History of Bengali Language and Literature c6.s8.17

c6.s8.17

Now Bengali is a highly artificial language. I quote here a Bengali hymn by Bhārata Chandra,—the great Bengali poet of the 18th century. One may take this as a piece of pure Sanskrit, and if written in Devnāgri characters it will be read by Sanskrit scholars all over the world as a Sanskrit poem. They will certainly be surprised to hear, that it is a Bengali poem, quoted from the Bengali work Annadā Maṅgala. This goes to shew to what an extent written Bengali has approached Sanskrit.