A.T.M. Nurun Nabi :
The first day of Bengali New year is momentum in the life of the Bengali speaking people of Bangladesh. They celebrate the day bringing out processions, organizing musical programme, opening new ledger books in shops and business centers, and distributing sweets to the customers.
The origin of Bengali New Year dated to the time of the Mughal Emperor Akber (1556-1605). The emperor ordered to count the months and year keeping the harvesting time of crops and corns in the then Bengal and the Arabic Calendar Year in mind. The objective behind it was mainly revenue collection.
The Bengali people are an ethnic community of Bengal (a part of it is now in India) in South Asia. They speak BangIa, which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian sub-continent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as Bangali. They primarily belong to Indo-Aryan stock
In Bangladesh after independence, the celebration of the first day of the New Year has been changed significantly. The celebrations in the recent years in some cases run counter to the values we uphold. Verily the offensive masks in procession speak of our perverted mentality. Time has arrived to reform our state of mind.
In the city of Dhaka, tens of thousands of people of all age groups from early morning swarm to the Ramna Park-the center of celebration. Nowadays the Pahela Baishakh programme does not include bhawaiya, bhatiali, murshidi, jari and sari. Thus, the ever-continuing BangIa are overlooked purposefully. Bhawaiya and bhatiali are songs of rural Bangladesh, hearts and minds.
We do not remember Kazi Nazrul Islam. Abbas Uddin Ahmed, Abdul Alim, Palli Kobi Jasim Uddin, Golam Mustafa, Benazir Ahmad, Ferdousy Begum, Neena Hamid, Kaikobad, Rathindranath Roy and Farrukh Ahmad although they enriched our language and culture, history and melody.
In the days before independence, one of the special features was ‘halkhta’. It was a get together between the creditors and the debtors. Halkhata means closure of the old ledgers and the opening of new ones, carrying the outstanding balance of debtors in the new books of accounts. The customers are extended invitation in letters to celebrate Pahela Baishakh with them. This was a traditional system of recovering the outstanding amount. Sweets were offered at the end.
The history of Bengali speaking people dates to over 5,000 years ago. History has been defined as the study of man’s dealings with other men, and the adjustment of working relations between human groups- (The Vedic Age, P-37). German Philosopher Karl Marx said, history of mankind is hitherto the history of class struggle. Another opinion says that history is the record of past events for the future.
But history itself says that man does not take lessons from history. The subject matters of history are men and civilizations and life styles. It tries to evaluate failure and successes of an emperor and an empire. No nation, no generation is born overnight. It takes years after years. The influence of religion, language and culture, geographical contiguity and environment helps rise of a nation.
Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy mentioned of several kingdoms in the ancient Bangal. These were Ruhr for Mid West Bengal, Suksha for South West Bengal. Pundu for North Bengal, Bango for East Bengal and Samotat-Horikel for Southern East Bengal.
The process of unification began in 1204-05 during Muslims’ rule in Bengal. It was Mughal Emperor Akber, who succeeded bringing all the smaller kingdoms into a greater region named Sub-e-Bongala. The year was 1576.
Akber’s courtier Abul Fazal writes in his book Ain-e-Akbari that the word Bongala is the reformed name of the ancient word ‘Bango’. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mazumder differed with this view and said there were two different kingdoms namely Bango and Bongal. With the passage of time, these two kingdoms merged and took the name BangIa.
Dr. Ramesh further questioned the naming of East Bengal as Bangladesh because Bangladesh, he says, was not part of the Muslims’ Bongala kingdom. This challenge is utopian because llyas Shah was the ruler of Bongala, meaning ‘The Land of Bengal’. So, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made no mistake naming his country Bangladesh.
The ancient population of Bengal was divided into the Pre-Aryan and the Aryan. The Pre-Aryans included the Negrito, the Austic, the Dravid and the Vote-Chinio. The first one disappeared long before. The Austic migrated from Indo-China via Assam of India about 6,000 years ago while the Vote-Chinio from Mongolia.
The most advanced of them was the Austic, who belonged to the neo-stone age and gradually learnt the use of iron and copper. They produced paddy, banana, cocoanut, betel leaf, betel nut, gourd and brinjal. The Austic people did not graze cows, nor drank their milk, but reared up chickens and elephants.
About 5,000 years ago, the Dravid and the Brahma-Tibetans landed in this part of world The people belonging to the Dravid established marital relationship with the women of the Austic and gave birth to a new generation. Thereafter a more civilized nation, the Aryans, came to this land from Asia Minor, and married the women of the new generation and gave birth to a new nation called the Bangali population.
The Garo, the Coach, the Tripura and the Chakma are the bi-products of the Austic, Dravid and the Mongolian people. The Cole, the Veel, the Santhal and the Mundu sprang from the Negrito before the latter’s disappearance from Bengal.
In the 8th century, the Simeo-Arabia and the Habshi came to Bengal from West Asia. Some of them returned to their homeland and others stayed.
The first day of Bengali New year is momentum in the life of the Bengali speaking people of Bangladesh. They celebrate the day bringing out processions, organizing musical programme, opening new ledger books in shops and business centers, and distributing sweets to the customers.
The origin of Bengali New Year dated to the time of the Mughal Emperor Akber (1556-1605). The emperor ordered to count the months and year keeping the harvesting time of crops and corns in the then Bengal and the Arabic Calendar Year in mind. The objective behind it was mainly revenue collection.
The Bengali people are an ethnic community of Bengal (a part of it is now in India) in South Asia. They speak BangIa, which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian sub-continent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as Bangali. They primarily belong to Indo-Aryan stock
In Bangladesh after independence, the celebration of the first day of the New Year has been changed significantly. The celebrations in the recent years in some cases run counter to the values we uphold. Verily the offensive masks in procession speak of our perverted mentality. Time has arrived to reform our state of mind.
In the city of Dhaka, tens of thousands of people of all age groups from early morning swarm to the Ramna Park-the center of celebration. Nowadays the Pahela Baishakh programme does not include bhawaiya, bhatiali, murshidi, jari and sari. Thus, the ever-continuing BangIa are overlooked purposefully. Bhawaiya and bhatiali are songs of rural Bangladesh, hearts and minds.
We do not remember Kazi Nazrul Islam. Abbas Uddin Ahmed, Abdul Alim, Palli Kobi Jasim Uddin, Golam Mustafa, Benazir Ahmad, Ferdousy Begum, Neena Hamid, Kaikobad, Rathindranath Roy and Farrukh Ahmad although they enriched our language and culture, history and melody.
In the days before independence, one of the special features was ‘halkhta’. It was a get together between the creditors and the debtors. Halkhata means closure of the old ledgers and the opening of new ones, carrying the outstanding balance of debtors in the new books of accounts. The customers are extended invitation in letters to celebrate Pahela Baishakh with them. This was a traditional system of recovering the outstanding amount. Sweets were offered at the end.
The history of Bengali speaking people dates to over 5,000 years ago. History has been defined as the study of man’s dealings with other men, and the adjustment of working relations between human groups- (The Vedic Age, P-37). German Philosopher Karl Marx said, history of mankind is hitherto the history of class struggle. Another opinion says that history is the record of past events for the future.
But history itself says that man does not take lessons from history. The subject matters of history are men and civilizations and life styles. It tries to evaluate failure and successes of an emperor and an empire. No nation, no generation is born overnight. It takes years after years. The influence of religion, language and culture, geographical contiguity and environment helps rise of a nation.
Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy mentioned of several kingdoms in the ancient Bangal. These were Ruhr for Mid West Bengal, Suksha for South West Bengal. Pundu for North Bengal, Bango for East Bengal and Samotat-Horikel for Southern East Bengal.
The process of unification began in 1204-05 during Muslims’ rule in Bengal. It was Mughal Emperor Akber, who succeeded bringing all the smaller kingdoms into a greater region named Sub-e-Bongala. The year was 1576.
Akber’s courtier Abul Fazal writes in his book Ain-e-Akbari that the word Bongala is the reformed name of the ancient word ‘Bango’. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mazumder differed with this view and said there were two different kingdoms namely Bango and Bongal. With the passage of time, these two kingdoms merged and took the name BangIa.
Dr. Ramesh further questioned the naming of East Bengal as Bangladesh because Bangladesh, he says, was not part of the Muslims’ Bongala kingdom. This challenge is utopian because llyas Shah was the ruler of Bongala, meaning ‘The Land of Bengal’. So, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made no mistake naming his country Bangladesh.
The ancient population of Bengal was divided into the Pre-Aryan and the Aryan. The Pre-Aryans included the Negrito, the Austic, the Dravid and the Vote-Chinio. The first one disappeared long before. The Austic migrated from Indo-China via Assam of India about 6,000 years ago while the Vote-Chinio from Mongolia.
The most advanced of them was the Austic, who belonged to the neo-stone age and gradually learnt the use of iron and copper. They produced paddy, banana, cocoanut, betel leaf, betel nut, gourd and brinjal. The Austic people did not graze cows, nor drank their milk, but reared up chickens and elephants.
About 5,000 years ago, the Dravid and the Brahma-Tibetans landed in this part of world The people belonging to the Dravid established marital relationship with the women of the Austic and gave birth to a new generation. Thereafter a more civilized nation, the Aryans, came to this land from Asia Minor, and married the women of the new generation and gave birth to a new nation called the Bangali population.
The Garo, the Coach, the Tripura and the Chakma are the bi-products of the Austic, Dravid and the Mongolian people. The Cole, the Veel, the Santhal and the Mundu sprang from the Negrito before the latter’s disappearance from Bengal.
In the 8th century, the Simeo-Arabia and the Habshi came to Bengal from West Asia. Some of them returned to their homeland and others stayed.
