The Languages of Calcutta, 1760–1840

T. W. Clark

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00087966

The Languages of Calcutta, 1760–1840

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

T. W. Clark

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The purpose of this essay is to trace in outline the history of the languages used in Calcutta and its environs during a period extending roughly from 1760 to 1840. The languages were Arabic, Bengali, English, Hindustani, Persian, Portuguese, and Sanskrit. Account has been taken of the status of the languages at different times, the people who used them, the extent to which they were used, and the purposes they served. To do this it has been necessary to take a wide view of the history of the period, and make references which properly fall within the field of political, social, religious, and economic history: such as the policies of the East India Company, both in London and Calcutta, the plans and actions of the Christian missionaries, the attitudes and preferences of the main religious communities, the development of education, and the changing opportunities in the economic life of the people.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , October 1956 , pp. 453 - 474

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00087966 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1956

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^{page 453 note 1}I am indebted to Professor C. H. Philips and the members of the staff of the History Department in the School of Oriental and African Studies for permitting me to discuss a synopsis of this essay with them in seminar.

^{page 453 note 2}‘Calcutta and its environs’ is not a precise geographical area. It may be defined as Calcutta, its suburbs, and such places as were in some kind of direct cultural contact with it.

^{page 453 note 3}The date 1760 has been chosen for the following reasons : (a) it may be taken to mark the end of the medieval period of Bengali literature, being the year of the death of Bhāratcandra Rāy; (6) no work of literary or scholastic importance was written in Calcutta until after that date; (c) it was the beginning of a new political age, characterized by the ‘ transfer of loyalty from the native government to the Company’ [Misra, B.B., Judicial administration of the East India Company in Bengal, 1765–1782 (University of Londonunpublished Ph.D. thesis), p. 6Google Scholar, and with Calcutta becoming a political and commercial centre; (d) the influx of population from country towns and districts in Bengal, Bihar, and farther afield, which converted Calcutta into a polyglot metropolis, had already commenced. All dates cited are A.D.

^{page 454 note 1}Marshman, J.C., The life and times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. London, Longmans, 1859, 2 vola. (Later referred to as C M W.) Vol. I, pp. 21–2.Google Scholar

^{page 454 note 2}Bhattacharya, S., The East India Company and the economy of Bengal. London, Luzac, 1954, 79.Google Scholar

^{page 454 note 3}Chatterji, S.K., The origin and development of the Bengali language. CalcuttaUniversity Press, 1926, I, 214.Google Scholar (Abbreviated as ODBL.)

^{page 454 note 4}ODBL, I, 202; also Halhed, N.B., A grammar of the Bengal language, 1778, Preface, p. viii.Google Scholar

^{page 454 note 5}Halhed, Preface, p. viii.

^{page 454 note 6}ODBL, I, 204.

^{page 454 note 7}Wilson, H.H., A glossary of judicial and revenue terms, 1855, Introduction, p. xx.Google Scholar

^{page 455 note 1}Halhed, op. cit., viii.

^{page 455 note 2}C M W, I, 147.

^{page 455 note 3}Halhed, op. cit., xx.

^{page 455 note 4}Misra, op. cit., 519.

^{page 455 note 5}Misra, op. cit., 162,165, 223.

^{page 455 note 6}ibid., 229.

^{page 455 note 7}The English works of Raja Sam Mohan Ray, edited by J. C. Ghost. Calcutta, 1901, 3 vols. Vol. I, Introduction, p. ii.

^{page 455 note 8}Halhed, op. cit., ix,et passim.

^{page 456 note 1}Halhed, op. cit., xiii-xiv.

^{page 456 note 2}ibid., iii.

^{page 456 note 3}ibid., x-xi.

^{page 457 note 1}Works of Sir William Jones, London, 1807, 13 vols. Vol. III, p. 263.Google Scholar

^{page 457 note 2}ibid., III, 8.

^{page 457 note 3}Misra, op. cit., 257.

^{page 457 note 4}ibid., 257.

^{page 457 note 5}Rahman, F.Y., English education and the Muslims, 1948. (University of London, unpublished M.A. thesis.) p. 75.Google Scholar

^{page 457 note 6}ibid., 74.

^{page 457 note 7}Guhathakurta, P., The Bengali drama, its origin and development, 1926. (University of LondonPh.D. thesis, since published.) p. 69.Google Scholar

^{page 457 note 8}Rahman, op. cit., 74.

^{page 458 note 1}Halhed, Preface, p. xv.

^{page 458 note 2}ibid., xvii.

^{page 458 note 3}Halhed's Preface ends with an eloquent tribute to the merits of Wilkins' achievement.

^{page 458 note 4}C M W, I, 69–70.

^{page 459 note 1}C M W, I,8O–l.

^{page 459 note 2}Ghosh, J.C., Bengali literature. OxfordUniversity Press, 1948, 98.Google Scholar

^{page 459 note 3}ibid., 103.

^{page 459 note 4}ibid., 103.

^{page 459 note 5}C M W, I,145.

^{page 460 note 1}C M W, I,145.

^{page 460 note 2}ibid., I, 167.

^{page 460 note 3}Ghosh, op. cit., 100.

^{page 460 note 4}Ghosh, op. cit., 101–2.

^{page 460 note 5}ibid., 104, footnote.

^{page 460 note 6}Ghosh, op. cit., 101.

^{page 461 note 1}Rahman, op. cit., 57.

^{page 461 note 2}C M W, I, 147.

^{page 461 note 3}Rahman, op. cit., 143.

^{page 461 note 4}Ghosh, op. cit., 101.

^{page 461 note 5}C M W, I, 191.

^{page 462 note 1}C M W,I, 192.

^{page 462 note 2}Rahman, op. cit., 92.

^{page 462 note 3}C M W,I,51.

^{page 462 note 4}ibid., 85.

^{page 462 note 5}Spear, Percival, ‘Bentinck and education’, Cambridge Historical Journal, 1938, 78–100.Google Scholar

^{page 463 note 1}Christian Observer, I, 2,1832.Google Scholar

^{page 463 note 2}C M W, II, 119.

^{page 463 note 3}Sambād Sekāler Kathā. Calcutta, Bangīya-Sāhitya-Parisad, 1949,Google Scholar 2 vols. (A selection of extracts from newspapers published in Calcutta between 1818 and 1840.) Vol. I, p. 430. (Referred to hereafter as SSK.)

^{page 463 note 4}C M W, II, 121–2.

^{page 464 note 1}C M W, II, 122.

^{page 464 note 2}ibid., 122seq.

^{page 464 note 3}ibid., 157.

^{page 464 note 4}Ghosh, op. cit., 108.

^{page 464 note 5}C M W, II, 117.

^{page 464 note 6}ibid., 118.

^{page 464 note 7}ibid., 118.

^{page 465 note 1}C M W,II, 162.

^{page 465 note 2}Bāmlā Sāmayik-Patra (abbreviated BSP), Vol. I, pp. 17–25.

^{page 465 note 3}C M W,II, 168.

⁴ibid., 173.

^{page 465 note 5}ibid., 169–70.

^{page 466 note 1}C M W, II, 172.

^{page 466 note 2}ibid., 170.

^{page 467 note 1}SSK, I, 20.

^{page 467 note 2}English works of Ram Mohan Ray, II, 324 seq.

^{page 467 note 3}SSK, I, 25–8.

^{page 467 note 4}ibid., 19–20.

^{page 467 note 5}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 467 note 6}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 468 note 1}Rahman, op. cit., 79–80.

^{page 468 note 2}BSP, I, 15–72.

^{page 469 note 1}BSP, I, 69–70.

^{page 469 note 2}Samācār Darpan, 30.1.1830.

^{page 469 note 3}C M W, II, 490.

^{page 470 note 1}SSK, II, 230.

^{page 470 note 2}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 470 note 3}SSK, II, 3.

^{page 470 note 4}ibid., II, 4.

^{page 470 note 5}ibid., I, 31–5.

^{page 470 note 6}ibid., II, 16 and 676.

^{page 470 note 7}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 471 note 1}SSK, I, 58.

^{page 471 note 2}William Adam was placed under the orders of the General Committee of Education for the purpose of preparing this report in January 1835.

^{page 471 note 3}Adam, op. cit., 76.

^{page 471 note 4}ibid., 76–7.

^{page 471 note 5}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 471 note 6}Spear, op. cit.

^{page 472 note 1}Samācār Darpan, 26.1.1828.

^{page 472 note 2}Spear, op. cit. (Ballhatchet, in ‘The home Government and Bentinck's educational policy ’, Cambridge Historical Journal, 1951, ascribes the change rather to the policy of Bentinck himself than to the prompting of the Court of Directors.)

^{page 472 note 3}Marshman's History of India, III, 65.

^{page 473 note 1}Marshman, op. cit., III, 66.

^{page 473 note 2}Adam, op. cit., 192’3.

^{page 473 note 3}Rahman, op. cit., 135.

^{page 474 note 1}C M W, II, 491.

^{page 474 note 2}Adam, op. cit., 193–4.

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