Sadhu bhasha ( bn, সাধু ভাষা, Sādhu bhāṣā, Chaste language) was a historical literary register of the

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

most prominently used in the 19th to 20th centuries during the Bengali Renaissance. Sadhu-bhasha was used only in writing, unlike Cholito-bhasa, the colloquial form of the language, which was used in both writing and speaking. These two literary forms are examples of

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...

. Sadhu-bhasha was practised in official documents and legal papers during the colonial period; however, it is mostly obsolete in the present day.

History

This Sanskritised form of

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

is notable for its variations in verb forms and the vocabulary which is mainly composed of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

tatsama Tatsama ( sa, तत्सम , lit. 'same as that') are Sanskrit loanwords in modern Indo-Aryan languages like Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Hindi, Gujarati, and Sinhala and in Dravidian languages like Malayalam and Telugu. They ...

words. It was mainly a vocabulary making it easier for literary works in

to be translated. Notable among them was

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE ( bn, ঈশ্বর চন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর; 26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), born Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century ...

, who standardised the

Bengali alphabet The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet ( bn, বাংলা বর্ণমালা, ''Bangla bôrṇômala'') is the alphabet used to write the Bengali language based on the Bengali-Assamese script, and has historically been used to w ...

and paved the path for literary works. The colloquial usage of Bengali consisted mostly of its

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

base as well as indigenous ('' deshi''),

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

words embedded into the vocabulary. As a result, the

Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

, a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

pundit caste, chose the path of Sanskritisation to make a "pure" language which would be used as a representative of classical languages into which the works of Sanskrit and

Hindu literature Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...

can be translated. This shifted Bengali from its original Prakrit roots towards Sanskrit. This in turn increased the commonality in Bengali vocabulary with other Indo-Aryan languages, such as

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

. By the time of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, the Sadhu-ness ("purity") of the literary form had largely waned into just a set of Sanskrit verb forms and in a decade,

Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

himself would switch to writing in Cholito Bhasha. Dr. Radha Nag's book ''Atmaghati Nirad Choudhuri'' আত্মঘাতী নীরদ চৌধুরী (Suicidal Nirad Choudhuri) appears as the last Bengali book written in Sadhu Bhasha. Bangladeshi writer, intellectual, academic Dr.

Salimullah Khan Salimullah Khan ( bn, সলিমুল্লাহ খান; born 18 August 1958) is a Bangladeshi writer. Khan explores national and international politics and culture using Marxist and Lacanian theories. Informed and influenced by Ahmed Sof ...

has been writing in Sadhu Basha since 2005. Famous newspaper

Anandabazar Patrika '' Anandabazar Patrika'' ( Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million c ...

uses Sadhu Bhasha on their editorial column, partially, even today.

Styles

The mid-19th century hosted two influential writers of Sadhu-bhasha;

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE ( bn, ঈশ্বর চন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর; 26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), born Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century ...

and

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (also Chattopadhayay) CIE (26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist and journalist.Staff writer"Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist" ''The Daily Star'', 30 June 2011 ...

. Vidyasagar's style was very conservative towards withholding only the use of

(Sanskrit) when writing. His style came to be known as ''Vidyasagari'' and

Akshay Kumar Datta Akshay Kumar Datta (also spelt Akshay Kumar Dutta) ( bn, অক্ষয় কুমার দত্ত) (15 July 1820 – 18 May 1886) was a Bengali writer from India. He was one of the initiators of the Bengal Renaissance. Early life He wa ...

also wrote in this style. Chatterjee's writing style was somewhat more lenient to the use of

tadbhava (Sanskrit: तद्भव, , lit. "arising from that") is the Sanskrit word for one of three etymological classes defined by native grammarians of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, alongside tatsama and deśi words. at pp. 67-69. A "tadbhava" is a w ...

and deshi vocabulary. It came to be known as ''Bankimi'' – a more popular style, it was practised by the likes of

, Hara Prasad Shastri,

Dinesh Chandra Sen Rai Bahadur Dinesh Chandra Sen ( bn, দীনেশ চন্দ্র সেন) (3 November 1866 – 20 November 1939)Sengupta, Subodh Chandra (ed.) (1988) ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (in Bengali), Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad, p.208 was a ...

Mir Mosharraf Hossain Mir Mosharraf Hossain ( bn, মীর মশাররফ হোসেন; 1847–1912) was a Bengali writer, novelist, playwright and essayist. He is considered to be the first major writer to emerge from the Muslim society of Bengal, and one ...

and

Ismail Hossain Siraji Syed Ismail Hossain Siraji ( bn, সৈয়দ ইসমাইল হোসেন সিরাজী; 1880–1931) was a Bengali author and poet from Sirajganj in present-day Bangladesh. He is considered to be one of the key authors of period of ...

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Sadhu-Bhasha of Article 1 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

: Bengali in the

: Bengali in phonetic Romanization :Dhara êk: Sômôstô manush shadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ebông ôdhikar lôiya jônmôgrôhôṇ kôre. Tãhader bibek ebông buddhi achhe; sutôrang sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratrittôsulôbh mônobhab lôiya achôrôṇ kôra uchit. Bengali in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...

: Gloss :Clause 1: All human free-manner-in equal dignity and right taken birth-take do. Their reason and intelligence exist; therefore everyone-indeed one another's towards brotherhood-ly mind-spirit taken conduct do should. Translation :Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess conscience and reason. Therefore, everyone should act in a spirit of brotherhood towards each other. The following is a sample text in Cholit-Bhasha of Article 1 of the

: Bengali in the

: Bengali in phonetic Romanization :Dhara êk: Sôb manush shadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ar ôdhikar niye jônme. Tãder bibek ar buddhi achhe; sutôrang sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratrittôsulôbh mônobhab niye achôrôn kôra uchit. Bengali in the

: Gloss :Clause 1: All human free-manner-in equal dignity and right taken bear. Their reason and intelligence exist; so everyone-indeed one another's direction-to brother’s like mind’s spirit taken conduct do should. Translation :Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess conscience and reason. Therefore, everyone should act in a spirit of brotherhood towards each other.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadhu Bhasa Bengali dialects

History

Styles

Sample text

See also

References

External links