Banerji Sures Chandra. Sanskrit Culture of Bengal

Delhi: Sharada Publishing House, 2004. — 492 p.No work on the Sanskrit literature of Bengal (West Bengal and Bangladesh taken together) has as yet been published in English. The result is that the non-Bengali elites and the foreign indologists know very little about it beyond excepting what is written in stray articles published in different journals particularly in the English works on the history of Bengal. So, a sustained account of the Sanskrit literature, produced in Bengal, is a desideratum. The cultural heritage of Bengal represented in the Sanskrit works is vast, varied and valuable. There is hardly any branch of Sanskrit literature, to which Bengal did not make substantial contribution. What is remarkable is that the scholars of this region left the impress of their originality in several domains of which the most prominent are Navya-nyaya, Navya-smrti and Tantra. In fact, these are three colossal pillars on which rests the gargantuan edifice of the culture of medieval Bengal. In the domain of the poetical literature, too, the Bengali literatures developed a new literary style, known as Gaudi-riti. Till today, Bengal appears to be the pioneer in the realm of Sanskrit anthological literature. A historical study of Bengal's contribution to Sanskrit literature reveals the close cultural relation of this province with Nepal and Tibet, the latter preserving, in Tibetan translation, quite a number of Buddhist philosophical and Tantric works, the Sanskrit originals of which have been lost. The present book is a comprehensive account of the Sanskrit literature, produced and cultivated in Bengal since the earliest times. One volume is not sufficient for a detailed treatment of the subject of this work, therefore, the author has tried to make the book as brief as possible and amply documented.Abbreviations.
Important Dates.
Geography of bengal.
Political and social background.
Philosophy (six orthodox systems).
Gaudlya Vaisnava philosophy, theology and Bhakticult.
Smrti-sastra.
Tantra sastra.
Grammar.
Puranas of bengal.
Poetical literature.
Dramatic literature.
Medical literature (ayurveda or vaidyaka-sastra).
Poetics, prosody, dramaturgy and vaisnava rasa.sastra (alankarasastra, chandahsastra, naiyasatra and rasasastra).
Lexical literature.
Epigraphical literature.
Miscell aneous works.
Influence of Sanskrit literature on the literature and life of the Bengalis.
Sanskrit literature and Rabindranath 397.
Epilogue.
Appendices.
Pre-Twentieth Century Sanskrit Dramas of Bengal.
Sanskrit Poetical Works of Bengal Written by Scholars Born in the Nineteenth Century.
Fort William College (founded 1800 - May) and Sanskrit.
Asiatic Society of Bengal (Now Asiatic Society, Calcutta).
Theses Approved by Calcutta University for Doctorate Degrees in Sanskrit 1957-1982.
Theses Approved by Ravindra Bharati University , Calcutta for Doctorate in Sanskrit..
Addendum Additional Information about Authors and Works.
Select Bibliography.