brad brace contemporary culture scrapbook

BANGLADESH was liberated three and a half decades ago on December 16, 1971 after nine months of bloody war with Pakistani occupation forces. The majority of the present generation in Bangladesh was born after this war. Most of them who are not aware about the history of their motherland will be facinated to know that the name of Bangladesh basically originated from the Sultanate Bangala. It was named as Bengala in 1498 by the Portuguese when Vascodagama came in this land. It was named as East Bengal and Assam in 1907. In 1947, it was known as Bengal. It was called East Bengal from 1947 to 1956. It was renamed as East Pakistan in 1956 after the adoption of the constitution of Pakistan and continued as such up to 1971. The name was changed to Bangladesh in 1971 with the declaration of independence.
The area which is now Bangladesh, has a rich historical and cultural past, combining Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol/Mughul, Arab, Persian, Turkic, and west European cultures. Among residents of Bangladesh, about 98 per cent are ethnic Bengali and speak Bangla. Urdu-speaking, non-Bengali Muslims of Indian origin, and various tribal groups, mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, comprise the remainder of its population. Most Bangladeshis — about 83 per cent — are Muslims, but Hindus constitute a sizable section — 16 per cent. There also are a small number of Buddhists, Christians, and animists. English is spoken in urban areas and among the educated.
Basically, Bangladesh has three distinct to graphical features — named as Pundra comprising greater Pabna, Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur and Dinajpur; Bango comprising greater Dhaka, Faridpur, Momenshahi, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal and Moulovibazar; and Samotot comprising the eastern side of Meghna, i.e. greater Comilla, Noakhali and Chittagong. Neighbouring West Bengal of India is has two topographical features — as Rar comprising area up to north of Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bakura and 24 Porgona, and Gour comprising area from Maldah District up to Sona Masjid of our Chapainababgonj. Bango is basically the land in front of both the tides — Bhagirothi and Padma — of the river Ganges. Modhupur-Bhawal-Boteshwar area is comprised of old land. Barind, Modhupur trap and Lalmai are geologically very old landmarks. But Chalan Bill to Bay of Bengal is comparatively low land.
Bangla language is comprised of 3 languages outside of Bangala, i.e. Mogodh (west inhabitant on the south of Ganga), Mithila (north of Ganga at Bihar beside Nepal) and Oria (Orissa). It is comprised of 90% Aryan and 10% of local Astroloid language. Dialect has originated in Bango and Samatot area dictated by the geographical location, as there was less communication due to flood and inundation, whereas in North Bengal movement across land is possible from Murshidabad to Dinajpur.
As a nation we are basically mixed. According to Anthropologists there is no other ‘melting pot of culture’ anywhere other than the people of Bengal. Few indigenous societies are still alive in this area. Ancient people of Bangladesh belonged to two groups, i.e. Proto-Austroloid/Austric — Saotal, Sri Lankan, South Indian from north to west up to Maori of Australia and New Zealand, and Mongoloid — in eastern side, i.e. Mongolia, China, Tibet, Myanmar, Chittagong Hill Tracts up to Indo China. Aryan — Germans are the oldest pure Aryan as claimed by Hitler was the first foreign influence in Bangladesh. Females were the energy behind the creation as Hindus gives main puja/prayer to Durga amongst all other gods and goddesses. Use of banana tree during ‘Gaye Halud’ festival by Hindu community was originated from indigenous society. ‘Milad’ a religious practice of Muslims is only seen so widely in this area, nowhere else. Human beings are basically accustomed to accept new things but use them as per own requirement, which is also applicable for Bangladesh.
Horshobordhon, Chandragupta Mourja captured seven Sindhus in 1500 B.C., those who fled to South India they are Drabir. Aryan took another 1000 years to reach Bangladesh.
In North India they established new generation by occupying vacant new land, but in Bangladesh they did not rather they mixed up with them. As per Nihar Ranjan Roy, the Aryan put them on in their own body. Again, Goutom Buddha brought Buddhism in opposing Hinduism, which could not grow in North India. Tantrik Buddhism — mixing of Hinduism and Buddhism — originated with their mixing keeping a lot of differences. The English established East India Company here to establish only market and to extract raw materials at cheap prices. Only the Nizams family of Hyderabad opposed Tipu Sultan to favour the English.
Culturally Bengal got due recognition in the third century B.C. In artistic heritage Maslin — originated from Masul of Iraq, a very thin cotton clothing remained very popular up to 16th century. Terracotta plaque of Birbhoom, Bordwan, Bakura of 1500 B.C. and Kantgir Mandir of Dinajpur of the 18th century are few examples of architectural art. Buddha Bihars, as in Mynamati and Paharpur in Bangladesh, enclosed with crucified plan inside, do not exist in anywhere in India but are existing in the region from Myanmar to Indonesia. Hill was the centre of attraction for the Buddhists of this region, South East Asia is the example.
Bengal School of Art of Kolkata became very famous for sculptural art. Quality statues of Bishnu and other gods and goddesses were made by Black Basalt. New Boishnob religion — Chaitanism — was created by Sree Chaitanno when Hinduism was facing a threat due to expansion of Islam. Brammo religion — believing in one creator, was preached by Raja Ram Mohan Roy drawing inspiration from Islam. The Buddhists — Pal dynasty — ruled Bengal for 400 years, followed by Sens. Bollal Sen, son of Lokkhon Sen (1st Sen King) established ‘Koulinn Protha’ in Karnataka by bringing 5 Kulin Brahmins from Kanouj for conducting puja/prayer. He thereby established fundamentalism by driving back the Buddhists from this region. Islam began to spread here when Ikhtiar Uddin Bakhtiar Khilji captured Bengal from the Sen dynasty.
Sufi religious teachers succeeded in converting many Bengalis to Islam, even before the arrival of Muslim armies from the west. About 1200 AD, Muslim invaders established political control over the Bengal region. This political control also encouraged conversion to Islam. Since then, Islam has played a crucial role in the region’s history and politics, with a Muslim majority emerging, particularly in the eastern region of Bengal.
The presence of sea trade existed from ancient time in the culture of Bangladesh. Huge business was conducted with SE Asia from the ports of Bengal, i.e. from ‘Tamrolipti Port’ at Tamluk of Hugli district. The horses of Tibet (Himalayas) used to be exported through Bengal to SE Asia and SE Frontier Province (Central Asia). The graveyards of businessmen of Gour were found in Indonesia; Atish Dipanker of Tibet went also to Indonesia through Bangladesh. The Buddhists of Bengal fled away to Nepal and Tibet, a lot of pandulipis or written manuscripts of Bengal was found there. It was even found in Myanmar. The ninth century onward, Arabs took very prominent role in trading here via water route as they were very good navigators; they used to call Chittagong port as ‘Samander’.The King of China sent a rappoteur/interpretator named Mahuan (means muslim) to Sultan Giasuddin. Horse, salt, black alloy wood, salt pitters (soda), rice, fine cotton were the main exportable items of Bengal.
The ancient history of Bangladesh was basically influenced by mixed experiences. With her very rich culture she could very well attract people from all over the world due to her strategic location, resourcefulness and people’s acceptance.

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Police used batons to disperse scores of garment workers protesting for better wages in Bangladesh’s capital Saturday, leaving at least a dozen injured, police and witnesses said.

The violence occurred in Dhaka’s Uttara residential district after dozens of workers smashed shops, barricaded a major road and hurled stones at police, local police chief Shafiqul Alam told reporters.

The wage dispute has triggered a series of violent incidents in recent months. A government committee is trying to settle the issue.

The workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 3,000 takas (US$44;), up from the current 930 takas (US$13).

Bangladesh has more than 3,000 garment factories employing about 1.8 million workers, mostly women.

The impoverished country earns more than US$7 billion each year from textile exports, mainly to the United States and Europe, according to Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau.

Saturday’s protest disrupted traffic for hours on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, Alam said.

The protesters took positions in alleys along the highway after they had been dispersed, local reporter Zahedul Islam told The Associated Press by phone from the scene.

Police cordoned off the area, he said.

He said hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the highway, with police diverting them to alternate routes.

Hair traders from Arakan State have turned to Bangladesh markets to buy hair from local Bangladeshis for cheaper prices since hair has become a rare commodity in Arakan State, following the exporting of several tons of hair to China a few years back, a local trader reports.

“We are now purchasing several tons of hair from local Bangladesh traders with cheaper prices, but the quality is very poor and very different than hair from Burma,” said a hair trader.

In Bangladesh, Arakanese traders can by a kilogram of hair for TK 1,300, and a mung, which is 40 kilograms, for TK 5,200. Strands of hair are TK 2,700 per kilogram and TK 18,000 per mung.

In the hair markets of Rangoon and Mandalay, a viss, or 2.5 kilograms, is 60,000 kyat, while the highest quality hair is priced around 155,000 kyat. After purchase, hair traders from Burma send the hair to the Chinese markets of Yunnan Province.

A source says that in the past, Bangladesh traders had no experience in the hair trade, but they now know the business well – bringing hair from India and selling it to Burmese hair traders. There are now a few Bangladeshi traders involved in the business in the border area of Burma.

Many traders from Burma are buying hair from Bangladesh to export to China, but authorities from both Bangladesh and Burma collect large bribes at border crossings from the hair traders.

One trader said that in Arakan State a few years back, many young women were cutting their hair to sell to traders, but nowadays Arakanese hair is a rare commodity in the state.

“Although there has been no hair trade in Bangladesh before, it is now a lucrative business there, with many traders working in the hair trade,” said a trader.

Riot police in Bangladesh have fired rubber bullets and sprayed tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators who attacked government offices in the capital Dhaka.

The demonstrators were protesting against two days of almost constant power outages.

Reports indicated about 200 protesters were injured in the clashes.

The violence broke out in Dhaka’s northern Mirpur district, where nearly a 1000 stone-throwing demonstrators rampaged through the streets.

Some Dhaka residents have been getting just two hours of electricity a day.

Public anger has been heightened because the power cuts have affected devotees trying to offer special evening prayers for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.