Racial and Linguistic Phenomena of Late Ancient and Medieval Bengal

The article deals mainly with the racial and linguistic identity of Bengal during the period from the eleventh century through thirteenth century AD. Endeavour has been made to show first how the Bengal delta was populated from the ancient times and then how the language of its people evolved out of different phases of their existence in various territorial combinations under successive Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim rulers. The paper also focuses on how the origin of Bangla and its development has been analyzed by scholars.