123-491: Kakababu (alias Raja Roy Chowdhury ) is a fictional character created by Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay . The series, falling under the adventure genre of literature, targeted at children and teenagers , started in the autumn of 1971 with the publication of Bhoyonkor Sundor in Anandamela magazine, Puja issue. Since then, the series continued for 33 years on popular demand, with over 36 adventure novels in print until
246-657: A hand axe in the upper Gandeshwari, Middle Dwarakeswar, Upper Kangsabati, Upper Tarafeni and Middle Subarnarekha valleys of the Indian state West Bengal , and Rangamati and Feni districts of Bangladesh. Evidence of 42,000 years old human habitation has been found at the foothills of the Ajodhya Hills in West Bengal. Hatpara on the west bank of Bhagirathi River has evidence of human settlements dating back to around 15,000-20,000 years. Artefacts suggest that
369-542: A Muslim majority. Tripura , a north-eastern state of India has around 3.8 lakh Bengali Muslim population, or say 9% as of 2021. The Rohingya community in western Myanmar have significant Bengali Muslim heritage. A large Bengali Muslim diaspora is found in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf , which are home to several million expatriate workers from South Asia. A more well-established diaspora also resides in
492-575: A bare majority of the population of Bengal proper (50.2 percent compared with the Hindus at 48.5 percent). However, in the eastern part of Bengal, Muslims were thick on the ground. The proportions of Muslims in Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chittagong divisions were 63.2, 63.6 and 67.9 percent respectively. The debate draws on the writings of some late nineteenth-century authors, but in its current form was initially formulated in 1963 by M.A. Rahim. Rahim suggested that
615-478: A converted Muslim. He maintained a good rapport with non-Muslims in his kingdom. According to an interpretation of a Sanskrit sloka by D. C. Bhattacharya, Jalaluddin appointed Rajyadhar, a Hindu, as the commander of his army. He gained support of Muslim scholars – Ulama and the Sheikhs . He reconstructed and repaired the mosques and other religious architectures destroyed by Raja Ganesha. The Bengal region
738-670: A diverse group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. Approximately 70% are adherents of Islam with a large Hindu minority and sizeable communities of Christians and Buddhists. Bengali Muslims , who live mainly in Bangladesh, primarily belong to the Sunni denomination. Bengali Hindus , who live primarily in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam's Barak Valley, Jharkhand and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, generally follow Shaktism or Vaishnavism , in addition to worshipping regional deities. There exist small numbers of Bengali Christians ,
861-458: A historic legacy of borrowing vocabulary from languages such as Persian and Sanskrit , modern borrowings primarily come from the English language. Bengali Muslims Bengali Muslims ( Bengali : বাঙালি মুসলমান ; pronounced [baŋali musɔlman] ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis . Comprising about two-thirds of
984-696: A large number of whom are descendants of Portuguese voyagers , as well as Bengali Buddhists , the bulk of whom belong to the Bengali-speaking Barua group in Chittagong and Rakhine . Bengalis have influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably the arts and architecture, language , folklore , literature, politics, military, business, science and technology. The term Bengali is generally used to refer to someone whose linguistic, cultural or ancestral origins are from Bengal . The Indo-Aryan Bengalis are ethnically differentiated from
1107-543: A major role in the Indian independence movement , in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Many of the early proponents of the independence struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Shamsher Gazi , Chowdhury Abu Torab Khan , Hada Miah and Mada Miah , the Pagal Panthis led by Karim Shah and Tipu Shah , Haji Shariatullah and Dudu Miyan of
1230-683: A major scale. A huge mosque called the Adina Mosque was built following the design of the Great Mosque of Damascus . A distinct Bengali Muslim architectural style developed, with terracotta and stone buildings showing a fusion of Persian and Bengali elements. Mosques included two categories, including multi-domed rectangular structures and single-domed square structures. A distinct style of Bengali mihrabs , minbars , terracotta arabesque , and do-chala roofs developed; this influence also spread to other regions. The Bengal Sultanate
1353-485: A minaret or floral design enshrining the word " Allah " which means "God" in Arabic. Rickshaw and rickshaw painting of Bangladesh are listed as ' intangible heritage ' by UNESCO. As a people's craft, of Bengal cloth architecture has seen transformation in the past decade for open-air public functions such as melas and religious gatherings like urs and waz-mahfil and Eidgahs for Eid prayers. The Patua of Bangladesh are
SECTION 10
#17327919195341476-729: A nation and as Bangladeshis as citizens." Bengalis are the third-largest ethnic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and Arabs . They are the largest ethnic group within the Indo–European linguistic family and the largest ethnic group in South Asia. Apart from Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur, and Assam's Barak Valley, Bengali-majority populations also reside in India's union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands , with significant populations in
1599-466: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. Bengalis constitute the largest ethnic group in Bangladesh, at approximately 98% of the nation's inhabitants. The Census of India does not recognise racial or ethnic groups within India, the CIA Factbook estimated that there are 100 million Bengalis in India constituting 7% of the country's total population. In addition to West Bengal , Bengalis form
1722-640: A significant proportion of Bengal's Muslims were not Hindu converts but were descendants of 'aristocratic' immigrants from various parts of the Muslim world. Specifically, he estimated that in 1770, of about 10.6 million Muslims in Bengal, 3.3 million (about 30 percent) had 'foreign blood'. In the late 1980s Richard Eaton, in a book and a series of papers, raised awkward questions about the social liberation theory of conversion from Hinduism to Islam that have yet to be fully addressed, further endorsing Rahim's argument. In
1845-623: A single, unitary, independent Bengal Sultanate. The creation of the Bengal Sultanate sparked several Bengal-Delhi Wars , which resulted in Delhi recognizing Bengal's independence. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty consolidated Bengali statehood, the economy and diplomatic relations. A network of Mint Towns - provincial capitals which produced the Sultan's sovereign currency called the taka - was established across Bengal. The Bengali state followed
1968-512: A unique community, in that their traditional occupation is the painting which is known as Patachitra and modelling of Hindu idols, yet many of them are Muslims. Gazir Pata (scroll of Gazi Pir ) is the most famous scroll painting made by Bengali Patuas . The weaving industry of Bengal has prospered with the help of the Muslims natives. The Bengali origin Jamdani is believed to be a fusion of
2091-541: Is also used a lingua franca among other ethnic groups and tribes living within and around the Bengal region. Bengali is generally written using the Bengali script and evolved circa 1000–1200 CE from Magadhi Prakrit , thus bearing similarities to ancient languages such as Pali . Its closest modern relatives are other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages such as Assamese , Odia and the Bihari languages . Though Bengali may have
2214-469: Is not fully understood. Lack of primary sources from that era have resulted in various hypotheses. Generally modern prevailing hypotheses about the early stages of Islamification of East Bengal focus on Sufi missionaries capitalizing on disaffected Buddhists and other indigenous groups following the initial conquest of the area by the Brahmin and Kshatriya dominated Sena Empire followed a few decades later by
2337-584: Is one of the best known accounts of the prelude to the Bengal Sultanate. Ibn Battuta visited Bengal during the reign of Sultan Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah , a rebel governor of the Delhi Sultanate who established a city state in Sonargaon . At the time, Bengal was divided into the three city states of Sonargaon, Satgaon and Lakhnauti . In 1352, the three city states were united by Ilyas Shah into
2460-662: Is the state religion and commands the demographic majority. The Indian state of West Bengal is home to an estimated 23-24 million Bengali Muslims as per 2021 estimation, rest 6-7 million Muslims are Urdu and Surjapuri speaking Muslims. Two districts in West Bengal ;– Murshidabad and Maldah have a Muslim majority and North Dinajpur has a plurality. The Indian state of Assam has over 9 million Bengali Muslims out of 13 million Muslim population in Assam. Nine out of thirty-three districts in Assam have
2583-563: Is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BCE. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd ('Land with the Ganges in its heart') in reference to an area in Bengal. Later from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE , the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire . One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal
SECTION 20
#17327919195342706-595: Is thought to ultimately derive from) in the south, Rāṛha in the west, Puṇḍravardhana and Varendra in the north, and Samataṭa and Harikela in the east. The historic land of Vaṅga ( bôngô in Bengali), situated in present-day Barisal , is considered by early historians of the Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions to have originated from a man who had settled in the area though it is often dismissed as legend . Early Abrahamic genealogists had suggested that this man
2829-628: The Abbasid caliph in Cairo . Portuguese India was the first European state entity to establish relations with the Bengal Sultanate. The Bengal Sultan permitted the opening of the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong . Soon after its creation, the Bengal Sultanate sent the first Muslim army into Nepal . Its forces reached as far as Varanasi while pursuing a retreating Delhi Sultan. Arakan
2952-635: The Bengal region of South Asia. The population is divided between the sovereign country Bangladesh and the Indian regions of West Bengal , Tripura , Barak Valley , Goalpara , Andaman and Nicobar Islands , and parts of Meghalaya , Manipur and Jharkhand . Most speak Bengali , a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. Sub-section 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution of Bangladesh states, "The people of Bangladesh shall be known as Bengalis as
3075-610: The Bengal Army , and had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule, notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943 , each killing millions of Bengalis. Under British rule, Bengal experienced deindustrialisation. Discontent with the situation, numerous rebellions and revolts were attempted by the Bengali people. The Indian Rebellion of 1857
3198-455: The Bhati region of East Bengal, the most fertile part of the delta. This made East Bengal a thriving melting pot with strong trade and cultural networks. It was the most prosperous part of the subcontinent. East Bengal became the center of the Muslim population in the eastern subcontinent and corresponds to modern-day Bangladesh. According to the 1881 Census of Bengal, Muslims constituted
3321-524: The Brahmaputra Valley and up to Hajo . Bengali ships dominated the Bay of Bengal and were the largest ships in the Indian and Pacific oceans. A royal vessel from Bengal could accommodate three tribute missions- from Bengal, Brunei and Sumatra- and was evidently the only vessel capable of such a task. European travelers like Ludovico di Varthema , Duarte Barbosa and Tomé Pires wrote about
3444-758: The Chandraketugarh , which flourished in present-day North 24 Parganas , date as far back as 600 BC to 300 BC, and Wari-Bateshwar civilisation , which flourished in present-day Narsingdi , date as far back as 400 BC to 100 BC. Not far from the rivers, the port city of Wari-Bateshwar, and the riverside port city of the Chandraketugarh, are believed to have been engaged in foreign trade with Ancient Rome , Southeast Asia and other regions. The people of this civilisation live in bricked homes, walked on wide roads, used silver coins and iron weaponry among many other things. The two cities are considered to be
3567-516: The Chola dynasty , who invaded Bengal in the 11th century, speak of Govindachandra as the ruler of Vaṅgāladeśa (a Sanskrit cognate to the word Bangladesh , which was historically a synonymous endonym of Bengal). 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his ʿAin-i-Akbarī that the addition of the suffix "al" came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 in breadth in lowlands at
3690-574: The Faraizi movement , Titumir , Ali Muhammad Shibli, Alimuddin Ahmad , Prafulla Chaki , Surendranath Banerjee , Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani , Bagha Jatin , Khudiram Bose , Sarojini Naidu , Aurobindo Ghosh , Rashbehari Bose , and Sachindranath Sanyal . Leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against
3813-555: The Hanafi school of jurisprudence. There are also minorities of Shias and Ahmadiyas , as well as people who identify as non-denominational (or "just a Muslim"). Rice-cultivating communities existed in Bengal since the second millennium BCE. The region was home to a large agriculturalist population, marginally influenced by Dharmic religions . Buddhism influenced the region in the first millennium. The Bengali language developed from Apabhramsa , Sanskrit , Magadhi Prakrit between
Kakababu - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-735: The Hejaz , which popularly became known by the Arabs as Bengali madrasas . As a result of the British conquest of Bengal, some Bengalis decided to emigrate to Arabia. Notable examples include Mawlana Murad, an instructor of Islamic sciences based in Mecca in the early 1800s, and Najib Ali Choudhury , a participant of the Battle of Shamli . Notable people of Bengali-origin in the Middle East include
4059-1114: The Hussain Shahi dynasty which was of Arab origin. They were in turn replaced by the Pashtun rulers of the Suri dynasty , who first acted as regional governors before restoring Bengali independence. The last dynasty, the Karrani dynasty , was also of Pashtun origin. The sultanate period saw a flourishing of Islamic scholarship and the development of Bengali literature . Scholars, writers and poets of sultanate-era Bengal included Usman Serajuddin , Alaul Haq , Sheikh Nur Qutb Alam , Alaol , Shah Muhammad Sagir , Abdul Hakim , Syed Sultan , Qadi Ruknu'd-Din Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Muhammad al-'Amidi, Abu Tawwama, Syed Ibrahim Danishmand , Syed Arif Billah Muhammad Kamel and Syed Muhammad Yusuf among others. Bengal's tradition of Persian prose
4182-537: The Indian National Congress , which accused the British of a divide and rule policy, caused the British government to reconsider the new provincial geography. During the Delhi Durbar in 1911, King George V announced that provinces would once again be reorganized. The first partition of Bengal was annulled; while Calcutta lost its status as the imperial capital of India. The imperial capital
4305-705: The Nawabs of Bengal in 1717. Already observing the proto-industrialization, it made direct significant contribution to the first Industrial Revolution (substantially textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution ). Bengal became the basis of the Anglo-Mughal War . After the weakening of the Mughal Empire with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by three dynasties of Nawabs until 1757, when
4428-664: The Partition of Bengal in 1947. The Radcliffe Line made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan . It was later renamed as East Pakistan , with Dhaka as its capital. The East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in Dhaka in 1949. The organisation's name was later secularised as the Awami League in 1955 with the support o Maulana Bhasani . The party was supported by the Bengali bourgeoisie , agriculturalists,
4551-570: The Partition of India in 1947, they comprised the demographic majority of Pakistan until the independence of East Pakistan (historic East Bengal ) as Bangladesh in 1971 . A Bengali is a person of ethnic and linguistic heritage from the Bengal region in South Asia speaking the Indo-Aryan Bengali language . Islam arrived in the first millennium and influenced the native Bengali culture . The influx of Persian, Turkic, Arab and Mughal settlers contributed further diversity to
4674-909: The Prince of Sylhet . The man, presumably from Sylhet in eastern Bengal, was waited upon by the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger , and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King. Today, the British Bangladeshis are a naturalised community in the United Kingdom, running 90% of all South Asian cuisine restaurants and having established numerous ethnic enclaves across
4797-519: The language of the Bengali people to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favoured Sanskrit , Pali and Persian . The born-Hindu Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funded the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Mecca and Madina in the Middle East. The people of Arabia came to know these institutions as al-Madaris al-Bangaliyyah ( Bengali madrasas ). The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in
4920-493: The 10th century were of various religious backgrounds. Tilopa was a prominent Buddhist from modern-day Chittagong , though Samatata was ruled by the Buddhist Chandra dynasty . During this time, the Arab geographer Al-Masudi and author of The Meadows of Gold , travelled to the region where he noticed a Muslim community of inhabitants residing in the region. In addition to trade, Islam was also being introduced to
5043-474: The 10th-century were of various religious backgrounds. During this time, Arab geographer Al-Masudi , who authored The Meadows of Gold , travelled to the region and noticed a Muslim community of inhabitants. In addition to trade, Islam was also being introduced to the people of Bengal through the migration of Sufi missionaries prior to conquest. The earliest known Sufi missionaries were Syed Shah Surkhul Antia and his students, most notably Shah Sultan Rumi , in
Kakababu - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-539: The 1170s. This was an era of significant Buddhist-Brahmin religious conflict as they represented diametrically opposite camps in the Dharmic tradition with the Buddhist focus on equality threatening the Brahmin caste-based power structure. In the preceding centuries Buddhism underwent a slow decline as Hindu kingdom gradually enveloped Buddhists states in the area and began of process of "de-Buddification" manifested by
5289-774: The 11th century. Rumi settled in present-day Netrokona, Mymensingh where he influenced the local ruler and population to embrace Islam. While Bengal was under the Hindu Sena Empire , subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiyar Khalji , a Turkic Muslim general, defeated king Lakshman Sen in 1206 CE and annexed large parts of Bengal to the Delhi Sultanate . Khalji also mounted an invasion of Tibet . Following this initial conquest, an influx of missionaries arrived in Bengal and many Bengalis began to adopt Islam as their way of life. Sultan Balkhi and Shah Makhdum Rupos settled in
5412-409: The 16th century, ending the independent Sultanate of Bengal and defeating Bengal's rebellion Baro-Bhuiyan chieftains. Mughal general Man Singh conquered parts of Bengal including Dhaka during the time of Emperor Akbar and a few Rajput tribes from his army permanently settled around Dhaka and surrounding lands, integrating into Bengali society. Akbar's preaching of the syncretic Din-i Ilahi ,
5535-433: The 16th century. One such example is I'tisam-ud-Din , a Bengali Muslim cleric from Nadia in western Bengal, who arrived to Europe in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim as a diplomat for the Mughal Empire . Another example during this period is of James Achilles Kirkpatrick 's hookah-bardar ( hookah servant/preparer) who was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as
5658-417: The 16th-century, many Ulama of the Bengali Muslim intelligentsia migrated to other parts of the subcontinent as teachers and instructors of Islamic knowledge such as Sheikh Ali Sher Bengali to Ahmedabad , Usman Bengali to Sambhal and Yusuf Bengali to Burhanpur . The process of Islamization of eastern Bengal, now Bangladesh, is not fully understood due to limited documentation from the 1200s to 1600s,
5781-438: The 17th and 18th centuries. Today, the weaving of Jamdani is classified by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage . Modern science was begun in Bengal during the period of British colonial rule. Railways were introduced in 1862, making Bengal one of the earliest regions in the world to have a rail network. For the general population, opportunities for formal science education remained limited. The colonial government and
5904-403: The 1800s. On the other hand, Ram Mohan Roy led a socio-Hindu reformist movement known as Brahmoism which called for the abolishment of sati (widow sacrifice), child marriage , polytheism and idol worship . In 1804, he wrote the Persian book Tuḥfat al-Muwaḥḥidīn (A Gift to the Monotheists) and spent the next two decades attacking the Kulin Brahmin bastions of Bengal. Bengal played
6027-426: The 1960s, particularly with the Six point movement for autonomy. The rise of pro-democracy and pro-independence movements in East Pakistan, with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the principal leader, led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Bangladesh was founded as a secular Muslim majority nation. In 1977, however, President Ziaur Rahman , trying to consolidate his power under martial law, removed secularism from
6150-444: The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against the Pakistani military junta. The war caused millions of East Bengali refugees to take shelter in neighbouring India, especially the Indian state of West Bengal , with Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, becoming the capital-in-exile of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh . The Mukti Bahini guerrilla forces waged a nine-month war against the Pakistani military. The conflict ended after
6273-453: The 7th and 10th centuries. It once formed a single Indo-Aryan branch with Assamese and Oriya , before the languages became distinct. The spread of Islam in the Indian subcontinent can be a contested issue. Historical evidences suggest the early Muslim traders and merchants visited Bengal while traversing the Silk Road in the first millennium. One of the earliest mosques in South Asia is under excavation in northern Bangladesh, indicating
SECTION 50
#17327919195346396-460: The Bengal region in British India into two provinces for administrative and development purposes. However, the partition stoked Hindu nationalism . This in turn led to the formation of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906 to represent the growing aspirations of the Muslim population. The partition was annulled in 1912 after protests by the Indian National Congress and Hindu Mahasabha . The breakdown of Hindu-Muslim unity in India drove
6519-425: The Bengali elite established several institutes for science education. The Nawabs of Dhaka established Ahsanullah School of Engineering which later became the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology . Qazi Azizul Haque pioneered fingerprint classification . In the second half of the 20th century, the Bengali Muslim American Fazlur Rahman Khan became one of the most important structural engineers in
6642-448: The British. Bose was the co-founder and leader of the Japanese-aligned Indian National Army (distinct from the British Indian Army ) which fought against Allied forces in the Burma campaign . He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Azad Hind . A number of Bengalis died during the independence movement and many were imprisoned in the notorious Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands . The first partition in 1905 divided
6765-406: The Caribbean during the 1830s. Workers from Bengal were chosen because they could easily assimilate to the climate of British Guyana , which was similar to that of Bengal. Swami Vivekananda is considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a world religion during
6888-422: The Emperor of China as a tribute to China-Bengal relations. The Chinese Muslim admiral Zheng He visited Bengal as an envoy of the Emperor of China. Bengali ships transported the embassies of Sumatra , Brunei and Malacca to the port of Canton . China and the Timurid ruler of Herat mediated an end to the Bengal Sultanate-Jaunpur Sultanate War . The Sultan of Bengal also acknowledged the nominal authority of
7011-402: The Indian Armed Forces intervened on the side of Bangladeshi forces in the final two weeks of the war, which ended with the surrender of East Pakistan and the liberation of Dhaka on 16 December 1971. Thus, the newly independent People's Republic of Bangladesh was born from what was previously the East Pakistan province of Pakistan. Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
7134-431: The Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Odisha , Chhattisgarh , Jharkhand , Mizoram , Nagaland and Uttarakhand as well as Nepal 's Province No. 1 . The global Bengali diaspora have well-established communities in the Middle East , Pakistan , Myanmar , the United Kingdom , the United States , Malaysia , Italy , Singapore, Maldives , Canada , Australia , Japan and South Korea . Bengalis are
7257-485: The Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution in 1943, calling the creation of "independent states" in eastern and northwestern British India. The resolution paved the way for the Partition of British India based on the Radcliffe Line in 1947, despite attempts to form a United Bengal state that was opposed by many people. The rise of self-determination and Bengali nationalism movements in East Bengal , led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . This eventually culminated in
7380-414: The Muslim rulers in Bengal to conquer Sylhet , turning the town into Jalal's headquarters for religious activities. Following the conquest, Jalal disseminated his followers across different parts of Bengal to spread Islam, and became a household name among Bengali Muslims . The establishment of a single united Bengal Sultanate in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah finally gave rise to the name Bangala for
7503-414: The Persian model of statecraft. Muslims from other parts of the world were imported for military, bureaucratic and household services. These immigrants included Turks from upper India who were originally recruited in Central Asia; as well as Abyssinians imported via East Africa into the Bengali port of Chittagong. A highly commercialized and monetized economy evolved. Islamic architecture was introduced on
SECTION 60
#17327919195347626-458: The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Pakistan . The first Bengali Muslim settlers in the United States were ship jumpers who settled in Harlem , New York and Baltimore , Maryland in the 1920s and 1930s. Surnames in Bengali Muslim society reflect the region's cosmopolitan history. They are mainly of Arabic and Persian origin, with a minority of Bengali surnames. Zainul Abedin, who's better known as Shilpacharya (Master of Art)
7749-470: The ancient cloth-making techniques of Bengal with the muslins produced by Bengali Muslims of Dhaka since the 14th century. Jamdani is the most expensive product of traditional Bengali looms since it requires the most lengthy and dedicated work. The traditional art of weaving jamdani was declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013 and Bangladesh received geographical indication (GI) status for Jamdani Sari in 2016. Sheikh Zainuddin
7872-421: The arrival of Bakhtiyar Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate in the early 1200s and the later agrarian reforms of the Mughal Empire in the 1500s. Centuries prior to the advent of Islam into the region, Bengal was a major center of Buddhism on the Indian Subcontinent. The area was under the rule of the Buddhist Pala Empire for several centuries until its collapse and subsequent conquest by the Hindu Sena Empire in
7995-420: The college curriculum, including Persian, Sanskrit, mathematics, history and algebra. All towns became connected by an inter-district road network. The population of the capital city Dacca rose by 21% between 1906 and 1911. An important moment in the history of Bengali self-determination was the Lahore Resolution in 1940, which was promoted by politician A. K. Fazlul Huq . The resolution initially called for
8118-418: The constitution and replaced it with "a commitment to the values of Islam." In 2010, the Bangladesh Supreme Court reaffirmed secular principles in the constitution. Historical Islamic kingdoms that existed in Bengal employed several clever technologies in numerous areas such as architecture, agriculture, civil engineering, water management, etc. The creation of canals and reservoirs was a common practice for
8241-438: The construction of Islamic seminaries as far as Mecca and Madina in the Middle East. The people of Arabia came to know these institutions as al-Madaris al-Bangaliyyah ( Bengali madrasas ). The Bengal Sultanate was a melting pot of Muslim political, mercantile and military elites. During the 14th century, Islamic kingdoms stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east. Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta 's diary
8364-399: The country – most prominent of which is Banglatown in East London . An important and unifying characteristic of Bengalis is that most of them use Bengali as their native tongue, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family. With about 226 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages , ranked sixth in the world, and
8487-433: The creation of a sovereign state in the "Eastern Zone" of British India . However, its text was later changed by the top leadership of the Muslim League . The Prime Minister of Bengal Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy proposed an independent, undivided, sovereign "Free State of Bengal" in 1947. Despite calls from liberal Bengali Muslim League leaders for an independent United Bengal , the British government moved forward with
8610-431: The cultural development of the region. The Muslim population in Bengal further rose with the agricultural and administrative reforms during the Mughal period, particularly in eastern Bengal. Today, most Bengali Muslims live in the modern country of Bangladesh, the world's fourth largest Muslim-majority country, along with the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. The majority of Bengali Muslims are Sunnis who follow
8733-673: The death of the author in 2012. The first three films in the list are the Kakababu Original film series . The later are Shree Venkatesh's film series. In October 2010 an animated series by the name of Kakababu-Sontu began airing in Ruposhi Bangla. Bengali people Lores Genres Institutions Awards Folk genres Devotional Classical genres Modern genres People Instruments Dance Theater Organizations People Bengalis ( Bengali : বাঙ্গালী, বাঙালি [baŋgali, baŋali] ), also rendered as endonym Bangalee , are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with
8856-537: The demographic majority in Assam 's Barak Valley and Lower region as well as parts of Manipur . The state of Tripura as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory , which lies in the Bay of Bengal , are also home to a Bengali-majority population, most of whom are descendants of Hindus from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) that migrated there following the 1947 Partition of India . Bengali migration to
8979-558: The early 17th century, Islam Khan I had conquered all of Bengal and was integrated into a province known as the Bengal Subah . It was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire , as it also encompassed parts of Bihar and Odisha , between the 16th and 18th centuries. Described by some as the "Paradise of Nations" and the "Golden Age of Bengal", Bengalis enjoyed some of the highest living standards and real wages in
9102-569: The fertile Ganges plain. The lead to greater concentrations of people in the area with more opportunities for Sufi missionaries to preach Islam. According to historian Richard M. Eaton, Islam became the religion of the plough in the Bengal delta . Islam's emergence in the region was intimately tied with agriculture. The delta was the most fertile region in the empire. Mughal development projects cleared forests and established thousands of Sufi-led villages, which became industrious farming and craftsmanship communities. The projects were most evident in
9225-641: The foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim 's Riyāz us-Salāṭīn . In 1352, Muslim nobleman Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united the region into a single political entity known as the Bengal Sultanate . Proclaiming himself as Shāh -i-Bangālīyān , it was in this period that the Bengali language gained state patronage and corroborated literary development. Ilyas Shah had effectively unified
9348-449: The global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Muslims after Arabs . Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh 's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and Assam . They speak or identify the Bengali language as their mother tongue . The majority of Bengali Muslims are Sunnis who follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The Bengal region
9471-402: The largely disaffected Buddhist East Bengal versus the largely Hindu regions of West Bengal. A few centuries later the agrarian reforms of the Mughal Empire accelerated conversion and population growth across Bangladesh by creating a system of farming villages centered around Sufi missions. The Mughals granted landless peasants land around these missions in order to accelerate development of
9594-502: The late 19th century, when the first census was conducted on Bengal region in the year of (1872), it was found that the number of Hindus are at (18m) and Muslims at (17.5m) were almost the same. According to the 1872 Census, only 1.52% or say 2.66 lakhs of the Bengali Muslim population claimed foreign ancestry. Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah was born as Jadu, the son of Hindu King Raja Ganesha . He later ruled most of Bengal as
9717-648: The latter archipelago was also boosted by subsequent state-funded Colonisation Schemes by the Government of India . Bengali ethnic descent and emigrant communities are found primarily in other parts of the subcontinent , the Middle East and the Western World. Substantial populations descended from Bengali immigrants exist in Saudi Arabia , Pakistan and the United Kingdom where they form established communities of over 1 million people. The majority of
9840-477: The latter withdrew from the Indian Ocean in the mid-15th-century. Bengali port cities like Chittagong and Satgaon were possibly entrepots for importing and re-exporting goods to China. The Mughal Empire eventually controlled the region under its Bengal Subah viceregal province. The Mughal Emperors considered Bengal their most prized province. Emperor Akbar redeveloped the Bengali calendar . In
9963-482: The leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan the promotion the English language among Muslims of India also influenced Bengali Muslim society. Social and cultural leaders among Bengali Muslims during this period included Munshi Mohammad Meherullah , who countered Christian missionaries, writers Ismail Hossain Siraji and Mir Mosharraf Hossain ; and feminists Nawab Faizunnesa and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain . A precursor to
10086-666: The middle class, and the intelligentsia . Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin , Mohammad Ali of Bogra , and H. S. Suhrawardy , all of whom were Bengali Muslims, each served as Pakistan's prime minister during the 1950s; however, all three were deposed by the military-industrial complex in West Pakistan. The Bengali Language Movement in 1952 received strong support from Islamic groups, including the Tamaddun Majlish . Bengali nationalism increased in East Pakistan during
10209-686: The model of Bengali tanka for 300 years, even after the dissolution of the Bengal Sultanate. A total of 16 Arakanese kings used Muslim titles. Arakan forcefully deported thousands of Bengali Muslims and Hindus during its invasions and collusion with the Portuguese. Deportees included the poet Alaol . As a result, the Bengali minority in Arakan developed a distinct Arakanese identity and became influential elites in Arakanese society. Arakanese Muslims, known today as Rohingya people , trace their ancestry to
10332-558: The modern state of Bangladesh was the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in British India . The province was created on 16 October 1905 by the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon . The province covered present-day Bangladesh, northeastern India and a part of West Bengal. It had a Bengali Muslim majority. Dacca , the former Mughal capital of Bengal, was declared by the British as the capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The province
10455-488: The non-Indo-Aryan tribes inhabiting Bengal. Their ethnonym , Bangali , along with the native name of the Bengali language and Bengal region, Bangla , are both derived from Bangālah , the Persian word for the region. Prior to Muslim expansion , there was no unitary territory by this name as the region was instead divided into numerous geopolitical divisions. The most prominent of these were Vaṅga (from which Bangālah
10578-568: The oldest cities in Bengal . It is thought that a man named Vanga settled in the area around 1000 BCE founding the Vanga kingdom in southern Bengal. The Atharvaveda and the Hindu epic Mahabharata mentions this kingdom, along with the Pundra kingdom in northern Bengal. The spread of Mauryan territory and promotion of Buddhism by its emperor Ashoka cultivated a growing Buddhist society among
10701-593: The overseas Bengali diaspora are Muslims as the act of seafaring was traditionally prohibited in Hinduism; a taboo known as kala pani (black/dirty water). The introduction of Islam to the Bengali people has generated a connection to the Arabian Peninsula , as Muslims are required to visit the land once in their lifetime to complete the Hajj pilgrimage. Several Bengali sultans funded Islamic institutions in
10824-481: The people of Bengal through the migration of Sufi missionaries prior to conquest. The earliest known Sufi missionaries were Syed Shah Surkhul Antia and his students, most notably Shah Sultan Rumi , in the 11th century. Rumi settled in present-day Netrokona, Mymensingh where he influenced the local ruler and population to embrace Islam. The Pala dynasty was followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena Empire . Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout
10947-598: The people of present-day Bengal from the 2nd century BCE. Mauryan monuments as far as the Great Stupa of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh mentioned the people of this region as adherents of Buddhism. The Buddhists of the Bengal region built and used dozens of monasteries, and were recognised for their religious commitments as far as Nagarjunakonda in South India . One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal
11070-639: The period during which Islamization is believed to have occurred. There are numerous theories about how Islam spread in region; however, the overwhelming evidence is strongly suggestive of a gradual transition of the local population from Buddhism, Hinduism and other indigenous religions to Islam starting in the thirteenth century facilitated by Sufi missionaries (such as Shah Jalal in Sylhet for example) and later by Mughal agricultural reforms centered around Sufi missions The factors facilitating conversion to Islam from Buddhism, Hinduism and indigenous religions, again
11193-621: The period of Bengali influence in Arakan. The Bengal Sultanate also counted Tripura as a vassal state. Bengal restored the throne of Tripura by helping Ratna Manikya I to assume the throne. The Bengal Sultanate controlled Odisha at various points since the reign of Ilyas Shah . During the reign of Alauddin Hussain Shah , Bengal became an expanding regional empire. Under Hussain Shah, Bengali territory covered Arakan, Assam, Tripura, Orissa, Bihar and Jaunpur. Hussain Shah minted coins with
11316-569: The presence of Muslims in the area around the lifetime of Muhammad . Starting in the 9th century, Muslim merchants increased trade with Bengali seaports. Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate . Coins of the Abbasid Caliphate have been discovered in many parts of the region. The people of Samatata , in southeastern Bengal, during
11439-732: The presence of a large number of wealthy Bengali merchants and shipowners in Malacca. The trade between Bengal and the Maldives , based on rice and cowry shells , was probably done on Arab-style baghlah ships. The Chinese Muslim envoy Ma Huan wrote about a flourishing shipbuilding industry and Bengal's significant seaborne trade. The muslin trade in Bengal , the production of silk and the development of several other crafts were indicated in Ma Huan's list of items exported from Bengal to China. Bengali shipping co-existed with Chinese shipping until
11562-399: The present-day Rajshahi Division in northern Bengal, preaching to the communities there. A community of 13 Muslim families headed by Burhanuddin also existed in the northeastern Hindu city of Srihatta (Sylhet) , claiming their descendants to have arrived from Chittagong . By 1303, hundreds of Sufi preachers led by Shah Jalal aided the Muslim rulers in Bengal to conquer Sylhet , turning
11685-401: The present-day Rajshahi Division in northern Bengal, preaching to the communities there. A community of 13 Muslim families headed by Burhanuddin also existed in the northeastern Hindu city of Srihatta (Sylhet) , claiming their descendants to have arrived from Chittagong . By 1303, hundreds of Sufi preachers led by Shah Jalal , who some biographers claim was a Turkistan-born Bengali, aided
11808-578: The proclamation "conqueror of Kamrupa, Kamata, Jajnagar and Orissa". The Pratapgarh Kingdom came under Bengali suzerainty . The island of Chandradwip was annexed by the Hussain Shahi dynasty. In 1498, the Hussain Shahi dynasty dispatched an army under Shah Ismail Ghazi to conquer the Kamata Kingdom . The Bengal forces overthrew the Khen dynasty . Bengali control of Assam extended into
11931-741: The reframing of Buddhist figures as Hindu avatars and the reincorporation of resistant Buddhist subjects into lower castes in society. As the Pala Empire's base of power was in Northern and Eastern Bengal, it is likely that these were areas with large Buddhist majorities which were likely heavily subjugated the Sena Empire. A few decades following the Sena Conquest of the region, the Sena, themselves, were conquered by Bakhtiyar Khalji opening up
12054-404: The region into one country. Archaeologists have discovered remnants of a 4,700-year-old Neolithic and Chalcolithic civilisation such as Dihar and Pandu Rajar Dhibi in the greater Bengal region, and believe the finds are one of the earliest signs of settlement in the region. However, evidence of much older Palaeolithic human habitations were found in the form of a stone implement and
12177-590: The region to a greater influx of Sufi missionaries. This hypothesis would explain why the Islam spread faster in East Bengal than West Bengal. Essentially, East Bengal had a large Buddhist population compared to West Bengal. The conquest of the area by Hindu kingdoms lead to the subjugation of Buddhists in the region. With the Turkic conquest, came the arrival of Sufi missionaries who were more successful at converting
12300-684: The region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey . In Bengal, effective political and military power was transferred from the Afshar regime to the British East India Company around 1757–65. Company rule in India began under the Bengal Presidency . Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772. The presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including
12423-539: The region's Muslim society of what they deemed "un-Islamic practices". They were successful in galvanising the Bengali peasantry against the EIC. However, the movement experienced a crackdown after the suppression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and lost impetus after the death of Haji Shariatullah's son Dudu Miyan . After 1870, Muslims began a seeking British-style education in increasingly larger numbers. Under
12546-464: The region, and the development of Bengali language . The Ilyas Shahi dynasty acknowledged Muslim scholarship , and this transcended ethnic background. Usman Serajuddin , also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali , was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign. Alongside Persian and Arabic, the sovereign Sunni Muslim nation-state also enabled
12669-443: The region. Bakhtiyar Khalji , a Turkic general, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Bengal Sultanate for the next few hundred years. Many of the people of Bengal began accepting Islam through the influx of missionaries following the initial conquest. Sultan Balkhi and Shah Makhdum Rupos settled in
12792-567: The renowned author and journalist Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar of Saudi Arabia and Qur'an translator Zohurul Hoque from Oman . The family of Princess Sarvath al-Hassan , wife of Jordanian prince Hassan bin Talal , are descended from the Suhrawardy family of Midnapore . Earliest records of Bengalis in the European continent date back to the reign of King George III of England during
12915-780: The revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramashila monastery in Bihar . The Pala Empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire , the Tibetan Empire , and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate . Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East. The people of Samatata , in southeastern Bengal, during
13038-493: The sultanate. New methods of irrigation were pioneered by the Sufis. Bengali mosque architecture featured terracotta, stone, wood and bamboo, with curved roofs, corner towers and multiple domes. During the Bengal Sultanate, a distinct regional style flourished which featured no minarets, but had richly designed mihrabs and minbars as niches. Islamic Bengal had a long history of textile weaving, including export of muslin during
13161-531: The town into Jalal's headquarters for religious activities. Following the conquest, Jalal disseminated his followers across different parts of Bengal to spread Islam, and became a household name among Bengali Muslims. The establishment of a single united Bengal Sultanate in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah finally gave rise to a "Bengali" socio-linguistic identity. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty acknowledged Muslim scholarship , and this transcended ethnic background. Usman Serajuddin , also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali ,
13284-399: The world at the time. Singlehandedly accounting for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, eastern Bengal was globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding , and was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpetre , and agricultural and industrial produce in the world. Mughal Bengal eventually became a quasi-independent monarchy state ruled by
13407-772: The world, helping design the world's tallest buildings. Another Bengali Muslim German-American, Jawed Karim , was the co-founder of YouTube. In 2016, the modernist Bait-ur-Rouf Mosque, inspired by the Bengal Sultanate-style of buildings, won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture . Bengali Muslims constitute the world's second-largest Muslim ethnicity (after the Arab world) and the largest Muslim community in South Asia. An estimated 152 million Bengali Muslims live in Bangladesh as of 2021, where Islam
13530-472: Was Shashanka , reigning around the early 7th century, who is generally thought to have originated from Magadha , Bihar, just west of Bengal. After a period of anarchy, a native ruler called Gopala came into power in 750 CE. He originated from Varendra in northern Bengal, and founded the Buddhist Pala Empire . Atiśa , a renowned Buddhist teacher from eastern Bengal, was instrumental in
13653-558: Was annexed by the East India Company (EIC) in 1757. In the following decades, Bengalis led numerous revolts against Company rule . In the early 19th century, Titumir led a peasant uprising against the East India Company. Meanwhile, the Bengali Muslim Haji Shariatullah led the Faraizi movement , which advocated Islamic revivalism . The Faraizis sought to create a caliphate and cleanse
13776-662: Was Bang, a son of Hind who was the son of Ham (son of Noah) . In contrast, the Mahabharata , Puranas and the Harivamsha state that Vaṅga was the founder of the Vaṅga kingdom and one of the adopted sons of King Vali. The land of Vaṅga later came to be known as Vaṅgāla ( Bôngal ) and its earliest reference is in the Nesari plates (805 CE) of Govinda III which speak of Dharmapāla as its king. The records of Rajendra Chola I of
13899-406: Was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign. Alongside Persian and Arabic, the sovereign Sunni Muslim nation-state also enabled the language of the Bengali people to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favoured Sanskrit , Pali and Persian . The converted Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funded
14022-413: Was a prominent Bengali Muslim artist in the 18th century during the colonial period. His works were inspired by the style of Mughal courts. An indigenous style of Islamic architecture flourished in Bengal during the medieval Sultanate period. Traditional Bengali Islamic architecture includes elements like brick, floral terracotta and stone craftsmanship. Mosques with multiple domes are proliferated in
14145-435: Was a prominent painter. His famine sketches of the 1940s are his most remarkable works of all time. The unique trend of rickshaw art started from major cities of Bangladesh like Rajshahi and Dhaka and took its own style in each district. Chittagong being a more pious city than Dhaka mostly had floral or scenery art whereas Cumilla has plain rickshaws with beautiful blue and green hoods, on which are sewn an appliqué of
14268-399: Was a supreme power of the medieval Islamic East. European traders identified the Bengal Sultanate as "the richest country to trade with". Bengal viceroy Muhammad Azam Shah assumed the imperial throne. Mughal Bengal became increasingly independent under the Nawabs of Bengal in the 18th century. The Bengali Muslim population emerged as a synthesis of Islamic and Bengali cultures. After
14391-515: Was acknowledged by Hafez . The Dobhashi tradition saw Bengali transliteration of Arabic and Persian words in Bengali texts to illustrate Islamic epics and stories. During the independent sultanate period, Bengal forged strong diplomatic relations with empires outside the subcontinent. The most notable of these relationships was with Ming China and its emperor Yongle . At least a dozen embassies were exchanged between China and Bengal. The Sultan of Bengal even gifted an East African giraffe to
14514-459: Was described as a blasphemy by the Qadi of Bengal, which caused huge controversies in South Asia. In the 16th century, many Ulama of the Bengali Muslim intelligentsia migrated to other parts of the subcontinent as teachers and instructors of Islamic knowledge such as Ali Sher Bengali to Ahmedabad , Shah Manjhan to Sarangpur , Usman Bengali to Sambhal and Yusuf Bengali to Burhanpur . By
14637-594: Was established through the first partition of Bengal . The British government cited administrative reasons for the creation of the new province. It promised increased investment in education and the economy of the new province. The partition galvanized Muslim nationalism in South Asia and led to the formation of the All India Muslim League in Dacca in 1906. It also stoked anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-British sentiment among Hindus. Growing opposition from
14760-592: Was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to Dhaka, Jalpaiguri and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North India . Havildar Rajab Ali commanded the rebels in Chittagong as far as Sylhet and Manipur . The failure of the rebellion led to the abolishment of the Mughal court completely and direct rule by the British Raj . Many Bengali labourers were taken as coolies to the British colonies in
14883-522: Was ruled by five dynastic periods, with each period have a particular ethnic identity. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty was of Turkic origins. It was replaced by the Bengali-origin dynasty of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah and Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah for a few decades before being restored. In the 1490s, a series of Abyssinian generals took turns in becoming the Sultan of Bengal. They were succeeded by
15006-409: Was shifted to New Delhi; while Calcutta became the capital of a reunited, albeit smaller, Bengal province. Assam was made a separate province. Orissa and Bihar were also separated from Bengal. As a compensation for Dacca, the British government established a university for the city in 1921. During the short lifespan of the province, school enrollment increased by 20%. New subjects were introduced into
15129-634: Was the most volatile neighbor of the Bengal Sultanate. In 1428, the forces of Bengal restored Min Saw Mun as the king of Arakan after he fled to the court of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. According to traditional Arakanese history, Arakan became a tributary state of Bengal and its kings adopted Muslim titles to fashion themselves after Bengali Sultans. Arakan later shrugged off Bengali hegemony and restored full independence. It later invaded southeastern Bengal several times, sometimes with success and sometimes unsuccessfully. Arakan continued to mint its coins following
#533466