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The Bengali People
The Bengali people are an
Indo-Aryan ethnic group from South Asia with a history going back more than two
millennia. They speak Bengali, a language of the eastern branch of the
Indo-Aryan language subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages. They can trace their
ancestry to some of the early Australoid inhabitants and the Dravidians as well
as the Aryan immigrants from the northwest, who passed on to them their language
and religion. Bengalis are mostly concentrated in Bangladesh, and in the state
of West Bengal in India. There are also a number of Bengali communities
scattered in Assam (India), Pakistan, Middle East, and Malaysia.
Bengali Language
Bengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan
language of South Asia that evolved as a successor to the Sanskrit, Pali, and
Prakrit languages. Bengali is the English word for the name of the language and
for its speakers; in Bengali, the language itself is called Bangla, a term that
now has greater currency in English. From this point forward, Bangla will be
used to refer to the language.
With more than 200 million native speakers, it is the fourth or fifth most
widely spoken language in the world (after Mandarin, Spanish, English and
Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu). It is also the fourth most spoken language in terms of
native speakers [2]. Bangla is the second most commonly spoken language in India
(after Hindi). Along with Assamese, it is geographically the most eastern of the
Indo-European languages.
As a result of the Bengal renaissance in the 19th and 20th centuries, much of
India's most famous literature, poetry, and lyrics are in Bangla; the works of
Rabindranath Tagore (the first Asian to be awarded a Nobel Prize), for example,
are in Bangla. Many of the reformist religious, philosophical, and political
movements that began in that era were led by Bengalis.
Bangladesh
The People's Republic of
Bangladesh is a South Asian country bordering India, Myanmar and the Bay of
Bengal. Together with the West Bengal State of India, it comprises the
ethno-linguistic region of Bengal.
The borders of Bangladesh were set by the partition of India in 1947, when it
became the eastern wing of Pakistan, separated from the western wing by 1,600 km
(1,000 miles). Despite their common religion, the ethnic and linguistic gulf
between the two wings was compounded by the Government's, often from West
Pakistan, neglect and persecution. This resulted in the independence of
Bangladesh in 1971, after a bloody war supported by India. The years following
independence have been marked by political turmoil and corruption, with 13
different heads of government (of which two were assassinated), and at least
four coups. The last two political transitions were lawful.
Bangladesh's population ranks 8th in the world, but its area is ranked 93th,
which is approximately 144,000 sq km. It is 3rd among Muslim-majority nations,
though it has a slightly smaller Muslim population than the Muslim minority in
India. It is the most densely populated country larger than 700 km² in the
world. Geographically dominated by the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the
country has annual monsoon floods, and cyclones are also common. Bangladesh is
one of the founding members of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC), BIMSTEC, and a member of the OIC and the D-8.
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in
the eastern region of India.The capital of the state is Calcutta. Neighbouring
regions are Nepal to the northwest, Sikkim and Bhutan to the north, Assam to the
northeast, Bangladesh to the east, the Bay of Bengal to the south, Orissa to the
southwest and Jharkhand and Bihar to the west.
History of Bengal
Early history
One of the earliest historical references to be found to date is the mention
of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC. The word is speculated
to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to
be referring to an area in Bengal.
More concrete evidence of Bengal becoming a political entity is found in the 6th
century, with the first recorded independent king of Bengal - Shashanka -
reigning around 606.
The first Buddhist Pala king of Bengal, Gopala-I came to power in 750 in
Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic event
in the history of South Asia. The dynasty's most powerful kings, Dharampala
(reigned 775-810) and Devapala (reigned 810-850) united Bengal and made the Pala
family one of the most important dynasties in ninth-century India. Internecine
strife during the reign of Narayanpala (reigned 854-908) and administrative
excesses led to the decline of the dynasty.
A brief revival of the kingdom under Mahipala I (reigned 977-1027) ended in
battle against the powerful, South Indian Chola kingdom. The rise of the Chandra
dynasty in southern Bengal expedited the decline of the Palas, and the last Pala
king, Madanpala, died in 1161.
The Malla dynasty emerged in Bengal in the seventh century, although they only
rose to prominence in the 10th century under Jagat Malla who moved his capital
to Vishnupur. Unlike the Buddhist Palas and Chandras, the Hindu Mallas
worshipped first the Hindu god Shiva, then the Hindu god Vishnu. The Mallas
built temples and spectacular religious monuments during their rule in Bengal.
Under the Sena dynasty, which lasted from 1095 to 1260, Bengali emerged as a
distinct and important language in northern India, and Hinduism began to
displace older Buddhism.
Muslim Rule
The Turkic invasion of India (including Bengal) came in the early 13th
century. The invaders defeated the Sena king Laxmansena at his capital, Nabadwip
in 1203 (1204?) The Deva family — the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal —
ruled briefly in eastern Bengal, although they were suppressed by the
mid-fourteenth century.
During the early Muslim period, the former kingdom became known as the Sultanate
of Bangala, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts
in power between the Afghan and Turkish rulers of that sultanate came to an end
when Moghul rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.
In 1534, the Afghan Sher Shah Suri, or Farid Khan — a man of incredible military
and political skill — succeeded in defeating the superior forces of the Mughals
under Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540). Sher Shah fought back and
captured both Delhi and Agra as he established the most powerful Bengali kingdom
that would ever exist, stretching far into Panjab. Sher Shah's administrative
skill showed in his public works, including the Grand Trunk Road connecting
Sonargaon in Bengal with Peshawar in the Hindu Kush. Sher Shah's rule ended with
his death in 1545, although even in those five years his reign would have a
powerful influence on Indian society, politics, and economics.
Shah Suri's successors lacked his administrative skill, and quarrelled over the
domains of his empire. Humayun, who then ruled a rump Mughal state, saw an
opportunity and in 1554 seized Lahore and Delhi. Humayun's death in 1556 led to
the accession of Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, who defeated the
Karani rulers of Bengal in 1576 and ruled through governors. Akbar exercised
progressive rule and oversaw a period of prosperity (through trade and
development) in Bengal and northern India.
Bengal's trade and wealth so impressed the Moghuls that they called the region
the "Paradise of the Nations". Administration by governors appointed by the
court of the Mughal Empire court (1575-1717) gave way to four decades of
semi-independence under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who respected the nominal
sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. The Nawabs granted permission to the French
East India Company to establish a trading post at Chandernagore in 1673, and the
British East India Company at Calcutta in 1690.
When the British East India Company began strengthening the defences at Fort
William (Calcutta), the Nawab, Siraj Ud Daulah, at the encouragement of the
French, attacked. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, British troops and their
local allies captured Chandernagore in March 1757 and seriously defeated the
Nawab on June 23 1757 at the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab's soldiers
betrayed him. The Nawab was assassinated in Murshidabad, and the British
installed their own Nawab for Bengal and extended their direct control in the
south. Chandernagore was restored to the French in 1763. The Bengalis attempted
to regain their territories in 1765 in alliance with the Mughal Emperor Shah
Alam II, but were defeated again at the Battle of Buxar (1765).
The center of Indian culture and trade shifted from Delhi to Calcutta when the
Mughal Empire fell.
British Rule
Scarcely five years into the Company's rule, the catastrophic Bengal famine
of 1770, one of the greatest famines of history occurred. Up to a third of the
population died in 1770 and subsequent years.
The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule by the Company with the direct control
of Bengal by the British crown.
A centre of rice cultivation as well as fine cotton called muslin and the
world's main source of jute fibre, Bengal, from the 1850s became one of India's
principal centres of industry, concentrated in the capital Kolkata (known as
Calcutta under the British, always called 'Kolkata' in the native tongue of
Bengali) and its emerging cluster of suburbs. Most of the population
nevertheless remained dependent on agriculture, and despite its leading role in
Indian political and intellectual activity, the province included some very
undeveloped districts, especially in the east. In 1877, when Victoria took the
title of "Empress of India", the British declared Calcutta the capital of the
British Raj.
India's most populous province (and one of the most active provinces in freedom
fighting), in 1905 Bengal was divided by the British rulers for administrative
purposes into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and
Orissa) and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) (1905 Partition of
Bengal). Hindu - Muslim conflict became stronger through this partition. While
Hindu Indians disagreed with the partition saying it was a way of dividing a
Bengal which is united by language and history, Muslims supported it by saying
it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will be majority and
they can freely practice their religion as well as their culture. But owing to
strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited east and west Bengal in 1912, and
made Bihar and Orissa a separate province.
Another major famine occurred during the second world war, the Bengal famine of
1943, in which an estimated 3 million people died.
Independence
As partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in
1947, Bengal again split into the state of West Bengal of secular India and a
Muslim region of East Bengal under Pakistan (renamed East Pakistan in 1958)(
1947 Partition of Bengal). East Pakistan (East Bengal) later rebelled against
Pakistani military rule to become independent republic of Bangladesh, literally
"Land of Bengal", after a war of independence against the Pakistani army in
1971. West Bengal remains a part of India. However, culturally and
sociologically, the two segments of Bengal share considerably more than just a
single language.
Bengal experienced two devastating famines costing millions of lives in 1770 and
1943. Bengal (both W. Bengal and Bangladesh) is among the most densely populated
regions of the world.
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