Bengali belongs to the easternmost branch, called Aryan or Indo-Iranian, of the Indo-European family of languages. Its direct ancestor is a form of Prakrit or Middle Indo-Aryan which descended from Sanskrit or Old Indo-Aryan. Sanskrit was the spoken as well as the literary language of Aryandom until circa 500 B.C., after which it remained for nearly two thousand years the dominant literary languages as well as the lingua franca among the cultured and the erudite throughout the subcontinent.

Bengali at the present day has two literary styles. One is called "Sadhubhasa" (elegant language) and the other "Chaltibhasa" (current language) . The Bengali script, like all other Indian scripts, originated from Brahmi alphabet of the Asokan inscriptions. 

- © FLW, Inc 1997- - S.D.G.