The Blue or Indigo Mutiny of 1861, was an outpouring of anger by Indian peasants coerced into cultivating the unprofitable indigo crop by British planters.
The necessity that was felt a few days after the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh was that of a Government which could take upon itself the burden of directing the liberation struggle.
In 1976, a mass procession led by a nearly 80-year-old peasant leader, Maulana Bhasani, from Dhaka to the Indo-Bangladesh Border drew huge attention from national and international media.
British administrator and archaeologist Alexander Cunningham, who served as the first director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), founded in 1861, conducted the first archaeological survey in 1862-1863, followed by the second one in 1889-1891.
Both my parents had been actively engaged in the struggle for the liberation of Algeria from French colonialism. A few months after its independence, we left France to live in Algiers, sharing the house with two Algerian families whose women, Fatima and Jima, were like other mothers to me.
“People here grumble and say that the heart of the Poet in Meghanad is with the Rakhasas. And that is the real truth. I despise Ram and his rabble; but the idea of Ravan, elevates and kindles my imagination; he was a grand fellow.”
Pierre Alain-Baud, (Pyaro), the author of Le Messager du Qawwali (Voix du Monde) (Demi Lune 2008), and Kazi Abdullah Al Muktadir, the book’s Bangla translator in Shahen Shah E Qawwali: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Pathak Shamabesh 2022) talked with Nazia Manzoor, Editor of the Daily Star Books. The authors shared anecdotes. What started out as a fun experiment, ended as a lasting experience in the hearts of all of us who were present that day.
There has not been much research on to what extent the shadow of 1971 has been reflected in Bangla literature.
The Daily Star (TDS): Congratulations on being honored with the prestigious 2023 AXA IM Research Award. We are eager to learn more about the specific accomplishments that led to this recognition and the impactful work for which you are being celebrated.
Indians in general are by and large unabashedly proud of India’s role in, and contribution to Bangladesh’s Independence, which came about at the end of 1971.
The Pakistani occupation army wrote a black chapter in the history of our War of Liberation on the 14th-15th December, 1971 by killing intellectuals in Dhaka city in a planned way.
Haraprasad Shastri (1853-1931, Bhattacharya was the original family name) was a Sanskrit scholar, commonly referred to as a ‘pundit.
We hear a lot about the COP meetings in the media. Most of what we hear is generally around the time when these meetings of high-ranking officials from most of the countries of the world are held, usually late November or early December.