15 18 arts & letters 16042016

Editor's note

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This issue of Arts & Letters features a translation of excerpts from a book by Ahmed Sharif, one of our foremost intellectuals. Sharif's research into Bangla literature of ancient and medieval periods has given us a much clearer vision about our anthropological roots, if there is any. His most significant contribution to our history and literature is his assessment of the social and cultural milieu in which those texts were born and to which they frequently allude.

In this translation, Sharif tells us that for the most part of their history, Bangalis were ruled by

Anthropological identity of Bangalis

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foreign forces, have been very sentimental, indifferent to hard work and unable to practise any of the mainstream religions wholeheartedly.

Sharif's research is supplemented by a piece that revisits the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that had happened on the eve of Pohela Boishakh in 1919.

This issue also features an interview of Sujata Parashar, Director of FON SA Short Story Award, who talks about why this competition is a unique opportunity for budding Bangladeshi authors.

Bloodbath on Boisakh

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Sharif tells us Bangalis were ruled by foreign forces, have been very sentimental, indifferent to hard work and unable to practise any of the mainstream religions wholeheartedly

Interview of Sujata Parashar

Send your submissions to: anl@dhakatribune.com

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Essay

Anthropological identity of Banga

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he anthropological identity of Bangalis is very complicated. There has been no comprehensive research into this subject. No certain conclusion, therefore, can be drawn. Yet, it can be said that there has been too much commingling of bloodlines in this region. This is why even an anthropological research cannot produce accurate information about our ancestors. In an ancient religious text compiled perhaps in the 13th century, Bangalis were classified into 36 groups in terms of caste. But this grouping was not anthropological; it was rather based on people’s occupations. In modern times, many scholars and researchers like Risley, Ramaprasad Chanda, Birajashankar Guha examined the physical features of Bangalis; some are still researching. The basis of these researches is such physical attributes as headforehead-nose-lips or eyes-hairskin. But three thousand years of mixed bloodlines have left no physical feature untainted. So the uncertainty has remained. It could still roughly be said that our ancestors consisted mostly of Negrito, Australoid (Veddoid) and Mongoloid peoples. In fact, it would not be illogical to assume that 60% Australoids, 20% Mongoloids and 15% Negritos, and five percent of other racial groups mingled with one another to form our mixed bloodlines.

Nishad, Kol, Bheel, Munda, Santal, Shabar, Pulinda, Malpahari etc. are comparatively less mixed Veddoids whereas Kirat, Rajbangshi, Naga, Koch, Mech, Mijjar, Kuki, Chakma, Arakani etc. are less mixed Mongoloids.

Besides, features of Gaur, Malab, Chaur, Shok, Hun, Kulik, Kornat, Lat, Dravid, Murunda, Kushan, Euchi, Arab, Irani, Habshi, Greek, Turkish, Afgan, Mughal, Portugese, Dutch, French and English peoples have seeped into the bloodlines, though not to a

large extent.

Pundra, Rarh, Banga and Suhma were the main areas of Bangladesh. The lesser areas where the Kols, the Shabars, the Haris, the Doms and the Chandals lived were vanquished. Looking at the discoveries upon excavation of West Bengal’s Pandu Rajar Dhibi, Deganga’s Chandraketu and Chabbish Paragana’s Harinandan, it seems that well before the introduction to Jainism and Buddhism, roughly three thousand years ago, there were developing groups with flourishing culture of their own. The character of this mixed people is distinct.

[Bhupendranath Dutta, Banglar Itihasher Dhara]

captured the character of ancient Bangalis in the following way: In the studies of religious scriptures and in the pursuit of knowledge, intellect and logic are subdued by religion and emotions.

Agitation and rebellion, desperate combination, assimilation and equalization make up the behavioural characteristic of Bangalis ... there is this indifference to anything ancient in their heritage ... Whenever a new wave of ideas or ideals or events have agitated their mind, they have bowed down to it like weak cane plants as if it was inevitable to happen, and having moulded it into their own set of ideas, they have stood up again, like the

the pervasive practices of yoga, of the doctrine that the body is the seat of all truths, of the tendency to offer worships to deities of both benevolent and malevolent forces.

Dr Roy says: The emotions and sensuality of Bangalis in ancient times were captured in their idols of gods and goddesses. Worship of the incorporeal and pursuit of drab spirituality are scant and fragile in Bangalis. ...

Bangalis are sentimental and given to fancy. Expression of strong emotions and agitation speaks of this. So when they cry, they cry excessively and when they laugh, they do so until there’s

to pleasure (as a moralist would say). That’s why in Bangladesh worldly affairs and pleasures have always got the upper hand over spirituality. They have accepted the godless and nirvana-seeking Buddhism outwardly; at heart they have remained loyal to the gods and goddesses who, they believe, fulfil their material needs. That’s why the Buddhist monasteries became full of idols and they were worshipped not for achieving Nirvana but as the gods of life and livelihood, of luxury and ease. Worldly possessions were what they were after, not spiritual nirvana ... That’s why they wanted to master occult knowledge, magic, witchcraft so that they

strong cane plants. The tenacious life force of the Bangalis, which is as vital in the cane plant, has actually kept them alive through thick and thin.

This is where lies the clue to why the Bangalis have converted into Jainism, Buddhism, Brahminism and Islam and yet have failed to practise these religions wholeheartedly, eventually shaping them to their own livelihood needs. It explains

a grin. When they are agitated, they set fire. But none of these last long because outburst and agitation are but short-lived.

These traits also underlie their inclination towards songs. ...

As they are sentimental, they appear to be idealist and indifferent to life. But actually they are materialist (as a spiritualist would say), or given to life (as mass people would say), or given

could gain wealth or acquire land without any hard work or perseverance. This is how the period under the Pala rulers went by. When the Sena rulers replaced the Palas, and when under the Senas novices of Shankaracharya started preaching the Brahmanic scriptures, the Bangalis embraced it outwardly again while their inner desire for material gains and pleasures remained alive. May be that’s why they did not have much

Painting by SM Sultan

n Ahmed Sharif

The rulers of Anga-Banga, Kalinga-Pundra-Suhma, as mentioned in the Mahabharata, were on the side of the Kurus in the battle of Kurukshetra. In Kalidas’s Raghuvamsa, Raghu defeated the brave Bangali warriors who were also well trained in naval warfare. It shows, whatever their identity in terms of blood, the Bangalis were not much behind others in politics.

Dr Niharranjan Roy has

Bloodbath on Boisakh always been a haven for new thoughts, ideas. But only a few of them have endured. Still, when we remember that it was in this very land that seeds of Bajrajan, Sahajjan, Kaya, Nabasmrity, Wahabi-Farayazi doctrines or Veda philosophy were planted; we feel a surge of pride. When we remember that great thinkers and leaders like Meennath, Gorokkhonath, Dipankar, Sheelbhadra, Raamnath, Raghunath, Chaitanyadev, Rammohan, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Titumeer, Shariatullah, Dudu Mia, Rabindranath, Nazrul were born and brought up in this land, we regain our confidence.

In our medieval panchali literature, this character of Bangali manifests itself. The benevolent

Bangalis are sentimental and given to fancy. Expression of strong emotions and agitation speaks of this. So when they cry, they cry excessively and when they laugh, they do so until there’s a grin. When they are agitated, they set fire.

and livelihood such as Satyapir, Bonobibi-Bonodevi, KajugziKaluray, Borokha Gazi-Dokkhin Ray and Olabibi-Shitala came to be revered and worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims. Clearly, ordinary Bangalis never had any interest in the lofty, philosophical questions regarding the supreme being. They were given to purely terrestrial matters and pleasures and concerns. They have made little of the soul-supreme soul dichotomy and ignored heaven and hell altogether. The reason behind the degradation of the Baishnava society too lies in this mindset. The greedy minds of the poor, deprived Bangalis were allured whenever and wherever they had seen consumable products. As a result of two thousand years of foreign rule, cowardice and indifference to work have been written deep into their character. So for the sake of sustenance, they were reliant on gods who control material possessions as opposed to spiritual freedom, and made it their mission to pursue unnatural and supernatural powers to gain land and money.

The things that Bangalis take pride in are individual contributions; the nation as a whole could not reap any benefit from them ... Bangladesh has

Saturday, April 16, 2016

History

alis interest in the doctrine of maya or the dichotomy between soul and supreme soul. In fact, they started panting under the weight of these doctrines. So they felt reassured only when they could worship gods of wealth and possessions and pleasures. That’s how worship of Chandi, Durga, Manasa, Shitala, Shosthi, Shani, Lokkhi and Sharaswati were initiated.

These deities were not meant to uplift them into a spiritual word or give them spiritual freedom.

For the same reasons, under Muslim rulers, especially during the Mughal rule in Bangladesh, influence of ancient Hindu gods and Islamic religious dictums wore thin while different benevolent and malevolent deities of life

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god prevails in the literature of the time because he is the provider of livelihood. Yet in the expression of his enormous vitality, signs of loyalty to his very own religion are evident. He has never heartily accepted any foreign religion.

This distinctness and inflexibility, in many cases, has earned him respect in modern times. l Ahmed Sharif is the biggest name in the critical tradition of Bangla Literature.

He was an authority in medieval Bangla literature and his research works have shed light on the secular traditions of our literature. These excerpts are from his book, Bangali O Bangla Sahitya in which he has summarised his theses on the anthropological identity of Bangalis and the roots and development of Bangla literature.

Translated by Rifat Munim

Footnotes

1. An early 8th century preacher of Brahmanic scriptures. He’s regarded as the biggest teacher of ancient Hinduism.

2. After the Pala rulers who preached Buddhism, the Senas revived Hinduism.

3. In ancient Hindu philosophy, maya is a concept connoting the “power or the principle that conceals the true character of spiritual reality.”

The calculated massacre of close to 2,000 innocents in Jallianwala Bagh 97 years ago that became a turning point in India’s struggle for freedom.

Image Credit: Sabrang India

n Teesta Setalvad

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ne of the worst political crimes of the twentieth century was committed in Punjab during 1919.

Popular resentment had been accumulating in Punjab since the beginning of the War (World War I), mainly due to the ruthless drive – by the British — for recruiting soldiers and forced contribution to the war fund. Gandhiji’s call for a country-wide hartal to protest against the Black Acts received a tremendous response from Punjab on March 30 and again on April 6.

Gandhiji’s call for a countrywide hartal to protest against the Black Acts received a tremendous response from Punjab on March 30 and again on April 6.

The agitated mood of the people and Hindu-Muslim solidarity demonstrated on the hartal (strike) days and on April 9 celebration of the Ramnavami festival made the Lt Governor Michael O’Dwyer’s administration panicky.

Gandhiji’s entry into Punjab was banned: two popular leaders of Amritsar, Kitchlew and Satya Pal, were arrested. These provocations led to hartals and mass demonstrations in Lahore, Kasur, Gujranwala and Amritsar.

In Amritsar, the police firing on demonstrators provoked some of them to commit acts of violence.

The next day the city was handed over to Brigadier-General Dyer.

Dyer began his regime through indiscriminate arrests and ban on meeting and gatherings.

On April 13 – the day of Baisakhi festival – a meeting was called in the afternoon at the Jallianwala Bagh a ground enclosed on all sides. Thousands of people, many of whom had come from surrounding villages to the fairs in Amritsar and were unaware of the ban order, gathered in the meeting.

The massacre stunned the people and became a turning point in the history of India’s struggle for freedom Suddenly Dyer appeared there with troops and without any warning to the people, ordered firing on the completely peaceful and defenceless crowd. The fusillade continued till Dyer’s ammunition ran out. Atleast about a thousand people, if not more, are estimated to have been killed.

This cold-blooded carnage, Dyer admitted later, was perpetrated "to strike terror not only in the city of Amritsar, but throughout the Punjab?"

The massacre stunned the people and became a turning point in the history of India’s struggle for freedom. Rabindranath Tagore wrote a strong letter of protest to the Viceroy, dated May 31, 1919,

renouncing his Knighthood “….The disproportionate severity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfortunate people and the methods of carrying them out, we are convinced, are without parallel in the history of civilised governments…. The accounts of insults and sufferings undergone by our brothers in the Punjab have trickled through the gagged silence, reaching every corner of India and the universal agony of indignation roused in the hearts of our people has been ignored by our rulers,-possibly congratulating themselves for what they imagine as salutary lessons….the very least that I can do for my country is to take all consequences upon myself in giving voice to the protest of the millions of my countrymen, surprised into a dumb anguish of terror. The time has come when the badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen, who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer a degradation not fit for human beings….” l (Large portions of this article have relied upon excerpts from the autobiography of Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, Recollections and Reflections. Sir Chimanlal Setalvad was the great grandfather of Teesta Setalvad) This is an abridged version of an article which first appeared in Scroll.in

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Interview

Unique opportunity for Bangladeshi authors Dhaka Tribune has partnered with Fellows of Nature in a unique initiative to promote nature writing, a genre as endangered as nature, through a short story competition that seeks contributions from writers of South Asian countries including Bangladesh. In this issue, we present readers with an interview of Sujata Parashar, Director, Fellows of Nature, who explains why this competition is a rare opportunity for budding Bangladeshi writers and translators. Visit www.fellowsofnature.in for more details. promote nature - writing and through it strengthen the human – nature bond.

The closing date for submission is May 30th, 2016. The award will be presented at the next edition of Kumaon Lit Fest to be held in October this year and the book will be released at the literary festival of Taj Colloquium (an associate of KLF), Agra in January 2017.

Can translation of Bangla short stories be submitted for the competition?

Yes, translation of original Bangla short stories into English will be considered for the award. However, other guidelines remain the same and must be read carefully before making the submission. Also, if such a story is picked as the top winner; the prize amount will be divided equally between the original writer and the translator.

Tell us more about the FON South Asia Short Story Award. Is it the first such international literary award?

The seed idea of Fellows of Nature (or FON) was conceived early last year while the Kumaon Lit Fest (KLF) planning board was still deliberating on the different social initiatives and innovative ideas that KLF should initiate to help achieve the main objective of the festival. KLF is India’s first travelling literary festival and has several other unique features; its main objective is to celebrate literature, nature, art and culture of the nation and at the same time use the platform to give back to society. Together with Sumant Batra, Founder of FON, I wrote the concept note and shared the idea with the PB members of KLF and other potential partners.

The idea was appreciated more so because of its relevance in today’s time when man-made issues are wreaking havoc on the environment and adversely affecting everyone. It was felt by the team that an initiative like FON (of which FON Short Story Award is an intrinsic part) will not only bring the spotlight back on naturewriting but will also effectively help sensitise people and build awareness about the fragility of the environment and why it is important to preserve and protect it. The project was formally launched at the well-attended curtain raiser event of the festival held at The Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi in September last year.

Also, initially, we wanted it to be a national – level short

Why does FON put this emphasis on nature writing? How do you think building a community of nature writers will help build awareness of and respect for nature?

Translation of original Bangla short stories into English will be considered for the award. However, other guidelines remain the same and must be read carefully before making the submission

story contest. Of course, based solely on the theme of nature.

However, Siddhartha Gigoo, an award winning and acclaimed short – story writer of the country and chairman of the esteemed FON jury, (we have a 7 member

international jury consisting of popular novelists, short story writers, editors, bloggers and conservationists), suggested we extend the purview of the competition and make it international. After consulting

other key stakeholders it was agreed that instead of limiting it only to India we should extend it to all 8 nations of South Asia.

It is indeed one of the very first international literary awards whose prime objective is to

At one point in time, nature writing was one of the oldest and most appreciated literary forms of writing; but over the years it has shown a steady decline. Almost all the great writers, poets and artists of the world have been inspired by Nature but with the passage of time and technology taking over almost all aspects of man’s life; writing in this genre has been marginalised. FON SA Short Story Award is an attempt to revive the old literary art and through it bring the focus back on critical environmental and other challenging issues faced by mankind. Stories are powerful tools of change and make us think, feel and take notice. Thus, an interesting and enthusiastic community of nature-storytellers will have a better chance in getting people to develop respect for Nature, build awareness and take positive actions and eventually help in conservation.

Before concluding, I'd like to thank Dhaka Tribune for featuring FON. We'll look forward to the submissions from Bangladesh. l