95-604: Sirajganj District ( Bengali : সিরাজগঞ্জ জেলা ) is a district in the North Bengal region of Bangladesh , located in the Rajshahi Division . It is the 25th largest district by area and 9th largest district by population in Bangladesh. It is known as the gateway to North Bengal. Its administrative headquarter is Sirajganj . It is famous for its hand-loom cottage industries. In 1885, Sirajganj emerged as
190-515: A thana . Formerly under Mymensingh District in Dacca Division, it was transferred to Pabna District on 15 February 1866. It was upgraded to become a subdivision of Pabna in 1885. In 1984, it was upgraded to a district. In 1762, a severe earthquake changed the flow of the Jamuna river and created a new river named Baral on the west bank of this Baral river, new land emerged and most of
285-500: 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
380-537: 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
475-480: 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
570-692: 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
665-682: 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,
760-526: A maximum of 34.6 °C, and a minimum of 11.9 °C. The annual rainfall is 1,610 millimetres (63 in). The district has several beels , the largest of which is Chalan Beel on the border with Pabna district. Sirajganj district is in the Jamuna river basin. The Jamuna forms the eastern border of the district. It contains numerous small chars. The Karatoya river flows into Tarash upazila from Bogura district and flows southeast. It sends distributaries to
855-664: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Christianity in Bangladesh Christians in Bangladesh account for 0.30% (roughly 500,000 believers) of the nation's population as of 2022 census. Together with Judaism and Buddhism (plus other minority religious groups such as Atheism , Sikhism ,
950-576: 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
1045-408: 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
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#17327870977271140-581: 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,
1235-474: A teacher, as a biologist studying plant-parasitic worms, and with Caritas on relief efforts. In the 1990s, many people opposed the aid of Christian NGOs, and therefore there was a spike in the number of protests and violence opposing the religious influence of Christian NGOs. Up to 52 NGOs were considered to be "anti-Islamic", with the intentions of "proselytising" the Islamic nation to Christianity, targeting
1330-463: 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
1425-463: Is 1,398 people per km. Sirajganj District has a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 69.48%, compared to the national average of 74.80%, and a sex ratio of 98.51 males per 100 females. Approximately, 20.25% (680,019) of the population live in urban areas. The ethnic population is 20,319 (0.61%), concentrated in Rayganj and Taras upazilas. Muslims make up 95.61% of the population, while Hindus are 4.37% of
1520-500: 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
1615-468: 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
1710-608: Is a Christian ecumenical organization founded in Bangladesh in 1949 as the East Pakistan Christian Council . The organization serves as a unifying platform for Christians of various denominations, working towards solidarity, cooperation, and the well-being of the Christian community in the context of Bangladesh's diverse religious landscape. It is a member of the World Council of Churches and
1805-473: Is alleged that several Christians were detained by police for "unlawful conversion". Conditions have improved in recent years as Bangladesh moved from place 35 on the World Watch List of Christian persecution in 2015 to place 48 in 2019. However, a rise of violence against Christians sent the country to number 30 on the list in 2023. Persecution of Christians in Bangladesh has since intensified at
1900-572: 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
1995-400: 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
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#17327870977272090-707: 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 ,
2185-721: 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
2280-404: 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
2375-568: Is one of the oldest Bengali and Catholic newspapers. In 2013, Pratibeshi launched an online news site with a focus on broad news coverage. Radio Veritas Asia began their Bengali service in 1980. It is jointly produced in Dhaka and Kolkata . The Catholic community have adopted the Hindu use of the sindhur . Dr. Milton Biswas, Department of Bangla, Jagannath University [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which
2470-490: 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
2565-405: 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
2660-428: Is the largest (414.43 square kilometres (160.01 sq mi)) and Kamarkhanda is the smallest (91.61 square kilometres (35.37 sq mi)). Moreover, the district has six municipals, six Parliament seats, 82 unions and 2016 villages. There are nine (9) Upazilas , namely : Sirajganj District's transportation system is very good. It has the most important highway and railway of Bangladesh which connects
2755-686: 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
2850-509: 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
2945-615: 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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3040-514: The Bahá'í Faith and others), they account for 1% of the population. Islam accounts for 91.04% of the country's religion, followed by Hinduism at 7.95% as per 2022 census. The introduction and development of Christianity in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to several periods, with the help of several countries and denominations. The earliest connection to Christianity can be linked back to
3135-716: The Bangladesh Liberation War (March–December 1971), a significant number of Bangladeshis left Islam to join Christianity (because missionaries stood with them during their difficult times during the civil strife) or to atheism after 1971 due to their experience of oppression conducted by fellow Muslims from West Pakistan . In 1822, Miss Mary Anne Cooke was one of the first English female missionaries. Prior to this in 1820, missionary William Ward had encouraged for English women to preach Christianity, in order to connect more with Bengali women. With help from
3230-799: The Bengali language . Soon on, evangelical books and Christian theology were being written in Bengali. In 1740, the first Protestant, Reverend John Zachariah Kiernander , arrived in Bangladesh. In 1770, he funded and built a Protestant church called "Mission Church" in West Bengal. By the 18th century, British missionaries, such as William Carey , had built more churches, translated the Bible and other Christian books, and had set up religious schools. British missionaries had also developed Christian newspapers (such as " Digdarshan ", " The Gospel Magazine", and " The Christian Mohila") in an effort to spread
3325-471: The Christian Conference of Asia . In 2002 it led public debate on the reform of Bangladeshi personal law applied to Christians. There are 16 Christian theological institutions in Bangladesh. The Catholic weekly magazine, Pratibeshi , was founded in 1941 as Ranikhong Mission Chithi , a monthly parish bulletin. In the mid-1940s, it took its present name and moved to Dhaka. The magazine
3420-474: 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
3515-579: 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
3610-723: 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
3705-524: 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
3800-607: 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"
3895-499: 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
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3990-557: 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
4085-623: 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
4180-598: 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
4275-593: 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
4370-567: The Bangali, a previous distributary which flows parallel to it on the east. These rivers flow into the Hurasagar river on Sirajganj's southwest border, which flows southeast into the Jamuna. According to the 2022 Census of Bangladesh , Sirajganj District has 842,308 households and a population of 3,357,706 with an average 3.93 people per household. Among the population, 651,384 (19.40%) inhabitants are under 10 years of age. The population density
4465-456: 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,
4560-426: 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,
4655-488: The Bible. Currently, it is estimated that there are approximately 17 000 to 23 000 NGOs in Bangladesh. In the Bangladesh Liberation War (March–December 1971), a significant number of Bangladeshis left Islam to join Christianity (because missionaries stood with them during their difficult times during the civil strife) or to atheism after 1971 due to their experience of oppression conducted by fellow Muslims from West Pakistan . The first church (in present-day Bangladesh)
4750-571: The Christian Missionary Society, Cooke founded 15 girls' schools with around 300 students within the Calcutta area. Sister Argerita Bellasiny, Sister Brigida Janella, and Sister Agostina Bigo from Italy were called upon Father Marietti on 17 May 1868 to help with missionary outreach. The three would spread Christianity by going door to door, particularly focusing on poor and vulnerable widows. Father Francisco Fernandez
4845-468: The National Poet of Bangladesh visited Sirajganj. In 1940, the then Prime Minister of Bengal , A. K. Fazlul Huq laid the foundation stone of Sirajganj Government College . In 1942, a conference of All-India Muslim League there was attended by Muhammad Ali Jinnah . Sirajganj District is the gateway to the North Bengal . It is bordered on the north by Bogra District and Natore District ; on
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#17327870977274940-586: The River Jamuna, Nalka Bridge Over the River Foljodre, Eliot Bridge etc. There are 3 medical colleges in the district, the public Shaheed M. Monsur Ali Medical College , established in 2014, the private North Bengal Medical College & Hospital, established in 2000, and the private Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College & Hospital, established in 2005. They are respectively allowed to admit 65, 85, and 95 students annually. There are 2 universities in
5035-756: The arrival of the Apostle Thomas to the Malabar Coast during the first century, in 52 A.D. In addition, the Apostle had managed to convert several thousands of Hindu Brahmins, as they were "attracted" to the lifestyle and were "impressed" by Jesus' sacrifice. Christianity did not have a presence in Bangladesh until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1510 with individuals like Alfonso de Albuquerque and Portuguese missionaries. Albuquerque attempted to spread Christianity by encouraging inter-marriage with native Bengali women, therefore their descendants were
5130-536: 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
5225-469: 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
5320-455: 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
5415-604: 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
5510-465: The district, the public Rabindra University , established in 2017 and the private Khwaja Yunus Ali University , established in 2012. There are 6 government colleges under National University in the district. They are Islamia Government College , Government Akbar Ali College , Sirajganj Government College, Government Kazipur Mansur Ali College, Government Rashidazzoha Womens College, Government Shahjadpur College. There are 3 government high schools in
5605-635: The district. They are B.L. Government Boys High School, Saleha Ishaque Government Girls High School and Kazipur A.M.U. Government Girls High School. 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
5700-700: 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
5795-553: 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
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#17327870977275890-452: The education and health sectors. This tiny community has some 1000 schools and about 100 health care centers and hospitals. In Bangladesh, the Christian community runs the country's largest cooperative bank in Dhaka. Having worked in Bangladesh as a missionary since 1952, Father Richard William Timm , C.S.C. won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, the Asian Nobel Prize, in 1987 in recognition of his work as
5985-451: 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
6080-469: The entire North Bengal and a part of South Bengal with the rest of the country. It is very easy to travel through the district because of its great transport system. It has the 2nd largest bridge Jamuna Bridge and the largest railway bridge of Bangladesh . Sirajganj District is also famous for its River-ports . Like many other districts in Bangladesh, Sirajganj is also a district with many rivers. The main bridges are Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge over
6175-466: 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,
6270-443: The first generations of Christians. By 1514, the Portuguese had obtained the right to preach Christianity in Bengal, thanks to the agreement between the Catholic Pope and the King of Portugal. In 1672, Dome Antonio da Rozari, a young Bengali convert, had managed to convert 20,000 low-caste Hindus into Christianity. Afterwards, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Portuguese missionaries were evangelising and preaching in
6365-417: The gospel. In more recent times, the rise of Christianity in Bangladesh can be credited to Western NGOs and Christian charities, who provided humanitarian work after the Liberation War in 1971. Since then, these NGOs and charities (see Contributions ) have not only assisted with support for emergency relief, healthcare, and education in Bangladesh, but they have also encouraged the practice of reading
6460-606: 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
6555-499: 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,
6650-412: 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 –
6745-448: The hands of conservative Sunni Muslims. In May 2024, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made false allegations of a Christian plot to "carve out" an independent Christian country in Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Archbishop of Dhaka Bejoy Nicephorus D'Cruze categorically denied the allegations. In 2023, the country was scored 2 out of 4 for religious freedom; this was mainly due to threats of violence to non-Muslims. On 3 June 2001, there
6840-660: The land of surrounding it belonged to Zamindar Siraj Ali Chowdhury. Gradually this area got its recognition as Sirajganj after his name. The historic Salanga Movement in 1922 led to 1200 deaths, most notably in a massacre of independence activists on 27 January 1922, referred to as the Salanga massacre in Bengali history and memorialized with "Salanga Day" annually. In 1924, a conference of All India Congress Party there. The convention of Brahmo Samaj in Sirajganj took place in 1928. In 1932, Kazi Nazrul Islam , currently known as
6935-494: 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,
7030-547: 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
7125-428: 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
7220-605: 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
7315-517: 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
7410-456: The population. The Hindu population has remained relatively constant while the Muslim population has constantly increased. The remaining 0.02% people follow other religions, mainly Christianity and Sarnaism . Sirajganj is home to Sirajganj Economic Zone , the largest private economic zone in Bangladesh as of March 2024 spanning 1,041 acres of land . The government is building a flyover to link
7505-427: 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
7600-536: 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
7695-654: 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
7790-484: 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
7885-435: 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
7980-498: The vulnerable; the outcasts, the uneducated, and the poor. With the rise of Islamic fundamentalist movement, Christians in Bangladesh often face the pressure from radical Islamic groups or threats (such as persecution and harassment) from the wider community. In 2019, several churches, such as Mohandi Assemblies of God church, were either burnt down or destroyed. To combat this, Christians would gather in secret or in small houses to practice their religion. Additionally, in 2020, it
8075-487: The west by Natore District and Pabna District ; on the south by Pabna District and Manikganj District ; on the east Manikganj District , Tangail District and Jamalpur District . It is composed mainly of low-lying alluvial deposits. Sirajganj District of Rajshahi division has an area of about 2,497.92 square kilometres (964.45 sq mi). The main rivers are Jamuna , Baral , Ichamati , Karatoya , Phuljor and Hurasagor . The annual average temperature reaches
8170-431: The works the Bible being translated into more than 34 Indian languages, while the missionaries wrote books and tracts favouring the Christian lifestyle. These books and tracts (such as "Prophet's Testimony of Christ", "God's Punishment of Sin", and "Krishna and Christ Compared") not only emphasised the benefits of Christian life, but reportedly condemned Hindu and Islamic beliefs. According to scholars Khalil Bilici, during
8265-489: The zone with the Dhaka-Bogura Highway. The zone supplies water from Jamuna river after treatment. As of June 2024, Sirajganj has a growing dairy market worth over BDT 100 core and receiving export orders. There are around 33,000 dairy farms in Sirajganj. Sirajganj Sub-division was established in 1885 under Pabna district and it was turned into a district in 1984. Of the nine upazilas of the district Ullahpara
8360-512: Was a bomb attack during mass in a Catholic church located in Baniarchor; the attack had killed nine people. An Italian aid worker, Cesare Tavella was shot and killed in 2015. Parolari Piero, an Italian priest and doctor was shot several times in 2015. In 2016, a Christian businessman named Sunil Gomes was hacked to death. On 1 July 2016, 20 hostages were massacred by a group of Islamic militants. Pastor Luke Sarkar of Faith Bible Church
8455-507: Was also appointed as a professor at Fort William College . Carey, with the assistance of Joshua Marshman and William Ward created Serampore College . Carey's colleagues and missionary team built a Bengali boys' school and by 1817, they were operating 45 boys' schools. As for girls, in 1818 they opened their first Bengali girls' school and by 1824, they were running 6 girls' schools. These mission-run schools would often attract students with scholarships and accommodation. Carey also oversaw
8550-496: Was attacked on 5 October 2015 and his throat was cut with a sharp knife but he survived. In the early 2020s, most attacks on minorities were focused against Hindus. There are two Catholic archdioceses and six Catholic dioceses in Bangladesh with some 400,000 Catholics. Each diocese is led by its own local bishop. Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario is the highest Catholic official. The Archdiocese of Dhaka comprises: The archdiocese of Chittagong comprises: The diocese of Dhaka
8645-527: Was called "St. John the Baptist Church". In 1601, the third church was built by Dominicans in the south-east of Chittagong. Eventually these churches were burnt down from the attacks by the Arakanese. According to religious studies scholar Sufia M. Uddin, William Carey can be seen as "one of the most important early Christian missionary figures". Carey had arrived in Bangladesh in 1773, where he
8740-594: Was created in 1952 and Rev. James D. Blair was assigned as the first Bishop (Markham, Hawkins IV, Terry & Steffensen, 2013). Following Blair, the first indigenous Bishop of the Diocese of Dhaka was assigned to Rev. B.D. Mondal. By the late 1980s, it was decided that a second diocese was needed, and this was established in Kusthia in 1990; a third diocese was established in 2017. The National Council of Churches in Bangladesh (or, Jatiya Church Parishad of Bangladesh )
8835-501: Was financially supported by the Baptist Missionary Society to carry out missionary work. Carey believed his success as a missionary, was due to him learning the Bengali language and therefore being able to translate the gospel. In 1801, he was able to publish a translation of The New Testament , which was the first translation in any South Asian language. Carey then published a Bengali grammar that same year and
8930-698: Was officially inaugurated in Jessore, erstwhile Chandecan (now Jashore). The church was named "The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus" and was built by the Jesuits, who were not only given permission, but also financial support and land by the King of Jessore. The second church was financially supported by the Arakanese King and was built by Andre Boves on June 24, 1600. This church was built in Chittagong and
9025-702: Was the first martyr in Bangladesh; he died on 14 November 1602. He was led to his death because he had attempted to save Christian women and children from being captured and used as slaves by the Arakanese who are Buddhists . He was detained, chained, and beaten to death. According to 2022 census, Christianity is followed by 495,475 (0.3%) people in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi christians are mainly belong to Santal , Garo , Khasi , Oraon , Bom , Khyang , Panko , Lushei and other tribes. Some Bengali Christians also lives in Dhaka , Gazipur , Chittagong , Barishal and sorrunding areas. Christians have greatly served
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