Language and Culture of Ráŕh

There is an abundance of Sanskrit words in the language of Ráŕh.

The language is replete with:

• tatsama words [Sanskrit words used in unchanged form in the Bengali language]
• bhagnatatsama words [Sanskrit words used in changed form in Bengali language]
• tadbhava words [Bengali words derived from Sanskrit root but used in a corrupted form in the Bengali language]
• semi-tadbhava words [Bengali words derived from Sanskrit root but corrupted to the point of their roots being unrecognizable]

About 92% of the words are directly or indirectly related to the Sanskrit language.

Ráŕh is situated in the extreme east of India.

If Sanskrit were a foreign language and if it were thought to have come into India across its north-west border, then how could so many Sanskrit words have entered the colloquial language of the remote outpost Ráŕh? It will not, therefore, be out of place to guess that Sanskrit had almost no relation with the influx of the Aryans, nor is Sanskrit of foreign origin.

The language in which the Vedic scriptures were composed was not Sanskrit; hence it is called the Vedic language. There is a heaven-and-hell difference between Sanskrit and Vedic.

What many people say, that the Prákrta language is a metamorphosed form of this Vedic language, is true to some extent. Some parts of Prákrta are purely a popular form of Sanskrit, and other parts are a popular form of a mixture of Sanskrit and Vedic.

A language survives for approximately one thousand years on the average.

Were Prákrta [entirely] a metamorphosed form of the ancient Vedic language, by now it would have veered so greatly from that Vedic that the trail of its lineage would have been lost. Instead of regarding Sanskrit as the changed form of Vedic, we shall have to search for the origin of Prákrta.

The few foreign words found in ancient Bengali literature did not come to Ráŕh either leaping or limping on horseback across the soil of the Áryyávarta.

Those words came by river through foreign trade with Ráŕh.

In this way, we received words such as:

• kágaj [paper]
• vanát [velvet]
• palte [wick]
• adálat [court of law]
• káchári [office]
• rajju [rope]

The Mayurakshi, Ajay, Damodar, Dwarakeshwar, Rupnarayan, Kangsavati and Suvarnarekha rivers of Ráŕh were navigable even a few hundred years ago. Ships navigated them, foreign trade went on.

The principal exports of Ráŕh were shál wood, fine rice, silk, tasar [cloth of non-mulberry silk], scented articles, fine cloth (Vishnupuri muslin, dhúpcháyá saris made in Burdwan), sugar, copper, etc. It could be assumed that along with this export trade, the import of a few items would go on in a natural way.

So on river-bank sites in Ráŕh and the regions of Bagri near Ráŕh we find earthenware from Egypt and drinking vessels from China. No wonder if some foreign words came in as well!

An ancient port of Ráŕh engaged (lipta) mainly in the export of copper (támra) was called Támralipta (now Tamluk). In the past, copper was abundantly available in Támákhun of Puncha [Block], in the Manbhum area of Ráŕh [Purulia District and adjoining areas]. Following the destruction of the ancient port of Támralipta, another port was built in Ráŕh – Saptagram in the district of Hooghly.

There are 7 metamorphosed forms of Sanskrit as 7 Prákrta languages.

(Prákrta means “related to the populace”.)

1. Mágadhii Prákrta of eastern India
2. Shaorasenii Prákrta of mid-northern India
3. Paeshácii Prákrta of north-western India
4. Páshcatya [Western] Prákrta of extreme northwestern India
5. Saendhavii Prákrta of the Sindhu Delta
6. Málavii Prákrta of mid-western India
7. Maháráśt́rii Prákrta of south-western India

In connection with Ráŕh, the subject of Mágadhii Prákrta needs further elaboration.

Mágadhii Prákrta has 2 daughters:

1. Púrvii [Eastern] Ardha-Mágadhii
2. Pashcimii [Western] Ardha-Mágadhii

Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii in turn has six daughters, and Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii four daughters.

The 6 daughters of Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii are

i) Maethilii, ii) Angika, iii) Báḿlá [Bengali], iv) Assamese, v) Oriya and vi) Koshali.

The four daughters of Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii are

i) Magahi, ii) Bhojpuri, iii) Nagpuri (Sadani) and (iv) Chattrishgarhi.

Of them, though Nagpuri has come from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, Báḿlá and Koshali have had a tremendous influence on it.

Though Koshali has come from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii, Nagpuri and Chattrishgarhi, which have come from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, have had a tremendous influence on it.

Chattrishgarhi comes from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, yet it has been greatly influenced by Koshali, from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii, and the Váŕárii language (Vidarbha) of Maharashtra Prákrta.

Chattrishgarhi is such a remote language of Mágadhii that the languages of Shaorasenii Prákrta did not have any influence on it.

Chattrishgarhi does not show change in gender of a verb in consonance with change in gender of the subject in nominative case, which is one of the many characteristics of the Shaorasenii language.

But though Maethilii has come from Mágadhii, it does show, in some cases, change in gender of a verb in consonance with change in gender in nominative case (only in the present perfect tense, such as Rám geláh [“Ram has gone”], Siitá geliih [“Sita has gone”]).

Such changes are more frequent in Bhojpuri. For example, Rám karatá, Siitá karatiiyá). This is so because Shaorasenii Prákrta is geographically close to Bhojpuri.