Aputhi (Bengali:পুঁথি,Perso-Arab: پوتھی) is a book or writing of poeticfairy tales and religious stories ofBengal and present-dayEast India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This was used as a medium for education and constructive entertainment.[1]
Puthis were manuscripts written in theBengali orOdia languages, utilising scripts such as theOdia,Sylheti Nagri,Bengali andPerso-Arabic script. They were mostly used inBengal,Arakan andEast India.[2][3][4]Puthi (پوتھی, /po:t̪ʰi:/) is aSanskrit originatedfeminine noun which means book.
The pages of puthis could beleaves, leather, sheets of wood, or barks. This was common before the invention of paper. Usually, they were written on one side and bound with a piece of string. This made it resistant to insects as well, allowing it to survive for a long time.[5]
Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad collected more than 2,000 puthis. More than 1,000 of them were written byBengali Muslims. No other person or organization has collected this number of puthis before.
Majority of puthis were written in theBengali script. There have also been puthis written using theArabic script. The register used in these puthis was predominantlyDobhashi Bengali, a variety ofBengali which lacked thetatsamas present in modern Bengali and used heavilyArabic andPersian vocabulary.
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