Bengali literature (Bengali: ????? ???????

, Bangla Sahity) denotes the body of wr itings in the Bengali language in South Asia. The earliest extant work in Bengal i literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs dating bac k to the 10th and 11th centuries. Thereafter, the timeline of Bengali literature is divided into two periods - medieval (1360-1800) and modern (after 1800). Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Hindu r eligious scriptures (e.g. Mangalkavya), Islamic epics (e.g. works of Syed Sultan and Abdul Hakim), translations of Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian texts, Vaishnava texts (e.g. biographies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), and secular texts by Muslim p oets (e.g. works of Alaol). Novels were introduced to Bengali literature in the mid-19th century. Rabindrana th Tagore, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, essayist, musician, and social r eformer, is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. After the post-partition era, Bengali liter ature comprises literature of erstwhile East Pakistan and modern-day Bangladesh and of Paschimbanga (West Bengal). Middle Bengali literature[edit source | editbeta] Main article: Middle Bengali Literature Pre-Chaitanya Vaishnava literature[edit source | editbeta] Pre-Chaitanya or Early Vaishnava literature denotes the literature of the time p receding the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. T hese include: Sri Krishna Kritana by Boru Chandidas; lyrical poems, known as the Vaishnava Padavali of Vidyapati and Chandidas; Sri Krishna Vijaya, the partial translation of Bhagavata Purana by Maladhar Basu and Krittivasi Ramayana by Krit tivas Ojha. Shrikrishna Kirtana[edit source | editbeta] Main article: Shreekrishna Kirtana Nabanarikunjara, one of the themes of Mediaeval Vishnava lyrics, engraved on a t emple pillar at Bishnupur, Bankura. Basanta Ranjan Roy Bidyatvallava discovered the torn manuscript of the Sri Krish na Kirtana from the cowshed of Debendranath Chatterjee's house at Kakinlya villa ge, Bankura district in modern-day Paschimbanga (West Bengal). Sri Krishna Kirta na was written by Boru Chandidas in the later half of 14th century CE. It is con sidered as the second oldest work of Bengali literature after Charyapada. Vaishnava Lyrics by Vidyapati and Chandidas[edit source | editbeta] The 15th century is marked by the emergence of Vaishnava lyrical poetry or the p adavali in Bengal. The poetry of Vidyapati, the great Maithili poet, though not written in Bengali, influenced the literature of the time so greatly that it mak es him a vital part of Middle Bengali literature. He flourished in the modern-da y Darbhanga district of Bihar, India in the 14th century. His Vaishnava lyrics b ecame very popular among the masses of Bengal. The first major Bengali poet to w rite Vaishnava lyrics was Chandidas, who belong to the modern-day Birbhum distri ct (or, according to another opinion, Bankura district), Paschimbanga in the 15t h century. Chandidas is also known for his humanist proclamation "Sabar upare manu sh satya, tahar upare nai" ("???? ???? ????? ????, ????? ???? ????") "The supreme truth is man, there is noting more important than he is." Works of both Vidyapat i and Chandidas, along with Jayadeva s Gita Govinda were known to the favourites o f Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.