SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The subject of this essay is the Vaisnava literature of Medieval Bengal composed in the Brajabuli language. It is discussed in its three aspects; religion, literature and language. The songs, composed according to the conventions prescribed by the highest authority of the Gauraya Vaisnava school are primarily religious; and they are at the same time literary products some of them of great beauty. In them religious sentiment is expressed in terms of human emotion and passion. The language in which the poems are composed is used exclusively by the Vaisnava poets of the Caitanya sect and has especial features of its own. Therefore for a proper understanding of the works of the Vaisnava poets, these three aspects, must be all taken into consideration. The present essay is an attempt to do so. A summary of the previous work on Brajabuli is given in Chapter I. A survey of the extant materials of Brajabuli and the materials on which the present work is based, is given in the second chapter. In Chapter III is given the etymology, history and interpretation of the word 'Brajabuli'. Chapter IV contains a summary of Brajabuli literature of the provinces other than Bengal. In Chapter V the development of Brajabuli literature of Bengal is discussed. Chapters VI, VII, and VIII introduce the religious aspects, each dealing with a separate topic; the history of the Krsna legend, the Rasa aspect, and the story respectively. The form and style of the poems, like the language, has peculiar features which are considered in Chapter IX. Chapter X contains a summary of the earlier theories on the origin of the Brajabuli language. Chapters XI, XII and XIII, contain linguistic analysis under three main heads; Noun, Pronoun and Verb. Chapter XIV contains an interpretation of the linguistic facts described in the preceeding three chapters.