Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
BIHARI (properly Bih(iri)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: BER-BLA
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:BIHARI (properly Bih(iri) , the name of the most western of the four forms of speech which comprise the Eastern See also:Group of See also:modern Indo-See also:Aryan See also:Languages (q.v.). The other members are See also:Bengali, See also:Oriya and See also:Assamese (see BENGALI). The number of speakers of Bihari in 1901 was 34,579,844 in See also:British See also:India, out of a See also:total of 90,242,167 for the whole group. It is also the See also:language of the inhabitants of the neighbouring See also:Tarai districts of See also:Nepal. In the See also:present See also:article it is throughout assumed that the reader is in See also:possession of the facts described under the heads of INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES and See also:PRAKRIT. The article BENGALI may also be studied with See also:advantage. " Bihari " means the language of the See also:province of " Bihar," and to a certain extent this is a true description. It is the See also:direct descendant of the old Magadhi Prakrit (see PRAKRIT), of which the headquarters were See also:South Bihar, or the present districts of See also:Patna and Gaya. It is, however, also spoken considerably beyond the limits of this province. To the See also:west it extends over the province of See also:Agra so far as the See also:longitude of See also:Benares, and to the south it covers nearly the whole of the province of See also:Chota See also:Nagpur. Allowing for the speakers in Nepal, its See also:area extends over about 90,000 sq. m., and the total number of See also:people who claim it as a See also:vernacular is about the same as the See also:population of See also:France. Bihari has been looked upon as a See also:separate language only during the past twenty-five years. Before that it was grouped with all the,other languages spoken between See also:Bengal and the See also:Punjab, under the See also:general See also:term " See also:Hindi." The usual See also:character employed for See also:writing Bihari is that known as Kaithi, a cursive See also:form of the well-known Nagari character of Upper India. The name of the character is derived from the Kdyath or Kdyasth See also:caste, whose profession is that of See also:scribes. Kaithi is widely spread, under various names, all over See also:northern India, and is the See also:official character of See also:Gujarati. The Nagari character is commonly employed for printed books, while the Brahmans of See also:Tirhut have a character of their own, akin to that used for writing Bengali and Assamese. In the south of the Bihari See also:tract the Oriya character belonging to the neighbouring See also:Orissa is also found. Bihari has to its See also:east Bengali, also a language of the See also:Outer See also:Band. To its west it has Eastern Hindi, a language of the Intermediate Band (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES). While it must decidedly be classed as an Outer language, it nevertheless shows, as might be expected, some points of contact with the Intermediate ones. Nothing is so characteristic of Bengali asits See also:pronunciation of the vowel a and of the consonant s. The first is sounded like the o in " hot " (transliterated o). In Eastern Bihari the same vowel has a broad See also:sound, but not so broad as in Bengali. As we go westwards this broad sound is gradually lost, till it entirely disappears in the most western See also:dialect, Bhojpuri. As regards s, the Magadhi Prakrit pronounced it as s, like the shin " shin." The Prakrits of the West preserved its dental sound, like that of the s in " See also:sin." Here Bengali and Eastern Hindi exactly represent the See also:ancient See also:state of affairs. The former has the s-sound and the latter the s-sound. At the present See also:day Bihari has abandoned the practice of the old Magadhi Prakrit in this respect, and pronounces its s's as clearly as in the West. There are See also:political reasons for this. The pronunciation of s is a literal See also:shibboleth between Bengal and Upper India. For centuries Bihar has been connected politically with the West, and has in the course of generations rid itself of the typical pronunciation of the East. On the other See also:hand, a See also:witness as to the former pronunciation of the See also:letter is present in the fact that, in the Kaithi character, s is always written s. In the declension of nouns, Bihari follows Bengali more closely than it follows Eastern Hindi, and its conjugation is based on the same principles as those which obtain in the former language. The See also:age of Bihari as an See also:independent language is unknown. We have songs written in it dating from the 15th See also:century, and at that See also:time it had received considerable See also:literary Language. culture. Bihari has three See also:main dialects, which fall into two divisions, an eastern and a western. The eastern See also:division includes Maithili or Tirhutid and Magahi. Magahi is the dialect of the See also:country corresponding to the ancient See also:Magadha, and may therefore be taken as the modern representative of the purest Magadhi Prakrit. Its northern boundary is generally the See also:river See also:Ganges, and its western the river Son. To the south it has overflowed into the northern See also:half of Chota Nagpur. It is nearly related to Maithili, but it is quite uncultivated and has no literature, although it is the vernacular of the birthplace of See also:Buddhism. Nowadays`it is often referred to by natives of other parts of the country as the typically boorish language of India. Maithili faces Magahi across the Ganges. It is the dialect of the old country of See also:Mithila or Tirhut, famous from ancient times for its learning. Historically and politically it has See also:long been closely connected with Oudh, the See also:home of the See also:hero Rama-candra, and its people are amongst the most conservative in India. Their language bears the See also:national See also:stamp. It has retained numerous antiquated forms, and parts of its See also:grammar are extraordinarily complex. It has a small literature which has helped to preserve these peculiarities in full See also:play, so that though Magahi shares them, it has lost many which are still extant in the everyday talk of Mithila. The western division consists of the Bhojpuri dialect, spoken on both sides of the Gangetic valley, from near Patna to Benares. It has extended south-east into the See also:southern half of Chota Nagpur, and is spoken by at least twenty millions of people who are as See also:free from See also:prejudice as the inhabitants of Mithila are conservative. The Bhojpuris are a fighting See also:race, and their language is a See also:practical one, made for everyday use, as See also:simple and straightforward as Maithili and Magahi are complex. In fact, it might almost be classed as a separate language, had it any literature worthy of the name. (Abbreviations: Mth. = Maithili, Mg. = Magahi, Bh. = Bhojpuri, B. = Bihari, Bg. = Bengali. Skr. =See also:Sanskrit, Pr. = Prakrit. Mg. Pr. = Magadhi Prakrit.) Vocabulary.—The Bihari vocabulary calls for few remarks. Tatsamas, or words borrowed in modern times from Sanskrit (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES), are few in number, while all the dialects are replete with honest home-See also:born ladbhavas, used (unlike Bengali) both in the literary and in the colloquial language. Very few words are borrowed from See also:Persian, Arabic or other languages. See also:Phonetics.—The stress-See also:accent of Bihari follows the usual rules of modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars. In words of more than one syllable it cannot fall on the last, whether the vowel of that syllable be long or See also:short, pronounced, half-pronounced, or not pronounced. With this exception, the accent always falls on the last long syllable. If there are no long syllables in the word, the accent is thrown back as far as possible, but never farther than the syllable before the antepenultimate. Thus, hi-s¢-n(a) (final a not pronounced); pa-ni; hd-m°-ra; de-kh"-ld-h". In the last word there is a secondary accent on the penultimate, owing to the following imperfect vowel (see below). When the first syllable of a word has not the main stress-accent, it also takes a secondary one, as in de-kh"-li-ainhi. When the letter a follows a syllable which has the accent (secondary or See also:primary) it is only half pronounced, and is here denoted by a small '' above the See also:line. In Mth. (but not in Mg. or Bh.) a final short i or u is often similarly very lightly pronounced, and is then represented by the same See also:device. Before such an " imperfect " ' or the preceding syllable has a secondary accent, if it has not already got the main one. When a word ends in a preceded by a single uncompounded consonant, the a is not pronounced; thus, kisana, sounded kisein. This vowel is sometimes pronounced with a drawl, like the a in See also:ball," and is then transliterated a. When a has this sound it can end a word, and in this position is See also:common in the second See also:person of verbs; thus, dead, see See also:thou. This sound is very frequently heard in Bhojpuri, and gives a See also:peculiar See also:tone to the whole dialect, which at once strikes the casual hearer. The usual short form of the letter a is a, but when this would See also:lead to confusion it is shortened in Mth. and Mg. to a sound like that of a in the See also:German See also:Mann, and is then transliterated a. In Bh. it is always shortened to a. As an example, from pani, See also:water, is formed the word paniya, but (in Mth, and Mg.) from the word meirab, to strike, we have Mth. mdr"li, Mg. See also:mar"li, I struck, because mar"li (-Ii) would mean " I died." In Bh. mar"li actually has both these meanings. The letters e and o may be either long (e, o) or short (e, o). In Skr. the diphthongs ai and Cu (here transliterated ai, au) are much longer than the Bihari ai and au, which are contractions of only a+i and a+u respectively. We may compare the Sanskrit, or tatsama, ai with the See also:English " aye," and the tadbhava ai with the English " I." In counting syllables in Bihari, ai and au See also:count each as two syllables, not each as one long syllable. The Skr. r appears only in tatsamas. Nasalization of vowels is extremely frequent. In this article it is represented by the sign – over the vowel, as in mih, mar"li and dekh"lahu. As regards consonants, d and dh, when medial, are pronounced as strongly burred r and rh, and are then transliterated as here shown. There is a See also:constant tendency to See also:change these to an See also:ordinary dental r and rh; thus, ghoda, pronounced ghora or ghora. The semi-vowels y and v are always pronounced like j and b respectively, unless they are simply euphonic letters put in to See also:bridge the See also:hiatus between two concurrent vowels; thus yauvana pronounced jt uban, and maliya for mali-a, See also:ghor"'wa for ghor=-a. The sibilants s and s are both pronounced as a dental s, but (a relic of the old Mg. Pr.) are both invariably written as a palatal s in the Kaithi character. Thus, the English word " session " (See also:swan) is written swan and pronounced sesan. The cerebral s, when uncompounded, is pronounced kh. When compounded, it generally has its proper sound. Thus. iaitha, See also:sixth, is pronounced khasth. As a general statement we may say that Bihari spelling is not fixed, and that there are often many ways of writing, and sometimes two or three ways of pronouncing, the same word. The main typical characteristics of Mg. Pr. are that western Pr. s becomes s, and that western Pr. r becomes 1. We have seen that the change of s to s occurs in Bengali but not in Bihari, and have given reasons for the change back to s in the latter language, although the Mg. Pr. s is retained in writing. In both Bengali and Bihari, a western r is not now represented by 1, but is represented by r. This deviation from the Mg. Pr. See also:rule is only apparent, and is due to the letter r representing two distinct sounds. In Skr., in the western Prakrits, and in the modern western languages, r is a cerebral letter, with a cerebral sound. In the modern eastern languages, r is a dental letter, with a dental sound. Everywhere, both in old times and at the present day, l was and is a dental letter. The meaning, therefore, of the change from western Pr. r to Mg. Pr. I was that the western r lost its cerebral sound, and became a dental letter, like 1. That dental character is preserved in the r of the modern eastern languages. In fact, in Bihari r and l are frequently See also:con-founded together, or with n, another dental letter. Thus, we have See also:kali or Rini, See also:black; phar or phal, See also:fruit; Skr. rajju-, B. leju-ri, a See also:string; Lakhnaur, the name of a See also:town, quite commonly pronounced Nakhlaul; and the English names See also:Kelly and See also:Currie both pronounced indifferently kari or kali. Compare Assamese saril for Skr..f arira-. The See also:genius of the Bihari language is adverse to the existence of a long vowel in a tadbhava word, when it would occupy a position more than two syllables from the end. Thus, ghora, but ghor"wa; maral, but mdr"li. This is subject to various subsidiary rules which will be found in the grammars. The principle is a most important one, and, indeed, pervades all Indo-Aryan vernaculars of the present day, but it is carried out with the greatest thoroughness and consistency in Bihari. The whole See also:system of declension and conjugation is subject to it. When a preceding i or e is shortened. the two together become ai, and similarly a shortened a+u or o become au. Declension.—Bihari has a stronger sense of gender than the other languages of the Eastern Group. In the modern language the distinction is in the main confined to animate beings, but in the older See also:poetry the system of grammatical, as distinct from sexual, gender is in full See also:swing. Except in the See also:case of the interrogative pronoun, there is no neuter gender--words which in Skr. and Pr. were neuter being generally, but not always, treated as masculine. The plural925 can everywhere be formed by the addition of some noun of multitude to the singular, and this is the universal rule in Mth., but in Mg. and Bh. it is generally made by adding n or (in Bh.) nh or ni to the singular, before all of which a final vowel is shortened. Thus ghora, a See also:horse, ghoran, horses. As for cases, the Apabhramsa locative -hi (-hi) and the See also:ablative -hu (see PRAKRIT) terminations have survived in poetry, See also:proverbs and the like, and each of them can now be used for any oblique case; but in ordinary language and in literature -hi and -hi have become contracted toe and e, the former of which is employed for the instrumental and the latter for the locative case. Thus, ghar, See also:house; ghare, by a house; ghare, in a house. The old termination -hu has also survived in sporadic instances, under the form o, with an ablative sense. Cases are, however, usually formed, as elsewhere, by suffixing postpositions to a general oblique case (see INDOARYAN LANGUAGES). The oblique case in Bihari is generally the same as the nominative, but nouns ending in n, b, 1 or r, and some others, form it by adding a (a relic of the old Mg.Pr. genitive in -aha). Thus, maral, the See also:act of striking, obi. mar"la (Mg. Pr. mari-allaha). Another set of verbal nouns forms the oblique case in ai, e or a; thus, Bh. mar, the act of striking, See also:mare-la, for striking, to strike. In Mg. every noun ending in a consonant may have its oblique form in e; thus, ghar, a house, ghar-ke or ghare-ke, of a house. The ai- or e- termination is another relic of the Apabhrarhsa -hi, and the a is a survival of the Ap. -hu. The usual genitive postposition is k, which has become a suffix, and now forms See also:part of the word to which it is attached, a final preceding vowel being frequently shortened. Thus, ghora, gen. ghdrak. Other genitive postpositions are ke, kar and her. These, and all See also:ether postpositions, are still separate words, and have not yet become suffixes. The more common postpositions are' See also:Ace.-Dat. ke; Instr.-Abl. s&, se; Loc. mu., me. The genitive does not change to agree with the gender of the governing noun, as in See also:Hindostani, but in Bh. (not in Mth. or Mg.), when the governing noun is not in the nominative singular, the genitive postposition takes the oblique form ka; thus, raga-ke mandir, the See also:palace of the See also: The long and redundant forms are mainly used in conversation. They are See also:familiar and often contemptuous. Sometimes they give a definite force to the word, as ghor"wa, the horse. In the feminine they are much used to form diminutives. As in other languages of the Eastern Group, the singulars of the See also:personal pronouns have fallen into disuse. The plurals are used politely for the singulars, and new forms are made from these old plurals, to make new plurals. The old singulars survive in poetry and in the speech of villagers, but even here the nominative has disappeared and new nominatives have been formed from the oblique bases. All the pronouns have numerous optional forms. As a specimen of pronominal declension, we may give the most common forms of the first personal pronoun. Maithili. Magahi. Bhojpuri. Sing. Nom. See also:ham ham ham Gen. See also:hamar hamar hamar Obi. hamara ham"ra hamara Plur. Nom. hamara sabh ham"rani ham"ni--ka Gen. hamara sabhak ham"rani-ke ham"ni-ke Obl. ham"ra sabh ham"rani ham"ni The important point to See also:note in the above is that the oblique form singular is formed from the genitive. It is the oblique form of that case which is also used when agreeing with another noun in an oblique case. Thus, hamar ghor, my house; ham"ra ghar-me, in my house; ham"ra-ke, to me. In Mth. the nominative plural is also the oblique form of the genitive singular, and in Bh. and Mg. it is the oblique form of the genitive plural. In Bengali the nominative plural of nouns substantive is formed in the same way from the genitive singular (see BENGALI). The usual forms of the pronouns are ham, I; to, See also:tic, thou; Mth. ap"nah', Bh. ra.ura, Your See also:Honour; i, this; o, that, he; je, who; se, he; he, who? Mth. ki, Mg., ' The origin of the postpositions is discussed in the article HINDOSTANI. 926 Bh. ka, what? keo, keu, any one; Mth. kicch°, Mg. kuchu, Bh. kachu, anything. The oblique forms of these vary greatly, and must be learned from the grammars. Conjugation in Maithili and Magahi.—It is in the conjugation of the verb that the amazing complexity of the Mth. and Mg. grammars appears. The conjugation of the Bhojpuri verb is quite simple, and will be treated separately. In all three dialects the verb makes little or no distinction of number, but instead there is a distinction between non-honorific and honorific forms. In Mth. and Mg. this distinction applies not only to the subject but also to the See also:object, so that for each person there are, in the first See also:place, four See also:groups of forms, viz.: I. Subject non-honorific, object non-honorific. II. Subject honorific, object non-honorific. IV. Subject honorific, object honorific.English) substitutes the oblique form of the verbal noun for the present participle, as in mare hi, I am a-striking. The perfect is usually formed by adding the word for " is " to the past; thus, Mth. mdr°li ach', I have struck, lit. struck-by-me it-is. A pluperfect is similarly formed with the past tense of the See also:auxiliary verb. There are numerous irregular verbs. Most of the irregularities are due to the See also:root ending in a vowel or in a weak consonant such as b (= Pr. v). Thus root pa, obtain, past participle See also:pool, first singular, past tense, See also:pauli. More definitely irregular are a few roots like kar, do, past participle kail. These last instances are cases in which the past participle is independently derived from a Skr. past participle, and is not formed as usual by adding the pleonastic suffix -al or -il (Skr., Pr., -ally-, -ilk-, see PRAKRIT) to the Bihari root. Thus, Skr. krta-s, Pr. kaa-u, ka-See also:ill-u, B. kail, instead of kar-al.. There is a long See also:series of transitive verbs formed from intransitives and of causal verbs formed from transitives, generally by adding Object: non-honorific. Object: honorific. ° Short Form. Long Form. Redundant Form. Group III. Group IV. a (Subject: non- (Subject: honorific.) honorific.) Group I. Group II. Group I. Group II. Group I. Group II. (Subject: non- (Subject: (Subject: non- (Subject: (Subject: non- (Subject: honorific.) honorific.) honorific.) honorific.) honorific.) honorific.) mar°li or mdr°laltC mdraliai mdr°liaik mdraliainh' Or (with object in 2nd person) Or (with object in 2nd person) mdraliau maraliauk 2 ~— Same as 1st maraldh Same as 1st +-- Same as 1st mdralahunh' Same mdr°le' person. person, but mdralandk person, but as person. 1st no forms for no forms for object in 2nd object in 2nd person. person. 3 mdralak mdr°l¢nh' mdralakai Wanting mdralakaik wanting mdralakainhi moral°thinh' O Or (2nd with in 2nd r (with perbjec person) mdralakauk mdralakau In Mth. all the forms in which the object is honorific end in -nhi. Mg. closely follows this, but the forms are more abraded. Forms in which the object is non-honorific may be, as in the case of nouns, short, long or redundant. The long forms are made by adding ei (or in the second person -Oh) to the short forms, and the redundant forms by adding k to the long forms. Again, if the object is in the second person, the ai of the long and redundant forms is changed to an. Finally, in the first person the non-honorific and honorific forms depending on the subject are the same, and are also identical with those forms of the second person in which the subject is honorific. We thus get the following paradigm of the Mth. past tense of the verb marab, to strike. The Mg. forms are very similar. Besides the above there are numerous optional forms. Moreover, these are only masculine forms. The feminine gender of the subject introduces new complications. It is impossible here to go into all these minutiae, interesting as they are to philologists. They must be learnt from the See also:regular grammars. On the present occasion we shall confine ourselves to describing the formation of the See also:principal parts of the verb. In Mth. the usual verb substantive and auxiliary verb is, as in Bengali, based on the root ach (Skr. rcchati), the initial vowel being generally dropped, as in chi, I am; chalah", I was; but ach', he is. In Mg. we have hi or hiki, I am; halu, I was. The finite verb has three verbal nouns or infinitives, viz. (from the root mar, strike), Mth. mar' or Mg. mar; marab; and moral. All three are fully declined as nouns, the oblique forms being marai or mare, mamba, and marala, respectively. There are two participles, a present (Mth. marait = Pr. marentu) and a past (Mth. moral = Pr. See also:marl-allu). The Mg. forms are very similar. The old Mg. Pr. present an,d imperative have survived, but all other tenses are made from verbal nouns or participles. The past tense (of which the conjugation for a Maithili transitive verb is given above) is formed by adding pronominal suffixes to the past participle. Thus, maral+i, struck+by-me, becomes mdr'li, I struck. In the case of intransitive verbs, the suffixes may represent the nominative and not the instrumental case of the pronoun, and hence the conjugation is somewhat different. The future is a mixed tense. Generally speaking, the first two persons are formed from the verbal noun in b, which is by origin a future passive participle, and the third person is formed from the present participle. Thus, marab+See also:ahr', about-to-be-struck+by-me, becomes mdrabah", I shall strike, and mdrait+dh, striking+he, becomes mdr°tdh, he will strike (compare the English " he's going," for " he is on the point of going "). A past conditional is also formed by adding similar suffixes to the present participle, as in mdritahu, (if) I had struck. This use of the present participle already existed in the Pr. age (cf. Hema-candra's Grammar, iii. 18o). In Mth. the present definite and the imperfect are formed by conjugating the present or past tense respectively of the auxiliary verb with the present participle; thus marait chi, I am striking. Mg. (like vulgarab (Skr. apaya-, Pr. See also:ave-). See also:Compound verbs are numerous. Note-worthy is the desiderative compound formed by adding the root cah, wish, to the See also:dative of a verbal noun. Thus, ham dekhel-ke cahait-chi, I am wishing for the seeing, I wish to see. Conjugation in Bhojpuri.—The Bh. conjugation is as simple as that of Mth. and Mg. is complex. In the first and second persons the plural is generally employed for the singular, but there is no change in the verb corresponding to the person or honour of the object. The usual verb substantive and auxiliary verb is derived in the present from the root See also:bat or See also:bar, be, as in bate or See also:bare (Skr. vartate, Pr. vattai), he is. The past is derived from the root rah (Skr. rahati, Pr. rahai), as in rahali or (contracted) rahi, I was. The verbal nouns and participles are nearly the same as in Mth.-Mg., the first verbal noun and the present participle being mar and mdrat, as in Mg. The old present and imperative, derived from the Mg. Pr. forms, are also employed in Bh. Thus, mare (Pr. marei), he strikes. This tense is often used as a present conditional. When it is wished to emphasize the sense of a present indicative, the syllable -la is suffixed. The same suffix is employed in See also:Rajasthani, Naipali and See also:Marathi to form the future, and in Bh. it is often also used with a future sense. The past tense is formed, as in Mth.- Mg., by adding pronominal suffixes to the past participle; thus, marali (See also:mara+li), I struck, as explained above. Similarly, for the first and second persons of the future we have mar°bi, I shall strike, and so on, but the third person is maxi (Pr. marehi), he will strike, marihen (Pr. marehinti), they will strike. The periphrastic tenses are formed on the same principles as in Mth. As an example of Bh. conjugation we give the present, past and future tenses in all persons. There are a few additional optional forms, but nothing like the multiplicity of meanings which we find in Mth. and Mg. Present. Past. Future. Sing. I Not used Not used Not used 2 mare-le maral¢s mar°be 3 mare-la mar°le marl Plur. i mari-ld morn- mar°bi 2 mard-ld marald marabd 3 mare-le" mar°len marihen It will be observed that the termination of the present changes in sympathy with the old present to which it is attached. In some parts of the Bh. area, especially in the See also:district of See also:Saran, u is substituted for °I in the past. Thus, maru'i, I struck. The maru- is merely the past participle without the pleonastic termination -olio-which is used in Bihari, as explained under the Mth.-Mg. conjugation. Irregular verbs, the formation of transitive and causal verbs, and the treatment of compound verbs, are on the same lines as in Mth. Bihari Literature.—In all three dialects there are numerous folk-epics transmitted by word of mouth. Several have been published at various times in the See also:Journal of the See also:Asiatic Literature. Society of Bengal and in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft. The only dialect which has any real literature is Maithili. The earliest writer of whom we have any See also:record is Vidyapati Thakkura (Bidyapati Thakur), who lived at the See also:court of Raja See also:Siva Silhha of Sugaona in Tirhut in the 15th century. He was a voluminous Sanskrit writer, but his fame rests chiefly on his dainty lyrics in Maithili dealing with the loves of Radha and See also:Krishna. These have exercised an important See also:influence on the religious See also:history of eastern India. They were adopted and enthusiastically recited by the reformer Caitanya (16th century), and through him became the home-poetry of the Bengali-speaking See also:Lower Provinces. Their language was transformed (we can hardly say translated) into Bengali, and in that shape they have had numerous imitators. A collection of poems by the old See also:Master-See also:singer in their Maithili See also:dress has been published by the present writer in his Chrestomathy of that language. The most admired of Vidyapati's successors is Manbodh Jha, who died in 1788. He composed a Haribans, or poetical See also:life of Krishna, which has See also:great popularity. Many dramas have been composed in Mithila. The See also:fashion is to write the See also:body of the See also:work in Sanskrit and Prakrit, but the songs in Maithili. Two dramas, the Parijata-harana and the Rukmini-parinaya, are attributed to Vidyapati. Among modern writers in the dialect, we may mention Harsanatha, an elegant lyric poet and author of a See also:drama entitled Usa-harana, and Candra Jha, whose version of the Rdmayana and See also:translation of Vidyapati's Sanskrit Purusa-pariksa are deservedly popular. 1893). For Maithili, see G. A. Grierson, An Introduction to the Maithili Language of See also:North Bihar, containing a Grammar, Chrestomathy and Vocabulary; part i. Grammar (See also:Calcutta, 1881; 2nd ed., 1909) ; part ii. Chrestomathy and Vocabulary (Calcutta, 1882). For Vidyapati Thakkura,see J.Beames," The See also:Early Vaishnava Poets of Bengal," in See also:Indian See also:Antiquary, ii. (1873), pp. 37 ff. ; the same, " On the Age and Country of Vidyapati," ibid. iv. (1875), pp. 299 ff.;,anon. article in the Banga Darsana, vol. iv. (1282 B.S.),pp. 75 ff. ; Saradacarana Maitra, Introduction to Vidyapatir Padavali (2nd ed., Calcutta, 1285 B.S.) ; G. A. Grierson, Chrestomathy, as above; " Vidyapati and his Con-temporaries," Indian Antiquary, vol. xiv. (1885), pp. 182 ff. ; " On some Mediaeval See also:Kings of Mithila," ibid. vol. See also:xxviii. (1899), pp. 57 if. For Bhojpuri, see J. Beames, " Notes on the Bhojpuri Dialect of Ilindi spoken in Western Bihar," in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii. N.S., 1868, pp. 483 ff.; A. F. R. Hoernle, A Grammar of the Eastern Hindi compared with the other Gaudian Languages (here " Eastern Hindi " means " Western Bhojpuri "), (See also:London, 188o) ; J. R. See also:Reid, See also:Report on the See also:Settlement Operations in the District of See also:Azamgarh (See also:Allahabad, 1881)-contains in appendices full grammar and vocabulary of Western Bhojpuri). No See also:special See also:works have been written about Magahi. (G. A. GR.) BIHART-LAL, a name famous in Hindustani literature as the author of the Sat-sai, a collection of approximately seven See also:hundred distichs, which is perhaps the most celebrated Hindi work of poetic See also:art, as distinguished from narrative and simpler styles. The language is the form of Hindi called Braj-bhashd, spoken in the country about Mathura, where the poet lived. The couplets are inspired by the Krishna See also:side of See also:Vishnu-See also:worship, and the See also:majority of them take the shape of amorous utterances of Radha, the See also:chief of the Gopis or cowherd maidens of Braj, and her divine See also:lover, the son of Vasudeva. Each See also:couplet is independent and See also:complete in itself, and is a See also:triumph of skill in See also:compression of language, felicity of description and rhetorical artifice. The distichs, in their collected form, are arranged, not in any sequence of narrative or See also:dialogue, but according to the technical See also:classification of the sentiments which they convey as set forth in the See also:treatises on Indian See also:rhetoric. Little is known of the author beyond what he himself tells us. He was born in See also:Gwalior, spent his boyhood in See also:Bundelkhand,and on his See also:marriage settled in his See also:father-in-See also:law's See also:household in Mathura. His father was named Kesab See also:Ray; he was a twice-born (Dwija) by caste, which is generally understood to mean that he was a See also:Brahman, though some assert that he belonged to the mixed caste, now called Ray, sprung from the offspring of a Brahman father by a Kshatriya See also:mother. A couplet in the Sat-sai states that it was completed in A.D. 1662. It is certain that his See also:patron, whom he calls Jai Shah, was the Raja of See also:Amber or See also:Jaipur, known as Mirza Jai Singh, who ruled from 1617 to 1667 during the reigns of the emperors See also:Jahangir, Shah Jahan and See also:Aurangzeb. A couplet (No. 705) appears to refer to an event which occurred in 1665, and in which Raja Jai Singh was concerned. For this See also:prince the couplets were composed, and for each doha the poet is said to have received a See also:gold piece See also:worth sixteen rupees.
The collection very soon became celebrated. As the couplets are independent one of another, and were put together fortuitously as composed, many different recensions exist; but the See also:standard is that settled by an See also:assembly of poets under the direction of Prince A'zam Shah, the third son of the See also:emperor Aurangzeb (16J3-1707), and hence called the A`zam-shahi; it comprises 726 couplets. The estimation in which the work is held may be measured by the number of commentators who have devoted themselves to its elucidation, of whom Dr Grierson mentions seventeen. Two of them were Musalmans, and two other commentaries were composed for Musalman patrons. The collection has also twice been translated into Sanskrit.
The best-known commentary is that of Lallu-ji-Lal, entitled the Lila-chandrika. The author was employed by Dr Gilchrist in the See also:College of Fort See also: A See also:critical edition of it has been published by Dr G. A. Grierson (Calcutta, See also:government of India See also:Press, 1896). (C. J. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] BIGSBY, JOHN JEREMIAH (1792-1881) |
[next] BIJAPUR |