bengali language

Bengali

Historians of Bengali literature find early forms of Bengali literature between the 8th and 12th century A.D. Among these the Natha literature from the 12th century which emerged from the Buddhist Sahajiya cult. The Vaishnava cult also gained ground. The Vaishnava cult also gained ground.

From the middle of the 14th century, Radhakrishna lyrics became very popular and Chadidas was the great spokesman of this form of writing. He has composed about a thousand poems. Translations or rather adaptations of the Ramayana became very popular in the 15th century. The most well-known is the Ramayana by Krttivasa Ojha. It is revered as much as the Ramacharitamanasa of Tulsidas in North India.

The types of literature which became popular after the Bengali rendering of the classical Sanskrit works are called the Mangal Kavyas. There are three recognized varieties of Mangal Kavyas :

Manasamangal

Chandimangal and

Dhamamangal, each representing a separate Godhead.

The advent of Sri Chaitanya (1486-1533) was an epoch-making event in Bengali literature which spread to neighbouring languages as well. The life and teachings of Chaitanya made Vaishnavism a living faith. Many of his disciples produced literature of great power and the influence continued for over two centuries. The literature comprised of two classes, lyric poetry and biographical works. The Radhakrishna love songs were so popular that even Muslim poets composed some poems on the same theme.

The modern period begins practically with the 19th century. Bengali prose evolved and developed in such a manner that it became a suitable medium for literary expression. The European missionaries produced grammars and dictionaries and they translated the Bible into the Bengali prose. The contribution of William Carey, a Serampore missionary was so significant to Bengali and other languages that it will never be forgotten. Carey wrote a Bengali grammar, compiled an English-Bengali dictionary and organized the translation of the Bible into Bengali.
While poetry gained a new dimension, literary forms like the novel, the short story, the personal essay and the biography took shape in the language. The most outstanding poet of the mid-19th century was Michael Madhusudhan Dutt (1824-73) who composed the classic, Meghanad Badh Kavya, the first epic poem in Bengali in the western sense.

Bankim Chandra (1838-94) wrote his first romantic novel Durgeshnandini in 1865. Bankim wrote more such novels like Anandmath, Rajsimha, Vishavriksha, etc. that he was hailed as the pioneer novelist in India. Sarat Chandra followed him with several novels of classical dignity and charm. His Nishkriti, Bindur Cele(Bindu's ward), Shrikant and Charitrahin (dishonorable) are particularly well known. In the third quarter of the 19th centuryBengali literature was brimming with activity in all the genres of literature.

But it reached its summit of glory through the life long service of Rabindranath Tagore. Thousands of lyrics, poems and songs, about a dozen novels, three dozen plays, volumes of short stories and a mass of prose literature flowed from his pen. His own translation of Gitanjali into English brought him International fame when he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1913. His Gora is considered as a very outstanding epic novel in our literature.

The post Tagore period of Bengali literature is also very rich. Here we find novelists like Tarashankar Banerji, Manik Banerji and Bhibhutibhusan Banerji in the field of fiction, Jibananda Das, Nazrul Islam, Sudhinandra Nath Datta, Buddhadev Bose, Premenendra Mitra and Bishnu De in poetry, Dinabandhu Mitra, G.C.Ghose and Dwijendralal Roy in the field of Drama and a host of others who have an established reputation in Bengali.

Bhibhutibhusan's Aranyak and Pather Panchali are extremely sensitive novels translated into many languages. Tarashankara's Gana Devata and Arogya Niketan are equally well known. Manik Bandhopadhyaya's Padmanadir Maghi is another great novel. Some works of Post-Independence period in Bengali literature have also influenced other Indian literatures, thogh not to the same extent as the Tagore period.