Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2

Chapter-1 Development trend of the name of Bangladesh:

Anthropologists agree that Bangladesh has historically been a land of many races. Long before the arrival of the Aryans in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. the Bangalees were already racially mixed. It is said that the origin of human !eings is "frica but that some of them at first moved into the northern part of the Middle East and then dispersed across the world. The main reasons for coming to Bengal were first the eal to con!uer and occupy a new region" and the second was to do business in the wealthy and prosperous Bengal and third was environmental. The groups of the people who went to #outh$East Asia had crossed the land of Bangladesh more than fifty thousand years ago. These people developed languages" %nown as "ustric Languages with their name "ustric or "ustro-"siatic people. These people entered Bangladesh several thousand years ago from #outh$ East Asia. &ear about the same time or later some other people" whom we now classify as #ongoloid also entered the territories of Bangladesh from the East and spread mainly into the uplands and hilly areas.

$ame of Bangladesh in %re-#uslim &ra '(p to 12)* ".D.+:

Before the coming of Aryans peoples the name our country was ,Bang-. Bang was the name of tribal peoples of 'ravidian those who came from the #outhern and western parts of #outh$Asia. 'uring the Aryans era" especially the era of (anapada" it was recogni ed as ,Banga./anga-. The location of Banga was in the east and southeast portion of the present day of Bangladesh there grew a (anapada called )Banga*. It is supposed that a race called Banga used to live there. +ence the region was called Banga after their name. ,rom the old stone inscription" we learn about two parts of Bengal. -ne of them is ,/i0rampura- and the other is ,$av1a-. It is supposed that the low$lying areas of the 2aridpur Ba0ergang and %atua0hali were included in the )&avya* region. The ancient Banga (anapada was a powerful region. It has been learnt from the stone inscription that the reputed ) Banga 3a4and the Banga soldiers too% part in many formidable battles. After the Aryans people

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 up to #ena regime that means from ./0 A.'. up to 1234 A.'. it was recogni ed as )Bengal-.

$ame of Bangladesh in #uslim &ra '12)*-1555 ".D+: 6. Sultani &ra:

Bangalah as a territorial name came to be used from the 15th century onwards" more specifically from the time of #ultan Shamsuddin
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denoting the

territory which now comprises the modern independent state of Bangladesh and the Indian state of 6est Bengal. 9iauddin Barani was the first Muslim historian who used the terms iqlim-i-bangalah or diyar-i-bangalah 7by which he meant eastern Bengal8. Shams-i-Sira4 "fif '1*55 "D+ mentioned Iliyas #hah as :Shah-iBangalah' :Sultan-i-Bangalah' under his sole control. and :Shah-i-Bangali1an: after he had and consolidated his power over whole of Bengal by bringing
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66. #ughal regime: The Mughals after establishing their supremacy over the region included Bangalah as a subah 7province8 which came to be %nown as Subah-i-Bangalah. "!ul 2a?l" the Mughal historian explained the origin of the name thus9 The original name of Bangalah @as Bang. Its former rulers raised mounds measuring ten yards in height and twenty in breadth throughout the province" which were called ,al. ,rom the suffix" this name Bangalah too% its rise and currency. -ne may not agree with the explanation of Abul ,a l" but it is obvious that he meant that :Bangalah: originated from :Bang: ie :/anga: of the pre$Muslim period.

$ame of Bangladesh in %ost #uslim &ra 'up to 1A51 ".D.+:

The same name appeared in the ;ortuguese records as :Bengala: and the English made it firstly )Bengal- and in 1<3/ A.'. on the basis of ,3i?li %lan- on the 10th -ctober 1<3/" Lord =ur on" the >iceroy of India by a declaration divided the province of Bengal into two parts. This event is %nown as the ;artition of Bengal. According to the ;artition of Bengal" the province of ) Eastern Bengal and Assam was formed" consisting of 'ha%a" =hittagong" ?a@shahi 'ivisions and Assam" 'ha%a became the capital of the new province. -n the other hand" the province of 6est Bengal was formed" consisting of 6est Bengal" Bihar and -rissa" and Aol%ata was made its capital. Although the proposal for the ;artition of Bengal came into effect in

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 1<3/" it was officially made in the middle of the nineteenth century. After 1<5." on the basis of the ) <@o $ation <heor1- it was recogni ed in the world as ) &ast %a0istan* up to 1<.1 A. '. in the record of ;a%istan Bovernment. 'uring the ;a%istan period firstly" the people as well as politicians of East ;a%istan decided to use the name of our country as ,Bangladesh- on /th 'ec* 1<0<. -n the other hand on 13th April$1<.1" we declared the ) =overnment of Bangladesh- and seven days later this Bovernment too% its oath as )<he %eoples 3epu!lic of Bangladesh- . ,inally the day of >ictory and on 10th 'ec*1<.2" constitutionally we established the name of our country as )Bangladesh*.

B8istor1 of the Bangla LanguageB

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo$Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern #outh Asia %nown as Bengal" which comprises present day Bangladesh" the Indian state of 6est Bengal" and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script. 6ith nearly 230 million total spea%ers" Bengali is one of the most spo%en languages 7ranking 4th8 in the world where in 1<<4 it was /th.

Chronological development trend of Bangla Language 9

1. Before the 6ndo-"r1an language: "ustro-"siatic Languages li%e Santali 7abola" acir$pacir" ador" alga etc8" undari

7a%al" a%hir" amdani8 and !hasi 7ator" ain" babo" bis%it8 !+ Sino-<i!eten li%e !achhari 7a%a@"a@ala means foolish8" "aro# $ri%uri etc. c+ Dravidian and ;ol 2. 6ndo-"r1an Language '0entumB&urope C satamB6ndo-6ranni+ 9 Li%e other Eastern Indo$Aryan languages" Bengali arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages of the Indian subcontinent. Magadhi ;ra%rit 7233 B=8 and ;ali" the earliest recorded spo%en languages in the region and the language of the Buddha" evolved into Ardhamagadhi. Ardhamagadhi" as with all of the ;ra%rits of &orth India" began to give way to what are called Apabhramsa languages .The local Apabhramsa language of the eastern subcontinent" ;urvi Apabhramsa or Apabhramsa Abahatta"

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 eventually evolved into regional dialects" which in turn formed three groups9 the Bihari languages" the -riya languages" and the Bengali$Assamese languages Csually three periods are identified in the history of Bengali9 >ld Bengali 70/3D<33$12338Etexts include Charyapada" devotional songsF emergence of pronouns Ami" tumi" etc.F verb inflections $ila" $iba" etc. Assamese branch out in this period and -riya @ust before this period 7Gth century$14338. #iddle Bengali 714/1H1G338 E ma@or texts of the period" Arittivas: ?amayan has been credited to be a classic. -ther narrative poems include #ri%rishnavi@aya by Maladhar >asu and #ri%rishna%irttan by Baru =handidas which #pread of compound verbsF ;ersian influence. $e@ Bengali 7since 1G318Eshortening of verbs and pronouns" among other changes 7e.g. tahar tar IhisIDIherIF koriyachhil korechhilo heDshe had done8. +istorically closer to ;ali" Bengali saw an increase in #ans%rit influence during the Middle Bengali 7Chaitanya era8" and also during the Bengal ?enaissance. -f the modern Indo$European languages in #outh Asia" Bengali and Marathi maintain a largely ;aliD#ans%rit vocabulary base 7use of #ans%rit words by some Bengali poets such as &ayde'# (ma%atidhara and "o'ardhan )charya* while +indi and others such as ;un@abi" #indhi and Bu@arati are more influenced by Arabic and ;ersian.

*. Contri!ution of #uslim people: ,rom the 14th century to 1/th century 7)rabic +ords li%e -%il" Aalam" 'alal" Lo%san" Aha@na" +aloa" Masla etc. ,ersian +ords$ Ain" A@ad" Abdar" ?omal" Bagan" Boanda and some $urkish +ords li%e Tosha%" Balicha" 'aroga" Bibi" Lash" =ha%or8. D. Contri!ution of %ortuguese: 'uring the 10th =entury ;ortuguese people came in our region and the development of our language. At present some language li%e$ Almary" Al%athra" Alpin" #aban" Bosal" Balti" &ilam etc. contributed for ;ortuguese words used in our

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 5. Dutch 2rench and &nglish: In the 'utch" ,rench and English started arriving in Bengal. As a result" words from these languages started entering Bangla vocabularyF for example" from English. table" chair" lordDlat" generalDjadrel, etc. the -rench. cartouche" coupon" caf, restoraF /utch. hartan, iskaban, iskurupF

Chronological development trend of Bangla Language:

Indo$European

Aentum Iranni Aryan

#atam
Indian Aryan

>edic

;ra%rit #ans%rit

;ali

Apabramsa

Bihari

-ld -riya

Ahania

Aamrupi Bangla

Assamese

Bangla

6. Contri!ution of Eilliam Care1: 6ith the start of British rule in the 1Fth centur1 and the spread of English education" Bangla started absorbing increasing numbers of English words. 6n

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2

C"LC(<<"

in 1F)1 the efforts of its head"

6ILLIAM =A?EJ"

and his

associate Bengali

scholars" made Bangla department. 5. 3ole of some 0e1 persons: 'uring the 01th century" the efforts of Bengali writers contributed to the further growth of the language. Among them were and
MI? M-#+A??A, +-##AI&. ?A(A ?AMM-+C& ?-J" B+ABA&I=+A?A& BA&'J-;A'+JAJ" I#6A? =+A&'?A >I'JA#ABA?" BA&AIM=+A&'?A =+ATT-;A'+JAJ" MI=+AEL MA'+C#C'A& 'CTT

The 20th century witnessed the

;?AMAT+A =+-6'+C?J.

elevation of collo!uial Bangla to a written literary medium through the wor% of many talented writers such as
?ABI&'?A&AT+ TAB-?E

and

,inally" through the study of a particular dictionary" Suniti0umar Chatter4i ta%ing

G$"$&D3" #>8"$ D"S:s

Bangala Bhashar )bhidhan into account" showed that

Bangla has /1.5/ per cent tadbhava words" 55.33 per cent tatsama words" 4.43 per cent ;erso$Arabic words and 1.2/ per cent from English" ;ortuguese and other languages where (nanendra Mohan 'as:s lexicon has around 1/3"333 words.

23rigin and 4dentity of the ,eo%le of Bangladesh.

Anthropologists agree that Bangladesh has historically been a land of many races. Long before the arrival of the Aryans in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. the Bangalees were already racially mixed. It is said that the origin of human !eings is "frica but that some of them at first moved into the northern part of the Middle East and then dispersed across the world. The groups of the people who went to #outh$East Asia had crossed the land of Bangladesh more than fifty thousand years ago. These people developed languages" %nown as "ustric Languages with their name "ustric or "ustro-"siatic people. These people entered Bangladesh several thousand years ago from #outh$East Asia. &ear about the same time or later some other people" whom we now classify as #ongoloid also entered the territories of Bangladesh from the East and spread mainly into the uplands and hilly areas. Bangladesh is a melting$pot of ancient peoples. 'ifferent races and immigrants gradually added to the earlier stoc%s. The main peopling of this land was by those who came from the #outhern and western parts of #outh$Asia and they are %nown as Dravidians. They were a physically diverse people spea%ing different languages" %nown as 'ravidian family of languages. It is to be noted that the 'ravidian

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 language spea%ers were a mostly a Caucasoid people" which means in hair form and other physical features they resemble the people of the Middle$East more than they resemble the people of East$Asia. +owever they are generally dar%er than the different peoples to the East and 6est of #outh$Asia. The latest arrivals were a people well %nown as the "r1ans. They spo%e a language of the Indo$European family of languages and they are said to have originated from the &orthern parts of the Middle East and the Eastern parts of Europe. -ver the centuries they mixed with the 'ravidians and moved into the Bengal Basin sometimes after 033 B. =. They in turn mixed with the Austric and Mongoloid peoples already in Bangladesh and produced the physical types which are so common nowadays. Later other immigrants$ "ra!s <ur0s and %athans also came to this land. These people too added their physical stoc% to the melting$pot" so that today we have in Bangladesh a great variety of physical features. The Bengali ancestry" therefore" includes the Austric$spea%ers the Mongoloids" the 'ravidians" the Aryans" the "ra!s and the <ur0s and %athans. 6ithin the polity of Bangladesh there are also some groups of people" %nown as tribal people" who retain their distinct cultural entities and have not merged into the mainstream of Bangla$ #pea%ing group.

"t a =lance ,>rigin C 6dentit1 of the people of Bangladesh-:

"ccording to the "nthropologist 1. Austro$Asiatic from south Asia 2. Mongoloid from east part of Asia 4. 'ravidian from the #outhern and western parts of #outh$Asia "ccording to %rof. 8uma1um "?ad 1.>addara from #ri$Lan%a 2.Mongoloid from east part of Asia 4. Indo$Aryan people from the &orthern parts of the middle$east and the Eastern parts of Europe. 5.#ha% people from Tur%istan /.;ersian" Arab" ;athan and Mughal

east

4. Indo$Aryan people from the

&orthern parts of the middle$east and the eastern parts of Europe.

5. Arabs" Tur%s and ;athan

K#ource9 Lal &il 'ipabali ba Bangla #hahityer (ibaniF page no$12$10.L

,inally" in the poem of )Bharat Tirtha* ?abindranath Tagore articulated that the origin and identity of the people of Bangladesh is a mixed one. According to him" the blood

Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 which one contains in our body" it*s circulated from various groups of people li%e +un" pathan" Mughal etc.

Chapter 3elated Huestions:

1. 'iscuss the development trend of the name of Bangladesh. 2. 6hat was the name of Bangladesh during the ;re$Muslim eraM 4. 6hat was the name of Bangladesh during the Muslim eraM 5. 6hat was the name of Bangladesh during the ;ost$Muslim eraM /. 'iscuss the origin and identity of the people of Bangladesh. 0. 6hat was historical bac%ground of Bangla languageM .. 'iscuss the role of various groups of people for developing Bangla Language. G. )Bangla Language is a melting pot*$explain this statement.