Dhaka Central Jail was the largest jail in Bangladesh , located in the old section of Dhaka , the country's capital. The jail has been used to house criminals as well as political prisoners , especially during the Language Movement of 1952, the 6 Point Movement , and the Bangladesh Liberation War .
83-399: Old Dhaka ( Bengali : পুরান ঢাকা , romanized : Puran Dhaka ) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka , the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( Bengali : জাহাঙ্গীরনগর , romanized : Jahangirnogor , lit. 'City of Jahangir'), the capital of Mughal Province of Bengal and named after
166-500: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
249-596: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
332-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
415-465: A fire that was flamed by chemical warehouse killed more than hundred people and increased the calls for chemical factories and warehouse to be moved from the area. The narrow lanes make it difficult for fire trucks to reach fires in the area and many of them are narrow to even fit a fire truck. Dhaka's Third Special Judge's Court is located in Bakshibazar, Old Dhaka. Ansarullah Bangla Team attacked
498-475: A jail. Until 1836, the Kotowali Police station was also co-located here. Records from 1833 show that the capacity of the jail at that time was 800 inmates. However, the jail had an average of 526 inmates every day. The Dhaka jail was converted into the central jail for East Bengal . After the proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971, pro-independence guards working at
581-692: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
664-682: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
747-462: A museum. The jail was founded in 1788 as a criminal ward. when it closed in 2016 it housed over 8 thousand prisoners. Shakrain is a festival of kite in Old Dhaka. It marks the end of Poush , the first month of winter in Bangladesh. It also involves rooftop parties, fire-breathing , and fireworks. Bongshal Pond is Tanti Bazaar is a community pool and gathering spot. Chaand Raat (the night before eid)
830-679: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Old Dhaka Central Jail However, the jail earned infamy after the killings of four political leaders — A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman , Tajuddin Ahmad , Syed Nazrul Islam and Captain Muhammad Mansur Ali — on the eve of a military counter-coup on November 3, 1975, against
913-454: A police check post, leaving two cops injured and the capture of one terrorist on 1 February 2017. It fell under the jurisdiction of Dhaka South City Corporation after the administrative division of Dhaka. Many of the British and Mughal era buildings of old Dhaka face the risk of being knocked down to be replaced with modern apartment buildings. Conservationist are trying to preserve them but
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#1732790183717996-465: A predominantly Armenian neighborhood. There is an Armenian Church in Armanitola. The British converted an old Afghan fort into a Central Jail in 1820. Das Babu, prominent merchant had a daughter Indira, whose tomb is present here. Indira road is named after her and not after Indira Gandhi as some mistakenly believe it to be. Pogose School , was founded by Armenian businessman Nicholas Pogose, as
1079-576: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
1162-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
1245-581: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
1328-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
1411-500: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
1494-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
1577-528: Is a Ramadan specialty. Faluda is a traditional iftar desert and lassi is a specialty drink. Shab-e-Barat is celebrated with roti with Halwa , ornate breads, and breads shaped like fish. Kala Bhuna , a beef dish, was created in Old Dhaka and is a speciality of the area. Old Dhaka is home to the historic Prince of Wales bakery , established in the 1850s in Lakshmi Bazaar by a man from Wales . The bakery has been owned by three generations of
1660-488: Is a historically Hindu neighborhood known for its Shakhari ( conch musical instrument ) makers. The Shakhari also make bangles from the shells. The shops are in decline as many news to buy cheaper bangles made from artificial shell. Northbrook Hall auditorium was founded in 1881; it holds art exhibitions. Pohela Falgun is celebrated in old Dhaka. Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts is a historic art school in Old Dhaka. The Dhaka Central Jail , which has been closed down now houses
1743-404: Is a leading public university in the country located at Old Dhaka. Dhaka College campus was initially located at Dhaka Collegiate School premise before moving to its current location. Sir Salimullah Medical College was founded in 1875 in Old Dhaka; its hospital wing is Mitford Hospital . There are two languages Bengali and Urdu spoken in this region. Dhakaiya Kutti dialect is spoken by
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#17327901837171826-572: Is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America, the Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in
1909-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
1992-487: Is beef with a thick layer of oil on top giving it a glassy appearance. Sheer khorma is a desert item that uses a variety of nuts. Nihari and kacchi biryani are Mughal dishes famous in old Dhaka. Kazi Alauddin Road and Chawkbazar are known for their road side stalls selling traditional iftar items during Ramadan . Boro baper polay khai , made with minced meat, chick peas, eggs, potatoes and 13 different spices,
2075-707: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
2158-409: Is celebrated here with fireworks and Adda (hangout). Taazia processions are held by Shia Muslims on the occasion of Muharram near Hossaaini and Barha Katra . There are 12 musical schools in Old Dhaka. Old Dhaka has a sense of community where neighbors know each other and that differentiate it from new Dhaka . During Durge Puja some parts of Old Dhaka are brightly decorated and people play drums in
2241-666: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
2324-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
2407-490: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
2490-405: Is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It
2573-559: Is the mayor of the city corporation. List of landmarks in this region: Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ), is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali
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2656-686: Is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali
2739-420: Is under the administration of Dhaka South City Corporation. Old Dhaka is bounded by the areas of Mohammadpur on the west, Dhanmondi , New Market , Shahbagh , Ramna , Motijheel and Sabujbagh on the north, Jatrabari and Shyampur on the east, adding also Kamrangir Char Thana and Keraniganj Upazila on the south. Old Dhaka falls under the control Dhaka South City Corporation. Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh
2822-509: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
2905-615: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
2988-474: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
3071-692: The Dhakaiya kutti-Bengalis of Old Dhaka in Bangladesh . It is a dialect of Bengali . Dhakaiya Urdu is spoken by Khusbas, Bihari and Mujahir community. It is a dialect of Urdu . Dholaikhal in old Dhaka has large number of light engineering firms. The government is also trying to remove chemical factories from Old Dhaka. Counterfeit cosmetics for Dhaka are made in neighborhoods in Old Dhaka. Old Dhaka consists of 8 metropolitan thanas - Hazaribagh , Lalbagh , Chowkbazar , Bangsal , Kotwali (Dhaka Sadar), Wari , Sutrapur and Gendaria . Old Dhaka
3154-579: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
3237-723: The Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
3320-620: The Mughal emperor Jahangir . It is located on the banks of the Buriganga River . It was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the Indian subcontinent and the center of the worldwide muslin trade. The then Nawab of Bengal Murshid Quli Khan shifted the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad in the early-18th century. With the rise of Calcutta (now Kolkata ) during the British rule, Dhaka began to decline and came to be known as
3403-600: The Mughals in 1576. Dhaka started to grow from 1610 under the Mughal Subedars . The oldest standing mosque was built in 1454 by Bakht Binat during the rule of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah . The development of townships and housing has resulted in a significant growth in population came as the city was proclaimed the capital (replacing Rajmahal ) of Bengal Subah under Mughal rule in 1608. Mughal Subahdar Islam Khan
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3486-524: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
3569-607: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
3652-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
3735-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
3818-658: The "City of Magnificent Ruins". The British however began to develop the modern city from the mid-19th century. Old Dhaka is famous for its variety of foods and amicable living of people of all religions in harmony. The main Muslim festivals celebrated with funfair here are Eid-ul-Fitr , Eid-ul-Adha and Ashura , Hindu festivals like Durga Puja , Kali Puja , and Saraswati Puja are also celebrated with enthusiasm. The festivals which are celebrated by all religious communities with much splendor include Shakrain (পৌষ সংক্রান্তি), Pohela Falgun , and Halkhata (হালখাতা). Religion-wise,
3901-623: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
3984-652: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
4067-593: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
4150-456: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
4233-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
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#17327901837174316-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
4399-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
4482-455: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
4565-604: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
4648-700: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
4731-553: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
4814-505: The emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as
4897-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
4980-519: The first private school in Dhaka. The national political party, Bangladesh Awami League , was founded in Rose Garden Palace on 23 June 1949. The area saw rise in drug abuse, especially Ya Ba and Phensedyl . Old Dhaka has a large number of chemical, plastic, electrical goods factories, and printing presses. The government of Bangladesh is trying to relocate them out of Old Dhaka. In 2010
5063-726: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
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#17327901837175146-435: The government of Bangladesh has shown little interest in preserving them. The government declared Shankhari Bazaar a heritage site in 2013, which met resistance from the residents who wanted to expand the buildings. In 2014 a mosque built in 1707 was demolished leading to controversy and criticism. Government run schools are in a depleted condition in Old Dhaka as of 2015. In 2016 the three hundred-year-old Gorostan Shahi Mosque
5229-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
5312-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
5395-582: The jail freed inmates from the prisons, prompting the Pakistani army to attack and take control of the jail. After the establishment of Bangladesh , the prison returned to its original form. A jail museum was opened here in 2013 and the following year it was included under the Bangladesh National Museum . In 2015, a ruin from the period of Muslim rulers was found in the prison area, and the following year, an archaeological excavation
5478-494: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
5561-547: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
5644-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
5727-605: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
5810-484: The old Dhaka is predominantly Muslim, while a significant number of Hindus also reside here. Christians and Buddhists are also inhabitants here in small numbers. Its inhabitants are known as the demonym Dhakaiya and converse in the Dhakaiya Kutti , a dialect of Bengali and Dhakaiya Urdu , a dialect of Urdu . The existence of a settlement in the area that is now Dhaka dates from the 7th century. The city area
5893-517: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
5976-432: The regime of president Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and army chief Ziaur Rahman , which had seized power on August 15 after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . The slain leaders are mourned by many supporters in Bangladesh today, with the date informally known as " Jail killing day ." Before British rule , there was a Mughal fort at the site of the current jail. In 1788, the fort was renovated, and converted into
6059-640: The same family. Local famous foods are: Farashganj SC founded in 1959 and Rahmatganj MFS founded in 1933 are two major Old Dhaka-based association football teams. East End Club , founded in 1933, is one of the top sports clubs in Dhaka producing players like Aminul Islam Bulbul . The area has well known schools like Dhaka Collegiate School , Pogos High School Dhaka govt Muslim high school , St. Gregory's High School & College , K. L. Jubilee High School & College Bangla Bazar Govt. Girls High School and St. Francis Xavier's Girls School & College , Kabi Nazrul Govt. College. Jagannath University
6142-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
6225-457: The streets. Old Dhaka is famous for its biriyani , morog polau , and kebabs . Morog (Chicken) polau is set apart from traditional biriyani in its use of turmeric and malai (cream of milk) together. An old specialty is bakarkhani with ‘kata moshlar mangsho' is meat cooked with whole spices not powder or paste. Farukul er muri (puffed rice) a venture that started in the 1980s. Other well known dishes include "glassy beef" which
6308-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
6391-654: The third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history, was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to
6474-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
6557-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
6640-479: Was demolished to build a new structure. Many of the buildings are demolished because RAJUK and the Archaeological Department of the government did not list them as historical buildings which would have protected them. Architecture Bahadur Shah Park is a 19th-century park that serves as an exercise ground for the residents. Sadarghat is the river terminal of Dhaka City. Shankhari Bazaar
6723-809: Was ruled by the Buddhist kingdom of Kamarupa and the Pala Empire before passing to the control of the Hindu Sena dynasty in the 9th century. The name of the town may have derived after the establishment of the Goddess Dhakeshvari 's temple by Ballal Sena in the 12th century. After the Sena Empire , Dhaka was ruled by the Delhi Sultanate (sometimes tenuously), then by the Bengal Sultanate , before being taken over by
6806-713: Was the first administrator of the city. Khan named the town "Jahangirabad" (জাহাঙ্গীরাবাদ; City of Jahangir) in honour of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir , although this name was dropped soon after Jahangir's death. Farashganj (French town) was settled by the French 1780, then known as French Market. The area is known for its 19th and early 20th century mansions. Farashganj also had the presence of French East India Company. The 18th and 19th century saw significant number of Armenians settle down in Armanitola , then
6889-481: Was undertaken. The jail has been shifted to the new Dhaka Central Jail, Keraniganj in July, 2016. In 2017 a project was undertaken to preserve the prison grounds for historical needs. The design by Form Three Architects was finalized in a competition held for the proposed project and work on the project was inaugurated in 2019. According to the design, a cultural center and multipurpose complex will be constructed and in
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