The History Of Ancient Bengal:
[Gleanings from Hasna Jasimuddin Maudud's
"A Thousand Year Old Bengali Mystic Poetry"
[Note : The following writing is taken from the book "A Thousand Year
Old Bengali Mystic Poetry" by Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud (daughter of
famous poet Jasimuddin), who has done an extensive research on Bengali
mystic poems called "Caryagiti" which was written more than thousand
years ago. In addition to the translations of these spiritual poems,
she also presented the history of the language and the people so
exquisitely, they deserve to be appreciated by the conscious
people.http://www.bongoz.com/history/]
It is not easy to give a historical account of ancient Bengal. There is
very little recorded history of the land, language, and its people. The
history of Bengal is one of the most complex in the world. The
territory inhabited by Bengal-speaking people goes beyond the boundary
of Bengal, which stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay
of Bengal in the south, from Brahmaputra, Kangsa, and Surma in the east
to Nagar, Barakar and Suvarnerekha in the west. The majority of people
in the western areas are Hindus, while in the east Muslims predominate.
Although there are strong feeling towards Bengali and Bangladeshi
nationalism, broadly speaking the term Bengal designates the Bengali-
speaking area.
In most characteristic feature of the Bengali landscape is its vast
river system which characterizes the Bengali people and their
literature. Among the main rivers the Ganges and the Padma are the two
most important and these are referred to in many literary compositions,
including the carya poems. Bengal was famous in ancient times for river
and sea crafts. The arts of navigation, boat building and maritime
warfare developed because of the many rivers and the long seacoast.
Bengal carried on a large sea trade mostly through the ancient seaport
of Tamralipta. River and sea voyages are often characterized in Bengali
folklore and literature, particularly in the Manasa and Chandi poems
composed later than the caryas.
Being situated in the extreme east of India, Bengal served as the
connecting land link between the sub-continent, Burma, South China and
the Malay Peninsula and Indo-China. Bengal not only acted as
intermediary in trade and commerce but also played an important role in
the cultural association between the diverse civilizations of South
East and Eastern Asia. An inscription in the Malay Peninsula of the
fourth or fifth century A.D. records the gift of a great captain
Buddhagupta, who was probably Bengali. It is also said that it was a
Bengali prince, Vijaya, the Pala period. There is an affinity between
the scripts used on Javanese sculptures and the proto-Bengali
alphabets. The influence of ancient Bengal was of Tibet and China.
Diverse civilization and cultures met in the Bengal delta. Various
races entered India during pre-historic times through the North West of
the Indian sub-continent and lived there until they were driven further
east. Bengal continually attracted people from outside.
There are many accounts and references which point out that the ancient
people of Bengal were different in race, culture and language from the
Aryans who compiled the Vedic literature. The original inhabitants of
Bengal were non-Aryan. Many linguists and anthropologists believe that
the early tribes of Bengal were Dravidian, but belonged to a separate
family.
The early history of Burma and Thailand tells us that before the
arrival of Tibeto-Chinese tribes, these countries were inhabited only
by Mon-Khmer people. Dravidians from Bengal and Kalinga migrated there
and became the ruling race. Later, when non-Aryan Indians assimilated
the Brahmic culture they introduced the Sanskrit language and
traditions as well. It is interesting to note that a Bengal Tribe, the
Gaudas, and a royal family, the Palas, were considered to have an
oceanic connection.
Lying at the crossroads of South-East Asia, South Asia and Central
Asia, Bengal attracted people from the early civilizations of the
fertile crescent: Central Asia Arabia, China and Europe, as well as
from India and karnataka .the people of Bengal are composed of diverse
racial element: Northern Indian Aryan longheads, Alpine shortheads,
Dravido-Munda longheads and Mongolian shortheads. The presence of a
Negroid element has been traced among the Nagas of Assam but not among
the Bengali people. We find dialects of the languages spoken within
Bengal from ancient times: the Austric (Mon -khmer and Kol), the
Dravidian, the Sino- Tibetan or Tibeto-Chinese and the Indo -European
(Aryan).
It used to be accepted that the Brahmins and other high castes of
Bengal were descended from the Aryan invaders who imposed their culture
upon the primitive barbarian tribes of Bengal. Although we know very
little of pre-Aryan Bengali civilization, it is now generally held that
the foundations of the agriculture -based village life, which is also
believed to be one of the foundations of Indian civilization, were laid
by the Nishadas or Austric -speaking peoples of Bengal. According to
Dr. S. K.Chatterji, the Austric tribes of India belonged to more then
one group of the Austro- Asiatic section, i.e. to the kol, the khasi
and the mon -khmer group2 . They brought with them a primitive system
of agriculture. The Nishada were succeeded by the Alpine race, who form
the main element of the present -day Bengalis The ideas of karma and
transmigration, the practice of yoga, the concept of the divinity of
Shiva, Devi and visnu, and the ritual of puja as opposed to the Vedic
ritual of home, all these are thought to be per- Aryan .the cultivation
of rice and some important crops such as coconut, tamarind, and betel
leaf and nut, the Hindu dress of dhuti, marriage rituals with vermilion
and turmeric, and many other customs have come to us from our pre-Aryan
ancestors.
Gradually indigenous tribes, such as the Vangas, Sumahs, sabaers,
Pulindas, Kiratas and Pundras, were brought into the framework of Aryan
society by classifying them as Kshatiyas. It must have taken many
centuries before the Aryans from the midland and the people of Bengal
were brought under a rigid Aryan society .An increasing number of high
class Aryans arrived in Bengal during the early centuries of the
Christian ear, including followers of Brahminism and jainism .The
essential features of Aryan society were present in Bengal by the fifth
century A.D.
The little we know of the earliest period of Bengal is found by
studying Vedic literature, Braahmin scripts composed in Sanskrit from
1500 B.C to 600 B.C the land known as Bengal finds no proper mention in
the Vedic hymns. Rather, Some deprecatory references indicate that the
primitive people in the Vedic hymns. Rather, some deprecatory
references indicate that the primitive people in Bengal ware different
in race and culture form the Vedic beyond the boundary of Aryandom and
who were classed as 'dasyus', which in Bengali means robbers. Among
these people we find mention of the pudras. Pundranagara, the ancient
capital of Bengal, was located in the Bengal. An old Brahmi inscription
discovered at Mahastangar in Bogra further proves the existence of
Pundranagara. In the other classic, the Aitareya Aranyaka, the name of
the Vangas, an early Bengal tribe has been traced. Because Bengal was
different in race and culture from the Aryans who compiled the Vedic
literature, it was not given the importance which it deserved.
The first clear references to the Vangas occur in the ancient epics and
the Dharmasutras. In the great epic Mahabharata the Vangas and the
Pundras are referred to as well-bred Kshatriyas, while the people of
the Bengal sea coast are referred to as Mlechchas or untouchables. The
Bhagavata Purana classes them as sinful people while Dharmasutra of
Bodhayana prescribes expiatory rites after a journey among the Pundras
and Vangas. Jaina writers of the Acharanga-sutra describe the land of
the Ladhas in West Bengal as a pathless country inhabited by a rude
people who attacked peaceful monks. However the Jaina authors of the
epic Prajnapana includes the Vangas and Ladhas as Aryans while
Dravidians rank as Mlechacchas or barbarians. The earliest Buddhist
literary reference to Vanga is contained in the Milinda-panho. The
Milinda-panho mentions Vanga as a maritime country where trading ships
came from various parts of the world.
The bodhayana Dharmasutra divides the land into ethnic and cultural
divisions which were held in varying degrees of esteem. The holiest was
Aryavarta, followed by Arattas, the pundras, the Sauviras, the Vangas
and the Kalingas. The regions inhabited by these people were regarded
as outside the Vedic. Culture. People who lived among these local folks
even for a short period were required to go through sacrificial rites.
In the epic Vanaparvan we find more detail of the topography of Bengal
during the epic age. We also learn that the poets of Northern India
held Bengal in esteem.
In Tirtha-yatra of the epic Mahabharata, the Karatoya, Padma and
Bhagirathi, the lower parts of the Ganges became recognized as sacred
places. In Bhishma-parvan the Bengali kings heroically face attacks
from the Pandus or conquerors of Upper India. There is a lively
description of the encounters between the Pandus and the 'mighty ruler
of the Vangas. Wgile some of the Bengal kings fought on elephants,
others rode on 'ocean-bred steeds of the hue of the moon.
Kautilya's Artha-Sastra, from the end of the fourth century B.C.,
describes the fine quality of silk and other crafts made in Pundra,
Suvarnakudya and Vanga or Banga. The oldest Indian treatise on the
training and diseases of elephants, the Hastyayur Veda, ascribed to
Pala Kapya, is a Work compiled during the Sutra period (600-200BC). Its
author is described as a man from 'where the Lauhitya (Brahmaputra, a
river in Bangladesh) flows towards the sea', which implies that
Bangladesh is near the mouth of Ganges.
Dated history begins only in 326 B.C., when the warriors of the
Gangaridai and the Prasioi resisted the threatening onslaught of
Alexander, who gad advanced to the Hyphasis and was eager to penetrate
deeper into the interior of India, Bengal. We do not possess any
detailed information about the social and political history of Bengal
before this event although we can guess that there was an organized
society and people before the advance of Alexander in Bengal. Greek and
Latin writers refer to the ancient people of Bengal as the Gangaridai
or the 'people of the Ganges region.' Historians of Alexander refer to
the Gangaridai, a people who lived in the lower Ganges and its
tributaries.
The classical scholar Diodorus locates the nation of the Gangaridai,
whose king had four thousand elephants trained and equipped for war,
beyond the Ganges. It may be reasonably inferred from the Latin and
Greek scholars' accounts that at about the time of Alexander's
invasion, the Gangaridai were a very powerful nation. The accounts of
the periplus and ptolemy indicate that during the early centuries of
the Christian era the whole of deltaic Bengal was organized into a
powerful kingdom. From the fourth century A.D. onwards the epigraphic
records show chronological periods such as the Gupta, early post-Gupta,
Pala and Sena ages, which give us some idea. The Brihat-Samhita of
Varahamigira from the sixth century A.D. distinguishes North,
Centerland Eastern Bengal. In the seventh century A.D., a Gauda King
had his capital at Karnasuvarna near Murshidabad.
The discovery of terracotta figurines of the Sunga period at
Mahastangarh proves that the city of pundrabardhana continued to
flourish even after the fall of the imperial Mauryas who ruled over
India before Alexander came.
Fragments of a huge image, the pedestal of which bore an inscription
was discovered in Silua, Noakhali, belong to the second century B.C.
The inscriptions of the age of Samudragupta disclose the existence of
new kingdoms. The establishment of the Gupta empire marks the end of
the independence of the various states that flourished in Bengal at the
beginning of the fourth century A.D.
When the Mauryas ruled over the greater part of India, the upper region
of Bengal also came under their rule. Chandra Gupta Maurya established
his rule in 321 B.C. After the Mauryas the Guptas ruled India as well
as the upper part of Bengal, which was identified as Pundrabardhan. The
Gupta kingdom was founded by Chandra Gupta in 321A.D.A stone
inscription from the period of a Gupta king, Samudra Gupta, refers to
Samatat and Pushkaran as two independent states. While Samatat referred
to East Bengal, Pushkaran meant West Bengal. At the end of the Gupta
reign two independent kingdoms were established in Bengal: Samatat and
Gaura. Around 606 A.D. Shasanka became the ruler of Gaura and succeeded
in uniting many parts of Bengal into one kingdom. During his reign
Bengal became known as an independent country, but after his death it
disintegrated into smaller states. From the period of Shasanka, Pundra,
Gaura and Vanga became three important regions of Bengal. Next were the
Pala kings, who originally came from Karnataka, and ruled between the
eighth and twelfth centuries; they first ruled over Varendra and then
gradually brought Vanga and Magadh under their rule. The Sena rulers
succeeded the Palas, who originally came from Karnataka. Both the Pala
and Sena rulers used the title 'King of Gaura' although they ruled
entire Bengal.
The name Vanga or Banga was abhorred by the Aryans who succeeded the
Senas, and avoided by the Palas and Sena rulers, but it became the sole
identity of Bengal under Muslim rule. When Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turk,
conquered Bengal in 1204 it became known as Banga and Gaura. Ilias Shah
established full control over all the provinces of Bengal and became
known as the Sultan of Bengal; he founded Sonargaon as his capital.
During the period of the Mughal emperor Akbar Bengal became known as
'Subah Bangla' and the Europeans who came to India at that time called
the land Bengala which eventually became Bengal. British Bengal
consisted of five divisions which took the boundary of Bengal up the
Himalayas in the north, including Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, the Bay of
Bengal in the south, Chittagong and Assam in the east and Bihar and
Orissa in the west. In 1905 Bengal was divided and East Bengal and
Assam Province were created. Even after the creation of Pakistan in
1947, the eastern Province of Pakistan was known as East Bengal until
1956. In 1971 East Pakistan finally became a totally independent
country. This is the history of Bangladesh, which took a thousand years
to become an independent identity.
The literary references in the Vedic, epic and Sutra texts do not
represent chronological facts. It is therefore necessary to look at
other Indian and foreign literature and early epigraphs for historical
information about ancient Bengal.
Though the name Banga has been used since the earliest centuries for
one for one of the regions of Present Bangladesh, the name Vangala-desa
has been mentioned in epigraphic and literacy records since the
eleventh century A.D. It was Vangala, rather than the Vanga of earlier
references that gave its name to the eastern subah or province of the
Mughal empire that stretched from Chittagong to Garhi. Historian Abu'l-
Fazl regarded Vanga and Vangala as identical. The derivation of the
name Vangala supports its identification with the part of old Vanga
intersected by 'khals'or canals, dides and bridges that was known as
Bhati or 'downstream' or 'land of tide and ebb' during the time of
Akbar and Lama Tartan. Taranath refers to 'Bati' near the mouth of the
Ganges. It is in this land that Gastaldi (1561A.D.) Places Bangala.
It may be presumed that Bengal had developed a culture of its own which
was non-Vedic and non-Aryan. It is true that the Aryan culture, and the
Vedic, Buddhist and Jaina religions influenced Bengal. The primitive
culture became absorbed but it also influenced its adopted religion.
The diffusion of the Vedic culture is seen during the Gupta period,
evidenced by epigraphic inscriptions. The Vedic influence became
stronger in Bengal during the Pala period. The Varman and the Sena
kings were patrons of the Vedic culture.
When the Chinese traveler Fa Hien came to Bengal in the fifth century
the country was flourishing in Aryan learning and culture. Huen Tsang
visited Bengal during the first half of the seventh century and found
that the Bengalis had great respect for their learning. According to
him Mahayana and Hinayana Buffhism, Brahminism and Jainism exited in
harmony. From about the second millennium B.C. Aryanization in India
extended to the Ganges Valley. The non-Aryans the Dravidians and the
Kol (another aboriginal people,) fought with the Aryans and eventually
made peace with them. Many non-Aryans remained unaffected by Aryan
culture and language for quite some time, although they were looked
down upon as "Sudras" by the Aryan settlers or the "Vaisas". The
Dravidian culture was not possessed a philosophy which influenced the
Aryans. Some of the cosmic notions seem to be Dravidian. The composite
culture of Bangladesh reflects a synthesis of Dravidian and Aryan
culture. The eastern Aryans were a mixed people. The Vedic Aryans
called the non-Vedic Aryans Vratyas, outcasts or people without rights,
who could obtain admission into the Vedic community by performing a
sacrifice. Bengal was Aryansized much later than other parts of India.
The rise of the anti-Brahmin and the anti-sacrificial ideas of the
Buddhists and the Jains among the eastern people or Bengalis shows that
other strong traditions were established before the Brahmins came and
that Vedic ideas brought by the Brahmin did not inspire the masses.
According to Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen, the country was for centuries in
open revolt against Hindu orthodoxy. Buddhist and Jain influences were
so great that the Hindu code of Manu prohibited all contact of the
Hindus with this land; hence Brahminism could not thrive there for many
centuries. With the revival of Hinduism the Sanskrit pundits did not
accept works in Bengal were carried away to Nepal and Burma as Buddhism
was gradually suppressed in India by the Brahmins. Sanskrit scholars
from outside Bengal who brought about a Hindu revival in Bengal
abhorred the simple Bengali language.
A number of old Bengali inscriptions of this period, consisting of
copper plates on which are recorded deeds of grants of land made to
Brahmins, are extant. Brahmins were given gifts of land so that they
might settle in Bangladesh. Although Bengal adopted the Aryan
civilization and culture, it never became a stronghold of Brahminc
orthodoxy. Even as late as the early part of the nineteenth century,
when Bengali was highly developed, orthodox Brahminc were highly
critical of the publication of Bengali translations of the Hindu
scriptures by Rajah Ramona Roy who a reformer.
There in no definite evidence as to when Buddhism originated in Eastern
India and Bengal. The reference to Vanga as an important center of
Buddhism can be found in a Nagarijunikonda inscription which can be
dated to the second or third century A.D. It includes Vanga in a long
list of well-known countries converted to Buddhism. A line of Buddhist
kings ruled in East Bengal towards the close of seventh century A.D.
Buddhism flourished in Bengal in the seventh century. The Buddhist
scholars of Bengal in the seventh century A.D. largely contributed to
the development of the Nalanda monastery which was situated in Magadha.
In Bengal, Buddhism spread rapidly among those people who never took to
the Aryan caste system. Aryanization in Bengal began from the time of
Asoka in the third century B.C. Of the two forms of Buddhism practiced
in India, Mahayana and Hinayana, Mahayana became more widely accepted
in Bengal. The Mahayana form of Buddhism developed forms of mysticism,
known as Vajrayana and Tantrayana, which dealt with certain deeper
metaphysical issues. In Bengal Buddhist mysticism had three important
forms: Vajrayana, Shahajayana and Kalachakrayana. Vajrayana and
Shahajayana represented different aspects of the same mysticism. The
first was concerned in which ceremonies had no place. The siddha
authors of Caryagiti treated this aspect of mysticism.
The earliest Bengali Buddhist teacher to achieve distinction outside
Bengal is Shilabhadra. Hiuen Tsang came to India to study under
Shilabhadra, who was then in charge of Nalanda. Shilabhadra and Atisa
Srigana Dipankara, another great Buddhist scholar and reformer, were
both born in Bangladesh but converted Tibet to Bengali Buddhism and
enriched Tibetan literature by writing in both Sanskrit and Tibetan.
Bengali Baul songs, which are considered close to Carya poems in
mysticism, are a synthesis of Shahajia Buddhism, Vaisnava Shahajia and
Indo-Persian Sufism. Tagore was highly influenced by the Baul songs of
Bangladesh. Murshidi, an old form of folk mimic, perhaps bears the last
traces of Buddhist influence. One finds the impression of maya borrowed
from the Buddhists. 'The world is nothing - we have to leave it behind'
forms a common theme. 'Like the dew on the grass the body is transient'
is an essential message.
Among ancient works the Atharva Veda hymns were highly mystical poems
composed earlier than the Buddhist mystical songs and may have directly
influenced the later. The Hindu Krishna legend, an essential element of
Vaishnavism in Bengal which was formed in Bengal as early as the sixth
or seventh century A.D., was also inspired by Buddhism in Bengal.
Evidence of this is found in the sculptures of Paharpur, the oldest of
which probably belong to sixth or seventh centuries A.D. and the latest
to the eighth century A.D. The Krishna legend was highly popular by the
seventh century A.D. Bengal influenced Tibet in many ways and vice
versa. The form of the Buddhist religion and monastic order in Tibet
was largely shaped by number of famous Buddhist scholars from Bengal.
The Tibetan chronicles give detailed accounts of these.
According to the Tibetan book, Pag Sham Jon Zang Of the eleventh
century, Bengal occupied first place in the field of art. Tibetan opera
or old drama combines singing and dancing, which immediately reminds
one of the Carya Nryta and Carya singing which is still founded in
Nepal and Bhutan today. Dance movements in Tibetan opera correspond
with lyrics and melodies much as in the Carya Nrytas or dance. Some
movements, such as bowing with the hands clasped and scriptures. The
use of metaphors in the Caryas.
Between 581 and 600 A.D. Srong Tsan founded a powerful kingdom in
Tibet. He led a victorious campaign to India possibly Bengal since the
campaign is commemorated in both Bengal and Assam. Through the
influence of his Buddhist queen from Nepal he was converted to Buddhism
and Indian. Invited Pundits to Tibet, and had Bengali alphabets.
The form of the Buddhist religion and monastic order in Tibet was
largely shaped by a number of famous Buddhist teachers from Bengal. The
Tibetan chronicles have preserved detailed accounts of these Pundits
from Bengal, in particular from the Pala Kingdom; they not only
preached the Bengali culture and civilization. In the middle of the
eighth century A.D. Santirakshita was invited to Tibet by the king
there. According to Pag Sham Jon Zang (compiled in 1747 A.D.)
Santirakshita was born into the royal family of Zohar, which is the
phonetic equivalent of Sabhar, outside Dhaka. On his advice the king to
the Lama in Tibet. After Santirakshita, Kamalasila went to Tibet
invitation of the king.
Another great scholar from Bengal invited by the king of Tibet during
the middle of eleventh century was Atisa Dipankara. Born in 982 A.D.
near Dhaka, Atisa's village is still known as Vajrayogini and his
original home site is called 'Nastik Punditer Vita' or 'abode of the
non-believer learning as the Chief Monk. According to Tibetan tradition
Dipankara went to Tibet at the age of fifty-nine and spent the last
thirteen years of his life in Tibet. When he reached Tibet he
translated many treatises into Tibetan. In Bsam Yes Monastery in 1042
he found many Sanskrit manuscripts which no longer existed in Bengal or
India so he translated them into Tibetan. Because of him a vast number
of Sanskrit and Pali literature is preserved in Tibet. He died in 1054
at the Snye-thang Monastery. The Chinese believe that many original
manuscripts are buried under that monastery which is not too far from
Lhasa.
The Anargha-raghva composed by the poet Murari during the latter half
of the eighth century A.D. mentions Champa as the Capital of the
Gaudas. The people of Champa in Bengal founded a colony in Cochin
China, as I was told during my visit there. It will be interesting too
trace similarities there with those of Bengali culture.
The Muslim Pathans occupied Bengal early in the thirteenth century from
Bulk, Oxus and settled in the plains of Bengal. Dr. Sukumar Sen writes
in his History of Bengali Literature (p.33): It is true that the whole
of Bengal did not fail into the hands of the Turk adventurers in the
course of a few great monasteries and universities were soon abandoned
by the pundits and priests. This established social and cultural milieu
was shattered and a new Bengali people emerged. This regeneration is
personified in Chaitanya. The pundits' and poets' writing were silent
but not the singers of the mystic cults and folk culture of the common
people. Middle Bengali native and lyric poetry flourished for
centuries.
The Muslim emperors learnt the Bengali language and lived with the
people. Mosques and temples rose side by side. The Muslim rulers
ordered translations of Sanskrit classics into Bengali for the first
time for the common people to understand. Poet Vidyapati prased Nasir
Shah and Sultan Giasuddin for their intellectual patronage. Mahabharata
was translated into Bengali. Muslim sultans patronized translations of
Sanskrit and Persian works. Brahmins were compelled to write in
Bengali. Bengali was adopted in Assam, Nefa, Orissa, Arakan, Ranchi and
Bihar. Bengali Puthi literature was highly influenced by Muslims and
the Persian language. The Muslims introduced many Persian, Arabic and
Turkish words into Bengali. Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen points out. 'This
elevation of Bengali to a literary status was brought about by several
influences of which the Mohammedan conquest was undoubtedly one of the
oremost.7 An enriched folk culture grew up in Bangladesh due to both
the Hindu and Muslim common masses and Bengali was its vehicle. Bengali
was the common language and literature of the masses. The majority of
the Muslims of Bengal, being convert from the Krishna and Nath. The
unity between Hindus society, continued with their ancient cults such
as the Sahajiya, Krishna and Nath. The unity between Hindus and Muslims
in Bengali arose out of racial oneness, common interest and the
communal life of the village. It was usual for Hindus and Muslims to
take part in each other's social and religious festivals.
A new culture, based on folk culture thus emerged in Bengali. The
decline of orthodox Brahminism and classical Hidus culture, well before
the Muslim conquest, and their virtual extinction after the conquest
gave the new Bengali culture full opportunity to grow. Bengali
literature found room to expand in the gap left by Sanskrit.
The article is sent by Golam Arshad, Uinversity of Kassel, Germany
(ars...@student.uni-kassel.de)
[Reprinted from NEWS FROM BANGLADESH, Oct. 23, 1999]
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
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