Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/418

 Conserve: tiveness of Hindu writers. 382 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. shade while those of the Muhammadans flourished. — The word 44% which means a city was replaced : by the word 424; the Bengali Bf#1 a rupee (from ' Sanskrit B¥1) when received as revenue by the Mu- hammadan rulers became 24f{Fat.; the words ভূমি and | 3 ভূঞা (from Sans ভৌমিক) ) signifying land and land- | owner were replaced by জমি 210 জমিদার. The man- sions of the rich and all big buildings were no longer — called Bg tfaa] but became knownas aqtqx. The little earthen lamp retained its old name 21%, but the word which once implied all classes of lamps became ~ restricted in sense. Chandeliers and the wall-lamps _ were now called @f{% and দেওয়ালগিরি ০51১০০61৮০1, | and so in all departments of life, the very words imported into our tongue by the Muhammadans ~ shew that they were enjoying the cream of things — and monopolizing all power. The case was the same | as that of the Saxon language after the Norman | conquest. The victors who were placed in power : introduced their own words into the spheres with | which they were directly connected. But, curiously, in the vernacular literature of 7 the Hindus, inspite of this common use of foreign words, our writers showed great unwillingness to adopt non-Sanskritic words. In the old literature of Bengal we seldom come across foreign words. In the pride of what Hindus considered to be their — own superior civilization, they remained aloof from — Muhammadan contact as for as practicable, content- ed with their own social life and the cultivation of — their classical literature. They cared not who admis if nistered the country; thus the word 424 (city) is of — Muhammadan origin, while #1 (a village) remained true to the Sanskritic form, In the village the Hindu