Question

Write a brief note on Bengali literature

Answer 1

Hint: Bengali language with its millennium-old literary history, has extensively developed during the various historical eras. Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and culturally binds together a vast diverse region.

Complete answer: Bengali literature may be divided into three main periods: ancient, medieval, and modern. It dates back to the 7th century, the modern period begins in 1800 and can be divided into six phases: from 1800-1860 the era of prose, the era of development from 1860-1900, from 1861-1941 can be attributed as the phase of Rabindranath Tagore, the post-Rabindranath phase from 1930 to 1947, 1947 to 1970 is the post-partition phase and the Bangladesh phase from 1971 to the present. The earliest extant specimens of ancient Bangla are the 47 spiritual hymns composed by Buddhist monks are now known as charyapada ( Bangla poems), the language of these hymns is only partially deciphered and understood therefore it is referred as the twilight language ( sandhya)

Bengali literature flourished in the medieval period, Arabic and Persian vocabulary was blended into Bengali texts to illustrate Muslim stories thus led to the dobhashi culture that
was the most customary form of writing in Bengali prior to the language's reformation during the colonial period. A large body of work was also translated from Sanskrit to Bengali, as Chandidas emerged as a celebrated Hindu lyrical poet for translating the thousand love poems revolving around Radha and Krishna from Jayadev's work.

The modern era from Rabindranath Tagore's era bears testimony to the inception of popular literature in Prose style which was focused on daily life in contemporary Bengal. The satire and humour in these works were often crass, blunt and accessible.

Note: the Bengali language is also known as Bangla language. Bangla is spoken by the Bengalis in Bangladesh and India, it is an Indo- Aryan language. It is an imperative element of the Bengali identity.