Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/138

 I o8 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. Chap. Where the affix (5 forms the termination of words in both nominative and accusative forms, it often becomes difficult to distinguish between the two. In sentences,-like, সৌরীন্ধক কীচক বল এ ততক্ষণ " Kavīndra. a doubt may naturally occur as to who the person addressed is. It is, therefore, probable that for avoiding this difficulty, the form 3 was adopted to denote the accusative and dative cases. In the Gatha and Prakrita languages instances of the affix (<f in the accusative and dative Cases are not wanting, as in The pleonastic < formerly served as the mere termination of a word and was not reckoned as a case-affix. Hence in old Bengali this C1 is often affixed to words in various cases; as in " - 3 (3. zirizi 3 is '' (Chaitanya Charitamrita) and ' কাধিকে রুমাল করি হাসিয়ে মুরারি ” (Crikrisha Vijaya), where it forms the termination of the Words in the locative case. The plural In old Bengali writings, 73, it zi, sf; and siminumber: llar words were generally used to denote the plural number. The word  2, if  (beginning with) was also often used with a noun to imply plurality, The following extract from Narottama Vilasa Will shew numerous instances of the use of lift in the above manner. ' ' শ্ৰীচৈতন্য দাস আদি যথা উত্তরিলা । শ্ৰী নৃসিংহ কবিরাজে তথা নিয়োজিল ৷
 * পালিও অাদু দাসী এপুত্তে দলিদ চালুদত্তাকে তুমিং ।” Mricchakatika, 8th Canto.