Sauhrdyamaligalam Sauhrdyamangalam Studies in Honour of Siegfried Lienhard on his 70th Birthday

Edited by

Mirja Juntunen, William L. Smith, Carl Suneson

The Association of Oriental Studies Stockholm Siegfried Lienhard Printed with financial support from Konung Gustav VI Adolfs Fondför Svensk Kultur Kungl Patriotiska Sällskapet Contents Längmanska Kultuifonden

Published by the Association of Oriental Studies, Stockholm Editors' Preface 1

MATS LINDBERG Llnahrt 3

NALINI BALBIR Formes et usages de la concatenation en prakrit 5

HEINZ BECHERT Zur Kontroverse um die Aoristformen im Päli 27

ERNEST BENDER Na(aräja Viparyasta 37

PER-ARNE BERGLIE Tue Brahman Who Tapped on the Skulls of the Dead 41

GIULIANO BOCCALI Tendencies in the Origins of Classical Kävya 55 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA OSCARBOTTO LIBRARIES Corpus Juris Sanscriticum: Stato dei Lavori 69

© the authors COLETTE CAILLAT Photograph of Siegfried Lienhard: Mia Äkermark Le vrai brahmane, etre "inoffensif', mähm:ze avlhannü, Printed by Graphie Systems, Stockholm 1995 Süyaga

ERIK afEDHOLM Dhätuprasäda 91 INGEMAR GRANDIN CARL SUNESON Modernization and Revival in a Newar Tradition: The Songs of On the Term vämalokäyatika Pound in Two Central Asian MSS of the Ram Krishna Duwal 117 SaddharmapuJJtfarfkasiitra and its Chinese Interpretation 343

MINORUHARA ALBRECHT WEZLER A Note on the Whiteness of Laughter 141 Erotische Vexierbilder. Oder: Mit welchen 'Types of Ambiguity' muß man im Kävya rechnen? 361 J.W. deJONG Asita et Naradatta 161 AKIRA YUY AMA Classifying Indic Loanwords in J apanese 381 POLKE JOSEPHSON Zara8ustra' s Authority 17 5 Siegfried Lienhard: Curriculum vitce 395

BERNHARD KÖLVER The Publications of Siegfried Lienhard: Poems within Poems: SikhariJJfS in Amaru 189 A Bibliography Compiled by Mirja Juntunen 398

WALTERH. MAURER Foreshadowings of Transmigration in the f!.gveda 207

ROQUE MESQUITA Der Apavarga-Begriff bei Sridhara. Eine vedäntische Erlösungslehre? 215

GERHARD OBERHAMMER Bemerkungen zur Transzendenz des Brahma bei Sailkara 259

CLAUSOETKE Buddhadeva' s Views on Present, Past and Future 267

OLE HOLTEN PIND Päli and the Päli Grammarians: Tue Methodology ofthe Päli Grammarians 281

IRMA PIOVANO A propos of Some Minor Texts on Social and Religions Law 299

R.K.SHARMA Primary Derivatives with Tempora! Connotations 305

W.L.SMITH , Vrajävali and Maithili 311 R.K. Sharma the philosophical concept of time. That is why he spells out time (kala) also in the long !ist of items which are not tobe grammatically described (asisya) cf. 1.2.53-57 (tad asieyam. - kiilopasarjane ca tulyam).

15. He suggests general directions of the present, the past of today and W.L. SMITH yesterdays (adyatana and anadyatana) visible and invisible (aparokea and Stockholm parokea) and so the future of today and tomorrows (adyatana and an­ adyatana). But he is perhaps more specific about the central syntactical relationships (kiirakas) involved in the primary derivative formations. Brajabuli, Vrajävali and Maithili

Bibliography . The literary idiom variably known as Brajabuli, Brajboli and Vrajävall Nyäsa-padamaiijarf-sahitä Käsikävrttilj, ed. by Shree Narayan Mishra, 6 vols., Varanasi (among other spellings) was füst described by Sir George Grierson in his 1985. Jntroduction to the Maithill Language of North Bihär in the following unflattering terms: "(the Maithili poet Vidyäpati)", he writes" was the first Pataiijali's Vyäkara~a Mahäbhä~yam with Pradipa, Uddyota, Sabdakaustubha (on [ ... ] of the singers who [ ... ] wrote in the language of the people; and his Ähnikas V-IX only) and Räjalakshmi commentary ( on Navähnikas only ), by Guru Prasad (songs) soon became exceedingly popular. They became great favorites of Shastri, Varanasi 1938. [ ... ] the Vaishl).ava reformer [ ... ] Chaitanya, and through him, songs proporting to be by Vidyäpati have become as weil known in Bangäli The A~(ädhyäyf of Pä~ini, ed and tr. by Sri§a Chandra Vasu, 2 vols., repr. Delhi 1988. households as the Bible is in an English one. And now a curious circumstance arose, - unparalleled I believe in the history of literature (my italics). To a The Siddhänta Kaumudi of Bha{!ojidik~ita, ed. and tr. by Srlsa Chandra Vasu, 2 vols., Bangäli, Vidyäpati wrote in a difficult and strange, though cognate language, repr., Delhi 1982. and his words were hard 'to be understanded of the people': so at first a few of his hynms were twisted and contorted, !engthened out and curtailed, R.K. Shanna, Pä(lini on linguistic description, JAOS 109.4 (1989), pp. 635-637. in the procrustean bed of the Bangäli language and meter, into a kind of bastard language neither Bangäli nor Maithilf (II p. 34)". lt is this "bastard language" which is now generally known as Brajabuli. Around forty years later Suniti Kumar Chatterji expresses a sirni!ar opinion in his Origin and Development of Bengali; Vidyäpati' s poems, he writes, "exerted an enormous influence on Vai~l).ava poets in " [ ... ] "(his poems) were admired and imitated by Bengali poets from the 16th century downwards, and the attempts of the people of Bengal to preserve the Maithill language, without studying it properly, led to the development of a curious poetic jargon, a mixed Maithilf and Bengali with a few Western Hindi forms (my italics), which was widely used in Bengal in composing poems on Rädhä and Kr~IJ.a. This mixed dialect came to be called 'brajabuli', or the speech of Vraja, from the fact that the poems composed in it described Kr~IJ.a' s early life and his love with Rädhä which had for its scene the Vraja

310 311 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili district, round about Brindävan, near Mathurä. This 'Braja-buli' is of course 1504 and 1532. lt was introduced to by Sailkaradeva (1449-before entirely different from the Western Hindi dialect, called 'Braj-bhäkhä'; 1559) founder of the Vai~l).ava sect officially known as Eka-forai:za-niima­ which is current round Mathurä (I p.103)". Not long afterwards the literature dharma, "The Religion of the Sole Refuge of the Name". Sailkaradeva of this "curious poetic jargon" became the subject of Sukumar Sen's A wrote both lyrics and plays in Brajabuli or Vrajävali, the designation Assamese History of Brajabuli Literature, perhaps the most quoted authority on the scholars prefer in order to distinguish it from its Bengali counterpart; in subject. "Brajabuli'', Sen writes in the first sentence of this work, "is a accordance with this usage the Assamese variant of Brajabuli will henceforth Mischsprache. Maithili is the basic part, while Bengali, with oddments of be referred to as Vrajäva!I in this paper. Dates given for Sailkaradeva' s Hindi and Brajbhäkhä, form the superstructure. Brajabuli is really a dialect earliest Vrajäva!I composition vary. Thirty-four of his lyrics, known as - only it is literary - of Bengali, and in the sense that it had originated and Bargfts; "Great Songs", have survived and six one-act plays, called ahkfya developed in Bengal and had been cultivated exclusively by Bengali poets. niita. As were performed in Vai~l).ava monasteries or sattras during Another form of Brajabuli almost indistinguishable from that of Bengal, investiture ceremonies, a !arge number of additional Vrajäva!I plays came originated in Assam at about the same time. But there the growth of Brajabuli tobe written during ensuing centuries. was extremely restricted, and as the Assamese speech is just a member of In Vrajavalf Bhii9iir Vyiikarai:z iiru Abhidhiin4 by Näräyal). Candra the [same] group od dialects [it] does not require any special treatment. Goswämi, abbot of a sattra in Mäjuli Assam, a work in the Indian linguistic [ ... ] What we have just said about the Assamese Brajabuli is applicable tradition, the abbot notes that scholars have not yet come to a conclusion as mutatis mutandis to the Brajabuli of Orissa [ ... ]Assamese Brajabuli seems to what kind of language Vrajävali is; some, he notes, say it is an Kunstsprache to have developed independently through direct connexion with Mithilä". (krtrim upabhiieii), others see it as a Mischsprache (mifra bhiieii) while a These off band and rather puzzeling remarks are all that Sen has to say on third opinion holds that it is an independent language (svatantra bhiieii). lt the linguistic nature of Brajabuli and all that he has to say on the voluminous is not difficult to understand such differences of opinion. Maithili, Assamese Brajabuli literature of Assam as well. 1 and Bengali all belong to the eastern branch of the lndo-Aryan language The first Bengali to write a Brajabuli lyric was a poet titled Yaforaj family and their medieval literary representatives possessed a considerable Khän, who mentions king Husain Shah, ruler of Bengal between 1493 and number of syntactic features in common. None of the three literary languages 1519, hence he must have written this first Brajabuli lyrics around the were standardized and all exhibited a !arge range of variant forms, and 2 beginning of the l 6th century • The great popularity of this idiom in these are not always registered in the available reference works. Tue Standard Bengal is, however, primarily due to the fact, as Grierson and Chatterji study of Maithili, Subhadra Jha's The Formation of the Maithilf Language 5 point out, that Caitanya (1486-1533), the founder of the Gauqiya Vai~Q.ava (FML ), does not record all the forms found in EM (and, it can be added, sect, was very fond of Vidyäpati's Kr~Q.a songs in Maithili. These were !acks an index), while Grierson's An Introduction to the Maithilf Language expropriated by the Bengali sect and were given a major role in its liturgy of North Bihar (IML) is based on Vidyäpati's poems collected from oral 3 after 1582 • This greatly encouraged the production of new songs which sources, and hence describes a later stage of the language. Similarly all the were written both in Middle Bengali and, in imitation of Vidyäpati, forrns occuring in OA and MB are not recorded in the standard studies of "Brajabuli". An eighteenth century anthology, the Padakalpataru, contains these two languages, Suniti Kumar Chatterji' s The Origin and Development over 3,100 lyrics. of the ( ODBL) and Banikanta Kakati' s Assamese, its The first Brajabuli poem written in Orissa was by one Rämänanda Räya, Formation and Development (AFD). Another complication is that the the political agent of the Orissan ruler Pratäpa Rudra, who reigned between available texts are of varying reliability. There is, for examp!e, no satisfactory edition of Vidyäpati. Few of the manuscripts are very old and a minority of 1 Sukumar Sen, A History of Brajabuli Literature, Calcutta University, 1935, p. 1. 2 Jbid. p. 23. 4 Layärch Buk Hai, Guvähä\i 1990. 3 D. Zbavitel, Bengali Literature, A History of Indian Literature, vol. IX, fase. 3, 5 For details on this and the following works see the bibliography where a !ist of the Wiesbaden 1976, p. 177. abbreviations used can be found.

312 313 Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili W.L. Smith those which have have been printed are critically edited. Number Here a comparison will be made between Assamese Vrajävali, Bengali Number is optionally expressed with saba*, sava*, sabe, "all". Modem Brajabuli and Old Maithili.The description of Vrajävali is based upon the Maithili regularly forms plurals with sabha (FML § 499). language of Saii.karadeva' s six plays in A V; that of Brajabuli is based on the language of the "two earliest and most highly regarded of Brajabuli poets, gopi cowherd Govindadäsa (GD) and Jfiänadäsa (JD) and two anthologies, the gopi saba cowherds Padakalpataru (PKT) and the Bai$i:zab Padäbali (BP). For Early Maithili gopi saba ka of the cowherds (RH 139) Vidyäpati's Kr~IJ.a songs (VGS) and three Maithili plays, the Pradyumna vijaya nätaka of J agatprakäsamalla (PV), the Rukmii:z! parii:zaya of Ramäpati räja king (RP) and Mudita kubalayasva nätaka of Bamsamar.ii Ojhä (MK) are used to räja saba kings complement the data supplied by FML and IML (for details see bibliography). riija saba keri of the kings (RV 52)

Occasionally other suffixes, especially gai:za * (FML § 498), are employed: Vrajävalf gopigaQa In the following descriptions * indicates forms identical in OA and EM, cowherds (KG 89) and MB and EM respectively, while '![ marks forms not found in EM.

Case Orthography The stem form of nouns can assume all case functions (FML § 506ff., VGS The pronunciation of Assamese has naturally affected the way in which 149) Vrajävali was written. lt should be kept in mind when considering the following grammatical sketch that in Assamese c and eh represent a voiceless -ahi/-ahf: this inflectional ending (FML § 514 iv) is occasionally used to alveolar fricative [s], j and jh a voiced alveolar fricative [z] and initial mark adverbs Sanskrit s, $ and s an unvoiced velar fricative [x]; y is a vowel glide in intervocal positions (AFD § 95f.). begahi jäi (KG 92) he flees swiftly / with speed

Gender -e* (ye/ ve after vowels) marks the nominative, locative and instrumental In EM gender the endings of the past and the future tenses are marked for (FML § 514 iii). gender, taking -a in the masculine and -i in the feminine but this, however, is loosely observed (VGS 147). In Vrajävali the feminine endings in -i seem §afzkare bhäna (KG 57) most often tobe selected for euphonic reasons. OA does not mark gender. Sar\kara says upabäse sarira bhela klesa (PP 34) se avatära bheli thika (RH 132) his body became thin from fasting He became an avatar. asokamule rahala (PP 35) jagajiu calali madhäi (RH 155) they remained at the foot of an Afoka tree Mädhava, the World-Soul, went. hämu jogabale saba jäno (RV242) 1 know all through yogic power.

314 315 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili

-ka*, less often -ko ,-ku and kü, are used mark direct and indirect object, -to 'l[ is an infrequent ablative ending used in comparisons, often with possession and direction towards, and are used with postpositions (FML § adhika, "more". 545) An identical ending in OA (AFD § 659) marks the dative (but see § 662). säta satrato adhika (RH 125) more than seven enemies rämaka carana cinti (RV 235) saba strito adhama (PP 46) thinking of Räma' s feet lower than all warnen kona strika devaba (PH 194) Which wife shall I give it to? AFD § 656 mentions the use of the locative ending in -t in comparisons but kuQ

-kera, -kerii, -keri , -kara, -karu, -kahu are used sporadically to mark the Pronouns genitive (FML § 545). Ist person 2nd person

pitäkeri äsa (RV 274) hämu, hä1ni, hämu mohi, moi*, 1nohe toho, tohö, tuhu, tuhü, tuho, tuhö, toi the hope of bis father hämära, hämäri meri'll. mora* tohära, tohäri, tohora*, teri IJ[. terä 'j( harikahu caraQa cintie (RH 143) hämäka, hii.mäku moka* tohäka 'II. tohoka 'II having thought of Hari' s feet hämäta'I[ mota'i[ tohäta 'I[ majhu tuältujä* -ta* marks locative, instrumental and direct object. tajhu (RV), taju (KG)

purbba janamata (RV 242) In OA the first person pronouns are mai, oblique base mo-, moho-, pi. iimi, in an earlier birth iimii- (AFD § 669f.). The latter, also used as a singular, occurs only three kr~Qata sarana lela (KG 89) times. (She) took refuge in K1wa. moi, mohi and mohe are used in the oblique (cf. FML § 596) with the -te marks the instrumental. lt is infrequent. exception of the phrase iita äpariidha sahaba aba moi (PH 192 & 217),"now I will endure so many crimes". sonite ku{hära malina (RV 251) the axe stained with blood karahu mohe träna (RV 260) Save me. -r 'l[ is used infrequently to mark the genitive. This is an AO ending (AFD § karahu kusuma mohi däna (PH 180) 657). Give me the flower. ägahi lehujiu moi (RH 159) kr~IJara carana cinti (KG 59) Take my life first. having thought of Kr~Qa' s feet

316 317 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävali and Maithili majhu (ODB § 543) and mora* are genitive. The ending in -ta is OA and not frequent; hämäta occurs a total of six times and tohäta four; it is used as a general oblique, as: dura kara hari kumati mora (PH217) Harl dispels my bad thoughts. hämäta kona prayojana (RH 190) what use to me? meri, a genitive, is not registered in FML, though Jha does note mere .lrikmza tohäta parijäta khoja/a (PH 206) <*mama + kera (§ 600). It seems tobe a loan from BB (LB § 161) and is Kw.1a looked for your pärijäta flower. not marked for gender. lts "masculine" counterpart does not occur. jata sampatti hämäta thika (PH 219) as much wealth as is mine piu meri bairi adhika bheli (PH 188) My beloved became worse than an enemy. Plurals are represented by forms like hämu-saba (RV, RH) toho-saba (KD), torä-saba (PP, RV), se-saba* (RV), tärä-saba (PP). Such forms are not Tue second person is represented in OA by tai, ob!. base to- / toho- (inferior) registered in FML but can be found elsewhere, as ham sabh, "we", ham (AFD § 674) and tumi, ob!. base tomä- / tohmä- (AFD § 675); the !atter sabh ke, "our", IML § 64; hamarä-sabahi-ka, PV 190. Tue plurals torä-saba, occur ten times in all, as tomäka (RV), tumi-saba (PP), tomära-saba-ka "you". torä-saba-ka, "your" correspond to tohrä sabh, tohrä sabh ke in (RV) etc. IML § 66.

tohäka is formed in analogy with OA ämära/ ämäka; tohoka is OA. Neither 3rd person/ demonstrative relative iscommon. se*, so

318 319 1

W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävali and Maithili

tanikara näma sankhacüra (KG 67) Pronominal adjectives His name is Sankhacüra. täheka pekhi (KD 9) aicana/ aichana; aice/ aiche such having seen him kaicana/ kaichana*; kaice/ kaiche what sort of täheka brttänta sunaha (KG 60) kata* howmany Listen to his story. jata* as many as jaicana/jaichana/ jaiceljaiche as, like Jha records iha as accusative of the non-personal proximale demonstrative i, f etc.(FML § 624), but omits ihiika and ihiira. iha also occurs in Bhojpuri These correspond to EM ai'sana, ai'se; kai'sana, kai'se; kata; jata; jai'sana, (CGG § 437) and the oblique base ihii-in MB (ODB 831). ihiika is employed jai'se; (FML § 656; VGS 161-2). in MK and PV, where it is used as a honorific, as ihiika putra sanaka niime hame (PV 208), "I am your son called Sanaka"; ihiika ii}iiii upayukta ho (MK 112), "your command is fitting"; cf. ehiika, "your" (hon.) FML § 606. Verb ihiira and ihiita are 0 A. There are five tenses in Vrajävali: the simple present, the present in -ta, the past in -1-, the future in -b- and the present progressive. The infrequent forms iihera, iiheka are not registered in AFD which does, however, note the Eastern Assamese iik, iir, iit § 688. The forms iika and P r e s e n t (FML § 686) äta occur in OA and the Candrakänta Abhidhän6 notes äher and iihän lst person (honorific ). -1· , -a ' -ay· e ' -u ' -o, -15 -oho' -aiiu , -aiii5 ,· -iiu , -iia (after vowel stems)

ähera guni suni (PH 180) cinto caranaka toi (KD 21) having heard of his qualities 1 meditate on your feet. äheka rak~ä karaha (PH 200) hämusaba brajakajäiia (RV 216) save hirn We go to Vraja. tohäri präna coränu (RH 214) The OA relative is ji, oblique base ja-/ }iihii- (AFD § 690). jo is apparently 1 cause you to lose your life. a BB form (LM § 190) and used in free variation withje. hämu bujhaye näpäri (RV246) we cannot understand. je däna mägaha täheka devaba (RV 237) 1 will give the gift you ask for. 2nd person jo gopikaja~e layäjäi se bälä trähi (KG92) -a, -aha, -ae, -aye, -asi; -va, -s, -si (after vowel stems) Save the cowherd girl whom the demon is carrying off. je juyäi tä karaha (PH 211) toho kähe jäva (RV264) Do what is appropriate. Where are you going? aicana kumära jähera grhe tähera bhägyaka mahimä ki kahaba (RV 247) tu/zu rämaka caritra jänaye nähi (RV 139) What can 1 say of the great good fortune of him in whose harne there is such a son? You do not know the story of Räma. toho jäne nähi (RV 264) You don't know. 6 Chief ed. Mahesvar Neog, 3rd ed. Guwahati University 1988. 3rd person

320 321 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajäva/i and Maithili

-a, -u, -e, ai, -aye, -aya, -ave; -ve (after vowel stems); -i, -y (after stems in tense of BB, and its use as a present in Vrajavall would seem tobe due to -ii). the influence of Western Hindi; BB also has an alternate ending in -atu, (LB § 217), as gävatu hae, "he sings". In contrast to BB (and the other caranaka miijhe maiijira karu role (PH 177) Vrajavall tenses which are marked for gender) no formally feminine form The anklets on bis feet sound. in -ati occurs. lt can also be noted that equivalents of this tense appear in a murcchita hoi punalJ cetana päi (RH 214) !arge number of NIA languages (CGG § 507), though not in OA. He swoons then regains consciousness. brahmanisaba bola (PP 44) Past in -1- the brahman women say In OA -il- is used (AFD § 785f.) gopisabe tiihe nähi jiinave (KG 69) The cowherd girls don't know that. Ist person These endings are not frequent. Present in -ta -alu, alü, alo, alo, -oho; -o, -valu (after vowel stems).

madhäi ävata änanda mane (RH 144) kr$~aka häte delö (RH 186) Mädhava comes with a happy heart. 1 put it in Kr~Qa's band. äcarya hayä munita puchata (RV246) hämu adhama bhe/ö (PP 46) Astonished, they ask the muni. 1 was lowly.

An alternate ending in -atu is sporadically used in verse portions of the 2nd person plays. -ala; -lahü, -vala (after vowel stems).

karatu kautuka nrtya kesava (KD 26) de/aha nähi tohö parijäta (PH 192) Kesava dances delightedly. You didn't give (me) the parijäta flower. kahatu fonkara kr$~adäsä (KG 79) tuha ki nimite palävala (PH 215) Sar\kara, Kr~Qa's slave, says Why did you flee?

This tense corresponds in form to the EM tense called by Jha "future all persons indicative" (FML § 696) which in our other texts is, as its name indicates, -ala. -ali; -la, -!aha, -lahü ,-li, -vala (after vowel stems). used as a future: hämu anna niihi änala (PP 35) se jadi gahata kara jiva tejaba tatakä/e (RP 77) We didn't bring food. Ifhe takes my band (in marriage), 1 will leave this Jife immediately. riijäsaba sacakita bhelaha (RV 257) kaiionaka kahaba hama ke patiäeta (VGS 68) Tue kings were astonished. To whom shall 1 speak, who will believe me? haripada pekhaye napävali mäi (PP 40) teraha din bhitara toharii ucita svämi mi/ata (MK 139) The woman couldn' t see Hari' s feet. Within three days you will obtain a suitable husband. purandara biina aba lelaha (PH 214) Indra now took an arrow. The tense in -ta is also identical in form and usage to the present participial

322 323 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili kar, "do", has optional irregular past stems in kay- and kav- . frikr~na ava§ya ävaba (RH 139) Kr>!)• will surely come. biraha-tiipa tattakii/a dura kava/a (KG 66) ihäta kico saizkä nähi karabi (RV 139) They soon got rid of the pangs of separation. You will not be afraid of him. frikr~~a rukmf iahita yuddha kayala (RH 157) kiihe piilävaba bajradhäri (PH 215) Kr>Q• fought with Rukmi. Where will Indra flee? hhela, hheli, hhelo, hhelaha represent the irregular past of ho- "be". Much The future ending in -ahi is generally used as a 2nd person negative imperative. less frequent is the OA form hhaila. Another form, hhayo, is rare, as johi It is most common with kar, "do". hhayo avatara (RH 106) "He who became an avatar". This is a BB form, perhaps not a direct loan but borrowed through EM; it is used, for example, kicho saizkä nähi karabi (PH 218) by Vidyäpati (VGS 167). Don't be afraid of anything. hämäka tejabi nähi (PP 44) gel- is the irregular past base of ja-, "go". The forms gela / geli / gelaha Don't leave me. occur in both EM and OA. An OA form, gaila, also occurs a half dozen times. Present progressive all persons Gender is at best only sporadically observed. The formally feminine endings -aica, aici, -aice / -aiCa, aiCi, ai'ce are chiefly used for stylistic reasons. ki nimitte krandana karaica (RH 151) hrä~ä bheli dehä (PH 188) Why are you weeping? Her body grew thin. padapaizkaja renu iisä kararce (KG 64) ca/ali saizge gopa (PP 34) 1 am hoping for the dust of your lotus feet. The cowherd went along. beda sästrata hiimu sunaici (PP 44) We listen to the Vedas and the Sästras. Future in -h- In OA -ib- is used (AFD § 795f.). This tense, not frequent (25 occurrences), seems to correspond to that which Jha calls "present indicative" (FML§711), in the examples Jha cites, however, Ist person he translates it as a progressive tense (as holaicha, "is speaking") Like their counterparts in the past, these endings are not frequent -aha, -ahu, -ahohu;- hu, -vaha (after vowel stems). Copula Two copulas are found: ach-* and thika. The first is far less frequent. thika, kr~naka iinabu (RH 130) though not mentioned in FML, is registered in IML § 112 and appears a few 1 will fetch Kr>l)a. times in VGS (asjlvana thika chara (101) "life is worthless"). It is common in other EM texts in which a feminine form in -! is also used as, patn! harne all persons thik! (PV 194) "I am your wife". In Vrajävall thika is employed both as a -aha; -vaha, -vaha (after vowel stems). simple copula and as an auxiliary with the perfective participle and, less commonly, the participle in -1.

324 325 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili

se bhumika bhara harana nimite avatiira haye thika (KD 27) Perfective participle He has become an avatar in order to remove the burden of the earth. -a, -i, -e, ie, -ayii, iiyii, iyii, -ive; -yii, -ve (after vowel stems). du~{a dvijaka badhe kona dosa thika (RV268) What fault is there is slaying an evil brahman? kaja, ka)'e, kave, kae, kari, karie < kar, "do" yata sampatti hiimiita thika saba dvärakiika lägi pathäiiu (PH 219) äsi, asijä, lisie

  • dehu mohi ohi sik~ii (KD21) (She) wiped her eyes and face with her hem, sighed and began to speak. Give me that instruction. gaiyä brähmanaka praniimi älingi dharie abhyantara prabesa karävala (RH 131) hämära sange pa{häva (RV 138) He went, bowed to the brahman, embraced him, and holding him, led him inside. Send (them) with me. bayanaka pekhi ciinda bheli dura (RH 112) When he saw her face, the moon went away. A third person imperative in -k /-ok also occurs a few times, most commonly with rah, as ikathii rahok (PP 41), "Jet this matter be". This is an OA form This form is called the conjunctive in FML § 706. When employed as an (AFD§ 783). abso!utive it is often followed by kahu / kahü / kaho / kahö (FML § 707).

    Inflected passive cetana labhi kahu (RH 139) The inflected passive ends in -i* or -ie (FML§747). having regained consciousness hrdaye thäna labhi kahö (KG 64) tuhu sama puru~a katiha niihi päi (RH 112) having gotten a place in (your) heart A person like you is never found. huiyii is OA and much less frequent than hayii; bhae is rare. In the EM Verba! noun in -ite* plays the situation is reversed; bhae is preferred to variants in ho- / ha- The EM verbal noun in -ite is only listed in passing in FML § 710 and though not found in VGS or PV, does occur in our other texts. It is also räjakumiirl murchita hayä parala (RH 126) found in OA (AFD § 828,829). It is used to express purpose, simultaneity The princess fainted and feil. and with auxiliary verbs. gfyii is often used to mark the imperative and futnre (cf. ODBL § 652), sftära sayambara dekhite ihii iivala thika (RV 247) while gayii is employed as an absolutive. He has come to see Si:tä' s svayamvara. gopiilaka mukha nirekhite nayanaka nira dhäre bahi jäi (KG 10) sachita kaha gfyä (PH 208) Looking at Gopiila's face, her tears flow in streams. Tell Saci äti satvare rukami~lka samlpe gayä kahujäniivala (RH 123) He went swiftly to Rukmil)l and explained.

    326 327 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili

    Similarly in PV gae is used to mark the future and imperative, while jäe is hariko gopini pekhaye napäi (KG 59) employed as an absolutive: The cowherd girl cannot see Hari.

    cä- "want", is used with the verbal noun in-ite. According to Jha it corresponds grhaka sa,,,miirjana karu gae (PV 260) to "ought" (FML § 733) Clean the house ! anyatrajäe rahaba (PV192) räkacaka häte dite ciiva (RV 239) Let's go elsewhere and stay there. Y ou want to put him in a demon' s hands.

    Periphrastic passive läg-" begin", is used with the perfective particip!e. (FML § 748) This construction is negated.

    kr~Qaka avahelä kaya lägala (KG 69) hari guna kahana najäi (RH 116) They began to slight KrsQa Hari's qualities cannot be described. jä- is combined with intransitive verbs Auxiliary verbs rah- "remain", "keep on" (FML § 730). lt is used with the perfective piu präQa /u/ijäi (KD 19) participle. Beloved, my heart is breaking.

    kevala kr~Qacarana cinti rahala (KG 98) He only kept thinking of KrsQa's feet. Vrajävalf and Maithili tuhu thira huyä rahaba (RV257) You should remain calm. As can be seen in this grammatical sketch, the language of Sailkaradeva's pari krandana kaya rahala (RV233) plays is Maithili, a somewhat simplified and strearnlined Maithili, but Maithili Having fallen down, she went on weeping. nonetheless. lt uses stray OA forrns but these are statistically insignificant, and the OA forms which are employed (as bhaila, gaila, gfyä) are in all pär- "be able" is employed with the perfective participle and, less commonly, cases less frequent than their EM counterparts. Because a !arge number of the verbal noun in -ite. lt is usually negated. All the examples given by Jha forrns are identical in EM and OA, an impression can be gatten that the in FML (§ 748) are negated. proportion of OA elements in Vrajävali is far greater than it actually is. The influence of BB is limited to the use of the present tense in -t and a few strlka coraye nähi pära tuhü (PH 196) pronominal forrns as so and meri. lt is not clear whether this influence was You cannot steal a wornan. direct or indirect. padapafzkaja tejaya nähi pärie (KG 64) A number of EM forrns seem to be deliberately avoided, as for example (Your) lotus feet cannot be abandoned. 3rd person pronoun oblique stems in hin- and hun- and all tense endings tähera paräkrama sahite näpäri (RV 268) with the consonant th. The verb thika is consistently preferred to äch-, His might cannot be withstood. which, though common in EM, is also a feature of OA, giving the impression that thika is preferred precisely because it does not occur in OA. The EM pä- "get to", "be able" is used with the perfective participle, preferably that verbal noun in -aba- (FML § 710) is rarely used, perhaps again because of in -ae, -aye. its similarity with an OA counterpart in -ib (AFD § 824). On the other

    328 329 Brajabuli, Vrajäva/f and Maithili W.L. Smith hand, the very common EM postposition saiio, corresponding to Hindi se, Pronouns 2nd person is avoided while OA hante, "frorn", is occasionally used. Another notable Ist person difference is that verbs with vowel sterns prefer the vowel -a- in the affix tuhu, tuhü, tohe, tohii, and usually insert the glides -v- or -.Y- (especially with sterns in -a and -ä) häma, häme moiii, muii.i*, moi *, 1nui *, tohäri, tuhäri, tohori in the past tense; future tense and the present tense in -t, as päyala, ävaba. hä1nära, hämäri moj, niora*, mori, more* tora*, tori, teri CJ[. tore* In our other Maithili texts such verbs optionally ornit the glide and use mo*, niajhu other vowels in the affix, as äela (RP), päola (MK, RP); jäeba (PV); jäeba, tujä jäbe (MK), deba, dioba (PV). In the past tense used by Vidyäpati the first vowel of the affix in vowel Sterns is al ways different than that of the base • relative as p'i- "drink", piula, "drank" (VGS 167). Finally, it can be noted that the 3rd person vocabulary consists of 75-80% of tatsamas and semi tatsamas. Pure Assamese jo,je, yähe words are few. so, se* , ttihe, tiii täkara, täkari, tähiira 'i[, tähäri g( yiikara täka Brajabuli mui is the "standard" MB 1st person pronoun; muiii is "instrurnental­ Gender nominative" (ODBL § 541). The other forms have been already discussed. Only sporadically observed. Exarnples: Number Brajabuli prefers the plural suffix gai:za*. bahuta minati kari toi (BP 104) having entreated you much Case puchaba muiii priyäsakhi päfo (JD 36) The case endings in Brajaboli are largely the same as in VrajävalL Here, 1 will ask my dear friend. however, the general oblique in -ahi / -ahiis rnuch rnore productive. mohe heri rahala bimukhe (JD 66) She remained staring at me, displeased . .foyana teji hari kuiijahi gela (GD 230) täka kaiche mati bheli (GD 252) Leaving his bed, Hari went to the grove. how did you !hink of him gandahi sakala beyäpa (PKT2614) All is pervaded by perfume. Pronominal adjectives dukha konahi dela (JD 74) of such a sort Who caused the sorrow? aichana; aiche kaisana/ kaichana; kaiche what sort of kata* howmany yata* as many yaichana; yaiche of which sort taichana; taisana of this sort

    331 330 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajäva/i and Maithili

    Verb An extended 3rd person form in -ahi is also found.

    ti- ya- ho­ heraite locane galahi lora (GD 252) (come) (go) (be) the tears run from her eyes as she looks pres. äosi, äoje ytiy, ytii, ytio ho, hoi, hoy, hai past. tiol-a li, tiyal-a /i gela, geli hayala, bhaila 'I! Past tense iiolü yayala'I! bhela, bheli Tue first person endings -alu, -alil, -anu are more frequent than their Vrajavall fut. tioyaba ytioba,ytiba* haoba, hoyaba counterparts. t-pres äota yäota hoyata, hota PP ytiiye'J! bhai'I! tiju muiii pekhanu räi (GD 260) kar- her- cal­ Today I saw Rädhä. (do) (see) (go) mandira chori bane äolü (GD 207) I left the hause and came to the forest. pres. kara, karai, kare, karasi, herai, heraje, cala,calai, cale, calaha, Extended forms in -lahi, -lahu, -lihu, -liha are also found. karaha, karaye herasi, heraha calu past. karala, karalahu, kaya/a, herala, heralu, calala, calali · nägara paralahi phGphara (P KT 2723) kayali, kayalu, kaila* kaela herala The Iover became distracted. fut. karaba, karabi heraba, herabi calabi hama rahalihü (BP 38) t-pres karata, karatahi, karatahl herata, heratahi calata, ca/atahi 1 remained. PP kari, kae heri, heraje cali Vowel stems optionally take o in the affix, as äyala / äola .

    Present tense Tue Brajabuli poets are not as fond of the feminine endings. In Sailkaradeva' s The present tense is as in Vrajavall, though the Bengali poets have a far plays, for example, bhela and bheli are found in the proportion 2: 1 while in greater partiality for the 3rd person ending -ai. GD the proportions are 40: 1 andin JD 8: 1.

    tapa saba mefaye (JD 25) Future All suffering is assuaged. The future ending in -abi 1-obi is used for the second person. tuhü htima abajtina (PKT2728) I know you now. gu~a-lefa nä ptiobi I yaba tuhü karabi bictira / (BP 104) ye saba kahasi majhu äge (JD 48) When you judge me, you will not find a trace of virtue. all which you say before me kaiche gohtiyabi hari bine dina /(BP 92) sakhrga~a teji calu ekasari (JD 62) How will you spend your days without Hari? Leaving her friends, she goes alone. The affix of vowel stems optionally takes take o before future endings, as yäoba, haoba etc.

    332 333 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävalf and Maithili

    Present in -t Other In the present the vowel o is optionally used in the affix of vowel stems: The postposition saiie is employed frequently. deota/ deyata; gäotal gäyata (GD). The ending -ati does not occur. As in Vrajävall this tense is used as a present. täkara saiie hari kayala pa)'ä(za (JD 35) Harl goes off with her. royata sakhiga(za dina riiti (JD 74) .fyiima bana saiie äota (PKT2680) Tue friends weep day and night. Syama comes from the forest. tira rahi herata raliga (JD 13) sakhii saiie kahatahi (GD 97) Remaining on the bank, they watch the fun. he says to his friend

    There is also an extended 3rd person form in -tahil -tahi . The other forms are generally similar.

    kamini karatahi puru~a-iicära (PKT 2727) As can been seen, while these two literary dia!ects are very similar to each The woman is acting like a man. other, they are far from identical; nevertheless, they resemble one other gobindadäsa kaha/ japatahf tuyä gu~a-mälä (GD 230) more closely than either does the language of any of the other texts used Gobindadasa says, she is reciting the !ist of your good qualities. here. Both Vrajävall and Brajabuli later degenerated. In the case of the first, a Perfective participle change can already be seen in the language employed by Mädhavadeva, The range of forms is more limited than in Vrajävali. Saii.karadeva's immediate spiritual and literary heir, who wrote very short plays called jhumura on popular themes. In the language of two of these, haye, haiyä 'I!. haiye 'I!, bhai < ha, "be" the Pimparä Gucura- ("Removing Ants") and Bhümi-lutijlä- ("Rolling on kari, karije, kae < kar, "do" the Ground") Jhumura, which total only eighteen printed pages (AV 323-341), heri, herijä, herije

    334 335 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajiivalf and Maithili be written until the present century, and it is only recently that Vrajävali presume that his description was based upon the language of "corrupt" 8 has been abandoned in favor of the Assamese • bengalized versions of Vidyäpati. Although it is impossible to ascertain just Most Bengali poets composed lyrics in both in Middle Bengali and which specific texts provoked this judgement, popular versions of the Maithili Brajabuli, and füese were collected side by side in anthologies, a situation poet continue to circulate in Bengal, so to test this thesis we can compare a which encouraged the two idioms being contaminated by one another. As Vidyäpati lyric printed in a popular anthology 12 with the version printed in 13 time passed, Brajabuli declined in the same way as Vrajävali did in Assam VGS • The VGS text is to the left below and the popular printing to the and for similar reasons: ignorance and indifference. Often it is difficult to right. say what idiom the later Bengali Vai~i:iava lyrics are composed in. A poem signed by Mädhava (a name used by several later poets ), for example, kämini karae sinäne kämini karae sinäne (PKT 2599) contains 29 verbal, nominal and pronominal forms: eight are herai'te hrdaya harae pacaväne 1 herarte hrdaje hänala päcabii!Je 1 Bengali, nine Maithili and twelve common to both languages. Is this cikura galae jaladhiirii cikure galaye jaladhiirii maithilized Bengali or bengalized Maithili? Poets writing in what is clearly mukha Sa.Si tf.are jani roae ädhiira 1 janu mukha-Sa.Si-r.jare roe andhärä 1

    Bengali display a fondness for certain Maithili forms, especially for the titala vasana tanu lagü titala basana tanu laga 1 past tense in -al- (see PKT 2557 for a good example). munihuka mänasa manamathajägü 1 1nunihuka miinasa manobhaba jägü l Despite this later dec!ine, there no justification for labeling Vrajävali or te fonkiie bhujapase kuca yuga cäru cakebä Brajabuli as "artificial" or "mixed" languages. In the works written by their bändhi dhari dharia punu utj.ata taräse 1 nia-kule äni miläjana debä l ear!iest and most skilled practitioners both idioms are simply variants of kuca juga cäru cavekä teiii Saizkä bhuja-pä.Se 14 Maithili. While British, Assamese and Bengali scholars, as has been seen, niiia kula milata äni kaiione devä t bandhi dharala janu uraba iikiise 1 have regarded Brajabuli as a "mixed" language or the like, Maithili scholars (VGS 197) have had no problem in accepting it as Maithili. Jha consideres Gobinadadäs tobe the second greatest Maifüili poet after Vidyäpati (FML p. 38); Jayakanta The girl is bathing, one seeing her is pierced by Kama's arrow. The streams of water 9 Mishra emphatically agrees • He also unhesitatingly considers the ahk!ya run from her hair; it is as if the darkness weeps from fear of her moonlike face. The nätas (to which he devotes a chapter of his history) to be Maithili works, wet clothing sticks to her body, this arouses confusion even in the minds of ascetics. and füinks it remarkable that the Assamese scribes preserved so well Maithili From fear she holds her twin breasts, pressing them in her arms, lest like cakora in the mss. 10 It should also be remembered that there is no such thing as a birds, they fly off in in fright into the sky and unite with their own kind. "pure" medieval NIA literary language. A certain admixture of forms from various sources is common, a tendency most notable in the styles of language The "popular" version, as can be seen, does not deviate radically from the 11 used by Käbir and Gurü Nänak • However if Vrajävali and Brajabuli are, "original"; it has not been distorted in a "procrustean bed", it is far from a in fact, Maithili, why, then, would George Grierson describe the language "bastard language" or a "curious jargon". Grierson's knowledge of Vidyäpati of the Vidyäpati poems sung in Bengal as "contorted" and a "bastard" was based upon the songs he himself collected from oral sources, those tongue, an opinion which influenced so many later scholars? One must which were performed by 19th century singers. His own version of the lyric quoted above goes as follows: Delhi 1988, p. 196. 8 lbid., p. 203 12 Bidyiipati ca(itjidiis o anyänya bai~~ab mahiijan gltikii, ed. Caru Bandyopadhyaya, 9 History ofMaithili Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1976, p. 130. Deb Sahitya Ku\ir, Calcutta, B.A. 1371, p.44. This is an attractively printed popular edition containing numerous colour illustrations. 10 Jbid., p. 194. 13 These were not many: the above edition contains 41 lyrics bearing the signature of 11 For this reason C. Shackle prefers to call the language of the founder of Sikhism "the Vidyapati and only two of these have counterparts in VGS. Sacred Language of the Sikhs" rather than Old Panjabi, A Guru Niinak Glossary, New Delhi 1981, p. viii. 14 lbid. p. 44

    336 337 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävali and Maithili

    kämini karu asaniine 1 heraite hirdaya hanala pacamäne J 1 centuries did Maithili' s association with Kr~i:ia lyrics convince some of the titala basana tana lagu 1 manihuka mana samasta bhaya jiigu J 1 faithful that it was actually the language spoken by Kr~i:ia and Rädhä in cikura bahai jala dhäre 1jani fo§i binu mohi lägata andhäre 1 1 Vri:idävana. The earlier generations ofreformers had visited the Vraj country

    kuca juga cäru cakeva 1 nfja kara kanzala äni tuä devii J 1 themselves and knew better. The key factor in its adaption must have been

    te säse bhuja pliase 1 b&ihi dharia uri lägata akäse 11 (IML II, p. 42) 1' Maithili's literary stature. Mithila or Tirhut had long served under its independent Hindu kings as the most important intellectual center for the As can be seen, the Brajabuli version of the lyric cited above corresponds Hindus of Northeast . With their support Maithili had been forged into more closely to that in VGS than Grierson's. The Vidyäpati lyrics Grierson a highly developed language with a rich literature; around the year 1500, by was familiar with were, in other words, more distant from the original than way of contrast, Old Assamese and Middle Bengali were as literary idioms the popular ones circulating in Bengal. Grierson's dismissal of these lyrics still in their formative Stages and ignored by most members of the educated was thus perhaps prompted by a misconception: the erroneous presumption classes. Maithili, however, had an established literary reputation and the that the lyrics he himself had collected - lyrics which actually represent a Vai~i:iava reformers immediately realized its advantages: it had great prestige, later form of the language - more faithfully reflected the "original". it was mellifluous, it was already associated with Kr~i:ia thanks to Vidyäpati A final question is that of why Vrajävali-Brajabuli had been used in the and, finally, by simplifying its grammar and equipping it with a more first place, One of the basic tenets of the new bhakti cults was, after all, sanskritized vocabulary, it could be made relatively intelligible to audiences that the message of devotion was to be spread in the common language of in Assam and Bengal. This proved a combination impossible to resist and the people, and Maithili was certainly not the language of the people of Maithili became a favored vehicle for literature in that great swath of India Assam or Bengal. The Assamese scholar Birinchi Kumar Barua has the stretching from Kathmandu to Puri. following to say on this question:

    lt is .difficult to guess why Shankaradeva made a departure from the popular language Abbreviations and bibliography of h1s poems and chose Brajabuli for his devotional lyrics and his plays. The reason may be that Brajabuli had less use of compound consonants, a preponderance of AFD Banikanta Kak:ati,Assamese Its Fonnation and Development, revised vowels, an alliterative fineness of texture, and a subtlety of implication, and these and ed. by Golockchandra Goswami, Gauhati 1972 (1941) and other traits may be said to have made it a more flexible medium for lyric compos1tions. In addition to this flexibility, some element of sacredness was associated AM Ankamälä, ed. Satyendranäth Sarmmä, Gauhati 1973. An anthology with this artificial language, as it was traditionally considered to be the hallowed of later Vrajävall plays. language of Vraja. 16 AV Ankävali, ed. Käliräm Medhi, Gauhati 1950. This is the standard As Barua Stresses, one of the most attractive features of Maithili was the critical edition of early Vrajävall plays. The titles of Sarikaradeva's way it sounded: it was, as is said in India, a "sweet" language. Only in later plays are abbreviated as follows: KG Keli gopäla näfaka KD Käli damana yäträ 15 Grierson translates as foliows: PH Piirijiita hara~ia niifa 0 pretty one, bathe thyself. Lo, love searched for me and smote me on the PP Patni prasiida nii{a heart. 1 The limp garments cling to thy body, and thou becomest as one who RV Räma vijaya näfa arouseth the passions. of saints. 1 The water falleth down in rivers through the RH Rukmb:zl hara1Ja näfa locks of th~ half, an? 1t seemeth to me dark as a moonless night. 1 Thy bosom is These six plays are written in both verse and prose. They total 275 hke two fmr chakwas. Cover them, 0 cover them with thy lotus hands. 1And if printed pages. though dread entangling them in the snare of thy arms, hold them fast. (Else assuredly) w!ll they fly away to heaven. (ILM II, p.79). BB Brajbhä~ä 16 Birinchi Kumar Barua, History ofAssamese Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi 1964, p. 30.

    338 339 W.L. Smith Brajabuli, Vrajävali and Maithili

    PVN Pradyumnavijayanä/aka of Jagatprakäsamalla ed. and trans. by Horst BP Bai~~aba Padäbalf, ed. by Khagendra Näth Mitra, Sukumar Sen, Brinkhaus in The Pradyumna-Prabhävatf Legend in Nepal, A Study Visvapati Caudhuri and Syämapad Cakrabartti, 9th ed. University of the Hindu myth of the draining of the Nepal Valley, Alt- und of Calcutta 1972. An anthology containing both Middle Bengali Neu-Indische Studien 32, Stuttgart 1987. Jagatprakä§amalla, king and Brajabuli lyrics. of Bhaktapur, reigned 1638-1672. A dated manuscript of the play is from 1656. CGG A.F. Hoemle, A Comparative Grammar of the Gawjian (Aryo­ Indian) Languages, repr. Amsterdam, 1975 (1880) . RP Rukmi~lpari~aya of Ramäpati, ed. J ayakänta Misra, llähäbäd 1961. Written c. 1750. EM Early Maithili VGS Vidyäpati-Glta-Sarrzgraha or The Songs of Vidyäpati, ed. by FML Subhadra Jha, Formation of the Maithilf Language, repr. Delhi Subhadra Jha, Banaras 1954. This is usually considered the best 1985 (1958) available edition of Vidyäpati. The introduction contains an elaborate GD Bimänbihäri Majumdär, Gobindadäser Padävali o tlihär Yug, grammatical sketch. University of Calcutta 1961.This work contains a critical edition of the songs of Govindadäsa who was bom 1520-30, and became a Vai~J)ava in 1577. The remarks here are based on the first 275 padas in this volume. Numbers refer to padas.

    IML George A. Grierson, An Introduction to the Maithil{ Language of North Bihtir, Part One, Grammar, Calcutta 1881. ·

    JD Jfiänadäsa Padäbali, Basumati-Sähitya-Mandir, Calcutta, n.d. Jfiänadäsa, one of the most highly regarded Brajabuli poets, tlourished in the first halfof the 16th century.

    LB Dhirendra Varma, La Langue Braj (Dia/ecte de Mathurä), Paris 1935.

    MB Middle Bengali

    MD Mudita-Kubalaya.fva Nä/aka ofBamsarnOJ)i Ojhä in Präcfn Bangälä• Maithilf Nä{aka, ed. Bijitakumär Datta, University of Burdhwan, 1980. This is a work from the early 17th century.

    NIA New lndo-Aryan

    OA Old Assamese

    ODB Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, repr. London 1972 (1927).

    PKT [SriSrl] Padakalpataru, ed. SatlScandra Räy, Bangiya Sähitya Pari~at, Calcutta, B.A.1322-38 [1915-31]. This is a comprehensive l 8th century anthology. Numbers refer to padas.

    340 341