Bengal

Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in the Bengali language, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent nation of Bangladesh (eastern Bengal), and the Indian federal republic's constitutive state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous kingdom of Bengal (during local monarchial regimes and British rule) are now part of the neighbouring Indian states of Bihar, Tripura and Orissa.

History

The history of Bengal can be divided according to the religion of its rulers.

Ancient history

From the 6th century BC, much of Bengal was a part of the powerful kingdom of Magadha, which was an ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom of ancient India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It was also one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha, having risen to power during the reigns of Bimbisara (c. 544-491 BCE) and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460 BCE). Magadha spanned most of Bihar and much of Bengal.

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahā Janapadas (Sanskrit, "great country"). The Magadha empire included republican communities such as Rajakumara. Villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions. Bimbisara was friendly to both Jainism and Buddhism and suspended tolls at the river ferries for all ascetics after the Buddha was once stopped at the Ganges River for lack of money.

One of the earliest historical references to Bengal as perhaps a separate entitiy is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bengal.

Early medieval history

More concrete evidence of Bengal becoming a political entity is found in the 6th century, with the first recorded independent king of Bengal - Shashanka - reigning around 606.

Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire

The first Buddhist Pala king of Bengal, Gopala-I came to power in 750 in Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. The dynasty's most powerful kings, Dharampala (reigned 775-810) and Devapala (reigned 810-850) united Bengal and made the Pala family one of the most important dynasties in ninth-century India. Internecine strife during the reign of Narayanpala (reigned 854-908) and administrative excesses led to the decline of the dynasty.

A brief revival of the kingdom under Mahipala I (reigned 977-1027) ended in battle against the powerful, South Indian Chola kingdom. The rise of the Chandra dynasty in southern Bengal expedited the decline of the Palas, and the last Pala king, Madanpala, died in 1161.

The Malla dynasty emerged in Bengal in the seventh century, although they only rose to prominence in the 10th century under Jagat Malla who moved his capital to Vishnupur. Unlike the Buddhist Palas and Chandras, the Hindu Mallas worshipped first the Hindu god Shiva, then the Hindu god Vishnu. The Mallas built temples and spectacular religious monuments during their rule in Bengal.

Under the Sena dynasty, which lasted from 1095 to 1260, Bengali emerged as a distinct and important language in northern India, and Hinduism began to displace older Buddhism.

Muslim rule

Bengal in 1760 is represented by light pink.

The Turkic invasion of India (including Bengal) came in the early 13th century. The invaders defeated the Sena king Laxmansena at his capital, Nabadwip in 1203 (1204?) The Deva family — the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal — ruled briefly in eastern Bengal, although they were suppressed by the mid-fourteenth century.

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 Afghan and Turkish rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Moghul rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.

In 1534, the Afghan 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 as he established the most powerful Bengali kingdom that would ever exist, stretching far into Panjab. 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.

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 center of Indian culture and trade shifted from Delhi to Calcutta when the Mughal Empire fell.

Dutch colonies

British Rule

Bengal in 1893 before the partition, which includes Calcutta

Eastern Bengal in around 1909

Scarcely five years into the Company's rule, the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770, one of the greatest famines of history occurred. Up to a third of the population died in 1770 and subsequent years.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule by the Company with the direct control of Bengal by the British crown.

A centre of rice cultivation as well as fine cotton called muslin and the world's main source of jute fibre, Bengal, from the 1850s became one of India's principal centres of industry, concentrated in the capital Kolkata (known as Calcutta under the British, always called 'Kolkata' in the native tongue of Bengali) and its emerging cluster of suburbs. Most of the population nevertheless remained dependent on agriculture, and despite its leading role in Indian political and intellectual activity, the province included some very undeveloped districts, especially in the east. In 1877, when Victoria took the title of "Empress of India", the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British Raj.

India's most populous province (and one of the most active provinces in freedom fighting), in 1905 Bengal was divided by the British rulers for administrative purposes into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and Orissa) and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) (1905 Partition of Bengal). Hindu - Muslim conflict became stronger through this partition. While Hindu Indians disagreed with the partition saying it was a way of dividing a Bengal which is united by language and history, Muslims supported it by saying it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will be majority and they can freely practice their religion as well as their culture. But owing to strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited east and west Bengal in 1912, and made Bihar and Orissa separate provinces.

Another major famine occurred during the second world war, the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated 3 million people died.

Two Independences

Modern day Dhaka in Bangladesh

As partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in 1947, Bengal again split into the state of West Bengal of secular India and a Muslim region of East Bengal under Pakistan (renamed East Pakistan in 1958)( 1947 Partition of Bengal). East Pakistan (East Bengal) later rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become independent republic of Bangladesh, literally "Land of Bengal", after a war of independence against the Pakistani army in 1971. West Bengal remains a part of India. However, culturally and sociologically, the two segments of Bengal share considerably more than just a single language.

Bengal experienced two devastating famines costing millions of lives in 1770 and 1943. Bengal (both W. Bengal and Bangladesh) is one of the most densely populated regions of the world.

Ruling houses of Bengal

Pala Dynasty

* Gopala I c. 750-c. 770
* Dharmapala c. 770-c. 810
* Devapala c. 810-c. 850
* Vigrahapala I c. 850-c. 875
* Narayanapala c. 875-c. 908
* Rajyapala c. 908-c. 935
* Gopala II c. 935-c. 952
* Vigrahapala II c. 952-c. 988
* Mahipala I c. 988-c. 1038
* Nayapala c. 1038-c. 1055
* Vigrahapala III c. 1055-c. 1070
* Mahipala II c. 1070-c. 1075
* Shurapala c. 1075-c. 1077
* Ramapala c. 1077-c. 1120
* Kumarapala c. 1120-c. 1125
* Gopala III c. 1125-c. 1144
* Madanapala c. 1144-c. 1161

Sena Dynasty

* Ballal Sen c. 1161-c. 1178
* Lakshman Sen c. 1178-c. 1205
* Vishwrup Sen c. 1205-c. 1220
* Keshavar Sen c. 1220-c. 1250

Ilyas Dynasty (1st period)

* Bughra Khan 1282-1291
* Kai Ka'us 1291-1298
* Firuz Shah I 1298-1318
* Bughra 1318-1319 (in West Bengal)
* Bahadur 1318-1330 (in East Bengal,in West Bengal 1319-1323)
* Ibrahim 1323-1325 (in West Bengal)
* Azam ul-Mulk 1323-1339 (in Satgaon)
* Bahram Shah 1324-1336 (in East Bengal)
* Qadr Khan 1325-1339 (in West Bengal)
* Mubarrak Shah 1336-1349 (in East Bengal)
* Ali Shah 1339-1345 (in West Bengal)
* Ilyas Shah 1345-1357 (in West Bengal, in whole Bengal from 1352)
* Ghazi Shah 1349-1352 (in East Bengal)
* Sikandar I 1357-1390
* Azam 1369-1410 - opponent of Sikandar I
* Hamza 1410-1412
* Bayazid I 1412-1414
* Firuz II 1414-1415

Ganesa Dynasty

* Raja Ganesh 1415-1418
* Mohammed 1418-1431
* Ahmad 1431-1436

Ilyas Dynasty (restored)

* Mahmud I (Nasiruddin Abul Muzaffar Mahmud Shah) 1437-1459
* Barbak I 1459-1474
* Yusuf 1474-1481
* Sikandar II 1481
* Fath Shah 1481-1486

Habshis Dynasty

* Barbak II 1486-1487
* Firuz III 1487-1489
* Mahmud II 1489-1490
* Muzaffar 1490-1494

Husaini Dynasty

* Aladdin Husain 1494-1518
* Nusrat 1518-1533
* Firuz IV 1533
* Mahmud III 1533-1538

Suri Dynasty

* Sher Shah 1539-1540
* Khidr 1540-1545
* Mohammed Khan 1545-1555
* Bahadur 1555-1561
* Jalal 1561-1564

Karani (Kararani) Dynasty

* Sulaiman 1564-1572
* Bayazid II 1572
* Daoud 1572-1576

Nawabs of Bengal

* Murshid Quli Djafar Khan 1703-1727
* Shoja ud-Din 1727-1739
* Safaraz Khan 1739-1740
* Ali Vardi Khan 1740-1756
* Siraj Ud Daulah 1756-1757
* Mir Djafar 1757-1760
* Mir Qasim 1760-1763
* Mir Djafar (Second time) 1763-1765
* Najm ud-Dawlah 1765-1766
* Saif ud-Dawlah 1766-1770

Sources, references and external links

*Banglapedia- specialised site
*www.hostkingdom.net- List of rulers of Bengal
*WorldStatesmen- here India

Maps

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at University of Texas at Austin Libraries

*India 1700-1792 from The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923:*India 1760 from The Public Schools Historical Atlas edited by C. Colbeck. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1905:*India 1882 from A Dictionary Practical, Theoretical, and Historical of Commerce and Commercial Navigation by J.R. M'Culloch. Longmans, Green and Co. London, 1882

Bengal: Encyclopedia BETA

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