up-to-date in their methods, but have nevertheless been very useful. My obligations in each case are indicated at the proper place. In connexion with the chapter on the Phonology of the Persian Element in Bengali, I have to acknowledge gratefully the assistance I received from my friend Khan Bahādur Shamsn-l-’Ulamā, Maulavī Muḥammad Hidāyat Husain, PH.D., of the Presidency College, Calcutta, with whom I went through my list of Perso-Arabic loan-words in Bengali in relation to their original forms.
I have not given a bibliography separately, as all the books consulted or referred to have been sufficiently described in the text.
To indicate the pronunciation I have given phonetic transcriptions [within square brackets] in the alphabet of the International Phonetic Association slightly modified for Bengali. This has been noted in a special section immediately before the list of Contents.
The book is now placed before the public, and while I do so I recall with the greatest sorrow that Sir Asutosh Mookerjee is no longer in our midst to see it completed. Sir Asutosh’s services to his University and to his people and his towering personality are well known in our country, and I need not dilate upon them here. For the foreign scholar interested in Indian Philology and in the spread of modern science in India to form some idea of the work of Sir Asutosh in the University of Calcutta, I would refer to the obituary note on him from Professor Sylvain Lévi, who had occasion to know the man as well as his ideals and achievements, in the ‘Journal Asiatique’ for 1924. In his sudden and untimely death in May 1924, I mourn the loss not only of a great national figure but also of a personal friend, and especially of one who was keenly interested in this work. Those of us who were privileged to come in intimate touch with his personality and followed his lead in university matters can say whole- heartedly that his indeed was a «svādu sakhyam» as well as a «svādvī praṇitiḥ». After my return from Europe late in 1922, I was at a loss how to print my book, and naturally I turned to Sir Asutosh, my patron, my friend, philosopher and guide, Sir Asutosh had watched my career abroad, and he at once offered to publish my book through my Alma
