Bengali Literature

About this optional

Bengali Literature is one of the optional subjects of the UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination: the notice offers the literature of any one of a list of languages as an optional subject, and Bengali is one of them. A candidate chooses one optional subject from the Commission's list, and it is examined in two papers: Paper VI (Optional Subject Paper 1) and Paper VII (Optional Subject Paper 2) of the Main Examination. Both papers are counted for merit. See UPSC Mains: Optional Subject (two papers) for the full list of optional subjects.

• Questions are of the conventional (essay) type.
• The two papers carry 500 of the 1,750 marks of the written part; the written marks and the Personality Test (275 marks) together decide the final ranking.
• The scope of the optional papers is broadly of the honours degree level: higher than the bachelor's degree and lower than the master's degree.
• Language of answers: the syllabus says, for both papers, that answers must be written in Bengali. The notice adds, for every literature optional, that a candidate may be required to answer some or all of the questions in the language concerned, and that questions not required to be answered in a specific language are answered in the medium the candidate has chosen for the Essay, General Studies and optional papers.
• Script: the notice prescribes the Bengali script for Bengali.
• The rule that question papers are set in Hindi and English only does not apply to the literature papers.

Paper I

The official syllabus of Bengali Literature Paper I, as printed in the notice (the Commission's own wording, spelling and numbering).

History of Language and Literature.

[Answers must be written in Bengali]

Section A: Topics from the History of Bangla language

• 1. The chronological track from Proto Indo-European to Bangla (Family tree with branches and approximate dates).
• 2. Historical stages of Bangla (Old, Middle, New) and their linguistic features.
• 3. Dialects of Bangla and their distinguishing characteristics.
• 4. Elements of Bangla Vocabulary.
• 5. Forms of Bangla Literary Prose—Sadhu and Chalit.
• 6. Processes of language change relevant for Bangla: Apinihiti (Anaptyxis), Abhishruti (umlaut), Murdhanyibhavan (cerebralization), Nasikyibhavan (Nasalization), Samibhavan (Assimilation), Sadrishya (Analogy), Svaragama (Vowel insertion)—Adi Svaragama, Madhya Svaragama or Svarabhakti, Antya Svaragama, Svarasangati (Vowel harmony), y—shruti and w—shruti.
• 7. Problems of standardization and reform of alphabet and spelling, and those of transliteration and Romanization.
• 8. Phonology, Morphology and Syntax of Modern Bangla.
  (Sounds of Modern Bangla, Conjuncts; word formations, compounds; basic sentence patterns.)

Section B: Topics from the History of Bangla Literature

• 1. Periodization of Bangla Literature: Old Bangla and Middle Bangla.
• 2. Points of difference between modern and pre-modern Bangla Literature.
• 3. Roots and reasons behind the emergence of modernity in Bangla Literature.
• 4. Evolution of various Middle Bangla forms; Mangal Kavyas, Vaishnava lyrics, Adapted narratives (Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata) and religious biographies.
• 5. Secular forms in middle Bangla literature.
• 6. Narrative and lyric trends in the nineteenth century Bangla poetry.
• 7. Development of prose.
• 8. Bangla dramatic literature (nineteenth century, Tagore, Post-1944 Bangla drama).
• 9. Tagore and post-Tagoreans.
• 10. Fiction, major authors: Bankimchandra, Tagore, Saratchandra, Bibhutibhusan, Tarasankar, Manik).
• 11. Women and Bangla literature: creators and created.

Paper II

The official syllabus of Bengali Literature Paper II, as printed in the notice (the Commission's own wording, spelling and numbering).

Prescribed texts for close study

[Answers must be written in Bengali]

Section A

• 1. Vaishnava Padavali (Calcutta University)
  Poems of Vidyapati, Chandidas, Jnanadas, Govindadas and Balaramdas.
• 2. Chandimangal Kalketu episode by Mukunda (Sahitya Akademi).
• 3. Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya Lila by Krishnadas Kaviraj (Sahitya Akademi).
• 4. Meghnadbadh Kavya by Madhusudan Dutta.
• 5. Kapalkundala by Bankimchandra Chatterjee.
• 6. Samya and Bangadesher Krishak by Bankimchandra Chatterjee.
• 7. Sonar Tari by Rabindranath Tagore.
• 8. Chhinnapatravali by Rabindranath Tagore.

Section B

• 9. Raktakarabi by Rabindranath Tagore.
• 10. Nabajatak by Rabindranath Tagore.
• 11. Grihadaha by Saratchandra Chatterjee.
• 12. Prabandha Samgraha, Vol. 1, by Pramatha Choudhuri.
• 13. Aranyak by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee.
• 14. Short stories by Manik Bandyopadhyay: Atashi Mami, Pragaitihasik, Holud-Pora, Sarisrip, Haraner Natjamai, Chhoto-Bokulpurer Jatri, Kustharogir Bou, Jakey Ghush Ditey Hoy.
• 15. Shrestha Kavita by Jibanananda Das.
• 16. Jagori by Satinath Bhaduri.
• 17. Ebam Indrajit by Badal Sircar.

Overlaps with General Studies

• General Studies I: Indian culture (literature as an art form), including the Vaishnava lyric and the devotional movement around Chaitanya; and modern Indian history, where the nineteenth-century awakening in Bengal, the rise of modern prose and the writings of Bankimchandra and Tagore are part of the story of social reform and nationalism. Bankimchandra's essays on equality and on the Bengal peasant also touch on society and agrarian conditions under colonial rule.
• Prelims General Studies Paper I: history of India and the Indian National Movement, and Indian culture.
• Essay: ideas and examples from Bengali literature for essays on society, culture and reform.

Source: UPSC Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, 4 February 2026 (Civil Services Examination, 2026), Appendix I, Section III, Part B, PDF. Last checked 11 November 2026.