Education and the Vernacular in 19th Century Bengal: Translation, Print, and Standardization

Abstract

With the introduction of print modalities and the subsequent introduction of modern/western education systems, the questions of language, vernacular e ducation, book production, and translations became important in 19 th century Bengal. As the introduction of a new epistemological system in 19 th century Bengal necessitated the production of books and translations, several western knowle dge texts got translated into Bengali by the efforts of various individuals and institutions. These translations play a pivotal role in producing textbooks in Bengali and represent a site where the structure and vocabulary of the Bengali language got standardised and redefined through printed language and language of translations. This study tracks the translations produced by the collaboration of Fort William College and Serampore Missionary Press, Calcutta Sc hool Book Society and Vernacular Literature Society and argues that the translations produced by these institutions gave shape to a kind of Bengali language that represented a class and social hierarchy. This study argues that the translations produced by the aforementioned institutions and the printed textbooks paved a way for the upper-class urban elites to mould the Bengali language in their way (by excluding the colloquial register and language of the masses) to represent their ethos and class hierarchy and identity. This study argues that the translations produced by these institutions, in many ways, were the tools through which the various contesting views on the form and diction of the language of/in print got articulated.