The history of Bengal includes modern day Bangladesh and West Bengal, dates back four millennia.[1] To some extent, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in Indian history.
Etymology
The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal 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.[2][3]
Other accounts speculate that the name is derived from Vanga (bôngo), which came from the Austric word "Bonga" meaning the Sun-god. According to Mahabharata, Purana, Harivamsha Vanga was one of the adopted sons of king Vali who founded the Vanga kingdom. The Muslim Accounts refer that "Bong", a son of Hind (son of Hām who was a son of Prophet Noah/Nooh) colonized the area for the first time.[4] The earliest reference to "Vangala" (bôngal) has been traced in the Nesari plates (805 AD) of Rashtrakuta Govinda III which speak of Dharmapala as the king of Vangala. Shams-ud-din Ilyas Shah took the title "Shah-e-Bangla" and united the whole region under one government.
Ancient history
Pre-historic Bengal
Remnants of Copper Age settlements in the Bengal region date back 4,000 years. Stone tools provide the earliest evidence of human settlements. Prehistoric stone implements have been discovered in various parts of West Bengal in the districts of Midnapur, Bankura and Burdwan, and also at Sagardighi. But it is difficult to determine, even approximately, the time when people using them first settled in Bengal. It might have taken place ten thousand years (or even more) ago. The original settlers spoke non-Aryan languages— they may have spoken Austric or Austro-Asiatic languages like the languages of the present-day Kola, Bhil, Santal, Shabara, and Pulinda peoples. At a subsequent age, peoples speaking languages from two other language families— Dravidian and Tibeto-Burman—seem to have settled in Bengal. Archaeological discoveries during the 1960s furnished evidence of a degree of civilisation in certain parts of Bengal as far back as the beginning of the first millennium BC, perhaps even earlier. The discoveries at Pandu Rajar Dhibi in the valley of the Ajay river (near Bolpur) in Burdwan district and in several other sites on the Ajay, Kunur and Kopai rivers have thrown fresh light on Bengal's prehistory. Pandu Rajar Dhibi represents the ruins of a trading township, which carried on trade not only with the interior regions of India, but also—possibly indirectly—with the countries of the Mediterranean.
Janapadas
Bengal was divided among various tribes or kingdoms known as the Janapadas: Vanga (south Bengal), Pundra (north Bengal), and Rarh/Suhma (West Bengal) according to their respective totems. Bengal was unified only on the 6th century AD by Shashanka.
Bengal in mythology
Not much is known about this civilization. Some deprecatory references indicate that the primitive people in Bengal were different in ethnicity and culture from the Vedic people beyond the boundary of Aryandom and who were classed as "Dasyus". The Bhagavata Purana classes them as sinful people while Dharmasutra of Bodhayana prescribes expiatory rites after a journey among the Pundras and Vangas. Mahabharata speaks of Paundraka Vasudeva who was lord of the Pundrasand who allied himself with Jarasandha against Krishna. Mahabharata also speaks of Bengali kings caled Chitrasena and Sanudrasena who were defeated by Bhima and Kalidas mentions Raghuand Raghu defeating a coalition of Vanga kings.
Overseas Colonization
Bengal had overseas trade relations with Java, Sumatra and Siam (modern day Thailand). According to Mahavamsa, Vijaya Singha, a Vanga prince, conquered Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka) in 544 BC and gave the name "Sinhala" to the country. Bengali people migrated to the Malay Archipelago and Siam (in modern Thailand), establishing their own colonies there.
Gangaridai Empire
Though north and west Bengal were part of the Magadhan empire southern Bengal thrived and became powerful with her overseas trades. In 326 BCE, with the invasion of Alexander the Great the region again came to prominence. The Greek and Latin historians suggested that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter attack of the mighty Gangaridai empire that were located in the Bengal region. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return. Diodorus Siculus mentions Gangaridai to be the largest and the most powerful empire in India whose king possessed an army of 20,000 horses, 200,000 infantry, 2,000 chariots and 4,000 elephants trained and equipped for war. The allied forces of Gangaridai Empire and Nanda Empire (Prasii) were preparing a massive counter attack against the forces of Alexander on the banks of Ganges. Gangaridai according to the Greek accounts kept on flourishing at least up to the 1st century AD.
Early Middle Ages
The pre-Gupta period of Bengal is shrouded with obscurity. Before the conquest of Samudragupta Bengal was divided into two kingdoms: Pushkarana and Samatata. Chandragupta II had to defeat a confederacy of Vanga kings. Bengal became a part of the Gupta Empire.
Gauda Kingdom
By the sixth century, the Gupta Empire ruling over the northern Indian subcontinent was largely broken up. Eastern Bengal became the Vanga Kingdom while the Gauda kings rose in the west with their capital at Karnasuvarna (Murshidabad). Shashanka, a vassal of the last Gupta Empire became independent and unified the smaller principalities of Bengal (Gaur, Vanga, Samatata) and vied for regional power with Harshavardhana in northern India. But this burst of Bengali power did not last beyond his death, as Bengal descended afterwards into a period marked by disunity and foreign invasion known as matsanyaya.
The Pala Empire
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Pala Empire under Dharmapala
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Pala Empire under Devapala
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The first independent Buddhist king of Bengal, Gopala, came to power in 750 in Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. Gopala founded the Buddhist Pala dynasty which lasted for four centuries (750-1120 AD), ushering in a period of relative stability and prosperity.
At its peak, under Dharmapala, the empire extended into much of Bihar and once more wrestled for control of the subcontinent. He conquered Bhoja (Berar), Matsya (Jaipur), Madra (Central Punjab), Kuru (Thaneswar), Yadu (Mathura and Dwaraka), Avanti (Malwa), Yavana (Greeks of Sindh/Multan), Gandhara (Kabol valley), Kambojja and Kira (Kangra).
Devapala, successor of Dharmapala, expanded his empire farther up to Assam and Utkala in the east, Kamboja (modern day Afghanistan) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription He exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Gurjara, Pratiharas and the Dravidas.
The Pala Empire can be considered as the golden era of Bengal. Never had the Bengali people reached such height of power and glory and never had they influenced the outside world to that extent. Palas were responsible for the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and Myanmar. The pre-dominant Pala sculptures and the proto-Bangla scripts of the Sailendra Empire (Malaya, Java, Sumatra) of the late 8th century attest that the Sailendra dynasty was connected to Bengal.
The death of Devapala ended the period of ascendancy of the Pala Empire and several independent dynasties and kingdoms emerged during this time, including the Khadgas, Devas, the Chandras, and Varmanas.
Mahipala I rejuvenated the reign of the Palas. He recovered north Bengal from the Kambojas and survived the invasions of Rajendra Chola and the Chalukyas. Mahipala I did not join the Hindu confederacy against Mahmud of Ghazni.
After Mahipala I the Pala dynasty again saw its decline until Ramapala, the last great ruler of the dynasty, managed to retrieve the position of the dynasty to some extent. He crushed the Varendra rebellion and extended his empire farther to Kamarupa, Orissa and Northern India.
Sena dynasty
The Palas were followed by the Sena dynasty who brought the East and West Bengal under one ruler only during the twelfth century. Vijay Sen the founder of this dynasty defeated the last Pala emperor Madanpala and established his reign. Vallal Sena introduced caste system in Bengal. The last king of this dynasty Lakshman Sen was defeated by the Turkics and fled to eastern Bengal were he ruled few more years. The Sena dynasty brought a revival of Hinduism and cultivated Sanskrit literature.
Medieval Bengal
The muslim invasion of India (including Bengal) came in the early 13th century. The invaders under the leadership of Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, defeated the Sena king Lakshman Sena at his capital, Nabadwip in 1203 or 1204. The Deva family — the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal — ruled briefly in eastern Bengal, although they were suppressed by the mid-fourteenth century.
During the early Muslim period, the former kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bengal, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts in power between the Pashtun and Turkic rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Mughal rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.
In 1534, the Pashtun Sher Shah Suri, or Farid Khan — a man of incredible military and political skill — succeeded in defeating the superior forces of the Mughals under Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540). Sher Shah fought back and captured both Delhi and Agra and established a kingdom stretching far into Punjab. Sher Shah's administrative skill showed in his public works, including the Grand Trunk Road connecting Sonargaon in Bengal with Peshawar in the Hindu Kush. Sher Shah's rule ended with his death in 1545, although even in those five years his reign would have a powerful influence on Indian society, politics, and economics.
Shah Suri's successors lacked his administrative skill, and quarrelled over the domains of his empire. Humayun, who then ruled a rump Mughal state, saw an opportunity and in 1554 seized Lahore and Delhi. Humayun's death in 1556 led to the accession of Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, who defeated the Karani rulers of Bengal in 1576 and ruled through governors. Akbar exercised progressive rule and oversaw a period of prosperity (through trade and development) in Bengal and northern India.
Bengal's trade and wealth so impressed the Moghuls that they called the region the "Paradise of the Nations". Administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire court (1575-1717) gave way to four decades of semi-independence under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who respected the nominal sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. The Nawabs granted permission to the French East India Company to establish a trading post at Chandernagore in 1673, and the British East India Company at Calcutta in 1690.
When the British East India Company began strengthening the defences at Fort William (Calcutta), the Nawab, Siraj Ud Daulah, at the encouragement of the French, attacked. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, British troops and their local allies captured Chandernagore in March 1757 and seriously defeated the Nawab on June 23, 1757 at the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab's soldiers betrayed him. The Nawab was assassinated in Murshidabad, and the British installed their own Nawab for Bengal and extended their direct control in the south. Chandernagore was restored to the French in 1763. The Bengalis attempted to regain their territories in 1765 in alliance with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, but were defeated again at the Battle of Buxar (1765). The centre of Indian culture and trade shifted from Delhi to Calcutta when the Mughal Empire fell.
Dutch colonies
British rule
During British rule, two devastating famines were instigated costing millions of lives in 1770 and 1943. Scarcely five years into the British East India Company's rule, the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770, one of the greatest famines of history occurred. Up to a third of the population died in 1770 and subsequent years.
The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule by the Company with the direct control of Bengal by the British crown.
A centre of rice cultivation as well as fine cotton called muslin and the world's main source of jute fibre, Bengal, from the 1850s became one of India's principal centres of industry, concentrated in the capital Kolkata (known as Calcutta under the British, always called 'Kolkata' in the native tongue of Bengali) and its emerging cluster of suburbs. Most of the population nevertheless remained dependent on agriculture, and despite its leading role in Indian political and intellectual activity, the province included some very undeveloped districts, especially in the east. In 1877, when Victoria took the title of "Empress of India", the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British Raj.
India's most popular province (and one of the most active provinces in freedom fighting), in 1905 Bengal was divided by the British rulers for administrative purposes into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and Orissa) and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) (1905 Partition of Bengal). Hindu - Muslim conflict became stronger through this partition. While Hindu Indians disagreed with the partition saying it was a way of dividing a Bengal which is united by language and history, Muslims supported it by saying it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will be majority and they can freely practice their religion as well as their culture. But owing to strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited East and West Bengal in 1912, and made Bihar and Orissa a separate province.
Another major famine occurred during the second world war, the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated 3 million people died.
Bengal Renaissance
The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Bengal during the period of British rule. The Bengal renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775-1833)[5] and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Nineteenth century Bengal was a unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists, all merging to form the image of a renaissance, and marked the transition from the 'medieval' to the 'modern'[6].
Independence movement
- See also: Freedom fighters from Bengal
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Bengalis also played a notable role in the Indian independence movement. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle, and subsequent leaders in movement were Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Banerjea, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Binoy-Badal-Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose and many more. Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve Indian Independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against the British force. Netaji was the co-founder and leader of the Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, that was recognized and supported by the Axis powers. Bengal was also the fostering ground for several prominent revolutionary organisations, the most notable of which was Anushilan Samiti. A large number of Bengalis were martyred in the freedom struggle and many were exiled in Cellular Jail, the much dreaded prison located in Andaman.
Partitions of Bengal
In the 20th century, the partitions of Bengal, occurring twice, has left great marks on the history and psyche of the people of Bengal. The first partition occurred in 1905 and the second partition was in 1947.
As partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in 1947, Bengal again split into the state of West Bengal of secular India and a Muslim region of East Bengal under Pakistan, renamed East Pakistan in 1958. East Pakistan (East Bengal) later rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become independent republic of Bangladesh, literally "Land of Bengal", after a war of independence against the Pakistani army in 1971. West Bengal remains a part of India. However, culturally and sociologically, the two segments of Bengal share considerably more than just a single language.
Bengal (both West Bengal and Bangladesh) is now one of the most densely populated regions of the world.
- See East Bengal for information on East Bengal (now Bangladesh) after the first partition of Bengal.
- See East Pakistan for information on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the second partition of Bengal.
Ruling houses of Bengal
Buddhist and Hindu dynasties of Bengal
Pala Dynasty
- Gopala (750-770)
- Dharmapala (770-810)
- Devapala (810-850)
- Shurapala/Mahendrapala (850 - 854)
- Vigrahapala (854 - 855)
- Narayanapala (855 - 908)
- Rajyapala (908 - 940)
- Gopala II (940-960)
- Vigrahapala II (960 - 988)
- Mahipala (988 - 1038)
- Nayapala (1038 - 1055)
- Vigrahapala III (1055 - 1070)
- Mahipala II (1070 - 1075)
- Shurapala II (1075 - 1077)
- Ramapala (1077 - 1130)
- Kumarapala (1130 - 1140)
- Gopala III (1140 - 1144)
- Madanapala (1144 - 1162)
- Govindapala (1162 - 1174)
Sena Dynasty
- Vijaya Sen c.1101-1119-c.
- Ballal Sen c. 1119-c. 1169
- Lakshman Sen c. 1169-c. 1205
- Vishwrup Sen c. 1205-c. 1220
- Keshavar Sen c. 1220-c. 1250
Early Independent Sultans of Lakhnauti
- Bughra Khan
- Ruknuddin Kaikaus
Independent Sultans of Sonargaon
- Shamsuddin Firoz Shah
- Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah I
- Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah
- Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah
Later Independent Sultan of Lakhnauti
- Alauddin Ali Shah
Independent sultans of Bengal (Kingdom of Sonargaon and Lakhnauti united)
Iliyas Shahi Dynasty(1st period)
- Shamsuddin Iliyas Shah (1342-1358) (Sultan of Lakhnauti from 1342, Sultan of whole Bengal from 1352)
- Sikandar Shah I (1358-1390)
- Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (1390-1411) - opponent of Sikandar I
- Saifuddin Hamza Shah (1411-1412)
- Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah (1412-1414)
Ganesh Dynasty
- Raja Ganesha (1414-1415 and 1416-1418)
- Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (1415-1416 and 1418-1433)
- Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah (1433-1435)
Iliyas Shahi Dynasty (restored)
- Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (1435-1459)
- Rukunuddin Barbak Shah (1459-1474)
- Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah (1474-1481)
- Sikandar Shah II (1481)
- Jalaluddin Fateh Shah (1481-1486)
Habshi Dynasty
- Sutan Shahazada Barbak II (1486-1487)
- Saifuddin Firuz Shah (1487-1489)
- Mahmud Shah II (1489-1490)
- Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah (1490-1494)
Hussain Shahi Dynasty
- Alauddin Hussain Shah (1494-1519)
- Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah (1519-1533)
- Alauddin Firuz Shah (1533)
- Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah (1533-1538)
Bengal under Pashtun Empire of India
Pashtun Emperors of India
Suri Dynasty
- Sher Shah Suri 1539-1553
- Islam Shah 1553-1545
Restoration of the Independent Sultanate of Bengal
Sur Dynasty
- Muhammad Khan Sur 1545-1555
- Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah II 1555-1561
- Ghiyasuddin Jalal Shah 1561-1564
Karrani Dynasty
- Sulaiman Khan Karrani (1564-1572)
- Bayazid Khan Karrani (1572)
- Daoud Shah Karrani (1572-1576)
Bengal under Mughal Empire of India
Nawabs of Bengal
- Murshid Quli Jafar Khan (1717-1727)
- Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan (1727-1739)
- Sarfaraz Khan (1739-1740)
- Alivardi Khan (1740-1756)
- Siraj-ud-Daula (1756-1757)
- Mir Djafar 1757-1760
- Mir Qasim 1760-1763
- Mir Djafar (Second time) 1763-1765
- Najm ud-Dawlah 1765-1766
- Saif ud-Dawlah 1766-1770
See also
References
- ^ "History of Bangladesh". Bangladesh Student Association. http://www.orgs.ttu.edu/saofbangladesh/history.htm. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- ^ James Heitzman and Robert L. Worden, ed (1989). "Early History, 1000 B. C.-A. D. 1202". Bangladesh: A country study. Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/bdtoc.html.
- ^ History, Banglapedia
- ^ RIYAZU-S-SALĀTĪN: A History of Bengal, Ghulam Husain Salim, The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1902.
- ^ History of the Bengali-speaking People by Nitish Sengupta, p 211, UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-7476-355-4.
- ^ Sumit Sarkar, "Calcutta and the Bengal Renaissance", in Calcutta, the Living City ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri, Vol I, p. 95.
Further reading
- Majumdar, R. C. The History of Bengal ISBN 81-7646-237-3
External links
- A discussion group
- A systematic history
- A short history
- An article on Chandraketugarh by Rangan Datta
- An article on Achipur by Rangan Datta
- An article on Pundooah, Hooghly by Rangan Datta
- An article on Ballal Dhipi by Rangan Datta
- An article on Shivniwas by Rangan Datta
- An article on Dhosa & Tilpi by Rangan Datta
- An article on Karnasubarna by Rangan Datta
- An article on Nandadirghi Vihar by Rangan Datta
- An article on Gour by Rangan Datta
- A travel article on archeological sites near Calcutta by Rangan Datta
- Rangan Datta's Home Page
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