Brajabuli

Not to be confused with Brajavali dialect.
Brajabuli
ব্রজবুলি
Created byVidyapati
Date16th century
Extinctunknown
Purpose
Bangla, Tirhuta
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
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Brajabuli is an artificial literary language popularized by the Maithili poet Vidyapati.[1][2] His Brajabuli lyrics about the love for Radha Krishna is considered to his best of works.[3] Other poets emulated his writing, and the language became established in the 16th century.[1][2] Among the medieval Bengali poets who wrote in Brajabuli are Narottama Dasa, Balarama Das, Jnanadas, and Gobindadas Kabiraj.[4]

Rabindranath Tagore also composed his Bhanusimha Thakurer Padavali (1884) in this language (he initially promoted these lyrics as those of a newly discovered poet, Bhanusingha).[3] Other 19th century figures in the Bengal Renaissance, such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, have also written in Brajabuli.[4] The extant Brajabuli literature consists of about 5,000 poems.[5]

Brajabuli is basically Maithili (as prevalent during the medieval period), but its forms are modified to look like Bengali.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Majumdar, R. C.; Pusalker, A. D.; Majumdar, A. K., eds. (1980) [First published 1960]. The Delhi Sultanate. The History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. VI (3rd ed.). Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 515–516. OCLC 664485. "During the sixteenth century, a form of an artificial literary language became established ... It was the Brajabulī dialect ... Brajabulī is practically the Maithilī speech as current in Mithilā, modified in its forms to look like Bengali".
  2. ^ a b Morshed, Abul Kalam Manjoor (2012). "Brajabuli". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  3. ^ a b Choudhury, Basanti (2012). "Vidyapati". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  4. ^ a b Paniker, K. Ayyappa (1997). Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. Vol. One: Surveys and selections. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. p. 287. ISBN 978-81-260-0365-5.
  5. ^ Sen, Sukumar (1935). A History of Brajabuli Literature. University of Calcutta. p. 3.