Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/185

144 letters on wood, and than moulded from them a set of types, with his own hands. Halhead's grammar was then printed with these types. In 1793, Forster, a European, translated into Bengali all the law-books, which had been collected by the then Governor-general, Lord Cornwallis. In 1799, Marshson, Ward and some other Christian missionaries settled down at Serampore, and set up a printing press there. They formed and prepared Bengali, Dev-Nagri and other vernacular types; and, with these, they printed Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, Uriya and other vernacular versions of the Bible. Kirttiabas's Ramayan, Kasidas's Mahabharat, and some other ancient Bengali works also were printed at this press, and sold at a cheap price.

It is very difficult to trace the origin of Bengali prose. We have come across a Bengali book nearly 300 years old. The language of the book, though neither vigorous nor harmonious, clearly shows that Bengali prose must have been born at a much earlier date, though it is very difficult now to trace that exact date. As a specimen of its language, we quote below an extract from the book:—

"তাহার রূপ কি। স্বরূপ প্রকৃতিতে জড়িতা। বাহ্যজ্ঞান রহিত। তেঁহ নিত্য চৈতন্য। তাহাকে জানিব কেমনে। তেঁহ আপনাকে আপনি জানান। যে জন চেতন সেই চৈতন্য। অতএব স্বরূপ রূপ এক বস্তু হয়। বর্ত্তমান অনুমান এই দুইরূপ। * * * তাহার নাম কি। সপ্ত স্বর্গ সপ্ত পাতাল কি কি। ভূলোক ভবলোক সুরলোক মহালোক