Puthi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Puthi is a book of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of rural ancient Bengal which were read by a senior ‘educated’ person while others would listen. This was used as a medium for education and constructive entertainment.

Puthis are ancient manuscripts. In Bengal, these books were different and unlike any other book at that time. Writers, or Munshis, used to write in Songskrito, Bangla, or Local Bangla.

The pages of Puthis could be leaves, sheets of wood, or old papers. Uaually, they were written on one side and bound with a piece of string.

Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad collected more than 2,000 Puthis. More than 1,000 of them were written by Bengali Muslims. No other person or organization has collected this number of Puthis before.