FEBRUARY 2019 Paper to Be Read
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AN ORDINARY MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY, 4TH FEBRUARY, 2019 AT 5.00 P.M. IN THE VIDYASAGAR HALL OF THE SOCIETY MEMBERS ARE REQUESTED TO BE PRESENT Agenda 1. Confirmation of the Minutes of the Extra Ordinary General Meeting held on 7th January, 2019 at 4 p.m. and Ordinary Monthly General Meeting held on 7th January, 2019 at 5 p.m. 2. Exhibitions of presents made to the Society in January, 2019. 3. Notice of Intended Motion, if any, under Regulation 49(d). 4. Matters of current business and routine matters for disposal under Regulation 49(f). 5. Consideration of Reports and Communications from the Council as per Regulation 49(g). 6. The following paper will be read: "Brajabuli – a language of multiple origin used for devotional democracy" by Professor Mahidas Bhattacharya. (S B Chakrabarti) General Secretary The Asiatic Society 1, Park Street Kolkata 700016 Dated the 22nd day of January 2019 1 MONTHLY BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2019 Paper to be Read Brajabuli – a language of multiple origin used for devotional democracy Mahidas Bhattacharya* ‘Brajabuli’, a type of Lingua Literária used was in 1500 BC. Within the course of progress, only in specific type of short lyrical poems i.e. their spoken form took different turns through Vaishnava Padabali in the History of Bengali the interaction with the Non-Aryan tradition Language, in the temporal axis in a vast geographical has occupied region especially towards east, south and an important middle regions. Like other living languages place in the as part of the inherent character the same Eastern spoken version invites the changes in forms Part of the and substance diachronically. Obviously a Country. The space was emerged for the creation of a new emergence of linguistic scenario and we have the different such literary linguistic forms within the period from Old language Indo Aryan to New Indo Aryan in the northern seems to the part of the country. Besides another socio- linguistic political situation, flourished simultaneously community throughout the whole pre-democratic era is a unique for the creation of mixed linguistic situation one but not outside the main flow of the OIA to NIA. The an isolated literary heritage of Pali, Bauddha Gatha etc is phenomenon. the result of it. Again the patronization by the Similar type royal supremacy behind any specific linguistic of linguistic form whether mixed or the form of normal development courses of language change has made further can also be the people’s language to have another way to traced in some other literary contexts. express the emotion for religious devotion. We know as it today our rich literary Brajabuli, in the eastern geographical region history having several socio-political, religious is the result of it. and linguistic developments since the early The history of Bengali Literature in the literary period. Out of the four major linguistic Middle Bengali period i.e. between 14th to groups arrived from outside, the Indo Aryan 19th century, is enriched with different types speakers initiated for their own rich linguistic of literary form like Kavyas, Lyrical poems, heritage via oral tradition by placing and Natha sahitya, Translated literature etc, the inaugurating Rig Veda as a milestone. This language of which is closer to the people’s voice. This era was adorned by the birth of * Former Professor, Jadavpur University and Life Member, Shri Chaitanya which was an epoch making The Asiatic Society 2 MONTHLY BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2019 Paper to be Read incident. The whole situation resulted in meter, into a kind of bastard language neither creation of thousands of lyrical poems for Bengali nor Maithili.” the Vaishnava Literature. It was around the Professor Chatterji has noted the matter beginning of 16th Century. The Islamic rule and wrote - “They spread into Bengal, and were was unstable; the patronization of Brahminic admired and imitated by Bengali poets from Indo-Aryan practices disappeared. Most of the 16th century downwards, and the attempt the scholar of this group shifted towards of the people of Bengal to preserve the Maithili Tirhut in Mithila, ruled under a Hindu king. language, without studying it properly, led to In this socio-political space Vaishnava cult the development of a curious poetic jargon, a flourished like a way of survival or cultivation mixed Maithili and Bengali with a few Western of democratic devotion of common people under Hindi forms, which was widely used in Bengal the influence of Shri Chaitanya. Padabalis i.e. in composing on poems Radha and Krishna." thousands of lyrical creation were composed by (ODBL). Not much of other details on the hundreds of poets based on his ideology having structure of this particular literary form were two different medium of expressions. One is explored by him. On the same literary form, closed to the language of the people but other Dinesh Chandra Sen, sounded different, “The one is ‘Brajabuli’, a type of artificial one. choice of Prakrit words to be found in old Therefore Brajabuli emerged as a medium of Bengali together with some of the soft sounding literary expression or the vehicle of Vaishnava Maithili words are combined in Brajabuli in an thought. The origin of Brajabuli could not artistic manner. And the curious medley had be defined for a quite long time. Initially we been made singularly sweet and pleasing to were not classifying the status of the language the ear by the Vaisnava padas.” of these lyrical poems. In 1873 John Beam This was further explored vividly by the described that in the Indian antiquity; the Professor Sukumar Sen. He took a serious earliest Brajabuli poet is revealed in the note on the issue. We have received his detail poem of Vidyapati. The constituent elements observation on the issue in his The History of this linguistic form show its affinity with of Brajabuli Literature. According to him, the ‘Extremely Eastern Hindi’ and Old “Brajabuli is a Mischprache. Maithili is the Maithili than Bengali. In 1875, Rajakrishna basic part while Bengali with oddments of Mukhopadhyay showed the inaccuracy of his Hindi and Brajabhakha, forms the super opinion, which Beams modified further in the structure, Brajabuli is really a dialect– only it same year. In 1881 George Grierson collected is literary– of Bengali and in the sense that it the songs from Mithila and published in his had originated and developed in Bengal and An Introduction to the Maithili Dialect of the had been cultivated exclusively by the Bengali Bihari Language as Spoken in North Bihar poets.” containing a grammar, chrestomathy and a After having the description of the historical vocabulary (Vol.-II). According to Grierson, development of Maithili in Formation of “To a Bengali, Bidyapati wrote in a different Maithili by Dr. Subhadra Kumar Jha, it and strange, though cognate language, and his can be clearly noted that the language of words were hard to understand by the people”. Vidyapati flourished in Mithila with the poetic So, first a “few of his hymns were twisted and excellence of nightingale of Mithila where the contorted, lengthened out and curtailed, in the early Maithili, and Avahaththa elements are Procrustean bed of the Bengali language and available in the composition of erotic love. 3 MONTHLY BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2019 Paper to be Read The linguistic descriptions of different levels this hundreds of Vaishnava poets including of this unique literary form support this Sankardeva, Madhava Deba etc in Assam, observation. There is history of the arrival Yasoraj Khan (1463-1528), Jnandas (16th), of these poems in Bengal. The students from Balaramdas (16th), Govindadas (16th-17th), Bengal, who went to Mithila for their education Rayasekhar (17th), Kaviranjan (17th), Ray on Nyaya, for which Mithila was then famous, Basanta (17th), Radhamohan Chakravartti brought with them these erotic poems and (18th), Narahari Chakravartti(18th), Nilkantha the linguistic forms. But the content of these (19th), Nilambar (19th), Kamalakanta (19th) lyrical poems were interpreted differently by etc and Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal and Chaitanya. He considered these erotic poems several poets in Odisha adopted this medium of as the expression of unconditional devotion literature for their cultivation of Vaishnavism. to the god like a woman to her beloved. By Whatever may be this linguistic trend it pursuing this view, his followers composed was true that this literary form received as several thousands of songs using the same an illocutionary force from a specific group of linguistic pattern incorporating unconsciously people who were attempting to exercise their the ingredients of language of the people. path for the devotional democracy only. Brajabuli flourished. In the post Chaitanya period, his followers also attempted to devote Bibliography unconditionally to him as well as the Lord Krishna. All these were recorded in the A Beams, J., 1966, A comparative Grammar of the History of Brajabuli Literature. Professor Modern Aryan languages of India, Reprinted Sen’s statement is enough to state the status in one Volume, Delhi. Chatterji, S.K., 1979, The Origin and Development of this language in the IA axis. According to of the Bengali Language, Calcutta University, him though Brajabuli emerged in a particular Reprinted Rupa & Co (3 vols.). period of IA speeches, it did not flourish in –1974, B_„g_l_ Bh_%_ Tatvera Bh@mik_, the current of the evolution or development of Calcutta University. OIA to NIA because of the lack of its speaking Mohanti, B :1983, O]iy_ Bh_%_r Utpatti O competence. He wrote “Brajabuli is not the Kramavik_$a: (4th Edition) Cuttack. dialect of any NIA language.” Mukhopadhyaya, H., 1980, Vai%ƒava Pad_bal#, Whatever may be the position in NIA S_hitya Sa>sad. arena the immense impact this language Neoga, M., 1986, Asam#y_ S_hityer R@parekh_; Dibrugar & Gauhati.