Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Bangali as the nisba of a Muslim's name: Sections 13-15

12 views
Skip to first unread message

abu

unread,
Sep 24, 2010, 3:13:19 AM9/24/10
to

First some corrections for Sections 1 to 12.

Three bad errors occurred in Sections 1--12 of “Bangali as the nisba
of a Muslim's name” posted few days ago. We shall remove the old
version and post the corrected one at the earliest opportunity.

We spelled wrongly the name of Hazrat Shish (A).

“Uchhar” means afternoon not evening. Thus “uchhar” is exactly “asarer
samay.”
Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah said “uchhar” means afternoon and Sanskrit
utsoor means evening or twilight (p22, "Buddhist Mystic Songs" by
Shahidullah, The Dacca University Studies, vol. IV, no. II, 1940).

The word Ziya after Shitil in Section 4 is wrong. We intended it to be
Ziwa. The spelling Shitil for the Sabian name of Seth can be found in
the internet. In the past we wrote it as Sitil which was wrong.

The savior-spirit Hibil Ziwa, Abel, Hazrat Habil (A) is also written
as Hibil-Yawar (page 36, 62-63, "The Secret Adam, A Study of Nasoraean
Gnosis" by E. S. Drower, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1960).

The word Yawar (Jawar) has been translated as radiance and dazzling.
This is also the glow of the Jewel. This Jewel is Zahar in Bengali and
Zewar in Urdu, Jouhar and Gouhar in Farsi. Another Bengali word is
Mani.

Thus we translated Lithargoel Jesus disguised as a pearl merchant as
the Jewel of Lut, and compared him with aum Mani padme hum. Padma is
lotus. It was inspired by Lodi country of Afghanistan though Lata
(Gujerat) and Nasik also come to the mind. See our posting on
Lithargoel Jesus.

Seth, Hazrat Shish (A), is called Shitil by the Sabians. He was the
Purest Soul. In the mystical language the use of feminine grammatical
gender for some abstract ideas personified in Shitil was common.

Yawar is also a particular person who is Anush. Anush seems to be Enos
or Enosh of Bible. Enos is a son of Seth in the Bible. For the Sabians
it seems that Anush is John the Baptist Hazrat Yahiya (A) and at the
same time a son of Adam.

This Enos is not Enoch of the Bible identified with Hazrat Idris (A).
The important common theme is their unnatural longevity which, from
behind the scene, is dedicated to the assistance of the mujahids
against the persecuting disbelievers.

Idris is the symbol of Al-Yasa’ (Elijah). Sufi Ibn al-Arabi thought
them to be the same spirit. Arabic Ilyas is not Greek Elias but his
assistant Elisha. Thomas Merton writes "Idris-Ilyas: Two names // One
star, one prophet."

Another important sense involved is the concept of Bani Adam, insaan
and maanush (human). Iraqi Sabians, after the Indo-European tribes
invaded Iraq, and Sabian groups who lived near the Black Sea and the
Amu Dar’ya, were influenced by the Sakas and the Aryans.

Thus Ziwa can also be compared with Hindi Zeeu at the end of the name
of an idol of a god. The word Zeeu is associated with life. It may not
be an appellation meaning “long live?” Devotees may resurrect their
god if it dies accidentally. However it is hard to comprehend that
they would wish it a long life before its death.

Since Hazrat Khizr (A) is absent in the Anush related traditions of
the Sabians and in the Bible one feels the need to investigate a
possible relationship between the two: more in our article “Hibil
Ziwa, Shitil and Anush, and the Baptist, Elijah and that Prophet.”


Bangali as the nisba of a Muslim's name: Sections 13-15

Section 13: Haji Ilyas "Bhangra"

In 1345 Ibn Batuta visited Bangladesh. It appears that by Bangalah Ibn
Batuta meant the country with capital at Sonargao including Chittagong
and Sylhet. But the western part, northwestern part in case he
considered Satgaon (Hooghli) to be a part of Bangalah, he called
Lakhnauti, possibly because it was not included in the independent
sultanate.

In 1346 Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah became the Sultan of Lakhnauti. In
1249-50 he invaded Nepal where a record called him vangaala-vahulair-
balaih (force of Bengal). In 1352 Ilyas Shah unified North, West and
East Bengal.
Tarikh-i Firuzshahi (c.1370?) possibly by Shamsi Siraz Afif gave Ilyas
Shah the titles Shah-i Bangala, Shahi-i Bangaliyan and Sultan-i-
Bangalah (Abdul Karim's "Social History of the Muslims in Bengal").

In Riyaz Ilyas Shah's name was Shamsuddin Bhangra. It is interpreted
as opium-eater since bhang is opium. Dani thought Shamsuddin Bangalah
was corrupted to Shamsuddin Bhangra. Army carried opium as pain-killer
during the battle, so it is not impossible that some warriors needed
to use it as long as they lived for medical reasons.

Only Hindustani enemies would call Haji Ilyas an opium-eater. If
Bhangra was inspired from Bangala then it also points to a muddle
involving L and R possibly from a speech of North Bengal. We shall
keep this example in mind when in a latter section we investigate why
they were clueless of the last L.

The Ekdala Fort in which Sultan Ilyas Shah was besieged by the
Hindustani sultan was suspected to be in Dinajpur in North Bengal.
Ekdala means a collection. Another Ekdala Fort founded in the Buddhist
period was near Dhaka.

Ilyas Shah, a Sijistani who established himself first in the western
side namely in Satgaon (Hooghli) and Lakhnauti, chose the name
Bangalah as his country.

It could be that the Jalaliya Sufis first conceived of the plan of
unification of Bangladesh before Ilyas Shah realized it. We believe
that these Jalaliyas were disciples of Hazrat Shah Jalal (Rh) of
Sylhet.

Section 14: Jalaliya Sufis

Hazrat Shah Jalal (Rh) was a "Turkistanjat Bangali" according to
Gulzar-i-Abrar, an early seventeenth century biography of the Muslims
saints and scholars of the subcontinent.

We are inclined to believe that Hazrat Shah Jalal's father Sheikh
Muhammad, a Yasawi Sufi from Turkistan, immigrated to the subcontinent
where Hazrat Shah Jalal was born. Hindustani Sheikhs met him during
one of his return visits from the Middle-East, and called him
Jalaluddin Tabrizi. Possibly he studied or stayed in Tabriz for a long
time.

Dewan Nurul Anawar Hossain Choudhury has shown that the North Indian
records which seem to suggest Sheikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi to be
different from Shah Jalal are not reliable.

We however maintain that Shah Jalal had a Turk legacy, which in view
of the mobility of the Muslims of those days, and as in the case of
the Rasulids of Yemen, does not contradict his being from Yemen. One
also suspects an error because of a mix-up with the story of the
prince of Yemen who became his disciple and successor in Sylhet.

A group of Jalaliyas were present in Satgaon (Hooghli). We know that
the Jalaliyas established Ali Mubarak in Lakhnauti. Ali Mubarak
depicted his dream in which Sheikh Jalal told him, "We have given you
Bangala, you made a sufi-lodge for us."

Ilyas Shah who ruled Satgaon removed his foster brother Ali Mubarak.
Having possibly annoying the Jalaliyas with his action, Ilyas Shah
became a disciple of the Chistiyas. Soon he became the first Sultan to
unify Bangladesh.

Historians say that the paiks (foot soldiers) of Ilyas Shah were
called Abu-i-Bangalah meaning Fathers of Bengal.

All indications suggest Muslims first found active Bangalism only
after coming to Sylhet. Sens and Varmas, who ruled central Bangladesh
just before Muslim rule, were recent immigrants from India. Moving
disciples of Hazrat Shah Jalal spread the concept of being a Bangali
in the face of Hindustani influence on the western part.

At present we believe that Hazrat Shah Jalal (Rh) is the same person
as Hazrat Jalaluddin Tabrizi (Rh), and Ibn Batuta during his short
stay got confused about the saint he met because Bengali disciples and
traders taking the word Zindapir (Living Pir) literally could not say
that their great patron had died. Or somebody changed what Ibn Batuta
actually told.

Lakhnauti and its neighborhood was also called Gaur and Hindu pandits
did not had the impression that Gaur was a province of Bangala. In the
Linga Puran and Kurma Puran Gauda is in "Uttar Kosala," that is, in
Oudh. According to Cunningham part of Uttar Kosala south of the Râwati
(Rapti) was called Gaura (Page 343, Alexander Cunningham, "The Ancient
Geography of India", Indological Book House, Varanasi.1963 reprint.
Original 1871?).

During the Sultanate Period Tanda was near Lakhnauti. The town of
Tanda disappeared in the River Poua(n). Possibly this Tanda inspired
the Dandabhukti in the Tirumalai Rock Inscription described in Section
6.

Section 15: Pang-ko-li of Ma Huan

In 1432 Chinese sailor Ma Huan visited Bangladesh. He found people all
Muslims and speaking Bengali (Pang-ko-li) although some knew Persian.

Mills described manuscript variants in his annotated translation of Ma
Huan's "Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan" (The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores"
translated with notes by J.V.G. Mills, CUP, 1970 is a good book).

In a later manuscript somebody tried to modify this statement.

Pang-ko-li is interesting because at present the Chinese call
Bangladesh Monjaila Qua.
The word Pang-ko-li readily compares with Javanese Pangulu (Sundanese
panghulu) for headman. In Java and Madura the word also used to mean a
mosque official. In Java Pangulu was the chief religious leader
guiding observing Islamic Law.

Later the Dutch used the Pangulus as mediators in dealing with the
Muslims becoming restless of colonial occupation (Muhammad Hisyam's
"Caught between Three Fires: The Javanese Pangulu under the Dutch
Colonial Administration.)

Portuguese officer Tome Pires in his Suma Oriental (English tr. by A.
Cortesao, Hakluyt Society, 2nd Series, no.89-90, 1944) wrote that most
people Sumatera (Pase) were originally Bangali. Portuguese Pires had
hatred about Bangali. He did not visit Bangladesh but wrote his
information about Bangladesh sitting in Malacca supposed to be
sometime in 1512-1515CE.

Thus we get more examples of P for B as in the Manipuri name Pangal
for Muslims mentioned in Section 9.

It is for these reasons we need to consider Prakrit-Pingala and Akkhar
Pangra in the study of the ancient history of Bengali people. These
words also had Mongolian connection. Pangra, we suspect, is nothing
but a variant of Bangala. In fact the concept of Akkhar Pangra is an
important concept.

This concept should be encouraged as a policy to create peace between
various non-Hindustani tribes living in Bengal to counteract the
vicious ethnic cleansing type mentality that is growing because of
alien gangs trying to divide and convert, and the British gave their
lands to India.

By considering the disciples of the Fakirs and the anti-colonial
battles various tribes fought, we have reasons to believe that
something like the concept of Akkhar Pangra was a common knowledge
before the memory has been cleared by the educational influence of
missionary-pandit alliance and the Fort William College.

Recently some newspapers in Bangladesh are attributing the killings of
the people of Bangladesh in the border of Sylhet by BSF to the
Khasias. This could be the result of a conspiracy by the same divide-
and-convert gangs because some of these newspapers are also associated
with skinny-dipping little boys.

We believe that in the past some Muslims of Sylhet, Comilla and Feni
had Khasia ancestors.
Ma Huan was in the team of the great Chinese-Uighur admiral Cheng Ho.
Cheng Ho was a Muslim. Ma Huan embraced Islam from Buddhism.

[more sections will be posted]

0 new messages