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LexicographyinIndia
Part1:DictionaryMakinginIndianLanguages:SurveryandProspects
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LexicographyinAssamese
MaheswarNeog
TheEncyclopaediaBritannicadefinesadictionaryasabookoflistingwordsofalanguage,withtheirmeaningsinthesameoranotherlanguage,usuallyin
alphabetical order, often with data regarding pronunciation origin and usage. In this sense no dictionary of the Assamese language, as of any other Modern Indian
language, was compiled before the advent of the English and other European peoples and languages. The first Assamese dictionary to have been printed and
publishedis:ADictionaryinAssameseandEnglish(assamiyaaruingrajiabhidhan)compiledbyM.Bronson,anAmericanBaptistMissionaryandpublishedbythe
AmericanBaptistMissionPress,Sibsagorin1867.

BronsonacknowledgeshisdebttoReverendNathanBrownforavaluablelistofwords,anddefinitionspartlygivenallinthevernacular.Rev.whitingalso
printed a list of words as far as the letter without definitions : We have seen neither of these lists but it is important to note that Bronson calls neither one a
dictionary in his first dictionary of the language ever published . We, however, have this information that Jaduram Deka Baruva, whom Bronson terms a learned
AssamesePunditwrotethefirsteverAssamesedictionary,andhandeditovertoaBritishofficial,whoshoweditofftotheAmericanBaptistsinAssam.Butthelater
historyoftheworkremainsunknown.ItcanperhapsbebelievedthatBronsonwasfamiliarwithJaduramsdictionary,which,however,hedoesnotmention.Whathe
mentionsisverysignificant:ThesystemofOrthographyadoptedinthiswork,isthatJoduranBorua,alearnedAssamesePandit,whichitisbelievedmuchbetter
correspondswiththeactualpronunciationofthepeoplethananyothersystemmetwith,ThisisperhapsareferencetoJadhuramslexicography.

BronsonssystemoforthographyinhisdictionarywasframedanddictatedbytheBaptistsmonthlyjournalOrunodoi(1846),whichwantedthewrittenform
wrodfos strictly to correspond with the actual pronunciation of the people. The biggest advocate of this system was Rev. Brown, who argued in its favour in the
journal against the criticism of Assamese writers like Hemachandra Barua and was supported by the Assamese Christian, Nidhi Levi Farwell. In his Grammatical
Notices of the Assamese Language (1848) Brown upheld the same principles. But long before the publication of Bronsons dictionary (1867) the Orunodoi gave up
these principles and adopted Hemachandra Baruas as we see from the monthlys 1861 volume and when the third edition of Browns Grammatical Notices was
brought out by P.H. Moore (Nowgong, Assam, October 1892), it was thoroughly revised and Browns own principles were superseded. Moore says in the Preface,
Certainchangeshavebeenmadeinthespelling,toconformtocurrentusage.Thesystemofspelling,whichDr.Brownsaidinfavourofthatsystem.Astheletters
discardedbyDr.Brownarenowrequiredinthemodernspelling,thecompleteBengaliAlphabetisgiveninsteadofanabridgedone.

Brown dropped the long vowels (, ) and their symbols as unnatural in Assamese and avoided rkara and pkara altogether, substituting for them. He retained only
oneforthethreesibilants,andofsheremarkedAveryprominentcharacteristicofthislanguageisthepronunciationoftheSanskritletter,and
liketheguturalhorkh,correspondingwiththeGreekXasoundunknowninBengali.

BronsonsaysinhisPreface,Inthefourteenthousandwordsherecollected,willbefoundmanyindailyusebythepeople,thatnoBengalischolarwillunderstand.
Manyofthesewordshavebeenwrittenastheydroppedfromthelipsofthepeople.WhileIhavethusendeavouredtogivethespokenlanguage,Ihavealsoinserted
the more common Sanskrit words that are used in the Puthis, and therefore known to the people.These words are also used in our school books, and scripture
translation.ButitshouldbebornsinmindthattheyareoftenusedinAssamesewithamodifiedmeaning,andadifferentpronunciation.Afewwordsareusedwitha
slightdifferenceofformandpronunciation

ThefollowingcommentsofBronsonwillbefoundinteresting:i,Thesetwovowelsareusedindiscriminatelytoexpressthesoundofi,in/piquepin, pity.
The Assamese language knows no distinction between them except what is produced by accent, to which the Sanskrit and Bengali distinction of long and short
denotedbythosetwocharactershavenoreference.Henceforallpracticalpurposesthefirstcharacteronlyneedberetained:

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u,TheyindiscriminatelyusedinAssamesetorepresentthesoundofuinruleorooinpoor.Hencethefirstonlyneedberetainedr,r,,:Thesefourcompounds
ofr,l,andi,usedintheSanskritandBengali,areseldomusedinwritingAssamese

ch:Thisletterisproperlyanaspirateofhteprecedingletter,sandasusedintheBangaliandSanskritalphabetsmayberepresentedbytheEnglishletter
chhbutinAssamesebothformsoftheletterarepronouncedlikesimples.Thereforeforallpracticalpurposesthefirstformonlyneedberetained

y : In Assamese this letter is usually pronounced like the soft or .....................or french j, and should therefore be written, but when written with a dot
underneaththusitbecomesy

s,s , : The pronunciation of these three letters being one and the same in Assamese, the latter character h, need only be used. When combined with
anotherconsonantithasthesounds,as

hastra,scripturehishyodisciple

ks ,ThisSanskritcompoundiscomposedofk,andsh,butitpronouncedkhy,aninAssameseisoftensoftenedtokh,asinthewordakhyor,aletter
Assameseakhor,oraikhor.HencethiscompoundcharacterisunnecessaryinwritingAssamese.

Thedictionaryisbasedontheseprinciples.Thereareinitnowordsbeginningwithlong,,r l ,,ch,y,sandks .Inmedialpositionsthepalatalt,

th,d,h,narenotuniformlyusedandsometimeevenintatsamawordstheirplaceistakenbythedentalseries.Bronsondidnotprovideanynoteregardingtheoriginof
thewords.

HemachandraBarua,whowaspresentedbyBronsonpersonallywithacopyofthedictionary,wasabsolutelyrevoltedbythissystem.Heexpressedhimself
againstBronsonsworkinthestrongestterms.Itsorthographyisabsolutelywrongandaseveninthematterofmeaningsitdoesnotcometothedesirable,itisofan
willbeofnousethelearnersofAssamese.BaruahadalreadyfoughtandwonthebattleagainsttheBaptists,andnowsettomakeanewdictionary.Theresultwas
Hemakosha or an Etymological Dictionary of the Assamese language, which had Webster as its model and took help from Wilsons SanskritEnglish, Thompsons
HindiandUrduEnglish,andCareysBengaliEnglishdictionaries.HesetonceandforallthespellingandgrammaroftheAssameselanguagethroughthisdictionary,
itsabridgedform,ParnasaliyaAbhidhan(1828aka/1906A.D.),andhistwogrammars,thefirstofwhichwaspublishedthroughtheBaptistsin1781aka/1859A.D.

ThefollowingwordswillshowthestandardobtaininginBronsonandHemachandra:

Bronson Hemakosha
akathaniya,unspeakable,beyondexpression akathaniya
akarjabhagi,worthless akajabhagi
akirti,withoutrenown,infamous akrtti,infamy
akripa,hardheartedness akr p
agyan,ignorant ajn
acardha,disregard araddh
ajirna,indigestion ajrn*a
atripti,unsatisfied atr,pti,instiableness
adrisya,invisible adr,ya
adhauriya,impatience adhairyya
anicai,uncertain anicay
antarikhya,thesky antariks*a

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aparhua,illiterate apadhuwa
ica,desire icch
jakhar,saltpetre yakhar
sastriya,sriptural strya

Bronsonadherestotheformactuallyobtainingwiththespeaker,whileveryoftenHemachandraneglectsitandtriestomakethewordsconformtotheoriginalSanskrit
to the extent of utter is regard for the medial stages of Middle IndoAryan through which the word has come. The Assamese language, therefore, did not take the
coursetheBaptistwriterslikeBrownandBronsonwantedittotake,andwassoonreclaimedtoSanskritstandardseventhoughnotalwaysonasoundbasis.

Parhasaliva Abhidhan was published ten years after his death, in 1906, and reprinted twice in 1912 and 1924 by his family. The Hemakosha was edited by Capt.
P.R.T.GurdonandHemachandraGoswamiandpublishedbytheAssamAdministrationin1900,astheauthorhimselfcouldnotdareriskhislifessavingsduringhis
lifetime.Thisdictionaryhassincesetthepaceforthelanguage.Theworkwaslaterrevisedandeditedbylessablehands,andhasthuscometohavealesser
value.Hemachandrawasnotveryscientificinhisetymologicalnotes,whilehedidnotexploitoldAssameseliteratureforsourcesofhiswordsortheirhistory.The
numberofwordsinthisbeautifulworkis22,346.MeaningsweregiveninAssameseandEnglish.

EncouragedbyanendowmentmadebyRadhakantaHandiqui,AssamSahityaSabhasetinSeptember1924tomakeanewdictionaryandemployedthreepersonto
collectwordsfromcurrentuseandoldwritings.ThedonorhimselfcontributedanumberofwordsparticularlyasusedintheburanjisoroldAssamesechronicles.The
meaningsofwordsinAssameseandEnglishwerenewlywritten.andfreshattemptsweremadetotracetheoriginofthewords.Theresult,ChandrakantaAbhidhan,
with36,819words,waspublishedin1933withanIntroductionbyDevanandaBharati,apioneerlinguist,andaPrefacebytheSabhasGeneralSecretaryDeveswar
Chaliha.VerysoonamassofcriticismoftheworkcroppedupandatonetimetheSabhacontemplatedtheissueofasupplementarywithexhaustivecorrigendabut
hiswasnotdone.

In the meantime a scientific work on the language appeared in the form of Banikanta Kakatis Ph.D. thesis (Calcutta University), Assamese : Its Formation and
Development, and revolutionized peoples idea about the history of the Assamese language. After the death of Radhakanta Hanidqui in 1952, his son, Professor
KrishakantaHandiqui,thethenViceChancellorofGauhatiUniversitymadeamagnificentdonationtotheUniversityforrevisonandpublicationofthesecondeditionof
ChandrakantaAbhidhan(1962).TheetymologyandmeaningsofwordswererevisedinthelightofKakatiswork,andnewwordswereadded,thetotalcomingupto
about 40,000. But some confusion crept up in the course of preparation of the press copy and seeing the work through the press and the result was not up to
anybodysexpectation.Workonthethirdeditionisnowon,withMaheswarNeogaschiefEditorandUpendranathGoswamiasEditor.ThisAbhidhanisanallpurpose
one, embracing Old and Modern Assamese, giving etymology of words, and so on. The third edition is to contain glossaries of scientific and technical terminology
also.

Giridhar Sarmas Asamiya Abhidhan is a popular dictionary. There are other attempts also at dictionarymaking going on. The Publication Board of Assam, for
example,iscompilingadictionaryofModernAssameseinahandyformwithoutetymologyandmeaningsinEnglish.

ThemainproblemindictionarymakinginAssameseisthewantofmanpowerandequipmentrequiredaswellasofmaterialresources.TheLexicographerhereis yet
tosupersedesamuelJohnsonsdefinitionofhimasaharmlessdrudge.Theworkofadictionaryistheworkofateamofworkerswhichisnottobefoundeasilyin
Assam . Chandrakanta Abhidhan, the largest dictionary in Assamese, still excludes a large number of words in current speech and literature, while words are being
constantlyaddedtothelanguage.Thereisscarcelyanypossibilityofcopingwiththiswork,intheprevailingcircumstances.

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RequirementsandPrioritiesofAssameseLexicography
G.C.Goswami

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Thefollowinginabriefsurveyofdictionaries,theirrequirementsandprioritiesinAssamese.

(i)Existingdictionaries

a)AssameseAssameseDictionary,compiledbyRev.Bronsonandpublishedin1867.ThisisthefirstAssamesedictionarypublishedbyamissionarymorethan
onehundredyearsago.ThisdictionarycontainsaverygoodcollectionofAssamesetadbhavwordsofeverydayuse.Itisnotavailablenowandisrarework.

b) Hema Kosa compiled by Hemachandra Barua and published in 1900 A.D. This is the second Assamese English dictionary. Since its first publication, it has
undergonefoureditions.

c)ChandrakantaAbhidhanaisanotherverygoodAssameseAssameseEnglishdictionarycompiledandpublishedbytheAsomSahityaSabhain1932.Itssecond
revised/editionwaspublishedbytheGauhatiUniversityin1962.ThethirdrevisededitionbeingbroughtoutbytheAsomSahityaSabhaisnowinpress.Thismaybe
regardedastheonlyreliableandauthoritative,thoughnotexhaustive,dictionaryofthelanguagepublishedsofar.

d) AngloAssamese Pronouncing Dictionary by B.N. Bhattacharya is a good and reliable EnglishAssamese dictionary. However, it cannot be regarded as
comprehensive.

e)AngloAssameseDictionarybyG.D.Sharmaisahandydictionaryprimarilyintendedforstudentsandhasundergoneseveraleditions.Besidesthese,thereare
afewpocketAngloAssamesedictionariesavailableinthemarket.

(ii)Dictionariesunderpreparation:

TheAssam Publication Board and the Dutta Barua and Co., have been compiling twoAssamese and Assamese to English dictionaries separately which are
expectedtobegoodinquality.

(iii)Needsofvarioustypesofdictionariesetc:PrioritiesforAssamese:

FromtheaboveitisquiteevidentthatAssameselacksinallthesedictionaries:scientificandtechnical,commercial,scholarlyandcomprehensive,etc.

a)ThefirstanforemostneedisacomprehensivedictionaryoftheAssamesespokenineverynookandcorneroftheAssamesespeakingarea.

Such a dictionary of any Indian language should strive to be as comprehensive and exhaustive as possible in two respects : (i) synchronically, it
shouldrecordallwordsandformsspokenandavailableatthepresenttimeandalsousedinthepresentdayliteraturethewordsbeingrecordedinall
theirdialecticalvariantsand(ii)historically,itshouldcontainallwordsandformavailableintherecordedliteratureoftheearlyperiodsofthelanguage.

Many of the words and forms in different dialect areas are now fast dying out in Assamese (probably this is the case in many other Indian
languages) either yielding place to borrowed words from other languages or those of the standard dialect. All efforts should be made to collect and
preservethembeforetheyarecompletelylost.ThisisnecessarynotonlyfortheAssameselanguagebutalsoforthehistoricalandcomparativestudy
andforreconstructionofthehistoryoftheIndoAryanlanguagesofIndia.Besides,Assamesehasbeenexposed,perhapstoagreaterextentthanother
languages,totheinfluencesofmanynonAryanlanguagesbelongingtodifferentlanguagefamilies.Andtherefore,properevaluationoftheselanguages
and dialects will be possible only with comprehensive dictionaries done properly on all the languages of the country. And I am sure the CILL will do a
signalserviceifitcan,inanyway,assistincompilingsuchdictionariesatleastinthemajorlanguages.

I produced a scheme for such a comprehensive dictionary of the Assamese language some years ago but it still remains in the file for want of
sponsoringauthorities.

b)Another urgent need in Assamese is a multilingual Assamese dictionary, multilingual not with outside or foreign languages but with languages
spoken by the major tribal linguistic groups such as BodoKachari, Gaor, Khasi, Lushai, etc. There may be one or more than one such multilingual
dictionarieswithAssameseasthecommonlanguage.Thereareveryfewdictionariesinthetriballanguagesandthereisnomultilingualdictionaryatall

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atpresent.Linguisticconsciousnessisgrowingamongthetribalpeopleandpreparationandpublicationofsuchmultilingualdictionarieswillcertainlygo
alongwayinachievingemotionalintegrationinthismostsensitiveborderstateofthecountry.

c) Medical and other scientific and technical dictionaries are of primary necessity in every major regional language of the country for smooth and
easychangeoverofthemediumofinstructiontotheregionallanguages.ThereisnosuchdictionaryofanysubjectinAssameseatpresent.

d)Likeotherregionallanguages,technicalterminologiesarebeingpreparedinAssamesealso,Sanskrithasbeenacceptedasthereservoirtodraw
upon words and forms in coining new terms. Therefore a good Sanskrit to Assamese dictionary is also necessary and as I understand the Gauhati
UniversityCoordinationCommitteeforTextbookProductionisengagedinthecompilationofsuchadictionary.

(iv)Ageneralpriority:

AtthisheadIwanttosaysomethingaboutthenecessityofacomprehensivecomparativedictionaryoftheIndoAryanlanguages.Theneedforsuchadictionary
oftheDravidianlanguages/shouldalsobeexamined(Emeneausdictionarywillserveasthebasisforthis)

R.L.TurnersrecentlycompletedComparativeDictionaryoftheIndoAryanLanguages is, and will always remain, a monumental work done by a single hand. A
comparative dictionary like this demands superhuman efforts and a very long life from a single individual and fortunately for us the industrious and learned compiler
had been endowed with both these gifts by God. We Indians are deeply indebted to the author for this and other lasting contributions in the field or IndoAryan
languagesandlinguistics.

Nowthatwehavegotaverygoodworkinhandwemaytakethisdictionaryasthebasisandtrytomakeitascomprehensiveandexhaustiveaspossible.Ifeel
thenecessityofsupplementingitbecauseofthefactthatalthoughquitealargenumberofAssamesecognateshavebeencitedinthedictionaryasizeableamountof
words have also been shown without Assamese cognates are lacking for these words, but my preliminary observation shows that most of the head words shown
withoutAssamesecognatesreallyhavesuchcognates.Idontknowifitistrueinthecaseoftheotherlanguages,butprobablyitmaybe.

IfeelthattheurgencyandpriorityofsupplementingandmakingTurnersdictionaryasexhaustiveaspossibleforalltheIndoAryanlanguagesforcomparativeand
historical linguistics in IndoAryan can never be overemphasized. The work may be taken up, perhaps, after preparation of comprehensive dictionaries in the
languagesinwhichsuchdictionariesareatpresentlacking.

(v)Availabilityofmanpoweretc:

InAssamtherewillbeagreatdearthoftechnicallyqualifiedpersonsforcompilationofdictionaries.However,therearequiteafewcollegeanduniversityteachers
whohavereceivedsometraininginlinguisticsinvariousschoolsandseminars.Thereareatleastfourteacherswhoreceivedtheirdoctoratedegreesinlinguisticsand
philology.ServicesofthesepersonsasalsoofthoseoftheM.A.sinAssameseBgroupmaybeutilizedforthepurpose.

(vi)Forpurposeofincreasingqualifiedmanpowerpotential:

a)Atrainingprogrammeofthreetofourmonthsmaybeorganizedatasuitableplace.

b)Arrangementmayalsobemadetoconductsomecoursesonlexicographyintheschoolsoflinguistics.

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ASurveyofBengaliDictionaries
KaminiKumarRay
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Tobeabletoknowacountryintimately,itisnecessarytounderstanditslanguage.Thechiefingredientofalanguageisitswords.Thesewordsarescatteredin
thecountrysliterature,inhevariousbooksandscripts,inthecolloquialspeechofthepeopleandintheceremoniesandinstitutions.Thelexicographerwhocollects
these words throughout his life by silent labour keeps them in an orderly fashion in his treasurehousedictionary. His contemporaries as also his successors may
unlockthattreasurehouseandseeinthemirrorofthosewordstheirownreflectionsandthusknoweachothermoreperfectly.

Adictionary,isAbookdealingwiththeindividualwordsofalanguage(orcertainspecifiedclassesofthem),soastosetforththeirorthography,pronunciation,
significationanduse,theirsynonymsandhistory,oratleastsomeofthesefacts:wordsarearrangedalphabetically,etc...Byextension:itisabookofinformation
orreferenceonanysubjectorbranchofknowledge,theitemsofwhicharearrangedinalphabeticalorder....(OxfordEnglishDictionary)

FromvariousavailablesourceswecometoknowthatthereexistdictionariesofalmostallthedevelopedlanguagesofIndia.Butnoneofthesearecompleteor
perfect.Wehaveagreatdealtodointhisfield.IshalltryheretogiveashortaccountofwhathasuptillnowbeendoneinthefieldofBengalidictionarymaking.

In Bengali some 300 dictionaries or dictionarylike works have been written or published up to this date. In some of these dictionaries (which are unlingual
meanings of the Bengali words are given in the Bengali language itself. In some others (which are bilingual) Bengali words are treated and illustrated in a language
otherthanBengali(sometimesintwoormorelanguages)andviceversa.Today,mostofthesedictionariesareoutofprint.IFsomeofthemstilldoexist,theyare
beyondthereachofordinarypeople.

In Bengal, work on language dictionaries was first started by some European scholars. (Vocabularies Em Idioma Bengalla Portuguez compiled by Manoel Da
Assumpcan, a Portugese Missionary, is the first bilingual dictionary in Bengali and Portugese. It was published in Roman script in 1743 in Lisbon. Next we may
mentionthenameof(IngarajiOVangaliVokebilari compiled by Upjohn (?) to teach the natives English and to assist beginners in learning the Bengali language. It
cameoutin1793fromtheChroniclePress,Calcutta.ItisprobablythefirstdictionaryinwhichBengalicharacterizewerefirstusedinprintingBengaliwords.Henry
PittsFortersdictionaryisalsoworthmentioninghere.Itsfirstvolume(EnglishBengali)waspublishedin1799andthesecondvolume(BengaliEnglish)in1802.

William careys A Dictionary of the Bengali language (BengaliEnglish) came out in 181525 after he worked on it for 30 years. It contains 80,000 words in two
volumes.Init,thewordsaretracedtotheiroriginandtheirvariousmeaningsaregiven.

CareyswordwassupersededbyGravesChamneyHaughtonsDictionaryBengaliandSanskritexplainedinEnglishandadoptedforstudentsforeitherlanguage.
ItwaspublishedfromLondonin1833.

In the field of dictionary making by European Scholars we may further mention the works of William Yates, John Mendies, Rev. William Morton, John C.
Marshman,J.D.Pearson,P..D.Rozario,Lavandier,J.Sykes,JohnRobinson,H.H.Wilsonandothers.

Bengali scholars have no lagged behind in such endeavours. They also showed much zeal and enthusiasm in compiling dictionaries, in writing books and in
translatingforeignliteraturesinBengali.

Among the Bangalis, Mohanprasad Thakur was the first to compile an EnglishBengali dictionary (1810) for the use of students. In his book words have been
arranged under different categories (not alphabetically), viz. of Gods, of Spirits, of diseases, etc. In the field of BengaliEnglish dictionary making, the name of
TarachandChakravartialsodeservesmentionhere.

In1809(c)PitambarMukerjeaofUttarparapublishedadictionarybythenameofabdaSindhuormeaningsinBengalioftheAmara Kosh, a Sanskrit Lexicon

Long.HaladharNyayaratnasbookVangabhidhanacameoutin1839.Init6264SanskritwordscurrentinBengaliweretreated.

Many are of opinion that Ramchandra Vidyavagish was the first Bengali to compile a unilingual BengaliBengali dictionary. The first edition his Bangabh s
bhidhnawaspublishedin1817.Itssecondeditioncameoutin1820andthelasteditionin1853.

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Ramkamal Sens EnglishBengali Dictionary came out in 1834 in two volumes. It was a work of great research, the result of 15 years labour, containing the
meaningsinBengaliof58,000EnglishwordsLong.U.C.AddysDictionaryoftheEnglishlanguagewithEnglishdefinitionsandaBengaliinterpretationcompiled
fromEuropeanandnativeauthoritieswaspublishedin1854.

Of the bilingual (EnglishBengali) dictionaries compiled by authors Charuchandra Guhas Modern AngloBengali Dictionary in 3 volumes is by far the best and
biggest.

In 1866 Ramkamal Vidyalankar compiled his Prakritivad Abhidnan a dictionary of the Bengali language, containing all the words in use, whether Bengali or
Sanskrit, with their derivations and explanations. Its sixth edition (by Sarachandra Sastri) came out in 1911. Many other great enthusiasts and lovers of Bengali
languagehavealsoworkedinthefieldofdictionarymaking.YogeshchandraRayVidyanidhisBangalaSabdakoshdealingmostlywithtatbhavawordsandgrammar
waspublishedin1913bytheBangiyaSahityaParisad.

BangalaBhscarAbhidhan(2ndedition,1937)byJnanendramohanDasandBangiyaSabdakosh(2ndedition,1969)byHaricharanBandyopadhyayaretwoofthe
biggestBengaliunilingualdictionaries.SubalchandraMitrasAdarsaBangalaAbhidhanisalsoworthmention,ChalantikabyRajsekharBasuisveryhandyandushers
inaneweraindictionarymakinginmanyways.

There exist some lexicons dealing with the Arabic and Persian words as used in the Bengali language and literature. The names of Sabdakalpa Tarangini by
Jagannathprasad Mallik, Parsik Abhidhan by Jaygopal Taralankar Persian and Bengali Dictionary by Nilkamal Mustaphi may be mentioned here. These books were
publishedin1838.BanglaSahityeArbiOPharsiSabdabyHarendrachandraPaulhasbeenpublishedveryrecentlybytheDaccaUniversity.Herethewordsaretraced
totheiroriginandillustrationsgiven.

CalcuttaUniversityhasmovedfartherinthefield.TheyhavepublishedadictionaryDictionaryofForeignWordsinBengalicompiledbyGobindlalBonnerjeeand
revisedandenlargedbyJitendrBonnerjee.ItdealswithwordsnotonlyofArabicandPersianorigin,butalsoofmanyotherforeignlanguagesusedinBengali.Only
thosewordsandnamesimportedverbatimintothelanguage,havebeenomitted.

We have also two Dialect Dictionaries (1) Laukik Sabdakosh in two volumes compiled by this humble author singlehanded and (2) Purva Pakistani Anchalik
Bhasa Abhidhan published by the Bangla Akademi, Dacca. In my opinion the synonyms of the words found in the different dialects of Bengali and at times also
homonyms,havebeengivenandtheyaretracedtotheirorigin.Thedialectsinwhichthesynonymsandhomonymsoccurhavealsobeenindicated.Theculturewords
of importance have also been discussed. Words have been arranged alphabetically under different categories, viz., House and Home, Domestic Articles, Animals,
Agriculture,RitesandCeremoniesandsoon.

Wecometoknowofmanyothertypesofdictionaries,suchasBanglaMarathikoshbyVasudevaGovindaApte.ItisaBengaliMarathidictionaryinNagariscript.

TherearealsoHindiBanglaJoshbySarmaIsvariprasadandBanglaHindiSabdakoshbyGopalchandraChakravartipublishedin1915andin1958respectively.
Thesedictionaries,however,seempracticallyinsignificantwhenmeasuredupagainstHindiSabdaSagarcontaining3999pagesinsevenvolumesandpublishedby
the Nagari Pracharini Sabha Kashi. We have also a Banglarus Abhidhan in Bengali in Roman script. It was compiled by E.M. Bikova and others and published in
1957.

Apartfromthedictionariesalreadymentioned,therehavebeenmanyspecificsubjectdictionariesinBengali.Someofthesearenomoreavailable.

In 1882 Mahendra Nath Ghosal compiled Ayurvedokta Dravyagunabhidhan. Two other books of this type Ayurveda Bhasabhidha by Haralal Gupta and
Ayurvediya Dravyabhidhan by Saratchandra Sil were compiled in 1888 and 1918 respectively. All these books contain Bengali expositions of the medical terms
prevalentinAyurveda.

ThenthereisYantrakos(1875)bySourindraMohanThakur.ItisatreasuryofIndianandforeignmusicalinstruments.

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Biographical dictionaries of different are in abundant in Bengali. I shall give the names of some of them only : Bangla Bhasar Lekhak (1904) by Harimohan
Mukhopadhyaya and Bangiya Sahitya Sevak (1906) by Sivratan Mitra, these two books give biographical accounts of most of the eminent writers in Bengali
literature.AmulyadhanRayBhattasVrihatSriVaisnavaCharita(1925)isabiographicaldictionaryoftherenownedVaisnavaMahajanas.PauranikAbhidhan(1958)
by Sudhirchandra Sarkar is a mythological dictionary dealing with the words and names occurring in the Scared Scripures of ancient India. GaudiyaVaisnava
Abhidhan(195657)intwovolumes,compiledbyHaridasDas,isalsoworthmentioning.ItdealswiththereligioustermsoftheGaudiyaVaisnavasect.

WehavealsoBhaugolikAbhidhanbyPrabhatKumarMukhopadhyaya,publishedin1957.Itgivesgeographicalaccountsinbriefoftheimportantplacenamesof
theworld.

BankimAbhidan(1969)byAsokeKundudealswiththepeculiarwordsandnamesoccurringinthewritingsofthegreatnovelistBankimChandraChattopadhyaya.
Rabindra Sabdakosh by Birendranath Biswas is another such book dealing with words used by Rabindranath in his writings. Rabindra Sahityer Abhidan (1961) by
HirendranathGhosalisabibliographyoftheworksbyandonRabindranath.

A number of booklets on different scientific terminologies have been published by the University of Calcutta. One of them published in 1960, is a glossary of
almostallsubjectsrelatedtoscience.

SarkariKaryeVyavaharayaParibhasaterminologytobeusedinPublicServiceshasbeenpublishedby the Terminological Committee, Government of West

Bengal.TherethewordsarearrangedinthreelanguagesEnglish,BengaliandHindi.AnotherpolyglotdictionarynamedChikitsakosbyPrasadKumarMukherjiwas
publishedasfarbackasin1894.InitmedicaltermsaredealtwithinEnglish,Bengali,Hindi,Sanskritandsomeotherlanguages.

Inthisagewhenintegrationisthetalkoftheday,usefulnessofpolyglotdictionariescannotbeoveremphasized.Nowadaysattemptsarealsobeingmadetocoin
nativeequivalentsofEnglishwords.Andsofarascoiningofsuchequivalentsisconcerned,thethingthatshouldbeuppermostinmindisnationalunityandintegrity.

InIndiaafacadeofunityinadministrationhadallalongbeenmaintained.ThishadbeensoundertheruleoftheHindus,theMuslimsandtheEnglish.Whateverbe
thenationallanguage,attemptsshouldbemadetostrikeabalanceofunityasregardsthesewordsconnectedwithadministration,scienceandsomeothermatters.

I have just given a short account of the work done in connection with dictionarymaking in my region. From the bibliography published by the National Library,
Calcutta in 1964, we can have the details of most of the dictionaries and encyclopedias in different Indian languages. Another bibliography viz. Bangla Abhidan
Granthus Parichay (174331867) by Jatindra Mohan Bhattacharya, published by CalcuttaUniversity in 1970, gives detailed information about Bengali dictionaries
exclusively.

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