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| Old Bengali | |
|---|---|
| Adi Bangla | |
 Page-39 of the Charyapada manuscript, a sign of the Old Bengali | |
| Region | Bengal region |
| Ethnicity | Bengalis |
| Era | Mostly developed into Middle Bengali by the 14th century |
Early forms | Proto-Gauda–Kamarupa
|
| Gaudi script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Old Bengali was the earliest recorded form of the Bengali language, spoken in the Bengal region of eastern Indian subcontinent during the Middle Ages. It developed from a Apabhraṃśa of Magadhi Prakrit around 900 AD, and the first early Old Bengali literary works date from the 10th century. Between 1200 and 1350 AD, no written form or literary work of Bengali language is found; during this period the Islamic invasion took place in Bengal.[1] It is marked as the barren age, and also marks the end of the Old Bengali era, as the Middle Bengali language developed later.
Old Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that is one of the Magadhi languages, and its closest relatives are Old Odia and Kamarupi Prakrit. Like other Old Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, it is distinct from Modern Bengali and is not fully incomprehensible to Modern Bengali speakers without study. Within Old Bengali grammar, the verb evolved and a letter is omitted from a ligature formed by consonants.
- ^ Shahidullah 1998, p. 42.