110-580: The Maitree Express (13109/13110) train ( Bengali : মৈত্রী এক্সপ্রেস ), often pronounced Moitree Express , is the first express train service connecting Dhaka in Bangladesh to Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal . The Bengali name Maitree Express means Friendship Express when translated to English, denoting the significance of the train service to the friendly foreign relations between India and Bangladesh. Previously train services between
220-478: A "box-fencing" system was to be erected on either side on the no-man's land between the two countries. The inauguration of the train service was held on the occasion of the Bengali New Year ( Bengali : পহেলা বৈশাখ ) 14 April 2008. On 14 April 2008, on the occasion of the Bengali New Year , the train service was launched with much fanfare. The flag-off ceremony for the first train leaving Kolkata from
330-526: A Mughal governor, who first used the tradition of Punyaho as "a day for ceremonial land tax collection", and used Akbar's fiscal policy to start the Bangla calendar . According to Shamsuzzaman Khan, and Nitish Sengupta , the origin of the Bengali calendar is unclear. According to Shamsuzzaman, it is called Bangla shon or shaal, which are Arabic (سن) and Persian (سال) words respectively, suggests that it
440-500: 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
550-596: 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
660-480: 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
770-637: 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
880-682: 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,
990-592: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Bengali New Year Lores Genres Institutions Awards Folk genres Devotional Classical genres Modern genres People Instruments Dance Theater Organizations People Pohela Boishakh ( Bengali : পহেলা বৈশাখ ) is the Bengali New Year celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in
1100-480: A part of the attraction for the younglings back in the days. The Bengali New Year is observed as a public holiday in Bangladesh. It is celebrated across religious boundaries by its Muslim majority and Hindu minority. According to Willem van Schendel and Henk Schulte Nordholt , the festival became a popular means of expressing cultural pride and heritage among the Bangladeshi as they resisted Pakistani rule in
1210-523: 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
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#17327717663771320-408: 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
1430-581: 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,
1540-595: A trend. To stop overfishing and to repopulate the dwindling Hilsa population, around this time, fishing is banned. Mangal Shobhajatra or Mongol Shovajatra (Bengali: মঙ্গল শোভাযাত্রা) is a mass procession that takes place at dawn on the first day of the Bengali New Year in Bangladesh. The procession is organised by the teachers and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka. The festival
1650-515: A variety of traditional festive foods on Pohela Boishakh. These include panta bhat (watered rice), ilish bhaji (fried hilsa fish) and many special bhartas (pastes). The celebrations start in Dhaka at dawn with a rendition of Rabindranath Tagore 's song " Esho he Boishakh " by Chhayanaut under the banyan tree at Ramna (the Ramna Batamul). An integral part of the festivities is
1760-431: A visa it was earlier essential to specify the port of entry as "By rail-Gede" (for an Indian visa) or "By rail-Darshana"(for a Bangladeshi visa). Tickets will be issued only after issue of the visa. Valid passports must be shown while booking. In case all passengers are not present, an authorisation is required while booking tickets. After both countries started issuing an e-Visa, mentioning specific port and mode of transport
1870-463: 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
1980-439: A week till then, with additional run with BR Rake every Tuesday and Wednesday from Dhaka and Kolkata respectively. Regular train departures are as follows: The train starts from Kolkata at 07:15 IST and reaches Dhaka at 16:05 BST the same day. Similarly, it starts from Dhaka at 08:15 BST and reaches Kolkata at 16:00 IST the same day. This train's route does not involve any lengthy ferry-crossing pauses or border checks. It
2090-500: 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
2200-468: 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
2310-626: Is a public bus terminal right outside Kolkata railway station with connectivity to various parts of the city. In February 2020, the train's frequency was increased to five days a week. From Kolkata it runs on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday while the train leaves Dhaka Cantonment on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Due to 2024 unrest, Maitree service is halted ( https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-suspends-train-services-to-bangladesh-indefinitely-9496857/#:~:text=Both%20Maitri%20Express%20and%20Bandhan,cancellation%20has%20been%20extended%20indefinit ). The development of
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#17327717663772420-636: Is a state holiday in Tripura. People wear new clothes and start the day by praying at the temples for a prosperous year. The day marks the traditional accounting new year for merchants. Festive foods such as confectionery and sweets are purchased and distributed as gifts to friends and family members. The festival is also observed by the Bengali communities in other eastern states such as Assam . Bangladesh Heritage and Ethnic Society of Alberta in Canada celebrates its Heritage Festival (Bengali New Year) in
2530-550: Is also less costly than the Kolkata to Dhaka air conditioned luxury bus services. Terminal points are Dhaka Cantonment and Kolkata (Chitpur) stations respectively. While Kolkata is a true terminal station, it is possible to continue by local train onwards to Dhaka's main station in Kamalapur from Dhaka Cantonment station. The nearest Metro station from Kolkata is Shyambazar – a distance of 2.0 kilometres (1.2 mi). There
2640-572: 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
2750-400: 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
2860-459: Is around 90%. Unlike most of the Indian trains, online booking through the IRCTC website is not available for this train. Tickets are only available in local currency at the booking counters of Chitpur Station in Kolkata and a valid Bangladeshi visa in the passport is mandatory before purchasing a ticket. The valid visa and passport has to be shown when purchasing the train ticket. While applying for
2970-707: 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 ,
3080-721: 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
3190-451: Is considered an expression of the secular identity of the Bangladeshi people and as a way to promote unity. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016, categorised on the representative list as a heritage of humanity. It is a fair held by the locals of that area where many different things ranging from books to special dishes are sold. Traditionally, the fair was held under huge Banyan trees and traders from far across
3300-675: Is found too in two Shiva temples many centuries older than Akbar era, suggesting that Bengali calendar existed before Akbar's time. Various dynasties whose territories extended into Bengal , prior to the 13th-century, used the Vikrami calendar. Buddhist texts and inscriptions created in the Pala Empire era mention "Vikrama" and the months such as Ashvin , a system found in Sanskrit texts elsewhere in ancient and medieval Indian subcontinent. In rural Bengali communities of India,
3410-404: 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
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3520-416: Is no longer required. Since this is a highly popular train, tickets need to be booked at least 5 or 6 days in advance. As of 18 June 2014, return tickets are available on a predefined number of seats, for up-to two weeks before the date of journey, excluding the journey date. The return tickets have to be validated by going to the station two hours before the departure of the train. The return fare includes only
3630-642: Is organised in Bangladesh. In 2016, the UNESCO declared this festivity organised by the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka as a cultural heritage of humanity. In Bengali , the word Pohela (or Pahela Bengali : পহেলা ), alternatively Poila ( Bengali : পয়লা ), means 'first' and Boishakh (or Baishak Bengali : বৈশাখ ) is the first month of the Bengali calendar ( Bengali : পহেলা বৈশাখ Pohela Boishakh , Pahela Boishakh , Pahale Baishak or Bengali : পয়লা বৈশাখ Poila Boishakh ). Bengali New Year
3740-538: Is referred to in Bengali as Nobo Borsho ( Bengali : নববর্ষ ), where 'Nobo' means new and 'Borsho' means year. During Mughal rule, land taxes were collected from Bengali people according to the Islamic Hijri calendar. This calendar was a lunar calendar , and its new year did not coincide with the solar agricultural cycles . According to some sources, the festival was a tradition introduced in Bengal during
3850-541: Is required beforehand to purchase a ticket for the Maitree Express train. Tickets are available at Dhaka Cantonment railway station in Bangladesh and at Chitpur Station in Kolkata, India. The commercial run of this train was suspended in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. However, the train resumed its service again from 29 May 2022. Together with the Bandhan Express train and
3960-490: 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
4070-743: Is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It 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
4180-473: Is thought that it is because the traditional ledgers used in Haal Khata had a red cover with white pages. In recent times, claiming it to be traditional, Bengalis eat Panta Bhat or poitabhat , which is a rice-based dish prepared by soaking rice, generally leftovers, in water overnight. It is popularly eaten with Hilsa Fish and other curries. But many argue that it is not an age-old tradition and merely
4290-586: The Barisal Express to Khulna via Benapole – Petrapole —continued operation between the two countries until 1965, when the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani Conflict of 1965 led to the closure of all passenger train links. The Bangladesh Liberation War resulted in the independence of East Pakistan as the nation-state of Bangladesh . The Maitree Express follows the same route as the first two trains above via Gede-Darshana. In 2001,
4400-509: 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
4510-615: 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
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4620-474: 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
4730-605: 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 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
4840-579: 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
4950-750: The Kolkata railway station in Chitpur was attended by dignitaries such as the Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav ; Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi ; the Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi ; and the Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Liquat Ali Chowdhury . The Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee officially flagged-off the inaugural train from Kolkata, bound for Dhaka. Another train departed at
5060-545: The Mangal Shobhajatra , a traditional colourful procession organised by the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka (Charukala). According to the history, the rudimentary step of Mangal Shobhjatra was started in Jessore by Charupith, a community organisation, in 1985. Later in 1989 the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka arranged this Mangal Shobhajatra with different motifs and themes. Now,
5170-723: 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
5280-528: The Mitali Express train, the Maitree Express train is one of three modern day fully air conditioned passenger train links between India and Bangladesh. The Partition of India in 1947 disrupted rail links in the province of Bengal , which was divided into the Indian state of West Bengal and the Pakistani province of East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan in 1956). During British rule over
5390-524: 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
5500-510: The Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha ( All Bengal Citizens Committee ) protested the launching of the train service, citing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh; possible terrorist infiltration into India; and demanding the rehabilitation of Bangladeshi Hindu refugees. Police reports stated that 87 people (including 11 women) had been arrested for blocking the train by squatting on the tracks and refusing to move. Police blamed
5610-607: 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"
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#17327717663775720-499: 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
5830-557: 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
5940-586: The 100 year old Hardinge Bridge over the Padma River and the Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna River . Both river crossings occur in Bangladesh. Since Pahela Boishakh 2017 ( Bengali : পহেলা বৈশাখ ), 14 April 2017, all coaches have been changed to air conditioned LHB coach thus enhancing the travel experience. From February 2020 the service was made five days a week, instead of four days
6050-623: 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
6160-532: The 1950s and 1960s. The day is marked with singing, processions, and fairs. Traditionally, businesses start this day with a new ledger, clearing out the old which often involves inviting loyal customers and offering sweetmeats to them. This festival is called Haal Khata . Singers perform traditional songs welcoming the new year. People enjoy classical Jatra plays . People wear festive dress with women desking their hair with flowers. White-red color combinations are particularly popular. Bangladeshis prepare and enjoy
6270-652: 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
6380-534: 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
6490-586: The Bengali businessmen, shopkeepers and traders. It signifies that every year starts with a new beginning. It ignores all the due debts of customers and shopkeepers alike, and instead opens a new page for a new year of shopkeeping. On this occasion, males are seen wearing red or white Kurta with traditional designs on them, imprinted or embroidered. Women and young ladies wear red and white saree with blouses and put on flower crowns on their heads. Girls also dress in salwar kameez . They are seen wearing traditional ornaments and accessories along with their dresses. It
6600-454: The Bengali calendar is credited to "Bikromaditto", like many other parts of India and Nepal . However, unlike these regions where it starts in 57 BCE, the Bengali calendar starts from 593 CE suggesting that the starting reference year was adjusted at some point. In Bangladesh however, the old Bengali calendar was modified in 1966 by a committee headed by Muhammad Shahidullah , making the first five months 31 days long, rest 30 days each, with
6710-456: 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,
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#17327717663776820-426: 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,
6930-559: The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said, "The agreement will strengthen bilateral relations and provide an alternative mode of passenger transport." The inauguration of the train service evoked mixed public responses in both countries. Thousands of people gathered along the train route from Kolkata up to the border crossing point in Gede to cheer the inaugural train. However, a group representing Hindu refugees from Bangladesh,
7040-464: The Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura , Jharkhand and Assam ( Goalpara and Barak Valley ). It is a festival based on the spring harvest —which marks the first day of the new year in the official calendar of Bangladesh . The Pohela Boishakh has its origins in the Mughal Empire , representing the proclamation of tax collection reforms under Akbar . Its celebration is rooted in
7150-495: The Indian side and the other in Dorshona on the Bangladeshi side. Since November 2017 immigration and customs are completed at Dhaka and Kolkata. This has reduced travel time by two and half hours. It takes around 8 hours 50 minutes to cover the entire stretch. The entire stretch is covered by broad-gauge diesel locomotives. A change of crew and locomotives takes place at Dorshona in Bangladesh. There are two major river crossings,
7260-549: The Kolkata–Dhaka train service is akin to that of the Samjhauta Express (meaning "Understanding" or "Accord" Express), which connects the Indian capital Delhi to Lahore in Pakistan. Both train services were opened to revive rail links between the countries that were disrupted by the partition of India by the British in 1947. Both have been used as symbols of goodwill and cooperation between India and Bangladesh, in
7370-414: The Mangal Shobhajatra is celebrated by different organisation in all over the country. The Dhaka University Mangal Shobhajatra tradition started in 1989 when students used the procession to overcome their frustration with the military rule. They organised the festival to create masks and floats with at least three theme, one highlighting evil, another courage, and a third about peace. It also highlighted
7480-406: The areas would gather with their goods and toys in the fair. Some rides such as Nagordola (wooden Ferris wheel ), are set for kids. Different types of traditional foods are sold out in the stalls such as Jilipi , Sandesh , Soan papdi , Batasha (a candy made of sugar or jaggery), Khoi (popped rice), Kadma (a candy made of sugar), and so forth. 'Bioscope', a form of the old movie projector, was also
7590-404: The base fare and all other taxes and service charges have to be paid during the validation of the ticket. This is applicable for return journeys from both Dhaka as well as Kolkata. Tickets are available in Dhaka from the Main Reservation Counter of Kamalapur railway station. The counter at Dhaka Cantonment is open everyday from 0900 to 1900. A valid visa and passport has to be shown when purchasing
7700-536: 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
7810-459: The case of the Maitree Express , and India and Pakistan in the case of the Samjhauta Express . Earlier the Maitree Express was said to be running at 50% occupancy in 2011. With increase in runs to five days a week, this service has gained popularity. Better publicity in local media at both terminal cities also could help raise patronage leading to the train becoming a daily service. Despite this, in 2018 patronage has increased and average occupancy
7920-469: 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
8030-507: 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
8140-518: The date of the celebration, 14 April, was retained. The Bengali calendar in India remains tied to the Hindu calendar system and is used to set the various Bengali Hindu festivals. For Bengalis of West Bengal and other Indian states, the festival falls either on 14 or 15 April every year. The current Bengali calendar in use in the Indian states is based on the Sanskrit text Surya Siddhanta . It retains
8250-604: 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
8360-643: 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
8470-553: 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
8580-505: 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
8690-466: 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,
8800-515: The fine arts institute of Chittagong University brings the Mangal Shobhajatra procession in the city, followed by daylong cultural activities. At DC hill & CRB, a range of cultural programmes are held by different socio-cultural and educational organisations of the city. The Shammilito Pohela Boishakh Udjapon Parishad holds a two-day function at the hill premises to observe the festival, starting with Rabindra Sangeet recitations in
8910-726: 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
9020-499: 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,
9130-412: 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 –
9240-415: The group for planting three crude bombs on the route, which were defused a day before the launch on 13 April 2008. After this initial incident, this train service has been incident free so far. The Maitree Express runs five days a week. The train travels around 400 kilometres (250 mi) to reach Dhaka from Kolkata. Earlier there were two stops for immigration checks in Kolkata and Dhaka. One in Gede on
9350-459: The historic Sanskrit names of the months, with the first month as Baishakh . During Pohela Boishakh, people wear traditional attire, namely women clad in saris and salwar kameez and men dressed in kurta , visit their families and friends and spend time together. Pohela Boishakh is also known for uniting friends and family after a long time. It is a time for unity and reuniting, and spending enjoyable time with friends and family, while putting
9460-494: 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,
9570-485: 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
9680-428: 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
9790-483: The month of Falgun adjusted to 31 days in every leap year. This was officially adopted by Bangladesh in 1987. Since then, the national calendar starts with and the new year festival always falls on 14 April in Bangladesh. In 2018–19, the calendar was amended again, with Falgun now lasting 29 days in regular years and to 30 days in leap ones, in an effort to more align with Western use of the Gregorian calendar. However,
9900-531: The morning. In the late afternoon, through evening, Chaitra Sangkranti programme is held to bid farewell to the previous year. At the Chittagong Shilpakala Academy, different folk cultures, music, dances, puppet shows are displayed. Bengalis of India have historically celebrated Pohela Boishakh, and it is an official regional holiday in its states of West Bengal and Tripura. The day is also called Nabo Barsho. Pohela Boisakh has been
10010-605: 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
10120-517: 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
10230-472: The past behind. The celebration of Bengali new year Pahela Baishakh begins at dawn arranges by the cultural organisation Chhayanaut welcoming the year at Ramna Batamul under the banyan tree in the Ramna Park in Bangladesh. Haal Khata is a festival celebrated on the occasion of Pohela Boishakh in order to complete all the account reckonings of the last year and open a new ledger . It is observed by
10340-734: The pride of Bangladeshi people for their folk heritage irrespective of religion, creed, caste, gender or age. In recent years, the procession has a different theme relevant to the country's culture and politics every year. Different cultural organisations and bands also perform on this occasion and fairs celebrating Bengali culture are organised throughout the country. Other traditional events held to celebrate Pohela Boishakh include bull racing in Munshiganj, Boli Khela (wrestling) in Chittagong, Nouka Baich (boat racing), cockfights, pigeon racing. Pohela Boishakh celebrations in Chittagong involves similar traditions of that in Dhaka. The students of
10450-537: The rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar to time the tax year to the harvest, and the Bangla year was therewith called Bangabda . Akbar asked the royal astronomer Fathullah Shirazi to create a new calendar by combining the lunar Islamic calendar and solar Hindu calendar already in use, and this was known as Fasholi shan (harvest calendar). According to some historians, this started the Bengali calendar . According to Shamsuzzaman Khan , it could be Nawab Murshid Quli Khan ,
10560-408: The same time carrying passengers from Dhaka to Kolkata. But the 360-seater Calcutta to Dhaka express train was carrying barely 65 passengers, including journalists and politicians, on its inaugural run. Indian Railways officials stated that the train service was launched hurriedly, and that when information would spread there would be a greater response and passenger numbers. An official statement from
10670-427: 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
10780-580: The spring harvest based on traditional Bengali calendar, because the Islamic Hijri calendar created administrative difficulties in setting the collection date. Some say that the current Bengali Calendar begins from the year of Hijrah , i.e., migration of Prophet Muhammad , the last messenger in Islam , from Makkah to Madinah . Some historians attribute the Bengali calendar to the 7th-century Indian king Shashanka . The term Bangabda (Bangla year)
10890-536: 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
11000-654: 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
11110-629: The traditional New Year festival in the state, with the new year referred to as the Noboborsho . The festival falls on 14 or 15 April, as West Bengal follows its traditional Bengali calendar, which adjusts for solar cycle differently than the one used in Bangladesh where the festival falls on 14 April. Notable events of West Bengal include the early morning cultural processions called Prabhat Pheri . These processions see dance troupes and children dressed up with floats, displaying their performance arts to songs of Rabindranath Tagore . Pohela Boishakh
11220-483: The traditions of the Mahifarash community of Old Dhaka . Presently, it is largely a secular holiday for most celebrants and enjoyed by people of several different faiths and backgrounds. The festival is celebrated with processions, fairs and family time. The traditional greeting for Bengalis in the new year is শুভ নববর্ষ " Shubho Noboborsho " which is literally "Happy New Year". The festive Mangal Shobhajatra
11330-431: The train consisting the number 13107/08 is operated using Bangladesh Railway rake, which are also LHB coach in dark green livery with white horizontal line. The train has 10 coaches. 4 AC Executive Class, 4 AC Chair Car and 2 power car brake vans. Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ), is a classical Indo-Aryan language from
11440-536: The train ticket. In Kolkata tickets may be purchased from the International Ticket Booking Counter at Fairlie Place, Dalhousie Square, and also at Chitpur Station in Kolkata on the day of arrival of the train from Dhaka. The train consisting the number 13109/10, is operated by Indian Railways rake which are purely LHB coach in red-grey (used by Rajdhani Express trains) and sky blue-grey (used by Shatabdi Express trains). While
11550-472: The two countries existed before the partition of India by the British and the Maitree Express re-established this connection between Dhaka and Kolkata in 2008 after being closed for 43 years. In 2017, a second train service, the Bandhan Express , was inaugurated connecting Kolkata with the Bangladeshi city of Khulna , recreating the previous Barisal Express train route. A valid visa and passport
11660-521: The two national governments agreed upon the railway train scheme during bilateral talks. The train service concept got a major boost during the visit of the then Indian Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee , to Dhaka in February 2007. On 8 July 2007, the first train ran from Kolkata to Dhaka in a test run, carrying Indian government officials who were to meet their Bangladeshi counterparts to finalise train schedules. In response to Indian security demands,
11770-463: The undivided land, regular over-night trains connected Kolkata , Goalanda , Dhaka and Narayanganj . In addition pre-partition, Darjeeling Mail connecting Kolkata ( Sealdah Station ) with Siliguri ran through what became East Pakistan via Gede – Darshana and Chilahati – Haldibari . Three train services from Sealdah— East Bengal Mail to Parbatipur Junction via Gede-Darshana, East Bengal Express to Goalundo Ghat via Gede-Darshana, and
11880-484: 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
11990-435: 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
12100-519: Was introduced by a Muslim king or sultan." In contrast, according to Sengupta, its traditional name is Bangabda . It is also unclear, whether it was adopted by Alauddin Husain Shah or Akbar. The tradition to use the Bengali calendar may have been started by Husain Shah before Akbar. Regardless of who adopted the Bengali calendar and the new year, states Sengupta, it helped collect land taxes after
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