Bijay Chandra Majumdar

“ Consequently the new structure which becomes wholly separate and independent cannot be said to be mixed as a language in the individuated form. No language of this world can coincide with another, for every language has its own separate grammar or structure; but it can be shown that in their growth many languages in India incorporated many foreign elements and had adopted foreign methods of expression. We can only say that no two languages are identical, but as in the case of human races, so in the case of human speeches, absolute purity cannot be thought of. ”

“ This is how these grammarians have sought to explain the term Prākṛta, though the word প্রকৃতি cannot be shown to have been in use at any time, to signify a speech, holy or unholy. Prakṛti no doubt signifies nature, but in its secondary signification as 'subjects' or 'common people' or 'people in general,' the word is in very common use in our literature of all times. Prākṛta, in its signification as a speech, seems therefore to be associated with prakṛti or the common people. ”

“ It is true, that unlike what is noticeable in Greek, Chāndasa does not allow any hiatus to exist in a word, but the rigid Sanskrit Sandhi-rules by virtue of which two or more independent words are linked together in an agglutinated unit, do not appear to have obtained in Chāndasa. I need hardly assert, that in a living speech, in which ease and fluency in the matter of articulation of sentences can never be disregarded, and in which words must be uttered in an intelligible manner, Sanskrit rules of Sandhi cannot be strictly enforced. ”

“ The aboriginal people who knew every part of their land in the hills and the forests, could appear suddenly and could escape unnoticed to places which were difficult of access to the conquering trespassers; moreover the rude tribes, who were unable to cope with the civilized intruders, took to some subterfuges which made their hostility to be dreaded in proportion to its secrecy. When the blow was struck in darkness, the awe-struck Aryans who had supreme contempt for the valour of their foes, were led to attribute it to supernatural or non-human, rather than to human agency. ”

“ I should state at the outset, that my inquiry regarding the origin and development of the Bengali Language will necessarily lead me to consider and discuss some facts relating to the ancient and modern inhabitants of Bengal; for, in my opinion, a discussion which is merely philological and does not take into account the people or peoples, whose language is the subject-matter of inquiry, is bound to prove abortive. ”

“ The words which have come to us, either because of trade or because of casual acquaintance with foreigners, may not be of much value to us, but the fact of trade relation with outside peoples, may throw much light on many dark parts of the history of our language. ”

“ I propose to pursue in this lecture, a stratigraphical study of the Bengali language with the help of the facts set forth and discussed in the previous lectures. In the present state of our knowledge, we cannot make a definite pronouncement of the ethnic elements that came into the composition of our people; we are not in possession of a history which deals with the evolution of our social structure. It was therefore only possible for me, to state in a general manner, of some of the influences that have been at work in shaping our speech in its present form. ”

“ It is a striking phenomenon that there are some linguistic peculiarities, wherein Oriya agrees with Assamese, and differs from Bengali. This phenomenon can only be explained by this, that Bengal as a progressive country has altered the early forms, while the archaic forms have been retained in Orissa and Assam. We can safely hold, that the Māgadhi language, as was once fashioned and modified on the soil of Bengal, got into Assam to take a fresh root there to develop into a new language under the influence of a language altogether foreign to the Aryan speech. ”

“ It concerns more the history of literature than the history of language, to deal with the questions why the literary men of old, took at all to writing in the Prākṛtas, when they were conversant with Sanskrit, and how for erotic composition the authors were principally drawn to the Prākṛtas; but in tracing the history of a language, we cannot afford to forget facts as they stand, and must take due note of them. ”

“ Just fancy that a cataclysm sweeps away all that we possess and are proud of to-day, and some historical critics arise, after the deluge, to write a history of our time with the help of such a prayer-book as the Brahma Sangīt of the Brāhmas, or a collection of Rāmprasād's songs, unearthed in the debris of some buildings, will the material be sufficient for the purpose? ”

“ A word may anyhow be made to look like a Sanskrit form, but it is to be seen whether such a form or its prototype was at all in common use in old time. In their zeal to derive all Bengali words from Sanskrit roots and stems, such old and obsolete words are at times drawn out of the Sanskrit Dictionary as were not even in use in Sanskrit for centuries previous to our time. We cannot avoid looking to the people and their antecedents in our inquiry relating to language. ”

“ Is it not true, that far from imposing an adventitious artificial jingle upon our verse, and far from throttling our natural accented words to death, Hemchandra has made the Bengali verse to move with natural accent, with uncommon vigour and rapidity? I think I have made it clear, that Bengali words with their accent have always been used in our Bengali verse, and the exception to the rule has only been occasional, where there has been an imitation of the forms of some Vaiṣṇava poets. The imported metrical system of some Vaiṣṇava poets could never take root in Bengal. ”

“ No doubt the old Pāli of Buddha's days was being transformed into new and newer dialects, but the old-time Pāli failed to become a living heritage with the speakers of the newly-transformed speeches. In that the literary Sanskrit in its broader and more catholic character was being enriched every day by the composition of interesting and entertaining secular literature of various genre, the influence of Sanskrit became more potent and abiding, upon the laymen of letters all throughout the country. ”

“ The method of reasoning is wholly unscientific. All the dialects are admitted to be Aryan in origin, but as they differ from one another, their origin has been presumed to be different. The very fact that they are so many dialects, shows that they must not be one and the same, and they must have marked points of difference, even though they might have been derived from one and the same language. Dialectic variations always take place because of distance from a centre and because of contact with other tribes or races. ”

“ Let me repeat explicitly what I have suggested above just now: that a language is mainly, if not wholly, determined by its grammar or structure and not by its vocabulary which may always swell by the process of word-borrowing. I should also add here that the accent system is a great factor in a language, and should be considered as an essential element of it; different forms of "apabhramśa" in different dialects of one common original speech are partly due to different accent systems. ”

“ I should mention in this connection, that some persons are very wrong in their opinion, that such a living speech as Oriya, is without an accent system. The misconception is due to the fact, that in Oriya, as in Sanskrit, all the letters are pronounced as distinct independent syllables. That inspite of it, the letters and words are accented by the Oriyas, without any reference to the long or short sound of a vowel, is instructive. I cannot deal with the Oriya accent system here; I adduce only one example to serve my purpose. ”

“ The term Vaidya, we all know, is singularly peculiar to Bengal, to indicate a caste; this term for medical profession may be assumed, by any men of any caste from Brahmaṇ downwards, in other parts of India. It is an interesting history, how a high class of people got Vaidya as a caste-name in Bengal. As the Vaidyas acknowledge universally, because of their family tradition, that their origin has to be traced from the Sena Rājās of Bengal, we should see what history we may get of the origin of these Senas. ”

“ No doubt what is true in all cases is true in respect of the evolution of our language, that nature never allowed any break to occur in her process of upbuilding, but as many earlier forms, while fading away imperceptibly into new and newer forms, were not preserved in literary records, we may only surmise their existence from a very small number of what may be termed "fossil words." ”

“ The flowing white dress of the Bengali male people is now coming into fashion in other provinces also, but the Bengalis and Oriyas are only found to use no head-dress at all. I mention these facts with the object of showing, how deep and abiding, how intense and extensive, has been the influence of Magadha culture in Bengal. We may, I daresay, be fully justified to assert, what has been asserted before, that we in Bengal represent to-day the old Behar, more than the modern Beharis do in Behar. ”

“ Merely because some tribes of the Punjab frontier use some words of Aryan origin, Grierson concludes that these tribes are remnants in hilly countries of the oldest Aryan people. It is on the evidence of sound and vocabulary he has thought out different origins for some dialects of Northern India. It is such reckless assumptions that have brought philology into disrepute with all anthropologists, though philology as a branch of knowledge has a useful sphere of its own. ”

“ It is certainly very true, that our Bengali Sandhi system is not worked by the rules of the old time speeches, but we proceed to show that the very principle which governed the phenomenon of euphonic combination, in the speeches of ancient times, governs to-day the Sandhi system of ours. Before I cite examples to substantiate my proposition, I should notice an objection which is raised by some in this direction. ”

“ It is too much to expect that we shall succeed in mapping out definitely how the stream of our language flowed with an unbroken continuity from a well-defined source and received in its bosom many affluents in its successive course of progress. ”

“ One who attains majority is called বালীগ্ in Arabic, and so one who is not বালীগ্ or is in his hizānat is a ন-বালীগ্ in our correct court language; very curiously enough this term has been reduced to নাবালক in Bengali, though 'not a বালক' is the opposite meaning of the term. It is true that the Persian word গরম্ comes from an Avestic word which is but a variant of Vedic গ্রীষ্ম, but it is not correct that the form গরম is an Indian অপভ্রংশ of গ্রীষ্ম. It is therefore important to know the time and circumstances under which a word comes to be used in a country. ”

“ We cannot dissolve a thoroughly mixed-up people into their original elements, but we can push on our research to see if the words of unknown origin and the terms of expressions not in agreement with the idioms of Aryan speeches or the idioms of the known Dravidian speeches, can be traced to some other origin or origins. I shall consider the influence of the Dravidian accent system in my next lecture when a comparative study of all the accent systems, Aryan as well as non-Aryan, will be specially dealt with. ”

“ I consider this question to be important, for it is to be seen, whether the old mode of thinking which brought about samāsas in particular forms, is still our inheritance or not; it must be borne in mind, that the racial peculiarity in the matter of thinking, governs the style and structure of a language. ”

“ It is therefore admitted in a manner on all hands, that Prākṛta is the speech, in which the babies commence to lisp and which the people very naturally learn untaught. The oriental scholars of Europe however, make a sharp distinction now between the modern vernaculars and the obsolete Prākṛtas, to secure some definiteness in the matter of classification. In this classification, the scholars have followed those Prākṛta grammarians, who have appropriated the name prākṛta for an artificial standard literary speech, and have given the term অপভ্রংশ, to the vernacular speeches of their time ”

“ If even the explanation, we offer, prove inadequate, there will not be any justification in setting up the figments of our imagination in the name of theories, to solve our difficulties.
We have to first direct our attention to the character of the language of the Vedas, called Chhāndasa. I use the word Veda in a very restricted sense here; in this restricted sense the word Veda, indicates the mantra literature, preserved in the four Saṁhitās, viz., the Sāman, the Ṛk, the Atharvan, and the Yajur. ”

“ All phonetic or linguistic peculiarities that mark off one race or stock from another are not necessarily racial characters in the scientific sense of the term. By a primary racial character I mean only such of the linguistic peculiarities, or marks of a people as have an organic or physical basis in the cerebral or vocal mechanism and as are also transmitted from parent to offspring under the operation of the principles of Heredity and Variation. The capacity for speech, for example, is such a primary character for the human race. ”

“ Certainly, no one can possibly deny the potent factor of non-Aryan influence in the matter of the formation of provincial dialects, but it will be too much to assert that the contact with the savage races alone had, on the Aryans, the effect of breaking down their rigid inflectional system, and of causing the Aryans to substitute, for case-endings in nouns and verbs, distinct particles and auxiliaries. ”

“ Sanskrit, though an artificial literary language ceased, at one time, to be a purely hieratic speech, and having become the vehicle of thought of all men, dealing with different branches of knowledge, it exercised such an influence in the country, that the living speeches which succeeded Pali, could not become respectable enough to leave literary monuments for us; (3) To ensure intelligibility in all provinces of India, the Prākṛta books (very limited in number) , were composed in such an unreal generalized form, as does not help us to reconstruct the living speeches of old days. ”

“ It is no doubt a speciality in Bengal that though the real portion of the name of a man does not require any additional word, such words, as চন্দ্র, নাথ, etc., are added to the names, but it is not on account of this alone, that the Bengali names indicate the nationality of the men bearing the names to the people of other provinces. ”

“ I am perhaps creating new difficulties without seeking to explain things by a Dravidian influence. To be able to face all difficulties properly, is better than offering a plausible solution.
The phenomenon I have spoken of, may be partly explained by postulating a Kirānti influence; but since when and to what extent this influence has been in existence, need be inquired into. The earliest reference to the Kirātas occurs in the Atharva Veda which discloses a good deal of knowledge of the eastern lands, from where the original form of our speech flowed into our country. ”

“ I have thrown out suggestions, as to what was in all probability, the position and character of the Aryan language in pre-Vedic days. It goes however without saying that the Chhāndasa language as disclosed by the early Vedic Saṁhitās, is a very rich and well-developed literary speech. It has to be borne in mind, in this connection, that inspite of the unifying influence of a central literary language, the provincial dialects do not all necessarily die out, and they may at times continue to live with full vigour, getting fresh lease of life under some changed conditions. ”

“ Some Bengali writers, who do not know what the real sound of য় is, make at times the unscientific and useless attempt to represent the sound by য + আ to convey the peculiar Bengali sound to the ears of the foreigners. They do not know that the spelling গ্যাল for গেল is highly misleading to the people all over India, for ই অ is the sound of both য, and য ফলা—outside the presidency of Bengal. The Indians of all other provinces, as well as the Europeans, who come to learn Bengali after studying Sanskrit or Hindi, are sure to pronounce গ্যাল as গিয়াল. ”

“ Non-observance of Sanskrit rules does not however justify us to formulate, that euphonic combination is unknown in Bengali.
In Bengali, we do not and cannot combine different words into one agglutinated whole, for we utter our words one after the other, to convey distinct meaning of them to other ears; but different vowel sounds and allied consonants do combine to form one word. With the অপভ্রংশ word মশা, the Sanskrit word অরি (enemy) being joined in sandhi, we have got one word to mean the distinct article মশারি (mosquito curtain) ”

“ Properly speaking, no general secular literature existed in the provincial dialects, to give models of language to the Prākṛta-speaking people of successive generations. The people continued to speak in their Prākṛta speeches, but serious literature was always being composed by the learned in Sanskrit. When, therefore any good or elevated thought had to be expressed in a public document for universal use, in any Prākṛta dialect, a great want was felt in getting adequate terms in the current speech of the people. ”

“ The existence of various provincial Prākṛta dialects by the side of the old laukika or classical Sanskrit is not denied by the scholars; but some want us to accept the proposition that the Classical Sanskrit evolved naturally from the Vedic speech and the Prākṛta dialects were formed by corrupting the Sanskrit language. The facts which are principally adduced in support of the proposition are: (1) All the past-indicating forms, viz., লিট্, লঙ্ and লুঙ্ are in use in Sanskrit while there is principally but one generalised past form of finite verbs in the Prākṛtas old and new. ”