BLiterature-Apratim

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2 With the gradual change of civilization and culture, human outlook goes through continuous alteration. As a result, a writer who is once recognized as great, may not be so forever. A critic’s judgment of literature is often consciously and sometimes unconsciously based on the general views of his own time. So my words also are not a superman’s gospel. The readers are entreated to keep it in mind. After a careful scrutiny, I have prepared the following list – The Buddhist Age (8 th -12 th Centuries) The Turkic Age (13 th Century) The Sultanate (14 th -15 th Centuries) The Vaishnava Age or The Age of Chaitanya (16 th Century) The Mogul Age (17 th Century) The Nawabi Age (18 th Century) The Scholastic Age (1801-’58) The Heroic Age (1858-’90) The Romantic Age or The Age of Tagore (1890-1936) The High Modern Age (1936-’60) The Liberation (1960-’90) The Postmodern Age (Since 1990) 2 Historical Development The Buddhist Age (8 th -12 th Centuries) Buddhism is one of the greatest philosophies of the antiquity. Buddhism, unlike other religions, emphasizes the development of self rather than worship of an imaginary god. It teaches a person to free oneself of evil and harmful instincts and to attain the blissful state of Nirvana. It is a truly humanistic religion which shows the mankind the way of having a high order of humanity. The first glimmer of our unique national literature was actually seen around the 8 th century AD when Bengal came under the control of the Buddhist Pal dynasty. Then people’s self-consciousness of their regional identity was arising and its sign was in the growth of their own culture. Buddhism in Bengal had remarkable distinctiveness from other Buddhist countries. People here worshipped several Buddhist gods and goddesses who were believed to have attained Nirvana. This faith was slowly merging with other Indian religions including Hinduism. In Bengal, Tantric and Sahajiya Buddhism developed among common people, which later resulted in flowering of Vaishnava and Baul mysticisms.
3 By that time, Buddhism was in the way of transition from its stoic feature to an epicurean one. Thus sexuality, which was discouraged by its early preachers, became in course of time, an auspicious part of its ritual. The Buddha was then accepted even by the Hindus as their avatar. Its proof is the 12 th -century Sanskrit poet Jayadeva’s work Gitogobindam. Acclaimed as the epic of Vaishnavism, this poem possesses a psalm on the Buddha. Now some critics even claim this poem to belong to the Vajrayan school of Buddhism. In 1907, Dr. Haraprasad Shastri (1853-1931) discovered a Banga-Kamrupiya (i.e. the earliest form of Bangla and Assamese) script in Nepal’s Royal archive and published entitling Charya-Charya-Binischay. It is in fact, an anthology of Buddhist Sahajiya mystic (Charya) songs. However, this poetic collection is claimed by at least six languages – Bangla, Assamese, Oriya, Maithili, Hindi and Manipuri. Charya-Charya-Binischay includes the songs of Lui Pada, Kanho Pada, Sabar Pada, Kukkuri Pada, Dhendon Pada, Vusuku Pada, Shoroho Pada and many others. Through this work, Bangla literature was born and started to walk in its long-destined way. A masterpiece of the era, it is in fact the progenitor of our dear mother-tongue. The poets of Charyas depicted the lives of lower class and ‘untouchable’ people (like boatmen, potters, hunters etc.) in the surface. But they in fact reveal spiritual ideas supported by Sahajiya Tantric Buddhism. The Tantric Buddhists relied on sexual practice as a part of their religiosity; their notion of sex too is evident in this book. Later this cult developed into Vaishnava Sahajiya, Nath and Baul mysticisms; so the subsequent Bengali culture bore their inheritance. There are some beautiful imageries in the anthology, for example – “High mountain, there lives the hunter girl, Peacock feathers are her attire, a Gunja-garland is around her neck.” (Translated by the author) The following lines refer to those days’ poverty-stricken people’s lives – “My home is on a small hill, I have no neighbor, No rice is there in my pitcher, starvation lasts forever.” (Translated by the author) Dak, Khana’s Bachans (i.e. utterances) and a huge number of fairy tales too are believed by some scholars to belong to this era. Khana was a legendary astrologer who gave rhymed counsels to the common public. Atish Dipankar Srijman (982?-1053), the most renowned scholar of the age, is believed to have written Charya songs in Banga-Kamrupiya. Unfortunately only the Tibetan translations of his works survive. Some scholars imagine that some writings of ‘Nath’ literature (which really can be traced since the 17 th century) might have been done in the Buddhist era. But not a single piece of writing of that genre has been discovered yet. In this context, it is noteworthy that the languages of the whole Eastern India (including Bengal, Kamrupa, Maghad and Kalinga) were closely similar in those days. So it was an age of the entire Eastern Indian literature.
Page 1: Bangla Literature: A Critical Overv
Page 5 and 6: 5 not flourish here. Krittibas’s
Page 7 and 8: 7 Chaitanya’s era as the mystic f
Page 9 and 10: 9 slowly merging. Even after the Ba
Page 11 and 12: 11 ’85) and Piarichand Mitra (181
Page 13 and 14: 13 were two late representatives of
Page 15 and 16: 15 Panju Shah (1851?-1914) and Haso
Page 17 and 18: 17 Panchagram (1943), Hashuli Banke
Page 19 and 20: 19 Also a new trend of historical n
Page 21 and 22: 21 3 Great Bengali Writers Jayadeva
Page 23 and 24: 23 lovers’ pains. According to hi
Page 25 and 26: 25 This poem is a reflection of the
Page 27 and 28: 27 Michael’s epic has a prehistor
Page 29 and 30: 29 lovers. And at the end of the no
Page 31 and 32: 31 An intense ray is dispersed into
Page 33 and 34: 33 Shey.(S/he) is a novel out of th
Page 35 and 36: 35 Tasher Desh (The Play-Cards’ L
Page 37 and 38: 37 autobiographical novel. It is a
Page 39 and 40: 39 fighter and eventually a martyr
Page 41 and 42: 41 He died a premature death out of
Page 43 and 44: 43 the tiresome journey of Man is n
Page 45 and 46: 45 Giving the child a farewell kiss
Page 47 and 48: 47 Sunil’s poems are a unique pla
Page 49 and 50: 49 Akhtaruzzaman Elias (1943-’97)
Page 51 and 52: 51 He warns mankind of a possible f
Page 53 and 54:
53 • A writer who wrote in two li
show all

BLiterature-Apratim

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?