The language spoken in Bangladesh and parts of North-Western India is called:. In fact, people use numerous names for both the nationality of people from Bangladesh but also the name of the language. So you might ask: What do each one mean and are they all correct?
Bengali is of Hindi origin whereas Bangla is more purely Bangla. Bangladeshi and Bengalese are both words that refer to people and things that come from or originate in the Bengal region in Northern India and Bangladesh. But why choose, though? Again, during the interviews, a contrast was found between the two generations. Older Muslims who remembered cultural subjugation of pre-partition days were often angry that Hindu elements were returning with vigor. But younger Muslims, who had never known the feeling of being a religious minority rather they were dominated on the basis of their cultural identity , welcomed the Hindu elements and often glorified them.
It seemed then that this secularism was more of a defense mechanism and reaction to the Urdu-speaker domination, rather than something natural and inherent in Bengali culture. For the s generation, both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan, anti-India paranoia was a dominant piece of their self-definition.
This fear, along with its elements of anti-Hindu feelings, dominated their reaction to most national developments. Thus, Sheikh Mujib and the Awami League were untrustworthy because they were "too much the pa-chata [feet licker] of the Hindus". Tagore should be banned and avoided because, Nobel prize or not, he was a Hindu poet. Conversely, the younger generation of Bengalis were not only free of these confines, their reaction to West Pakistani domination was often to embrace cultural elements with strong links to India, such as the films of Uttam Kumar, the clothes worn by modern Calcutta men, and the West Bengali babu style of speaking-- much to the chagrin of their virulently anti-Indian elders.
In the two decades between the partition of India and the division of Pakistan, few elements of Bengali life and practice developed independently-- everything was in reaction to and protest against some form of domination, be it cultural or political. These contradictions readily manifested themselves in independent Bangladesh, once the West Pakistani "outsider" was removed.
Thus, after , anti-Hindu elements again rose up and began to seep into the Muslim Bengali consciousness. How would you propose that two Bengals reunite? With such resentment and distrust and years of propaganda against the 'other side', how will the people of West Bengal and Bangladesh accept each other like brothers?
If this were not he case, I would also pray that they re-unite someday because I think the whole basis for partition was misguided and completely wrong. Religion has alot to answer for in South Asia, and it is only when religion can be put aside that these differences can be resolved. You simply must read "The Shadow Lines" by Amitav Ghosh which is all about the absurdities of borders and frontiers and 'the lines of disillusion and tragedy that intersect with private lives and public events' It is possibly the most powerful novel I have read on the subject, apart from maybe 'Purba Pashchim' by Sunil Gangopadhyay.
I am fully aware of the huge number of foreign loan words that exist in Bengali, but what I meant was that the language is subtly being filled up with more than it's fair share of perso-arabic words. Of course, as you say, this works both ways and the language has been gradually more and more sanskritized in W. Bengal as well. Will people in Bangladesh be able to understand the Bengali spoken in W. Calcutta in say years, and vice versa? I know you have said that there is no way writing Bengali in Arabic script would work now, but I read recently that this question has again been raised by the 'Razakar' Golam Azam.
I know his party do not enjoy alot of support in Bangladesh, but I am surprised that this suggestion has not been rejected outright. Emran: When I meet a fellow Bangali, I am already happy to find how similar we are cholen maachcher jhal bhorta raindha khai than try to find differences. The human species has this unique mysterious power by which, unlike the animal kingdom, they can engulf differences and asssimilate, if they want to.
It minimises a lot of confussion with the. Bengali dialects? But religion, culture and dialects do make us different enough to be regarded as different people. So, even though im an Indian Bangali, I would tend to agree with Emran about us being "different"; for the very simple reason that we are Guys this is too narrow.
If we do not claim ghoti, bangal to be bengalis for that matter bati; we are not going anywhere. I have some friends who grew up with me who inspite of being "non-bengalis" went to bengali school, ate macher jhol inspite of their parents being strict vegetarians their mothers will cook for them though , loved reading "Feluda", learnt Rabindrasangeet, and "stole" kul from the trees before anjali time for Saraswati Puja.
At least two of them have complained that in a bengali majority company they were referred to derogatorily in bengali off course. On other occassions they could "feel" that they are being tolerated.
How british; Two people don't make statistics, but have you guys ever seen this happen In mixed company bengalis are very liberal like anondo said will change their names to accomoda eyou but given a critical mass the dynamics change rapidly IMHO This has been my experience especially with Bengali associations here.
Particularly in Rochester, a marathi friend of mine desperately wanted to join the BA. I could see my pride of being a bengali deflating in front of his eyes. I am not suggesting that bengalis are worse than anyother community in India Detroit has a number of Tamil sangams a newcomer who was a cousin of my room-mate was denied entry and asked to enter the sangam for newcomers;. Its just that our cultural richness seems to go hand in hand with a tinge of xenophobia. And THAT does not make sense.
But religion, culture and dialects do make. So tell me, as an 'Indian Bangali', what are the great similarities you have with an 'Indian Tamil' or an 'Indian Gujarati' for example?? Apart from Hindu 'religious values', what is it exactly that you have in common with people from the other regions of India? What about the huge Muslim population in India? Is it possible to be Indian and Muslim, in your opinion? As for Cuisine, any self respecting 'Bangal' from East Bengal!
I will give you some examples: Ghotis fry their fish until it is the consistency of leather! Ghotis add sugar to their Dal, vegetables and sometimes even their 'Maacher Jhol'. While Bangals do not fry their fish they add chillis to everything, cook their 'Maacher jhol' with onions and garlic, and eat smelly shutki maach! However both Ghotis and Bangals are united on their love for 'mishti', especially roshogulla, pantua and mishti doi! Siddhartha: Cultural richness is often accompanied by a strong sometimes fanatical desire to a preserve that richness that is not allow it be diluted by outside influences , and b make admission to and exit from that richness extremely regulated and restricted.
That is the defining hallmark of all stagnant culturally rich societies. This hallmark extended to the Victorian English society and the old Jewish culture, as well to as the bengali culture which possibly? For an elaboration along similar themes, read Robert Pirsig's now not-so-new novel Lila. It is possible that this stagnancy is optimal in a larger social sense. For example, it may appear to many that the American society is culturally dynamic and does not conform to the patterns described in a and b above.
But such appearances might be entirely deceptive; mere attempts to shroud a deep sense of xenophobia by superficial political correctness. I much prefer living among xenophobes if they come out and say they are xenophobes instead of hiding behind a false visage of PC behavior.
But then thats me. Yes - but my point was that the "Bengali identity" was evolving at a different rate and in a different direction in E Pakistan in the period from any such changes in W Bengal during the same period.
For this and many other reasons greater threat to survival - need for etc I would argue that the Bengali identity is much stronger amongst those who consider themselves to be so in BD as opposed to WB "hum to sab Bangali hain yaar ".
Common acceptance of this would be a start. The way in which in Europe, officially at least ie, what is publicly acceptable, what is taught in schools, etc Germany has accepted that it was an agressor in WWII. I'm not drawing parallels suggesting that one side was to blame in , but suggesting that similar "apologies" from all sides , similar history books in schools, etc, are necessary. What is needed is for school kids in Calcutta to know about Ekushe February and those in Dhaka to know about the Naxalite movement etc.
If there is interaction reading each other's books, watching each other's tv, films, etc , yes. Note how in Britain we can follow American films despite different slang, influcneces from their immigrant communities, etc.
In BD, there are a huge number of magazines and newspapers of different ideological persuasion, and this distorts what is "acceptable" in public opinion. I'm surprised at Golam Azam's suggestion - Bengali is no longer perceived by anyone as a "Hindu" language. In fact, I've come across several "learn Bengali" guides where "hello" is given as "assalaamu alaikum". My point was more to do with the separate evolution of identity by Hindu Bengalis and Muslim Bengalis precipitated by British involvement and the closer relations of Hindus with the new rulers.
The impression I have is that - in the C19, right upto , "Bengali identity" was a force being driven by Hindus predominantly - not entirely, but mainly so - thereafter, slumber and stagnation after - predominantly by Muslims in East Pakistan not a communally driven result - but through circumstance - ie, "renaissance" figures were from a certain social class from which Muslims happened to be absent as opposed to Muslims being excluded from this new "Bengali club" Muslims of course were heavily represented in folk culture at this time, but this was completely ignored by the figures in Calcutta, hence exclusion from the developing of this new identity This period of Bengali identity evolution was much more secular if not entirely so compared to the one developing in Calcutta in the previous century This type of "identity" movement is more to do with the masses than with the odd poet.
Also to do with socio-economic factors. How many Hindu peasants in the s would have said "amra bangali" I wonder? Regards Udayan. I can understand that. Bangla and Bengali, maybe it's just like pAni and jal Why is it that you exclude Hindu 'religious values'? Do they have no meaning for you at all? I am well aware of the differences in the practice of Hinduism across India but nevertheless, it is the one thing that binds the nation together Ok, allow me to clarify my position here.
They are different. They are just as different as they are, but that in no way whatsoever makes them not Indian. However, it would be dumb to just assume they are all the same since theyre not. In doing so, you would be taking away one of Indias most prized possesions - its rich diversity. It is this diversity that makes us what we are. It is the capability to have such a diverse populace and still have allegiance to one nation, 'Bharat', that makes India what it is.
As such, insinuating that we are the same would do nothing but take away what is most valuable to us. In conclusion, allow me to reiterate at the risk of sounding repetitive - "different" does not in any way imply that they dont belong here.
All it does is recognize the differences that do exist and embrace them. Ami kintu maacher je kono preparation-i shojjo kortey pari na I didn't get that one I like both versions of this particular word. Warm Regards to a wintry Oz I replied that it would probably be 'Thanda pAni' to which she said that I was definitely wrong because her teacher had just taught her that it was 'sheetal jal'!! It was in her text book as well as being 'sheetal jal'!! Now is that 'ethnic cleansing' or what??!!
You said it Udayan. My grandmother's sister comilla married in dhaka and was always accused of being from Noakhali because she used to put too many chilies in the food; So if I know you are from Noakhali then I will bring my Pepcid AC with me to dinner. Rather as citizen of midnapore I will just swallow a thousand "pans".
Joydeep: I am curious why you think that "exit from" that richness is also restricted? I think voluntary exit from the culture or class one was born to, is always possible. It may be difficult, of course. For example if one is born into bhadralok "culture" then certain bhadralok pathologies become almost second nature and instinctive and it is very hard to get rid of these pathologies.
But surely it is upto the individual to "deculturize" oneself, and no one can "restrict" someone who is determined to get rid of her cultural trait. The restrictions on exit, if any, seem to me to be largely self-imposed.
Bangla and Bengali are more like Chattapoddhay and Chatterjee. Sayan: your point is well taken. Now often what happens is that you dislike a certain portion of a culture but overall, you may still like that culture and broadly identify with it. There was an entertaining article on this in The Statesman Calcutta a couple of months ago. Apparently there are 32 spellings of Chakrabarti with wild ones like Chukerwerty and loads of variations on most common Bengali names in the Calcutta telephone directory and in other places.
In WB, of course, the water fountains have the sign "Paniya jal" BJP-ra eley ki eta joliyo jol hoye jabey?? What do they use - given that it was officially disseminated in both WB and BD? Naturally they say 'pani chukti' in Bangladesh and 'jal chukti' in WB! As I understand it, after the partition of Bengal presidency was replaced by a new partition more or less along linguistic lines , Chitta Ranjan Das had reached some understanding with the Muslim leaders of Bengal to address their concerns the Bengal Pact.
This pact could have continued as a basis for Hindu-Muslim cooperation in Bengal. However, this pact was later discarded by Congress leaders after passing away of Chitta Ranjan Das. West Bengal-er Muslim Bangali-ra graame gonje kintu jol-i bolen.
Tobey keu keu pani-o boltey paren. Aasoley eta bodh-hoi more of regional than religious effect. Farhad came to Newyork and said an exactly opposite thing. Maverick as he is , he changes his statements depending on the audience. He and one of his close comrades explained to me that "Jabaner Bhasha " means mukher bhasha because Jaban means tongue, this is not right , "JubaN" as a understand from Urdu is the langue not language - in the french or Derridian connotation. Anyway , once said that group needs a lot of explanation to make to change their connotations.
Recently with more and more patronizing from Gayatri Spivak, Farhad has changed lot of his previous ideas of the Ebadaatnama times.
After this communalized debate came the era of Rabindranath. Now we have two languages Hindi and Urdu in North India, owing to Rabindranath we at least have one syncretic language.
After , some intellectuals like Golam Mustafa and other Jamaati leaders excluding Al Mamud wanted to put in more Arabic words than persian words , for purely religious reasons e. This is a manifestation of identity of crises , artificially created by some self-aggrandizing intellectuals and politicians.
Language in the final analysis can pretty seldom be manipulated or moulded by these efforts from above. One thing positive in present Wbengal , due to the leftist movements and the pro-people movements of the seventies and the present fad of post-modernism more and more local words and indigenous words are pouring in the standard dialect , thanks to Mahasweta Devi,Samaresh Bose,Abul Bashar,Gunamoy Manna,Ajit Bauri et al.
It can be, if those "people from above" have the power to control mass media and broadcast media. I didn't get this. Does Derrida have some new interpretation for "langue"? Are you sure you are not talking about the "langue" vs "parole" distinction a distinction that comes from Saussure, not from Derrida? In any case, can you please clarify in plain words what the urdu word "jubaN" means? Does anyone know what was the language of the Sultanate of Bengal? What was Ikhtiyaruddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar's mother tongue?
Also, what language did people like Murshid Quli, Alivardi and Siraj speak? Was it Farsi or was it Urdu? Ami ekhon kotha bolbar shomoy India-i boli. In fact, amar experience ekdom ulto - Bangladeshider thekei "bharot" shuni. Ebong sheta amar mondo lagena.
Bangladeshi bondhuder shonge ratridin oThabosha korte korte ekhon amar bhashateo onibarjo bhabei Dhuke poRechche Musibot, Porishan Bengalified version holo Pereshan: " E. UlTodike oNrao dekhi kromosho shikhe nichchen je amra "chotpoti'-ke ghugni boli, 'hNaRi-patil'-ke 'bashon-koshon'; 'phereshta'-ke debdoot boli, behesht-ke shorgo, dozokh-ke norok, keyamot-ke boli 'shesh-din', intekaal-ke boli mara jawa, 'akika'-ke boli 'onnoprashon' oi holo ar ki - egulir tophaat niye abar pYaNch koshben na Eirokom bhabe amader jobane bondi hoye jak Birbhum theke Borak Upotyoka It literally means tongue as in "zaban kheench luNga..
It may also mean "word" as in "meine zaban di hai.. It may also mean language "angrezi zaban mein ullu ko owl kahte hain". Example: shola-poramorsho shola is bengalified urdu; the urdu word is salah , ekhtiyar, adob-kaida, mushkil, beparowa, beadob chele, joban-bondi, alkhalla, Amaar dharona bangla bhashai Urdu'r probabh onek joog dhore chole aasche. Maybe when you're surrounded by one form of word usage, it becomes second nature. So you might be right, at that.
When in Rome Urdu te hobe qayamat. Banglaye hobe "shesh bichar"! Eparer bangali'der ekta mushkil hoyeche. Amra onekei poschim bongo ke Bangladesh bole thaki. Ei khetre amra mean korchi West Bengal kintu bolchi bangladesh. Oparer bondhu-der shonge golpo korte gele ei mushkil ta face korte hoye. Kotha-Barta ke likhechcho kotha-batra. Eta ghotider khub common mistake. Bo-e akar, to-e ref, akar - 'barta' shobdoti-ke puro batra banano hoyechche ekhane.
Indian part of Bengal was termed West Bengal, while the one handed over to Pakistan was called East Bengal just because it was further east in the direction. The basis of bifurcation of Bengal was administrative at first, when it was attempted in and Then Dhaka was made administrative capital of East Bengal. However, when Pakistan was created, religion formed the basis for it being given to Pakistan as majority of the population was Muslim in East Bengal.
Even after independence, East Bengal was dominated by the rich and powerful classes from the western part of Pakistan, and this led to a massive revolt led by people of East Bengal against oppression by Punjabis. This movement was supported by Indian Army, and finally East Bengal got independence from Pakistan, and Bangladesh came into existence. Talking about differences between the two Bengals, a person born in West Bengal is just Bengali, while a person born in Bangladesh is referred to as Bangladeshi Bengali.
0コメント