Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 624

Braja-bhasă (in Hindi), by Dhirendra VARMA. Hindustani Akadami, Allahabad (U. P.), 1954, pp. 162. Price Rs. 6-0-0.
The book under review is the Hindi translation of the author's original thesis in French La Langue Braj (Dialecte de Mathurā) for which he was awarded the D. Litt. by the Paris University in 1935. Since Jules BLOCH published his memorable work on the Marathi lan. guage, there has been a welcome tendency among Indian scholars themselves to attempt a scientific description of Indian languages. Prof. VARMA thus followed the footsteps of such eminent linguists in the field of New Indo-Aryan Linguistics as Siddheshvar VARMA, S. K. CHATTERJI, and Baburam SAKSENA in writing a valuable treatise on a modern Indian language. The author was fortunate to receive guidance from Prof. BLOCH in successfully achieving the task which he set before himself.
The study of the Braj language presented in the work is based on the material drawn from the 16th, 17th, and 18th century Braj literature (which is mentioned on pp. 9-1:1), and the one which the author himself collected during the years 1928-30 from Braj as a spoken language in various villages. Before proceeding to give a detailed account of his investigations, the author begins with a short treatment of certain general topics, such as the geographical area where Braj is spoken, the people who speak it, the Braj literature since the earliest times, and the like. This account serves the useful purpose of introducing the reader to the real problems connected with the linguistic study of Braj.
From the linguistic point of view the chapters on phonology, morphology, and syntax are very important. As one goes through these pages one notices how admirably the author has achieved his task of giving an accurate and thorough description of the facts connected with the Braj language. He has also taken care to describe the treatment given in the Braj to the sounds of words borrowed from the Persian and
Madhu Vidyā/599