That is because the joint form evolved separately, following its own course. But today, the two letters cannot be identified separately in their joint form. The individual letters could be clearly identified in their joint form in Ashok's Brahmi script. We can also find how their joint form, the kay-ta (ক্ত) was written. We can, for example, find how the letters ka (ক) and ta (ত) were written tracing them back to their early forms. From afterwards, till today, Bengali type script is more or less the same.īut, our joint letters have a history of their own. From 1778 to 1820, for roughly forty years, the type script of some Bengali letters underwent changes. Wilkins had used handwriting from that time as the reference for his type. In 1778, Bengali script was first used in print in Halhed's A Grammar of the Bengal Language using Sir Charles Wilkin's Bengali type. The Bengali script of the middle ages was used in Bengal, Assam and Tripura. In the 13th century, the Orissan script underwent changes-some letters started being written differently. Till the 12th century, the scripts for these regions were the same. Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Nepal were the regions where what we call the old Bengali script was in use. Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apobhrongsho or Bengali-whichever language was used in this region, the script used was the Bengali script. In different regions, they went through different courses of evolution, so they look very different now. Indeed, in the subcontinent, all scripts used, except for Urdu, derived from Ashoka's Brahmi. At different times in this region, different languages were used, but the script for all of these were derived from the Brahmi script. Documents found from the 13th century were also written in scripts which came from Brahmi. After that, the scripts used during the Pal period (from the eight century) and the Sen period (from the 10th century) were all derived from the Brahmi script. During the Gupta period (the third century to the fifth century) a derived form of Brahmi was used. During the Kushan period the script remained almost same. It was written in a developed form of Brahmi in the Sanskrit language. The next example we can find is handwriting from the Shushunia Hill in West Bengal dating from the fourth century AD. In Bogura's Mahasthangarh we have found an epigraph which is written in Ashok's Brahmi script. We get the complete form of Brahmi in the Ashokan rock edicts. From the existing evidence we can trace the Bengali script to the ancient Brahmi script. The study of these manuscripts is also important for understanding the evolution of Bengali script. Padma and Hanuman punthi art can be a great source for studying our local art history. These are important examples of old Bengali prose. I have compiled 119 old letters and legal documents in my book Purono Bangla Dalilpotro (1638-1882). But there are other old Bengali documents in the collection of different archives of the country. So far, the oldest specimen of Bengali prose is considered to be a letter written by the King of Cooch Behar to the King of Ahom Raja in 1555. Till now, we have written the history of old prose using very few documents that are publicly available. For example, a comprehensive story of Bengali prose is yet to be written. If we can properly research and publish these documents widely it can bring about a cultural revolution in the whole Bengali-speaking region. It can shed light on many unexplored areas of Bengali language and culture. Old Bengali documents are a treasure trove for both the linguistic and socio-cultural history of the country. You will find very few researchers who are interested in working on this topic. All these documents are gathering dust without being compiled and published. There are 30,000 punthis in the collection of Dhaka University. Research on old and middle-period Bengali has become a matter of shame for our present-day researchers. It is as if all that is worth printing from old Bengali works has already been printed-the rest can be discarded. Old Bengali is not being studied anymore. What is your opinion regarding this observation? Moreover, earlier there was an enthusiasm among scholars for editing and compiling these old works which is now almost non-existent. But we don't talk about Bengali works from the old and middle-periods except some common names such as Charyapada, Sunyapurana, Vaishnava Padavalis, Mangalkavyas and some adaptations of Arabic and Persian romances. We know that the Bengali language has a thousand-year-old history. Dr Md Shahjahan Mian, Photo: Orchid Changma
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