Brajabuli is an artificial literary language popularized by the poet
Vidyapati
Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...
.
His Brajabuli lyrics about the love which were turned out to be for Radha Krishna later on these are considered his best work.
Other poets emulated his writing, and the language became established in the 16th century.
Among the medieval Bengali poets who wrote in Brajabuli are
Narottama Dasa
Narottama Dasa Thakura (c. 1466; date of death unknown), also known as Thakura Mahasaya, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava saint who was responsible for spreading Vaishnava bhakti throughout Odisha in and outside of Bengal in India. Narottama Dasa was the ...
, Balarama Das, Jnanadas, and
Gobindadas Kabiraj.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
also composed his ''
Bhanusimha Thakurer Padavali
''Bhanusimha Thakurer Padabali'' ( bn, ভানুসিংহ ঠাকুরের পদাবলী, ; lit. ''The Songs of Bhanushingho Thakur'') is a collection of Vaishnava lyrics composed in Brajabuli by Rabindranath Tagore. It was publi ...
'' (1884) in this language (he initially promoted these lyrics as those of a newly discovered poet, Bhanusingha).
Other 19th century figures in the
Bengal Renaissance
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, pred ...
, such as
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (also Chattopadhayay) CIE (26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist and journalist. Staff writer"Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist" ''The Daily Star'', 30 June 201 ...
, have also written in Brajabuli.
The extant Brajabuli literature consists of about 5,000 poems.
Brajabuli is basically
Maithili (as prevalent during the medieval period), but its forms are modified to look like
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
.
See also
*
Brajavali dialect
Brajavali ( Assamese: ''Brôzawôli'') was a literary language used by Sankardev (1449–1568) for some of his compositions (Borgeets and Ankia Naats) in the context of his Vaishnavite religion, Ekasarana Dharma, in Assam. Though similar langu ...
– another literary language based on Maithili
Notes
External links
Vidyapati Padmavati
by Binod Bihari Verma
Binod Bihari Verma (1937–2003) was a Maithili writer and military doctor. He is known for ''Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan'', his work on ancient genealogical charts known as Panjis, as well as his depiction of rural poor of the ...
Bengali dialects
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Languages of India
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