, abound with examples of
indiscriminate use of various past forms in one and the
same sense ; it is not in the late time literature alope that
we get ^3^5 f^fa " 5 ft*Tt*, etc., along with ^5?^ 3t3f|
[V1^t4t*tfS but we get 'STf^H ?Tt3fl 5ftTfrfa, etc., by the side
of J*1 ^, etc in the Sf^ot<T.
We notice that for the mode of expression ' I have
done " or " It has been done," participle forms came into
use in the Prakrta and even long before the time of *F3?f5T,
the form was being freely used to indicate that sense in the
Classical language ; it could not but be so, as the writers
of the Classical language, possessed the very mind and
thought of the speakers of the vulgar tongue. To assert
that the use of finite verbs in their special past form, where
participle form was in current use, should not be regarded
obsolete, the author of the s^t^faT has cited some examples
which are very often quoted. The examples show that for
C5?T, 53, C*f5, the forms ^ftfis, ^5^^: and I^^S were in
use. However much the f*f! people kept themselves aloof,
they could not possibly create a narrow little world of
theirs but had to hold conversation at least with their
wives, who could not but speak the vulgar tongue, being
always in close touch with the neighbours ; howsoever easy
it might be for the sons of the f*f|s to learn their ff! speech,
they could not lisp in Classical Sanskrit, when in the arms
of their nurses. The influence of the real language of the
people could never be kept off by setting up a barrier-wall
of culture.
Pronunciation. Not only in the matter of the use
of tenses, but in other matters as well, the f*f|s imported
23
178 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
the peculiarities of the vulgar speeches in their holy litera-
ture ; being men of the society, the f*f|s imbibed the altered
pronunciation of the common people, and thus unawares
deviated from the Vedic norm : we notice in the very
gt^fqs how in some cases the fa^ss-Hfa has been disregarded,
a[ has been reduced to l, and ^ has been reduced to ^.
That in the matter of general accent, the f*ffcs do not
disclose a regular accent system but only uphold the Vedic
recent for the words of the Yedic mantras alone, by a study
of the Vedic accents, cannot be illustrated in this brief
review.
Dual. A dual in addition to a plural was no doubt a
commonly accepted form in the pre-Vedic days, for the
classical Aryan languages of Europe disclose some almost
effete dual forms. To express two together as a pair, is
a familiar mode of thought exhibited by all peoples all
over the world, but to retain a regular dual system, does
not appear to be a normal inclination in man, in any part
of the globe. I am inclined to think, that the formation
of dual, was in the case of some people, the first step
towards expressing a general plural number ; but when a
regular plural was reached, the earlier form in_this grade
of evolution, either died out or was retained only for very
occasional use. It is not unlikely, that dual was a regular
plural form in the dialect of one section of the culture
group of the Aryans, and at the fusion of dialects in the
growth of one generalized common speech, the non-regular
plural (i.e.y the dual) forms stuck to the language as dual,
but for practical purposes, the dual was only restricted in
use, in expressing the special thought relating to a pair.
That in the Vedic language, the dual has this sort of
restricted use, cannot be very much doubted. What has
been observed by the Vedic scholars in this matter, has been
fitly expressed by Whitney in the following words : " The
LECTURE X 179
dual is (with only very rare and sporadic exceptions) used
strictly in all cases, where two objects are logically indi-
cated, whether directly or by combination of two indivi-
duals. Dr. Bloomfield has very rightly observed, that
while the employment of the dual is generally strict in
the truly post-Vedic language, the plural is often used
instead of the dual of natural pairs in the archaic parts
of the Rgveda. It is because of natural disinclination,
that the dual system was not maintained in the European
languages of Aryan origin, and it was owing to this
naturalness of thought, that a regular dual system was
falling into disuse in the living Vedic speech ; the dual
system could not survive into the Prakrtas, because the
Aryan people of India ceased to have the sort of thought
in their mind, which either generates or cherishes such a
system in addition to plural system. We may consequently
assert, that the co-existence of the dual forms with the
plural forms, and the maintenance of the dual forms, not
as worn-out unnecessary survivals, but as forms having
meaning and use, point to a fixed literary character or
rather to an unnatural artificial character of the post-
Vedic language as well as of the classical Sanskrit. In
their zeal to perpetuate the purity of the Vedic speech,
the f"fls out-Heroded Herod, in maintaining a rigid dual
system.
Why the Prakrtas of rather a very late date, are more
Sanskritic than their early predecessors, should now be
explained. Had it not been for the religious activities of
the Buddhists and the Jains, what we can know of some
old time Prakrtas, would have been out of our reach. For
reasons I shall state in a subsequent lecture, these Prakrtas
were standardized, and became the sacred language of
some religious sects ; even though new Prakrta speeches
came actually into being, the sectarian religious works
180 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
\Vere composed during those later times, in the earlier
obsolete Prakrtas. Consequently, a general continuity of
the Prakrta speeches in their transformation through ages,
cannot very easily be traced in literature. Properly speaking,
no general secular literature existed in the provincial dialects,
to give models of language to the Prakrta-speaking people
of successive generations. The people continued to speak
in their Prakrta speeches, but serious literature was always
being composed by the learned in Sanskrit. When,
therefore any good or elevated thought had to be expressed
in a public document for universal use, in any Prakrta
dialect, a great want was felt in getting adequate terms in
the current speech of the people. Sanskrit words were
therefore laid under contribution, from the current literary
works. This is why during the early literary activities in
all our Vernaculars, we notice the influence of Sanskrit
upon the Vernaculars. We should not, at the same time,
fail to notice, that the Prakrta or vernacular-speaking
people of all times, have maintained the non-Sanskritic
structure of their speech. It is by Grammar principally,
and not by Vocabulary, that the character of a speech is to
be judged ; if we do so, we will find that the genetic
affinities between the Prakrtas of early and late times, will
be clearly noticeable. As the subject will be specially
deliueated in another lecture, no further remarks need be
added here.
That the classical Sanskrit has been through all times
greatly influenced by the Prakrtas, has been shown by a few
examples only ; a further consideration of the subject is
necessary. The f*f|s who could not but belong to the
dialect-speaking people, could not but use the Prakrta
forms (though unawares) in their Sanskrit composition.
I adduce below some examples to show how this was done.
I cannot however resist the temptation of quoting here
LECTt'RE X Igl
the words of Dr. Skeat, which are applicable to the f*fls of
all countries and times : " The speaker of the 'standard'
language is frequently tempted to consider himself as the
dialect-speaker's superior, unless he has already acquired
some elementary knowledge of the value of the science of
language, or has sufficient common sense to be desirous of
learning to understand that which for the moment lies
beyond him."
First of all I notice, that as after framing some arti-
ficial general rules, the f"f^s were forced to explain away
some naturally developed Vedic words, by setting them
down as cases of ^Tf^ license, so in respect of some Prakrta
or Desi words assimilated by them unawares in the Sans-
krit language, the sistas invented the nipatana rule, con-
sidering perhaps what was but a natural growth, to be
due to vagaries or freaks of nature.
That there was a scholastic revival in building up
Sanskrit, and that the popular dialects (which could not
but have been the property of the f"f|s) had to be polished
from time to time, to make sanskrita of them, will be
partly demonstrated by the following examples. The
examples are given in an alphabetical order and not
in what may be called chronological order ; the remarks
against them will however show in some cases, when they
were introduced from the Prakrtas into the holy speech.
(1) ^5(31 means no doubt the lower part as adjective or
adverb. It is interesting to note, that in the popular
speech, ^3\ the first component of the compound word
^CTfS came to designate the lower lip ; this ^^ was
taken into the classical Sanskrit without any question.
(2) ^*BT. In Vedic denotes lower; but by false
analogy of other words connected with the ^1^4 '^' it
was made by the f*f|s, themselves to convey exactly the
opposite meaning.
LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
(3) ^Tt^-5?. How in the early Brahmana language
this round-about and clumsy expression took the place of
Vedic s?3 (nine, pronounced as sf-^Bf) of the cardinal
compounds 5ffiwf (nineteen) 5f^fa*ff^5 (twenty-nine) and
so forth to 5R^^f% (ninety-nine), is not clear. The ear-
liest Prakrta has ^ which may be formed by metathysis
from ^-^ ; it is not likely that <4^t^ was reduced
to &(. I think ^s[ being un-orthodox, the new expression
was coined, when R fell into disuse, and ^ was wrongly
supposed to be something like viftrft- 5 ! because of its
final *.
(4) ^*$Tfr. in Vedic it means the smith ; ^JTfa is the
natural Prakrta form of it, from which the vernacular TfTfr
has come out. The purists, in ignorance of Vedic form
polished the prakrta form in analogy of other words, by
adding ^fr indicating doing to ^*jf, to form <*tf<J>t4.
(5) The word tl signified a married lady and a god-
dess in the early speech, and so who was not a $1, i.e., who
was not lady-like was ^f-31 ; thus sf^t* 1 ^ came to signify
af^SJl (visya) or courtesan. The shamelessness of a courtesan
gave the significance naked to the word. So by its deri-
vation neither tfl nor s^tTl was a feminine form of any
masculine word ; but not knowing the character of the
word, the word sot was created as the original masculine
form, even in the Brahmaya literature. I must also note,
that from the original meaning of the word ffj, a married
woman, the v-ord 331 also came into use to signify an
unmarried girl ; in this meaning of the word the age of
the girl could not be and cannot be read. The Vedic rule
having come down by tradition, it was prescribed in the
ideal form of marriage, that one who was not married to
another, was to be taken as wife. The commentator?, in
the teeth of the fact that the ceremonials recorded in the
(Trhyasutras, relate to the marriage of girls of mature age,
LECTURE X 1$3
interpret the word *(%\ as a girl walking about without
covering her shame. The Philologists should take care
not to equate nude with J?tf because of the lateness of its
formation.
(6) fp*ff%. In Vedic means master of the house (W3
house + 1%). Exactly when W% (i>r-> *f?) coming to
signify ^ff^rt, the meaning changed in a popular dialect, is
not known ; fp^fs with its Prakrta variant ^*|f% (cf., W*W$
for ffr*{?r, ^Sf^rH for faWf<tf, etc.) came no doubt into use in
Sanskrit, as the false Sanskrit derivation shows. In ignor-
ance of Vedic form, the Prakrta forms were explained and
reconciled in Grammar by a false rule, which gives us W\$\
-f *ff^5 = ^ J pff^and *?"*!!%. That the phonetic change of ff
into ^ is noticeable in the Vedic itself, may be illustrated
by one example : we get C^Ttf^s as a changed form of 5jf%
in the Vedic ; C^Itf 7 !. however became in the Vedic a new
stem to signify a meaning different from but allied to ^jf^.
(7) 5Tff*F*. The word is unknown in the Vedic speech ;
the word for it was 3^1 (vapta). The barber on some
ceremonial occasions had the duty of cleansing the body
of a man and so he was called in the Magadhi Prakrta or
Pali a 5fStf*F5 ; this 5^tf*T5 is the causative form of ^t^l
derived from the root ^|. The purists in the analogy of
other words, made s^tf*l>5 a rff*ra, and thought they are not
using a vulgar word in the place of the orthodox Vedic
word. The word occurs in the Brahmana language.
(8) ^^t 5 ^- When a generalised rule relating to ^~
<2F5T? was framed in Sanskrit, and Pali words with Tl final
were thought by a false analogy to be the words of ^
origin, the word <?ft1 was reduced to ^^tI ; then again
to meet a difficulty the Vedic vocative form v'iR had to
be declared as an arsa license.
(9) Tt^l. No word for maternal uncle is traceable in
the Vedic ; Macdonell very rightly infers that this word
184 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
was presumably a dialectic form which made its way into
Sanskrit. In Sutra literature, it is spf^q which was no
doubt taken from the popular speech. The popular word
was wrongly sought to be derived from a Vedic stem, and
as such sif^pl was imagined to be a valiant of sft^, and
then the curious word sjt^ t1 wa * coined as the supposed
original word in the Maitrayani Samhita,.
(10) sj:j[5f. I have shown in a previous lecture that
this purely Prakrta word was adopted on account of long
use in the Classical Sanskrit, but failing to derive it pro-
perly from sf^yj of Sanskrit (which was only 3R in Pr-
krta), a rule of exception was invented for its justification.
(11) ft<Rl. In the Vedic speech f^ means ' alone '
and fa^with the feminine suffix ^Tl became fo*Rl (a
widow) ; there was no ^ in the Vedic speech to dominate
this ftiral and we get a Vidova in Italian, for example
without any masculine form for it. As ft (vi) was
wrongly thought to be the initial ^fl^f, ft*Hl was derived
as a woman who lost her never existent *R ; *& is a pseudo-
Sanskrit word. (12) fasrl, a courtesan, signified in deriva-
tion a woman who was accessible to the Vis or the Aryan
people in general. When the corrupt Prakrta form Vissa
was purified, an imaginary origin of the word was sought
in the dress, etc , of the displayer of beauty, and hence Vesya
(from Ves'a), was used as the correut form. (13) ^>5rt of
Vedic use was made a F3 by imagining a hundred
streamlets for the river.
(14) Jf^*! signifies 'a species of pine tree' as
well as ' straight.' The original Vedic for the class of the
pine tree is *f?R (the tree which is straight like a *fa) ; the
word *fflv\ occurs in the Brahmana literature after the
pronunciation of the common people.
It is notorious that the Classical Sanskrit has swelled
with words of Prakrta and Desi origin ; as these words are
LECTURE X 185
interesting for many reasons, I give a small number
of them in an appendix to help the students to study the
matter separately.
I cannot possibly dilate upon the subject any further.
We may veiy well hold, that the non-existence of dual and
the currency of a simplified past system in the Prakrtas,
argue in favour of the natural growth of the Prakrtas.
That the early Prakrta or Pali, retains many archaic Vedic
forms, as are unknown in Sanskrit, is admitted by all
scholars ; this point of structural unity of early Pali with
the Vedic, will be very briefly noticed in the subsequent
lecture. I now proceed to notice a fact, which will show
(though perhaps faintly) that a continuity of the Vedic
was maintained through many Prakrta dialects, which have
now died out without leaving any literary evidence of
their existence.
It is a striking phenomenon, that we have stored up
many words in our vernacular which are met with in the
oldest known Vedic speech only, and which were not in use
in Sanskrit, which is wrongly regarded as a direct
and pure offspring of the Vedic language. I do not
claim to be exhaustive, but I should think that the list
I append here, is not a very short one. (1) <Mft and
*Fj$l correspond in meaning exactly with ^ft^?t in
ignorance of the origin, the wrong derivation ^Tl + ^ has
been imagined. The word <3lf*r is a separate word
altogether. (-2) The Vedic word ^5^ is used by us in the
form ^r|^rl ; <arfa*rT became a pedant word even in
the days of the early ^tftws and the word <st*rft
derived from it, is used in our high flown language. (3)
^81 is an egg as well as a foetus iu the womb. The
Sanskrit form ^ is a later form derived from ^91.
Considering it a Prakrta word, the frls dropped the tinal <3l,
as non-feminine forms with <BT| final could nut be adopted.
24
186 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
(4) ^tfffr The pungent juice of it became once the substi-
t ite for (TTtWT- Our <srftf1 is closer to the early word in
form ; the Sanskrit word <5Tf^f is only a pedantic form.
(5) ^TWl means side in the Vedic speech ; in that sense
we use the word in the phrase <5rft w f tfff. The word is in
use in Sanskrit in a secondary meaning indicating direc-
tion. (6) <Rl means like this ; from this comes our
now poetic word ($3. (7) vfi^ft 1 to be wet with dew ; <SWl
signifying wet was in general use in old Bengali, and is
still in use in the district of Bankura and in Orissa in
that sense. (8) fft and 3<ft jujube; the Bengali form is
fpf and the Oriya form is f>sft. (9) ^*f?T a sort of reed ;
this word is in use in Eastern as well as in Northern
Bengal to mean sugarcane ; in this very sense the word is
in use in Eastern Magadhi and in Oriya of the district of
Sambalpur, while in the intervening tracts of Bengal the
word <5Tfa from ^ is in use ; the form is <5Jt^ in Orissa proper.
The word ^*ft^ as in <F*Tfa 3fl to indicate cluster of reeds, is
however in use in Central Bengal. (10) We get in tho
Rgveda the interjection ^ (truly) and ?vs (alas) ; our
^tt> (truly) comes from the earlier Bengali form 3T> as
in "C<F ^ C?." It is not correct that this word
comes from ^Q to stay or exist ; the Western Bhojpuri
3 from ^Q is not in use in Eastern Magadhi, nor
there is any verb in Bengali or Oriya which is even
remotely connected with ^t. (11) ^3l, a Vedic inter-
jection, which signifies confusion of thought ; C&3V5 *Jt\S3l
conveys exactly the same meaning. (12) ^1, the aerial root
of a tree. The aerial root of the Peepul tree (^) is
called ^1 in many parts of Bengal. (13) ^*(1, a calf
almost mature enough to become a cow ; in this very sense
the word is in use in the district of Sambalpur, where it is
pronounced as ^1. The word is in use in the Bengali-
speaking district of Pimilia. (14-) Tf?t occurs also in Pali
LECTURE X 187
and our Tt*f is exactly the instrument which is used by the
carpenters. (15) f*ffiq its synonym *tt*P^t is in use in
Sanskrit, while our f*t^1 comes directly from f*t^| through
the medium of Pali. (16) ^ (not <3^ which is a sepa-
rate word, and from which we have got ^ a pillar) has
its ^*f3?"t form *tfa1 or *ffa in Bengali ; it signifies a prop
and so is closely related to ^ig in meaning.
I speak of a few other words in this connection, though
to illustrate a different phenomenon. The words sff^
(limb), Vfji^ (knife), etc., of the Vedic, were formed with the
suffix ^, and as such the words 5f| and ff|, as original words,
may be supposed to have existed in an once-existing
dialect. Coming through Sanskrit, '^\^' has been reduced
to 5f\s^[ in some vernaculars, but sf| and W\ seem to have come
to us like the words just set forth in the above list, through
some provincial dialects, of which no trace can now be
obtained. As not altogether irrelevant, I cite the history
of another word here. The word ' ^*tl*I ' indicating skull or
skull-bone, though of pure Vedic origin, was regarded as
unfit to be uttered by the holy people (at least in Patan-
jali's time), on account of its gruesome association ; the
euphemistic term ^^\ was recommended for substitution.
We know, however, that the fate of ^*t|1 was not doomed
in Sanskrit, but it is curious that this euphemistic word
x$ttffl had the ill-luck of earning for itself the very un-
pleasant idea, which it was intended to dispel ; the
slightly-changed form of \^ttl as *N1^5 denotes in Bengali,
the place where dead animals are allowed to rot and the
bones of the animals bleach in the sun.
From the cumulative evidence it is rather clear that
the literary Vedic speech stood in a close relationship
with many provincial dialects, some of which at least
continued through all ages, to live to be transformed
into later vernaculars, and that the Classical Sanskrit,
188 LATER ARYAN SPEECHES
on the other hand, came into existence as an artificial
language.
We have shown to a certain extent, that Laukika or
Sanskrit was sought at first to be kept in close unity with
the Yedic, but as a matter of fact this language could not
maintain any continuity with the Vedic, and with the
progress of time, it went on drawing largely upon the
Prikrta dialects. Facts have also been adduced, to show
or rather to suggest, why most of the important links in
the chain of evolution of the Prakrta dialects, leading up
to our modern vernaculars, are missing or rather irrevocably
perished.
APPENDIX.
Only a few Sanskrit or rather pseudo-Sanskrit words
are listed below, just to show the influence of Prakrtas of
all times, upon the language which is said to have kept
itself aloof from the Prakrtas.
(1) cVf%f from ^ + *ffr*Tf5{ or f*tffa. The vernacular
word ^tt^S and the provincial Oriya word
^*fj?| are derived from it. In the Sanskrit
of a verv late time, this ^*fc was made into
(2) C^f^T from 3p\*S came out }f two Prakrta words, f%cf
and c*Pl ; C^I is from f?jre| and C^\, as in
Of*! 3 *, C*fT^ etc., remains unchanged.
(8) *pfa from ^1t*l (skull) we get ^*\fs and its
variant fflj^ j from rtfa we get ^fq as
Tfat* tj*l as we ^ as <ft1^1 either sfflfs or
^ft^l has been sanskritized into ^*f?T.
3".^. ^fq as of ^TfSt^T t^> should not be confounded
with C^Tffil which is a synonym of *ffnrl j from C^ we
have got both C^ft^ll as well as C^ftTl ; from C^Ft^ we have
got C^ft^I besides C^(t11- This C^t^l again is not identical
either with C*t11 derived from *f! to excavate, or with C^tt^I
to loosen, derived from ^ffi.
(4) C^ from ^ requires no comment.
(5) ^*$ from ^t^T came out f^fa$, and this f^f^; gave
birth to *PJ[ ; TSJ was sanskritized into T^ in
the analogy of P5, ^5, etc.
(6) 5^ from 5^. Very likely from 5^><T (clever) we
also got 5^ and this word came to signify
a clever thief, and thus the Sanskrit words
190 APPENDIX
CSfr and CFfa were formed. Prof. D. R.
Bhandarkar thinks that the Sanskrit word
CFfa comes from the tribal name CFf1 or C5t^
(7) *|f?F5 from ^f?n.
(8) H>| from ^? ; a matted lock of hair not being easily
separable into component parts.
(9) ^^1 from ^5 so also other words of ^ initial.
(10) All words with fc, fr, \5, U initials.
(11) ^5<s from ^ indicating quickness. From the very
word H3T, ^t^ was formed as an independent
root (cf., *$$${, ^t'^tlt 5 !, etc.).
(12) ^1 Sanskritic form of ^ or SFfll which is an
^*f^*f of fr.
(13) *TfaT a pseudo-respectable form of Tft ; *(t^t (fried
paddy = *j|^1 ) was adopted in Sanskrit
without change.
(14) ^Tt^ from ^\5^ to dance.
(15) ife from <S\^5 comes *j?>\5 or t^ and then by
metathysis.
(16) ^5, ^t^ comes from f|| of the root fl\.
(17) Excepting a few words such as *pv\, ^<?\ (plough-
share) and C^R almost all words having ^
initial ; even the word W-*\ is suspected to be
of Dravidian origin.
(18) ^ from <e3l.
(19) sf^F from ^ ; used in the sense of plague.
(20) STfr and sfl^f already referred to and discussed.
(21) 3^1 a pure (^ word.
(^2) ^5? from ;jT>, originally that which is lost by theft,
i.e., which becomes $$.
(23) ^f%?f from ^5|5 we got first ^ in Pali.
(24) wffa from ^1 , ^ and ?I being one and the same
the word was formed by metathysis.
(25) ^f5 from 1ft'.
APPENDIX 191
(26) *t\ a new root to indicate curse; original
form ^f^' 3 ^ = ^rf% -I- *t + *ft5 that which
befalls by destroying "f? signifying ^Tlt 6 ! ;
this shows that "ft is a corrupt form of
(2?) C*f1 from f*fT| stone implement originally.
(28) ^ (walking or wandering about) from the Vedic
root ; SF (compare
(29) ^55 or ^^tf from ^.
LECTURE XI
Pali and other old Prakrta*.
Prakrtm defined. Sanskrit as a hieratic language,
occupies naturally a position of very high honour. It
is no wonder therefore, that our old Prakrta grammarians
regarded it in their fancy, to be the very speech, in its
original purity, which the gods and holy men spoke at the
very dawn of human creation. Some Prakrta grammar-
ians have formulated (no doubt very wrongly) that Sans-
krit is in the state of <2f|Fl% or natural purity, while, the
provincial dialects alone disclosed f^fs or corruption of
the original iSHpfs, by deviating from the norm of Sans-
krit. This is how these grammarians have sought to
explain the term Prakrta, though the word <2f^f cannot
be shown to have been in use at any time, to signify a
speech, holy or unholy. Prakrti no doubt signifies nature,
but in its secondary signification as ' subjects ' or 'common
people ' or ' people in general,' the word is in very common
use in our literature of all times. Prakrta, in its signi-
fication as a speech, seems therefore to be associated with
prakrti or the common people. No matter what the
derivation may be, it is undoubted, that the term Prakrta
has always denoted the current speech of the people in
general, in contradistinction with the cultivated literary
speech of the learned. It is significant that our provincial
vernaculars of to-day, are called by the orthodox Pandits
as so many Prakrta speeches. No one can fail to notice,
that the early poets of Bengal as well as of Orissa have
designated the language of their effusions as Prakrta.
It is therefore admitted in a manner on all hands, that
LECTURE XI 193
Prakrta is the speech, in which the babies commence to
lisp and which the people very naturally learn untaught.
The oriental scholars of Europe however, make a sharp
distinction now between the modern vernaculars and the
obsolete Prakrtas, to secure some definiteness in the matter
of classification. In this classification, the scholars have
followed those Prakrta grammarians, who have appro-
priated the name prakrta for an artificial standard literary
speech, and have given the term < 5f*f^f, to the vernacu-
lar speeches of their time; I should notice in this connec-
tion, that Apabhransa as reported by the grammarians is
also an unreal apabhransa speech. That the term apa-
bhransa should now only be used to denote phonetic
decay, has been my suggestion in the foregoing lecture.
We have to again notice with reference to the use of the
term prakrta by the modern scholars, that where a prakrta
ends and a vernacular begins, is not at all easy to deter-
mine and demarcate ; it will not help us in the matter of
classification, nay it will create anomaly and confusion,
if the obsolete forms of our present day vernaculars be
all designated as prakrtas. If the term prakrta be applied
to signify those remote forbears of the modern vernaculars
of Northern India, as may not be quite directly traced
to be such forbears, a workable definition may be obtained.
Practically speaking, this definition does not militate
against the current definition of the scholars. I need
hardly point out, that by the phr-ase ' remote forbear ' in this
definition, I do not refer either to Chhandasa, which is the
source-head of all our Aryan speeches, or to Classical
Sanskrit, which has made from time to time some contri-
butions to the Aryan Vernaculars.
Pali defined. Pali, 1 have all along designated as an
early Magadhi prakrta. on the authority of Buddha Ghosa,
who has called' it ' Magadha Bohara.' The capital to-wn
25
194 OLD PRAKRTAS
of the Magadha country, we know from the phonetic
representation of it in Greek as Palibothra, was once called
*ftfa*3p3l or *ttf%*2p1 ; the name Pali, as a place name,
is still in existence in Behar. I think that the people of
Ceylon gave the name Pali to the prakrta speech in ques-
tion, as the Buddhist canonical works were obtained by
them in the Paliputto country. Now that we see, that
the word Fatal iputra could be, or rather was in reality
reduced to the form Paliputto, the objection that the term
Pali cannot come out of Patali, will not be seriously urged.
It will certainly be admitted, that the meanings given to
the word Pali by the Singhalese, are wholly unknown
in the literature of India; once the Simhalese gave the
name Pali to the language of the canonical works, the
secondary or tertiary meaning of the term could easily
come into use in Ceylon.
Since Pali has never been in use in India, as a term
to denote either Prakrta in general or any special Prakrta
in particular, Prakrta should be the legitimate name
for the language in question; if the Prakrta of the
Tripitakas be given a special name, the students of the
Prakrta speeches will be led into the wrong notion, that
in the matter of origin and general character, Pali differs
widely and essentially from the other Prakrtas. To use
the word Pali to signify " Buddhistic Prakrta/' is equally
misleading ; for the prakrta in question was not during its
currency, the speech of the Buddhists alone. In their
canonical works the Buddhists have preserved a class of
Prakrta and the Jainas another; we are not on that
account justified to designate those Prakrtas by the names
of those religious sects. I should also notice here another
suggestion regarding the origin of the term Pali : it is
urged by some, on the strength of the supposition, that
the speeches of the common people were not much in
LECTURE XI 195
current in urban tracts, that the word Pali may be a
decayed form of the non-Aryan term Palli (*f?ft = village).
Certainly phonology does not offer any difficulty in the
matter of this etymology, but facts of history do not
support this proposition. In the first place, it cannot
be proved that the people of the rural tracts differed
widely from the people of the urban tracts, in the matter
of speech. In the second place, the word Pali cannot be
proved to have ever been in use in India, to denote a
speech, and consequent!}' it will not be correct to suppose
that the people of Ceylon coined the term, by making
historical investigation regarding the rural origin of the
speech of their canonical works. I must however mention
here, a hitherto unnoticed fact, which may be urged with
some force in support of the theory. To speak in praise
of the "speech in which the 5Tf9!t*f^*tf% has been composed,
the author has designated the language by the name
' ^TjWSf ' in the 2nd verse of the work. The commentator
has explained the term ' ^5^( ' by <2fff ^ very correctly,
but he has not given us the derivation of the word. The
word looks like an apabhransa of the word lift, since
*ft^1 of modern vernaculars can easily be derived from
*f?fi*. But as this solitary use of a comparatively later
time cannot be connected with a cognate word of idiomatic
use of earlier times, Pali, as an Indian name for a <2ftip5,
cannot be accepted. Again it is difficult to say. how far
the word *tt^5^T for ^\^ is a genuine ^*f^*f form of a
particular time ; that we meet with fanciful corruptions
of Sanskrit terms in the literary prakrtas, will be specially
discussed afterwards. f|^!, and tt&r are two terms
for i2ftfl5 which occur in the ^^fafssft ', in this case
it is rather certain that the terms were coined to maintain
the character of the prakrtas as given in some Prakrta
Grammars. I do not propose to do away with the term
19fl OLD PRAKRTAS
Pali, which denotes a particular class of Prakrta of the
olden time, but I discuss the question to remove the
wrong notions which this term, as well as the term
prakrta may generate, regarding the origin, position, and
value of the obsolete speeches of India.
The Character of Pali. I have tried to show in the
previous lecture, that if we look into the evidence fur-
nished by a comparative study of the early and later
forms of Vedic speech, and if again we compare the Yedic
speech as a whole, with Classical Sanskrit, we are led
to the conclusion, that the old Grammarians seized on the
! salient features of the Vedic speech, and moulded them
into one harmonious whole, to create a hieratic language.
I have moreover setforth some facts, which make it pro-
bable, that even when Chhandasa continued to be a living
literary language, some provincial vernaculars (though
derived originally from Chhandasa) co-existed with Chhau-
dasa as closely related dialects. One fact indeed can never
be doubted, that when the priestly class was busy in
reviving, or in maintaining the purity of the Chhandasa
speech, the Aryan people in general spoke one form or
another of the Aryan speech, which must be designated
as Prakrta. How far Pali is removed from a Prakrta
speech, which co-existed with, or succeeded immediately
to the latest phase of the Chhandasa speech, is perhaps
impossible to determine now, but that the early Pali may
be regarded to be closely allied to Chhandasa, is admitted
by all scholars.
I have pointed out in the previous lecture, that by
unmeaning retention of the dual forms and of the tense
systems of Chhandasa, Classical Sanskrit reveals its own
artificial character, while the structure of the Pali lan-
guage, discloses a natural modification or change of the
early Aryan language. To show that how in some other
LECTURE XI 197
points, Pali retains to some extent the morphological struc-
ture of the Vedic speech, I refer here to some scholaily
remarks of V. Fausboll, as appear in his preface to
" Sutta Nij.ata " (S. B. E., Vol. IX). He has shown with
reference to the oldest portions of the Sutta Nipata, that
those richer forms of Vedic language which we find
wanting in the Classical Sanskrit, were in use in the oldest
Pali. The great scholar has pointed out, that we meet with
in Pali, " the fuller Vedic forms of nouns and verbs in the
plural, the shorter Vedic plurals, and the instrumental
singular of nouns, Vedic infinitives, and many other Vedic
forms and words."
The position of Sanskrit as a literary language, in its
relation with Chhandasa on the one side, and with the
Prakrta speeches on the other, has been discussed in several
lectures from various viewpoints. The relation of Pali
however, with several provincial Prakrtas of the Post-
Mauriyan times, is not easy to determine. I discuss some
facts which show how this investigation is involved in
difficulties: (1) Pali was retained and used as a literary
language by the Buddhists when it actually became an
obsolete speech ; (2) Sanskrit, though an artificial literary
language ceased, at one time, to be a purely hieratic speech,
and having become the vehicle of thought of all men,
dealing with different branches of knowledge, it exercised
such an influence in the country, that the living speeches
which succeeded Pali, could not become respectable enough to
leave literary monuments for us ; (3) To ensure intelligibility
in all provinces of India, the Prakrta books (very limited in
number), were composed in such an unreal generalized form,
as does not help us to reconstruct the living speeches of old
days. I notice the significance of all the points briefly below.
Pali, a literary xpeech. We clearly see, why Gotama
Buddha insisted upon getting his teachings recorded in
108 OLD PRAKRTAS
the vernacular of his time. What he aimed at however,
was not secured, when without following the spirit of his
words, his disciples stuck to the speecli of his time in their
literary composition, when the speech in question became
obsolete, and as such uninteresting and repulsive to the
non- Buddhistic people. Even to the ordinary Buddhistic
people of mundane thoughts and worldly aspirations, this
literature which was severely religious, could not be attrac-
tive; despite their deep veneration for their Saxf-ra, the
people in general, who as a matter of course wanted
to enjoy life, left the dull works of holy character to the
care and custody of a small number of religious teachers.
The language of the Asoka inscriptions and references to
(<5ft*f3?) apnmbfla* by Patanjali, distinctly show that the
Pali speech of Buddha's time was being changed with the
progress of time, and various provincial dialects came into
existence in f he 2nd Century B.C. ; yet it is a fact, that
the author of the Milinda panha tried his best to write in
the language of the Buddhistic canonical works. Changes
effected by time are distinctly noticeable in the Pali cano-
nical works themselves, even though a general standard
was set up for the language. No doubt the old Pali of
Buddha's days was being transformed into new and newer
dialects, but the old-time I'ali failed to become a living
heritage with the speakers of the newly-transformed
speeches. Tn that the literary Sanskrit in its broader and
more catholic character was being enriched every day by
the composition of interesting and entertaining secular
literature of various genre, the influence of Sanskrit became
more potent and abiding, upon the laymen of letters all
throughout the country. True it is that the author of
Sanskrit works, who lived, moved and had their being in
the living atmosphere of the Prakrta speeches of their
davs, introduced various Prakrta forms in Sanskrit, but
LECTURE xi 199
the speakers of the Prakrta tongues, could not but draw
upon Sanskrit for want of a living literary tradition of the
Prakrtas, when they sought from time to time to enrich
their dialects.
It became impossible in those days to write in any
particular vernacular of the province which might be
intelligible to the people of all the provinces. The Bud-
dhistic writers, who wanted to adhere to the Prakrta
speech, but found Pali could not be made intelligible even
in the Magadha country, mixed up Sanskrit forms with
some ^"f^N*! forms common to many provinces, and thereby
created a curious hvbrid language, which has acquired the
designation, the Gatha language. It was to ensure universal
intelligibility that an artificial literary Prakrta was set up,
and it is the artificial Prakrta, which is generally met
with, in the old Prakrta works. These Prakrta works do
not give us the real vernaculars of the past time, and so
we cannot directly trace the evolution of our modern
vernaculars through the speeches preserved in those works.
It is perfectly certain that the language of the Asoka
inscriptions is not artificial ; but one thing strikes us very
much, that there are many words in these inscriptions,
which are more Sanskritiu in form than the words occurring
in Buddhistic canonical works. I am strongly inclined
to think, that some words in the inscriptions were made
purposely Sanskritic to make the edicts thoroughly intelli-
gible at places far away from Magadha. If we compare
the Pali language of Buddha's days, as preserved in the
canonical works, with the contemporary classical Sanskrit
of the Brahmana literature, we may notice, that the latter
artificial language cannot be said to be only the literary
form of the former ; but the classical Sanskrit of the 3rd
Century B. C., can be easily set down as the literary form
of. the language of the inscriptions. Mr. F. W. Thomas
200 OLD PRAKRTAS
very rightly observes, in his paper published in the J. R.
A. S. 1904 (p. 461), that " It is not too much to say that
in modern English both spokeu and written, we find
greater deviations from the norm, than what may be
observed between classical Sanskrit and the language of
the edicts of Asoka." The learned orientalist has further
asserted, that if the text of the Pali inscriptions of Asoka's
time and the literal translation of those texts in Sanskrit
were placed side by side, one would find only such differ-
ences in pronunciation, etc., as always exist between the
literary and spoken forms of the same dialect. I need not
halt to explain this phenomenon, for I have already stated,
how with the progress of time, Sanskrit was being modified
by Prakrta, and how Prakrta was being influenced by
Sanskrit.
How, stage by stage the Magadhi language underwent
successive changes for one thousand years after the time
of Asoka, cannot be very easily determined, for reasons
already suggested ; I may however add this observation,
that it will be very unsafe to judge the Magadhi language
by the language of the inscriptions of later times, since it
appears, that at one time it became a fashion, even in far
off Southern India, to use the Magadhi language in inscrip-
tions. I am not concerned with the question of introduc-
tion of Magadhi language into Peninsular India, nor
have I to trace the influence of it on the languages of
Western India. How the Magadhi language was shaped
in the province of Magadha itself, and how and in
what form it got into Bengal, are questions which
should be relevantly discussed. How the old Magadhi
Prakrta or Pali is related to what is called the Jaina
Prakrta, is a subject of very high importance for inquiry ;
it is also necessary to discuss the character of the speech
which has been called Magadhi by the Prakjta
LfiCTtRE XI 201
Grammarians ; but before I take up these questions for
discussion, I proceed to examine if we can trace the
blood of old Pali itself (unstrained through the transformed
Prakrtas of subsequent times) in the veins of our Bengali
language. It may be repeated here, what has been shown
before, that the province of Magadha-cum-gau(ja always
overflowed itself into Bengal, till the end of the 10th
Century A.D.
I have noted in previous lectures, that in the
matter of accent, there is much agreement between Pali
and Bengali. I doubt not this will be admitted to be a
factor of much importance in a language. We should
also remember in this connection, Mr. Pischell's weighty
observation, that Vedic accent and stress survived in Pali.
The importance of the matter urges me to repeat one or
two facts in this connection over again.
That because of the old time accent on the first sylla-
bles, the words rcfa Olf%), TO , (<2ffisO, ^*f (w), etc., have
been reduced to ^rtf^ (not ^f as in Oriya and Maithili),
Cf^ (not tiPR of other provinces), ^ pronounced as
^ (not ^ as in Oriya), etc., in Bengali, can be clearly
seen; that the pronunciation of *Ol, ^FJTl, etc., of the
old days has only been retained in Bengal, and that the
forms *f?R, ^SR, etc., have only been recently borrowed
in a class of artificial poetry, cannot be denied. However,
I give below a list of words which have come to Bengali
perhaps direct from Pali, for they are not met with in the
Prakrtas of later days.
(1) : sn>l3 = ; 5ftfe stone of a fruit, we do not get either
<5ftii or any word derived from ^f^ in use in other dia-
lects to indicate this meaning. (2) ^t5 and ^f*f5, these
words signify ' and ' or ' still more ' in Sanskrit ; the mean-
ing ' nevertheless ' as they signify in P5li, is only found in
Bengali in the use of *WB. In Oriya, this word, with its
26
202 OLD PRlKRTAS
Pali or Bengali meaning, has ouly very recently been
borrowed. (3) ^-t^^ (seems to be Deni word and not an
Apabhramsa) means indisposition or illness, Bengali "5f^^
f^^ or simple "SR^F does not seem to be derived from ^*f,
happiness, for the idea of illness is not expressed with
reference to the feeling of happiness ; I think ^t^^ is the
originator of the Bengali word. (4) ^5 stands at the
end of a speech, or section to denote ' this is what it is " ;
this use of %fa at the end of a composition, became once
a mere form in Bengali, and subsequently from its posi-
tion in a sentence, it acquired the meaning " the end "
in which sense, it is now in use. This ^5 does not occur
in other dialects ; in Oriya for example, the word indicating
" finish " or " the end," as occurs at the end of an epistle
is &8. (5) ^5 (' hot,' &), ^sjj^ (the act of heating),
[^s? or rather ^ signifies warmth in Bengali] Bengali
^5R^ (oven) comes from it though ^R is the word we
get in Pali for oven. (6) 3j<Tf^T (by metathysis from ^Tfa^
shoe ; the ^ ending again represents earlier ^ ), the
Oriya form is *R^t^> which was in use in old Bengali.
(7) #1 signifies ' this side,' but *tt* signifies both the
banks of a river and also the far-off bank of a river ; only
in old Bengali, we get this word in such a phrase as ^Tft
indicating <pRt$, i.e., the other bank cannot be reach-
ed, i.e., endless. (8) ^^ = old Bengali f><*f, modern C^tf1
where. (9) <F^I (as in Sanskrit) a mouthful to be swal-
lowed ; only in Bengali, there is the Apabhramsa form of
it in use which is *rft*J. (10) ^ (from 3^ = bad,
vile, by metathysis) indicates a thing of bad or insipid
taste ; Bengali 3^ttf>. f insipid taste is from this word ;
the word ^t3 of Sanskrit is of comparatively later date,
and so it is a Sanskritization of a Pali word ; the readers
should not confound this with Sanskrit 3^ N which exists in
the word ?Rt signifying unripe (distinguish this also from
LECTURE XI 203
^ , to touch or to injure) ; from ^ , unripe, we get the
Oriya word^fr. unripe, and this old form ^fa unripe is in
use in Bengali, in the shape of ^f^. (11) C^ltll (cows in
plural) in this form, the word travelled to Ceylon from
old Bengal, our ^> is from 5f-^, where ^ has been changed
to ^. (12) ^S or ^s (ghee). "It is curious that following
the traditional spelling, the rude villagers of Bengal still
write Ws and not ^5, when they make an attempt at
dignified spelling. (13) *! exactly signifying hair, as in
Bengali ; this word is found at one or two places in the
Jataka stories, bearing evidently marks of lateness. (14)
SPPtfc, a bamboo basket = Bengali Ffertfe and Oriya FtWtfo.
(15) ITfu? a pot or a vessel, is found exactly in this
sense in Oriya; that it was in use in old Bengali can be
detected in the modern Bengali phrase 5tfi> 3tfi as in 5tfi>
^tfc NgCT 5OT 3tS3l (to leave a place by carrying away
all pots and pans). (In) $1% (a skin disease ; the Oriya
form C^tf signifying the same meaning is similar to Pali,
as the final f is equivalent to the final vi (fa) of the Pali
word ; the Bengali word derived from it is ^fa. (17) ^<Q
(rice gruel originally barley-gruel SRt^) equal to Bengali
W&. (18) ^ excessive, is in use in Oriya and was in use
in old Bengali ; its real origin is from ^1 to leave, which
gives rise to the form ^tf^ ' something in excess that
had to be thrown away was the idea at the root. (19) F%
a pool, is from ff^, which is formed by metathysis from
jf ; we use the word ^ as in Pali but the Oriya form is tf^.
(20) ^ from Sanskrit ^ ; in many parts of Bengal, little
pieces of wood or sav the internode portion of sugarcane
is called ^ or ^\. (21) cffl1 (pure* innocent or inoffen-
sive) ; Buddhaghosa gives the derivation of it in
his commentary on the Dlgha Nikaya '<j*fl ' ^5%
CTtCTl-j ( 'fPTl ^1*tf^ (?Wl ; a goodnatured innocent
man is alwavs regarded as a fool or an insane, and so we
204 OLD PRAKRTAS
get the word in our Bengali phrase C^|1 CVfl to indicate a
fellow without common sense and so also the word (Tffil by
itself conveys the same meaning in the Oriya speech of
Sambalpur. (22) ft^R-^ji Bengali ^rtw-ltfe. (23)
f^C^R (f rom Sanskrit f^-f-C?^ house) the vulgar people
ask of the ftt?"t of a man to inquire where he hails from
or where he lives, but wrongly considering the form to be
incorrect, we have substituted f^f^T for it. (:24) tf*[-f<[
a muddy road ; the first portion of the compound *tfil indi-
cating mud is in use in Bengali in the case of sediment
thrown by streams of water. (-25) Cl^lj tne feather of
a peacock ; our word C*fa"f as in Ct^ *nf1, blandishing the
wings by a peacock, comes from the word. ('26) sf^fs^
signifies old ; hence the word conveyed the meaning 'wise'
in later times ; in Orissa, the state councillors were called
' mallikas ' and one particular State, once governed by eight
malliks, still bears the name 'srfg^f^; this word as surname
is in use in Bengal and Orissa. (27) 51^3 5 bribe ; the Oriya
word Tf still tears the same meaning, but 1 do not know
if it was in use in Bengal ; my information, that it is in
use in Purulia, has not been confirmed. (28) ^*t> (from
^), a peduncle = Bengali C^t^l. (29) f^f^F^I doubt
or rather an impious doubt regarding the truths of reli-
gion ; hence what is bad or undesirable ; Bengali faf^fafar
is equivalent to it in form and in secondary meaning.
(30) ?^"rfa (from Dftf) = Bengali "Kfa, because of
this derivation, no nasal sound is attached to the first ' t.'
(31) f^% is the passage that is made in the river for a
boat by removing the sand ; the passage was perhaps
chalked out by dragging the boat itself ; in this meaning
the word is used in the district of Sambalpur and that
very use was current in old Bengali. (32) C?^ under,
beneath; Bengali cO, as in srW ct$ ^1, comes
from it.
LECTURE XI 205
We have to look very carefully into the deep signifi-
cance of what has been illustrated above. Even though
we fail to get definite literary evidence of successive
changes which Pali underwent on the soil of its birth in
the course of a thousand years or more, we cannot but
admit, that change did occur, and the older forms faded
imperceptibly into new and newer forms. On reference to
the Jaina Prakrta and to the Prakrtas either noticed in
the Prakrta Grammars or preserved in some works of
poetry and drama, we may notice, that the old Pali forms
and Pali pronunciation were very much changed in later
times ; yet it is a fact that the method of Pali pronuncia-
tion and many Pali words and phrases, unknown to the
later Prakrtas (with which Bengali must have been
directly c nnected), stick to Bengali. This shews very
unmistakably, that a genuine genetic bond of affinitv
exist between Pali and Bengali ; the people who had
originally Pf !i for their language, could only retain the
obsolete things as so many survivals, in course of successive
transformation of their speech. We are at times led to
form wrong notions regarding the origin of Bengali, bv
looking to the non-Prakrtic or rather the Sanskritic form of
many Bengali expressions ; we forget that for reasons stated
more than once before, there has been purposeful sanskriti-
zation of Bengali as well as of other vernaculars from
time to time. Owing to intermittent Sanskrit renaissance,
a very large number of Bengali words are now so dressed
up, that their real pedigree cannot be easily determined ;
that our ^^sf words, ^F, f*[, Wffl> etc., were once ^, sj^,
f^spsi, etc., may be easily seen,, on reference to some
common expressions as ^fljj^, C*itetT, and fol. I have
stated before, that it is because of this sort of sanskritiza-
tion, that the Prakrtas are more in I Bft^;f form than the
modern vernaculars. W r e should notice moreover that in
20fl OLD PRAKRTAS
the outlying tracts of Bengal, ma \y words and grammati-
cal forms of Pali and of later Prakrtas are still retained :
in the district of Rungpnr, for example, the word $fa for
tNft, S'ffa for ff^ft, trfa for -5ffH etc., and such a gramma-
tical form as the formation of nominative by 'df are in full
use. It is also noticeable that many archaic forms which
were in use in Prakrta, and are now in use in Rungpur.
are in general agreement with the Oriya words
where (Oriya C^t^, Marathi C^K^),^lfC^, here (Oriya ifl
aflfcft (for srfa) fr^fr (for fafr), tte (for *tet
(bald headed), d>&\ (for d>^1 fish), are some examples.
In spite of the prevalence of Pali words and Pali forms
iu Bengali, some are doubtful if Bengali actually originated
from Pali and its later successors, as looking into the
morphological structure of the above speeches, they find
*fff^> a highly inflexional language, and Bengali as mainly
agglutinative, like the Dravidian speeches. We must
now all learn that reversion from inflectional to agglutina-
ting has been observed in many European and Indian
languages. How by the mere process of phonetic decay,
an inflectional or agglutinating speech may be reduced
to what is called monosyllabic or isolating, has also been
very scientifically demonstrated in the case of the Chinese
language. The old theory of gradation from isolating to
inflectional has been found utterly untenable. To account
for the agglutinating character of our speech, we need not
import a Dravidian influence, though in other matters such
an influence upon the Bengali language cannot be denied,
or rather has been fully admitted. We should bear in
mind that all the modern Sanskritic speeches of the Gauijian
group are mainly agglutinating. Certainly, no one can
possibly deny the potent factor of non-Aryan influence in
the matter of the formation of provincial dialects, but it
will be too much to assert that the contact with the
LECTURE XI 207
savage races alone had, ou the Aryans, the effect of break-
ing down their rigid inflectional system, and of causing
the Aryans to substitute, for case-endings in nouns and
verbs, distinct particles and auxiliaries.
Origin <>f u da** <>f lii<j-ii-iuilnl JT^Tffi '-"/////"/W-f. Let
us take account of one simple case which illustrates how a
tendency to agglutinate words arose, and a class of long-
winded samasa compounds came into being in Sanskrit
composition. It will be observed in the Prakrta prose,
that nouns or objectives in apposition in a sentence are not
usually linked together by conjunctions. This style of
composition was no doubt after the general style of ordi-
narv conversation, in which not only the copulative but
the. disjunctive conjunction as well is at times dispensed
with. Let me illustrate by example this conversation
style, as still obtains in Bengal.
Q Ttm
A. ^rfa f^wfisj,
A. *rfft "Sfl ^fw, 3tTfr *tffa spf =ra, [here ^FJ but
is seldom used] srfa ^)^F| ^^<t I
The authors who had the Prakrtas of their time for
their real speech, did not like to put in such a conjunctive
conjunction as 5 in their elegant Sanskrit composition, as
that would not make the sentence sweet-sounding to their
ears, trained to regard the Prakrta method as sweet and
agreeable ; to compensate for the loss of 5, long samasa
chains were forged which in their natural sonorousness
heightened the effect of the style.
Jaiuu Prakj'ta. I have stated that the links which
bind Pali with modern vernaculars are almost missing;
the Prakrta, which we meet with in the Jaina works, is in
my opinion, a real link in the chain. I should not proceed
seriously to controvert such a queer opinion that the
208 OLD PRAKRTAS
Jaina Prakrta is Maharastri ; I shall show presently that
not only the term Maharastri, but other terms as well as
have been used by the Prakrta grammarians to classify
the Prakrta speeches, are misleading. This Jaina Prakrta
discloses many characteristics of a real speech, and it is
almost doubtless that it was once a vernacular in the land
of Mabablr's birth, but when did this language flourish,
has not been satisfactorily determined. The verv fact
that many forms occurring in this speech, cannot be
explained by the rules formulated hy Vararuchi, urges us
to believe, that unlike the PrEkrtas of the grammarians
and the dramatists, which were no real spoken verna-
culars, but were essentially literary fictions founded on
the vernaculars, the language in question, was once a living
speech in some parts of the province of Behar. This
speech is no doubt highly important; but it is regrettable,
that in proportion to its importance, the material avail-
able at present is rather scanty. It must be mentioned
however, that minds of scholars are not free from doubt,
as to the thorough correctness of the Prakrta texts of the
Jaina canonical works, hitherto published. The Jaina
scriptures, which have been critically edited, are only
a few in number ; it has been rightly observed by
Dr. Barnett that this language "is a rich mine for the
seekers of philological treasures." The learned author
remarks, that as long as the whole of the Jaina scriptures
have not been critically edited, many dark pages of the
history of the ancient and modern Indian languages and
literature will not be illumined. Dr. Barnett says that
" neither the political nor the literary nor the religious
history of India, can ever be written until an exact study
has oeen made " of the Jaina scriptures composed in this
Magadhi Prakrta. What has been opined with reference
to the history of India in general, is specially and parti-
LECTURE XI 209
cularly true regarding the history cf Bengal in a^ its
aspects. We generally speak of the Buddhistic influence
in Bengal, but it will be very soon recognized that the
influence of the Jainas in this country, has been of far
greater importance and consequence. This is not the
subject which I can deal with here, but I doubt not that
our Bengali scholars will direct their serious attention to
this matter of great moment.
As far as it has bee-i ascertained, even the oldest por-
tion of the Jaina scriptures did not come into existence,
in the form in which it is now obtained, earlier than
the last half of the 5th century A.D. ; consequently, to
be on the safe side, we may hold that the language
which the Jaina canonical works present, is the Eastern
Magadhi Prakrta of a time, not later than the 6th century
A.D. Be they Jaina inscriptions or not the Khandagiri
Inscriptions of Kharavel give us the Magadhi language
of the second century B.C. But as this language differs
only slightly from Canonical Pali, and as it differs on
the other hand, very greatly from the Jaina Prakrta,
this inscription language cannot be considered to be a
link in the chain of evolution of this so-called Jaina
Prakrta. As the time of the Kusana kings has not yet
been satisfactorily established, it is difficult to assign dates
to the Mathura inscriptions of the Jainas, which have
been preserved by being transcribed in Sir A. Cunningham's
Archaeological Survey Reports (vide ibid, Vols. Ill
and XX). It is curious that the language of the Mathura
inscriptions does not much differ from the language of the
second century B.C. ; but as the texts of the Mathura
inscriptions contain only a small number of sentences,
we should refrain from offering any remarks regarding
the character of the language of the texts. This is how-
ever very clear and definite, that the language of the
27
210 OLD PRAKRTAS
Jaina canonical works differs very widely from the afore-
said inscription language either of the second century B.C.
or of the second century A.D. Looking to all these
circumstances, we are inclined to think that, the canonical
works of the Jainas disclose the speech, which was cur-
rent in some Eastern parts of Behar, some time between
the third and the 6th century A.D. In the Mathura
inscriptions of Kusana time, we get, for example, the same
nominative case eudings as we meet with in the Asoka
inscriptions and Kharavela inscriptions, but the nomi-
native case ending in the canonical works under review is
<4 (e) ; Mahavlra Bardhamana is always Mahavire Bar-
dhamane. A critical consideration of this (SfflFs should be
a subject for separate study. We may notice here only
those points which are in agreement with Bengali. (1) We
know that <$[ and 3 have the same sound value in Bengali ;
even in Oriya ' *( ' is pronouced as ^-^ ; in the Jaina
Prakrta, ' <5f ' which is the particle to signify ' and ' ( = >Q of
Bengali) and which appears exactly in the form of ^
in the ' Cl^^R ' and the ' C^^t^i ' occurs indiscriminately as
' ^5f ' or ' 3 '; this shows the sound value of ' ^ ' in the Magadhi.
In Bengali it is a peculiarity that when y is the initial
letter, it is sounded as ' ^ ' and is uttered as ' <ST ' when it is
a medial; we find, for instance in the Anuttarovavaiya
Dasao, that ' ^ ' is the initial of the word ^1% (a name),
while ' ^ ' occurs as medial in spelling the name ^*t?tt%.
(2) The letter <} discloses the Bengali pronunciation, as
<i?^t^ has been very often spelt as ^f^t^. It is no
doubt true that in all Prakrtas, iff occurs as ^ but as ^
is also at times met with, as for instance in
the Kharavela inscriptions, as r ^f*|/ this point has been
noted here. (3) The form for f%sfa is at times $56 and at
times W$ ; in the pronunciation of some words in Eastern
Bengal, as well as in Jessore, we detect the use of the
LECTURE XI 211
early form of ^, for example the ceremony of consum-
mation of marriage is called 51>-f<RCS, the loss of one ' \5 ' of
the final ^ of the word ^3 is indicated by the doubling of ^
of f^tl ; as to ^66, the Bengali form C^t^f as in C*ft^^ may be
noted. (4) It is exactly CFfa (and not l^f) that occurs
in this Prakrta to denote fourteen ; this form of pronun-
ciation is wholly peculiar to Bengali. (5) I have just
noted above that the nominative case ending is t|, it may
be noticed, that in the provincialism of Rungpur, this
case-ending is strictly maintained, and in the standard
Bengali this case-denoting suffix has not been done away
with. f\ became C^ in Pali and this (7f1 occurs in the form
of (7f as is current in Bengali and Oriya. (6) The Vedic
adverb ^f% (how much) is not wholly extinct in this i2ft^,
but we get also the additional form ^F?, which is just
equivalent to ^ and is in use in Bengali. (7 ) To denote
' which ' or ' what ' (though not ' who ' as in Bengali), we
meet with ' (7F '; fa for f?R occurs with the adjunct
<ST as f^sj. (8) I notice here one case-forming
particle which is of much interest and importance. Not
knowing the origin of our instrumental case-ending f^l,
an imaginary Tftl was brought in by some Pandits as its
originator. We get the particle ' <?f ' in this speech which
is exactly equivalent to our obsolete *f(f' (still in use in
Rungpur) and modern ' f^?1.' This C*f also occurs in the
form of C\5 ; the passage which stands as ^tf%
WQS (of) ^rc 351 f^irsl f^3?ra fartw arises
means that Jali, after passing through the bimanapatha
went to the higher world, etc. The pandits, who accuse
the old Bengali poets for using the word ' falfr,' deviating
from its Sanskrit meaning, should take note of the Prakrta
use of it in this text, (9) The ^ ending of a verb, to
signify past tense (or more properly present perfect) may
be noted in such a form as ' f^l ' (did or has done) ; ' v\ '
212 OLD PRlKRTAS
as additional ending does not appear, but if this is added,
the modern Bengali present perfect form is fully obtained ;
there is another form for the present perfect which takes
* ^ ' (as C^t^) and not ' ^ ' as the ending. ' fVsl ' also
became ' ^f?T?^| ' later on and both ' ^f?T36$1 ' and ' C5ff^ '
stand as ' ^f?RtfV and ' ^1 ' in modern Bengali.
I just notice three words which clear up the history of
those Bengali words which are regarded as, Desl. (10) '^j '
as the word for peas has been mentioned along with the
name of lentils ' ^f ' and ' ~3fi\ ' ; our modern word is ' 5f^, ?
but we have not lost the word as the pod oE it is still
called ^F^t^ffi?; in North Bengal, in East Bengal, as well
as in Jessore, the name ' ^^ ' for peas is still in use. (11)
' signifies the sprout or shoot of a plant ; ' C^t^l ' or
' (as ^tt*f^ C^t^) is now in use ; in the District of
Sambalpur, the bamboo sprout, which is used as vegetable
is called ^?rj^, or ^fe or VWj>|. (12) The origin of the
word is unknown, but it is curious to note that the word
<^f%<t' signifies ' foot ' in this Prakrta, while '?R-^g'
signifies the ' hand ' or ' the palm of the hand '; I a in
inclined to think that ' ^^?-^t^1 ' originally signified toe
in Bengali, but now only a particular toe is meant by it ;
the Dravidian ^f?pF^ or bad foot shows that ^^ which
is easily transformed into ^\5 indicates Boot. It is very
interesting that not only in Jaina Prakrta but in Jaina
Sanskrit works also several Prakrta words occur which in
their old meaning and almost in their old form, are in use
in Bengali only. For example (13) : f?R t%^t^ (in Jaina
Sanskrit form) = f^st% S^rj^T (Jaina Prakrta form) signifies
exactly "Back door" as in Bengali, f^5J?P ^^Tf^. (14-)
^WJfafaFl (both in Jaina Sanskrit and Prakrta) = House-
maid and specially the kitchen maid who throws away the
offal or other ^Bfjftfo matter ; the first sellable ^ and the
otiose ^ final, having been dropped, the word is in use in
LECTURE XI 213
Bengali only as f% to denote maid servant. This form
should not be confounded with f^t or f%^f^5 derived from ft
(^%5l=f^1 = ft = f%). (15) The Bengali word <$*, to see
(now in poetic use only; fully in use in Assam),
occurs even in Jaina Sanskrit in the form C^fr^l, on
seeing.
I think a short interesting article may be written on
the peculiarity or rather the speciality of the names of men
and women of Bengal. It is no doubt a speciality in
Bengal that though the real portion of the name of a man
does not require any additional word, such words, as 53f,
5Tf^, etc., are added to the names, but it is not on account
of this alone, that the Bengali names indicate the national-
ity of the men bearing the names to the people of other
provinces. ' 3ts[ ' as an addition to the names of the Jain
Tirthankars and 55 as a part of the old Magadhi names,
as well as the names themselves bear a sort of provincial
peculiarity ; and this may be illustrated in a separate paper
as I have suggested. Though we cannot judge the na-
tionality of men of old times by the form of their names
alone, the peculiarity of Bengali names may be studied to
see if men, having such names ^>^, Tt^, can be supposed
to have flourished in Bengal. I note here a few old time
Magadhi names of women which are popular in Bengal ;
they are ' ^1 ' Ojj^?1) ^ff1 (*tj^sd%) ; TtTl, (TTfat, C^ftl, and
t*t1 ; the second name *ffsr| is current in Bengal alone in
the shape of ' i5.' ^-9355, ^tforfa, ^tW^TW, tEHThf,
(and not *ft<H), etc., are some special male names of
Bengal. We have got such a name ^fl but such
names for men and women as sjf^l (m), Vf*fs?t (f), ^
(m) and v sVt^)' (fern.) are unknown in Bengal. Such
names as <^SMf*f> ^tf^ (contraction of sfoj^tft), fts d<J>*H,
*fjr^3, 513 5 , 53*^, 3^T$, f^^ft?t, etc., are never met with
in Bengal.-
LECTURE XII
THE LITERARY PRAKRTAS
Mr. Stenkonow very rightly holds that the Prakrta
speeches, we meet with in the dramas of olden days, or
in which the poetical works like the (7F|>^ and the C^thS^I
were composed, were not really spoken vernaculars, but
were rather essentially literary fictions founded on the
vernaculars. It was no doubt unavoidable in the very
nature of things, that the authors of the class of literature,
indicated above, had to use many words and grammatical
forms, as were really current in the living vernaculars of
their time, but it is difficult now to differentiate the real
from the unreal elements, as occur in their works.
The Prakrta grammarians of old did not think
very much to preserve for us the provincial vernaculars of
their time, but were concerned in the main, to frame some
rules (with reference to some actual phenomena, no doubt)
by which Sanskrit could be reduced to the Prakrtas of
their classification. These rules were useful alike to the
-authors and the readers, in dealing with not only the
literary Prakrtas, but also the ^^"f forms of partially
artificial character. Again, the rules were needed not
merely to standardise the provincial Prokrta or <5f*f5*"f
forms, by referring them to their Sanskrit originals, but
also to serve a curiously queer purpose : the ^^ words
which were in actual use in the vernaculars and those which
had to be used as loan words, to express new ideas, had to be
reduced to imaginary Prakrta forms, as in their queer sense
of propriety, in the matter of diction, the authors could not
LECTURE XII 215
allow the ^<s*F! words to be mixed up with the
words. Even to-day the use of our highly expressive C?^t
and <5lt5;*t words in the company of popular \5^sf words,
are not countenanced by some Pandits, for in their opinion a
' *R-Ctr?1 ' or '3F5t*ft^' speech may be created thereby.
Mr. Beams has rightly shown in his work on the com-
parative grammar of our vernaculars, that though of
the word ^t1%, for example, 3tf%3, Ttf^s and 3"t^> have been
the real ^*te?*f forms with the peoples of all provinces,
the unreal form ^t^ occurs in the Prakrta works. No
doubt the Prakrta literature abounds with genuine 'Sf^f^'t
forms, but it is difficult to determine now, when and where
those forms came into use : for instance, as derived from
<5T)H^, h'rst ^^ and then ^?R appear to have come into
use, but exactly when and where we do not know.
I take the following words from the Gauo'a Baho
Kabya, edited by the late renowned scholar Sankar
Pandurang Pandit, which will show what an anomaly the
Prakrta authors created by reducing different words into
one and the same form. The words are ' OTfa ' from
^f^^t^j ^IFfa and <5f*fat^ ; ^T from ^, 5fvf, and ^;
?pst from ^5 and ^5, TO from ^5, ^5f, sjff, W5 and Sffi,
^t<5f from 3t^ ^ff, ^^ and ^f^- We may also notice that
though the word ^1% (very much) has retained its pristine
purity from the Vedic times to the present day, it has been
reduced to ^ (as in ^^t^ = ^ft^) in the ^?Rgft.
I adduce here one example from the Setubandha, to
show how by reducing different words artificially to one
and the same form, a verse in W3> has been composed
almost in the form of a riddle ; the verse 47 of the 9th
Canto stands as :
I
216 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
The Sanskrit form of the verse will be :
I
As many old Aryan words have been reduced to
unreal forms in the (Sff^Fs, it will be interesting to notice
the following words, more than 50 in number, as have not
undergone any decay or <5i*f;^*f in Bengal from remotest
antiquity till now ; the words here grouped together are
such as are used and understood by even the uneducated
people in rural areas in Bengal. Some of these words have
no doubt changed their original meaning, but have not
changed their form. The words marked with asterisks were
not in use in the early Vedic time, but have been in use in
Sanskrit, since a very remote time. The words are :
(as in
R, 5W, TPI, *Rf, 1, *lt*l,
t 7 !, ^l, C'W,
It is difficult to say what linguistic value should be
attached to the old time classification of the literary
Prakrtas. Looking to such names of the Prakrtas as
Magadhi, Sauraseni and Maharastri as occur in some works
on poetics and dramaturgy, one is naturally inclined to
hold, that there were good grounds for classifying the
Prakrtas by their respective provincial names, but these
Prakrtas now survive in such an artificial form that the
elements of real, provincial speech in them elude our
grasp. Moreover, the characteristic peculiarities of Maha-
rastri, for instance, as have been noted in the aforesaid
works, are not what can be shown to bear genetic affinities
with the modern vernaculars of the Maharastra country.
LECTURE XII 217
If really the Maharastri <2ft$Fs was based upon a living
vernacular, we must say, that either the old ethnic element
has disappeared from the Maharastra country, or that by
virtue of a serious revolution, a new ethnic element of
dominating nature has come into the composition of the
people of the country. I am aware that one or two
scholars have tried to show on the strength of a few
examples of word-forms, that the modern Marathi can be
affiliated to the old PraVrta of the same name. Referring
to this unscientific procedure, I can simply say, that if the
scholars under review, choose to collect an equally good
number of words from the literary Magadhi Prakrta, they
will find that they may equate them as well with some
words of the modern Marathi speech. It will be interest-
ing to the aforesaid scholars to note this anomaly, that
manv so-called Marathi and Sauraseni forms of old are
conspicuous by their absence alike in Marathi and W.
Hindi, and by their presence in Bengali and Oriya, which
are directly connected with old Magadhi (as has been
demonstrated before) and are not at all connected either
with Maharastri or Sauraseni. Here are a few illustrative
examples :
(1) -*(W>\! if "ST^**! of this very so-called Sauraseni
form became current in Bengal and Orissa ; Oriya still
retains the early form ^f56i^I1 and in old Bengali we get
it as <5ft5Ff ;5 ri. (2) ^Qft?ft (Maharastri) = Carving stone,
etc., into statues. This form unknown in the literary
Magadhi of the artificial classification, is in existence in
Oriya ; we get the ^*f;^*f of it as ?FC^ to signify a doll.
(3) The Maharastri form ^^( and not the Sauraseni form
^R as derived from ^>sffi is traceable in Hindi and Oriya.
(4) C^\^55 (Maharastri) = strong desire; its ^fg^f (TFf?,
signifying strong persistent desire, is in use in Bengali
only. (5) fasfo ^rfiT (MahSiasbri) = back-door;
28
218 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
, to signify the very meaning, is in use in Bengali
only. On reference to Jaina Sanskrit, we get the form
' fo^lf^S ^'spfa ' ; this shows that the literary Marathi of
old classification must have borrowed the term from
Magadhi. (6) From t%&% comes the Sauraseni form
fe^fff, and the MaharaStri form of it is $tt ; fwl of Oriya
and tt^l f Bengali are connected with the first form,
while the second form is in use in Bengali, as an un-
declinable adverb in such a phrase as Si ^*$\ frftfl ^tf?C3 15 ft^i
note also that the form fi^f from f^5 is similar to Vt^,
and the current Oriya form is f^l to indicate standing.
(7) O^Tfa (Maharastri) from *$*] = large; in use in old Oriya
only as in C^Tt^ ^, to signify the trunk of the elephant.
(8) Cf^ as the Maharastri form of Wt^ is in Oriya
and in old Bengali ; the modern Bengali form is with an
otiose ^ as <x&f or f^. (9) ft^t or rtt>t ( Maharastri) =
assault ; in this meaning the word is met with in old
Oriya only. (10) *p<jfoit (Maharastri) = that which swings
( 3 ft^t^ x ) ', ^fr is in use in Oriya to signify the end of
the ttfft (head-dress), that swings about. The plume
of a bird is still called ^5 or Ct^ v in some parts of Eastern
Bengal, but it is from the foreign word t?T = plume.
(11) CTSf x (Maharastri) = to loosen, to scatter; to loosen
the rope of a boat, for example, is expressed in Oriya
by 5{t^ CTfa tff<l ; to spread or to scatter for drying
a thing is OT?! CTQSl in Bengali ; <?/'. also CT1tf^ of old
Bengali and modern Oriya, which signifies parting or
farewell ; we may note the name of the ceremonial dinner
given at parting which is called CT^tft ^ in Bengal.
(12) Tt^, which is the Maharastri form of ^f is often
met with in the poetic literature of Bengal ; e.y., ' ^ wft C^
One or two grammatical forms of the standard literary
Pi-akrta may be noticed in this connection to further
LECTURE XII 219
illustrate the case. (1) It is very well known that in the
Prakrtas, no distinction is made in the use of the ^ suffixes
Ijl and 3, and both the suffixes are found reduced to one
simple form ' ^ ' ; thus we get for example ^f^T andftftfs^5r
for ^1 and f^ffff%T respectively. It is in Bengali that we
get the forms ^f^Hl, ^{tf*^t etc., exactly corresponding to
the standard ff^ forms, and these forms or rather this
form cannot be met with either in Marathi or in Hindi. It
may be noted that the contracted Bengali form ^f?T or <2f3*tf*t
for^forl or tff^tf*t^1, is in use in Oriya. (2) The case-denot-
ing suffix ^ of the so-called Maharastri Prakrta, as occurs
extensively in the Setu Bandha for example, is in use
in Bengali in its later form -J ; in our modern literary Bengali
this' <4 'is written as ' 3 ' ; for example ^t^ = t e ^Tl (because
of the desire or by the desire) corresponds to old Bengali ^E|
<4 or modern Bengali ^Gffa ; to express the sense convoyed
by the form, either (71 or C^ has to be added to ^51 in Hindi
which is supposed to be derived from Sauraseni ; how the
modern Marathi form differs from this form need not be
mentioned. What these seeming anomalies mean or tend to
prove, will be discussed presently. I may notice however,
that Oriya, the origin of which must undoubtedly be traced
to an old Magadhi speech, had developed in it some forms
akin to modern Marathi, centuries before Orissa came in
contact with the Marathas : for example, the Oriya forms
^f?T| (by doing) and (<f (from here) are closely allied to the
Marathi forms ^i and ifl^ respectively.
As to the name WlTttt f r the standard (2ftlF5, a word
need be added. We do not exactly know when the noted
work JTt^T "Tf3f which is fathered upon v^\s^, was com-
posed, or rather compiled ; but we can confidently pro-
nounce that the bulk of the book including the Chapter
XVII came into being long before the time of the
Prakrta Prakasa of Vararnchi. In Vararuchi's work,
220 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
Maharastri is the tt^5 par excellence, while Sauraseni
occupies the second place. In the Natya Sastra of
Bharata Muni however, the name Maharastri for a
Prakrta is wholly unknown, and it is Sauraseni which
has been accorded the rank of honour. Be the com-
position in prose or in poetry, the language of
a drama should be C'ffaPf^t according to the dictum of
the Natya oastra ; the direction is '
Even the country name snrt^to was unknown in the
days of STflrPttSf, since in noticing a provincial lin-
guistic peculiarity of the Maharastra country, as well as
of some tracts adjoining to that country, only a general
geographical description occurs in the 60th verse which
runs as :
If the statements and illustrations of the STt^T'Tt^ be
compared with those of later works on Dramaturgy, we can
clearly see that the high class artificial i2Tff* which is
closely allied to Sanskrit, has been called C*!^*!*?) in the
5TtT>I"tt3r and sf^lTttt in the later works. It appears that
the artificially got-up standard Prakrta obtained the name
C'fhrC'T^t in the 5Tt^I*ft3[, as perhaps the seat of Northern
culture was transferred in the days of the Natya Sastra,
from Magadha to the country watered by the Jumna;
it seems that for similar reasons, the standard Prakrta,
acquired the name Maharastri, in the days of Vararuchi.
It is highly probable, that the name of the standard
Prakrta indicates culture-centre, and does not signify any
provincial language or dialect. That the standard <2TT3F5
was the Prakrta, of no particular province, but was in
reality a language fabricated by reducing Sanskrit to
LECTURE XII 221
Prakrta forms, can be detected very easily, on referring
to the poetic composition in the standard Prakrta language.
For example, the Prakrta verses are found composed
in such works as "f^^l, 3Wt^> etc., in such an artistic
manner, that if for the tSTf^s words their Sanskrit equi-
valents are substituted, the verses correctly maintain their
meters.
The rules laid down in the first part of Chapter XVII of
the Natya Sastra relating to the use of provincial pecu-
liarities in the speeches of the actors cf different rank and
position, very distinctly mention that the standard Prakrta
of the drama has only to be nominally modified to suggest
provincial peculiarities to the audience. The peculiarities
or rather the points of deviation from the standard Saura-
seni have been noted as follows : (1) The speech of all
people of the Eastern Gangetic valle\ is to be made full
of 4-sound : l *t*1 Tffi* TO1T ^ CT GFtti ^^f&At ; 4^fr
^*Tt* C5^ ! t^t* ^^? itC?t"S>t$ ! s. (2) 5f is said to be the
characteristic peculiarity of all peoples of the tract
extending through the Vindhyas to the sea-coast ; 2
(3) '^' is said to be the peculiarity in North-West
India, 3 and (4) '5' is noted to be the characteristic of the
speech of the peoples of Surastra and its neighbourhood
as has been mentioned above. 4 Begarding the aboriginal
1 This is perhaps on reference to the nominative-denoting 4.
5 The tract seems to be of the Hinduized Dravidians using ^ or ^ at
the end of nouns; the fwW speaking tribes including Odras. were
certainly excluded.
* In later times the apabhrahsa-speaking Abhiras are given this
characteristic ; but the Abhiras are fwW speaking here. ^ is rather
the Maithili characteristic in later <2ftf^s. To reduce some vowels to ^
sound in names as in <Ft^, *tff, ^f, ^, etc., has been usual in Bengal,
since long.
4 In modern Marathi. genitive indicating suffix is 5 ; bnt this
could not possibly have been the characteristic here referred to.
222 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
tribes (Barbaras), it has been said that they have not to
speak their own speeches but that a few *ffi^ peculiarities
have to be introduced by them. It is highly interesting to
note by the way, that in the list of non-aryan peoples
or hordes, we get the ^ft^t^s in the company of ^Ijs,
"ffiSTs, S^f^ls and so forth ; these <5rf\fas have been mentioned
by Hem Chandra of the 12th century as wh lly ^t^*f-
speaking people.
The directions in the works on Dramaturgy that the
domestic servants and artisans should speak the Magadhi
speeeh, may be interpreted perhaps by the fact, that from
the 6th century onward, the people of various industrial
occupations flowed from Magadha into other parts of the
country. It will not be correct to hold, with reference to
the statements in the works which are later in date than
the Nitya Sastra, that actual Magadhi speech had to be
spoken by dramatic characters representing the industrial
or labouring classes. That the dramas had not really to
be made polyglot in character, but only some suggestions
had to be offered to the audience regarding the various
provincialities of the Dramatis Personae can be clearly
gathered from the rules occurring in the ^t^PttSf; however
to make the matter convincing an analogous phenomenon
which occurs in our widely popular and very familiar
Jatra-Gan, may be noticed here. In this Jatra-Gan, a
person enacting the part of a door-keeper or a porter
speaks Bengali slightly incorrectly, in the manner in
which the Beharis at times speak Bengali, merely for this
reason that the Beharis usually come to Bengal to do the
work indicated above ; the clown usually imitates Eastern
Bengal provincialism by only substituting ^ for *f all
throughout. Here the door-keeper does not speak Beliari,
and the clown does not care to imitate correctly the
provincialism of our Eastern districts ; the actors, by
LECTURE XII 23
their linguistic suggestions only work up the imagination
of the audience regarding the special situation iu the plot.
That this is exactly what took place in ancient times in
the matter of representation of provincial speeches on the
stage, can be very clearly inferred not only from the rules
given iu the works on dramaturgy but also by the analysis
of the language of the plays.
It may very reasonably be urged that the early time
Prakrta works which contain many C^% words and no
portion of the text of which can be easily rendered into
Sanskrit, by only substituting corresponding Sanskrit words
for the Prakrta words, should be considered to represent
some ancient living vernaculars. ?ft<T1*f$*^t which is
regarded by some a^ the earliest known Prakrta work, is
the only book I know, which answers to some extent the
description given above, but questions relating to its time,
authorship and place of origin, are not free from difficulties.
From the reference to iD by ^ft^l, it appears that the book
once bore the title ^tf^^H a-tid according to general
tradition, it was composed under the auspices of some
Andhra rulers at Paithan or ^f^t*!*^. The present book
does not appear to be that old work, for in the first place, it
is an anthology containing the poems composed by various
poets, as admitted in the colophon portions of the work
at the end of each section ; in the second place the verses
O3curring even in one and the same section are very loosely
connected together without there bein^ any unity of
thought or purpose ; in the third place, many verses bear
evident marks of lateness, all of which cannot be fully
discussed here. I note here however, one point which will
show that this book of anthology cannot be said to have
been composed in the 2nd century A.D. We know that ^t'fl
as the principal heroine among the C^tt^us? around whom
all other C^ttnts are but satellites, does not appear in any
224 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
secular literature or ^^fj which is of a date earlier than
the 8th century or at best the 7th century A. D., but this
^t*f| is met with in the 89th verse of the first section of this
book ; moreover the relationship that 3lf| is a ' sitft,' of her
lover, is also found in the i*3rd verse. It must be admitted
however in respect of many words used in this book, that
they are not artificial reductions of Sanskrit words ; a few of
these words are noted here : (1) C^3> (akin to vernacular
^)=3t^, (2) *F5% (read in one manuscript as *f^ akin to
CIT^I of Bengali and Oriy a) =%$, (3) fe (to touch as
well as to sprinkle in the first sense it is equal to ffr^R = "*)!,
but in the second sense it is akin to f^$1 of Bengali), (4) Tft
= (2ft?lf^ (the final ^ (v) being pronounced as '^ as usual it
becomes wholly akin to vernacular ffS of the Imp. Mood),
(5) <[v55 (^51 or C^t^l and its variant ^ or OSftl current in
many vernaculars) =5}^, (6) C^TI-^ (or CTt^) = C^t^ (compare
our adverb OTft^ in such a phrase
As it is uncertain when and where all the poems of the
book were composed, nothing definitely can be said of the
language of it. I must notice, that at the time of the col-
lection of the manuscripts one copy of this sftTK^t^t with a
Bengali commentary was obtained at *ftT3*25 i the ^jffal
District ; how old that manuscript was, is not on record.
As it appears that the authors of the <fft^* books
used the ^*f5s"f forms of various provinces in one and the
same work, in order to make their composition universally
intelligible, we fail to localize the literary TT^ S ; under the
circumstances, we can refer to all the --Stt^ works to trace
the history of our ^t^s'f forms, no matter in which verna-
cular those <5f*f ^f words now occur. I shall have occasion
presently to adduce some undeniable evidence of the fact that
the authors of many ^ffllFs works used indiscriminately the
forms of various provinces in the same composition.
LECTURE XII 225
We see that the class of literary Prakrta, we have
reviewed in this lecture, does not give us such definite
material, as may enable us to determine the character of
the Magadhi speech with which we are mainly concerned
in tracing the history of the Bengali language. We
may note however, that in enumerating various styles
(ftfe) of composition ^t^*!^ substitutes the term Tffift
for the usual term Gaudi in the introductory portion of
his <P^V5f??ft ; this indicates, what has been asserted
previously, that Bengal did not get the name Gauda
before the 10th century. How the early Magadhi speech
Pali, and the Jaina Prakrta are related to Bengali, has
been discussed in the previous lecture ; that these old
Prakrtas in their later transformation, have not been
properly represented in the dramatic literature of old,
need not be any further discussed. We may now take up
for consideration some Prakrta effusions of a comparatively
recent date, which now survive only in fragments, and
are found embodied in the Prakrta Paingala. This work
on the Prakrta metrical system has been very ably edited
by Dr. Chandramohan Ghose, B.A., M.B., and I take all
my examples from that edition of the work. The learned
editor has very rightly held that this work did not come
into its present form earlier than the latter half of the
H-th century A.D., and that it cannot be later than the
early decades of the 1.6th century. I need hardly point
out that all the Aryan Vernaculars of India which are
literary languages to-day, became well-developed literary
languages, previous to the 14th century. Many effusions
appearing as illustrations in the Prakrta Paingala, which
can be eisiiv detected on account of historical allusions, to
have been composed in the L:Zth or in the 13th century,
must be admitted to have been artificially composed in
Prakrta, at a time when full-fledged vernaculars, could
226 LITERARY PRA&RTAS
be made by the authors their .vehicles of thought. That
even Oriya acquired its distinctive characteristic? in the
12th century A.D., by being fully differentiated from
Bengali and Bihari, can be proved by the text of the
Rock inscription which has been preserved in the Khames-
wari temple at Sonepur ; a portion of this inscription
runs as : ($ ^f *&ffi$ ^Qt3 3^t^ 3If ^t 5 ! t^.
As the literary fragments which will be quoted present-
ly very liberally, came into existence when the mainten-
ance of artificial long and short sounds of vowels became
very difficult with the authors on account of their settled
pronunciation and the prevalence of provincial pronunciation
in the vernacular composition, many metrical irregularities
may be noticed in them ; the author of the Prakrta
Paiugala has been forced to formulate a rule as to where
the long vowel is to be treated short. The rule reads :
**), <^tt ($3) CTt (cro) 15 i ^s
f^5), Ofl %fr ft 4^ ^tC 6 -,^ i
The rule purports to indicate, that if a varna is fH or long
in form, but it is usual to read it ^or short, it is to be
read as ^; again, if the usage of the language requires
it, two or three letters should be read together in quick
succession to form one syllable, for a word of two or three
letters may be required to be treated as one syllable.
The verse illustrative of the rule is :
Cl I
The directions in respect of the verse are that the first C3 of
f, and 5fl of 3T^ are to be treated short, while f^ of
is to be read (no doubt on account of emphasis)
long ; again, <55ffi5f is to be read as >5?|sf^, and though
the first two syllables of TOT* af e long, only the first
syllable 1 has to be read long ; then it is stated that cfi of
LECTURE XII 227
the 4th line is to be read ^ for the evident reason that a
stress or emphasis on 5fff? renders the initial syllable
short in the metre. That the irregularities have been
due to the usual vernacular pronunciation of the words,
can be well illustrated by the example of a Bengali C^t^,
in which only unawares, the Bengali author has made the
last two syllables of >ft5tC* " : <?., $1 and C?f) short ; the
lines are :
* ?& i
In respect of the language of the above-quoted
verse, a few remarks may be offered. The metre is no doubt
Hindi ; but there are many forms which are foreign to
Western Hindi, and which prevailed only in a compara-
tively recent time in Eastern Magadhi, which is undeni-
ably very closely allied to Bengali. \s& for thou is Eastern
Magadhi ; this very form was in use in old Bengali
and it is now current in Assamese. The Magadhi
form ^fsf became a special property of Bengali amid the
speeches of the Eastern Gau ji group ; the ablative case-
denoting suffix fa as occurs here, has transformed itself
in modern Bengali into 'O*l' which appears as 'C^ft^ ' with an
otiose ^. The form C*ft is wholly equivalent to our old
Bengali form, and this very form is still current in Oriya ;
the modern Bengali form fwl only slightly varies from it.
The locative denoting f^ as in ^-f^ is also peculiar to
Eastern Magadhi. We can therefore very easily say that
the language of the verse represents the Magadhi speech
which was current at a time not far removed from the
date of birth of the Eastern modern vernaculars.
I proceed now to give some examples to show that the
authors of several verses wrote in Prakrta, at a time when
modern vernaculars became respectable literary languages.
228 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
I shall quote generally those verses which have been com-
posed in that Magadhi which is very much allied to
Bengali, or which may be reasonably supposed to be pro to-
Bengali. I use this word of caution here, that some ex-
amples will disclose the fact that some authors in collecting
obsolete t2ft3F5 words could not discriminate between
different provincial forms, and as such mixed up the forms
of different languages in one and the same poem. The
first example given below is of a poem which was composed
to describe the expedition of ^ffr of admittedly recent
time.
i i
It should first be noted that this metre of 'fifths which
was taken up by the author is more allied to Bengali metre
than to any other. The dropping of the locative si;n
* A few remarks as to the correct reading are needed
L. 1. affi ffaf of MS. B for *pMf$ seems better.
L. 2. <p^ as the initial word in the published text requires that for
the sake of metre two syllables of the text should be deleted ; in the
second place proper construction with ^ requires a negative particle
in the line to signify nothing could be visible anywhere because of
the conflagration ; as such, either the reading of MS. F is to be partly
accepted or ^ has to be omitted ; I omit "^ to avoid all complications.
L. 3 The reading ffa of MS. A is adopted.
L. 4. Wt of MS. B, C & E substituted for f^t : Wft f MS. F
to signify ' to hanker for ' is evidently a better reading.
LECTURE XII
i<l n TO =TOT, f-i =
*fc[ ), etc., is due to the metre in which long sound with
t<l cannot be tolerated. t?f 0f?R or ^f%?tfll), ^E?f
O%T%i), fOT (f TTtaTfs*!), and WT (&frotff I) are inter-
esting past forms ; the older past forms ^fjft, ^<ft, fft, etc.,
should be compared with these forms, and it is to be
noted, that in t ie 3rd person <<n' came into use for '5f.' It
is significant that the past form here illustrated, is in use
in modern Bengali, as we may note the use in such a
sentence as CT <srfaft^ srftl Tftif, ^ft ^Tf ft lift ; again,
when negative sense is indicated, this past form is specially
idiomatic in Bengali, for example, (71 ^t?T *Tt^, ^rlft *Tif?T
5Tt^ are more idiomatic than CT ^tWtfl^ Tl, or :; srffif
.Ttf^lf^^tT Tl,asat times noticed in Eastern Beugal speech.
It is highly interesting that the commentators of the
verse, have failed to understand the meaning of the word
*ffa which means woman in the text ; that the soldiers
were seeking for women is clear from what subsequent
lines distinctly indicate ; Hem Chandra gives the right
meaning of the word in his <?fft JTfWpTl, but the word is
in use in B-ngal alone. ^^r<?[f%^ sff^T is equivalent to
Bengali \5C3 *J?Ft^fl 9 tft%l which is exactly the meaning
of the phrase. The women, it has been stated, did flee
afterwards from their hiding places on hearing the fearful
sound of C^t ; so we see that 0^1%^ is in the possessive
case. Thus it is doubtless that the language of the text
is not only Eastern Magadhi, but is proto-Bengali.
The following verse shows that the Oriya form ^t^"
has been used in the midst of that Magadhi language
which did not develop the special provincial Oriya form
on the soil of Magadha. It is also noticeable, that the
term ^t 5 ! or ^f%, which means coquette and is in
use in Oriya now, occurs in the verse; the word fofo%
was, we know, reduced to fc?1%% or ^fr^t on one side,
230 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
and to f fsrfo or ffsrff* on the other; the form
which occurs in Hem Chandra's CWft STftsffsfl under a
misconception, ha.s been the form in Hindi, as well as in
Bengali. I have to add, that the metre of the following
verse was never adopted in Oriya, and the term *ffa for
a woman has been the special property of Bengal.
C* rfsf,
The next verse I quote, contains grammatical forms
which were undoubtedly formed on the soil of Bengal,
when Bengali was wholly differentiated alike from Maga-
dhi and Oria.
The reading f^lf^sf for ff^'Sf (>ff^\5) does not alter
the speech, for we get the form ffffs^ in such an old
Bengali TS^pft formula as ^tfrft ^^1 Tt^l ^IC^f. p^
(|K^^ for srfFTC) seems unnecessary prakrtization, since
it is <5rfa and not ^Fs which has ever been in use in all the
Northern Indian Vernaculars. It is true, that for emphatic
expression of possessive, ' ^ ' was generally used in Prakrta
for the possessive-denoting ^, which being boneless had
subsequently to be reduced to '*.' The forms 5ft5 and 'STfCf
are purely Bengali ; from 5fEgj we got ^ff^ because of our
accent on the first syllable, while on account of the accent
on the last syllable ^|-^ and 5fs> came into use in Oriya
and Maithili respectively ; for similar reasons it is not ^[f^
LECTURE XII 231
but <3rft^ (in the 3rd person) which has been the Bengali
form derived from *Kf% We notice again, that it is not 5f?
but ^ (qfif) which is the form here, as met with in Bengali,
Oriya and Assamese. That (fl^f^T is proto- Bengali, has
already been remarked. The ^Tl final of ^t^ and ^F5
is peculiar to many nominative (as well as objective) forma-
tions in old Bengali. The f^ suffix in the subjunctive
mood, indicating futurity, is a speciality in the later
That the following verse was composed in Bengal has
partly been admitted by a commentator :
f^Sl
It is significant that the non- Bengali commentators
have failed to explain $ t 5\y$ ^1 ; >8^1 'Ff^is a familiar thing
with us in Bengal and it must be therefore provincial in
formation. We notice that to denote possessive case there
is the old ^ in iT^5T as well as the later <F in ^ft^F ; pos-
sessive with ^-ending is in use in Hindi now. sj^f fish is
(TJHffTl which is a delicacy in Bengal, and ^tfcfSl which
signifies the leaves of jute plant may be found still in use
in Bengal.
The poem I next quote reminds us of Jayadeva ; there
are many lines in some other poems occurring in the <2fl^3
^*f^ffj which are almost word for word equivalent to some
lines of Jayadeva's %5l$flf^ 5 f7 : for example,
is met with in the
LITERARY PRAKRTAS
if OT
(711 s TOW fatf
^- fTl I
f %f^' (who honorific) is wholly and purely Bengali. Some
foreign commentators unfamiliar with Bengali have read it
f^ as a variant of Sanskrit c*R and have made f^^tf^ 1 ^
(fortfari), ^T^rrf^f (2PFtfni1), etc., falftvS, 2f?Ftfr^, etc.; no
doubt '^ stands equally for vg, for ?T (of modern vernaculars),
and for the i2^5n '^T or %' but the construction '(7R f^Tff*!^
etc., fails, because the passive voice cannot be thought of in
the sentence ending with the finite verb ?Fi^ ; again, it
will be noticed that 'f^fr' is related to 'CTl' which occurs
in the beginning of the 7th line. I must remark by the
way, that old Bengali did not inherit C^J? or fiR (by whom)
as is supposed by some ; in CTf5t^^t^ edited by the
renowned scholar Haraprasad Sastry, very wrongly a
'(' has been added to ^5t"f (in thirst) to indicate instru-
mentality ((7f1^t^t^> P- Ho); the ^ in question has been
wrongly taken over to the end of wf, while really it is the
initial letter of the next following word, which has been
reduced to r ^*l signifying rain water ; that the meaning
of the decapitated word is rain water, has been admitted
by the commentator, but he has not seen that it is rj^-ssi*!
which yields the proper meaning. Why the form (Tfl
occurs for (71, in the poem above quoted has been stated
before in a general remark. In f^fsi S51?T <O (<7Rf ^T?T
LECTURE XII 233
^<T) the ease-denoting suffix if) of the Eastern Magadhi
Prakrta, has to be noted. That the form Of^ is in use in
Oriya, and was in use in Bengali, and that it does not
differ from C*T^ and later f^^, need not be discussed.
The ^5f ending of f^f??^ is certainly equivalent to (! .'
I dare say we have got enough material to examine the
various forms of sit^tft speech which transformed itself
into Bengali. We do not exactly know, when the effusions
quoted above adorned the Prakrta literature, but we
can see very clearly, by comparing the language of the
poems with our modern language, that the forms which
occur in the poems are genuine predecessors of our modern
forms. I do not mean to say that the passages, I have
quoted from the Prakrta Pain gala, should alone be referred
to in tracing the history of our modern forms, and that the
other literary Prakrtas dealt with in this lecture, should
be left altogether out of view because of their artificial
character. I have no doubt tried to show, that the old
classification of the literary fTf^s by some names
indicating provincial origin of the speeches, is highly
misleading, but it must be remembered that inspite
of their provincial names, the artificially got up (SJt^s
contain forms and idioms of the dialects of the
provinces, which their names do not indicate ; as such
we must look into the treasures of all the literary <2tf^s,
to get the THft elements of our quest.
We have noticed this significant peculiarity in our
investigation, that from the remotest time our literary
languages have been different from the real living speeches
of the people. The standard literary speech is bound to
differ from the vulgar speech in every country, but the
sort of gap which we notice in India, between the literary
and the popular, is of such width and character, as is
generally unknown in Europe. I cannot take up to
30
234 LITERARY PRAKRTAS
discuss those social and other conditions of India, by
virtue of which the people of this country were never
stirred up to do those adventurous deeds, which all nations of
Europe have always been forced to undertake. For various
reasons, the Indian peoples of all social conditions, did never
combine together to attain an object of common aspira-
tion ; the high class literary men of ample leisure and
decent competence have always created a literature in
India, which the common people settled in industrious or
agricultural life, could never take any interest in. There
was never such a thing as mass education, for hardly the
common people felt any necessity to make themselves
literate. I cannot discuss this subject of great historical
moment in these lectures, but this special peculiarity of
Indian civilisation should always be remembered, to
account for the character and qualities of our literature.
It concerns more the history of literature than the
history of language, to deal with the questions why the
literary men of old, took at all to writing in the Prakrtas,
when they were conversant with Sanskrit, and how for
erotic composition the authors were principally drawn to
the Prakrtas ; but in tracing the history of a language,
we cannot afford to forget facts as they stand, and must
take due note of them. We should also bear in mind,
that the special Indian tendency, I have spoken of, in
giving the peculiar character to literary speeches, is still
our heritage ; if we overlook this fact, we are sure to fail
to estimate properly the value of our modern literary
idioms and syntactical structure.
LECTURE XIII
SOME HINTS ON THE RIGHT METHOD OP INVESTIGATION.
In this lecture I propose to survey briefly the whole
field traversed up to now, to offer some suggestions or
practical hints as to what should be the right method of
investigation. To get together the broken parts, scattered
all about, and then to put them in order, to effect a recon-
struction, is a hard work. It becomes harder still when
some broken parts survive in fragments only, and when
again, some fragments elude recognition in having been
polished off and fitted into a new structure. Hard though
the task has been, I have tried with my best effort to col-
lect, examine, and classify such facts relating to the history
of our vernacular, as I could lay my hands upon. I am
perfectly aware that the facts I have collected and classi-
fied, cannot all be interrelated with equal success, though
in the main they all point to the conclusion I have
arrived at, or rather I have suggested. As facts, their
value cannot be overrated, but I have to admit that they
are a bit shadowy here and a little definite there,
amorphous here and partly crystallized there, in broken
fragments here and i i their entirety there. However, I
hope they will readily render themselves useful in the
constructive hands of the trained scholars.
I have sketched out, though in shadowy outlines, the
course of the stream of our language that stretches forth
itself from the Vedic source-head to the Gauf-a-Magadha
valley, by receiving numerous affluents at several points
from various directions. That the main current of this
verv stream inundates Bengal, has only been partly
236 SOME HINTS
demonstrated in the previous lectures ; for the full
demonstration of it, the next lecture which will be
the last, has been reserved. By keeping up the metaphor,
I may say that the limpid stream of this river
running parallel to the artificial channel of Classical
Sanskrit, from a dim past to the second century B. C., is
distinctly noticeable. If the Jaina inscriptions unearthed
at Muttra, be of the second century A. D., we may unhesi-
tatingly say that the Magadhi speech of the second cen-
tury B. C. did not undergo a very severe change in its
course of progress for full three centuries, but the chrono-
logy of the Kushana time remains still unsettled.
From this time forth to the end of the 5th century A. D.,
we can get no definite trace of this stream. During the
6th and the 7th centuries we find the Magadhi speech in
the Jaina scriptures considerably altered and modified ;
we learn from the records of Huen Tsiang that at this
time the speech of Magadha prevailed over all the different
provinces of Bengal, namely, over RaVjha or Karna
Suvarna, over Kie-chu-ho-khilo or Berhampur cum
Nadiya, over Northern Bengal, consisting of Punrjra-
bardhan and Barinda, and over Samatata, consisting of a
portion of 24 Parganas, of Jessore and of a considerable
portion of Eastern Bengal. How this speech was sub-
sequently modified both in Behar and Bengal till the
displacement of the Pala rule in Kehar by the western
invaders, can only be guessed from some literary fragments
which have been noticed in the previous lecture.
I have stated in a previous lecture that when the
rulers of "Western and Central India conquered Magadha-
cum-Gaada of old, the civilization of Magadha found
a safe shelter in the extensive country of Bengal, while
the people who were left in Behar or Gaucja-Magadha
country, had to adopt in due course of time, not only many
LECTURE XIII -237
forms of newly imported speeches, but also the food and
the dress of the powerful new-comers. The people who
took kindly to the habits of life which the Buddhist house-
holders had brought into vogue, did not care either for a
head-dress or for a garment which was not wholly white.
The Dravidians, among whom these people came to live,
had not then or have not now any head-gear, but were
fond however of coloured pieces of cloth for their
garment. The flowing white dress of the Bengali male
people is now coming into fashion in other provinces also,
but the Bengalis and Oriyas are only found to use no head-
dress at all. I mention these facts with the object of
showing, how deep and abiding, how intense and extensive,
has been the influence of Magadha culture in Bengal. We
may, I daresay, be fully justified to assert, what has been
asserted before, that we in Bengal represent to-day the old
Behar, more than the modern Beharis do in Behar. Our
language is essentially Magadhi ; and trace it as far back
as we may, it cannot be found to have been originated from
the Classical Sanskrit language, to which we only owe a
debt of many loan words only, to express high thoughts in
the Vernacular.
The Behari speeches of to-day contain elements
foreign to the old Magadhi ; we have to be consequently
very careful in taking up Behari forms in elucidating the
history of our Bengali forms. What light the speeches
of Assam and Orissa may throw on the history of our
Bengali forms, should also be duly gauged to avoid much
misconception. I cannot halt to discuss fully the history
relating to the origin of Assamese and of Oriya, but a few
words relating to the topic need be added.
The very geographical situation of Assam clearly
shows, that Aryan culture could not possibly reach
that country, without passing through Magadha and
238 SOME HINTS
Northern Bengal. Huen Tsiang records in the 7th
century A. D., that the then short-statured people of
Assam, who had no faith in Buddha and who were
worshippers of Devas, spoke a dialect which was a little
different from Magadhi. The difference that existed in
those days between the speeches of Bengal and Assam,
was no doubt due to what the Chinese traveller has sug-
gested in a short sentence : in the first place, the then
short-statured people of Assam differed ethnically from the
pecple of Bengal, and in the second place, because of non-
adherence to the Buddhistic faith on the part of the people
of Assam, the culture of Magadha could not How freely
into that country. That in later times religious differences
disappeared, and for some time during the rule of the so-
called Pala Rajas, Assam came directly under .the influence
of Bengal, are too well known to be repeated here. We may
notice, that in many particulars Assamese agrees with the
provincial dialect of Rangpur, which retains nothing but
the old Bengali forms; we shall also see from examples
which will be adduced in the next lecture, that many gram-
matical forms of old Bengal which were once abbreviated
on the soil of Bengal itself, are current in Assamese.
Another fact need be pointed out. We shall presently see
that the main stream of Oriya language flowed into
Orissa, through Bengal. It is a striking phenomenon
that there are some linguistic peculiarities, wherein Oriya
agrees with Assamese, and differs from Bengali. This
phenomenon can only be explained by this, that Bengal
as a progressive country has altered the early forms, while
the archaic forms have been retained in Orissa and Assam.
We can safely hold, that the Magadhi language, as was
once fashioned and modified on the soil of Bengal, got
into Assam to take a fresh root there to develop into a new
language under the influence of a lanouage altogether
LECTURE XIII 239
foreign to the Aryan speed). That the script of modern
Bengal, which can be proved to have taken its modern
shape and form on the soil of Bengal at a comparatively
recent time, is current in Assam, should not also be for-
gotten. There are instances, how many scholars by forget-
ting this fact have pronounced very wrongly the language
of some old books to be Assamese, on the ground that the
language discloses many forms which are now current in
Assamese.
How after the complete disintegration of the old
Kalinga Empire, a province bearing the name Orissa was
constituted, and how a new Aryan speech, now called
Oriya, came into being, cannot be detailed here. It will
suffice to say, that when Huen Tsiaug visited the land in the
7th century A.D., the people of Kaliriga with their Dravi-
dian speech were found confined within the confines of the
Andhra country, and Orissa was struggling into a new
life, with new ethnic elements and a new speech ; the
Utkala people, in the north were not aryanized at that
time, and the people in the District of Puri (Kongada)
were only learning Northern Indian speech and script
under the influence of the successors of Raja Narendra
Gupta of Karna Suvarna in Bengal. We learn also from
some old works on Dramaturgy that the Odras and their
congeners the Sabaras, used only some Aryan words in
their non- Aryan speeches in the 6th century A.D.. and
their speeches were then called fo^i^l on that account.
How because of the supremacy of the Kosala Guptas for
about three centuries, a Magadhi speech took deep root
in Orissa, has been narrated briefly in the 4th lecture.
The Northern boundary-line of Orissa runs from the North-
East corner of the District of Balasore to the North-West
corner of the Feudatorv State of Gangpur, along the
Southern limits of Bengali-speaking and Hindi-speaking
40 SOME HINTS
tracts ; how therefore two different varieties of the
Magadhi speech could come together to form the Oriya
speech, may be easily imagined. We should be very care-
ful therefore in referring to the archaic forms of Oriya,
to trace the history of our words. The reason why Oriya
abounds with archaic forms, may be stated in the words
of Mr. Beams : " Oriya is the most neglected member of
the group [of the Aryan languages], and retains some
very archaic forms. The repulsive and difficult character
in which it is written, the rugged and mountainous nature
of the greater part of Orissa, and its comparative isolation
from the world at large, have combined to retard its
development." It is not the place where I can show that
many letters of the Oriya script owe their origin distinctly
and definitely to their corresponding Bengali forms
brought into use on the soil of Bengal at a comparatively
recent time ; ^, i[, I? and ^ are some of these letters ; these
letters only seemingly differ from the Bengali letters
because they are written in a mode wholly peculiar to
Orissa ; that this mode of writing has made the Oriya
letters unattractive to the foreigners, may be known from
the following remark of Mr. Beams as appears in his
Comparative Grammar of the Aryan Vernaculars : " The
Bengali is the most elegant and easiest to write of all the
Indian alphabets, Oriya, is of all Indian characters the
ugliest, clumsiest and most cumbrous " (Vol. I, p. 62).
We can very well assert on the strength of the facts
adduced in this as well as in some other lectures, that the
Eastern Magadhi vernaculars were very much alike and
did not much differ from one another, when they llrsi
came into being by being differentiated in different pro-
vinces ; consequently we may refer to many archaic forms,
retained alike by Oriya and Assamese, to trace the history
of our words. Written vernacular literature of this very
LECTURE XIII 241
early period has not been hitherto discovered, and old
songs, proverbs, adages .and saws as have come down to
us, have lost their old linguistic character in the course of
being transmitted orally from generation to generation.
10th century A.D. is the approximate time when Oriya was
fully differentiated as a provincial vernacular, but of this
time we do not get even any literary fragment composed
in a genuine vernacular. In the name of the Bengali
language of the 10th century A.D. , a recently published
volume of verses has attracted our attention ; it is quite
fitting that the language of this collection should be
examined here. The book I have to notice in quest of the
old Bengali language, is a collection of three doctrinal
works recently published by the Bengal ' Sanity a Parisat '
under one general title 'C^Hi^ffa '3 C^t^l ' ; the noted Scholar
Mahamahopadhyay Haraprasad Shastri brought the doc-
trinal works from Nepal, and it is he who has edited them
in the aforesaid collection. It has been prominently
inscribed on the very title page, that the contents of the
collection preserve for us the language of Bengal as was
current thousand years ago. What Pandit Shastri says,
commands my respectful attention, but I fear that it is
difficult to support the claim of antiquity that has been
preferred for the hieratic effusions in question. I have
to remark here that I do not take any account of the
iJWffa portion of the collection, as it i.s not in Bengali,
but composed in corrupt Sanskrit, interspersed with some
Prakrta slokas.
These doctrinal works, \ve learn, were translated into
Tibetan, but when, we do not know. The fact that
some scholars of Tibet are known to have been active
during some centuries in collecting various books in India,
does not prove when these works were collected; it could
be previous to this period of special activity, or it could
31
242 SOME HINTS
be subsequent to it. Looking to the metrical system and
the grammatical forms, some verses may be declared to
be composed in Hindi. Generally the language of many
effusions is such a jumble of various words and gramma-
tical forms of various provinces and of various times, that
we can hardly say that the writings represent any parti-
cular dialect. I do not think anybody will proceed se-
riously to determine the language of the following hybrid
sentence, which 1 compose to illustrate my case, ric. :
TfaHt^CS (I think Marhatti) c^t t ^^ 1^f x (somebody
Hindi) CTf^ ^f^ f^T (told me Asamese) CT t)^ ^
(that in this house Bengali) *$W3 (previously Oriya)
f?nit*T (one Mundari) f^t^'R (Brahman, Nominative
Tamil) ^^ (lived Telegu). "VVhy this strange pheno-
menon occurs in this book is partly explained by the
name of the language ' TOl ^ftl.' The male <5R^5's
and the female ' f%tfa ' s came together very likely
in a colony of theirs, and there composed the secret
tenets, etc., of their cult for their disciples in such
a manner, that when the songs would be sung or muttered,
the uninitiated might not understand either the language
or the purport of them. Though the language is mainly
Hindi, the authors allowed words and forms of many
dialects to flow freely into their composition. No doubt,
to us now, the veil is very thin, and we can see the
whole thing through and through. The collection is highly
important to the philologists and the Anthropologists.
We are not concerned here with the doctrine, but can say
that such a sentence of the book as "
*ff'*I " reminds us of the Baul son
LECTURE XIII 343
I cannot pick up examples for insertion in this book,
for that will be besides my purpose; I must however,
say that in some songs, Bengali elements predominate.
Our very late forms occur in one and the same piece
along with many archaic Bengali forms as well as Oriya
and Maithili forms. This can be noticed by the students
by merely glancing at the texts. The very first song with
which the book begins, contains 'fV ("Sffr) and ' *!^S&1 ' in
the opening lines, which are presumably Hindi. I fear
5*tt\5 and tft^ have been wrongly interpreted by dis-
regarding the commentary. In song No. 33 along with
the pure Bengali form ' f tf^ff5 ^t^s ($,' occurs the line
which is either Oriya or Hindi in form, namely ' $f^Tl ^
f% (/ft^lffa ' ; the word ' ^Tft ' was no doubt in use in
Bengali, but its use is now only confined to the district
of Sambalpnr ; the form ' 5,f^1 5*f ' (the milk that has
been drawn) is either Oriya or Behari. We cannot
fail to notice that the very late Bengali form
is in company with Hinai ^t^T, <P^1, ^*
etc., and Oriya 4fl", vf>f^, ^^, <$, etc. ; the special
Oriya grammatical forms St^W,, f^3S3 (in locative)
and ^, ^Fi^l (archaic), f^f^l (verbs in different
tenses), etc., occur side by side with modern Bengali forms
^t^Tj ^1%t^ sf^^f, 'Tt^, etc. We cannot also overlook
such special Oriya words as *lf%cf) (in a moment), f^f^I
(slippery), ^t (cultivated plot of land) and C^fa (two)
as occur in the text ; of these words I notice particularly (1)
tffc as a special W*\3W form of f^ or (R (tffo in old
Prakrta and in old Guzrati) and (2) ^%^ formed as adverb
according to the rule of Oriya Grammar. We can see that
it is a hopeless state of thing:?, which the >f^Tl t^1 or the
mystic language of the <5R5f5s discloses.
No matter which Channidiisa of exactly what time is the
author of the Sri Krisna-klrtan, which has been very ably
244 SOME HINTS
edited by Babu Basanta Ranjan Kay, but 1 have no hesita-
tion to say that the book was composed during the early
years of Mahomedan influence in Bengal. There are a
very small number of words of Persian or Arabic origin,
but we must notice at the same time, that though it is a
Vaisnavite work, it has not been composed in that artificial
language, and non-Bengali metres which the early Yaisnava
poets, including our popularly known S^fft 7 !, resorted to
in the composition of the Yaisnava lyrics or Iffft^ts.
The archaic grammatical forms as occur in this book,
will be noticed in the subsequent lecture ; I should only
mention here, that we get in these forms a few connect-
ing links between the late Magadhi and modern Bengali
forms. A few examples will only do here: (1) The
pronominal forms ^, \s^, etc., aie intei mediate between
the late Magadhi and modem Bengali ; (2) The final 3?\%
' ^> ' was formerly pronounced almost like '(&' and this is
still the case with the Oriyas who pronounce *Tf^> ^>t^j etc.
as *TfaC, ^TftF, etc. Thus it was that the ablative case-
ending of ^\^ became 3>^-^, or ^^fos, or 3^-3^ in old
Prakrta ; we get pure ft" in this book as ablative case-
ending, and this is what has become ^ in Bengali ;
it has no connection with the verb ^tf = ' to be '; in Hindi,
we get for it the ending f and the corresponding Oriya
form is ^* ; compare \s^f of Hindi and ^ (from the
house) of Oriya. (3) The emphasis indicating 'f^' of
Prakrta, as in (Tlf^ (He it is) is found as ft in this book
as in C*ffr ; C'l-C'R of Eastern Bengal and (71 fr^l of
Oriya may be compared. cSfjf in this book is equivalent
to modern ^^5 or ^1^5 (for that reason). (4) Many idiom-
atic expressions now obsolete in Bengali but current even
now in Oriya are met with in this book ; " ^ ^JTSFJ "
(the market will disperse) is in use in Sambalpur, T(
(guided or showed the way) is idiomatic throughout
LECTURE XIII 245
Orissa. More examples need not be multiplied here.
How one is liable to mistake one old language for
another allied speech, may even be illustrated by an
example of a sentence composed in a modern language.
The line of our poet Rabindranath which reads, C^ ^Tffw
^ft f*T!, <n?3i3l ^fa Gst 5 ^, can be easily pronounced as
Assamese if the Bengali metre is disregarded; Aryan
Vernaculars other than Assamese can also very well claim
the line to be theirs, but for the grammatical form C^t^t^,
which occurs at the end of the line. How very careful
therefore we should be, to avoid reckless assumptions in
determining the provincial character of a speech of a time,
when the provincial speeches were being formed and
differentiated, can be easily appreciated. To trace the
history of our words, we have to look alike to those
outside and inside influences which have been at work in
the province of Bengal in the up-building of our speech.
Just to throw out some hints as to the right procedure
to be followed in such an investigation, I take up to
discuss the character of some words, which have come to
us from various sources. No doubt I have spoken of these
sources before, but some illustrative examples may be of
practical help to those who are new in the field of
investigation.
The Dravidian sources. I have said a good deal before
how the Dravidiaus best represented by the Tamil-speak-
ing people of to-day, have influenced the Aryan tongues ;
I have also said how words of foreign origin may simulate
the appearance of Aryan words, and how by comparing
the roots and idioms of different languages we have to
determine the real character of the words. Some addi-
tional examples are adduced here to make the matter con-
vincing. V|, ^j, or ^>\3, ^fffii and *tt), are words without
roots in the Sanskrit language, while they are found
246 SOME HINTS
well-rooted in the Tamil speech and they are there in the
company of many words derived from their living roots.
For similar reasons we may say, that fasf^ (appearing
some times as ^f^) signifying eye-lid, is the progenitor
of the Sanskrit word fcfsR (twinkling of the eye), and ^s\
(to surround) is the root for the Sanskrit word ^*\g ; the
very form T|Tl, a bangle or a bracelet, which is in use in
Bengali is met with in the Dravidian language. We
note again the origin of srffat^T which though unknown
in Yedio, has been a fruit of great importance with the
Aryans. Kel is the word for it in the Kerala country ; the
first portion of the Aryan form of the word does not
convey any meaning, and so I suppose that when the
Aryans inquired of the name of coeoanut in the Western
portion of the Dravidian country, the vendors gave the
name tiaf (good) kef in response and hence 5Ttfac^1
became the name of the fruit. The Sanskrit word ^t 6 !
for ^i does not also come out of a Sanskrit root, while we
get ?F1 (eye) as a genuine Dravidian word ; it is the defect
of this ^1 which has no doubt been expressed by ^tl in
Sanskrit. We may notice along with it that as a synonym
of the word ^f?HT (<TC^T, ^^1 and Wl in Prakrta and in
Vernaculars), we use the word ^t*Tl which also seems
to be derived from ' Kel,' to hear. It should be generally
remembered that a very familiar object or idea is always
expressed in all languages by one word only,* and an
independent synonym of such a word (not a word expressive
of the character or quality of the object or idea), cannot
but be suspected to have come from a foreign source ; for
* Various tribes coming together with their tribal speeches to form
one people, may give rise to many synonyms for a word, ami most of
these synonyms may for some time live in non-literary provincial
j'alects to assnme literary dijrnity afterwards.
LECTURE XIII -Zi-7
example, the synonym ^t or 3t^ for ^1% to denote stream-
ing or (lowing', can be very naturally coined, but such
synonyms as 3\^, C\$, or ^l, may be suspected to be of
foreign origin. If the word ^ has come out of $H (trickle
out), the existence of it may be justified, but the two other
words sjfa and C5tU which cannot be connected with Sans-
krit roots naturally arouse our suspicion regarding their
origin. The Dravidian root ^ which we get in ^-^ (tear-
drop , ^t-3 3 (river) is in the Tamil word sjfa of which ^[^
or sft^ is a Telegu variant ; we have to notice along with
it that, the word ^fr does not occur in the Vedic language ;
we are therefore justified to hold that the word was intro-
duced in Sanskrit from the Dravidian source. As to 0t3
unknown in early times, we notice that an aboriginal tribe
of Tippera use the word for water, and tin to signify water
occurs in many dialects spoken in and near Mauipur.
T. C. Hoclson shows (J. R. A. S., 19U, pp. 143-50)
that this ' tui ' is connected with Chinese 'sui/ The word
in question may therefore be presumed to have come from
the Kiiatasource. The word kari for twenty occurs
in some Mongolian speeches in the liimalayan region ;
this word may be presumed to be identical with
our 3>f%.
We notice in this connection another phenomenon of
equal importance. Some Sanskrit words naturalized by
theDravidians, in their Dravidian method, are found retaken
in Sanskrit as new words, unconnected with their original
forms ; for instance, *r$, reduced to i-tampan, has come
again as atopa (cf. *rfti>t*ft N ifrspsff^) in Sanskrit, and the
Dravidian C^Q a derivative of *f^f, appears in Sanskrit in
the form f^^ as in ffrs^t^ . It is very interesting to note
that some Sanskrit derivatives, in Bengali, disclose this fact
that we have reduced some Sanskrit forms to Bengali,
exactly in the manner in which the Dravidians do ;
248 SOME HINTS
e.ff., (!) In pure Dravidian such as Tamil, a vowel must
come before the initial ^ and \, and according- to this rule,
we find that ^ reduced to ^ has taken the vowel ^ before
it, in the formation of the word ^5? (cf. Oriya, ^l^R) ;
(2) in Tamil ' *f ' and '5' are not different letters and so
the word *ftTl (house) has been reduced to Ff^l and in this
very fashion we have formed the word St^ll or Ffl (roof or
thatch) in Bengal. (3) <J^t<J has been reduced to kodal and
ko'.jali in some Dravidian speeches, and we too, have given
currency to exactly similar forms C^frt'f and C^fttf^l,
independently of the Dravidians ; (4) we get C 9 ^ from ^J
(force) in Tamil (and so also ifa from ^t, strong), and
it is striking that our obsolete Bengali form C*ffi1 C"ff^T
(cf. ^\V^f\ as a method in chess-playing in Maiuthi), which
still exists in Oriya, and of which our moidern form is
d>*rft^fa, has been formed according to Dravidian method.
I have given previously a list of Dravidian words as are in
use in Bengali ; I add a few more examples of those words
which have been wrongly considered by some to be Sanskrit
derivatives ; they are : (1) Katal as a variant of ^tF?^ or ^ftf^,
indicates sea in Tamil, and it is this word which is used
in Bengali to signify the swelling of the sea, as ^Rt^fa
^T?t*l ; (2) *F5 (to move) of Tamil is exactly the word which
i> in use in Bengali and Oriya; (3) Pala (pronounced
in Tamil almost as tfl) signifies many in Tamil, and it is
thi> word which is in use in Bengali to signify a tiock or
herd, as in ^Mf^ *RF ; (4) the Bengali word Htfa has no
doubt come from 3fi^fa ( w 'f e )> still in use in Behar, but
the original word is Dravidian ^T$| or (?rftR or CTt 5 P>R
( Kota dialect) ; the Oriya form 5}fff%JRl is closer to the origi-
nal ; I should also note that our next-door neighbours, the
Oraons of Chutia Nagpur, who have given us the words
W\3>\ and *jf% (C^t^t^ ?tS, ^1% rf5), have the use of the
word ^1 in their speech.
LECTURE XIII 249
foreign influence in India,. Even our village school
boys learn to-day that many foreign nations of Western
Asia and of Europe have been influencing us in diverse
ways, at least from the 4th century B.C. ; what impress
our religious and social institutions have received thereby,
should be studied diligently in special works. Not that
these questions do not bear upon the history of our languages,
but I am constrained to leave them out of consideration to
avoid dealing with facts of complex nature. I touch only
some points very superficially and irregularly, just to
awaken the interest of the students in this subject of much
moment. The use in the ^tt^^ of the word 3<T3? (of
Greek origin) to signify a tunnel, in a chapter bearing no
mark of lateness, is of greater significance than the adop-
tion in our later time Astronomical works of the term C^t^l
of Greek vocabulary, or of the Zodiac system of Ptolemic
Astronomy. Many words which are treated as (Tf% in
consideration of their uncertain origin, may one day reveal
their history to show what relation one day subsisted
between us and some foreigners. The words which have
come to us, either because of trade or because of casual
acquaintance with foreigners, may not be of much value
to us, but the fact of trade relation with outside peoples,
may throw much light on many dark parts of the history
of our language. The use of the word 3^^ for ^f (Vedic
^| = horse, and only later, a camel) by Kalidasa and other
poets, by adopting the Arabic name of the animal, may not
signify much, and similaily our acceptance of such Potu-
guese words, as f^?1 (egreja), 5tfa (chave), ^ft^pfi' (pao)>
3)t^ 1 orTftlFt 5 ! (martello) and *tt^fa (sabao = Fr. savon) may
not be a matter of serious importance, but there are other
things related therewith, which we cannot afford to ignore. *
1 We may notice that in ignorance of their origin, some have
sought to derive Ffft from 5l*t (pressure) and <ft^Pt5 from *f1
250 SOME HINTS
Regarding important facts, disclosed by the records of
early trade relations, some instances may be taken from
the accounts of the early European traders. We learn
from some Greek accounts, that the Greek people traded
with the Dravidians at least as early as the 1st century A.D.;
the names of ports and towns of southern India as recorded
by the Greeks, distinctly show that the land of the Dravi-
dians came then under the influence of the Aryans, for
many ports and towns are found to bear names of Sanskri-
tic origin. It is in consequence of this trade relation, that
many Indian articles still bear Indian names in disguise in
Western Asia and in Europe. Here are some examples :
(1) The English word 'rice' comes from Greek 'oruzo'
which is the phonetic representation of the Tamil word
' arici.' (2) *f^1 in early Aryan language indicated sand
or sand-like things, and then very likely, in the second cen-
tury B.C., it commenced to signify sugar by distinguishing
itself from fw<5 *T^1 (sand), and this name of the article
went to Italy through the Arabs, to become the progenitor
of the word sugar. (3) The English word ' tamarind ' is
derived from Persian Tamar-i-Hind (the sour fruit of
India). (4-) It is admitted by the Romans, that they got
' Ivory ' from the Kalinga people of India, and that the
word is of Indian origin ; it is -then certainly to be derived
from ^5 (elephant) + ?pf (tooth) +^3 (suffix), which may
take the Prakrta form ^'fafl ; this example distinctly
shows, that in the second century A.D., the Telegu people
used many Sanskrit derivatives in their language.
(5) Along with the above examples I may mention the
recent word mango which is the Portuguese form of the
Dravidian word
(foot) ou the wrong supposition that the dongh is kneaded with
feet.
LECTURE XIII 251
A curious example as to how a word or phrase of
Aryan origin may return to India in a changed garb, after
a sojourn in a foreign country, and on its return may be
used in a different sense, may be illustrated by the example
of our phrase vj>\5-CJ\s ; for information on this point I owe
my debt to Dr. Brajendra Nath Seal : the worshippers of
Buddha in Western India, got the name C^tf C*fS3^ or
0tVC*ft^>f5, the word C^t*f being the changed form of
Buddha and C*fil^5 being the Persian word, signify-
ing worshipper; the Mahomedans were enemies of the
CSt^t C'TC^W people in Western Asia and they applied
the term to some sections of the Indian people during
the early years of their rule in India ; from the sound
suggestion of the phrase we haye reduced it to ^5 02T ;
I should note that from the name of the idol of Buddha
the general name for an idol as C3T*f (not ^) came into use
among the Mahomedans.
I know that some Sanskritists have tried to derive the
foreign words sj'fa'H'F, *f?R , ^R, and Tff^Pf (pillow) from some
Sanskrit words ; of these I comment only on the first two
words. One who attains majority is called ^t^H in Arabic,
and so one who is not ^t^ffct or is in his hi-aiiat is a {-^f^f}^
in our correct court language ; very curiously enough this
term has been reduced to srfat^ in Bengali, though ' not
a ^f^ ' is the opposite meaning of the term. It is true
that the Persian word-sffi^ comes from an Avestic word
which is but a variant of Vedic 5?fa, but it is not correct
that the form *f?R is an Indian ^f^T of sffa. It
is therefore important to know the time and circumstances
under which a word comes to be used in a country. I
may note along with it that the derivation of ^"f^fi as
given by some from the word ?rt?l is equally faulty; it is
to be first noted that according to Persian grammar the
noun form <Tt^1 cannot be formed from <Tf^ by the addition
252 SOME HINTS
of ^ ; in the second place, we clearly see that l^Tl was
reduced iu Pali to ^61 and this form H^$\ was always in
use in Prakrta to become naturally the progenitor of TftSll.
I note here two other important words of Persian (origi-
nally Avestic) origin ; Vedic ?[^ is hazarra in Avestic and
this word as hazar has now become popular with us. The
word ^f^ (an ornament worn on the left arm) is not our
own coining but has come from Persian source; certainly
it is from 3te> ; but this is the Avestic form of the Vedic
word, 3t^ ; e -y-i Avestic dar e jo bazu corresponds to tft^fat^;
the word ff^t^ from dar e jo" is also now in use in Bengali.
I proceed next to notice those Bengali words, which in
their decayed form cannot be recognised as Sanskrit
derivatives, and are therefore treated by many scholars as
CW*fr words of uncertain origin. The words I note below are
of much interest and importance ; my suggestions regarding
their origin, should be treated as merely tentative.
(1) *tetf* That it is from ^<<rfa, can be detected,
when the Samba Ipuri Oriya form ^FWfa as well as T'fcffr
(usually a helm of the boat and at tim< j s the man at the
helm) is compared with it, PrSkrta, ^IFfr or ^SHffr (from
^Hi + Tfal) to signify edge or bank, is not to be confounded
with the above word.
(2) ^Tl (a piece of cloth) having a provincial variant
C5T| (pronounced as C^T| in E. B.). Seems to be from
f%^ reduced to fa, W3 or flj$ or cfcfl. I consider another
word along with it. From the fact that a sect of the Jainas
was called fsffisftj, the men of which sect did not care much
for covering themselves with cloth, the word ^ as well
as its variants *t-l-^, and *t1t were perhaps wrongly taken
for cloth by some vulgar people, as appears from a technical
term of the Alekhs, viz., QW\>. The word ^Tf$ very likely
comes from it. ^Ct^ is met with in C^faiTfa S dfftl
perhaps to signify that piece of cloth which the women in
LECTURE XIII 253
some tracts still wear as nnderlinen, and as such may be
called sffft in the Vedic sense; ^Tfc is in use to signify a
piece of cloth or a tent, (^ee C=W> below.)
(8) <Ftsfl (edge) being wrongly supposed to be derived
from ^<f, it is spelt usually with |, but the word comes
really from ^, for we see, that not only in the District
of Jessore, and Eastern Bengal Districts, but also in the
Districts of Nadya and Berhampore as well, the word ^t(1
is in use. No doubt the line, ' (TflT^ ^Pffa Tfat ' has
become widely popular even within the area indicated above,
but in common parlance the form is always 3rtf| and
not ^t*fl-
(4) f%t^ (oath) ; the Hindi form as well as the form
used in Sambalpuri Oriya is faf^rsfl. The history of it
is highly interesting. The method of taking an oath by
what is called ^56 f^f^rl ( J^j fgv8l ) is certainly familiar
with the Pali scholars ; it has been illustrated by a good
number of examples by E. \V. Burlingamein the J. R. A. S.,
1917, pp. 4:29-67. That fofa^l or f^R?T comes from JT65-
fofa^l is doubtless. In this connection, I may refer the
students to the method of warding off curses and also
of taking oath bv touching the hair, as was once universal
all over the globe and is now also in vogue among many
rude tribes of India as well as of other countries of the
world ; it is because of this custom that the word sjl^fa
(Dravidian srf^-hair) is still a term for assiveration ;
JTf^fr is the form in use in Orissa and in Nepal.
(5) *CF?I The origin of it may be easily traced on
reference to Oriya f^Wl derived from fg\s as discussed
before.
(6) sfF? This word as well as ^Fl. 3J5, etc., must be
traced to rfj.
(7) ^fT> That the pseudo-Sanskril form ^TJ should be
ignored, need not be asserted. Certainl the word *rf$
254 SOME HINTS
(mountain pass) comes from f%t%->f^, since *T**rtf>, to
signify the meaning, occurs in Prakrta, but the word ^f5
is not associated, in idea with ^tfi>. (See ^t^ below )
(8) ITfc In Asoka inscriptions, we meet with'Et 5 !'
from which Biihler derives the word, but no Aryan root
has been suggested for Btt ; it is certainly not Dravi-
dian.
(9) frfa The supposition of Carey's Pandits that the
word comes from the name f^{ (China) is absurd.
As ft'f means divided, or split, I think the term fcfa for
sugar is from ftfF5 ^5.
(10) (&&\ The earlier Bengali form of it is ftSSfa
or 5t^fl- Certainly the word ^1 or ^1 or ^fl comes from
TR or *tt^F ; in Eastern Bengal, the word ^tS, exactly
corresponding to *fft is still in use. The Oriya word ^sfl
is applied to human young ones also, in the Sambalpur
tract ; it is difficult, however, to form ^fSVt*! or Wfrt 5 !
by adding ^ to either ^fs or Jgsft, since the 1 suffix as
diminutive-indicating (i.e., indicating affection) is not met
with in Bengali. V r ery likely the word Tfl (child) was
added to ^1, or that the *\ suffix signifying the very idea
indicated above was once in use, for ft, ^1> an( l ftSSfl
are very closely related. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's supjxisi-
tion that the word comes from CS^I (disciple) cannot but
be rejected ; CFT( comes from (5$ (originally CF?, r/*., c^tt
a female attendant of the Raksasas) ; neither the idea of a
disciple nor of a servant can be associated with the term for
an infant darling ; moreover, there is a phonetic difficulty,
since the original derivative is not C^tl but is ^t^t^l. The
word 5"ftt*J could perhaps be reduced to ^t^'Tff^l and then
to ^tf^T?! and again to CWf^RJl to become C^fl-
(11) d?t^1 comes distinctly from CtT? which is a
decayed form of ^^ = ^ = ^f5. The Nepalese form is
(properly C^t?f ; final ^ is nominative-indicating) ;
LECTURE XIII 255
the Hiudi form Gt^3l with ^ in the middle is only a
variant.
(12) $31 as in $fl srtfore?! is generally treated as Of*jl,
but it suggested to me once, that it may be a deri-
vative of ; sftf, as 3j^1 (old) is in use in some provinces,
but as we get ^rft in Prakrta as derived from flfaf, it does
not appear unlikely that the term <Jt^1 was applied to that
cocoanut, which produces a splashing sound when shaken.
(13) ^tfai seems to be derived from ft<T or ffa1 (sharp
cutting edge), as pungency is indicated by the term. Oriya
meaning of the word is 'perspiration ' ; ffa or Tfa1,a stream,
is also closely associated with the idea ; our C$\*\ (Oriya ^tl)
which signifies broth, seems connected with ft^; cf. ^<fl>
^t1, etc. The word &tT, to pour, seems also to be
derived from *ft^-
(14) Tl no doubt 1 is in Sanskrit, but there it is a
dignified <5tt^ word. It may be derived from 51, but
very likely the original word is ^ffi.
(15) |>3 or Tj^ there cannot be any doubt that it
is to be derived from C^Tfa ; from the very word C^t^ we
have also got C^t^S as I have shown before. One Prakrta
variant of OSt^F is f*fa or R^, as we meet with in the
ft^ll l^t^ ; so we think the Oriya word t^f^ifl also comes
from the word C^t^ (for the origin of fi> see next lecture).
(16) fa (slang a leg, Hindi &t?) is an *{&& form
of ^3?Tt ; the word 5f? indicates ^^1 as well as ' bone ' in
Eastern Hindi or Laria ; the meaning hone, comes perhaps
from Mun<Jari ^^ = bone which is not connected with SfW).
The word ^t* for thigh is in use (I am told) in the
District of Berhampur.
(17) \5t*l (branch) comes from Prakrta (ftJ a branch,
derived from ffft 5 .
(18) C^tfl to pluck is not from ^Fst 3 ^ but from <5T> ;
or ^f%*fl is the Oriya form and CxSt^fl is the Hindi
256 SOME HINTS
form ; to raise up is not the idea associated with it ;
(a nose-gay) is also a cognate word.
(19) OStt^Tl (a big earthen pot) comes from
the prinaiy <5t1^*t form vg*^ a big cooking pot, is in use
in Hindi.
(20) CTOfct (affectionately attached) and sfll (indul-
gence) are derived from Prakrta (^ S. C^-
(21) C^5l a torn piece of cloth ; it is difficult to
derive it from 0?\%\> or (?$$ or (?(*$, which is, no doubt an
apology for a piece of cloth to cover nakedness ; I
cannot uphold that 5ffl is the word from which CT^T> is
derived. How the words ^ft (Oriya), and ^T5l (Hindi)
may be connected with sjfsf I do not know ; but (?\yT> is
not connected with it. I think the apology for a cloth
worn by a f^^t*^ ( f^ffll^ ^^ ) was called a fasRfl which
may be equated with CH&, (?W>, C*IW1>, etc.
(22) "ttsffi (insane) this word seems to have a
curious history : *tft*t*I (a man) is a term which the
Buddhists appropriated and Buddhist mendicants not caring
for the world very likely won the name f\tfe\ as derived
from *( < 5t9f9J ; hence the modern meaning.
(23) tt^T? Hill the term *f*R for stone as derived
from Tftt*! is well known ; to the Buddhists Tp^Q was he,
who did not care for the Buddhist religion, being impervious
like a stone ; the derivation given by ^ OTfa as *ft*K
has to be rejected. It is from Tt^Q that
seems to have originated, being a heap of
(24) *X$*\ (Pseudo-Sans-form *^1 or - |^f^) must be
traced to *{j5^ used to signify a doll. Cf. Kalidas^ descrip-
tion of ^Tl's play by the phrase 3>f^ *)^P^"f>'
(25) c^pi-c?p2l as in c^l <&*\ ^f^ft 5t8?Tl, to look
vacantly and innocently. From <sr i ftTf^f we get ^C'lt^'T or
rather 3tTt^ ; this ^C^lt^ 5 in the shape of ^*J^ (to peep in)
LECTURE XIII 257
is in use in E. Bengal, and the form C&*\ to look vacantly
is in use in the west ot Burdwan, as we ma}- notice in the
expression ^IJ^F 0TO> (he is looking vacantly) ; CWf C*T,
most likely comes from 0^.
(26) (.^1^1 The Persian prefix '(^'(corresponding
to Vedic ft ) as in C^Tft^I. C^-^sT, C^-1^1 (Beng. C^Wt),
etc., and which is in use with many Bengali words, such as
(TK-nt^t*! (untidy), (3-W{\ (ill-shaped), C^-tN (irregular),
etc., is wrongly supposed to be the prefix in C^fl^l ; this
word is identical with f^sps derived from fw5 as met with
in the Gauoa Bahd. In this connection, I may mention
that the word C^spf used at times in non-urban tracts is
not a hybrid formation, but is really the original form of
^f, since the word ^ comes from ft^ffl.
(27) <'-Q like the word y ft^T this word has a curious
history : the Buddhist religious men of high order were
addressed by the term \ff3 -which was, as we know, reduced
to ^sj^f ; it is the history of a satire, that \ : 5f^ in the form
of \NQ signifies a hypocrite.
(8) ^et^Tl (floating) The word is wrongly treated
by some as Sanskrit, for we can notice such a curious form
as <t*TSTfa- The original Sanskrit word ^ was reduced,
to f^t (a raft) in Pali ; from the idea, that which floats,
comes the word ^^1 to signify the meaning. The word
C^11 seems to be connected with the word. I need not
perhaps point out that the original Prakrta form of ^5 *f
is ^3^f which is derived from ^+?f^ s .
(29) 1^, 5 l^> or ^$ The last word is the pseudo-
Sanskritic form of sj^rj? which was formed from the first
word by a metathysis. The word snj>^ signifying a head-
gear comes from 3F$^ ; <?/'. ^^1 the top of a thatched
house.
(30) Ol^ this name for a cat is not current either
in Western Bengal or in Central Bengal, but that it was
33
258 SOME HINTS
once so current, appears from a line of a nursery rhymewhich
runs as (3^3 C 5 ^*, ^T>t STfal- Sir R. G. Bhandarkar gives
us two 'Silg^ forms of sft^ffa m use m different parts of
Western India, which are s(^t^ and (3^3 ; that from C*^?T
the form CT^T may easily come out, ne^d not be asserted.
(81) ttT?1 as the verb f^ occurs mostly in Jaina
Sanskrit, it has become difficult to many to derive tf^l from
f^Q (to trudge).
(32) %ff^5 from the genuine San.-krit word ^t^*f
comes the pseudo- Sanskrit term \t*? by the process o
metathysis (^t^ = ^t5p ^t1 x ^5 ; cf. ;j^l = ^;^ of
Prakrta = ^Q, which is pseudo-Sanskrit.) Itf^ as a variant
of <5 1^5 is derived from ^-
In concluding this lecture I make this general remark,
that to identify the Bengali language with any old time
obsolete language, we have no doubt primarily to look to
the Grammatical structure of the obsolete speech, but the
examination of phrases and vocables is also necessary, for,
pecial idiomatic expressions and peculiar formation of
words bear peculiar marks of particular provincial origin ;
as foreign words are naturalized according to the genius of
6very language, proper study of them cannot be also over-
looked. Various are the sources from which we have
derived material for our language, and there are languages
which are allied to Bengali ; how very careful we should
therefore be to determine the history of our words and in
fine to determine the history of our language, should be
duly appreciated.
LECTURE XIV
BENGALI AS DISTINGUISHED FROM ITS
ALLIED VERNACULARS.
I propose to pursue in this lecture, a stratigrapbical
study of the Bengali language with the help of the facts
set forth and discussed in the previous lectures. In the
present state of our knowle !ge, we cannot make a definite
pronouncement of the ethnic elements that came into
the composition of our people ; we are not in possession
of a history which deals with the evolution of our social
structure. It was therefore only possible for me, to state in
a general manner, of some of the influences that have been
at work in shaping our speech in its present form. I have
however made it tolerably acceptable that philology can
be employed as a good strata-metre, if this instrument
be fitted into the handle of the history of the races
speaking the language under investigation. We have seen,
that in their old and archaic forms, the speeches of the
Gauclian group resemble one another oo closely, that it
becomes ordinarily difficult to distinguish them as separate
speeches, by noticing those points of difference which
determine their character as so many independent dialects.
To recognise aright our early forms as differentiated
Bengali forms, separate from the forms of allied languages
or dialects, let us proceed first to examine the structure
of our speech primarily with reference to declension in a
comparative method, that is to say, by considering care-
fully the inflexions of nominal stems (both noun and
pronoun) by means of such endings as represent the various
cases. This involves the consideration of the nominal for-
mations connected with the verbs as participles, infinitives,
260 BE *GALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
etc., and the finite verbs indicating different tenses and
moods. Other important points of grammatical or struc-
tural changes or evolution will be next noticed to determine,
or rather to confirm the proposition advanced before, re-
garding the origin and character of Bengali.
We may set down on the evidence of old literary
records, the language of which must be accepted on all
hands to be Bengali, that 'sff and < 3^ ' are the earliest
forms of personal pronoun of the first person in singular
number and ' ^Ttfr ' or ' ^srfsff^ ' is the plural form of ' 1^ '
and ' ^.' The earliest Prakrta form ' ft ' from which ' ^ '
comes out, is in use in Marhati, but we do not meet with
the form in old Bengali, 's|^' and c ^. } occur indis-
criminately in the " 111 j^^tlR " noticed before; f ^' is still
current in the provincial Bengali dialect of Rangpur. and
this is the form that obtains in Assamese. ' ^f^ ' was only
the accented form of ' ^ ' as ' ^rfsff^ ' was the accented
or emphatic form of ' ^Ttfsi.' In Oriya the singular form
is *^f^' (though reduced very often to "%$.' and ' ^' in
colloquial speech) and the plural form is '^rfcg ' which is a
changed form of ' ^Tf^f^.' ' ^Ttfsi ' the oldest singular form
acquired the dignity of being treated as plural when ' ^ '
came into use ; it is still the plural form in Marhati
and also in Assamese which is closely related to Bengali.
As the ending ' <3 ' invariably occurred in old times to
signify nominative case, ' ^rfsff^' became ''srp^' in
Oriya and this ' ^^\T^ ' when reduced to one word assumed
the shape ' ^'fcg-' As we cannot be sure of the time
of the ' C^Ni sffa S Ctt^l ' edited by Pandit Hara Prasad
Sastri, we must say (for want of literary evidence in
support of any proposition to the contrary) that these
differentiated forms cannot be shown to date from a time
earlier than the 10th century A.D. ; that the 10th century
A.D. is the probable time when Oriya was formed as
LECTURE XIV 261
a distinct inde endent language, has been tried to be
shown in the next preceding lecture by adducing some
historical facts.
When the genuine singular forms were regarded non-
honorific and vulgar, the plural forms were brought into
use as singular and such plural-forming suffixes for
nouns as <rl (Beng.), sffW (Oriya), OTfW (Assamese), etc.,
were added to the real plural forms to make plural of
them. The plural-forming suffixes ' ^| ' of Bengali, ' 5ftC^ '
of Oriya and ' C^Tft^ ' (as well as ' C^ftS,' ' 3U5/ ' fal1c^ ') of
Assamese are of provincial growth of which 3Tft5{ and C^ft^
can be traced to old Magadhi source. It is interesting
to note that though the original form of the Oriya speech
flowed into Orissa, through Bengal, the Behari plural-
forming suffix ^ (which is only ^ in two dialects) has been
adopted as Hfa in Oriya; neither^ nor *{ can be shown
to have been in use in Bengali at any time. This confirms
what has been stated before that two streams (one through
Bengal and the other through the Kosala tract) flowed
into Orissa to form the language of that country.
My remarks regarding the pronoun of the 1st person
are applicable to the pronouns of the second person
which are ' ^>,' ' ^f^,' ' ^t ' and ' \s^ ' in singular and
' l>ft ' (now singular in Bengali), * C^t^l/ , ' 03t*rftTn^ '
(Assamese), ' <J>C ' and ^g*rfW (Oriya) in plural.
Regarding the form ^tTR^tC^, it is to be remarked, that
though ^tTft^tt^ is idiomatic in Assamese, and the very
form <5rfttt*TtFF is freely used in Xaogaon and Tejpur, the
form is considered incorrect to-day in the standard Assamese
language.
The honorific form alike of '^' and ' ^fr ' is
in Bengali ; the corresponding Assamese form is '
and the Oriya form is ' Tf^f 6 !.' It comes from
the possessive case; the oldest ' Aj)abhransa '
262 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
and the later form was ' ^t*fa ' ; the original possessive
sense is retained by ' <5ft*fa ' as adjective as in <3rt*fa ^
(one's own house). ' "STlffa' as pronoun, signifies literally
' your own self.' This form however is seldom met with
in very old literary records to signify ' you ' ; its use was
restricted mainly to indicate ' by one's own self ' as adverb ;
' I,' ' you ' or ' he ' did a thing, ' ^t*ffa ^*ffr ' (Bengali) or
'<3itt*1 or <5rttt' (Oriya) or ' ^fjft ' (Assamese) means
that the doer did not take the help of any other person in
doing the act. At times it also signifies ' I myself ,'
'you yourself ' or ' he himself ' as the case may be, as in
^T *jt5t <5Tf*ffa ^t^ (first person) <5TF5t?r (Bengali) or in
*rfc*t ^Ttfr <Wfr C*TCI if*"fa (Oriya).
I need hardly point out, that the genuine Magadhi
form Of (the successor of the earlier form CTl) is in use in
Bengali and Oriya, and its slightly altered form ' f>f ' is
in use in Assamese. The forms ' 0? ' and ' C<F ' may also be
noticed along with it. Oriya wholly agrees with Bengali
in the use of these forms; the use of f^fl for C^ is wholly
irregular being a new departure from the standard oriya
use according to the Eastern Provincial peculiarity in
pronunciation. I mention this fact, so that this provincial
Oriya ' focfl/ may not be mistaken for the Eastern Tffifft f^P
<5[, of which the modern representative is f^|.
The plural form of ' (7f ' is ' C ' in Magadhi while (3
and O^F are found used both in the singular and plural. The
ylural form f C' is noticeable in old Bengali but not
in old Oriya; '0^' and '05^' as derived from it were in
use in Bengali till the other day, and ' 05 ' itself is still in
use (both as singular and plural) in the provincial speech
of Chittagong, as a co-relative pronoun linked with
' C^,' which is introductory. That our 'C5^ ' and ' C&$ ' <ire
generally found in use in singular to indicate honour, need
not be pointed out. ' c^t ' (the honoured he) is not to be
LECTURE XIV 268
confounded with the identical form, which is an indeclin-
able to indicate ' for that reason ' : the pun on the word by
Bharat Chandra in ' ^TC^ *ff% d&tffs tsrf^ ^"ft ' may be
referred to ; the primary meaning is He, who is the lord
of many is my husband, and the other meaning suggested
is My husband is also the husband of others, and for
that reason he is not favourably disposed towards me.
They are identical in form but different in origin : C^
(for that reason) is derived from \sf^ = ~ff and our f ^tt '
signifying the same meaning is a variant or a changed
form of ' Ct ' ; this ' <tt ' being wrongly spelt as ' ^fsft^ ' is
confounded with the provincial form ' ; *t^1 + t ' of emphasis ;
the latter form is derived from \5? = <^. In our honorific
f%fr, there is the pronoun ' 5f ' in an enelit-c manner ;
in Pali, we get this ' {' in the accusative case only
in the form of 3? ( = ^t^t^ ) ; ' that respected he 'is
the round about expression to indicate honour : C^Tft"
and 0H<l1 (his) are not unusual in the mouth of our
vulgar people. The Bengalis who settled in Orissa, long
ago, carried with them, as a matter of course many
archaic forms, and their descendants now, not being in
touch with the progress and change effected in Bengal,
use C\5^tS (his), vSfaJTfa (they), etc., very commonly. The
forms, ftfr (occurs as feft in old Bengali), ^ft and ^f^f,
as are peculiar to Bengali should also be taken note of
here. I think, that the ^ of direct pronominal origin, as
has been noticed here, is not the 5? which we get in c^rfa,
signifying certain person or certain object. C^"R appears
to me to be the decayed portion of c^fos, since c^lft
almost representing C^f^ obtains in Oriya as well as in
Hindi. That the ^ of C^ comes directly from s? O f f^j
need not be pointed out.
I may note here that both the earlier emphatic form
of C^ (who) as C^> and the later form C^, are in use in
264 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
Bengali ; on reference to the modern Behari, we can see
that C^ (and not merely C^) grew in ^Tffift on the very
soil of Magadha, yet it is only C^t^ (corresponding to
our C^) which we get in Oriya.
Case declension The sign for nominative. The ' <5f '
sound of the non-^TS finals of all nouns in the Nominative
Singular was reduced to ' Q ' sound in Pali, to represent
very likely the >Kf* pronunciation of <5f, as I have sug-
gested before. This sound of { ^ ' which is almost <Q
continues with us, as an inherent Bengali speciality but
we do not write ' q^JTl ' for ' *P3| ' to paint the special shade of
our ' <5f ' sound. This form of the word in the nominative
case did not become extinct in the Tffift speech, when the
ending i<| for ^ came into general use, for we get in the
Jaina Prakrta, that though all nouns in the nominative
case took generally the ^ final, the forms with 'S final were
also in use; along with the forms fft^fcf, flf*lCT, C*TC^,
etc., we meet with the older form with \S ending as occurs
for instance in such a sentence as ' ^1 C^l ^| ^tf^-' As
it is in the provincial Bengali of Rungpur, so it is in
Assamese that the nouns in the nominative case take ' ^ '
final invariably, t for i) in such cases in Assamese as
5ft*f^ (ass) ffTsf^ (creeper), etc., is rightly explained in the
Assamese Grammar as the euphonic mutation of '<H.' This
' <' was once much in use both in Bengali and Oriya, but
now the use is limited to some special cases only. Almost
all the nouns in the nominative case have '4 ' or '^' final
in the ^1^3 ^t*R of a time not earlier than the Hth cen-
tury A.D. The modern use of it in Bengali in such cases
as C'Tft^ ^fl (so the people say), sftf^ ^^ ( so men gene-
rally- do), ffflOT *tt* (the goats usually eat) is sufficiently
expressive to denote the idea of plurality in an indefinite
way. In Oriya, however, when a particular Pandit for
example is alluded to it will be correct to say
LECTURE XIV 265
; we cannot but notice that this Oriya idiomatic use
indicates honour. As signification of honour is associated
with the form of plurality, it may be noted here that
when distinction between singular and plural was not
being strictly observed, the nominative-forming suffix 14
came to be used to. signify singular and plural alike, and
the older plural-forming suffix ^1 fell fully into disuse.
This supposition is not correct that the nominative-
indicating <3 originates from the sign-indicating instru-
mentality ; the reduction for instance of C^Tl to (7T may be
sufficient to show the wrongness of the proposition ; the
instances tf the use of all sorts of words in the nominative
case in the Jaina Prakrta will clear up the situation. The
nominative singular forms of pronouns are quite fixed ;
in other cases the pronominal stems in the shape of 'srfal,
CStTl, ^t^ 1 , etc., take those case-endings which are generally
usual with the noun stems. It will also be seen, that some
case-denoting suffixes though pronominal in origin, are
applied equally to nouns and pronouns.
The sign for accnsatire. It will not be less than 1400
years when the author of the Natya Sastra noted the
predominance of ^ sound in the speeches of the Eastern
Gangetic valley extending from Behar to the Bay of
Bengal ; perhaps the lines I cite below show this predomi-
nance of (f\ sound in modern Bengali, far in excess of what
it could be in olden time. ^ of different origins and of
various sinifications may be noted in the lines :
We see in the first place that ii as a case-denoting
particle signifies many cases : C^K^ is in the nominative
case or has the <2t<ift1 fTof^, omtt and ^ftfl are in the
objective case, i.e., in the ff^tfl f^fe>, ^~&>\ is in the
34
266 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
instrumental case, i.e., in ^\ffa1 f^^e>, CTT^ c 1 ^ (
f^xsts) is technically in W^l favfa and SftW indicating
locative is in the ^sft fo^fs 5 . Then again the ^ final of
c*)3Rt3 is a<l verb-forming, ^fsft? is in infinitive and ^td> is
a finite verb; the last three cases will be dealt with in their
proper places later on.
We have studied the history of the nominative-indi-
cating^; it is this i*l which signifies accusative as well
as dative at times ; ' CTl-4,' (ne) and ' ^rfs^-^i ' (us) have
been in use, since long, and the modern form '^fTfa' is
but a slightly changed form of them. When ^ or ^
ceased to denote the accusative case in Wt^ft, nominative
sign of nouns came to be used to signify the accusative
as well as dative in a large number of cases. When
again, the noun stems ceasad to take any nominative-
indicating suffix, it was only at times that the accusative
was marked with a suffix ; this rule, I should say still
holds good. The following sentence will be illustrative of
the phenomenon, that in the case of noun ft, it is with refer-
ence to syntax that we have to distinguish nominative
from the accusative, and not by looking to the case -end i ng :
afl-^tt C5OT "TPR 31 *Ff*OT, C5OT ll-^tf Tfc3 31 ; translated
into old Bengali the sentence will stand as
*t<4 ^Itf CTl-tfl 'ft 5 !^ ^ ^ft C*Tl-cl ajl-^111 (or atf T(C1)
The ^1 final of nouns to signify both nominative and
accusative, as we meet with at times in the latest '5lt^5
and in old Bengali, has not altogether fallen into disuse ;
this <sfl is more emphasis-indicating than case-denoting in
such a sentence as S?m ^1, (object). ..f^t ^1, *H *t?T
^Sl (nominative). It is at times diminutive-indicating,
that is to say, indicative of affection or familiarity : in 3T(-ci
^13 f^ ^1> ^' ie word <Jv5l is in diminutive form ; in
common conversation this "srl is added to names to signify
either familiarity or contempt.
LECTURE XIV 26?
As to the Dravidian origin of the suffix C^ to signify
dative as well as accusative, my remarks in the 5th lecture
(pp. 59-60) should be referred to. The Dravidian ^ remains
unchanged in Oriya, and in old Bengali, we get it both in
the shape of (^ and ^ ; in the provinciality of Rungpur
the form ' ^ ' is still in use, as may be noticed in the forms
CTf^ ( ^t^tW ) and \sT<P ( ^fttW )
To convert possessive form to objective, adding t<| to
the possessive form, we need not import any foreign in-
fluence ; for, an idea, relnting to an object may be express-
ed in the objective case, without drowning the sense of
relation the line' qtfffE* ttfc*1 flStTft* ^C*rfs, NstTO
Ffc^t sgrfrft^/ will sufficiently illustrate the case, if the
thought underlying the sentence is properly analysed. This
form of the objective case is met with more in poetry than
in prose, in oui modern language ; in Eastern Bengal,
however, this form obtains in common conversation lan-
guage ; cf., the Eastern Bengal sentences, sffa-^ 3Tft?Rt =
ItC* ^tfaffS 5T& and CTtW ^8 s1 ^ft^t* ? (How dare you
suggest that the boat will be sunk by me?). We can easily
trace this form of expression (o a <2Tt^ idiom : ^^-<5
(whomsoever you may meet) is equivalent to
( Tft^ ) Cf It 5 tt8 ; '^ J is in the possessive form
being the ^f*f^s*t form of "^ and ifj is clearly object-indi-
cating here.
Inftlnimeiiial Gftxe. To signify the instrumental ca&e
we have in Bengali the suffixes (5, ff5l, and ^ ; their
history may be briefly narrated here.
(1) The Pali Instrumental Plural suffix fj comes no
doubt from f%*f or fci . It is well known that distinction
between singular and plural was not much observed in
the later Prakrtas, and one well-formed suffix, no matter
whether it was originally singular or plural-indicating,
became the general case-denoting- suffix. There are lots
268 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
of instances of ff being used as suffix to denote instru-
mental singular ; take for instance the line STtfafa,
Tfaff ^T^PI (What does it avail, Oh Manini, by be-
coming cross ?). No doubt at first f^ was reduced to ^
as we meet with in the old literary Prakrta works, but
its reduction to t|^ is not also very recent. The instru-
mental ^ ending in such cases as ts^f^ (^6^1) f^Tft
(f^Jfl), etc. as we meet with in the (Tf^^F may be
considered with some reasons to be derived from $i,
but the early history starting with f? is not in favour
of this supposition. Be that as it may, we get the suffix ^,
as well as iflt, in old ^TT^ works of uncertain dates ; : 5^^f^
or ^I\5tf^ being reduced to ^ft?[^ or 1t^, the path for
further reduction to ^^3 or'T^|-4 (or Tt3) was paved.
The history of the idiomatic use of the instrumental case
forms, if studied iu regular succession, it does not become
easy to hold that ' <ffi ' (say of Ctft30 generated the ' <4 ' in
question by dropping the final *(. I have discussed in the
previous lecture that in our proto-Bengali, ' iR ' does not
occur and that its occurrence in one passage in a C^Ni C^t^l
has been wrongly formulated because of incorrect reading
of the text. The cases where 'tR ' seems to occur in Oriya
as instrumental suffix have not been in my opinion pro-
perly studied ; it will be observed that the words with
seeming <ft suffix in Oriya have been used to denote
locative case as well ; I am inclined to hold, on reference
to the use of ^ as a particle of emphasis in Oriya, that the
words with a suffix (denoting either instrumental or
locative case) stand with additional ^ to indicate emphasis.
The half-nasal occurring in \($ (by the desire) or CT^t^T
(by the affection) does not seem to represent the loss of ?,
for the instrumental form with iH is not met with iu the
Prakrta speeches which are later than Pali in date ; corres-
ponding to '^) ' we get '4ft3 ' in Assamese and C^ in Oriya ;
LECTURE XIV 269
the growth of <T here is but euphonic growth. In
Bengali the noun-stems having ^ or ^ iinal take an addi-
tional ^5 which is but an euphonic growth to facilitate easy
pronunciation ; compare the forms ^ftTS flf and ^3
^fjj. This euphonic transmutation is noticeable alike in
Nominative and Locative, where d\ is the case-denoting
suffix. Where however difficulty does not occur in pro-
nunciation, the ouphonie < does not occur ; for instance
faE3 *t^ i* commoner than f*ft\5 \f^. Besides the ordi-
nary examples of instrumental with if) final, I notice the
instance where a peculiar Sanskrit idiom is expressed in
Bengali : In ^rfaft OsfatS C^t^l *r?1 ^TCS, *tfr\* and CSfaft
correspond to ^Sl-?I3l as in ^ ^i*f ^Il-sffl.
ffffl -We have noticed the instrumental case-ending
* ' and its variant f (?f ' in the Magadhi Prakrta which is
usually designated as Jaina Prakrta. It is surmised by
some that this Of is but the changed form of earlier f^.
This C? can be clearly ivcogaised in the instrumental
case-ending ' fff ' in use in the district of Rangpurand 'tffe '
in use in Oriya. This archaic 'ft' of Rangpur is now
used as ' fwl ' in standard Bengali language; as such it
has no connection with ' ffl ' to give ; nor the upstart ^t^l
set up by the Pandits, can have any relationship with it.
5U3 I have traced the genesis of ^5 in the previous
lecture and have shown there, that in its origin as well as
in its general use in our vernacular, ^^5 is purelv the sign
of the ablative case. Jn such a use as ^|5f1 ^frs C%3 ^>t%
Ti ^S3 ?\\W, the word ^\s signifies certainly instrumentality,
but ils ablative sense is also noticeable in the use; the
action ' flowing out of me ' can be construed to be the
underlying idea.
Dative. In Assamese we get '1 ' as a special dative
case-ending, while in Bengali and Oriya, we have the same
' 3 ' or ' ^ ' or ' C^F '-suffix both for accusative and dative.
270 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
This ' fo/ noticeable afeo in Nepalese and in a Behari
dialect, is the reduced form of ' ^tf*f/ in use in Bengali as
well as in Oriya; CTfTfr Tff*f (for you) is rather a poetic
UPC iu Bengali.
Aljlnlire. $F (not to be confounded with ^c = to
be) and Cft^ are the two ablative suffixes in Bengali.
How the ablative denoting ^ generated the suffix ^5,
has been discussed in Lecture XIII, p. 244. Both the
<5ff^ forms f^ and ?K are met with in old Hindi.
IK has been reduced to ^5 in Bengali and to if in Hindi.
It is the further reduced form of if in the shape of & ,
that we meet with in Oriya as well as in Marathi. The
Oriya form ^3p, from hous 1 , is not the contracted form of
W^ Oriya ^" or corresponding Marathi f^ is quite
another suffix as we shall presently notice. It has been
stated that from ^ we have got ^5 (cf. ^sff ?, = 3pfcs =
W^$ ^Ts) as a general ablative forming suffix; then again
we have to notice that this very ^T?, being joined to the
demonstrative pronouns '$' or ^ff, and tfj or if) (contrac-
tion of <$%) gave rise to the particular forms ^fa and
(from here) and this newly formed fa of ^^ and
, is the progenitor of the suffix ft or Cf We have
to further note that it is Cf and not CfC^ 5 which is in
use in the speech of the Bengali-people all throughout
the Northern and the Eastern districts and in the Dis-
tricts of Jessore and Khulua. C'Kt'f Cf and not C'Ht*!
CfC^F is what we hear in the tracts mentioned above. We
can thus clearly see that CfZ^ 5 of the stmdard language
has HCquired an otiose or euphonic ^.
In the district of Chittagong we get the form f^for
Cf which by ch.ince agrees with the Marathi form ^.
Corresponding Oriya form is ^ or ^" which is reducible
to ^ or s or ^. I have already suggested that the
Marathi ^ and Oriya 3s are not contracted forms of
LECTURE XIV 271
^ and ^f respestively, but that they are derived from
^ which comes out of ^ (the progenitor of 3). ^
of Marat hi and '* of Oriya are additional suffixes; cf.
the double Marathi forms <4 ^ and ^t^Jl It^and the
double Oriya forms (S\ ^ and ^ . In ^t?p (Oriya), the
suffix ^ is added to fcfr.
Genitire There have been various suggestions regard-
ing the genesis of ^, of which one or two will be noticed
here. As such Sanskrit genitive forms as ft?TS, St^l?, etc
evolve '~$' in their conjunction with vowels, semi-vowels,
and consonants which are not surds, some suppose that the
Vernacular ^ suffix has to be traced to this special pheno-
menon ; in this supposition, it is lost sight of that f^T^j-
sfts was never in use in the Prakrtas, and the Sanskrit
forms in question were never idiomatic in the Prakrta
speeches. What we have to really notice, is the Prakrta
idiomatic form to trace the history of ^. We first notice
that J^Jf took the place of ^5 and then ^ as the represen-
tative of *T cj,me into use. We have also noticed in earlier
lectures that the suffix ^ (indicating genitive) was not
only liable to be mistaken for other suffixes but was in-
capable of expressing the idea of possession with some
emphasis, on account of its fluid pronunciation or boneless
character ; that very often ^ h?,d to be substituted for the
sake of forcible pronunciation, has been noticed in the
course of examination of some Prakrta forms. That the
final boneless vowels have been at times either liable to be
reduced to ~3, or require to be otherwise strengthened, may-
be noted over again : 5|-^ has been reduced to sfo 5 , and
^fa'Sf has assumed the form ^T%^1 in Bengali. The tend-
ency to put in <t to ensure distinct pronunciation is
observable in such a Sandlii conjunction in Pali, as I^CT
+ ^ = t^^ff^R, where according to Sanskrit Sandhi rule
a 3 is not justified.
272 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
Most convincing proof of <T coming out of *T (or from
a vowel sound representing Jf) is to be sought in the
phonetic peculiarity which is almost universal : change of
* s ' into ' r ' as a Dravidian peculiarity, has been elaborately
noticed by Bishop Caldwell and others and this very
peculiarity in all the Aryan languages of Europe has been
well studied by the Philologists. How the ( s ' of the geni-
tive-indicating ^ of the Aryan speech has been reduced
to ' r ' in a very large number of cases in Italian, French,
German and English, is too well known to scholars to re-
quire an illustrative statement. Thus in accordance with the
universally prevalent phonetic law, and quite consistently
with the actual idiomatic use of the old times, we get the
history of the growth of our genitive- signifying suffix
3. Wh.it is to be noted is that in tracing this history
one is not forced to create an imaginary condition of things,
disregarding the actual idiomatic use which has always
been in force.
Having given the real history of 3", I just refer to an
untenable theory regarding it upheld by some learned
scholars. On the flimsy basis of a farm which cannot be
shown to have been idiomatic in the Prakrtas, ' t^<T ' has
been set up by some as the progenitor of ?r ; only one
solitary instance of very doubtful import is cited from the
^S$^l5^ in support of the existence of the form C^$, by
wholly overlooking the clear cases of the use of genitive
in the Prakrtas. It is clear that the form C?F<j has been
specially favoured, by the scholars under review, as an
explanation, regarding the form ' <*ft ' has been needed ;
it should be seen, in the first place, that in Western Hindi
and in Oriya, it is ' ^ ' and not ' fl* ' which is the suffix ; in
Oriya ' <\\' is wholly unknown and the Hindi forms
^tTfalj C5frfr1> etc., point simply to a simple ' ^ ' suffix.
1 proceed to show in the second place that <n\ is merely
LECTURE XIV 273
an euphonic mutation of ' ^,' in Bengali ; and (/$\ as a
suffix has never been knnwn in our language.
That <(\ is but an euphonic mutation of ^ will be
clearly seen on reference to the rules of idiomatic use of
?T and <SR in Bengali : (1) ^STfa-* (where final is non-3?F5),
are examples of words of various final sounds taking ' ^ ' as
the genitive-signifying suffix. (2) When the final is ^T5,
which is never the case in Oriya, the simple suffix 3 can-
not be assimilated with the word, and so if^r is to be
suffixed ; e.g., 3t*ft*T-^ makes ' ^ ' a separate or non-^>f3
syllable unsuited to the genius of Bengali pronunciation,
and so we have 3TWT-4iT, ^-4<T, W"f-<fl^, etc. (3) Non-
?*T words of one letter, i.e., to say non-^pg single con-
sonants treated as words must take ' <$% ' to maintain their
distinctness as words ; e.g., ^-<ft ^sft^ft, "f (contracted
form of t^)-yq^ ^f^, etc. ; contrast with them ^f^fa, ^\5-?T
^5f (ff$-<l ^ot^ f^ 5 ! ^*Tl- (4) Words ending with compound
letters always generate non-^TS sounds (unlike what it is
in Hindi) in Bengali and yet they take ^ and not ?f as
we may notice in ^I?T, sTOT, ^C^^, etc. In Eastern Bengal,
however, simple ^ is affixed in such cases in spoken lan-
guage following perhaps the general rule which is in
the air. (5) When the final sound is ^ (<sj^) or ^ (*5p),
the final ^ or ^ becomes separate syllable and as such the
euphony requires the affixing of i*T3 [; e.g., fft-^3, <Fl-<43",
etc.
I have heard this example adduced by some to illus-
trate the use of C^3 as a suffix in Bengali, viz., ^t^ as
in ^^FF3 f*frft but it is overlooked that here ^ is an otiose
^ to which according to the previously illustrated rule <ft
has to be suffixed ; if we refer to ^^ in such an expres-
sion as ' <$ Tff t?1 <fsC^ f^ (ft ' the situation will be clear.
It will be invariably found, that where C^S occurs, it
35
2/4 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
does not occur as a suffix but only (fi is added to a word
which has an otiose ^ as final.
^ and: ftft5f?j. In Eastern Magadhi and in proto-Bengali
we meet ?Fas a sign for geuetive ; the history of it, as well
as of fefa is interesting. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar has rightly
remarked that ^ of say, "SR^F ( ^FSTfaR ) once came to be
used as a genitive-indicating suffix. Since difference
between singular and plural has not been maintained in
the Vernaculars, such forms as '^rftl-^ and 'sfl^F
fwT (noticed previously) may easily be explained; I
need not state that this ^ is now in use in Hindi.
Sir R. G. Bhandarkar has also very rightly shown in
- his Wilson Lectures, that when ^3} or \5^ was not consi-
dered to be either very forcible or honorific, iffa and nffa,
etc., became highly fashionable in Sanskrit as well as in
Prakrta speeches; that the history of our plural ftft^ is
to be traced to this phenomenon is what I assert here.
That the case-denoting suffixes for our nouns are gene-
rally pronominal in origin, and that a portion of an ex-
pression used as a post-position becomes a suffix, have also
been ably illustrated by Sir R. G. Nhandarkar ; fft or rather
f^ of sffffa, Ijffaj etc., being joined to the general suffix ^
to indicate honour, the plural-denoting f^f<T has origi-
nated*
The Locative sign ' tf) ' is as old as the hills, and so no
remark regarding it is necessary. I have to notice that
in old Bengali ' N ' (from ^) was once in use, and this use
is now noticeable in the provincial speech of Rangpur. It
is on this account, that the unusual particle ' ^ ' comes now
in such euphonic combinations as ^tf%tf, sf?PC* ; this
euphonic ' <5 ' though grown in locative formations appears
* For the'history of the plnral-forming ?1 and ^fa, vide Lecture
V, pp. 676-8.
LECTURE XIV 275
in other case formations also where ^ is the suffix and
|, ^, etc., are the finals.
Verbs. The history of the forms, which verbs assume
in different tenses and moods, should next engage our atten-
tion. How the Vedic tense systems were gradually sim-
plified in the Prakrta speeches has been discussed at some
length in Lectures X and XI, here our discussion will
be directed more to the history of our current forms than
to the history of the reduction of old systems into their
present condition.
The Present system. ^3tf^5 in the 3rd person singular
gave rise to the form ^^ and from ^$\ comes .the modern
form W&(, whi(?h is common to Bengali, Oriya and Assamese.
C*\ ^3 of Bengali as well as of Oriya has the corresponding
Assamese form ft (as well as C5^T and ^Tf0 ^*T. The
older form ^^ current in the Prakrta speeches is
often met with in the old time literature of Bengal
and Orissa. It is to be first noted, that unlike in Oriya,
the Bengali verbs are alike in form in singular and plural.
On reference to the archaic Bengali forms ^^f%, *Tff%, ^f%,
etc., one may be led to suppose that once our verbs had
plural forms ; but it is not so. It should be first observed
that the plural forms referred to here, were in use in the
3rd person onlv, and that use again was limited to present
time ; in the second place it is to be noted that a verb took
the ^f% ending when honour of the person agreeing with
the verb was sought to be denoted. Of the^f% ending, now
only T remains and in the case of honorific mention, we say
f^sft ^C^, as well as ^t'tft ^t^f; it need be mentioned that
though 'srtlfr is treated as 2nd person, it is not strictly so
from grammatical point of view. The f>f of <Ft3lf^f, in the
2nd person is not wholly obsolete - } f ^ } of ^f?R, as in ^t
^f^T, is the representative of it. Again, we may notice
that the old ft has assumed the form (tf and is treated as
276 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
an indeclinable particle ; when we say <F?TC*I, W?T, etc., an
emphasis is put upon the vtrb by the addition of C*f j pure
'fSf' to signify second person, occurs very much in the
Srikrsna Kirtan.
It is wrongly urged by some, that the fsf ending of the
verb in the 1st person indefinite, so common in the 2TtlFs,
is not met with in Bengali ; the mistake is due to the fact
that some provincial future-indicating forms which take the
suffix y or f?f, are not recognized as forms of present in-
definite. That in the following instances, the present
indefinite has been reduced to future (a* is done in all
languages), m?y be easily noticed: (1) ^f?R as the con-
tracted form of ^fofsf (cf. Oriya ^f%f^ as well as ^f?ff^
where ^ and y are interchangeable) is in use as 1st person
future in the provincial dialect of Raugpur ; (2) the forms
*f*R, *fty 1% etc., as well as ^^, qft, 3\\, etc., tre
current in the speech of the common people of My men-
sing; (3) the <Jf ' ending of the verb in the 1st person,
present tense, as is traceable in the Singhalese; speech,
must be owing to the influence which the ^ttf* of old
Bengal exerted there.
The Present Progressive. presents a very interesting
form. In ^faust^, we get the infinitive form of the
principal verb linked with the present indefinite form ^tft%
(derived from <5(<? l f9[ = '5ffi4-f%), in such a manner that
the latter appears, not as an auxiliary but as a suffix.
The formation of corresponding Oriya form ^p5TJ% has been
exactly in the above manner. It is noteworthy, that a
contracted form of Bengali ^foc^C^', is in use in Assamese ;
it is therefore doubtless, that Assamese ^f^^ had its
origin in Bengal ; ^f?TtI> from ^f?TF^ is in use in
Bengal and its further contracted form <p<^ is also in
use in our common speech. As ' ^f^^s' (formed originally
by the *f^ suffix) is closes to the Prakrta form ^3<s, it is
LECTURE XIV 277
earlier in date than Oriya ^Rp. Tnongh the form
is now unknown in the standard Oriya, it is in use in the
Provincial dialect of Sambalpur, and was in use in old
Oriya as noticeable in the writings of Balaram Das, As
an example of its use in ^ambalpur, I may cite this
sentence, ^C^s ^fefa (I was observing when I was
coming). This '^f^Fs' formed by *f^ suffix should not
be confounded with f ^Fl%' (for doing) formed by the
?uffix \^f. How words in English formed originally by the
suffixes ' ing ' and ' ung/ look now wholly alike, may be
noticed as a parallel case.
Present Perfect and Pa$t. The Bengali present perfect
has two forms such as ^faT and ^>fwtt^ ; to the archaic
past forms of the verbs either the partic e <f\ signifying past
participle or the verbal stem ' ^rf^ ' noticed above, is added
or suffixed or agglutinated. That the introduction of
past participle to denote present perfect, is of great anti-
quity has been shown in Lectures X and XI, but it is
interesting to inquire how two distinct forms, to denote
present perfect has been brought into use.
I have noticed before that the past form of ^ff^T ( ^f%)
is <srf^ Osrfjfte ) in old Magadhi ; *fffi as the past form
assumed the shape <srf^t wnen ^^. became the stem of
the Bengali verb, derived from ^. That in the analogy
of ^t^t, the past forms qfa, qfr, cffo etc. became
the past forms in the Prakrtas, has been shown before ;
it has also been shown that in the 3rd person singular,
those past forms assumed the shape ^^, *fl^, etc.,
in Proto-Bengali, when, ^1%, *ff%, etc., commenced to signify
1st person in the past tense ; though the matter has been
discussed before, I cite over again an example, to show
that these aichaic past forms are still in use in Bengali :
c*i ^Wr frw ^F(^ [i.e., ^f?ret%[] sit ^rffsf ' ^fa ' ^
[here ^fwtf^q^l $ will be unidiomatic bad Bengali].
278 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
The agglutination of the present stem ' ^Tfe ' with the
past form ^fa, to signify the present perfect, may very
well be done in the formation of ^f?R[ft^ ^f?Rt^ and
^fwtfej ^t why in addition to the form with 1 suffix,
another form was introduced, has to be examined. We
notice on examining the archaic paradigms, that when
*Ffr, <ff?T, etc., became identical in form with the infinitives,
and <srfff Osn^H) could not clearly signify the past
tense, being almost similar with the present form of the
stem ^^, v\ was given an extended use to signify the
past, and the form ^t^^I (Modern Bengali ffl) was made to
denote the past tense ; to distinguish then between the
present perfect and the past, say of the verb ^3, ^1%1 1 srftS[
(contracted into ^pf?T1d>) was made the present perfect and
^f^-<5rff^ ( f*Tfftff*l) was made the past form. iDf^fll^,
which of all hitherto known old books abounds with
archaic forms, furnishes us with the present perfect forms
*feiE5 Olf^l + 'rftf) ete -> Since
Ij etc., were in existence previous to the
formation of ^f?ffit^ etc., we can clearly see, how the
present forms with only zf-suffix could not be lost to the
language.
Some special participle forms. Though regarding the
origin of \ no doubt exists now, I refer briefly to the
history of it to notice some important grammatical forms.
Professor Lassen has rightly suggested that ^S underwent
the changes fa? and fa\5 and 1 took the place of \5 and
became finally a sign for the past tense. Pointing out
along with it the fact that the Slavonic preterites are formed
by ' 1,' Prof. Laseen has remarked that the characteristic
1 1 ' of the Slavonic preterite, arises out of ' d ' which in
its original form again is ' 1.' The analogy being com-
plete, we have been rightly asked to compare in this
connection such forms of our language as *TF5, ft 5 !,
LECTURE XIV -279
etc. It is very clear that *| of our
past tense came out of either ^ or ^ of the past participle.
The Prakrta from which Bengali is directly derived,
gives us <5f as the <5f*T3V*t form of \s of the past participle;
the ^ of iSttl 5 ^ became <5f1 in Bengali to give rise to
special forms as ^1 ^t^> ^3l ^1, ^| e Tl $t^1, J$$5\ ^t*F5,
Ct?5l ^t^fsj, ^1 Tt?^, etc. The corresponding Oriya
forms are however like these, ^1 ^t 5 ^ *t*Tl ^^> 1*11
CTf^ etc. As to the ^ forms of \5as we get in f%^ (Sans.) and
ff$ (i2jttF)> w e may notice the Bengali past participle
forms, such as w'tP^t"? f^> C^t^t^ ^Ptt^S, ^Tf'^fa ^Wf, etc.
Special past form. A special form in the past tense
may be noted here. The particle ' ^ ' indicating negation
coalesced with ' rfa ' and gave rise to the form ' sjfa ' (does
not exist) as a single word ; ' 3$$' in our vernacular being
the decayed form of ^fcf is not a simple particle to
signify negation but carries with it the verb ' to be ' in
enclitic form. ' JTf^' is alone sufficient to express ' does not
exist ' and such a Hindi form as ' Crf^ ^ft ' has no place in
Bengali. I have already stated that if to indicate negation
this word ' srf^ ' be joined to the archaic past form, the
full-bodied modern past form will be dispensed with ;
' *f?T =Ttt ' fully signifies ' I did not do.'
The Imperative mood. Before dealing with the future
system, an examination of the Bengali Imperative mood
is necessary. I had occasion to show in a previous
lecture that such -2ftf^ forms to denote the imperative
mood in the 3rd person, as ^-^, ^1-^, *tl-^j, etc., are in
use in Oriya, and the Bengali forms ^W^, ?f^j *tt^, etc.,
are the very old forms with the addition of an otiose ^ j
that the forms in the 2nd person ^3, ?f v Q, ^S, etc.,
are almost universal, in the vernaculars, and that they
come from the Prakrta ^Ri, srfc (as well as^t^f), *Tf? (*Tt 5 0,
etc., need hardly be pointed out. As in the Prakrtas, so
280 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
it is in the modern vernaculars, that the forms of the 1st
person present indicative, signify the imperative mood in the
1st person. One-special characteristic in Bengali is that to
indicate stress or emphasis the particle ' C">\ ' (which is the
same in origin as ' C^t ' or ' ^ ' of Hindi, used almost as an
auxiliary with the Hindi, verbs to indicate futurity) is
used as a post-position after the forms in the imperative
mood as illustrated above.
There is one special form of the imperative mood in
the second person which is formed by the suffix < t-S ' ;
^f^S, jfoBf *(t^S, etc., signify ^^^\ or command in such
a manner that the action indicated by the verbs, is asked
to be done, not immediately consequently the form with
^8 in the imperative mood is akin to future tense. It
is of much importance to note (though it is a very common
fact of phonology) that ^ and VQ are very much inter-
changeable alike in Prakrta and vernacular ; it is certainly
well known that <?fa<Q (contracted in ordinary speech into
C^ttffl) is found at times in old Bengali in the shape of ^f?R
(earlier ^f^). We shall presently see, that it has been quite
organic with us, since dim past, to develop the sound of
^ at the end of the verb stem, when even in a little degree
the idea of futurity is sought to be conveyed. If on
reference to the arguments to be adduced presently, this
phonetic peculiarity be considered to be a genuine pheno-
menon, the ' ^8 ' suffix of the imperative mood may be held
to tender a good explanation of the origin of the future
indicating ^. However, I proceed to consider the whole
question in connection with the origin of our future system ;
I may only note here that in the imperative form discussed
here, the idea conveyed by the Sanskrit suffix ' v*l' is not
present.
As the particle ' ^\ ' which is added to the words in
the imperative form to give a stress, will be dealt with
LECTURE XIV 281
separately, I do not discuss here, such a form as
rather do.
The future system. Some general remarks regarding
the evolution of tenses seem called for, to explain some
phenomena connected with the formation of future tense.
I dj not state a new proposition, when I say that it is
the doing of an act, or the happening of an event, that is
to say, the present tense of a verb that arises first in the
primitive grammar ; it is also but a repetition of the
recognised truth that an action in the past and an expecta-
tion of a thing to happen in the future, were at first
expressed differently, only, by the change of accent, and
not by changing the form of the verb in the present tense.
I have discussed in a previous lecture, what the probable
origin of 'f%,' ' f*f ' and ' ft ' might be ; it may be observed
that the past-forming suffixes ' ff,' ' *T ' and ' "5R ' are formed
by clipping the final '^' sound of the present-indicating
suffixes and thereby shortening the accent to indicate as
it were the faded away past ; this is also how '$,' ' C1 ' and
' -fl ' were reduced to ' vg,' ' ^Tt^ ' and '^.' The present creating
^ff*sf (derived from ^ + f^) and the past creating ' *3{ ' also
disclose the same history. This analysis will help us to
ascertain the character of the future-indicating suffixes.
The fact that the present indefinite which is the real
present to start with, indicates futurity in all languages,
proves that a special gesture or accent was only added to
the present form to signify futurity. Some remnants of
old forms justify us in supposing that the final vowel
sound of the present-indicating suffixes was prominently
intonated to indicate futurity ; I bring up for comparison
the Prakrta present form ' C^t^ ' which is changed into
' C^tt^ 'to indicate future tense merely by the putting of
an accent on the final ' ^ ' sound. As the ' ^ ' sound
to denote futurity, was prominently intonated, the sound
36
282 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
became a special characteristic of the future tense,
and as such stuck to the root or stem of the verb, even
when a special time differentiating suffix (>uf%, 'fffr, etc.)
was introduced.
It thus appears on examining the morphology of the
t'uture-for mine suffixes, that the characteristic ' ^ ' to denote
partly the future tense, became in a manner an inseparable
part of the verbal stem as ^f?r, ^|f^, ^fa, etc., and the present
indefinite form of ^^ as ^5, ^f*T, 3Ttft, etc., were made
suffixes in the place of articulated gestures for signifying
futurity. These newly formed suffixes assumed rather
the character of auxiliary verbs like ^rfff , 'Sfl^, etc., of
Bengali, which are joined to Bengali verbal stems to
amplify the tenses. We notice this faot in the Magadhi
speech, that when the auxiliary portion was dropped, the
simple ^ remained with a special accent attached to it, to
indicate futurity ; at times f^ was introduced to fully
represent the future indicating stress, as may be noticed
in such a form for example as ^tt f^ ; in the subjunctive
mood as well, we meet with ' ^t ( *rfw ) ^fofc,' ' ^ ^ 4
f^/ etc., for ^ ^^. ^ 3l<4 (present forms indicating
Fnture sense), etc. Thus we clearly see, that in some
-STttjiNSS (specially in the Tt^f^t we are concerned with) ^ or
f^ became sufficient to express the idea of futurity. As
it i- not simply ^ but ^3, which is the future-forming
suffix in Bengali, Oriya and Assamese, some scholars give
us ^ from a source which is not connected with the
future denoting form which obtained in the Prakrtas. It
has been formulated by some European scholars, that 3>^T
which forms the participle of the future passive, generated
the complete form t^ as the future-forming suffix. I must
fully admit that this theory explains the matter completely
but as it implies a Ireak of cvutinuily icitli the jiast, I
proceed to examine the claim which has been set up for \3T.
LECTURE XIV 283
The words formed by ^T were adopted in the early
Magadhi speech in such forms as, ^Il^l, S6f*C33l,
*ret?Rl, (TTteral, (Sl^fl or C^tf^l/* etc. We see that
there was no ^ in these forms to begin with. I think
that when the idea of futurity involved in those words
had to be prominently brought out in the new infinitives
with a shade of some difference in meanin t was inserted
or rather grew up in the new form
$^Wi C^t^fl, etc. The forms
and C^t^Tfa are arranged in a regular series or chrono-
logical order to show that C^t^fa which comes directly out
of C^ft^> does not fully express the meaning indicated by
*^fr^I ' ; ' *FW &t^ ' may be nicely translated by ' ft^fa
^fa/ but the full meaning of <2lt^I is not obtained in the
Bengali form and as such in addition to ' tt^Tfa -' we have
borrowd ' t2tt$3J ' from Sanskrit in our modern Bengali, t
has to be translated into Bengali by '?fc1
^l-' This ' ^>3l ' which has given rise to such
infinitive forms as C*ff*Rl, ^f?Rl, etc., in Oriya and C^f^PTt^"
^f?Rt^ etc., in Bengali, may very likely give us ' ^V in
question, but whether such an extraction was made out
of vs^J to form future tense anew by breaking with the past,
is a matter for much consideration. Purposeful coining
of a new suffix to indicate a tense is not a natural pheno-
menon ; that the old idiomatic forms are transmuted
imperceptibly is what should be accepted to be the natural
procedure.
It is difficult to imagine that the suffix which was not
extracted from ^J in the shape of ^ even in the latest
known ^tf^ to signify futurity, was given currency in
* Though '' is attached to the verbal stem in 'lT5^I,' its
original Prakrta form is without it.
t tt^ft ' 5 Ttt, ^f^t3 ^rfag, etc., do not imply the idea
and
284 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
that lost language which gave rise to the dialects (now
languages) in which ^ is now used. How in a far-fetched
way ^ has to be extracted from W to make it a future-
denoting suffix, and how in accepting the theory to be
correct, we have to accept the situation that the idiomatic
use of the past time was wholly ignored in some modern
vernaculars, have been sufficiently discussed. We have
seen, on the other hand, in our analysis of the forms of
verbs in the imperative mood, that such a form as ^^
(do immediately now) was naturally reduced to ^f%^ and
then to <?f^5l or ^>f?PS to denote a command relating to
doing in future ; that this naturally evolved suffix ^Q, easily
transmutable to ^, could be taken up for use as a future-
forming suffix, without violating the idiomatic use of the
past time, is, in my opinion, sufficiently clear.
It is not true, what is generally supposed to be
the case, that most of the Bengali verbs require the help
of the verbs of ' v ' and ' 3> ' origin to
Auxiliary verbs. .
express their action, \\ecaneasily
notice that the verbs in the old Magadhi speech did not
stand in need of any additional support from other verbs
as auxiliaries ; it is equally clear that our genuine Bengali
verbs '*tt3fl/ '5*Yl/ ' C*It^t/ etc., do not require the verbs
of ' *%' or ''$' origin to come to their help in expressing
their own action. When in consequence of Sanskrit
renaissance, our Bengali verbs were looked down upon as
inelegant and vulgar, the Sanskrit verbal nouns were formed
according to the rules of Sanskrit grammar, and a new
method of expression being devised, the verbal nouns were
made to be governed by the verbs of '^ ' or < f ' origin.
^tt^Fsf^, 5f^^, VS$?\ are the natural and genuine Ben-
gali forms, while CtSR ^fafsff , ?fSR ^f^, *f?R ^T 5 ! are
unnatural Sauskritic forms. The influence of the Pandits
became so very much dominating, that some verbs
LECTURE XIV 285
(denoting mental acts generally) were reduced wholly to noun
forms ; '^' to wish, c f&~3' to think, ' ^ ' to worship, etc.,
are not allowed now to be declined as verbs and such forms
as ' tfs* 5 ! ' ' f&f%t^ ' and ' 5 jf*^ ' are regarded as archaic
or obsolete.
The peculiarity of the forms ' (?o CW*\ ' (kill outright),
' Gftft Wt' ' (throw away), ' fp> |\5 ' or ' CTffiift'S ' (join up),
1 'TC^ *F5 ' (get away), C*R^[ U^S (finish up), etc., need be ex-
plained. That ' CV ' *ff3 ' ' *f5,' etc., are mere stress-giving
adjuncts and are not verbs in reality, cannot be easily noticed
on account of the fact that these mere emphasis'indicating
adjuncts take the tense-forming as well as other suffixes.
It may be seen, that when emphasis is not put upon the
verbal phrases of this class, the adjuncts naturally fall off;
compare the sentences '^Ff^ C^FSfV and 'Tfs? (7TC?rf^' in con-
trast with ' <Ft*F5 C^FS CWlf^ ' and ' ^f (TH^T ferff .' It is
amusing to note that the Pandits, considering the emphasis-
indicati.ig adjuncts to be the real verbs, sanskritise some of
these verbal phrases in a highly ridiculous manner ; not
seeing that ' Cf 3f! ' in ' (Tlt^t (7^831,' does not mean ' giving,'
they use the hideous phrase 'C^t 5 !?!^ WK\' for f C?ffi Of^r ;
in their mania to sanskritise Bengali phrases and idioms,
they forget also that the word ' Fffr ' does not signify
simple 'giving ' in Bengali, but that it signifies ' giving
away ' or { making a gift in charity.' The full absurdity
of the situation will be realised, if in the analogy of < C ? Tf^ftt
^31/ the phrases ' CJ?5 C^i 5 *!' and ' ^^ 9 ^5 > be sanskritised
into ' (%5 f^c^^t ^ ' and ' f\l^ *tf^5 ^.'
Some verbs do not usually take suffixes in declen-
sion and exist as decayed forms of old verbs ; when these
verbs are used, additional verbs as auxiliaries are joined
to them ; as usual the added adjuncts are only changed in
conjugation. The verb ' W^S\ ' ' to snatch away is in use, but
independently it cannot take verbal suffixes '<?\
286 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
' etc., are not in use ; the forms in use are ' C*\
ft C^ f^TfV etc.
The infinitives called ' 'SfRtfa^l ' verbs formed by ^
(= Pr. ^ = S. 3 and ^1;, as ^finrt, ffasl, Stf^Sl, etc., are
identical with Prakrta ^fipsr, ^f^TT, 5fS5% etc. ; as their
later contracted forms ^f?T, sffr, ^tf^, etc., are only met
with in Oriya literature, and the fuller early forms cannot
be proved to have existed at any time in Oriya, we may
presume that the forms as contracted on the soil of Bengal
flowed intoOrissa. In addition to the forms ' ^fa/ ' qft/etc.,
we meet with ' ^fo 6 !/ ' <ff?M/ etc., in use in the literature of
Orissa and not in the common speech of the people ; this
exclusively literary | suffix of Oriya, is in existence in
Marathi, but it is not from Marathi that Oriya borrowed
it, since from the earliest known time, the use of this
suffix is noticeable in Oriya literature. We do not exactly
know, who those Marhattas are, who have been named in
the Puranas, along with the wild hordes of the frontier
of Bengal.
The adverbial use of the 'spFTtf^Fl verbs in Eastern
Vernaculars, including Bengali, is interesting. C5tf> (i.e.,
is '5[ J Prff*fa1 verb in such a sentence as ' 'srffsi cfl^
5,' but it is adverb, having the meaning " quickly" in
the sentence " C3Tl 3tt65 cttf> t*\ * ; in some cases, ' ^f?fi1 '
being compounded with some adjectives or nouns, adverbs
are formed, such as, ' ^fa ^ *T?/ ' VS ^C^ ^t^f,' ' ^ ^^
?Ftsf <j>3,' etc. ; ^f?T5l or ^^ referred to here, is identical
with ^TSl winch indicates instrumental case, as in
^fcs ^T^ *& A class of compounds similar in form is in use
in the Burdwan Division, but the compounds of this class
are adjectives and their final component ( ^^ ' conveys the
meaning 'T5 ' or like, as may be noticed in such phrases as
' C3t*fl ^^ C^Tt^,' ' ^t*T^tfT CSOJ^/ etc. It may also be noted
here, that in the idiom of some Eastern Districts, for such
LECTURE XIV 287
a phrase as ' ^ ^\^ ' (as in <Tfa ^tW ^ CTfa f*0 ' 3fa
^3' is used.
It is necessary to point out, that the adverb-forming <n
suffix, as noticeable in 'CSTfcT,' 'ffc?T/ etc., is identical with the
dj which signifies the instrumental case ; as such the forms
' ftC^T,' ' O^tt^V etc., should not be confounded with the con-
tracted forms of 'ttfi^Tl/ ' ^feV etc., which are used as^
adverbs.
Voice. Our Bengali idiom does not admit such an
expression as ' t^l ^Tfal-^frl ' (or tf5t*fl-> O1> ^\^'} W*> ;
only our Pandits at times write such horrid things in
close imitation of sf^l (or iftl or (^5*0 ^fsffR s . It is a
peculiarity with our Magadhi vernaculars that even when
the voice is not active, the finite verbs retain their usual
form; e.(j., ' *ft5 Vtfcl ^ttf , ff^^ tf5\ ^R, t^5 ^1 ^^ '
etc. ; in these cases what is called the <5J*^F nominative
cannot be introduced anywhere in the sentence by putting
ftnrl, ^t?T| or ^|^ after the ^^ nominative. In those
cases where there is a distinct reference to the person doing
an act, the ^j^ ; nominative takes the form of genitive
case, e.g., ^rtSTfr ^S *tflfte'P s & ^t^ . 5Tt'?1 ^3tt5,
etc. It is noticeable in all the above illustrations, that
verbal nouns, ^1, ^r?1, ftfl, ^Tt^1, and s?t^1 have been
made objects of the finite verbs. In the following ex-
amples, <5Tfsrft *Tt^C ^C^, C^stft^ ^t%C^ ^^Hfk*1, etc., ^sft?
and C^tTft are certainly in the instrumental case, but
the verbs are unchanged in their form, and the infinitive
forms *Tf^5, ^>flTfrs, etc., have been used with the finite
verbs. It is also noticeable, that 'STf 5 !^ and C^tTftf of the
above sentences, may be optionally reduced to 'srfsrfr^ and
, indicating perhaps thereby, that the ^ final of
and C^tsft is wholly otiose, and is not a sign of the
accusative case. The following impersonal form <|T>| \t1
(or C*ftTft ) 5Tl = it does not look (or hear) well, shows
288 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
that the causative forms of the verbs to see and to hear,
have been idiomatic in such a case in Bengali ; in Oriya
in such cases we get 3^ and fr*[ for ordinary '3^1 and tfftl
respectively, but they are not causative forms ; in some
ordinary cases too ffff x and ^ occur optionally in Oriya,
e.g., c*rrifa "TO ^k or Wl 4$ ^ (4^1 t*f
.and, *rfo4 C^Wl ftst^ or C*f*{1 ^ *tfk (^ *TN
?fa55). According to special Bengali idiom, such honorific
expressions as '5ri'*t;rfa ^tTl ^t*!l, and ^t^t^ ^Pf-Stf! ^J^, are
very common. As for special peculiarities of Bengali
voice, the above examples will quite do.
Some particles and indeclinaljles. The scope of these
lectures does not allow me to deal with all the parts of
speech and with all primary and secondary suffixes ; it is
not to write a regular grammar, but to trace the history
of our language, that these lectures are intended. I pro-
ceed now to deal with those particles and indeclinables,
which being peculiar to the Bengali language, differentiate
Bengali from the allied Vernaculars, and which have to
disclose to us the interesting history of their origin.
(1) 'Sff^. This peculiarly Bengali interjection is no
longer in use; we get it, for example in the ^f^rftsffl, " ^t^
<5Tf^ <5Tft ! ^ ^51 fo ^ CSn^fr ^ C*fl f " ; in some Eastern
districts however, it survives in the form of <5Tf as an inter-
jection expressing disgust, and is often heard with f| at
the end of it, as *fl^ f^ ?
(2) ^tgll in respectful response to a call, is not much
in use in the sea-board district-; of Orissa, where the Hindi
word fir is much in vogue, but this Bengali form is fully
in use in the Sambalpur tract.
(3) ^f^, 'STfa, <5Tfa-^ and 3 from <5f*ft" we got ^<TS
and this ^RS is <srf^ in Hindi and Oriya and is ^t^t^ in
Bengali; in Hindi the pronunciation is ^T^-^^j but in
Oriya it is pronounced with ' b ' and not with ' v.' We
LECTURE XIV 289
should remember that <5Tfat^ has no connection with
< srf?R'fa, for <5Tfa has a different history. *r| as a variant
of <5f (derived from 5) was once compounded with another
particle ^ to form the compound conjunction ^1, which
is still in use in Oriya ; this <rt^ reduced to the form ^T|?p
is in use in Bengali, but "Sff^ is now generally confounded
with "STf^-S ; ' ^^ ' is a changed form of ^^ or rather
^fc, and its signification is ' and ' as well as ' also.' To
denote ' also,' the particle 1%, a broken part of ^ff or
'Bfft, has been in use in Hindi and Oriya, and never in
Bengali, so far as literary records show. ' <5ffo ' was very
likely pronounced in Bengal, as -oftk, as our phonetic pecu-
liarity warrants us to hold ; and thus perhaps we got 3
which signifies ' even ' as in <5Ttf?f \S ; this ^S is different in
meaning and origin from \8 which signifies ' and* which
comes from "Sf (=5) by virtue of the peculiarity of our
Bengali pronunciation. It is significant, that ^ ( = and) is
also in use in Oriya, though the full ?J?<F5 sound of <5f does
not prevail in Oriya. [For another \S see (5) below.]
(4) ^" a particle, uttered in response to a call ; though
a variant of <f (=yes), it has a different signification;
the corresponding Oriya form is ^sf which is different from
f ( Bengali tl ) as signifies assent.
(5) ^ which is uttered in response to a call as well
as in addressing a man, is in use in Oriya as well.
Vedic ^3 was reduced to <5^ and then to 3tf ; ^C^
is used in Bengali in addressing, following the traditional
meaning, but its decayed form ^9 is generally uttered
in response to a call.
(6) ^f% and ^of%. These two Vedic indeclinables, signi-
fying 'how much' and 'that much ' respectively, are not met
with in Sanskrit. We have added fa (from fr to signify
many steps perhaps) to ^f% and the compound form ^fs^fa
is in use in high-flown Bengali ; ' vgf^ ' being compounded
37
290 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
with *H, once came into use in Bengali as ^f^*! ; this
form is wholly different from v5^>*R (Prakrta as well as
old Bengali) which is derived from v&^pj.
(7) C*t Its use with verbs in the imperative mood has
already been commented upon. Its another use as a
resting ground for thought, like ' m ^ f%' (cf. Sanskrit
and Prakrta, (^{ of singular use) or ^flfft or fosfl, etc., may
be noticed, in such phrases as <5Tfa 3^55^ (further more),
^11 $mi*\ (the thing is), etc.
(8) Ff^ in such a sentence as 5t^f% f^>fa ifif Tt^ *Tfa, is
but the representative of CF?, which was reduced to simple
C5 in Prakrta.
(y) f^ It is curious that some scholars have missed
its real derivation which is from f*^> (fq = f^).
(10) 15 and c*ttfr. The fact that the derivation of the
particle has been a puzzle to many scholars, is partly in
support of its origin from the Dravidian source. A very
definite and distinct root of this particle is found deeply
planted in the Dravidian speech or speeches ; all the
branches of the Dravidian language possess it in one form
or another, and the very form fi> is in the speech of the
Andhras, who once established intimate relation with all
parts of Northern India. This $ of Telegu which corresponds
to other forms in other Dravidian language?, is a charac-
teristic inflectional increment at the end of neuter nouns.
That in our use of \, as definite article in Bengali and
Oriya, we agree with Telegu, will be convincing on
reference to the history of this particle as given in
Cald well's Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian
Languages (vide ibid, p. 264). It seems that to begin
with, J5 used to bn affixed to neuter nouns only, and its
variant 'fig ' was being used with other nouns, for in old
time idiom, we meet with rt-ff[f5, 1t^Mt>, Ttffff5, etc., on
one side and ^f^, f^f%, *ttf^?, etc., on the other side ;
LECTURE XIV 291
we may notice that in Eastern Bengal, such forms as
^l^f^, CTfafe, etc., are still in use. We may compare
with the above forms, the Hindi particle C&1 used with
adjectives and neuter nouns, as in Telegu and so also
the Hindi use of f^ as agreeing with ^f%, f^f%, etc.
I may further remark, that the pseudo-Sanskrit form ^ffi,
of a very late time Sanskrit, points to the extensive use
of the particle in question in past time.
The supposition, that the definite article $ comes from
C^ffl?! ( = entire in Bengali), is doubly faulty. We have
no doubt seen that $ in its form and function as agreeing
with our usage, is in its natural position in the Dravidian
language, but we have to further notice that Cff^l has never
been in use in Hindi, and yet we meet with C^| and f^5 in
that language ; I should note that I exclude purposely
Nepalese from the list, as owing to a special Dravidian
influence the word C^tt^l has gone over to that country to
signify exactly ' one ' as in Oriya. In the next place we
have to take note of the fact that cftfr signifying either
' entire ' or ' one/ comes from the Telegu cardinal
numeral okati ; that okati is not an adaptation of Sanskrit
ifl^, but is connected radically with the original Dravidian
term for ' one,' cannot be discussed here and the students
may refer for it to Caldwell's work as named above. I
only notice that C^tt^l in the form of C^tf^t^ is a suffix in
the speech of our Dravidian neighbours the Oraons.
(11) ^%3 (for the purpose of). It is specially to be
noted that to indicate the meaning ' for the purpose of ' the
particle f^ was in use in the Chhandasa or Vedic language,
and this f^ was not adopted by the Sanskrit language ; it is
well known that we meet with ' ^^ ' in Pali, exactly to
serve the purpose of the Vedic f^, and so we may rightly
presume that this W.3 is a genuine Cf^t particle ; we then
notice that in Sanskrit the corresponding form is "5ft[,
292 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
which is nothing but an amalgamation of the Prakrta 1T3"
and old-time f^.
From ^ of Sanskrit again, came the Prakrta *&
(for that reason), which should not be confounded
with vsf^? and its later form vft; as derived from
^5fTR. From 'sft of tSft^s, there came out another
form 0ft or 0$^ of which Cs became the contracted form.
In my opinion does not come direct from ' C53 ' to
indicate C5{ ^faW. That our old Bengali cfe and
modern \t^ have to be derived from <2tt^5 ^f| of v?ft^
origin, has been already discussed. We have to note that
' ^5C3 ' of old-time <2ftf^5 or Itfa, is itself in use in the
Bengali language.
(12) ?Tl, ft, and C 5 ^ It is well known that the particle
3 of Vedic times (as in^eftt^fg ante, p. 109) has always
been in use in Sanskrit, and ';?' has been its form in the
Prakrtas. I am strongly inclined to hold by differing from
the time-honoured opinion of the grammarians of old days,
that 5J as occurs for instance with ' c ' and ' ^sft? ' in such
Pali sentence as 03R C*f1 *R l^ttW, has the force of f^ and
is the ^ of ^-origin, and not the sign of instrumental
case, for, the regular locative forms are in plenty in
ttf^T. This suggestion of mine, however, has no concern
with what I am going to illustrate. I have no doubt that
our emphasis-indicating 5fl as in iWl (please do come)
is identical with (2ft^5 ' 5? ' of % origin. In Oriya we meet
with the particle both in the shape of ' f{' and 'ft'; the
latter is in literary use (as in c^Tl ft it is done) and the
former is in the mouth of all people, along with ft in
the Sambalpur tract ; jpf ^fs?Tl-^ and fff Tff%*!t-ft are
used alike in common parlance. In some parts of the
District of Jessore, in the Eastern parts of the District of
Nadiya, and in Northern Bengal, C*{ and ft are of general
use as articles of emphasis ; 'srfft *rfrt5? (Eastern parts of
LECTURE XIV 293
Jessore and Nadiya) and (7f qtft fa (Eastern Nadiya and
Northern Bengal) are examples. I think these examples
from various quarters, show, that ^ } C3, fa, and ^ itself,
are identical with <2ft^5 ' ^ ' of ancient % origin.
We have noticed in the 13th Lecture, that 'fa' per-
forming the function of 5? or , was reduced to fa (as
in (?\-fa of i||R3^o^ = modern C 3 ^) ; it is pretty
clear that this fa with the appendage of aforesaid ^
or sfl, appears in Oriya, as fjRl (e.g., <7f fasti ^f$fa*i1 = c*J
N ^t$fl>*0 and in the Eastern Districts of Bengal, as
C*R (e.g., C1 C^^CTflf C'W fCTfi^l). It may be supposed
that fasti or (7R comes from Sanskrit f^s, ; but as f^
in any form does not occur in the <2ftW s > the derivation,
I have suggested, seems to be the right one.
(13) ^, as in C$W ^ ^tW ^tfafa is certainly the
decayed form of ^TJfrs ', it will be very wrong to identify
it. with Sanskrit particle ^ of the series, 5, ^, f , f^.
1 need hardly point out that <5 comes from ^ of the
above series.
(14) *jfif and ?^. I notice qfif, as re-sanskritised from
t2ft^5 and old Bengali ^, for this reason that it has been
mostly in use in Bengali, and the introduction of it in
Oriya has been at a very recent date. In Oriya C^
(Bengali *K3, Hindi *p[) has been always the form in use.
The <2ft3F5 form of Wl as ^t^ has been in use in Bengali
only, in the form of *Tt?> (e.g., (71 *Tt^ ^\, ^ft <5f|fSf c^Tfa)-
(15) 3T This particle which is used as a prefix is of
much interest. Formation of adverbs with this prefix in
strict accordance with the Sanskrit usage, is no doubt in
vague in Bengali, as may be noticed in such expressions
as *Itfrf, T^KR, etc., but it is the non-Sanskritic use of this
prefix, which we have to note here. f T' as opposite of
privative '^ ' in such an expression, for instance as >ff%^J?
(opposite of <5rf^33^) has been in use in Pali as well as in
294 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
other Prakrtas of later days ; it is this use which is now
idiomatic in our Vernacular. Such instances as *ppf|,
*T*tt**t, "PR, etc. (opposite of *t^1, ^It^t, <m, etc.),
are often met with in Bengali ; here the form ?^3[ for
instance may be bad according to Sanskrit Grammar,
but it is not so according to Bengali idiom, as may be
noticed on reference to the following Bengali idiomatic
expressions. f^F is an adjective and it takes the prefix T\,
signifying very much, to express intensity of meaning ;
^ftt^ (very much accurate) does not change its character
and remains an adjective ; ^3Ft^> T&f^s, etc., are similar
expressions. Neither the adjective form JfSjt^t (very wake-
ful) nor the adverb form *TC3ftt^ (with force), should be
referred to any rule of Sanskrit Grammar.
Some Secondary Suffices. I proceed now to notice
a few secondary suffixes of Bengali, as disclose some special
characteristics of our language.
Feminine-forming 8uffi$es. It has to be noted that the
^t^l rules for reducing masculine to feminine were not
always strictly followed in Pali ; the feminine form of
' CFfr ' is C5f?t in Pali, and it will be seen that our modern
rules are fully in harmony and accordance with the spirit
of the Magadhi usages. The suffix ^Tl of the Sanskrit
Grammar, did not come into use in the Prakrta from
which Bengali originates. In the (2ft|^s ^ and sft were
the two suffixes which have been inherited by Bengali ; our
Pandits only at times violate our idiomatic use by import-
ing the Sanskrit suffix <5fl.
It is rather a simple rule in Bengali, that all mascu-
line nouns having ^ or 'srl final, take ^ (occasionally ^ in
feminine), and all other words (i.e., having ^, ^, <4 and ^Q
finals) take ^JJt (at times reduced to ^t^t in euphonic
mutation) to indicate feminine forms; the only important
proviso is, that the words having "^f or <sr| final do also
LECTURE XIV 295
take ^J?t, when they signify a class or a trade-guild. The
examples are :
(1) From words having <5f final. f^^^t (^l^^tlS'O
<Ttft (F^tftT)) ^fft, "ft'st^t, etc. Here we notice two excep-
tions, viz., *Ttf*|ft from 3Tff Osfa<55S) and Ttf^t from <rft,
which is usual in our speech ; in respect of these
two exceptions, I should say, that they are due to euphonic
reasons. In C^fat^ from C^H and spfrt^ from sffiff perhaps
we get the ^ to denote masculine from the ending of
SftTf^ by false analogy. It may also be supposed that the
words were compounded with *ff^> which was reduced first
to *f^ and then to ^.
(2) From words having ^\ final. Tt^t, *|^t, |f '
(from CTO*l1)i ^ft, S^^ft or -^ (from Prakrta
(mas. is not-^J^I but virtually-^! or ^(1),
(really from T|$flfat, which is only reduced to
J ^Tt?f^^t is a pseudo- Bengali form coined by Jatra-
walas to make the word dignified). Like T^ff?rt
is a pseudo- Bengali term, for in our speech the word
(be it from It 5 !*! or ^ft^lfll) is in universal use.
N.B. As the feminine forms of words of ^ final have
the suffix 5r, the masculine words, formed grammatically
from feminine words, with ^ final, have been made words
with <5Tl final ; for example, from srtft and f*ff[ (orig.
and f^l^fJT), we have got ^f>n^1 (CTC^l) and
(f^ftT)- Similarly when from ^jf^ the ^^'"f form (^
was formed, a new regular masculine word was coined
as c^l.
(3) The words signifying class or trade-guild must take
^t (or its variant ^rf^t or ^t), no matter whether the
final is ^ or has <5f or ^ or any other vowel. The
examples are : ^3 ^<jf;ftj ^tf't's Ttf^t or STtf't^t^t,
c*n c^rm^, i^t^t, crr^, TT^ ^f^t
etc. We have also
296 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
to notice, when new words are formed by our villagers they
follow the unwritten law of our grammar aud coin such
femiuines from words denoting occupation as ft^t^t*
^t^t^^t and if^Tst^t-
N.B. When the feminine forms themselves have come
to ns having already been formed in Sanskrit, as a matter
of course, we do not Bengalicize them, even when we
make ^^""f of them ; thus it is, that though the word
3t^1 signifies a class, the ^^"t of gffi^, as ^f^t re-
mains unchanged in Bengali. It may also be said in
respect of this particular example that as 5? happens to be
the final of the word in question, ^ of the suffix ^t is
bound to be dropped for euphonic reasons.
I notice also here the words having 3^1 suffix which
seemingly appear as exceptions ; the words having been
borrowed from Hindi, the Hindi forms are used in femi-
nine, and the suffix ^t appropriate to trade-signifying
class, is not used.
I make this general statement that all masculine
forms as do not come under (1) and (2) above take ^t for
feminine forming suffix. What I have stited in com-
menting on ^tffHRt and ^tfflf^ft may be said in respect of
the following words ; some words which are never used in
Bengali as sff^Sf, ?W, etc., present the forms iFsfa^t, ^fsf^t,
etc. ; we clearly see that these forms could never be coined
in a natural way in Bengali, and certainly our Jatrawalas
coined them to make a show of pedantry. Our genuine
Bengali words conform to the rules I have enunciated.
Suffix <5r| of various significations. The diminutive-
forming -sd is rather universal in Northern India, aud as
such special examples need not be cited in using such a
form as ^fo*fl (^t<j), for ^fa to signify non-honorifix ad-
dress ; we agree with other Indian Vernaculars, but we may
LECTURE XIV 297
note that to signify affection, we use the suffix ^ where
euphonic combination becomes possible ; ^t$, S3 5 , ^fij, etc.,
are examples. It is supposed that the ^ suffix mentioned
above is virtually the contracted form of ^ "5T| which is a
variant of $ 'sfl or rather the euphonic mutation of ^\. For
examples of "Sfl as signifying diminutive, and as not
connected with or derived from the final <F which is
diminutive-indicating in Sanskrit, I may just mention
two words namely Tt'fi (temporary lodging or nest) from
^t 5 !, and ^31 (a little hole, say, a button -hole) from ^.
That 9J$5\ for 5l (*-.'/< TO ^V* ^ *F1) from ^^
is entirely different from either q%\ or ^f^fl, is clear and so
we may hold that there is a pure and independent 'sfl
which signifies diminutive.
The adjective-forming W\ is generally considered to be
a combination of ^ and 'srl ; this appears doubtful to me,
on reference to the signification of the following forms,
vV., (1) *<WJ = liable to break easily (from f5 to fall
+*1), (2) mvl = liarht (^=if=?g+^1 ), (3) ifc*\,
that which causes a *f$ or doubt in the mind (here old
agency-signifying ^ in the form of ^| may be the suffix)
(4) ^?T$i as in ^<?1 ^ (which is slightly ^ft 5 or rather
trfr$&5 or boiled).
As to the adjective-forming ^1, derived from past-
partici pie-form ing T g? = \5 = p 5f. remarks have already been
made in a previous lecture.
The adjective-forming t?1 as in ^rctfTOl or ^^CTPT
has no connection with general ^ suffix ; it is Sanskrit ^
(as in sfft?) which is our adjective-forming 3l ; this H,
we clearly see, indicates relation.
I have omitted to take notice of the Sanskrit suffixes
and forms in use in Bengali, as no special remarks re-
garding them may be considered needed in these lectures,
though it is interesting to know when and under
:>98 BENGALI AND ALLIED VERNACULARS
what circumstances Sanskrit language \va.s made to
contribute to the stock of our language. 1 should
not omit to mention, however, that a real necessity
impelled our writers to import Sanskrit words and
Sanskritic forms. It has already been mentioned that
as our proud ancestors did not care to express their high
thoughts in the vernaculars of the people, the living
speeches dragged on a miserable existence. We needed
suitable expressions and new serviceable suffixes to express
ourselves properlv. Sonorous Sanskrit words were also
laid under contribution, to maintain an elegance of stvle.
I may remind you that classical words and old flexiors are
for the very reason employed iu modern European lan-
guages to give vent to ;esthetic ideas in an effective manner.
Some tine sentiments and associations may only be best
expressed, if, as in English, classical forms are resorted to.
The remarks of the English philologists, that while the
old forms are useful and effective in an elegant composi-
tion to express a-sthotic ideas, the modern simple forms
are very much necessary to make very accurate and lucid
statements of facts, are wholly applicable to Bengali. I
mention these facts, not so much to justify the procedure
in question, as to show how changes are effected and have
been effected.
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