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North S0Uth University: Topic-1: Importance of The Study of Cultural Heritage of Bangladesh and Its

The document discusses the importance and sources of studying the cultural heritage of ancient and medieval Bangladesh. It outlines various primary sources like artifacts, inscriptions, sculptures, and architecture that provide information on the social, religious, and political conditions. Secondary sources mentioned include foreign accounts, Persian/Arabic works, writings of Muslim scholars, and accounts of foreign travelers.

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Shaekh Maruf Skder 1912892630
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197 views3 pages

North S0Uth University: Topic-1: Importance of The Study of Cultural Heritage of Bangladesh and Its

The document discusses the importance and sources of studying the cultural heritage of ancient and medieval Bangladesh. It outlines various primary sources like artifacts, inscriptions, sculptures, and architecture that provide information on the social, religious, and political conditions. Secondary sources mentioned include foreign accounts, Persian/Arabic works, writings of Muslim scholars, and accounts of foreign travelers.

Uploaded by

Shaekh Maruf Skder 1912892630
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NORTH S0UTH UNIVERSITY

HIS-101
Title: Bangladesh: History & Culture
Course Teacher: ASz (Dr. A K M Shahnawaz)

Topic-1: Importance of the study of Cultural heritage of Bangladesh and its


Sources

Importance
Bangladesh has a glorious cultural heritage of thousand years. The political, economic
and cultural crises of Bangladesh today cannot be compared with the golden past. Our
present historical works and common traditions cannot reflect our real glory perfectly.
The main reason behind it is that those historical books are written on the basis of
political history. Therefore it is not possible to understand traditions without studying
socio-cultural history. For want of contemporary historical works on ancient and
medieval periods our outlooks are being confined.
Our glory, in fact, lies hidden into the archaeological heritage of the country. It
was thought that there was no history of Bangladesh before the early historic periods
because the ancient history of this newly formed deltaic land does not date back to a
long past. The present archaeological researches have changed this idea. It is found that
the soil of some regions of Bangladesh is very old. Geologically it belongs to the
Pleistocene period. The tools of the Stone Age have confirmed this idea. These tools
have been found in Lalmai of Comilla, Sitakunda of Chittagong, Chaklapunji of Sylhet-
now it is in Habiganj and in Uwari-Bateshwar of Narsingdi. So it is evident that there
were human habitations in some areas of Bengal. This inference has ensured us that
Bangladesh areis not detached from the south-Asian cultural heritage of 30 thousand
years ago.

a. Sources of Ancient Bengal

Primary Source (Archaeological Sources)

1. Artifacts—The finds from Paharpur, Mainamati and Mahasthangarh a. Those


throwing light on the social conditions and b. Those throwing light on the religious
conditions:

a. Finds throwing light on the social conditions can again be divided into the following
division: i) Dress, coiffure and ornaments; ii) musical instruments; iii) vehicles and iv)
weapons.

b. Finds throwing light on the religious conditions can also be discussed under the
following sub-headings; i) Buddhist objects; ii) Hindu objects,’ Jaina objects; iii) Demi-
gods depicted on in terracotta plaques and sculptures; iv) Terracotta plaques and
sculptures representing scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Krishna
legend; and v) Panchatantra stories.These archaeological materials are again
supplemented by materials drawn from literary works like Ramcharita and the
Caryapada, from Pala inscriptions and copper-plates of the Senas and some other minor
dynasties, and also from some illustrated manuscripts of the Pala period.

2. Inscriptions and Copper-plates—ItsIt’s an important sources for the reconstruction


of the political, social and economic history of ancient Bengal. Inscriptions were public
records;
they usually gave correct informations, although instances of exaggeration were not
rare. The inscriptions may be divided into two classes—i) Official and ii) Private. Most
of the official records are to be found in prasasties i.e. eulogies of king written by their
court poets or land-grants. Most of land-grant record engraved copper-plates.

3. Sculpture, Architecture, painting—The extant monuments of their remains,


sculpture, paintings and varies other objects of a miscellaneous character are also
important source of information.

Secondery source

Foreign account—The accounts left by foreigners-specially Chinese—supply valuable


details about the early history of Bengal. Accounts left by three Chinese monks– Fa-
hien, Hiuen Tsang and Itsing, which have fortunately been preserved for posterity in
their original form.

b. Sources of Medieval Bengal

Importance
It was only during the middle of the fourteenth century that the independent Turks
(Afghan) sultan Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah and Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah were able to
conquer almost the whole region of Bengal and unite it under one rule. The Bengal
Sultans earned the title of Shah-i-Bangala and Sultan-i-Bangala. For the next two
hundred years the Muslim Sultans ruled over this independent kingdom. Though
outsiders, these Muslim rulers identified themselves with the people of this land. They
won the respect and admiration of their subjects by their liberal patronage of literature
and culture of this region. During the reign of Husain Shahi Sultans, Bengal
experienced a remarkable religious and intellectuals ferment. The spiritual humanism
of the Vaishnava Bhakti cult propagated by Sri Caitannya (1448-1553) and the humanist
mysticism of the Muslim sufi saints laid the foundation of a composite culture of
harmonious co-existence. This was reflected in the contemporary Bengali literature
particularly of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Mention may be made, for
example, of poet Abul Hakim’s Nur-nama. In a beautiful verse the Bengali Muslim poet
thus expressed his syncretistic devotion.

Avjvn †Lv`v †MvmvuB mKj Zvui bvg


me© ¸‡Y wbiÄb cÖfy ¸Yvag
|(Allah Khuda Gosain all beis are the same name of the great lord who is the repository
of all noble virtues.)
As the beginning of the seventeenth century Bengal was conquered by the Mughals and
became a province of the Mughal Empire. It then came to be known as Subah Bangala.
But when the Mughal Empire broke up in the Eighteenth century Bengal again emerged
as an independent kingdom.
With the establishment of British colonial rule in the later part of the eighteenth century
Bengal came in contact with the modern Western civilization. Political, economic and
social changes of far reaching importance took place under British rule. These were
reflected in the various facets of life, thought and culture of this region. In fact, three
distinct elements have contributed to the making of the cultural heritage of the Bengali-
speaking people, namely: i. pre-Aryan and Hindu-Buddhist; ii. the Islamic; iii. Western
European. Each of these has been inextricably woven into the cultural fabric of this
region contributing to its many-sided splendor.

Primary Sources (Archaeological Sources)


1. Artifacts or Material remains—These are one of the main contemporary sources for
reconstructing the history of medieval Bengal. We find these material remains in the
shape of the ruins of ancient cities, terracotta plaques, sculptures, ruins of buildings,
and articles of everyday use like pottery.

2. Inscriptions and Coins—Contemporary inscriptions and coins have been discovered


a large number. Their chief importance lies in the fact that they help in building up the
chronology of the sultans. The find-spots of inscriptions and mint-names on coins
enable us to trace the gradual expansion of Muslim power and settlement of Muslim
population in deferent parts of the country.

Secondery sources

1. Persian and Arabic works written outside Bengal—Tabaqat-i-Nasiry written by


Minhaj-i-Siraj; Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi- written by 1. Zia-uddin-Barani, 2. Shams-i-Shraj
Afif; Tarikh-i-Mubaraqshahi written by Yahia bin Ahmad Sirhindi etc.

2. Writings of Muslim Scholars in Bengal—a. Chronicles (Riaj-us-Salatin written by


Syed Gulam Husain Salim), b. Persian and Arabic Works (Amritakunda translatted by
Qazi Ruknuddin Samarkandi), c. Bengali Works (Mangal Kavaya, Chaitannya
Literature, Muslim Romantic and Religion based Literature etc.)

3. Sufi Literature—a. Biography of Sufis, b. Letters-written by Sufis, iii. Religious


lectures of Sufis.

4. Accounts of Foreign Travelers—Ibn Battutah of Morocco, Mahuan of Chaina.

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