History of Bengali literature

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Ancient Age

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The first works in Bengali, written in Old Bengali,[1] appeared between 10th and 12th centuries C.E. It is generally known as the Charyapada. These are mystic songs composed by various Buddhist seer-poets: Luipada, Kanhapada, Kukkuripada, Chatilpada, Bhusukupada, Kamlipada, Dhendhanpada, Shantipada, Shabarapada etc. The famous Bengali linguist Harprashad Shastri discovered the palm leaf Charyapada manuscript in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907 [1]

Middle Age

Main article: Middle Bengali Literature

Early Vaishnab Literature

Shrikrishna Kirtana

Main article: Shreekrishna Kirtana

A torn manuscript of the Sreekrishna Kirtana Kabya was discovered by Basanta Ranjan Roy Biddyadwallav in 1909 from the house of Debendranath Chatterjee at a village named kakinla in the district of Bankura [West Bengal]. Shreekrishna Kirtana Kabya was composed by Boru Chandidas. While, Charyapada shows us the most ancient example of Bengali language, Shreekrishna Kirtana depicts a new kind of speech style very clearly. According to Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, “The Grammar of the speech of the Shreekrishna Kirtana gives a clue to many of the forms of New Bengali”

Padavali of Vidyapati

The padas of Vidyapati, though written in Maithili influenced the medieval Bengali poets immensely.

Padavali of Chandidas

A large number of padas related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, Baḍu, Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also. It is not clear whether these bhanitas actually refer to the same person or not.

Early translations from Sanskrit

Early Mangalkavyas

The Mangalkavyas were written to popularise the worship of a number of deities, mostly Manasa and Chandi. This genre of Bengali literature includes the majority of works of the medieval Bengali literature. This genre includes the following sub-genres:

  • Manasamangalkavya
  • Chandimangalkavya

Hagiography of Sri Chaitanya

Chaitanya Bhagavat of Vrindavana Dasa

The Chaitanya Bhagavata is the earliest hagiographical work on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, written by Vrindavana Dasa

Chaitanya Mangal of Jayananda

Chaitanya Mangal of Lochan Dasa

Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishnadasa Kaviraja

Main article: Chaitanya Charitamrita

The Chaitanya Charitamrita is the magnum-opus of the Bengali saint/author Krishna Dasa Kaviraja (1496-? CE). The book, a hybrid Bengali and Sanskrit biography, documents the life and precepts of the Vaishnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533), who is considered by his followers to be an incarnation of Radha and Krishna combined. Chaitanya is a pivotal figure of the Hindu sect Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

As a religious text, the Chaitanya Charitamrita is the main theological resource for Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology and is divided into three sections, Adi-lila, Madhya-lila and Antya-lila.

Later Vaishnab literature

  • Padavali of Balaram Dasa
  • Padavali of Jnandasa
  • Padavali of Govinda Dasa Kabiraj

Later Mangal Kavyas

  • Dharmamangalkavya
  • Raimangalkavya

Translation of Mahabharata

Muslim poets of the 17th century

Works of Raigunakar Bharatchandra

Shakta Padavali

Baul Songs

  • Lalon Fakir

Early Modern Age

Essay

Poetry

Drama

Novel/short story

Modern Age

Essay

Poetry

Drama

Novel/short story

Periodicals

Modern Bangladeshi literature

The Hungryalist movement

The Hungryalist movement, better known as Hungry generation was launched from the Patna residence of Malay Roy Choudhury in November 1961 by Malay along with Shakti Chattopadhyay, Samir Roychoudhury and Haradhon Dhara alias Debi Roy. Later around 30 more poets, writers and painters joined the movement. In view of their anti-establishment writings, some of them were arrested in 1964, and ultimately charges were framed against Malay Roy Choudhury for his poem Stark Electric Jesus. He was jailed by the lower court, though the High Court exonerated him. The police action resulted into disbanding of the movement in 1965. However, the movement had a lasting effect, inasmuch as the writing trend changed, and subsequently there was a little magazine explosion.

The Prakalpana Movement

The Prakalpana Movement appears to be the only bilingual avant-garde literary movement ongoing in India for over four decades which has followers worldwide. Marked as the 'tiny literary revolution'[3] and inculcated by Vattacharja Chandan,[4] this alternative movement has harboured the mail art and literary works of well-known international writers such as Richard Kostelanetz, Don Webb, John M. Bennett, Sheila Murphy and others as well as their Indian counterparts like Vattacharja Chandan, Dilip Gupta, Bablu Roychoudhury, Nikhil Bhaumik, Ramratan Mukhopadhyay, Utpal, Baudhayan Mukhopadhyay, Shyamoli Mukherjee Bhattacharjee, Avijit Ghose, Arun Chakraborty, Niva De etc.

References

  1. ↑ D:\rr\Bengali literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.mht
  2. ↑ http://www.calcuttayellowpages.com/adver/107778.html
  3. ↑ Songs of Kobisena by Steve Leblanc, Version 90, PMS Cafe Press, Alston, MS, USA.
  4. ↑ http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/illustration/zineopolis/collection/p/prakalpana.htm

Literary movement

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