Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/318

 294 BENGALI LITERATURE Chemistry and Medicine—everywhere we trace the inde- fatigable activity of the European writers. It is true that most of these works were meant merely to be text-books but they are equally significant of the zeal of their authors as writers and teachers and of the encouragement which was afforded tothe cause of learning. The multiplication of Grammar and Dictionary, no doubt, Grammar and Dic- points to a zealous movement towards tionary. the scientific study of the language, but it must be admitted that in the lexicons compiled by European writers, undue preponderance is given to Sanscrit words and the proportion of purely native Bengali words is comparatively small : while the Grammars, on the other- hand, are written mostly on the pattern of English Grammars and consequently fail to set in relief the peculiar features of the oriental vernacular. Little need be said of the works on History and Biography, enna | Ethies and Moral Tales, for almost Tales. all these writings consist of mere translation: buta peculiar interest attaches, as we have seen, to the Bengali scientific writings of this period for their useful glossaries of technical and difficult terms as well as for their Scientific writings. | manner and method of rendering scientific ideas into Bengali. But, besides these contributions to the department of useful knowledge, there came about, under the European influence, a vogue for realism and social satire. The popular opinion
 * has always leant to the supposition that

ne Se ee ogi sphere A/a/ and Hutam are the pioneer works, but even long before these works were published, from the time of Carey’s Dialogues downwards, numerous works (such as Bhabani- charan’s Kalikala Kamalalaya or Pramathandth Sarma’s