Vargiiya Ba and Antahstha Va

In Bengali script, vargiiya ba and antahstha va have been separate letters since olden times, but in the last one hundred years or so the character for the two letters has become the same. However their pronunciation is completely different. It has been difficult, not only for children but for adults also, to know from the spelling of a word whether vargiiya ba or anatahstha va was being used; as a result, the separate pronunciation of the two letters has gradually been lost and errors in pronunciation, as well as spelling, have crept into the Bengali language. In English “b” should be written for the letter vargiiya ba and “v” for the letter anatahstha va. Body, because, bell, buoy, but, beacon, big, bag, beach, biija, bit, ban, beans, beet, bat, beam, etc., should be written in Bengali with vargiiya ba. Becál, beháyá, besharam, betár, bekár, becárá, bejár, bed́hap, benámá, etc., should be written with vargiiya ba because they are all pronounced like the English sound “b”. Bálaka, bálá, budha, buddha, baŕa, brhat, bandhana, bándhu, báddha, bándh – these words should also be spelled with vargiiya ba because they are pronounced like the English “b”. Vote, value, valve, very, valley, van, veto, vapour, and so forth, should be written with antahstha va. Their pronunciation has no relationship with the English “b”. In order to eliminate the current spelling and phonetic difficulties in the Bengali language it has become imperative to re-introduce the letter b with a line through the body of the letter. Moreover, if there is no separate character for vargiiya ba and anatahstha va in Bengali then the proper teaching and learning of Sanskrit becomes impossible.

Sanskrit does not have its own separate script, that is, there is no Sanskrit script. Traditionally, Sanskrit has been written in the local script. In the land of Bengal, Sanskrit has been written since ancient times in the Bengali script, thus distinct characters have to be maintained for ba and va.

“Gauhati” is spelled incorrectly in English; it should be “Guvahati”. In Bengali it is written guváhát́i. The word guvá [betel] has come from the accepted Sanskrit guváka. In old Bengali the word guvá was used; supári [betel nut] was not taken. The word supári is originally Hindustani; it has come into Bengali in modern times. In old Calcutta there was also a locality called Guvábágán (Goyábágán). The Urdu word for guvá is kasheilii – in certain places d́áli is also used.

Áya rauṋga hát́e yái;
Guvá-páń kine khái.

[Come with me to the market and buy some betel there and eat it.]

Fiiryá áisyá bandhu ámár guyá-páń kháio;
Náo laiyá sháon másere bandhu náiyar laiyá záio.

[When you return, my friend, enjoy some betel leaf and betel nut. Come in your boat in the month of Shrávańa and take your daughter to father’s house. ]

Qua (ক়): This is pronounced like the English “q”. The sound is somewhat similar to the raven’s call. It is pronounced keeping one’s mind on the kúrma nád́ii situated in the throat. The sound is also close to kva. This sound is not found in Sanskrit and pure Bengali, but it is found in Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, English, French, Latin, and many languages descended from Latin. This letter is indispensable for indicating the proper pronunciation of the words used in Bengali which are taken from these languages. Without this letter we would not be able to properly write qasim, Koran, qutabuddin, question, quest, shark, hawk, haquikat, fakir and so forth. Thus this letter needs to be introduced into the modern Bengali script considering the needs of the modern era. The letter is not one of the acoustic roots.

Qhua (খ়): This letter is pronounced somewhat like “qh”. This sound does not exist in Sanskrit and pure Bengali, but it is found in Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi. Khájá should be spelled with this “qh”.

Za (জ়):The sound is similar to the English “z”. This letter is found in Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, English, French, Latin and most of the Latin-group languages. If words from these languages are to be written in Bengali script then this letter is indispensable. We are compelled to use this letter to write words such as gázi, ázim, “zig-zag”, “zeal”, “zoological”, “zodiac” and so forth. Otherwise there will be confusion in pronunciation.

In English, its pronunciation is not “ij” but “iz”.

Ŕa (ড়): This is not a separate acoustic root. According to Sanskrit rules, the letter d́a is pronounced d́a at the beginning of a word and ŕa in the middle or at the end of a word. For example, d́ambaru and d́auṋká but áŕambara. Although it is not accepted as a separate form from the Sanskrit d́a, it is desirable that it have a separate character due to the difference in pronunciation, and so it is in Bengali. The letter should be formally accepted.

Ŕha (ঢ়): This is not a separate acoustic root. According to the Sanskrit rule it is pronounced d́ha at the beginning of a word and ŕha in the middle or at the end of a word. For example, d́hakká but áśáŕha. As this letter has a separate pronunciation and a separate character in the Bengali script, it should be accepted as a separate letter.

T (ৎ):This is not a separate acoustic root. Actually it is ta with the a dropped. For a long time in Bengali there has been the custom of writing t rather than ta with a hasanta after it. Wherever ta is written with a hasanta beneath it, t can be written in its stead which takes less time. Thus t should be kept and given formal acceptance.

Fa (ফ়): This is not a separate acoustic root. Its pronunciation is similar to the English “f”. This sound is enunciated by filling the mouth with air and creating pressure against the lips with that air from inside the mouth, then expelling it outside while opening the mouth. This sound does not exist in Sanskrit and pure Bengali; what exists is the pha sound. Its name is phańii which should be written in English as “phani”, not “fani”. This sound is found in Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, English, French, and the majority of the Latin languages. This letter is needed to indicate the correct pronunciation of words such as farukh, fazal, fir, fer, fryát́ár, fan, fair, frequent, fire, far, father, feyár and so forth. If this letter is introduced into the modern Bengali script, then we will be able to indicate the pronunciation for words which we are unable to at present. We should write “Fazl-ul-Haque” but we write incorrectly “Phajl-ul-Hak”. I do not consider this mistake excusable. By introducing the letter fa, this long-time error can be rectified.

Ya (য়): This is also not a separate acoustic root. Padánte padamadhyasthe ya-kára ia ucyate, that is, if ya is at the beginning of a word, then is pronounced as a light ja; and in the middle and at the end of a word it is pronounced as ia, but it will be easier to recognize when it should be pronounced as a light ja and when it should be pronounced as ia if a dot is placed beneath the Bengali character [ya] for the ia sound. In the Bengali language, this ya with a dot below it has already been in use for a long time. It should be allowed to continue. Sanskrit does not have a separate form for ya when it is pronounced ia, but it is good that it remain in Bengali.

Lra (ল়): This letter is not found in Bengali, Assamese and Hindustani, but it is found in Sanskrit, Marathi, Gujarati and the alphabets of south India. In north India, it is present in the pronunciation of the common people although there is no separate character for it. The rule is that whenever la is present in the middle or end of the original verbal root, then it will be antahstha la (lra), and if it is at the beginning of the original verbal root then it will be ádi la (la). If it is present in the radical of a compound word derived from the verbal root, or after the prefix, then this antahstha la (lra) will not undergo any change in either form or pronunciation. Similarly, if a root word contains ádi la, and it is present in the radical of a compound word made with that root, then that adi la will not undergo any change, for example, shriilatá, shriilekhá, sulekhá, puśpalatá, and so forth. All those suffixes which contain la have adi la, such as alac, ilac and so on.

Without this antahstha la (lra) in the Bengali language, the proper teaching and study of Sanskrit is not possible; it should be part of the Bengali script. Otherwise Bengali-speaking students of Sanskrit will pronounce it incorrectly. The difference in pronunciation of words such as latá, phalra, kamala, kálrakálra, etc., will go unrecognized if the letter lra is not introduced. If, while reading the Vedas, we read agni miilre as agni miile it will be incorrect, so the letter lra should have a place. There is a great abundance in Bengali of words borrowed from Sanskrit which contain antahstha la (lra), such as kálra, khalra, vimalra, samalra, amalra (not kamala), tálra, tálrii, dalra, palra, kalryáńa, kapálra, bhálra (in the sense of forehead) – it would be an error to spell these with adi la.

Just as there is a need for the letters qa, qha, za and fa for writing words of foreign origin such as fazl, “hawk”, haqiikat, qhájá sáheb and so forth, there is an undeniable need for the letter lra for writing Bengali and Sanskrit words properly. For the same reasons, the letters rr, lr and lrr require a place. Although there are far fewer words in Bengali written with long rr (naerrta), lr (saḿklrpta, abhiklrpta), lrr (lrrt́) in comparison with the abundance of words containing lra, they are necessary for the Bengali-speaking students of Sanskrit, so they should also be given a place. Otherwise Bengali-speaking students will be hampered in the arena of pronunciation. So I will reiterate the need for qa, qha, za and fa for indicating the proper pronunciation of English, Arabic and Farsi words, just as there is a need for the letter lra for indicating the Sanskrit letter.

Aṋ (অঁ): In Sanskrit the candrabindu is not a full vowel but a special form of half-vowel, that is, although it is a ayogaváha,⁽¹⁾ it is not a complete ayogaváha. The candrabindu is not accepted in Sanskrit spelling but it is accepted as a sound. Tán + te is spelled táḿte but its Vedic-style pronunciation will be tánḿste. Tán + tathaeva is spelled táḿstathaeva but is pronounced tánḿstathaeva. If the candrabindu is pronounced, then why should it not be written? The following words would be completely unacceptable if the candrabindu was left out: phánká, áiṋcáno, áiṋcala, ánjalá, ánt́á, ánsha, kándá, khándá, gándá, cándá, chánda, jhánjha, d́ánt́á, cánda, páiṋca, phánda, bándha, bhánotá, yántá, shánsa, and many more. Hence the candrabindu should be fully accepted as a letter in the Bengali script.

Oka

The meaning of the Vedic verbal root uc is “to be gathered together”, “to be assembled”. By adding the suffix ghaiṋ (some say ka) to uc we get the word oka whose etymological meaning is: “all those entities which are together or form a group”. One of its colloquial meanings is a certain type of tree found in temperate and cold climates [oak]. This Vedic word oka is now quite common in many of the world’s languages. Indeed, the tree which we know nowadays as “oak” grows in large groups. The oak tree is comparatively tall. Some varieties are taller, others moderately tall and bushy. People believe that the pores of the oak’s leaves attract distant clouds. It is perhaps for this reason that in olden times people used to plant oak trees around their houses and villages. As a result the entire village would be turned into an oak grove. As I said, the meaning of the word oka was that they grew in groves.

There are three main varieties of oak tree which are well-known in the world. One of these is the red oak. Its original home was Britain, Ireland, Holland and nearby areas. People believe that the red oak has the greatest capacity to attract clouds. The second variety is the green oak. Although it doesn’t grow in hot areas, it does grow in somewhat warm areas and its original home was north of Eurasia’s Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn. The third variety of oak is the silver oak. It generally does not like predominately hot climates. While it is true that it is able to survive if planted in predominately hot regions, its growth is stunted. Its original home was also in the north-central areas of Eurasia.

Oak wood is somewhat light. It does not make very good furniture and is used more as firewood. The sap and juices of the oak have medicinal qualities. At one time during the prehistoric age there was a huge oak forest by the Barak river-valley, that is, modern-day Manipur, the northern part of Tripura, Kachar, Kaminganj and certain parts of Silchar. That special variety of oak whose descendants are found today was known by the name manipurii oak. One of its branch varieties is also a type of creeper. Because of people’s shortsightedness the manipurii variety of oak has been nearly wiped out. Still, with proper forethought, new forests can be planted and with the judicious use of this forest wealth, paper of a high grade can be produced. People also believe that this oak is especially capable of attracting clouds. As I was saying, in prehistoric times there was a vast forest of a now-extinct variety of oak in the Barak river-valley, so by searching this region a light variety of coal may be found.

Oka

Another colloquial meaning of oka is “home”. Oka means “home” in the sense of people living together. We can easily use oka as a synonym for words such as “hostel”, chátrávása [student’s home], áshraya [shelter], sadana [residence] and so forth. Chátráoka can be easily substituted for chátrávása and chátraoka for anáthálaya [orphanage]. A rest house can be called vishrámaoka. Etymologically, there are three words used for a creature which makes its home in water – jalaoká (in feminine gender t́á), jaloká and jal-uká. All three mean “leech”.

Okana/Okani/Okanii

By adding the suffix lyut́ to the verbal root uc we get the word okana. Okani and okanii have the same meaning. The etymological meaning of okana is “those who remain together”; its colloquial meaning is “louse”, which we call d́yáuṋgara in spoken Bengali when it is large-sized; the ordinary louse and its egg is called niki.

D́yáuṋgar-ukun-niki kare kilibili;
Kot́i kot́i káńkot́ári cale ilibili.

[Large or small, lice wiggle; millions of them go on wiggling together. ]

The colloquial meaning of okana is “bug”. Ud́d́iisha also means “bug”. The derived form of ud́d́iisha in Bengali is uŕisa or uŕiisha. The word uŕisha is used in some parts of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

Okas

By adding the suffix asun to the verbal root uc we get two words: okas and ucas. The etymological meaning of the word okas is “that which invites another to take shelter”; its colloquial meaning is “big house”, “student’s home”, “orphanage”, “traveller’s home”, “large hotel” and so forth. In Bengali also the word okas can be freely used to mean chátrávása [student’s home], ashrama, anáthálaya [orphanage], vishrámagrha (resthouse or retiring room), yátriinivása (waiting room), and so on. This saves time, paper and ink. For example, rel-okas can be easily substituted for “retiring or waiting room”.

Ojas

By adding the suffix asun to the verbal root oj (uj) we get the word ojas; its etymological meaning is “that which increases vitality” or “that which makes lustrous”. The colloquial meaning of ojas is “warm being” or “living being”. Ojasvin means “that which is full of life”, in feminine form, ojasvinii. Ojas can also be spelled with a visarga, that is, it can be spelled either ojas or ojah.

Otu

Uv + tuk (tu) = otu. The verbal root uv means “to be ready to flee” or “to flee suddenly”. The etymological meaning of the word otu is “that which is always ready to flee” or “that which flees suddenly”. The colloquial meaning of the word otu is “cat”. If a cat successfully gets into the kitchen or storeroom and is eating the milk or fish, it will flee through the window or any other opening the moment someone enters there. For this reason its name is otu.

Odana

The verbal root und means “to soak or drench with water”. By adding the suffix lyut́ to und we get the word odana; its etymological meaning is “that which is soaked in water” or “that which has been softened” and its colloquial meaning is “cooked rice”. Cooked rice is prepared by putting it in water and boiling it. For this reason it is called odana. The food [anna] of a person who earns his money by virtuous means is not called pápánna [sinful food] because his food is pure. The type of person in whose house one can easily eat his food, we can call shuddhodana.

The word bháta [cooked rice] comes from the Prákrta word bhatta. In old Bengali both bhatta and bhattá were common. The word bháta has also been used throughout eastern India for the last nearly one thousand years. In Hindustani the word bháta is masculine, but in Hindustani the word cával [rice] is more common. The word cával is used for both raw rice and cooked rice.

Om

A + u + m = Om. The sound a is the seed of creation. So a is the first sound of the world and of the universe. A is called the first acoustic root, thus at the time of arranging the alphabet a was placed first. The sound á consists of two a’s side by side so it was given the second position. In most of the alphabets of the world a is the first letter and the first in alphabetical order – aliph, alpha, “a” and so on. The sound a signifies the union of the introversial consciousness and the extroversial consciousness, thus a signifies the complete expression of the play of creation.

The sound u signifies the action of “preservation”, “maintenance” or “attendance”. Whatever has been created or manifest in the universe, whatever wave has begun to be sounded in the firmament, is living or preserved within certain fixed limits of time. Static entities are, for the time being, comparatively more permanent, and dynamic entities are comparatively shorter lived, but all are circumscribed by temporal limits. As long as the created being, object or wave remains within its temporal limits then that abiding form is sounded and maintained by the seed of preservation and existence. The same is true for each and every entity of the universe, that is, what is created by the seed a abides in the seed u, thus creation and abiding, a and u, gives us a + u = o.

When the rotation is circular the expressed entity gets an opportunity to return to its original cause. If that entity is ensconced in the ideation of its original source then there is nothing to add. But if that circular course continues to emerge out from the original source, still it has no other option but to return to that original source. Where the emanated entity advances on the path of diffusion, and that movement remains under the control of the nuclear force, then it is bound to return; it will one day merge in the nucleus. One day, under the inspiration of that preserving entity situated in the nucleus, the chapter of its return begins, and its culmination is in the nucleus – the end of all its peregrinations.

This return is called prańásha [annihilation]. The word násha has come from the verbal root nash. The root nash means “to be destroyed”. When this násh achieves completeness then we call it vinásha. And when this násha signifies the return of an entity to its original state then it is called prańásha. That which is created in the journey by the sound a and preserved by the sound u meets its prańásha in the sound ma. Thus, this dissolution is not a terrible or dangerous thing; it is not death. Although the scriptures call it “the great death”, it is really a return to the original entity or original force. That state of the Supreme Force or Parama Puruśa which is signified by the sound a and which remains engaged in the action of creation is called Brahmá. That state which remains engaged in the action of preservation or maintenance is called Viśńu. And that state which remains engaged in withdrawal or prańásha is called Saḿhartá, or Maheshvara. This a + u + m gives om. Om means the expressed Brahma, or Saguńa Brahma, comprised of creation, maintenance and dissolution.

The sphere of action of this Saguńa Brahma is limited to the expressed universe. Although this expressed universe is extremely vast, from the philosophical point of view it is limited, because whatever shape the five fundamental factors take, it is still bound by limitation, caught in the bonds of existence. This expressed or manifested universe is a finite island in an ocean of infinity.

The nirguńa state is beyond thought. It cannot be expressed through language or through written symbols. Thus there is no other means but to use a dot for it, although a dot is incapable of fully conveying its significance. And so, in ancient times people saw no other means but to use a vertical line to indicate the Supreme Cognitive Force and a horizontal line to indicate the Supreme Operative Force (Paramá Prakrti), and for the expressed universe, that is, for the Cognitive Force bound by Prakrti, they used to draw a plus mark (+).

In the expressed universe ka is indicative of the seed of the stage-wise introversial movement. Thus, ultimately, this plus sign becomes the symbol of the sound ka. So in the Brahmii script the character for ka is a plus sign. In the expressed universe the fundamental dynamic entity is om (a + u + m), but beyond it is an unexpressed ocean of consciousness. For that there is nothing we can use besides a dot. We use a crescent line (náda) as a symbol of the state that relates this dot with the om. The two of them together are known collectively as nádabindu. Although it looks somewhat like the candrabindu, the two are not identical. The curved portion below the dot is not exactly like the curve of the candrabindu; the tail end curves up more, a little like a check mark. Thus this dot and crescent line, and with it om, forms the collective symbol of Nirguńa as well as Saguńa Brahma.⁽²⁾

It is said in the Vedas: Tatte padaḿ saḿgraheńa braviimyomityetad. That is, I have uttered this word oṋm for attaining the supreme stance of Parama Puruśa.

Ora

Ora is a very old Bengali word which means “end”. The word ora also exists in old Shaorasenii Prákrta where it means “direction”, in Farsi tarph (is tarph, us tarph [this direction, that direction]). Thus one can say uskii or in Hindustani for “in his direction”. “In the country’s direction” will be deshkii or, but in Bengali ora has a different meaning. I have already said that ora means “end”. Two hundred years ago, the word ora was quite common in Bengali in this sense. Today this word is fast disappearing. In the Váramásyá [Bengali epic poem] we find:

Jaśt́imáse śaśt́hii bát́á bándhe jaśt́ir d́or;
Áśáŕhete rathayátrá náiko loker or.

[In the Bengali month of Jyaeśt́hi, Śaśt́hii is worshipped. The holy thread of the month is tied to the hands of all. In Áśarh, in the car festival, there is an endless crowd of people. ]

One hundred years ago people would say grámer ore [at the end of the village] rather than grámer sheśe. Nowadays, you will hardly ever hear anyone say this.

Ośt́ha

The verbal root uś means “to heat”, “to light”, “to burn”, “to warm up”, “to handle”. Uś + tha = ośt́ha. Etymologically ośt́ha means “that which handles”; colloquially it means “lip”. Generally it refers to both the lower and upper lips, but specifically it refers to the upper lip and adhara refers to the lower lip. A + (nain) + dhr + ac = adhara.

Ośadhi

The verbal root uś + ghaiṋ = ośa +dhá + ki = ośadhi. The verbal root uś means “to heat”. That which heats food we call uś + lyut́ = ośańa (úśańa is also correct). This ośańa or úśańa means “spice”. Hot spice is called śaŕúśańa (śat́ + úśańa). Ośadhi means “that which brings the warmth of life into the body” – which, by reviving, energy comes. Thus one colloquial meaning of ośadhi is “medicine” or “medicinal herb”. Uś + na = uśńa; uśńa means “hot”.

Another meaning of the word ośadhi is “all those living beings or plants where the mother rushes towards death as they are being born”, or “those progeny whose birth is also the cause of the mother’s death”. In the plant kingdom the plaintain group is of this type so it is classified as ośadhi. Some people also like to consider the grass family of plants as ośadhi. They claim that when the seeds of these plants (rice, wheat, etc.) mature then the mother, that is, the grass plant, dies. This is not so. Grass-family plants are not ośadhi, the reason being that while the seeds are technically the progeny of the plant, as long as they have not sprouted one cannot accept that any progeny has been produced. The seeds of grass family plants only get a chance to sprout long after they have matured. For this reason the grass-family plants, such as rice and wheat, cannot be called ośadhi.

According to some people there are a certain few living beings who die when the children are born. In this regard, they talk about the crab. They say that while the baby crabs are in the mother’s womb they eat at her flesh and finally, only after having exhausted all her flesh, are they are born, thus crabs are also ośadhi. Because they are matricidal, travellers used to consider bananas and crabs as inauspicious for journeys, that is, no one would ever take bananas or crabs with them to distant countries. In ancient times, a distant land was reckoned as that land which it took a lunar day or more to reach. In former times Midnapore was also a distant land from Burdwan. Today, even the moon is not a distant land from the earth.

Ośadhipati

The quality of ośadhi or medicinal herbs varies according to the different lunar days. In olden times people used to think that the qualities of edibles also varied with the different lunar days, thus they declared that on such-and-such day brinjals were forbidden, on others palm, brhatii [a large variety of brinjal] or gourd. Because the quality of medicines varied according to the lunar day, that is, according to the position of the moon, the moon was called Ośadhipati [Lord of Medicine].

Footnotes

(1) A letter that cannot stand on its own: ḿ and h. –Trans.

(2) Strictly speaking, nádabindu is not represented in romanized Sanskrit. Candrabindu, which is similar, is represented by ṋ. So the “collective symbol” – dot and crescent together with om – is sometimes rendered as oṋm (which before a consonant, for the sake of euphony, becomes oṋḿ). See also p. 35 and p. 99. –Trans.