The Ancient Bengal - Case Study
CASE STUDY-BENGAL
Bengal as now it looks like, was certainly not the same as it was in ancient periods. It went through a certain drastic changes influenced by culture, religion, rulers. Let's have a study on Bengal.
The Pala rule in eastern India, which continued for about four hundred years, saw the vast consolidation of Bengal culture. In this period Bengal genius expressed itself in various creative mediums languages and literatures, painting and music etc.
Languages and Literatures
With the Aryanisation of eastern India in about A.D. 1000 the Bengali language developed along with Oriya and Assamese. According to scholars the oldest specimen of Bengali are to be found in place-names and personal names. The specimen of old Bengali are found in 'Charyapada songs. These songs relate to the ideas and practices of the late Mahayana Buddhism. These songs in old Bengali were written by a class of Mahayana teachers known as prime Siddl '.
Other specimens of Bengali literature, apart from the Charyapadas, are found in a few verses in the Prakritapaingala written in about A.D. 1400. Inspite of the Turkish conquest, there was no break in the Charyapada tradition which was carried down to late medieval times in Bengal. Right upto A.D. 1300 they are the only specimens that we have of Bengali literature. In both, the poets in Bengal before A.D. 1300 used not only Bengali but also western Apabhramsa in addition to Sanskrit which was the language of the educated classes.
One of the greatest Sultans of Bengal, Sultan Husain Sheik (1493-1519) was a great patron of Bengali literature. Under his patronage Bengali literature was enriched. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were translated into Bengali.
In Bengal, with Bengali literature, Sanskrit literature also flourished side by side. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-15 ) who led the Bhakti Movement in Bengal, contributed to Sanskrit and Bengali literature by giving an unprecedented impetus to the intellect and status of Bengal. Many Sanskrit epics like the 'Mangalakavyas' were translated into Bengali language. However, some works like the songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra, and stories concerning the worship of Dharma Thakur, etc. developed independent of the Sanskrit effect.
Bengali literature during the Mughal period was profoundly influenced by the Vaishnava movement initiated by Chaitanya. Various biographies of Chaitanya were written both in Sanskrit and Bengali. Chaitanya Bhagvata by Brindavanda, Chaitanya Charitamrita by Krishnadas Kaviraj and Chaitanya Mangal by Jayananda are well-known. They, through the spirit of Bhakti, greatly popularised Sanskrit, Bengali and other local dialects. Along with biographies many lyrical poems and songs on Radha and Krishna continued to be written in Bengal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. All this greatly enriched the literature in Bengal. The Mughals encouraged the literary spirit in Bengal and elsewhere.
Paintings
Specimens of paintings earlier than the Palas have not yet been found anywhere in Eastern India including Bengal. The earliest examples of Bengal paintings are the twelve miniature paintings on the palm leaves of a manuscript of the Buddhist text (named Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita) dated A.D. 983 belonging to the period of the Pala ruler Mahipala (c 983 A.D.), The Pala rulers were Buddhist, so their miniature paintings are in a sense visual expressions of the Mahayana (Buddhist) cult.
According to Tibetan historian Taranath, the art of painting reached a high watermark during the rule of two Pala kings, Dhermapale and Devapala; under their patronage two master painters Dhimna and his son Vitapala-attained much eminence,
Surprisingly, even after a thousand years or so, quite a number of illustrated Pala manuscripts have survived. According to art critics these Pala paintings are large scale murals (wall paintings) in reduced dimensions.
As the Delhi Sultans (1206 * 1526) were averse to the art of paintings not much was achieved in the field of paintings in Bengal, which came under the dominance of Islamic rulers of Bengal about the close of the 12th century.
As already discussed, the Mughal emperors were great patrons of paintings. When Bengal came under their sway, the art of painting also began to be patronised there by the Mughal Governors of Bengal. In imitation of the empirical Mughal paintings many manuscripts and translation of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in Bengali were filled with appropriate illustrations.
Music
Not much is known about the development of music in Bengal till the 18th century. There is, however, a deep relation between the Bangali music and Bangali literature. Bengali literature, in fact, began in the form of musical composition known as 'Charya'. We get an early account of 'Charya' in Sangeetratnakar, a noted musical treatise by Shrangadev who lived in the 13th century. The Charya lyric and its organised singing modes infused into Bangla songs a kind of classical discipline at the very beginning. Jayadeva, a Bangali poet of the late 12th century modelled his songs on the Radha-Krishna love in his immoral work Geet Govinda which is regarded as the forerunner of the musical form known as Dhrupad. In fact that all musical forms which developed in Bengal owe much to Charya songs, as well as to song of 'Geet Govinda composed by Jaideva. They provided the basic content for the Bangla songs to evolve. Further, Bar Chandidas's book of songs, known as Srikrishna-Kirtan gave a regional shape to Bangla music.
Pirs and Temples
During this period (eighth to the eithteenth century), Bengal saw the rise of the Bhakti cult and Sufism as a result of which many mosques and temples were built. With the establishment of the Mughal control over Bengal the cult of pis or Sufi saints became quite popular and their shrines were erected everywhere in Bengal.
From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century Bengal saw a spread of temple-building spree. These temples were built by individuals and groups who were becoming powerful. They built these temples both to show their piety and demonstrate their power. With the coming of the European trading companies and the creation of new economic opportunities several low social groups such as the Kolu (oil pressers) and Kansaris (metal workers) greatly improved their economic conditions. To proclaim their important status they constructed many temples.
Some of the Bengal temples began to acquire their special characteristics. In the beginning, the temples were like thatched huts but with the passage of time double-roofed and even four roofed structures began to be built and image of Gods and Goddesses began to be housed in them. The interior of temples were quite simple, the outer walls of many temples began to be decorated with ornamented tile and even paintings. In Vishnupur in the Bankura district of west Bengal such decorations reached a high degree of excellence.
That's all about what ancient bengal looks like, but at present time, it is all different, you will be astonished to see what bengal is now, by the way bengal is now West Bengal and it's Capital is Kolkata. It's a great tourist attraction, you should visit Bengal.
