Friends of Bengali language

ChinmayPrasun Biswas :

21st February is a day of emotion for the Bengalees of Bangladesh. Even after more than seventy years of Language Movement flow of that emotion still continues but today’s Bengali language has not reached this stage overnight.

Martyrs of 1952 had to sacrifice their lives to glorify Bengali as a state language of Pakistan.

Philologically, far ahead of Language Movement, Bengali to cross over a long and friendless way to arrive at a regular shape.

Tireless toil of some friends (apanjan is the proper word) of Bengali brought Bengali to the stage of effective speaking and writing.

Authors of the Charyapads in the middle ages, Raja Rammohon Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the modern age are the true stalwarts of Bengali language.

Normally, composers of the Charyapads come first in this row of apanjans of Bengali language. Haraprasad Shastri discovered the Charyapads in 1907 from the Royal Library of Nepal.

Published in 1916 under the title A Thousand Years of Ancient Bengali Buddhist Songs, Dohasit is believed as the oldest surviving evidence of Bengali language and literature.

It marked the beginning of the early era of Bengali literature but there is dispute about its language. Its composers were Buddhist Siddhacharyas, not Bentgalees.

Although they were well-versed in Sanskrit, they composed Charyapads in the then immature Bengali but there is controversy over this claim.

There has been a long debate and research on the language, period of composition, author and geographical location of Charyapad.

Away from the Bengalees, Assamese, Bhospuri, Maithili and Oriya scholars claim it as the original form of their own languages.

Moreover, there is disagreement regarding the period of composition of the Charyapads.

According to Haraprasad Shastri the periods are 8th – 12th centuries while Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah places it in the 8th century and Sunitikumar Chatterjee marks it in the 10th – 12th centuries. Language of the Charyapads is also disputed.

Haraprasad Shastri has termed it as Sandhyabhasha or Sandhya (light-dark) which is basically a mysterious language of Tantric Buddhism, not understandable to common people.

Even names of the composers of Charyapad are not similar to Bengalee names.

There is also debate about the birthplace of composers of the Charyapads whether they were from Bengal or some other regions like Magadh, Assam or Mithila. Its initial title was Charyacharyavinishchay but later on it is known as Charyapad.

Many scholars recognise it as the earliest instance of Bengali language and literature.

Yet, it is to be accepted that it originated from a type of ancient East Indian corruption or mixed language.

So, the composers of Charyapad can’t be acknowledged as apanjan of Bengali language.

In modern age Raja Rammohan Roy, Inswarchandra Vidyasagar, Bankimchandra Chatterjee, and Rabindranath Tagore are remembered as the friends of Bengali language.

But ahead of them there was another person who is not much mentioned in this context. He was not a Bengalee, nor an Indian, not even an Asian.

He is William Carey (1761-1834) who can be undoubtedly respected as the first nearest friend of Bengali language.

He dedicated himself to pave the way of Bengali prose, just like preparing a road through a dense forest.

We should not feel embarrassed to acknowledge that the Europeans voluntarily took the responsibility of teaching the language of Bengali prose.

At that time (19th century), Bengali scholars were not concerned with Bengali language. Mrityunjay Vidyalankar believed that Sanskrit texts could not be translated into Bengali as Bengali lacked that ability.

Hindu scholars had endless pride in Sanskrit and they never felt the urge to write a book for Bengalees to learn their own language. Yet, despite being a foreigner, Carey was very optimistic about Bengali language.

According to him, Bengali was one of the most expressive and elegant languages of the East. He wrote that the practice of this language was being neglected due to the misconception that its scope was very limited.

William Carey, taking responsibility for Bengali and Sanskrit departments at Fort William College, realised the lack of Bengali prose books.

Under his supervision RamramBasu wrote Pratapaditya Charitra which Carey called the first original book written in Bengali prose. Carey himself wrote little but inspired by him twelve Bengali books were written between 1801 and 1815.

As a professor of Bengali at Fort William College he faced some main problems like lack of Bengali textbooks, absence of prose style suitable for writing textbooks, lack of attachment among the Bengalee scholars towards their mother tongue and extreme disdain of the college authority and other European professors towards Bengali.

Carey alone struggled against other professors and the college council who were against the Bengali language and Bengali department at Fort William College.

He boldly thwarted their conspiracy to merge Bengali department with Hindustani and saved the existence of Bengali department.Carey liked Bengali language not just for its sweetness but because it was the most suitable medium to come closer to the Bengalees.

Yet, Carey’s affinity for Bengali was not simply a matter of necessity. He fought for Bengali language for twenty-five continuous years. Without deep compassion it was never possible.

Grammar is the backbone of any language particularly for writing. The first Bengali grammar was composed in 1778 by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, a British Orientalist and philologist but due to some problems it lost efficacy.

It was not Halhed’s inability but the deplorable condition and lack of well-structured form of Bengali language.

In 1805, William Carey regularized Halhed’s syntax of Bengali sentence construction and unorganised Bengali language reached a particular shape.However, first complete and independent Bengali grammar written by a Bengalee was Raja Rammohan Roy’s Gaudiya Grammar.

He composed it in 1830 at the request of the Calcutta School-Book Society which was published in book form in 1833.

Dictionary is another important part of any language. William Carey first composed a Bengali dictionary named A Dictionary of the Bengali Language, a massive work containing more than 80,000 words with origin and meaning. Its first volume was published in 1825 with subsequent expanded editions during 1827–1830.He also compiled a Bengali-English dictionary.

He modernised the font of Bengali alphabet and established a printing press at Srirampur Mission Press which paved the way of publishing Bengali books.

His Kathopakathan (Dialigues) is the language of common people and Itihasmalamark the oldest examples of Bengali prose. As evident from history, ahead of Bengalees the Europeans were the initial friends (apanjans) of Bengali language and Bengalees have driven Bengali forward.

(The writer is a former Commissioner of Taxes)