Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/126

 102 BENGALI LITERATURE and that with the decay of learning and eulture in Bengal, the vernacular literature had come to be neglected, and for some time it had practically become non-existent. It was only natural, therefore, for these European scholars from Halhed to Yates, who were not aware of the existence of more than half a dozen Bengali works, to indulge in such sweeping and hasty statements. In his study of Bengali, Carey found out very early that without the classical Sanserit, which he always re- garded as “the parent of nearly all the colloquial dia- lects of India.’’t, he could neither master its Bengali offshoot nor enrich that vernacular with — effective literary forms and combinations. If one must borrow, one might go to the literatures of Europe for themes and methods but the expression must always be indigenous. It is significant indeed that all the early Bengali writers from Carey to Bidyasagar, whose writings have helped to create for us the Bengali prose, were His study of jearned in the Sanscrit language, Sanscrit and its effect. a and were therefore always ready to avail themselves of the rich treasures of forms and expres- sions which that classical language afforded. Carey applied himself to Sanserit with so much industry that as early as April 1796 we find him writing home that he had made enough progress in the language to read the Mahabharat; and that in 1798 he had compiled a Sanserit grammar and the considerable portion of a Sanserit-English dictionary.2. It must be remembered that Sanserit learning and literature were much patronised in those days and the first step taken by the government towards the education of the native-born snbjects was inspired by the desire for the promotion of Sanserit scholarship. 1 Preface to Sanscrit Grammar (1806), 2 See also his letter to Sutcliffe, June 16, 1798, quoted in BE. Carey’s op. cit. p. 828.