A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D. :
The term nationhood is associated with the concept of nation which requires a qualification. There are two competing definitions of nation, one of which refers to a territorial division containing a body of people of one or more ethnic identities and usually characterized by relatively large size and independent status (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, accessed on April 2015), while another of which refers to the people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history and ethnic origins that differentiate them from the people of other nations (Hastings, 1997). The national identity, i.e. nationality, in the present world order, is determined on the basis of definition in the former sense, according to which the nationality of Bangla speech communities have mainly been Bangladeshi and Indian respectively depending on their domicile in Bangladesh and India. In the similar vein, the countries of Bangladesh and India are regarded as nation. However the concept nation in the core sense refers to the society of people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history and ethnic origins across territorial boundaries.
There has now been a controversy if the Bangalee distributed throughout the contiguous regions covering the country of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura form a unified nation. The controversy has come out of the confusion over the constituents of nationhood of Bangalee. Though language, religion and ethnicity are known to be the constituents of a nation, the nationhood of Bangalee is mainly attributed to the language Bangla by evading the constituents of religion and ethnic composition in the present discourse of nationhood of Bangalee.
Bangalee is not a primitive society rather a civic society created out of different primitive ethnic communities. It is created through the integration of different ethnic communities involving the processes of Aryanization and Islamization under the authorities based in the ancient centers, e.g. Magadha and Gaur of political powers. The creation of Bangalee community occurred in three different phases. It began with the immigration of the Indo-Aryan communities from the western south Asia, which continued until the conquest of Muslim from the central and west Asia.
Given the above-described anthropological backdrop, I will attempt to reveal the nationhood of Bangalee communities inhabiting south Asia by undertaking an analysis on the parameters of nationhood: language, ethnic ancestry and religion as follows.
i) Linguistic parameter: The nationhood of Bangla speech communities is attributed to the language Bangla which is thought to be the main foundation for the Bangalee nation. Bangla is an Indo-Aryan variety developed from the Vedic Sanskrit by undergoing changes through contact with the Austro-Asiatic languages in the situation of language contact created during the spread of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam (Chatterji, 1926). Irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliations, the people of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal (Paschimbanga) and Tripura, and the island state of Andaman now share the common language of Bangla.
ii) Ethnic parameter: Bangalee has been a mixed ethnic community, which is created out of the Austro-Asiatic ethnic communities by undergoing the process of hybridization with other ethnic communities including the Indo-Aryan communities as well as the Muslim communities having ancestry to different ethnic communities of central and west Asia (cf. Rahim, 1967). The hybridization occurred in phases for last two millennia and the process is still going on. The pattern and rate of hybridization changed with each event of transfer of political power. The Hindu religious community developed from the Austro-Asiatic diaspora, which undergone different degree of Aryanization during the age of conversion to Buddhism until the decline of Buddhism. After the ascendency of the Sena Dynasty, the process of hybridization started to slow down and continued until the conquest of Indian subcontinent by the Muslim. After the Muslim conquest, the new pattern of hybridization started which created condition for intermarriage among the converted Muslim irrespective of the ethnic lineages under the framework of Islam. Hence the Muslim has been a crossbreed population comprising disproportionate degree of admixture of converted Muslim having ancestry to the different casts of Hindu in south Asia as well as the Afghan, the Persian, the Tajik and the Uzbek from central Asia, and the Arab from west Asia. The hybridization being a unidirectional process, the Muslims have been more hybrid than the Hindus. Hence the Bangalee being predominantly a crossbreed population comprising the Muslim and the Hindu do share disproportionate degree of the Austro-Asiatic ethnic feature.
iii) Religious parameter: The religions of Hinduism and Islam being associated with the language Bangla has been one of the determining parameter of the nationhood of Bangalee. Accordingly the Hinduism and the Islam indicate a cleft among the Bangalee people. Hence the Bangalee being divided along the communal line of religion strictly resist the intermarriage between the two religious communities which in effect cause to maintain the interethnic boundary.
From the above discussion on the three main parameters of nationhood of Bangalee, we can see that the language and religion have respectively been the cause for the unity and the disintegrity of the Bangla speech communities inhabited South Asia. The cleavage persisting along the line of religion has yielded a split of Bangla speech community towards the Hindu and the Muslim communities having instigated by the two-nation theory during the anti-colonial Indian independence movement in the 19th century. Accordingly the conflicting political parties of Muslim league and Indian national congress respectively representing the Muslim people and the chiefly Hindu people had finally agreed on the formation of a Bengal boundary commission, on the recommendation of which the territory of British Bengal has been partitioned into the Hindu majority West Bengal and the Muslim majority East Bengal on 16 August 1947. Therefore the partition of Bengal can be regarded as the realization of longstanding political and economic conflicts deep-rooted in the religious cleft of the Bangla speech communities into the Hinduism and the Islam.
(Professor A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D. is a professor at the Institute of Modern Languages in the University of Dhaka. His areas of research interest include linguistics, language contact, language policy and language history focusing on regions of South Asian and East Asia.)
The term nationhood is associated with the concept of nation which requires a qualification. There are two competing definitions of nation, one of which refers to a territorial division containing a body of people of one or more ethnic identities and usually characterized by relatively large size and independent status (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, accessed on April 2015), while another of which refers to the people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history and ethnic origins that differentiate them from the people of other nations (Hastings, 1997). The national identity, i.e. nationality, in the present world order, is determined on the basis of definition in the former sense, according to which the nationality of Bangla speech communities have mainly been Bangladeshi and Indian respectively depending on their domicile in Bangladesh and India. In the similar vein, the countries of Bangladesh and India are regarded as nation. However the concept nation in the core sense refers to the society of people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history and ethnic origins across territorial boundaries.
There has now been a controversy if the Bangalee distributed throughout the contiguous regions covering the country of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura form a unified nation. The controversy has come out of the confusion over the constituents of nationhood of Bangalee. Though language, religion and ethnicity are known to be the constituents of a nation, the nationhood of Bangalee is mainly attributed to the language Bangla by evading the constituents of religion and ethnic composition in the present discourse of nationhood of Bangalee.
Bangalee is not a primitive society rather a civic society created out of different primitive ethnic communities. It is created through the integration of different ethnic communities involving the processes of Aryanization and Islamization under the authorities based in the ancient centers, e.g. Magadha and Gaur of political powers. The creation of Bangalee community occurred in three different phases. It began with the immigration of the Indo-Aryan communities from the western south Asia, which continued until the conquest of Muslim from the central and west Asia.
Given the above-described anthropological backdrop, I will attempt to reveal the nationhood of Bangalee communities inhabiting south Asia by undertaking an analysis on the parameters of nationhood: language, ethnic ancestry and religion as follows.
i) Linguistic parameter: The nationhood of Bangla speech communities is attributed to the language Bangla which is thought to be the main foundation for the Bangalee nation. Bangla is an Indo-Aryan variety developed from the Vedic Sanskrit by undergoing changes through contact with the Austro-Asiatic languages in the situation of language contact created during the spread of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam (Chatterji, 1926). Irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliations, the people of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal (Paschimbanga) and Tripura, and the island state of Andaman now share the common language of Bangla.
ii) Ethnic parameter: Bangalee has been a mixed ethnic community, which is created out of the Austro-Asiatic ethnic communities by undergoing the process of hybridization with other ethnic communities including the Indo-Aryan communities as well as the Muslim communities having ancestry to different ethnic communities of central and west Asia (cf. Rahim, 1967). The hybridization occurred in phases for last two millennia and the process is still going on. The pattern and rate of hybridization changed with each event of transfer of political power. The Hindu religious community developed from the Austro-Asiatic diaspora, which undergone different degree of Aryanization during the age of conversion to Buddhism until the decline of Buddhism. After the ascendency of the Sena Dynasty, the process of hybridization started to slow down and continued until the conquest of Indian subcontinent by the Muslim. After the Muslim conquest, the new pattern of hybridization started which created condition for intermarriage among the converted Muslim irrespective of the ethnic lineages under the framework of Islam. Hence the Muslim has been a crossbreed population comprising disproportionate degree of admixture of converted Muslim having ancestry to the different casts of Hindu in south Asia as well as the Afghan, the Persian, the Tajik and the Uzbek from central Asia, and the Arab from west Asia. The hybridization being a unidirectional process, the Muslims have been more hybrid than the Hindus. Hence the Bangalee being predominantly a crossbreed population comprising the Muslim and the Hindu do share disproportionate degree of the Austro-Asiatic ethnic feature.
iii) Religious parameter: The religions of Hinduism and Islam being associated with the language Bangla has been one of the determining parameter of the nationhood of Bangalee. Accordingly the Hinduism and the Islam indicate a cleft among the Bangalee people. Hence the Bangalee being divided along the communal line of religion strictly resist the intermarriage between the two religious communities which in effect cause to maintain the interethnic boundary.
From the above discussion on the three main parameters of nationhood of Bangalee, we can see that the language and religion have respectively been the cause for the unity and the disintegrity of the Bangla speech communities inhabited South Asia. The cleavage persisting along the line of religion has yielded a split of Bangla speech community towards the Hindu and the Muslim communities having instigated by the two-nation theory during the anti-colonial Indian independence movement in the 19th century. Accordingly the conflicting political parties of Muslim league and Indian national congress respectively representing the Muslim people and the chiefly Hindu people had finally agreed on the formation of a Bengal boundary commission, on the recommendation of which the territory of British Bengal has been partitioned into the Hindu majority West Bengal and the Muslim majority East Bengal on 16 August 1947. Therefore the partition of Bengal can be regarded as the realization of longstanding political and economic conflicts deep-rooted in the religious cleft of the Bangla speech communities into the Hinduism and the Islam.
(Professor A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D. is a professor at the Institute of Modern Languages in the University of Dhaka. His areas of research interest include linguistics, language contact, language policy and language history focusing on regions of South Asian and East Asia.)
