History of Bengali Language and Literature c8.11

c8.11

Along with the resuscitation of Sanskrit words, systematic efforts were being made to correct the spelling of Bengali words, which still retained the forms prescribed by Prākrita Orthography. This process along with that of Sanskritising words, has ever since been going on in our literature. There are many words of Sanskritic origin in Bengali even now which are spelt after the rules of Prākrita grammar; such for instance are the words কাজ, সোনা, কান and সাদা which are derived from the Sanskrit কার্য, স্বর্ণ, কর্ণ and শ্বেত respectively, but which still retain Prākrita spelling. The purists will, I am sure, ere long correct them. In old manuscripts we find innumerable instances of কে, জাহার, জার which are no longer presented to us in such Prākrita forms. The M.S. of Chandi Kāvya, believed to be witten by Mukundarāma himself, shows spellings of words which do not always conform to Sanskrit grammar; but Mukundarāma, it should be remembered, lived in an age when Prākrita forms of spelling were current in written Bengali,—when the purists had just began to correct the Vernacular