Steam Power and Scientific Knowledge in Early British Bengal
In Europe, steam power evolved gradually and uncertainly over the course of the eighteenth century, with innovative peaks and long plateaus, from Thomas Savery’s steam pump (1698) via Thomas Newcomen’s reciprocating atmospheric engine (1712) to James Watt and Matthew Boulton’s double-acting rotative steam engine with a separate condenser (1765-90).
Rabindranath Tagore and the creation of national identity
Rabindranath Tagore is perhaps the only poet whose songs were chosen as the national anthems of two countries: India and Bangladesh.
Silencing the subaltern voice
Historian Willem van Schendel divides the historiography of the War of 1971 into two broad categories: i) first-generation historiographies and ii) second-generation historiographies.
The Weeping King: How Hindustani Music flourished in colonial Bengal
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.
Tea-Tokens: A forgotten chapter in the history of tea plantations
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.
The political origin of hunger in Bangladesh
Historical evidence suggests that almost every year before independence in 1971, present-day Bangladesh consistently grappled with a widespread shortage of food grains.
SOULS: Through the eyes of its founder, Sazed Ul Alam
I returned to Chattogram from the Liberation War on December 20, 1971 with my nephew,
Syed Mujtaba Ali between Bengal and Afghanistan
Historically, Afghanistan, and its cities Kabul and Peshawar, were central in the Mughal imagination as the space where the idea of Hindustan took shape.
Reflecting on ‘Amar Dekha Rajnitir Ponchash Bochor’
As I delved into the autobiographical works of Abul Mansur Ahmad, it became evident that he had a penchant for plain speaking, avoiding embellishments.
The Portrayal and Relevance of Women in Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Novels
Kazi Nazrul Islam is our National Poet, but, in addition to writing poetry and composing songs, he also wrote fiction. In fact, Nazrul’s first publication was not poetry, but the short story “Baundeler Atmakahini” (The Autobiography of a Vagabond), published in Saogat in May 1919.
The many meanings of Partition 1947 and beyond
My memory is again in the way of your history. Agha Shahid Ali
My heart doesn’t desire to speak about Sultan
I had once written extensively about S.M. Sultan. Why? Because it felt essential to make our ‘art authorities’ aware that he was a rare talent, although many were unwilling to accept it. Thus, the pen became my last resort.
“The Ever-Falling Darkness of History”
In the opening years of the twentieth century, Abanindranath Tagore (1871– 1951), Rabindranath’s nephew and a prominent artist living at the Tagore palazzo in Calcutta, Jorasanko, made a trio of paintings depicting the Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58) at different stages of his life, together with his great monument to love, the Taj Mahal.
