Bengali language is the mother tongue of the people of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Both West Bengal and Bangladesh share a similar cultural heritage and a common history (until 1947). The area that is now Bangladesh is the eastern part of Bengal, and the western part is the Indian state of West Bengal. The East and West Bengal used to form a common province since the medieval times (13th-14th century). Sometimes the area got fragmented under different rulers under local ruling dynasties. The area got consolidated under the Mughals who used to keep their provincial Governors located in Chittgong (now in Bangladesh).
Later on, during the times of British, the Calcutta city was founded (1691). It gradually became the capital of the British Colony of India, with Viceroy residing at Calcutta. However political compulsions led to division of Bengal on religious lines by the British (also called the ‘policy of divide and rule’), whereby in 1906, Bengal was divided into western and eastern part - the western part being predominantly Hindu area, while the eastern part being predominantly Muslim area. The capital of western part was Calcutta, and the capital of eastern part was Dacca (the current Dhaka). Later on due to Nationalist resistance to such division on religious lines, the division was rescinded in 1911. Along with that this, the British Capital in India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912. When India gained independence in 1947, the country was partitioned into the two nations of India and Pakistan.
The eastern part of Bengal went along with Pakistan, and was from 1947 to 1971 known as ‘East Pakistan’. During the period of 1947 to 1971, East Pakistan was continuously neglected by its western half. It became clear that religion by itself could not become a sustainable ground of nationality. Gradually nationalism raised its head in Eastern Pakistan. The process intensified during late 1960s for separate statehood. It became free as independent state of Bangladesh in 1971. Now-a-days for identification purpose, the West Bengal people describe themselves as ‘Bengali’, while those belonging to Bangladesh describe themselves as ‘Bangladeshi’.
However, for the purposes of language, there is no difference - except that some purists would tend to influence the Bengali language with Sanskritised words or Urdu words depending on which side of border they belong. In this context it is interesting to note that both India and Bangladesh has taken verses written by Rabindranath Tagore as their national anthem. Also, Nazrul Islam, the person considered the national poet of Bangladesh was born and brought up in Churulia, which is still a very small village in Burdawan district in West Bengal.
About the Language
This is divided into two sub-periods: Early Middle Bengali (1350-1500 AD) and Late Middle Bengali (1500-1800 AD). ‘Sri Krishna Kirtan’ written by Chandidas represents the Bengali language of the early middle period. It is a long treatise on Radha and Krishna. It is a dramatic poem and is meant for singing. This book was written before the times of Chaitanya. The influence of Vaishnavism as a liberal trend of religious current during the medieval times was mostly related to mystic love and equality and brotherhood. This Vaishnava influence was also visible in development of the Bengali language. Various Vaishnava Padavalis (verses) were written. These started much before the time of Chaitanya and continued much after him.
Emergence of Chaitanya (b. 1486, Nabadwip) had a deep influence on the social, political and literary history. During his time the tradition of writing biography started in Bengali language eg. Chaitanyamangal of Brindabandas and Chaitanyacharitamrita of Krishnadas Kobiraj.
The Bengali language of Later Middle Period is represented by ‘Mangal Kavya’. They eulogise powers of non-Aryan Gods - ‘Manasa’, ‘Chandi’ and ‘Dharma’.
It was during this time that Krittivas Ojha translated Ramayana and Kasiramdasa translated Mahabharata into Bengali.
The Medieval Bengali was generally religious in content and written in verse.
Modern Bengali (1800 AD onwards)
This period witnessed the development of Bengali language as we speak it today. The pioneers who systematised Bengali language in the 19th century were Raja Rammohun Roy and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. Vidyasagar developed the ‘Sadhu Bangla’. This is reflected in the book ‘Barna-Parichaya’ that was written by him and is still used to teach the language in the primary school. This ‘Sadhu-Bangla’ is in contrast to the ‘Chalit Bangla’. The technical difference between the two forms is - in the ‘Sadhu-Bangla’ we find an abundance of ‘Tatsama’ words, while in the ‘Chalit Bangla’ we find abundance of ‘Tadbhava’ words.
Modern Bengali gradually developed through the writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Sharatchandra Chatterjee, Rabindranath Tagore and others. Michael Madhusudan Dutt introduced blank-verse in Bengali. Important poets include Biharilal and in post Rabindranath period, Jibanananda Das, Sukanta Bhattacharya. Important dramatists of 19th century were Dinabandhu Mitra, Girish Chandra Ghosh, Amritlal Basu, Dwijendralal Roy etc
Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam played important part in motivating people to fight against imperialism through their songs.
Bengali language progressed in the 20th century. Notable novelists of 20th century are Tarashankar Banerji, Bibhutibhushan Banerji, Achintya Kumar Sengupta, Premendra Mitra, Buddhdeb Basu, Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay (Banaphool), Manik Bandopadhyay, Samresh Basu, Bimal Kar, Bimal Mitra, Sankar, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay etc.
References available upon request.
INDIA Citizen