The Formation of Bengali Literature in Arakan (ca. 1430–1638)

This chapter sets a frame for understanding a composite literary tradition. I give a general overview of how the Bengal–Arakan continuum has been defined in terms of geographical and cultural features. I then turn to an Arakanese Islamicate idiom in official documents from the foundation of Mrauk U in 1430 up to Ālāol’s lifetime. After the study of the use of an Islamicate idiom, I identify the centers in which Bengali literature was produced in Arakan during the same period. I distinguish two trends in the Bengali literature of Arakan, one represented by the works of provincial authors and the other by texts produced and consumed by urban audiences. I highlight the features of those two corpuses, as well as what clearly allows us to distinguish one set of texts from the other; the main feature being the function of multilingual literacy in the composition and reception of the texts.