Namasudra ( Bengali : নমঃশূদ্র ), earlier known as Chandal, is an Avarna Bengali Hindu community originating from eastern and central Bengal . The term Chandal or Chandala is usually considered as a slur. They were traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, and later in cultivation. They lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system and thus were outcastes .
104-428: There is a dearth of discussion as to the etymology of the word namasudra in pre-nineteenth-century Bengali literature and its period of origin is also undetermined. Several theories have been suggested but there is no broad consensus supporting any of them. The Namasudra community was considered as untouchable in the eyes of the caste Hindu communities. They were traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, in
208-438: A bid to redefine the local power structure failed to garner much because the poorer Chandals had to return to their previous employers after a few months, often agreeing to more harrowing work conditions. The social discrimination continued. Joya Chatterjee says that henceforth they "battled continuously to improve their ritual position" in society and later claimed the "more respectable title of 'Namasudra' and Brahmin status". It
312-487: A broader sense, also called Brahmanisation, it is a historical process in which local Indian religious traditions become syncretised , or aligned to and absorbed within the Brahmanical religion , resulting in the pan-Indian religion of Hinduism . Srinivas defined Sanskritisation as a process by which a low or middle Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology, and way of life in
416-632: A conscious identity of their original identity. A prominent Namasudra leader, Pramatha Ranjan Thakur , who was once elected to the Constituent Assembly with Congress support and opposed reservation for the Scheduled Castes whilst advocating drastic social reforms, emerged as a political and spiritual figure-head during the refugee crisis. He was the guru of the Matua Mahasangha (MM), which his great-grandfather had established, and thus had
520-453: A depressed classes representative among the nominated non-official members of the Bengal Legislative Council. Meanwhile, Congress hardly invested any ground efforts, other than at verbal lobbying and behind-the-scenes work and much of their work were horribly ill-timed. In the Khulna famine of 1920, whilst the colonial government sought to mobilise relief,
624-558: A huge following among the Namasudras. In December 1947, he purchased a piece of land in North 24-Parganas , about 63 km (39 mi) from Kolkata , between Chandpara and Gobordanga , and started a venture for purposes of refugee rehabilitation. This led to the establishment of Thakurnagar , the first Dalit-refugee colony in India started by Dalits themselves. The locality grew in size and within
728-838: A lot like what it currently is. Ramai Pandit and Halayudh Misra were notable writers of this period. Muslim writers were exploring different themes through narratives and epics such as religion, culture, cosmology, love and history; often taking inspiration from or translating Arabic and Persian literary works such as the Thousand and One Nights and the Shahnameh . The literary romantic tradition saw poems by Shah Muhammad Sagir on Yusuf and Zulaikha , as well as works of Zainuddin and Sabirid Khan. The Dobhashi culture introduced Arabic and Persian vocabulary into Bengali texts to illustrate Muslim stories. Epic poetry included Nabibangsha by Syed Sultan and Rasul Bijoy by Shah Barid. Chandidas
832-464: A month and resulted in the arrests of 30,000 refugees. Most were camp-refugees and 70 per cent of them were Namasudras. Gradually, the campaign, as to an acceptable solution of the refugee issues began to lose momentum as the organisations were more interested in exploiting the refugee-base, as an exercise in electoral constituency building for the political parties. By 1965, 7,500 refugee families were forcibly settled there and because of their dispersal,
936-500: A political movement that supposedly catered to the interests of the upper class and had no plan of social reform. The colonial government often provided extensive economic patronage and took steps in reforming their social condition by constructing educational hostels, exclusive-schools et al. which penetrated deep down the community. This was in contrary to the nationalists who were too apathetic to these causes and seldom helped them, in their times of distress. The Namasudras thus rejected
1040-402: A resolution that also called for prohibition against default-employment of Chandals in menial duties in state-jails and together, the call for boycott was spread in the name of an order from the government. Further that, any Chandal who did not abide by it was threatened with intra-community ostracism, the movement gained huge support across a wide region. This first rebellion in the community in
1144-412: A resolution that the community would be loyal to the crown and that it supported Montague-Chelmsford reforms, in the sense that further distribution of powers would re-concentrate power in a few hands and would not lead to any progress for the backward castes. The nationalists promised the establishment of equality, democracy and reforms in the new home-ruled-state but failed to instill any confidence within
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#17328811473811248-521: A result of starvation, exhaustion et al. Usage of mercenaries and mass-rapes were also reported. No criminal charges were laid against anyone and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission, in its annual report denied the happening of any atrocity on the Untouchables in Bengal. Matua Mahasangha has transformed itself into a major socio-religious organisation and has one of its major aims as to mobilisation of
1352-407: A sense of self-respect. They gradually demanded elevated social status, including a right of entry to Kayastha-organised pujas and a two-thirds share of the crops grown. They began to refuse to work for lower-caste Hindu and Muslim landlords and also boycotted the upper caste Hindus. Overall, Sekhara Bandyopadhyay has noted a distinct theme of sanskritisation in the dynamics of the caste. Meanwhile,
1456-465: A settlement at Marichjhapi, which included such things as schools, health centres, and fishing industries. The government declared the establishment to be illegal, as a contravention of the prohibitions on permanent settlement in the Forest Acts, and asked them to abandon the settlement to protect the ecological diversity of the region. As the persuasion failed to convince them, beginning 26 January 1979,
1560-436: A total boycott of foreign goods, the Namasudras thought differently. A series of resolutions by community leaders and multiple submissions to British authorities during 1906 affirmed their complete support for the partition scheme, through which they hoped to obtain equal rights in the proposed eastern state where they, along with Muslims, dominated the populace. It was on this issue that the bhadralok politicians of Bengal faced
1664-481: Is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper castes. It is a process similar to "passing" in sociological terms. This term was made popular by Indian sociologist M. N. Srinivas in the 1950s. Sanskritisation has in particular been observed among mid-ranked members of caste-based social hierarchies. In
1768-915: Is accompanied by Tapesh Ranjan Mitra, regarded by his nickname 'Topshe' by Feluda and Lalmohan Ganguly . Ray also created the characters Professor Shonku and Tarini Khuro , a revolutionary scientist and an adventurer and storyteller respectively. Additionally, others who left marks include Narayan Sanyal , Buddhadeb Guha , Mahashweta Devi , Nirendranath Chakraborty , Samaresh Majumdar , Samaresh Basu , Suchitra Bhattacharya , Purusottom Kumar Debnath, Nabaneeta Dev Sen , Syed Mustafa Siraj , Baren Gangopadhyay, Amiya Bhushan Mazumdar , Debesh Roy , Atin Bandyopadhyay , Shankha Ghosh , Shakti Chattopadhyay , Moti Nandi , Kamal Kumar Majumdar , Shankar , Malay Roy Choudhury , Pranabkumar Chattopadhyay,Editor Kledajakusum , Haripada Mondal, and Bani Basu . Sanskritisation Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization )
1872-400: Is also famous for short stories. Some famous short story writers are Rabindranath Tagore , Manik Bandopadhyay , Tarashankar Bandopadhyay , Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay , Rajshekhar Basu (Parasuram), Syed Mujtaba Ali , Premendra Mitra , Bengal is also known for its detective stories and novels written by Satyajit Ray , Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and others. Rajshekhar Basu (1880–1960)
1976-595: Is chiefly a translation of the 10th and 11th cantos of the Bhagavata Purana , is the earliest Bengali narrative poem that can be assigned to a definite date. Composed between 1473 and 1480 C.E., it is also the oldest Bengali narrative poem of the Krishna legend. The Ramayana , under the title of Sri Rama Panchali , was translated by Krittibas Ojha . Bengali literature flourished in Arakan following its reconquest . It
2080-454: Is fixed for all time. Movement has always been possible, and especially in the middle regions of the hierarchy . A caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism, and by Sanskritising its ritual and pantheon. In short, it took over, as far as possible, the customs, rites, and beliefs of the Brahmins, and adoption of
2184-529: Is of Hindu Jat in rural North India who did Sanskritisation with the help of Arya Samaj as a part of a social upliftment effort. An unsuccessful example is the Vishwakarma caste's claim to Brahmin status, which is not generally accepted outside that community, despite their adoption of some Brahmin caste traits, such as wearing the sacred thread , and the Brahminisation of their rituals. Srinivas juxtaposed
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#17328811473812288-638: Is probably the only bilingual (Bengali -English) literary movement in India mothered by Bengali literature, that has spread its wings worldwide through the participation of well known international avant-garde writers and mail artists such as Richard Kostelanetz , John M. Bennett , Sheila Murphy , Don Webb , with notable Bengali poets, writers and artists like Vattacharja Chandan. Humayun Ahmed , created his own style of simplistic writing that became immensely popular. His characters like Himu, Misir Ali, Baker Bhai etc. continue to be household names loved by all. His teacher, Natyaguru Nurul Momen , regarded as
2392-751: Is the Charyapada , a collection of Buddhist mystic songs in Old Bengali dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The timeline of Bengali literature is divided into three periods: ancient (650–1200), medieval (1200–1800) and modern (after 1800). Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Hindu religious scriptures (e.g. Mangalkavya ), Islamic epics (e.g. works of Syed Sultan and Abdul Hakim ), Vaishnava texts (e.g. biographies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ), translations of Arabic , Persian and Sanskrit texts, and secular texts by Muslim poets (e.g. works of Alaol ). Novels were introduced in
2496-1023: The Rabindra Puraskar , the highest literary award of Paschimbanga in 1955 for Krishnakali Ityadi Galpa . Rajsheskhar was also a noted lexicographer, translator and essayist. His Chalantika (1937) is one of the most popular concise Bengali dictionaries, while his Bengali-language translations of Meghaduta (1943), the Ramayana (1946), the Mahabharata (1949) and the Bhagavat Gita (1961) are also acclaimed. His major essays are included in Laghuguru (1939) and Bichinta (1955). Other three well-known authors of that time were Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay , Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay and Manik Bandyopadhyay ; popularly known as Bandyopadhyay Troyee (Trio of Bandyopadhyay s). Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay , who wrote under
2600-514: The Vedic Period . However, modern research disputes their opinion for a variety of reasons, including that the main habitat of the modern community in Eastern Bengal was largely outside the core region of Brahmanical civilisation, that regional texts did not refer to them as untouchables and indeed nor was untouchability rigidly practised in Bengal. Furthermore, the modern community does not occupy
2704-826: The anthropologists also use the term Kshatriyisation and Rajputisation in place of Sanskritisation. Sanskritisation is often aimed to claim the Varna status of Brahmin or Kshatriyas, the two prestigious Varna of the Vedic-age Varna system. One of the main example of it is various non-elite pastoral communities like Ahir , Gopa , Ahar , Goala etc. who adopted the Yadav word as part of Sanskritisation effort to gain upward mobility in society during late 19th century to early 20th century. Similar attempts were made by communities who were historically classed as non-elite tillers like Kurmi and various communities like Koeri , Murao etc. from
2808-564: The 1880s, Chatterjee critically analysed Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita as well as the problems of Krishnaism from a historical perspective in his Dharmatattva and Krishna Charitra . Romesh Chunder Dutt and Mir Mosharraf Hossain are notable for their works of fiction. Girish Chandra Ghosh and Dwijendralal Ray were prominent playwrights of the time, whereas Akshay Kumar Boral and Ramendra Sundar Tribedi are famous for their influential essays. Rassundari Devi authored
2912-479: The 1920s when mass-nationalism affected the entire country and Gandhi extensively campaigned to include the lower strata of society in the Congress fold, Namasudra-dominated districts were mostly unaffected. The leaders of the movement steadfastly rejected whiffs of nationalism, which they believed to be another tool designed for the interests of wealthy upper-caste Bhadraloks . Resolutions were again passed that supported
3016-526: The Brahminic way of life by a low caste seems to have been frequent, though theoretically forbidden. This process has been called ‘Sanskritisation’ in this book, in preference to ‘Brahminisation’, as certain Vedic rites are confined to the Brahmins and the two other twice-born castes. The book challenged the then prevalent idea that caste was a rigid and unchanging institution. The concept of Sanskritisation addressed
3120-577: The British Raj from the time of the Swadeshi period (1905–11) and thus they did not participate much in that movement. That it was heralded by politicians from the high-caste bhadralok community, who cared little for the lower classes, further broadened the gaps. In July 1905, the British government validated a proposal for partitioning Bengal along religious lines. Whilst the Congress protested this and asked for
3224-418: The British confederacy and in some places the Namasudras actively helped the colonial government to foil Congress. The colonial government further satisfied the community, as it introduced reservation(s) for the lower-classes in provincial services, thus providing employment opportunities and vouched for a proper representation of them. The Government of India Act of 1919 provided for the inclusion of
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3328-482: The Congress went on to continue the Non-cooperation at full zeal and was blamed for increasing the fatalities. The Bengal Namasudra Conference in 1922 and 1923 further heightened the anti-nationalist stance and planned a definite agenda that encompassed both social and political upliftment of the community. Whilst, Gandhi attracted some admirers due to his social stances, his views offered no political aspirations for
3432-524: The Hindu bhadralok community did identify themselves with those sects, they were branded as exotic and subsequently came to be rejected by other sections of the society. In the 1870s, the Chandals of Bakarganj and Faridpur started a boycott of caste Hindus, (apart from Brahmins), as a form of social-protest, when their higher caste neighbours refused to accept an invitation to dine from a Chandal headman. They passed
3536-412: The Hindu narrative, and many Namasudras associated with the views of the Hindu solidarity, there was still a lack of consensus among the masses. In fact, there was a strong discontent among Namasudras that they have been supposedly cheated by the enumerators of the 1941 census where they were recorded as Hindus instead of mere Namasudras. But, by 1947, a majority of Namasudras actively associated them with
3640-563: The Hindus and that the partition was inevitable, their primary aim was to keep their habitat- the districts of Bakarganj, Faridpur, Jessore and Khulna within the Hindu majority province of West Bengal. But they managed to maintain a separate caste identity throughout. Ultimately, the efforts of the campaign failed to achieve much of its desired goal because districts that were mostly inhabited by Namasudras went to East Bengal despite vehement protestations by them. Overall, whilst these attempts at altering
3744-505: The Home-rule Movement. They saw the movement as a plan, hatched among the upper-caste leaders, to snatch the minimal levels of power that has been assigned to them by the colonial government and claimed the Congress leaders to be a small band of vociferous people from organised castes, without any touch to reality. A meeting of Namasudra delegates, who were supposedly elected, in a democratic manner from different regions of Bengal, passed
3848-521: The Matua sect, which was established by Harichand Thakur in the late nineteenth century among the community in the eastern India (and later organised by his son) played a major role in bringing cohesion to the Namasudra community, in terms of faith. Born to a devout Vaishnava family, he gained initial reputation as a spiritual healer and later claimed to be a reincarnation of God, with a duty to ensure salvation of
3952-476: The Namasudra community and other backward classes was gradually inculcated as an agency of the colonial government, after it applied for a government grant to overcome fund shortage. The Namasudra community was unaware of these institutional developments and all the good work that was done by the Mission, was attributed to the colonial government. The Namsudras maintained a more aggressive anti-nationalist stance during
4056-410: The Namasudras even sided with Muslims against the socio-economic oppression of Hindu zamindars but it was again branded as a communal riot. The Bengal Congress also contributed to the cause. Nonetheless, the organised efforts to articulate the Hindu identity somewhat worked and some of the riots did have a religious flavor. Gradually, whilst many leaders of the caste-movement increasingly associated with
4160-560: The Namasudras, against social oppression. Islam followed by Christianity (which was widely prevalent in the Namasudra-belts, courtesy the missionaries) was majorly responsible for granting them a newer dimension of self-respect. The non-orthodox variants of the Bhakti movement, that aligned with the Sahajiya tradition and sought to encompass the downtrodden sections into the society, also catalysed
4264-431: The Namasudras, as a guiding faith. Various local socio-religious figureheads (Kalachand Vidyalankar, Sahlal Pir, Keshab Pagal et al.), who sought to repudiate the caste( varna ) system, further impressed upon large sections of the Namasudra population. The Namasudras, thus, successfully strived to carve out an autonomous niche in the social fabric of Bengal, where the distinction of caste was obliterated but that none from
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4368-409: The Namasudras, who were till-then a closely knit community, as to local-geography, lost their capacity to organise powerful protest movements. The conditions across Dandakaranya camps were extremely poor and that the refugees not only failed to integrate with the native Adivasis but also had to deal with a corrupt government mechanism made survival more difficult. Bandyopadhyay has noted that throughout
4472-472: The Shakespeare of Bangladesh was the pioneer in simultaneously three fields of literature:- Playwrighting, Belle Lettres & Satire. Other prominent writers include Muhammed Zafar Iqbal , Humayun Azad , Ahmed Sofa , Selina Hossain , Taslima Nasreen , and many others. Waliullah Bhuiyan is one of the modern-era authors and publishers in the children literature of Bangladesh. His books and stories are some of
4576-599: The actual complexity and fluidity of caste relations. It brought into academic focus the dynamics of the renegotiation of status by various castes and communities in India. According to Jaffrelot 2005 , p. 33, a similar heuristic was previously described by Ambedkar (1916, 1917). Jaffrelot goes on to say, "While the term was coined by Srinivas, the process itself had been described by colonial administrators such as E. T. Atkinson in his Himalayan Gazetteer and Alfred Lyall , in whose works Ambedkar might well have encountered it." Virginius Xaxa notes that sometimes
4680-516: The average voters to partake in modern-day-politics. Subsequently, they lost all the seats, even in the electorates where the Namasudras heavily dominated the numbers. This was also attributed to the developments of fissures in the movement, that was extremely united thus far, when two famed Namasudra leaders switched loyalties to the Swaraj Party and a division began to form along nationalist lines. The steadfast attitude towards nationalism, throughout
4784-515: The best-selling books in Bangladesh. He started Goofi Books – where he writes and publishes children books focusing on developing values, empathy, creativity among children. West Bengal Bengali literature was influenced by a flock of modernist thinkers who steered Bangla literature. Sunil Gangopadhyay , a poet, novelist, and children's story writer, was one of the most prolific writers of his time. Satyajit Ray created his own detective Feluda , who
4888-564: The body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali has developed over the course of roughly 1,400 years. If the emergence of the Bengali literature supposes to date back to roughly 650 AD, the development of Bengali literature claims to be 1600 years old. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature
4992-435: The colonial ethnographers choose to coalesce several such low-ranking occupational sub-castes into one caste, without taking the regional variations into account and assigned a fixed social rank to of all Namasudra-Chandals, (something which Bernard Cohn later described as the "objectification" of colonial culture) and falsely stereotyped the entire community as universally despised. Overall,
5096-533: The colonial government to implement the proposal in 1918, the colonial government took advantage of the ignorance of the general masses as to the proceedings that happened behind the door and usurped an image of benevolence. This further drifted the community away from nationalist causes. The same events happened in another case, when the Depressed Classes Mission, (which worked for nationalist causes) and ran about 60 schools in different parts of Bengal, for
5200-480: The community have been reported to have fared quite well, post 1980 but despite their educational and social progress, the class remained politically marginal for a long span of time but have often actively negotiated with mainstream political parties for political empowerment. Beginning the utilisation of the network of the MMS, by All India Trinamool Congress , (which included nominating family members of PR Thakur as MLAs),
5304-479: The community. At the 1917 session of Congress, a resolution was passed that emphasised the necessity, justice and righteousness of removing all disabilities imposed by custom on the Depressed Classes. One Namasudra delegate was convinced to support the demand for Home-Rule but the community generally was not swayed by mere symbolic actions and the delegate was subsequently criticised as a Congress stooge. Even in
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#17328811473815408-579: The country, led to a build-up of insecurity among the Namasudras. From around January 1950, the Namasudra peasants decided to migrate to India in large numbers and this continued until 1956, with about 10,000 refugees entering every month. Retaliatory communal violence across both sides of the border also contributed to the cause. There was again a mass migration after the Hazratbal riot in 1964. A police intelligence report in June 1952 reported that "About 95 per cent of
5512-516: The course of next few days. Finally, as the efforts by the local-police-machinery failed to address the issue in its entirety, the Government ordered a forcible evacuation of the refugees in a 48-hour span from 14 May 1979 to 16 May 1979, in what was called the Marichjhapi Massacre by the scholarly community. Several hundred refugees died in numerous police-firings whilst many more perished as
5616-442: The court, and Alaol finished off Qazi's romance as the latter had died before managing to complete it. Heyat Mahmud , a judge by profession, is considered to be the last poet of Middle Bengali literature. The modern period of Bengali literature can roughly be categorized into six phases. The first Bangla books to be printed were those written by Christian missionaries. Dom Antonio 's Brahmin-Roman-Catholic Sambad, for example,
5720-438: The culture of writing to communicate novel ideals made rapid growth. Michael Madhusudan Datta 's first epic Tilottama Sambhab Kabya published in 1860 was the first Bengali poem written in blank verse . Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was considered one of the leading Bengali novelists and essayists of the 19th century. He also wrote Vande Mataram , the national song of India, which appears in his novel Anandamath (1882). In
5824-509: The development of the Hindu synthesis , in which the Brahmanical tradition absorbed local popular traditions of ritual and ideology. According to Srinivas, Sanskritisation is not just the adoption of new customs and habits, but also includes exposure to new ideas and values appearing in Sanskrit literature. He says the words Karma , dharma , papa , maya , samsara , and moksha are
5928-409: The direction of a high and frequently twice-born caste. Generally such changes are followed by a claim to a higher position in the caste hierarchy than that traditionally conceded to the claimant class by the local community..." In a broader sense, Sanskritisation is the process whereby local or regional forms of culture and religion – local deities, rituals, literary genres – become identified with
6032-423: The dispersed Namasudra community and to convert Thakurnagar into a new cultural and spiritual hub for a Namasudra renaissance. In 2010, it claimed to have nearly 50 million members, belonging to 100 to 120 thousand families. On the occasion of baruni mela – the major festival of the sect – lakhs of devotees from all over India were reported to visit Thakurnagar, in the sort of an annual pilgrimage. The members of
6136-458: The downtrodden. A cult was gradually developed, which opposed the idea of social hierarchy along with several other Hindu religio-cultural aspects (Gurubad, mantras, idol-worship etc.). Instead, a theme of social equality denouncing untouchability and gender discrimination was put forward. The devotional songs, that were sung in form of Kirtans and namgaan, also helped to collectively reinforce a common congregational identity among themselves. Whilst
6240-585: The emergence of Tagore culture, and the burgeoning preference for literary elegance and refinement in Bengali society. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 's Vande Mataram played a vital role in the Indian independence movement and he is widely respected in India. His novels are popular to a lesser extent in Bangladesh. Bankim Memorial Award is the highest literary award which is given by the Government of West Bengal , India. Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam are
6344-472: The entire populace of the nation and gradually transcended into mass-movements, parties started extensive lobbying for the causes of the Namasudra. This was first visible in 1913, as to the setting up a hostel for the students from Namasudra community in Kolkata, who faced immense hardship in securing lodging facilities. Ironically, whilst it was the extensive nationalist lobbying throughout the years that persuaded
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#17328811473816448-400: The extreme lowest tier of the society, unlike the historical tribe, and their social status varied widely from region to region, especially with regard to their material wealth. The more modern community comprises around twelve endogamous sub-castes, most of whom were derived from the occupational traits of the members and was entitled to differential social-status. But
6552-1134: The first full-fledged autobiography in modern Bengali literature in 1876. The pre-Tagore era also saw an undercurrent of popular literature which was focused on daily life in contemporary Bengal. The prose style, as well as the humour in these works, were often crass, blunt and accessible. A masterpiece in this regard was "Hutom Pechar Naksha" (The Sketch of the Owl) written by Kaliprasanna Singha , and satirically depicts "Babu" culture in 19th century Kolkata. Other notable works in this regard are "Alaler Ghorer Dulal" (The Spoilt Brat) by Peary Chand Mitra , " Ramtanu Lahiri o tatkalin Banga shamaj" (Ramtanu Lahiri & contemporary Bengali society) by Shibnath Shastri and "Naba Babu Bilas" & "Naba Bibi Bilas" by Bhabanicharan Bandopadhyay. These books arguably portrayed contemporary Bengali dialect and popular society effectively, and also incorporated now-extinct music genres such as Khisti, Kheur and Kabiyal gaan by stalwarts like Rupchand Pakhi and Bhola Moyra. Books like these have become rarer since
6656-399: The first resistance from a community previously insignificant in the broader polity of the nation. Swadeshi leaders reacted by touring extensively in the Namasudra areas, trying to persuade them to join the agitation and, if that failed, bribing, intimidating and coercing them by such means as constructing schools. But the community leaders, including Guruchand, were steadfast against supporting
6760-474: The great tradition of Sanskrit literature and culture: namely the culture and religion of orthodox, Aryan, Brahmans, which accepts the Veda as revelation and, generally, adheres to varrṇāśrama-dharma . In this process, local traditions (little traditions) become integrated into the great tradition of Brahmanical religion, disseminating Sanskrit texts and Brahmanical ideas throughout India, and abroad. This facilitated
6864-476: The group managed to establish an independent identity in politics. TMC did succeed in consolidating Matua votes in its favour in the 2011 state-elections and the consolidation has been attributed to be a cause behind its decisive victory in the South Bengal seats. Bengali literature India Portal Bengali literature ( Bengali : বাংলা সাহিত্য , romanized : Bangla Sahityô ) denotes
6968-474: The late 19th century onwards through their caste organisations by claiming higher social status. Kalwar caste is traditionally involved into distillation and selling of liquor, but around the start of the 20th century, various organisations related to the caste sought to redefine the image of their community through this process. Another example in North India is of Rajput . According to historical evidence,
7072-439: The leaders, which were an easy way to status and wealth. There was a considerable majority in the first conference that supported the nationalist causes including widow-remarriage and boycott of foreign goods, managing to bring the proceedings to a halt but had trickled down to a negligible minority, in the second. But, as the elections took place in 1923, the Namasudra leadership was found to be much less efficient as to mobilising
7176-408: The local Hindu upper castes, made the situation worse. Those who were dispatched to the refugee camps spend months in imposed idleness whilst being rewarded with a meager cash dole and weekly ration. They were restricted from going out of the camps, look for jobs or interact with the local population, who were often deeply suspicious of the refugees. Thereafter, they started mobilising themselves under
7280-467: The local police, on the behest of the government, undertook drastic measures which included razing the dwellings of the islanders, destroying fisheries, tube-wells et al. and complete-blockading of the island. despite considerable criticism from the press and a restraining order from the High Court. Boats of escaping refugees were sunk, and mass-firings were also reported, which led to numerous casualties over
7384-403: The marshy swamps of their native lands. Over the years, as the wetlands were reclaimed for agricultural purposes, they turned to peasant agriculture as a major occupation. Their economic condition was quite poor and rates of indebtedness quite high. Colonial ethnographers such as Herbert Hope Risley believed that the Chandals of their time were related to a tribe of the same name that existed in
7488-732: The mid-19th century. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. Kazi Nazrul Islam , notable for his activism and anti-British literature, was described as the Rebel Poet and is now recognised as the National poet of Bangladesh . The first works in Bengali appeared between 10th and 12th centuries C.E. It is generally known as the Charyapada and are 47 mystic hymns composed by various Buddhist monks, namely; Luipada , Kanhapada , Kukkuripada , Chatilpada, Bhusukupada, Kamlipada, Dhendhanpada, Shantipada and Shabarapada amongst others. The manuscript
7592-476: The most common Sanskrit theological ideas which become common in the talk of people who are sanskritised. Srinivas first propounded this theory in his D.Phil. thesis at Oxford . The thesis was later brought out as a book, which was an ethnographical study of the Kodava (Coorgs) community of Karnataka . Srinivas writes: The caste system is far from a rigid system, in which the position of each component caste
7696-476: The most well-known prolific writers of Bengal in the 20th century. Tagore is celebrated as the writer of both India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla as well as being a source of inspiration for the Sri Lanka Matha . Tagore’s short stories are celebrated for their profound exploration of human emotions and social issues. Through characters like Phatik in "The Homecoming" and
7800-521: The nationalist politics and instead, along with other untouchable castes continued their independent social movement that increasingly self-asserted their independence from the upper castes and threatened to distort the Hindu-societal-structure. Subsequently, the nationalists sought to align themselves, at-least orally, with the cause of depressed classes. Post-arrival of Gandhi in the political landscape, as nationalist politics choose to encompass
7904-435: The nationalist politics. Overall, numerous measures were taken over the course of years to alleviate the concerns of the community and to ensure that they were gradually inculcated into the nationalist political-fabric of the nation. Un-touch-ability was propounded as a vice and there were campaigns for providing them with better social rights. The Congress also contributed to these causes via their political programs, largely for
8008-452: The next ten years, more than 50,000 Dalit refugees, mostly Namasudras, had settled in what became a major cultural centre for them. The Congress government of West Bengal during the refugee crisis was widely perceived as anti-refugee because of its position regarding rehabilitation. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), as the main opposition party, opposed the government's dispersal policy and demanded rehabilitation of refugees in
8112-638: The numbers of Hindus. Subsequently, the All India Hindu Mahasabha, Bharat Sevasram Sangha et al. actively started to mobilise the lower-caste people. In the late 1930s, especially after the Poona Pact , the Namasudras of Bengal Presidency increasingly adhered to a loyalist stance to the British Government, which was supposedly its best chance to upgrade their socio-economic condition and all throughout and they consistently remained alienated from
8216-448: The pen name of Banaphul , was another noted author of that period. He is most noted for his short vignettes , often just half-page long, but his body of work spanned sixty-five years and included "thousands of poems, 586 short stories (a handful of which have been translated to English), 60 novels, 5 dramas, a number of one-act plays, an autobiography called Paschatpat ( Background ), and numerous essays." Saradindu Bandyopadhyay , who
8320-486: The present day Rajput community varies greatly in status, consisting of those with royal lineage to those whose ancestors were petty tenants or tribals who gained land and political power to justify their claim of being Kshatriya . One clear example of Sanskritisation is the adoption, in emulation of the practice of twice-born castes , of vegetarianism by people belonging to the so-called low castes who are traditionally not averse to non-vegetarian food. One more example
8424-489: The redistribution of provinces during partition of the nation rather than to harvest a social reform. The main aim was to agglomerate the lower castes in the fold of Hindus and unitedly fight against the Muslim and the British. It propagandised the local peasant-rebellions between Namasudras and Muslim community across Dacca et al. with religious colours thereby increasing communal tensions and prospects of partition. In some places,
8528-539: The refugees are Namasudras". Whilst most of the Namasudra refugees who arrived after 1950, were automatically designated as cultivators without any means for survival and were thus dispatched to official refugee camps, some did independently settle across villages in Nadia, Basirhat et al. The latter were often involved in violent fracases with the local Muslims and cross-border communal rivalries, in search of land and livestock, were reported too. That they had to also contend with
8632-531: The same goals. The Dalit of Bengal, thus became intrinsically involved in the Partition movement , and the Namsudras along with Rajbanshis became the two groups that majorly dominated Dalit politics in the province. According to Bandyopadhyay, the aim of the Hindu campaign, throughout the years, was to merely induce the lower castes record themselves as Hindus, which would inflate their numbers and thus, assist them in
8736-658: The same line as the Brahmans of north India; indeed there is a closer relation between the north Indian Brahmans and the Bengali Namahśūdras than between the north Indian Brahmans and the Bengali Brahmans, Kayasthas and Vaidyas." The creation of a single caste-cluster led to the beginning of the Namasudra Movement. It emphasised the commonality of low social status and that of being subject to oppression, among all
8840-427: The sect did play an important role in organising and propagating the social protests, the efforts to entirely subvert the Hindu society failed and the broader community soon returned to the theme of sanskritisation, whilst still ascribing to the other ideals of the sect. In colonial Bengal, the Namasudras constituted the second largest Hindu caste. Their interests differed from those pursuing nationalist politics against
8944-459: The social situation improved things to some extent, discrimination was still markedly abundant and the domination by upper castes continued even post-independence. Whilst an assemblage of relatively well-off Namasudras immediately migrated to India, using their resources of property, the poorer community members stayed. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay notes that despite Jinnah's promise of equality for all, they were soon subjected to "a process of 'Othering'" as
9048-544: The state sought for "greater Islamisation of the polity" and that the upper-caste-Hindus had almost all left East Bengal, the communal agitation was now solely directed against the lower-caste and untouchable Hindus. An acute economic crisis in some districts, coinciding with a labour-surplus market and the Muslim landlords preferring to employ coreligionists, was another mitigating factor. All these, coupled with numerous provocations ranging from unlawful occupation of land to public humiliation of women and direct instruction to leave
9152-416: The sub-castes and impressed upon them to stand up to the social authority of the high caste bhadraloks , a perceived common enemy, who were largely responsible for their poor conditions. Libertarian social influences that were prevalent in the region across the eighteenth and nineteenth century are believed to have imparted a major impetus to
9256-948: The success of the Lingayat caste in achieving advancement within Karnataka society by such means with the failure of the Vishwakarma to achieve the same. Their position as a left-hand caste has not aided their ambition. Srinivas was of the view that Sanskritisation was not limited to the Hindu castes, and stated that the semi-tribal groups including Himalayas's Pahadis , central India's Gonds and Oraons , and western India's Bhils also underwent Sanskritisation. He further suggested that, after going through Sanskritisation, such tribes would claim that they are castes and hence Hindus. This phenomenon has also been observed in Nepal among Khas , Magar , Newar , and Tharu people . Yogendra Singh has critiqued
9360-434: The term Chandal was a generic term that was initially used to refer to broad groups of people belonging to diverse endogamous communities of similarly despised social position but which later transformed into a caste name and was soon synomously used with the Namasudras. Niharranjan Ray , a historian, believed that in terms of bodily characteristics, they have a closer relation with north Indian Brahmins, saying "they are of
9464-559: The themes of class in "The Babus of Nayanjore," Tagore masterfully depicts the complexities of Indian society and the human experience. Similarly Nazrul is celebrated as the national poet of Bangladesh. Sarat Chandra Chatterjee wrote novels, novellas, and stories. He also wrote essays, which were anthologized in Narir Mulya (1923) and Svadesh O Sahitya (1932) . Shrikanta, Charitrahin, Devdas, Grihadaha, Dena-Paona and Pather Dabi are among his most popular works. Bengali literature
9568-462: The times, the Namasudras whilst existing in the refugee camps, did not articulate their caste identity; they along with all others shared the common tag of refugees. And that this led a large section of the Dalit community to lose their distinctive and autonomous political voice. But, nevertheless some means (following different rituals et al.) were adopted by them to distinguish from other castes and maintain
9672-672: The tribal areas of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The scheme was compulsory, pending which the refugee camps were to be closed down. Some were also rehabilitated to neighbouring provinces of Assam, Bihar, Orissa and the Andaman Islands. The schemes were heavily protested and in March–April 1958, umbrella-refugee-organisations [United Central Refugee Council (UCRC) and the Sara Bangla Bastuhara Samiti (SBBS)]organised satyagraha campaigns, with political patronage, that lasted for about
9776-529: The umbrage of Bastuhara Samitis (refugee associations) and other leaders like Ramendra Kishor Mullick, who claimed to be close to P. R. Thakur and Manohar Roy, who claimed himself to be a right-hand man of Jogen Mandal to protest against the camp administration in a variety of forms. Finally, the government, in early 1956 announced the Dandakaranya Scheme of rehabilitating them in a region consisting of 78,000 square miles of inhospitable unirrigated land in
9880-517: The uninhabited islands of Sunderban , thus gaining a following among the Namasudra refugees. In 1977, as CPI(M) became the governing party, almost 150,000 refugees returned to West Bengal from Dandakaranya . By now, the economy was in a poor state and the CPIM arranged deportation of many of them back to Dandakaranya. However, a group of about 30,000 refugees managed to infiltrate the Sunderbans and establish
9984-420: The very-initial stages, the elimination of differences across various sub-castes and the creation of lateral solidarity was one of the primary goals of the movement. Gradually, by the late nineteenth century, they came to constitute an organised middle peasantry community, with definite leaders and goals. These movements helped them seek upward mobility by infusing
10088-507: The years, that owed more to the need of a voice of protest against the oppressive higher castes than to the benefits provided by the British government, was crumbling down gradually and fissures were beginning to develop. The Hindu solidarity soon followed in realising that the alienation of lower-castes might hamper its plans of offering a united opposition against the British and the Muslims, as conversions became abundant and threatened to dwindle
10192-558: Was also a renowned historical fiction writer, created the detective Byomkesh Bakshi . Other noted authors of this period included Samaresh Basu , Premendra Mitra , Shibram Chakraborty , Narayan Gangopadhyay , Subodh Ghosh , and Narendranath Mitra . Prakalpana Movement, branded by Steve LeBlanc, the noted US critic, as 'a tiny literary revolution', 'nurtured' by Kolkata, has been fostering its new genres of Prakalpana fiction, Sarbangin poetry and Chetanavyasism for over four decades, spearheaded by Vattacharja Chandan, beginning in 1969. It
10296-494: Was discovered on a palm leaf in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907 by the Bengali linguist Haraprasad Shastri . Due to the language of these manuscripts only being partially understood, they were classified by Shastri with the name Sandhya Bhasha (সন্ধ্যা ভাষা), meaning dusk language . This period is considered to be the time in which many common proverbs and rhymes first emerged. The Bengali alphabet became
10400-449: Was home to prominent writers patronised in the Arakan royal court such as Alaol , who wrote Padmavati , as well as Daulat Qazi , Dawlat Wazir Bahram Khan , Quraishi Magan Thakur who wrote Chandravati and Maradan who wrote Nasirnama. Qazi was the first poet under the court patronage. He started writing Satimayna O Lorchandrani, considered to be the first Bengali romance. Teamwork was common in
10504-520: Was the best-known writer of satiric short story in Bengali literature. He mocked the charlatanism and vileness of various classes of the Bengali society in his stories written under the pseudonym "Parashuram". His major works include: Gaddalika (1924), Kajjwali (1927), Hanumaner Swapna (1937), Gamanush Jatir Katha (1945), Dhusturimaya Ityadi Galpa (1952), Krishnakali Ittadi Galpa (1953), Niltara Ittadi Galpa (1956), Anandibai Ittadi Galpa (1958) and Chamatkumari Ittadi Galpa (1959). He received
10608-481: Was the celebrated Hindu lyrical poet of this period, famed for translating Jayadeva 's work from Sanskrit to Bengali and for producing thousands of poems dedicated to the love between Radha and Krishna such as the Shreekrishna Kirtana . Majority of Hindu writers in this period drew inspiration from a popular Maithili language Vaishnavite poet known as Vidyapati . Maladhar Basu 's Sri Krishna Vijaya , which
10712-479: Was the first Bangla book to be printed towards the end of the 17th century. Bangla writing was further developed as Bengali scholars wrote textbooks for Fort William College . Although these works had little literary values, prose-writing was greatly developed with the practice of these didactic works. Raja Rammohan Roy contributed to Bengali collection of religious and educational books. As more journals and newspapers were published by missionaries and Brahmo Shamaj ,
10816-519: Was within this context, that they underwent a transition from the Chandala ;to Namasudra identity. In 1891, the term Namasudras was recorded in the official census as a synonym for the Chandala(s) and by 1900, it had assumed immense social recognition, as people of the community clung to the new identity and tried to distance themselves from the imagery of the Chandals. In
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