BENGALI (ben-ga'16) LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The Bengali language is a modern Indian dialect, akin to the Uriya and to the Hindustani (q.v.). Like all the modern In dian languages, it is analytic in type, and the structure of its grammar this resembles that of modern Persian or English. According to the latest census, Bengali is spoken by about 42,000, 000 souls. There are numerous dialects, but the Calcutta dialect may be regarded as the stand ard, although the literary language differs wide ly from any of its vernaculars, on account of the introduction of Sanskrit words, which are employed more freely in Bengali than in any other modern Indian language. The Bengali uses a peculiar but beautiful character derived from the Devanagari or Sanskrit alphabet. The Bengali literature falls into three periods, the first of which, from the Fourteenth to the Six teenth Century, comprises chiefly Krishnaitic hymns. In the next period, which lasted until the Eighteenth Century, a Sivaite tone was im parted to the literature, and translations of the great Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, were made. The third period of
Bengali literature is marked by the struggle of two opposing schools, the one drawing its in spiration from the Sanskrit classics, and the other working in sympathy with European ideals. Several novels have been produced under this new inspiration in Bengali, and an attempt has also been made to revive the popular Ben gali plays, or Jatras.
Consult: Beames, Grammar of the Bengali Language (Oxford, 1894) : Nicolls, Manual of the Bengali Language (London, 1894) ; Sen, English-Bengalee Dictionary (Serampore, 1834) ; G. C. Haughton, Bengali, 8anskrit, and English, Dictionary (London, 1833) ; Bullorampaul & Co., Prakriti Bibeca Abhidana, an etymological dictionary of the Sanskrit and Bengali languages (Calcutta, 1S93) ; and Dutt, The Literature of Bengal (Calcutta, 1895).