Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay

Name: The Origin of the Bengali Script
Author: Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay

The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

Summary

“The Origin of the Bengali Script”, published in 1919, is a work by Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay. It explores elements such as inscription, form and alphabet.

Quotes from The Origin of the Bengali Script (Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay)

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ In the Gupta period, the addition of a new variety of the alphabet is now possible, owing to the discoveries of the remains of ancient Indian civilisation in the deserts of Central Asia. Fresh discoveries have also made it possible to trace the gradual displacement of the Eastern variety of the Northern alphabet by the Western one, in the 5th and 6th centuries A. D., and to determine the exact epoch of the final displacement. Finally, new materials have facilitated the determination of the type specimens of each variety, in each particular century, with a nearer approach to accuracy. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The Western and Afghanistan varieties were developed from the old Western variety, while the Central and Eastern varieties were evolved out of the old Eastern. The Eastern variety lost ground and its Western boundary gradually receded eastwards. The development, of the Eastern alphabet only, has been followed in these pages. It has become possible to show, that proto-Bengali forms were evolved in the North-East, long before the invasion of Northern India, by the Nāgarī alphabet of the South-West, and that Nāgarī has had very little influence upon the development of the Bengali script. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The upper part of the left limb of a has become a slightly elongated nail-head or wedge, while the lower part is converted into a regular curve, with a knob at its top, looking more like a comma. The right limb together with the line joining both the limbs, can be drawn at one stroke of the pen and the letter resembles the Bengali one, in its present form. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ No inscription, which can safely be assigned to the 1st century B. C. or A. D., has been found anywhere in North-Eastern India, except at Sārnāth. The records which can be assigned to the 1st century B. C. are very few in number:
(i) Inscription on the upper side of the lower horizontal bar of the stone-railing surrounding the old stūpa in the south chapel of the main shrine [17] . The second half of the inscription only, is of earlier date, the first half belonging to the second century A. D. (not the 3rd or 4th as Messrs. Konow and Marshall imagine) . ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The vast fabric of the Gurjjara-Pratīhāra Empire, imperfectly welded together, was rapidly falling to pieces. Family discord, fanned into flame by neighbouring monarchs, rushed the decay of the Gurjjaras of Kanauj. In the far East the ancient Empire of the Pālas was fast crumbling away. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The transitional form between the Proto-Bengali one and the final Bengali form is the one in gaṇe and suṇaha in L. 1 where the bisecting vertical line in the curve of the Māndā inscription, seems to have become a horizontal cross bar. The final form shows the elimination of this cross bar in Suṇaha, L. 3. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The chronology of the Pāla dynasty of Bengal, and specially their relations with the Gurjjara-Pratīhāras have been settled from synchronisms, and a detailed discussion of the subject will be found in my monograph on the Pālas of Bengal. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ In all other we find the Western variety forms—
1. lavdha (L. 3) , 2. kāle (L. 4) , 3. gopāla (L.5) , 4. khaṇḍalakaiḥ (L. 9) , 5. lauhitya (L. 11) , 6. kulya (L. 14) , 7. akhila (L. 15) , 8. satpālāni (L. 17) , 9. khandalaka (L. 17) , 10. pustapāla (L. 18) , 11. dharmmaśīla and 12. nalena (L. 19) , 18. liṅgāni (L. 20) , 14. ślokāni (L. 24) .
The form in the last example is very late. It is the 9th century form, found for the first time in the Dighwā-Dubhauli grant of Mahendrapāla [10] .
III. In the case of the lingual ṣa we find eastern variety forms in:
1. Nahuṣa (L. 1) , 2. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, The Origin of the Bengali Script (1919)

“ The Pāli grant should be included among North-Eastern inscriptions, instead of North-Western ones, as it was found about thirty miles from Allahabad It may be mentioned that the Kosām image- inscription of Bhīmavarman, of the Gupta year 139 = 458 A.D., shows the use of eastern forms and the findspot of this record is close to Pāli. ”

Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay

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