Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/263

Rh early period has not been hitherto discovered, and old songs, proverbs, adages and saws as have come down to us, have lost their old linguistic character in the course of being transmitted orally from generation to generation. 10th century A.D, is the approximate time when Oriya was fully differentiated as a provincial vernacular, but of this time we do not get even any literary fragment composed in a genuine vernacular. In the name of the Bengali language of the 10th century A.D,, a recently published volume of verses has attracted our attention; it is quite fitting that the language of this collection should be examined here. The book I have to notice in quest of the old Bengali language, is a collection of three doctrinal works recently published by the Bengal 'Sāhitya Pariṣat' under one general title—'বৌদ্ধগান ও দোঁহা'; the noted Scholar Mahamahopadhyay Haraprasad Shastri brought the doctrinal works from Nepal, and it is he who has edited them in the aforesaid collection. It has been prominently inscribed on the very title page, that the contents of the collection preserve for us the language of Bengal as was current thousand years ago. What Pandit Shastri says, commands my respectful attention, but I fear that it is difficult to support the claim of antiquity that has been preferred for the hieratic effusions in question. I have to remark here that I do not take any account of the ডাকার্ণব portion of the collection, as it is not in Bengaji, but composed in corrupt Sanskrit,—interspersed with some Prākṛta slokas.

These doctrinal works, we learn, were translated into Tibetan, but when, we do not know. The fact that some scholars of Tibet are known to have been active during some centuries in collecting various books in India, does not prove when these works were collected; it could be previous to this period of special activity, or it could