The country called Bangladesh

Dr. M. Emdadul Haq

Photo: Amirul Rajiv

HOW far do we know about the compound history of a country that has been named after Bangladesh in 1971? The present article attempts to demonstrate the chronological narratives of the territory and its people from ancient times to the present day. The area that is now Bangladesh has a long historical & cultural background combining Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol/Mughul, Arab, Afghan, Persian, Turkic, & west European influence. Bengal has been a melting pot of ethnic diversity.

Civilization in this part of the world dates back sometime around 4000 BC. Aryan ascendancy over the culture and customs of the non-Aryans took place in northern India during the Rig-vedic Period (1700-1000 BC). By 6th century BC, they concentrated along the Ganges floodplain, which was far milder & friendlier than their place of origin in the dry steppes of central Asia.

During the Greek expedition of Alexander in northern India, a powerful Empire called Gangaridi existed in Bengal in 3rd century BC. Following the retreat of Alexander's army, Bengal fell under the control of Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha. His grandson, Emperor Ashoka, embraced Buddhism after the brutal atrocities of Kalinga war in Orissa. After about two hundred years of Buddha's demise, Buddhism swept over the lives and culture of the predecessors of Bengali people by the patronage of Emperor Ashoka.

After Ashoka's death most part of Bengal was ruled by independent rulers for about five hundred years until a further invasion took place in Pundravardhan (northern Bangladesh) by Samudra Gupta during the mid 4th century AD. Under the secular approach pursued by the Guptas, Buddhism sustained peacefully. The Chinese scholar Fa Hsien recorded in his travel diary about the flourishing of Buddhism in ancient Bengal at the turn of the 5th century.

Following the eclipse of Gupta dynasty Shashanka emerged as the independent king of Bengal in the early 7th century. After a period of anarchy, Gopala came to power in 750 and consolidated his control all over Bengal. For about four hundred years, Buddhism took firm root under the patronage of the Palas. Archaeological sites, monuments, and artifacts in Paharpur, Mahasthangarh and Mainamati suggest a rich Buddhist heritage of the present day Bangladesh between 7th and 11th century AD. Buddhist monks in the big monasteries were the primary innovators of the Bengali grammar and alphabets.

Somapura Mahavihara built by Dharmapala in Paharpur is the greatest Buddhist establishment throughout the subcontinent. Also under the Palas Mahasthangarh in Bogora emerged as the oldest city in the Pundrabardan area; and Pattikera (currently located in Comilla) used to be the capital of Banga Shamatata region. The death of Devapala, however, marked the end of the Pala Empire & emergence of several independent dynasties, instead.

After the decimation of the Palas an orthodox Hindu dynasty led by the Senas governed Bengal between 11th and 12th centuries. The second Sena ruler Ballal Sen conquered Gaur from the Palas and became the ruler of Bengal and made Nabadwip the capital. Lakshman Sen succeeded Ballal Sena in 1179 and ruled Bengal for approximately 25 years. He was deposed from Gaur by the Turkish crusader Ikhtiar Uddin Mohammad Bin Bakhtiar Khalji in 1206.

The Senas wiped out Buddhist culture especially from Bangladesh territory and reinstated the rigid caste system instead. The period is also marked by the emergence of egalitarian Islamic culture that evolved from the influence, teachings and pursuance of the Sufi saints in Bangladesh. In the stratified caste based Hindu society, they sponsored large scale conversion of commoners into Islam.

History of the Bengali people is closely linked to the land itself. Bangla derived from the settlement of the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang in 1000BC. Vanga appears in Kautilya's Arthashashra in the 3rd century BC. Pillar inscription of Chndra of the Gupta period also bears the name. Kalidasa, a member of Bikramaditya's Naboratno Shova, puts the region amidst the streams of the Ganges. The name of the clan derived from human settlements in Banga/Vanga, Gauda, Pundra & Rarha.

Banga came to be known in Sanskrit literature under the Hindu dynasties, while Bangla is first found to be used at the beginning of the Muslim period. In Ain-e-Akbari Abul Fazle combined the identity of ancient tribe Bang with als (partition) of watery land; thus the meaning of the country's name being the land of als/ails. Marco Polo used the name Bengal in his travel diary in the 13th century, while the Portuguese called the region Bengala and in Persian it was termed Bangalah.

Photo: Amirul Rajiv

With the establishment of Sultani rule in Bengal, phenomenal history and traditions were created for about four hundred years. They replaced Sanskrit and recognized Bengali as a state language. During the Mughal period Dhaka emerged as the provincial capital of Bengal and maintained its status for about hundred and fifty years. After the death of Emperor Aurangjeb the Mughal authority started to decline in Delhi and Governor Saistakhan left Dhaka in 1707. Subsequently the Kingdom of Bengal enjoyed autonomy under the independent Nawabs in Murshidabad for about fifty years. Deception and conspiracy within the Nawab's court in Murhsidabad, however, helped establish colonial ascendancy in 1757.

Ruthless colonial policies and the sudden conversion of large scale paddy fields into poppy cultivation caused the death of 10 million people in 1770. Within a couple of decades the colonial authority destroyed the cotton textile and Muslin industry of Eastern Bengal and the area assumed a new role as a supplier of agricultural raw materials to UK. To unseat the colonial authorities, nonetheless, the period witnessed the persistence of over one hundred peasants' movements from 1763 to 1946. The gravity of the Revolt of 1857 passed all records. Besides rebellion, reforms movements also continued both amongst the Hindu and Muslim societies which provided for a valid rationale to denounce colonial domination morally and intellectually throughout the 19th century and early 20th century.

Nevertheless, the anti-partition movement (1905-11) in Bengal by the middle class Hindu 'bhadralok' and much of their political leadership in Kolkata, generated segregation and seclusion among the Bengali Muslims in Eastern Bengal. In the Congress dominated provinces (1937-38) they again experienced socio-economic and political subjugation. This ill experience was instrumental in pushing the Bengali Muslims and their leadership for repartitioning Bengal in 1947. Through the blood strained 'Great Divide' East Bengal earned its first independence as the eastern wing of Pakistan.

Soon after the independence, however, power conflict and economic disparity erupted when denying the practice of constitutionalism and democratic principles the central authority in West Pakistan attempted to dominate the Bengali majority through the iron rule of civil-military bureaucracy. The Pakistani leadership utterly failed to address the Bengali claims that were coinciding with the strategic interests of un-neighboring India. Fueled by the Language Movement of the early fifties, Autonomy Movement of the late sixties finally came over the bloodbath of Liberation War that ultimately led the country an independent status in December 1971. Looking back to the long process of history and the terrain of independent Bangladesh, one might wonder whether we are ready yet to consolidate the hard earned freedom and democracy, and to look forward for creating a prosperous nation for our generations to come.

The writer is Professor & Chair: Department of General & Continuing Education, North South University.