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Florismart Sujumnong
The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Karimganj district, located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal and dominated by the fertile Ganges delta. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom whose war elephant forces led the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India. Some historians have identified Gangaridai with other parts of India. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers act as a geographic marker of the region, but also connects the region to the broader Indian subcontinent.[1] Bengal, at times, has played an important role in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
The Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent absorbed Bengal into the medieval Islamic and Persianate worlds.[3] Between the 1204 and 1352, Bengal was a province of the Delhi Sultanate.[4] This era saw the introduction of the taka as monetary currency, which has endured into the modern era. An independent Bengal Sultanate was formed in 1346 and ruled the region for two centuries, during which Islam was the state religion.[5][6] The ruling elite also turned Bengal into the easternmost haven of Indo-Persian culture.[3] The Sultans exerted influence in the Arakan region of Southeast Asia, where Buddhist kings copied the sultanate's governance, currency and fashion. A relationship with Ming China flourished under the sultanate.[7]
The Bengal Sultanate was notable for its Hindu aristocracy, including the rise of Raja Ganesha and his son Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah as usurpers. Hindus served in the royal administration as prime ministers and poets. Under the patronage of Sultans like Alauddin Hussain Shah, Bengali literature began replacing the strong influence of Sanskrit in the region. Hindu principalities included the Kingdom of Mallabhum, Kingdom of Bhurshut and Kingdom of Tripura; and the realm of powerful Hindu Rajas such as Pratapaditya, Kedar Ray and Raja Sitaram Ray. [8]
Following the decline of the sultanate, Bengal came under the suzerainty of the Mughal Empire, as its wealthiest province. Under the Mughals, Bengal Subah rose to global prominence in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding,[9] its economy in the 18th century exceeding in size any of Europe's empires.[10] This growth of manufacturing has been seen as a form of proto-industrialization, similar to that in western Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution.[citation needed] Bengal's capital Dhaka is said to contained over a million people.[11]
The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire led to quasi-independent states under the Nawabs of Bengal, subsequent to the Maratha invasions of Bengal, and finally the conquest by the British East India Company.
The exact origin of the word Bangla is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang/Banga that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE.[16][17] Other accounts speculate that the name is derived from Venga (Bngo), which came from the Austric word "Bonga" meaning the Sun-god. According to the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Harivamsha, Vanga was one of the adopted sons of King Vali who founded the Vanga Kingdom. It was either under Magadh or under Kalinga Rules except few years under Pals. The earliest reference to "Vangala" (Bangala) has been traced in the Nesari plates (805 CE) of Rashtrakuta Govinda III which speak of Dharmapala as the king of "Vangala". The records of Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty, who invaded Bengal in the 11th century, use the term Vangaladesa.[18][19][20]
The term Bangalah is one of the precursors to the modern terms Bengal and Bangla.[21][22][23] Bangalah was the most widely used term for Bengal during the medieval and early modern periods. The Sultan of Bengal was styled as the Shah of Bangalah. The Mughal province of Bengal was termed Subah-i-Bangalah.An interesting theory of the origin of the name is provided by Abu'l-Fazl in his Ain-i-Akbari. According to him, "[T]he original name of Bengal was Bung, and the suffix "al" came to be added to it from the fact that the ancient rajahs of this land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 in breadth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". From this suffix added to the Bung, the name Bengal arose and gained currency".[24]
Stone Age tools found in the region indicate human habitation for over 20,000 years.[25] Remnants of Copper Age settlements, including pit dwellings, date back 4,000 years.[25] Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration.[16][25] Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, the Bengal delta was inhabited by rice-cultivating communities, with people living in systemically-aligned housing and producing pottery.[26] Rivers such as the Ganges and Brahmaputra were used for transport while maritime trade flourished in the Bay of Bengal.[26]
The Iron Age saw the development of coinage, metal weapons, agriculture and irrigation.[26] Large urban settlements formed in the middle of the first millennium BCE,[27] when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture dominated the northern part of Indian subcontinent.[28] Alexander Cunningham, the founder of the Archaeological Survey of India, identified the archaeological site of Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the Rigveda.[29][30]
The ancient Bengal region features prominently in legendary history of India, Sri Lanka, Siam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Nepal, Tibet, China and Malaya. According to the Indian epic Mahabharata, the Vanga Kingdom was located in Bengal. Vanga was described as a thalassocracy with colonies in Southeast Asia. According to Sri Lankan history, the first king of Sri Lanka was Prince Vijaya who led a fleet from India to conquer the island of Lanka. Prince Vijaya's ancestral home was Bengal.[31]
In the Greco-Roman world, accounts of the Gangaridai Kingdom are considered by historians to have referred to Bengal. At the time of Alexander the Great's invasion of India, the collective might of the Gangaridai and the Nanda Empire (Bihar) deterred the Greek army. The Gangaridai army was stated to have a war elephant cavalry of 6000 elephants.[32] The archaeological sites of Wari-Bateshwar and Chandraketugarh are linked to the Gangaridai kingdom.In Ptolemy's world map, the emporium of Sounagoura (Sonargaon) was located in Bengal.[33] Roman geographers also noted the existence of a large natural harbour in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.[34]
The following table lists the geopolitical divisions of ancient Bengal. The table includes a list of corresponding modern regions, which formed the core areas of the geopolitical units. The territories of the geopolitical divisions expanded and receded through the centuries.
The Nanda empire under Mahapadma Nanda extended to its peak. Mahapadma Nanda started imperial conquest of Bharatvarsh. He invaded and defeated local kingdoms of Bengal.[35] The Nanda empire appears to have stretched from present-day Punjab in the west to Odisha and Bengal in the east.[36]According to the Jain tradition, the Nanda minister subjugated the entire country up to the coastal areas.[37]
The Mauryan Empire unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one state for the first time and was one of the largest empires in subcontinental history.[38] The empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya. Under Mauryan rule, the economic system benefited from the creation of a single efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The reign of Ashoka ushered an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist missionaries to various parts of Asia.[39] The Mauryans built the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads connecting the Indian subcontinent with Central Asia.[40]
The Gupta Empire is regarded as a golden age in subcontinental history. It was marked by extensive scientific and cultural advancements that crystallised the elements of what is generally known as Hindu culture.[41] The Hindu numeral system, a positional numeral system, originated during Gupta rule and was later transmitted to the West through the Arabs. Early Hindu numerals had only nine symbols, until 600 to 800 CE, when a symbol for zero was developed for the numeral system.[42] The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavours in the empire.[43]
King Shashanka is considered by some scholars to be the pioneering king of a unified Bengali state. Shashanka established a kingdom in the citadel of Gauda. His reign lasted between 590 and 625. The Bengali calendar traces its origin to Shashanka's reign.
The Pala dynasty lasted for four centuries and ushered in a period of stability and prosperity in Bengal. They created many temples and works of art as well as supported the important ancient higher-learning institutions of Nalanda and Vikramashila. The Somapura Mahavihara built by Emperor Dharmapala is the greatest Buddhist monastery in the Indian subcontinent.
The Chandra dynasty ruled southeastern Bengal and Arakan between the 10th and 11th centuries CE.[45] The dynasty was powerful enough to withstand the Pala Empire to the northwest. The Chandra kingdom covered the Harikela region, which was known as the Kingdom of Ruhmi to Arab traders.[46] The dynasty's realm was a bridge between India and Southeast Asia. During this period, the port of Chittagong developed banking and shipping industries.[47] The last ruler of the Chandra Dynasty, Govindachandra, was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the maritime Chola dynasty in the 11th century.[48]
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