“I firmly believe in the profound impact of music, dance, and acting on shaping people’s thoughts and emotions.
I deem it a great privilege and pleasure to preside over this Convocation of the University of Dacca; and to join you in offering my blessings and good wishes for the success and prosperity of those graduates who have been admitted to various degrees today.
In a jungle by a wide river bank, a small group is sitting amongst the dangling roots of a luscious banyan tree. The single-stringed ektara, four-stringed dotara, wood-bead necklace mala, hand-spunned bright-coloured cotton gamccha and white outfits identify the members as Bauls, the traditional mystic musicians of Bangladesh.
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.
South Asia is one of the most intensely multilingual regions in the world. It covers over 5 million square kilometres, has a population of approximately 1.9 billion (around 25% of the world’s population), and is home to five families of languages (the Indo-European, Iranian, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic or Munda, and Tibeto-Burman).
The fishermen communities of Bengal were diverse with regional variations. Apart from Malos, Kaibartas, Bagdis, and Pods, the numerically significant fishermen sub-castes, there were many other smaller and localized communities involved in fishing.
“Ding dong ding dong,” an irregular bell continued to resound within Dhaka Central Jail on a Monday at around 3 a.m. This unusual and disquieting disturbance echoed throughout various cells and wards, catching the incarcerated off guard.
Fazlul Huq is a largely forgotten politician in West Bengal. The apparent indifference towards Huq in West Bengal or India can be partly explained by the unfortunate vivisection of India in 1947.
The Medieval period in Bengal was noteworthy for its amazing religious syncretism, with the fusion of Shaiva, Shakta, and Vaishnava cults with regional folk traditions.
The riverine area of Bengal has held a significant position in Indian Ocean trade for centuries and has also given rise to different narratives about the region in European accounts.
In 1870, a song collector from Calcutta called Nanda Lal Sharma flicked through the pages of his newly published book, Sangit Sutra. In the central pages was a thumri lyric, set to the rag Alhaiya Khamaj.
The emergence of tea as a beverage in India is a unique social event in history. Sylhet, Assam, Cachar, Dooars, and Darjeeling were preferred for tea production, considering the hill climate favorable for tea production.