Down Memory Lane-Carl Sagan's Cosmos

The Birth Of Bangladesh-Final Part

No, Mother.... The trouble is that the people in power in India have not yet acknowledged in their consciousness that India is ONE; they have not yet acknowledged the nonexistence of Pakistan, that's the trouble.
(Mother nods, then goes within for 20 minutes)
*** *** ***

The world situation is critical today. India's fate too is hanging in the balance. There was a time when India was a absolutely secure, there was no danger whatever of her being victim to Asuric aggression. But things have changed. People and forces in India have acted in such a way as to invite Asuric influences upon her: these have worked insidiously and undermined the security that was there.
If India is in danger, Pondicherry cannot be expected to remain outside the danger zone. It will share the fate of the rest of the country. The protection I can give is not unconditional. It is idle to hope that in spite of anything and everything, the protection will be there over all. My protection is there if conditions are fulfilled. It goes without saying that any sympathy or support for the Nazis (or for any ally of theirs) automatically cuts across the circle of protection...The Divine can give protection only to those who are whole-heartedly faithful to the Divine, who live truly in the spirit of sadhana and keep their consciousness and preoccupation fixed upon the Divine and the service of the Divine...That, I don't know.
I remember Sri Aurobindo said that the Second World War had in fact interrupted the work of transformation.
Yes, it's true.
Is this ...?
(silence)
We'll see. I don't know.
Someone (someone who knew nothing about the news announced on the radio) had a dream last night, and in the dream she saw armies going off to war (she didn't know war was coming, she's totally out of things), Indian armies going off to war -- and when she looked at them, she saw that each soldier had my face.
Interesting.
She sent word to me this morning and she didn't even know war had been declared.
For the moment it's not disturbing. But we'll see.
Sujata says that her impression is that the transformation is now so stable, the basis is so well established, that no matter what happens, it can no longer be disrupted.
I have somewhat that impression too, but....
And perhaps that's why the war was so delayed....
Yes.
... To wait for everything to be really very stable.
Possible.
Possible. Oh, more and more I live in a ... it's more than a conviction -- it's a positive certitude that things are the result of the Divine Wisdom.
Even when you fall flat on your face?
Even when you fall flat on your face -- it's the best thing that could have happened to you.
Always?
Always.

THE AGENDA DECEMBER 4TH,1971

The Birth Of A New Moon

Do you know the story of the new moon?... They've discovered a new moon.[[Called Toro. Although it orbits the sun in an 8-year cycle, it approaches to within some 12 million miles of the earth. Its next approach to the earth is due in August 1972. ]]
Oh, yes, a very small one. Does it mean something?
They say it is the supramental creation!
What!
And that it is approaching the earth.
And then?
Well, it may fall on it!... What do they mean, very small? Smaller than the earth?
Yes, I think it's a mile in diameter.
That's very small!
It seems it approaches the earth every 8 years.... But what does that have to do with the supermind!
I don't know! (Mother laughs) I have no idea myself.... A mile, but then it could fall somewhere....
Yes, it would make a dent!... Sometimes one really gets the feeling that all this needs to be shaken up a little, don't you think?
(Mother makes a gesture of not knowing)
Aren't you in favor of "shaking up"?
(Same gesture with a smile) When I was told that, I had the impression it would become part of the earth.... But it would cause a disaster, wouldn't it?

AGENDA,OCTOBER 13TH,1971

The Birth Of Bangladesh-Part5

October 2, 1971
(Last year, after the death of General de Gaulle, Satprem's friend Y.L. had met Andr?Malraux at Verri鑢es; he immediately asked her, "Is the Mother still alive?" As Y.L. was a little taken aback, he added, "I went there before you, 33 years ago.... So I assume you know what they have been looking for in India...." Again a few days ago, Y.L. met Andr?Malraux after his cry "Volunteer for Bengal"; he said to her, "What is essential in the fight I'm going to wage for Bengal is to know the attitude and action of Pondicherry." Y.L. therefore came to put the question directly to Mother. Mother asked, "When is Andr?Malraux meeting Indira Gandhi?" "In November, in Paris." Mother again asked, "When is Andr?Malraux thinking of coming to India?" "I don't know." Then Mother remained absorbed a long time and said, "He will only get THE answer when he arrives in India, because the answer is in him." After meeting Indira Gandhi in Paris, Andr?Malraux will renounce his plan of action. Let us note that when Y.L. met him, he leafed through the Auroville pressbook and said, "All this is familiar -- I'm part of it -- I know this." And closing the book, "It's as if the sun had risen. And it goes down.... And we begin again...." Y.L. simply replied: "And what if the sun has risen for good?")

Well, then?

Do you know that Y.L., whom you saw a few days ago, met Malraux in Paris and gave him my article on Bangladesh, and "On the Way to Supermanhood"? And this morning I received a note from Malraux.

Ah!

A card. It's nice. He simply says:
"Many thanks for 'On the Way to Supermanhood,' about which one of our mutual friends had spoken to me -- thank you also for thinking of sending it to me."

Good....

He said you were "my son"!

Oh!... Well, that's not completely wrong.

I said it's true! (Mother laughs merrily)

It seems he has a lot of authority over there?

Oh, indeed a lot, and not just in France, but all over the world. If he says something, it's a world event!

Oh, then that's good.

So I thought I would send him a little note ...

Yes.

... in which I would tell him this:

Dear Mr. Malraux, I was very touched by your note thanking me for "On the Way to Supermanhood." Some fifteen years ago, in this Ashram, I was teaching French classes to the young Indian disciples, and I tried to tell them who Malraux was, whose work I admired -- today they remember and, like me, are moved by your intervention on behalf of Bangladesh. The problem is deeper, of course, as you well know. What is at stake at the end of the present mental cycle is the creation of a new man -- that is what we are trying to do here with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Great Forces are at work here, in a humble way. And I am happy that "Supermanhood" did not leave you insensitive. Indeed, its cry needs you and your capacity to grasp the profound Sense of our human crisis. May the Force of Sri Aurobindo and Mother be with you. Fraternally with you in the great Work to be accomplished...AGENDA OCTOBER 2ND,1971

A Major Turning Point In Lanka

TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE..
The body of the 54 year old supreme leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) was found on Tuesday May 19th near the Mullaitheevu lagoon known as “Nanthikkadal” (sea of conches). He had gunshot wounds in the head and forehead...READ MORE

The Birth Of Bangladesh-Part4

Bah!... Everything is like this (hanging gesture), everything. They're ready to fight up there [on the borders of India and Bangladesh], and they're forever waiting to be told to fight. The armies are ready, everything is ready and they're waiting. Everything is like this (same gesture).

What are they waiting for?

For the government to give the order.

But the government won't budge!

Oh, yes (Mother smiles), it will. It will be forced to move. But it's resisting.

Someone came here from the government, sent by a "commission," and through him the General in command of the armies has communicated with me, and he asked for my blessings. They are all ready. They're waiting -- they are told tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow. I have news from up there.
(silence)

A few days ago, in sleep, I saw Indira Gandhi. She seemed to be here and was trying to convince us of something; what particularly struck me is that everything she was saying was on a very ordinary level, and she looked very pale.

She is easily influenced, you know. So there are ... (gesture of tugging).

Indeed, she has not accepted your influence alone.

No, she's taken it and mixed it with others. That's why things go like this (gesture of jumbled confusion).

The Agenda Septembar18th,1971
(Mother goes within for a long time)

The Birth Of Bangladesh Part3

The Bangladesh Liberation War(i) (Bengali: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho) was an armed conflict pitting West Pakistan against East Pakistan (two halves of one country) and India, that resulted in the secession of East Pakistan to become the independent nation of Bangladesh. The war broke out on 26 March 1971 as army units directed by West Pakistan launched a military operation in East Pakistan against Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, and armed personnel who were demanding independence from Pakistan. Members of the East Bengal Regiment, East Pakistan Rifles, East Pakistan police and other Bengali military and paramilitary forces, and armed civilians revolted to form guerilla groups and forces (generally termed as the Mukti Bahini) to fight against the army of West Pakistan. During the following months, India provided economic, military and diplomatic support to the Mukti Bahini in East Pakistan. On December 3, 1971, (West) Pakistan launched a pre-emptive attack on the western border of India, which marked the commencement of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Finally, on December 16, 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Army) decisively defeated the (West) Pakistani forces deployed in the East resulting in the largest surrender, in terms of the number of POWs, since World War II..source wikipedia

" They've begun fighting; I received a letter yesterday or the day before. They've crossed the border[[Only 12 days later, on December 2, will India launch a general offensive. ]] [of East Bengal].
You think that means war?
(Mother makes a gesture of not knowing)
This is not the official news. It's the "combatants"[["Mukti Bahini" army of liberation or Bengali resistance. ]] who write me: the general who came here...."
THE AGENDA NOVEMBAR 20TH,1971

MUKTI BAHINI
Mukti Bahini (Bengali: মুক্তি বাহিনী "Liberation Army"), also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by (mostly) Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh (formerly, East Pakistan)'s independence on March 26, 1971. Subsequently by mid-April 1971 the former members of East Pakistan armed forces formed the "Bangladesh Armed Forces" and M. A. G. Osmani assumed the command of the same. The civilian groups continued to assist the armed forces during the war. After the war "Mukti Bahini" became the general term to refer to all forces (military and civilian) of former East Pakistani origin fighting against the Pakistani armed forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Often Mukti Bahini operated as an effective guerrilla force to keep their enemies on the run. It has been compared to the French Maquis, the Viet Cong, and the guerrillas of Josip Broz Tito in their tactics and effectiveness..READ MORE
HISTORY OF BANGLADESH LIBERATION WAR

The Birth Of Bangladesh Part2

Moder Gorob or Our Pride is a sculpture situated in front of Bangla Academy building in Dhaka , Bangladesh . It was dedicated to the memory of martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952 , when protesters demanding Bangla as the state language of former United Pakistan were massacred by Pakistan Police and Army .

21 February 1952*

Meeting on the University of Dhaka premises on 21 February 1952
At nine o'clock in the morning, students began gathering on the University of Dhaka premises in defiance of Section 144. The university vice-chancellor and other officials were present as armed police surrounded the campus. By a quarter past eleven, students gathered at the university gate and attempted to break the police line. Police fired tear gas shells towards the gate to warn the students.[8] A section of students ran into the Dhaka Medical College while others rallied towards the university premises cordoned by the police. The vice-chancellor asked police to stop firing and ordered the students to leave the area. However, the police arrested several students for violating section 144 as they attempted to leave. Enraged by the arrests, the students met around the East Bengal Legislative Assembly and blocked the legislators' way, asking them to present their insistence at the assembly. When a group of students sought to storm into the building, police opened fire and killed a number of students, including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar...read more about the bengali language movement which erupted on THE MOTHER'S 74th birthday

INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

21 February was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.[1]
International Mother Language Day originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since 1952, when a number of Bangladeshi university students were killed by the Pakistani police and army in Dhaka during the Bengali Language Movement.
International Mother Language Day is observed yearly by UNESCO member states and at its headquarters to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism...READ MORE

*THE MOTHER WAS BORN ON 21ST FEBRUARY 1878

SHAHEED MINAR

Famous architect Hamidur Rahman created the design of Shaheed Minar under which construction was started in 1957. The foundation stone of this Shaheed Mianar was laid on February 21, 1956. Hamidur Rahman’s model was a huge complex on a large area of land in the yard of Dhaka Medical College Hostel. The enormous design included a half-circular column to symbolize the mother with her fallen sons standing on the monument's central dais.Yellow and deep blue pieces of stained glass, symbolizing eyes reflecting the sun, were also to be placed in the columns..read+

Sri Aurobindo And Bangladesh

Child leads street procession duringmass revolt of 1969 (Rashid Talukder/Autograph ABP)

Sri Aurobindo and Bangladesh

Behind the jostle of temporary points of view and instant interests there are the Eternal Landmarks. To lose sight of them is to lose one's very way and steer onto the reefs of expediency and comfortable compromise upon which we shall founder a moment later. Behind the little frontal events is the greater tide of history and to lose sight of it is to lose one's direction and the golden thread that leads to our perfect fulfillment, be it individual or national. Those who have left their unique mark upon the labyrinth of history are the very ones who have seized the golden thread and affirmed the Greater History and the Greater Meaning against all the instant arguments and fleeting expediencies.
The Greater History tells us that the whole earth is a single body with a single destiny, but that within that single destiny each part of the greater body, each nation, has its special role to play and its rare moments of choice when it must make the decisive gesture, its true gesture in the total movement of the great Eternal History. Each nation is a symbol. Each gesture of each nation potentially represents a little victory in the total victory or a little defeat in the total defeat. And sometimes the whole of our history is at stake at a symbolic point of the earth; and, a little gesture, a tiny turn to the right or left, has repercussions, either good or bad, down the ages and over the entire earth body.
India is precisely such a symbol and Bangladesh is another, a little turning point in the great course of events of the earth. The time has come to consider the eternal Landmarks and read the greater tide in the small eddies. Now, the greater tide tells us that India's role is to be the spiritual heart of the terrestrial body just as, for example, the role of France is to express clarity of intellect, or that of Germany to express skill, Russia the brotherhood of man and the United States enthusiasm for adventure and practical organization, etc. But only if India is ONE can she fulfill this role, for how can one who is herself divided lead others? Thus the division of India is the first Falsehood that must disappear, for it is the symbol of the earth's division. As long as India is not one, the world cannot be one. India's striving for unity is the symbolic drama of the world's striving for unity.

THE AGENDA,MAY15TH,1971

The Birth Of Bangladesh Par1

Yes, "the urgent recognition...." That's the second note, the one of the fourth. "The urgent recognition of Bangla-Desh is imperative."[[The first version, the one of the third, read: India must recognize Bangla-Desh. This is urgent. ]]-THE MOTHER

THE AGENDA APRIL17TH,1971

Dhana Dhanya Pushpa Bhara

Students prepare for war, 1970
(Rashid Talukder/Autograph ABP)

dhana dhanya pushpa bhora,

amader ei basundhara,tahar majhe achhe desh ek

sakal desher shera,

o shey shapno diye toiree se desh

smriti diye ghera,

emon deshti kothao khunje paabe naako tumi,

o shey shokol desher raani shey jeamaar janmabhumi ...

(Enter here for translation)



One of Bengal's most glorius patriotic/national songs was composed by Dwijendralal Ray. (the father of Dilip Kumar Roy)



The Legacy Of this song(from wikipedia)



His Bengali nationalist anthem Dhana Dhanya Pushpa Bhara is immensely popular in both Bangladesh and India, and was reportedly considered a possible choice to become the national anthem of Bangladesh in 1971. Under the direction of Ruma Guha Thakurta, Calcutta Youth Choir performs his songs regularly in their concerts and they even have a few number of records with his songs. Many of his Bengali patriotic songs were regularly played on the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the clandestine radio station broadcast to freedom fighters and occupied population during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

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FEARLESS FEMALE FIGHTERS

Bande Mataram

listen to the songs

Bande Mataram

Mother, I bow to thee!

Rich with thy hurrying streams,

Bright with thy orchard gleams,

Cool with thy winds of delight,

Dark fields waving, Mother of might,

Mother free.

Glory of moonlight dreamsOver thy branches and lordly streams,

Clad in thy blossoming trees,

Mother,

giver of ease,

Laughing low and sweet!

Mother,

I kiss thy feet,Speaker sweet and low!

Mother, to thee I bow.
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,

When the swords flash out

in twice seventy million hands

And seventy millions voices roar

Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?

With many strengths who art mighty and stored,

To thee I call,

Mother and Lord!

Thou who savest, arise and save!

To her I cry who ever her foemen drave

Back from plain and sea

And shook herself free.
Thou art wisdom

, thou art law,

Thou our heart,

our soul, our breath,

Thou the love divine,

the awe

In our hearts that conquers death.

Thine the strength that nerves the arm,

Thine the beauty, thine the charm.

Every image made divine

In our temples is but thine.
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,

With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,

Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,

Pure and perfect without peer,

Mother, lend thine ear.

Rich with thy hurrying streams,

Bright with thy orchard gleams,

Dark of hue, O candid-fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair

And thy glorious smile divine,

Loveliest of all earthly lands,

Showering wealth from well-stored hands!

Mother, mother mine!

Mother sweet, I bow to thee,

Mother great and free.

- Translation by Sri Aurobindo
Original Bengali song by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Sri Aurobindo Poemsin SABCL, Volume 8 "Translations, From Sanskrit and Other Languages"( and in Collected Poems 2, page 227) published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Pondicherrydiffusion by SABDA

Bankim's Anandamath

The novel is loosely based on the time of the Sannyasi Rebellion, however in the actual rebellion, Hindus sannyasis and Muslim fakirs both rebelled against the British East India Company. The novel first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankim_Chandra_Chattopadhyay

Bande Mataram Was The Anthem Of Nationalists In South East Asia

BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTOPADHYAY

The third and supreme service of Bankim to his nation was that he gave us the vision of our Mother. The bare intellectual idea of the Motherland is not in itself a great driving force; the mere recognition of the desirability of freedom is not an inspiring motive. There are few Indians at present, whether loyalist, moderate or nationalist in their political views, who do not recognise that the country has claims on them or that freedom in the abstract is a desirable thing. But most of us, when it is a question between the claims of the country and other claims, do not in practice prefer the service of the country; and while many may have the wish to see freedom accomplished, few have the will to accomplish it. There are other things which we hold dearer and which we fear to see imperilled either in the struggle for freedom or by its accomplishment. It is not till the Motherland reveals herself to the eye of the mind as something more than a stretch of earth or a mass of individuals, it is not till she takes shape as a great Divine and Maternal Power in a form of beauty that can dominate the mind and seize the heart that these petty fears and hopes vanish in the all-absorbing passion for the Mother and her service, and the patriotism that works miracles and saves a doomed nation is born. To some men it is given to have that vision and reveal it to others. It was thirty-two years ago that Bankim wrote his great song and few listened; but in a sudden moment of awakening from long delusions the people of Bengal looked round for the truth and in a fated moment somebody sang Bande Mataram. The Mantra had been given and in a single day a whole people had been converted to the religion of patriotism. The Mother had revealed herself. Once that vision has come to a people, there can be no rest, no peace, no further slumber till the temple has been made ready, the image installed and the sacrifice offered. A great nation which has had that vision can never again bend its neck in subjection to the yoke of a conqueror...read more

BANDE MATARAM IS KNOWN AS IBU PERTIWI IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA

Bersama Bung Karno menggapai jiwa merdeka

menuju kebangkitan
menuju Indonesia Jaya.
Vande mataram,
sembah sujudku bagi Ibu Pertiwi.
Terima kasih, Mohon ucapan kami Indonesia disambut dengan ucapan Jaya.
Padamu Ibu aku berjanji,
Padamu Ibu aku berbakti,
Bagimu Ibu jiwaraga kami.
Indonesia …………….Jaya,
Indonesia …………….Jaya,
Indonesia …………….Jaya.
Triwidodo
Mei 2006..READ+

BAHTERA MERDEKA

song and lyrics by ahmad jais from malaysia

Bonda senyum riang

Menerima bahtera merdeka

Putra putri sayang

Putra putri sayang

Sedang berjuangFajar telah tiba

Nan menyinsing membawa harapan

Tanah Semenanjung

Tanah Semenanjung

Permata nilam

Jiwa dan raga

Buktikanlah pada nusa bangsa

Supaya negara maju jaya

Aman merdeka

Duhai ibu pertiwi

Putra putri datang sujud bakti

Untuk menunaikanUntuk menunaikan

Sumpah dan janji

Malaysia Tanah Airku, Ibu Pertiwi Yang Tercinta

Ustaz Hj Ashaari Muhammad Pengerusi Rufaqa Corporation telah menulis tentang Malaysia sebagai tanah air tercinta sebagai Ibu Pertiwi bangsa Melayu. Marilah kita sebagai rakyat Malaysia dari semua golongan sama-sama menyuluh diri kita sama ada kita mempunyai rasa hati yang mencintai negara Malaysia sepertimana beliau rasa..read+

The Centre Of Work Is Bengal...

The indwelling Guru of the world indicated my path to me completely, its full theory, the ten limbs of the body of the yoga. These ten years he has been making me develop it in experience; it is not yet finished. It may take another two years. And so long as it is
Page-359
not finished, I probably will not be able to return to Bengal. Pondicherry is the appointed place for the fulfilment of my yoga—except indeed for one part of it, that is, the work. The centre of my work is Bengal, but I hope its circumference will be the whole of India and the whole world.

Read the complete letter

The Letter In Bengali

This Is Interesting...

Overseas Colonization
Bengal had overseas trade relations with Java, Sumatra and Siam (modern day Thailand). According to Mahavamsa, Vijaya Singha, a Vanga prince, conquered Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka) in 544 BC and gave the name "Sinhala" to the country. Bengali people migrated to the Malay Archipelago and Siam (in modern Thailand), establishing their own colonies there... source wikipedia

Tradition has it that Sri Lanka was colonized by a Bengalee Prince Vijayasingha who established the first political organization in that island. Gadadhara, another Bengalee, founded a kingdom in the Madras state in South India.
Bangladesh region also played a seminal role in disseminating her beliefs, art and architecture in the wider world of Asia. The Bengali missionaries preached Mahayana Buddhism in the Indonesian archipelago. Kumaraghosha, the royal preceptor of the Sailendra emperors of Java, Sumatra and Malaya peninsula, was born in Gauda. The Bengali scholar Santirakshit was one of the founders of the Buddhist monastic order in Tibet. The great Buddhist sage Dipankara Srijnana, also known as Atish ( 10th-l1th century) reformed the monastic order in Tibet. The Bengalee scholars Shilabhadra, Chandragomin, Abhayakaragupta, Jetari and Jnanasrimitra were venerated as great theologians in the Buddhist world.
Ancient Bangladesh also witnessed the flowering of temple, stupa and monastic architecture as well as Buddhist art and sculpture. There was discernible influence of the Pala art of Bengal on Javanese art. There was a close affinity between the scripts used on certain Javanese sculptures and proto-Bengali alphabet. A group of temples in Burma were built on the model of Bangladeshi temples. The architecture and iconographic ideas of Bengal inspired architects, sculptors and artists in Cambodia and the Indonesian archipelago. The influence of Pala art in Bengal could be easily traced in Nepalese and Tibetan paintings, as well as in Tang Art of China. ...source

Bengal Lanka Time Line Search Results

Bengal Malaya Time Line Search results

srivijya

The Gangaridai Empire

Gangaridai was the name of a kingdom in 300 BC in what is now the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. It was described by the Greek traveller Megasthenes in his work Indica.
The Greek and Latin historians suggested that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter attack of the mighty Gangaridai and Prasii (Nanda) Empires which were located in the Bengal region. However, not much is known about the origin of these empires...read more

http://emblems-countries.info/state.php/2699

http://www.banjaratimes.com/32905/32989.html

ancient bangla

The Muslim Dynasty Of Bengal

As early as the 9th century, Arab traders had taken Islam to Bengal. About 1200, Muslim invaders from the northwest overthrew the Senas. Muslim rule culminated in the Mughal dynasty (16th–18th century). In eastern Bengal, as in much of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, Islam became the religion of the majority.
Muslim rule in Bengal promoted a society that was not only pluralistic but also syncretic to some degree. The rulers largely remained uninterested in preaching religion; rather, they concentrated on incorporating local communities into the state system. In their administration, high office holders, influential traders, eminent literati, and musicians came from diverse religious traditions. Nevertheless, practitioners of Sufism (mystical Islam) and Muslim saints did indeed preach Islam, and Muslim settlers received patronage. Although high-caste Hindus received land grants under early Muslim rule, under the Mughals most grants were awarded to Muslim settlers. These settlers developed an agrarian economy in Bengal that ultimately helped the spread of Islam. Meanwhile, the extensive interaction between Islam and Hinduism was reflected in social behaviour and the flourishing of various cults, notably that of the Hindu saint Caitanya (1486–1533). In contrast to more orthodox forms of Hinduism, the Caitanya sect—like Islam—was open to all members of society, regardless of caste or social rank.
Under the Mughals the political boundaries of Bengal expanded to become Suba Bangalah (the Province of Bengal), and economic activity increased...SOURCE

During the early Muslim period, the former kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bangala, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts in power between the Pashtun and Turkic rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Mughal rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.
In 1534, the Pashtun Sher Shah Suri, or Farid Khan — a man of incredible military and political skill — succeeded in defeating the superior forces of the Mughals under Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540). Sher Shah fought back and captured both Delhi and Agra and established a kingdom stretching far into Punjab. Sher Shah's administrative skill showed in his public works, including the Grand Trunk Road connecting Sonargaon in Bengal with Peshawar in the Hindu Kush. Sher Shah's rule ended with his death in 1545, although even in those five years his reign would have a powerful influence on Indian society, politics, and economics.
Shah Suri's successors lacked his administrative skill, and quarrelled over the domains of his empire. Humayun, who then ruled a rump Mughal state, saw an opportunity and in 1554 seized Lahore and Delhi. Humayun's death in 1556 led to the accession of Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, who defeated the Karani rulers of Bengal in 1576 and ruled through governors. Akbar exercised progressive rule and oversaw a period of prosperity (through trade and development) in Bengal and northern India.
Bengal's trade and wealth so impressed the Moghuls that they called the region the "Paradise of the Nations". Administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire court (1575-1717) gave way to four decades of semi-independence under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who respected the nominal sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. The Nawabs granted permission to the French East India Company to establish a trading post at Chandernagore in 1673, and the British East India Company at Calcutta in 1690.

Kantaji Temple
When the British East India Company began strengthening the defences at Fort William (Calcutta), the Nawab, Siraj Ud Daulah, at the encouragement of the French, attacked. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, British troops and their local allies captured Chandernagore in March 1757 and seriously defeated the Nawab on June 23, 1757 at the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab's soldiers betrayed him. The Nawab was assassinated in Murshidabad, and the British installed their own Nawab for Bengal and extended their direct control in the south. Chandernagore was restored to the French in 1763. The Bengalis attempted to regain their territories in 1765 in alliance with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, but were defeated again at the Battle of Buxar (1765). The centre of Indian culture and trade shifted from Delhi to Calcutta when the Mughal Empire fell.And the Prassi were also finished...SOURCE

INDEPENDENT MUSLIM RULERS OF BENGAL

The Origins Of The Gupta Dynasty

There is controversy among scholars about the original homeland of the Guptas. Jaiswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayag (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, in north India, as the vassal of the Nagas or Bharsivas. Thereafter they rose in prominence. Another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jaiswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi , embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag. These historians have derived their theory from several Gupta Dynasty coins found in those regions, and this study of numismatic evidences led to the theory that the Guptas were the original inhabitants of that region of northeastern India. However another historian of this time in Indian history, Ganguli, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland. According to him the Guptas homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar. He based his theory on the statement of I-Tsing, who had visited India during 675 and 695 A.D. Fleet and other historians however criticize Ganguli's theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the third century, but I-Tsing placed him at the end of the second century. Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of I-Tsing, are considered less valid than theories based on other sources such as coinage.
The extent of the Gupta Empire and when they ascended the throne after the lapse of the prolonged Dark Age, is a also subject of intense controversy among the scholars. Dr. R.C. Majumdar has pointed out that the picture of a stupa has been found in Nepal with the label "Mrigasthapana" Stupa of Varendri. This "Mrigasthapana" is the same as "Mrigashivana" of I-Tsing. As Sri Gupta built a temple in Mrigashivana and as the place was in Varendri, so historians have pointed out that Varendri might have been under the sway of the Guptas, when they ascended the throne. According to Dr.Ganguli, Bengal and parts of Bihar was also included in the Gupta Empire, when they were ruling from the seat of power...read+

GUPTA EMPIRE

GUPTA REFORMS

The Great Ethopian Dynasty Of Bengal

Firuz Minar of Gaur, West Bengal.A lasting monument built by the Habshi Sultan Firuz Shah

THE GREAT ETHIOPIAN DYNASTY OF BENGAL
By Horen Tudu

Introduction
African migration into the Indian Sub-Continent has occurred in both voluntary and involuntary waves. It is critical to emphasize that India’s most ancient existing inhabitants known as Adivasis are also of African origins. This has been recently confirmed on anthropological, linguistic and biological foundations. Therefore, we shall not needlessly lay controversy on such definitions and direct our efforts towards more pressing topics. In this article we shall focus on a specific subset of Africans, namely a small group of Ethiopians that rose to great prominence during the 15th century CE. During this period a great Abyssinian dynasty ruled over the entirety of Bengal under a single unified Muslim sultanate. Moreover, this episode of Abyssinian rule marked one of the most unique eras of Bengal’s history, where the Habshi rulers imparted great benevolence to the poor and destitute, as well as demonstrated impressive patronage of the arts, literature, architecture, science, and medicine...READ MORE

The Pala Dynasty

The Pala Empire was a dynasty in control of the northern and eastern Indian subcontinent, mainly the Bihar and Bengal regions, from the 8th to the 12th century. The name Pala (Modern Bengali: পাল pal) means "protector" and was used as an ending to the names of all Pala monarchs. The founder of the empire was Gopala. He was the first independent Buddhist king of Bengal and came to power in 750 in Gaur by democratic election, which was unique at the time. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of Bengal. His successors Dharmapala (r. 770-810) and Devapala (r. 810-850) expanded the empire across the northern and eastern Indian subcontinent. The Pala Empire eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena dynasty.
The Palas were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. They often intermarried with the Gahadvalas of the Kannauj region. They created many temples and works of art and supported the Universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Their proselytism was at the origin of the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet...read+

The reigns of dharmapala and devapala formed the period of ascendancy of the dynasty, when the dynastic rule gained firm footing in Bengal and Bihar and the Palas felt powerful enough to venture out in the political arena of northern India. Both Dharmapala and Devapala were engaged in a long drawn struggle for the possession of the madhyadesha of northern Indian empire with two other powers - the Gurjara Pratiharas of western India and the Rastrakutas of Deccan, and they had success for a limited period. Dharmapala succeeded in placing his protege on the throne of Kanauj. Devapala also held his own against the Pratiharas. The Pala records are full of eulogistic verses portraying Dharmapala and Devapala as great conquerors. Bengal came to be reckoned as a powerful force in northern Indian politics...read+

more on pala empire

THE SENA DYNASTY

http://www.lotussculpture.com/pala.htm

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/438963/Pala-dynasty

http://tanmoy.tripod.com/bengal/pala.html

Kazi Nazrul Islam's Glorius Shayma Mayer laglo Agun

Shayma Mayer Laglo
Ajay Chakrabarty

Baul Songs

The Bauls of Bengal
The Baul songs are a very specialised branch of Bengali folk songs. Baul song has a kind of hippie-like attraction to it. It is unique in itself, yet it seems to hold in it a lot of elements of the other branches of Bengali folk musical tradtions as noted above. Because of its unique appeal or affliction, we have presented it as a distinct folk practice.

The word Baul means "afflicted with the wind desease", minstrels, uncaring travellers, selfless wanderers, lost in search of their souls, street walkers, ones with no fixed address, ones who find happiness in richness of their minds, etc. Much of the Bengali society looked upon the bauls as strange people who forsake all comforts and binds of the family life and chose streets as their home and austerity as the way of life. Customs and traditions they leave behind on the wayside.


The Bouls are the folk heroes of Bengal. "The popular romantic imagination everywhere seeks expression through its chosen bards: we have our Bob Dylans and Leonard Cohens, the Bengalis have thier Bauls. These wandering minstrels carry with them from village to city the soul of Bengal, perhaps of India, and every Bengali knows it even if today he is becoming uncertain what that soul really is" [Charles H. Capwell and others]. The Baul tradition cannot be characterised by any known or distinct doctrine. According to Edward C. Dimock, Jr. the term baul encompasses "a wide rage of religious opinion, traceable to several Hindu schools of thought, to Sufi Islam, and much that is traceable only to a man's own view of how he relates to God. All Bauls hold only this in common: that God is hidden in the heart of man, and neither priest nor prophet, nor the ritual of any organised religion, will help man to find him there. The Bauls feel that both [hindu] temple and [muslim] mosque stand across the path to truth, blocking the search. The search for God is one which everyone must carry out for himself." read more

History Of Bengal

The history of Bengal includes modern day Bangladesh and West Bengal, dates back four millennia.[1] To some extent, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in Indian history...read+

The following writing is taken from the book "A Thousand Year Old Bengali Mystic Poetry" by Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud (daughter of famous poet Jasimuddin), who has done an extensive research on Bengali mystic poems called "Caryagiti" which was written more than thousand years ago. In addition to the translations of these spiritual poems, she also presented the history of the language and the people so exquisitely, they deserve to be appreciated by the conscious people. The following are some parts taken from the book.
Find out more about the author Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud..read+

Bengal was probably the richest place on the Earth only 400 years ago, where many outstanding world-class scholars, poets, writers, scientists, philosophers, spiritual leaders, artists, and social reformers were born. These include: Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, SK Mujjibur Rahman, Raja Rammohan Roy, Shree Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Madhusudan Dutta, Meghnad Saha, Najrul Islam, Santidev Ghosh, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, Satyen Bose, Sayed Nazrul Islam, Maharaja T.N Chakroborty, Amartya Sen, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Satyajit Ray etc..read+

rangan dutta's website

Archaeological Excavation at Deka - Bichkandi, Murshidabad

Interview with R.C.Majumdar

THE ROLE OF THE VABGAS IN THE ETHNO-CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT BENGAL

The development Of bengali literature during muslim rule

They Took Birth In Bengal

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana
Place Of Birth:Bikrampur,East Bengal/Bangladesh
Year Of Birth:980CE

Chaitanya or Nimai
Place Of Birth:Nadia,West Bengal
Year Of Birth1486

Gadadhar Chattopadhyay
Place Of Birth:Kamarpukur,Hooghly District,West Bengal
Date of Birth:February18th,1836

Narendranath Dutta
Place Of Birth:Kolkata(Calcutta),West Bengal
Date Of Birth:12 january 1863

Sri Aurobindo Ghose.
Birthplace:Kolkata(Calcutta),West Bengal
Date Of Birth:15th August 1872

Tibetan Buddhism And Bangladesh

ATISHA

Atisha is most commonly said to have been born in the year 980 in Vajrayogini village[2] in Bikrampur, the northeastern region of Bengal (located in modern day Bangladesh). His homestead in the village is still known to the local people as the "Ponditer bhita" (the homestead of the Pundit - a learned man). The exact year of his birth and death is widely disputed. Some sources indicate that Atisha was born in 982 and died in 1054, while more recent studies contend that his life began in 980 and ended in 1052.[citation needed] In any case, it is unanimously recognized that Atisha lived to the age of seventy-two. It is noteworthy that, while no direct connections can be made to the birth of Atisha, the year 980 also saw a major power shift in Bengali politics as the resurgent Pala dynasty seized control of the region, disposing of the incumbent Kamboja rulers...READ MORE

SHILABHADRA( ANOTHER FAMOUS BUDDHIST MONK /SCHOLARFROM BANGLADESH)

Burn This Madhouse Down ;-)

Sanskrit Slokas In An Iranian Film

SAFAR E GHANDEHAR

Sri Ramakrishna's finger touch

Some of it we have tried to read, though it's often hard to understand. But we remember seeing Hriday in the film on Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna used to call him 'Hride'. He did look a bit stupid."
"That he was, indeed. He looked after his uncle, it is true, but he also troubled him a great deal. Unwittingly of course, and that shows he wasn't bright."
"Please tell us his story," requested Anirban.
"Well, you see, when he found that his uncle had granted to Vivekananda and others the vision of the Divine Mother, he complained to him loud and long, 'I look after you all the time and never get to see anything in reward. It's always others who are shown the divine visions.' Sri Ramakrishna explained to him, 'Continue working for me and looking after me; that will bring you all possible rewards.' But when the young man, refusing to understand, continued to insist and complain, his uncle finally touched him with his finger. Merely touched him once, with one finger. But in that instant Hriday found himself surrounded by an ocean of light! Light everywhere, the whole universe had become only light, but since his being had not been purified and prepared for such an experience, he lost his head. He began to shout, 'Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, come, let's set out to save the country!' He had forgotten he was talking to his uncle. It was as though he himself was the Guru and Ramakrishna his disciple! (Laughter) The latter smiled to see how little was needed to make a man lose his self- control. So he touched his nephew a second time, and lo, the world of light was dissolved! Hriday, the great Yogi, was once again the simpleton he had earlier been!"
"Yes, we have heard about similar experiences. Nirodda told us how, in the early years of his Sadhana, he had felt showers of joy coming down on him. This had lasted a bare 10 or 15 seconds but it was enough to make him feel completely intoxicated."
"Indeed, it is so, particularly when the being is small and unprepared."
Page - 44
"Oh then... for us... after all, we are so weak! There are some of us who think that the very words 'Sadhana' and 'Yoga' are too difficult for us to understand, and are meant only for older people. All we need to do is to study and work, do whatever the Mother has asked us to do and rely solely on her, believing that she will do everything for us. Isn't that right?"
"Absolutely right, provided you have an unshakable faith and trust in her. You must be like the little kittens, as Ramakrishna used to say. It's just because you are not strong that we are here with you. Man, however great he may be, cannot attain the Divine by himself. It is the Divine Grace that makes everything possible. As the Bhagavata says, the Grace can make the dumb speak and the lame 'climb the tallest mountains. There is no miracle the Grace cannot perform."

SOURCE

Divine Force

12 February 1951

“Some persons ask: `Why has not the Divine come yet?' Because you are not ready. If a little drop makes you sing and dance and scream, what would happen if the whole thing came down?
“Therefore do we say to people who have not a strong and firm and capacious basis in the body and the vital and the mind: `Do not pull', meaning `Do not try to pull at the forces of the Divine, but wait in peace and calmness.' For they would not be able to bear the descent. But to those who possess the necessary basis and foundation, we say, on the contrary, `Aspire and draw.' For they would be able to receive and yet not be upset by the forces descending from the Divine.”
Questions and Answers 1929 (14 April)
Why does the divine force upset people?

Because it is too strong for them. It is as though you were in the midst of a big cyclone. It happens at times that the wind is so violent that you are not able to stand – you have to lie down and wait till it blows over. Now, the divine forces are a thousand times stronger than a cyclonic wind. If you do not have in you a very wide receptivity, an extremely solid basis of calmness, of equality of soul and inner peace, they come and carry you away like a gale and you cannot resist them. It is the same thing with light; some people get a pain in the eyes when they look at the sun and are obliged to put on dark glasses because sunlight is too strong for them. But this is merely sunlight. When you are able to look at the supramental light, it appears to you so brilliant that sunlight seems like a black stain in comparison. One must have strong eyes and a solid brain to
Page - 96
bear that, one must be well prepared, established in something extremely calm and vast...READ MORE

Disease And Vibrations

February 8, 1967
I have some interesting things to tell you. It's about that cold. An extraordinary healing power ... All the phases in their most acute form, with the study of the process, going through each phase in a few hours, or a few minutes (depending on what it was). When you have a cold, you usually go through one phase, then another (you know how it is), then it goes lower down, then there is a cough, then ... All of it was gone through quickly, and in two days it was over. And with the whole process, but not the mentalized process, not at all: the vibratory process, showing how the Force comes and acts, and at the same time ... Oh, it was very, very interesting, because there was the part played by the inconscient, the part played by conscious reactions, the part played by the will (that's tremendous, an enormous part), the part played by mental suggestion (tremendous, too), and ... the action of the supreme Vibration. The whole thing in detail, day and night, constantly; to such a point that at times I stood still, like that, to follow the course. And it went on (I saw you on Saturday) for ... Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: those three days....READ MORE