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The Languages of Calcutta, 1760–1840

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

The purpose of this essay is to trace in outline the history of the languages used in Calcutta and its environs during a period extending roughly from 1760 to 1840. The languages were Arabic, Bengali, English, Hindustani, Persian, Portuguese, and Sanskrit. Account has been taken of the status of the languages at different times, the people who used them, the extent to which they were used, and the purposes they served. To do this it has been necessary to take a wide view of the history of the period, and make references which properly fall within the field of political, social, religious, and economic history: such as the policies of the East India Company, both in London and Calcutta, the plans and actions of the Christian missionaries, the attitudes and preferences of the main religious communities, the development of education, and the changing opportunities in the economic life of the people.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1956

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References

page 453 note 1I am indebted to Professor C. H. Philips and the members of the staff of the History Department in the School of Oriental and African Studies for permitting me to discuss a synopsis of this essay with them in seminar.

page 453 note 2‘Calcutta and its environs’ is not a precise geographical area. It may be defined as Calcutta, its suburbs, and such places as were in some kind of direct cultural contact with it.

page 453 note 3The date 1760 has been chosen for the following reasons : (a) it may be taken to mark the end of the medieval period of Bengali literature, being the year of the death of Bhāratcandra Rāy; (6) no work of literary or scholastic importance was written in Calcutta until after that date; (c) it was the beginning of a new political age, characterized by the ‘ transfer of loyalty from the native government to the Company’ [Misra, B.B., Judicial administration of the East India Company in Bengal, 17651782 (University of Londonunpublished Ph.D. thesis), p. 6Google Scholar, and with Calcutta becoming a political and commercial centre; (d) the influx of population from country towns and districts in Bengal, Bihar, and farther afield, which converted Calcutta into a polyglot metropolis, had already commenced. All dates cited are A.D.

page 454 note 1Marshman, J.C., The life and times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. London, Longmans, 1859, 2 vola. (Later referred to as C M W.) Vol. I, pp. 21–2.Google Scholar

page 454 note 2Bhattacharya, S., The East India Company and the economy of Bengal. London, Luzac, 1954, 79.Google Scholar

page 454 note 3Chatterji, S.K., The origin and development of the Bengali language. CalcuttaUniversity Press, 1926, I, 214.Google Scholar (Abbreviated as ODBL.)

page 454 note 4ODBL, I, 202; also Halhed, N.B., A grammar of the Bengal language, 1778, Preface, p. viii.Google Scholar

page 454 note 5Halhed, Preface, p. viii.

page 454 note 6ODBL, I, 204.

page 454 note 7Wilson, H.H., A glossary of judicial and revenue terms, 1855, Introduction, p. xx.Google Scholar

page 455 note 1Halhed, op. cit., viii.

page 455 note 2C M W, I, 147.

page 455 note 3Halhed, op. cit., xx.

page 455 note 4Misra, op. cit., 519.

page 455 note 5Misra, op. cit., 162,165, 223.

page 455 note 6ibid., 229.

page 455 note 7The English works of Raja Sam Mohan Ray, edited by J. C. Ghost. Calcutta, 1901, 3 vols. Vol. I, Introduction, p. ii.

page 455 note 8Halhed, op. cit., ix,et passim.

page 456 note 1Halhed, op. cit., xiii-xiv.

page 456 note 2ibid., iii.

page 456 note 3ibid., x-xi.

page 457 note 1Works of Sir William Jones, London, 1807, 13 vols. Vol. III, p. 263.Google Scholar

page 457 note 2ibid., III, 8.

page 457 note 3Misra, op. cit., 257.

page 457 note 4ibid., 257.

page 457 note 5Rahman, F.Y., English education and the Muslims, 1948. (University of London, unpublished M.A. thesis.) p. 75.Google Scholar

page 457 note 6ibid., 74.

page 457 note 7Guhathakurta, P., The Bengali drama, its origin and development, 1926. (University of LondonPh.D. thesis, since published.) p. 69.Google Scholar

page 457 note 8Rahman, op. cit., 74.

page 458 note 1Halhed, Preface, p. xv.

page 458 note 2ibid., xvii.

page 458 note 3Halhed's Preface ends with an eloquent tribute to the merits of Wilkins' achievement.

page 458 note 4C M W, I, 69–70.

page 459 note 1C M W, I,8O–l.

page 459 note 2Ghosh, J.C., Bengali literature. OxfordUniversity Press, 1948, 98.Google Scholar

page 459 note 3ibid., 103.

page 459 note 4ibid., 103.

page 459 note 5C M W, I,145.

page 460 note 1C M W, I,145.

page 460 note 2ibid., I, 167.

page 460 note 3Ghosh, op. cit., 100.

page 460 note 4Ghosh, op. cit., 101–2.

page 460 note 5ibid., 104, footnote.

page 460 note 6Ghosh, op. cit., 101.

page 461 note 1Rahman, op. cit., 57.

page 461 note 2C M W, I, 147.

page 461 note 3Rahman, op. cit., 143.

page 461 note 4Ghosh, op. cit., 101.

page 461 note 5C M W, I, 191.

page 462 note 1C M W,I, 192.

page 462 note 2Rahman, op. cit., 92.

page 462 note 3C M W,I,51.

page 462 note 4ibid., 85.

page 462 note 5Spear, Percival, ‘Bentinck and education’, Cambridge Historical Journal, 1938, 78100.Google Scholar

page 463 note 1Christian Observer, I, 2,1832.Google Scholar

page 463 note 2C M W, II, 119.

page 463 note 3Sambād Sekāler Kathā. Calcutta, Bangīya-Sāhitya-Parisad, 1949,Google Scholar 2 vols. (A selection of extracts from newspapers published in Calcutta between 1818 and 1840.) Vol. I, p. 430. (Referred to hereafter as SSK.)

page 463 note 4C M W, II, 121–2.

page 464 note 1C M W, II, 122.

page 464 note 2ibid., 122seq.

page 464 note 3ibid., 157.

page 464 note 4Ghosh, op. cit., 108.

page 464 note 5C M W, II, 117.

page 464 note 6ibid., 118.

page 464 note 7ibid., 118.

page 465 note 1C M W,II, 162.

page 465 note 2Bāmlā Sāmayik-Patra (abbreviated BSP), Vol. I, pp. 17–25.

page 465 note 3C M W,II, 168.

4ibid., 173.

page 465 note 5ibid., 169–70.

page 466 note 1C M W, II, 172.

page 466 note 2ibid., 170.

page 467 note 1SSK, I, 20.

page 467 note 2English works of Ram Mohan Ray, II, 324 seq.

page 467 note 3SSK, I, 25–8.

page 467 note 4ibid., 19–20.

page 467 note 5Spear, op. cit.

page 467 note 6Spear, op. cit.

page 468 note 1Rahman, op. cit., 79–80.

page 468 note 2BSP, I, 15–72.

page 469 note 1BSP, I, 69–70.

page 469 note 2Samācār Darpan, 30.1.1830.

page 469 note 3C M W, II, 490.

page 470 note 1SSK, II, 230.

page 470 note 2Spear, op. cit.

page 470 note 3SSK, II, 3.

page 470 note 4ibid., II, 4.

page 470 note 5ibid., I, 31–5.

page 470 note 6ibid., II, 16 and 676.

page 470 note 7Spear, op. cit.

page 471 note 1SSK, I, 58.

page 471 note 2William Adam was placed under the orders of the General Committee of Education for the purpose of preparing this report in January 1835.

page 471 note 3Adam, op. cit., 76.

page 471 note 4ibid., 76–7.

page 471 note 5Spear, op. cit.

page 471 note 6Spear, op. cit.

page 472 note 1Samācār Darpan, 26.1.1828.

page 472 note 2Spear, op. cit. (Ballhatchet, in ‘The home Government and Bentinck's educational policy ’, Cambridge Historical Journal, 1951, ascribes the change rather to the policy of Bentinck himself than to the prompting of the Court of Directors.)

page 472 note 3Marshman's History of India, III, 65.

page 473 note 1Marshman, op. cit., III, 66.

page 473 note 2Adam, op. cit., 192’3.

page 473 note 3Rahman, op. cit., 135.

page 474 note 1C M W, II, 491.

page 474 note 2Adam, op. cit., 193–4.