MS Word version

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my daughter Ana and son Aman and to all our children in South Asia in hope of a better future - free from fear, hunger, disease and a degraded environment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am indebted to Dean, Harry Harding for offering me a visiting scholar’s position at Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. I take this opportunity to also thank Dr. Gowher Rizvi who made it possible for me to attend Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford as a visiting scholar where I began my work on the present subject. My special thanks goes to Ann Robertson, Managing Editor at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies for editing. I am indebted to my family for their support.

Hasna Moudud

Table of Contents

Foreword by Harry Harding, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University.

Preface by Author    Introduction    Geography     People    Culture

History: Classical and Historical Period from Ancient Literary Sources

A brief History of Different Periods: The Buddhist Period    The Senas - Hindu Period    The Muslim Period    The British Period

Archeological Sites: Another Source of History

Some Ancient Cities: Mahastangarh    Other Ancient Cities

The Kingdom of Vanga and Sanatata    The Kingdom of Pattiker

Regional and Foreign Ties: Interrelationship of Cultures in South Asia
Bengal’s Connection with the Outside World    Bengal’s Relation with Tibet
A Brief History of Foreign Trade

Ethnic Conflict: Beginning of Ethnic Identity Crisis     Some Features of Ethnic Tension
Culture, Ethnicity and Conflict    Background of Ethnic Crisis in North East India
The Chittagong Hill Tracts

Economy and Environment : Economic Viability and Future Prospects

The World Bank Growth Triangle and other Growth Concepts

Population Explosion and Security

Environment and Security in Eastern Himalayan Region:
Water as Source of Conflict

IUCN, The World Conservation Union and Environment and Security

The Role of International Community

ILLUSTRATIONS
Ancient Maps of Bengal     Map of Ancient Northern India     Ptolemy’s Map of India within the Ganges    Map of ancient Political Divisions of Bengal    Van Den Broucke’s Map of 1660 AD
Map of Bengal and Bihar    Map of Mahastan    Excavation Site

FOREWORD

Harry Harding, Dean: Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce this monograph by Hasna J. Moudud, a distinguished specialist on the history and culture of Bangladesh, who served as a visiting scholar here at the Elliott School during the period 1998-2000.

Mrs. Moudud makes a persuasive case that the eastern part of South Asia - consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and northeastern India – should be regarded as a separate sub-region, which she labels the "Eastern Himalayas." This area is defined geographically not only by its dominant mountain range, the Himalayas, but also by its major rivers, particularly the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, which flow from the Himalayan mountains down to the Sea of Bengal. The region has its own distinct ethnic mix, stemming from successive migrations and invasions from both the east (southeast Asia and China), the south (Southern India), and the west (especially from northern India). Its history shows the complex combination of indigenous, Buddhist, Jainist, Hindu and Islamic cultures, often introduced through physical conquest and political control, as well as through trade, travel, and migration.

This region was not simply the passive recipient of cultural and political influences from outside. It also exerted its own influence on the areas surrounding it. Mrs. Moudud shows that, at one time, the Buddhist Pala dynasty, centered in Bengal, ruled much of northern India. Of more enduring significance was the strong influence on Tibetan Buddhism of Buddhist scholars and teachers living in Bengal. And the Eastern Himalayan region – especially the seaports along the Bengali coast – conducted extensive trade with other parts of the world: west to India and the Middle East, north to Tibet and China; and east and south to Burma, the Malay peninsula, and even Indonesia.

Given this singular history, it is not surprising that Bengal would ultimately seek independence from West Pakistan, and then achieve it with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. But Mrs. Moudud argues that the concept of a distinct, multinational Eastern Himalayan region has broader implications than simply the break-up of Pakistan. She notes that the formation of a transnational "growth triangle" in the region has been proposed by the World Bank, based on the economic complementarily and geographic proximity of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Northeast India.

Mrs. Moudud soberly acknowledges the obstacles to cooperation, including the rise of transnational ethnic tensions, growing conflict over riparian water resources and the increasing severity of international environmental problems, and the related rise in unauthorized migration across borders. But she also believes that highest levels of cooperation among these neighboring states could achieve greater economic growth and could manage these transnational issues more effectively.

Mrs. Moudud concludes by predicting that the Eastern Himalayan region could therefore evolve in one of the two directions in the new century either becoming a "region of peace and prosperity" if greater international cooperation can produce more rapid economic growth, or else a region that experiences even greater "human misery and poverty" if it cannot work together to overcome these mounting transnational problems. She argues that the path that the Eastern Himalayas will follow will be determined both by the region itself and by the world community beyond it – especially the availability of external resources that could promote the formation of a regional "growth triangle."

Let us hope that her monograph will attract greater international attention to this important geographic sub-region, and that it will also increase the prospects for economic and political cooperation within it.

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Preface

While looking for rare pictures of authors of the mystic Bengali poems (Caryagiti) used by the mystics to teach Buddhism who belonged to the school of 84 siddhas, I was amazed to come across mural portraits of the siddhas in exceptional good quality at Dunsa Temple in Paro, Bhutan. The painting covered the round walls inside the dark window-less second floor level of the temple which appears from the outside to be abandoned. The second level was accessible with great difficulty so as not to disturb the siddhas in meditation or perhaps to maintain their secrecy. I have visited Nepal and discovered a rare manuscript of Carayagiti in a private archive treasured by the minority Newari people as a part of their heritage. I have visited the temple of Atisa in Tibet which also I came across by chance. I have seen ancient tomb stone rubbings in China supposed to contain knowledge and remains of Buddhist scholars who came from eastern India. Who knows how many places as these are treasuring the finest example of our ancient heritage which may be ruined and destroyed before even being discovered. Yet in caves, temples and private archives we may come-across complete literary, religious, philosophical and medicinal treatises which may come to human aid one day. It is our proud heritage and our generation must know that we shared enormous knowledge and compassion before we came to be branded as belonging to one of the most impoverished regions of the world. We were once a center of a prosperous and learned region. Although I have borrowed heavily from many authors, I have been driven by my own sense of history and ideas of future prospects for which I remain solely to be blamed for the shortcomings and unintentional errors in the present study.

I see images of despair pouring in like the monsoon rain. I am reminded of refugee children playing in bare feet near icy Bhutanese streams in mid November. I see the face of a child washed in a strange shore after a tidal wave. I see children having no certainty of the next meal, no school, no playground and as victims of violence. Then I see children painting the tiger in an effort to save them. I see young girls going to school where they will be given a meal or grains.

Yes we suffer from poverty but not of our making – certainly not of the mind, but of the kind that drives our children and their parents to hostile lands and in their own backyards as refugees looking for food and shelter. Yet I dare to hope for a better future.

Hasna J. Moudud , Visiting Scholar, Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University, May 19, 2000

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Introduction

The South Eastern part of South Asia, the Eastern Himalayan countries, can be justified as a region in itself. A proper study of an area such as this region requires a knowledge of its geography, ecology and culture which have shaped the history of this region and its people. This area, also known as Eastern Province of British India and given the name of Bengal, stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south, in the west by the Ganges east of Bihar and Orissa, in the east by the Himalayan mountain ranges and Burma. It lies roughly between 27° 9’ and 20° 5’ north latitude and 86° 35’ and 92° 30’ east longitude.

The Eastern Himalayan region should be studied as a whole - its geographical continuation, cultural heritage and its relationship to the outside world. The territory of the eastern Indian subcontinent is difficult to define because it stretches far beyond the political boundaries, but the region shares a common history, geography and culture. Very little work has been carried on this region as a whole, it deserves to be better known. The present study is intended to encourage others to look into this area, for possible lessons to be learnt from its past and explore future prospects.

This region is regarded to be poor, overly populated, politically unstable and neglected. Yet the people are proud of their ancient heritage and their racial and ethnic identity. They want recognition of their potential and opportunities for overcoming their hardships. The human and existing natural resources together create prospects for regional peace and prosperity or conflicts. Conflicts have the potential of spilling over the national or regional boundaries and involving larger regional powers such as India and China. Or it may play a vital role in creating regional co-operation and prosperity. A future agenda for peace will require a greater understanding of the people, culture and land.

Geography

South Asia is separated from the Asian continent by the world’s highest mountains, the Himalayas. The Indian subcontinent as it is also known, is a triangular shaped peninsula bounded on two sides by the Indian Ocean and divided from the rest of Asia by three intersecting mountain ranges of the Himalayas. The eastern region of South Asia is considered most fertile region in the world where the mighty rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra carry life-giving water and silt from the Himalayas. Its climate is tropical due to the Himalayan range which protects from the cold northern winds while carrying the monsoon from the tropical seas. The eastern monsoon creates heavy rainfall in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys and in the hills of Assam it is reputed to be the heaviest in the world. The region experiences a humid tropical condition and tropical forests.

The most significant feature of the landscape of the eastern part of South Asia is its rivers. The changes in its physical features at different ages have been caused mostly by the changes in the vast river courses and erosion and accretion, mainly in the deltaic region. Massive erosion as well siltation take place as a result of rapid uplift of the Himalayas due to an ongoing process of tectonic changes. The rivers originating at the Himalayas flow at a great force and carry great quantities of silts, gravels and rocks out of the mountains. Most of it is deposited in the plains and some out to sea. The great alluvial plains and deltas of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra river systems are thus formed.

In the eastern part of the Himalayas, the melting snow and rain water falling upon the Kumaon, Nepal, Bhutan and Assam finally reach the three greatest river systems in the Indian subcontinent, namely, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. The changes in the river courses as well as tectonic changes taking place from time immemorial are held mainly responsible for the making and unmaking of flourishing cities, trade centers and river and sea ports. Among all the rivers the Ganges is considered the holiest by the Hindus. According to the Naihati copper plate of Vallalasena, the old channel of the Ganges was regarded as the heavenly river.

These great rivers and their numerous branches created prosperous and easy water navigational system fostering commerce, culture and early contacts with the people outside the region. At the same time these rivers helped to create a safe and isolated zone which could retain its freedom for a much longer period than any other region in the subcontinent.

The most important natural resource of this area is water from the rivers. In recent times, due to development and human diversion of these rivers in the catchment and upstream areas, rapid changes are taking place resulting in flood plains turning into saline unproductive land or dry desert-like environment such as in the northern parts of Bangladesh due to the Farakka Dam in the Ganges in India. India is building more dams in the upper riparian which will affect Bangladesh as a lower riparian and other co-riparian countries. Bangladesh is the lower riparian of 55 rivers which originate in India, China, Nepal and Bhutan. In the short and long run, the lower riparian suffer the most damage both in human and environmental contexts.

The rivers have been central to urban settlement and development in the subcontinent. The Indus and the Ganges have been cradles of ancient civilization. After five thousand years of continuous development, the Indus civilization seemed to stop from approximately BC 1700 onwards: they are neither maintained nor replaced by cities nearby. Cities reappear a thousand years later on the Ganges - Jamuna valley several hundred miles to the east and in a very different environmental condition. It is not clear why it is so. Environment may have played an important role.

The Ganges - Brahmaputra delta is an active and complex area rapidly building new land and eroding all the way into the Bay of Bengal. There is both older and younger alluvium present. Major Buddhist sites and monasteries were found on the older alluvium sites. The mountains in the north and east mark the beginning of a Sino - Tibetan world making the delta in some way the beginning of the transition zone. Many ancient river and sea ports in the unstable delta have disappeared. Some of these may have been centers of international sea trade. The core region where ancient cities in this area grew was the alluvial plains of the central Ganges valley. Although physically the area is isolated, South Asia maintained wide land and sea contact with the outside world. The ancient cities enjoyed commercial links with Central, Western and Eastern Asia including China and the Far East. It was through these cities that sea-trade with the Middle East, Hellenistic world and Eastern Asia was carried. Little research has been done on the nature of these early contacts and trade. The magnificent Buddhist monuments of the second century BC onward that lie from the west to the eastern part of the Ganges valley and the volume of sea trade with the western and eastern world must have been considerable over a few centuries. Many small ports are mentioned in the Periplus (c. second century BC) and other classical sources.

This area may be divided into two main physical divisions: (a) The vast Ganges - Brahmaputra plains and (b) the hills and mountain ranges in the east and west. The greater plain known as the Bengal plain may be further divided into three classes: (a) The older deltaic and flood plains lying north of the Ganges, (b) the younger deltaic and flood plains lying south and (c) the flood plains lying west of the Ganges. In the Barind, Madhupur and Lalmai hills the surfaces of the older delta have been partially preserved.

The typical piedmont plains of the Terai and Western Duars is porous at the foot of the Himalayas. Behind the Terai plains, the Himalayan ranges rise over 10,000 feet. In the east, the Tripura and Chittagong Hill Tracts run north to south rising in height towards the east, causing a natural barrier with Burma (modern Myanmar). These hills have valleys with an average width of 10 miles where people tend to live as farmers cultivating the land. In the hills and dense forests, tribal people still continue traditional ways of living dependent on the hills and forests.

The frequent changes in the rivers of the region have been held responsible for the ruins of many ancient places and cities such as Tamralipti and Saptagram. The shifting of the river Kosi gave rise to swamps and floods which contributed to the ruins of the city of Gauda. It is not known what caused the ruins of Pundravardhana, an ancient city discovered in Bangladesh. But it too was affected by floods. A flood protection wall has been discovered in Mahastangarh or Pundravardhana located on the banks of the Karatoya, once a mighty river, was subject to frequent floods. Floods and changing course of rivers changed the physical aspects of the area. Kotalipara in the Gopalganj district of Faridpur was once a well-known sea and river based trading centre.

In addition to the northwestern land route to Central Asia, China and Europe, the cities in the Ganges valley had outlets to the east by rivers to the ports of Tamluk and others. The famous Silk Road in the north offered attractive trading possibilities. From the ports in Bengal a sea faring route covered Bali, Java and the far east.

People

The prehistoric antiquity of man in this region is not known. We have evidence only from the Neolithic period. Recently a pear shaped, highly evolved Acheulian hand-axe fabricated from petrified wood has been discovered in Comilla. A few Neolithic artifacts were also discovered in Sitakund, Chittagong, Rangamati and Comilla. A dozen polished celts of fossil-wood were discovered during the excavations at Salban Vihara mound in Mainamati, Comilla. These indicate footsteps of early man in Bengal, but not enough systematic study has been done.

Human settlement in North East India goes back to the Neolithic period, at least 4000 BC. Mongolians and others migrated from northern Burma to Assam. Subsequently there were many migrations through the northern route by people belonging to the Indo Chinese linguistic family (Mon-Khmer and Tibeto-Burman). The third group of people who migrated consisted of Siamese-Chinese spoken by the Ahoms. At the same time the Aryans also made their way eastward through Bihar and North Bengal and spread their culture in the western part of the Ganges valley and established cities and kingdoms as early as the Mahabharata period.

Early Paleolithic people were sporadic migrants who came through from time to time. During the later Middle Pleistocene period migration was more regular, probably during cooler climatic periods which permitted groups to cross the otherwise densely forested Gangetic plains. Cave houses made by humans discovered in Mukhinath Valley in Nepal may be 6000 years old. It is the oldest human settlement discovered in the Himalayas so far. Later on these cave settlements were occupied by Buddhist monks.

The Indus Valley civilization, which flourished around 2000 BC, is presumed to have been founded by a Proto-Austroloid people maintaining regular contact with Mediterranean culture and mixing with its people. Trade and culture between the Indus Valley civilization and the highly developed Sumerian civilization were well established. Migration to this region from other parts of the world began in prehistoric times. Among the earliest, the Dravidians followed by the Aryan tribes began to arrive into the Indian subcontinent between 1500 and 100 BC. They gradually moved to the north, western and central parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Dravidians were later defeated and driven southwards. In the eastern regions Mongoloid people were already settled and they too intermingled with the arriving Aryan tribes. An evolution from pre-history to Indo-Aryan civilization took place through interaction and racial intermixing of South and South East Asia. Pre-Aryan beliefs and culture found its way into Vedic scriptures. According to Vedic sources, the aboriginals of the region were altogether different in race and culture from the Vedic sources, the aboriginals of the region were altogether different in race and culture from the Vedic Aryans of north India. They were referred to as Nishadas. Many anthropologists have called the earliest Austro-Asiatic or Austric based on their language group. However some leading Indian anthropologists say that the bracy cephalic or broad headed characteristics resemble Alpine type with an appreciable Mediterranean or brown race mixture.

The Aryans after subduing the other people, evolved the myth of racial purity with Brahmins as the purest Aryans followed by Kshatriyas. The society below them were called Vaiyshas. The defeated Dravidians, Austroloids and other minor ethnic groups were called Untouchables, but new tribes and ethnic groups slowly assimilated into the Aryan society.

During the 6^th century BC two Kshatriya princes who brought about profound challenges to Brahminic supremacy are Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, and Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism. Both religions were critical of caste oppression. Buddhism preached social service as the means of nirvana or salvation which became rapidly popular. During the 3^rd century BC emperor Ashoka abandoned Hinduism and embraced Buddhism and spread it throughout his empire and beyond. Later, when Hinduism was revived, the Buddhist monks fled for the Himalayan recluses. After the advent of Islam in India most of the remaining Buddhists converted to Islam or relapsed into Hinduism.

The Jainas are believed to have inhabited in southern Bengal, the Sundarbans, Vikrampur and Manbhum. They are popularly portrayed as people who sweep the road as they walk with the feather of the peacock, so that no ant will perish under their footsteps. The Jaina religious head Parshanath himself is said to have preached Jainism in the Sundarbans, Vikrampur and Manbhum areas of Bengal. Jaina teachings of kindness to animals, love, and sacrifice influenced religions such as Islam and Vaisnavism which took over the place of Buddhism and Jainism as popular religions. Vaisnavism grew as a religion within Hinduism as a protest against Brahmin supremacy and caste system. The Muslim invaders in the beginning ruined and burnt temples. Once settled the Muslim rulers introduced the arts and other fruits of Islamic civilization to India. They brought their passion for learning and architecture and were able to establish a central authority for the first time in India. They welcomed the Jainas, Buddhists, and Vaisnavite societies. Many people converted into Islam for its appeal as an universal religion. Influences from Buddhism, Jainism and Hindu Vaisnavism existed even quite recently among the people of certain areas in Bangladesh. The Muslims in Bengal practised tolerance, moderation and simplicity as they have inherited from their own and the religions they came into contact with.

The Bengali literature is rich with spiritual content from many religions. The love of the Bengalis for poetry, is deeply rooted to their tradition and love for Bengali language, climate and landscape. Their tolerance and simple way of living have been molded by both nature and spiritual experiences of so many religions with which they had close encounters.

With the arrival of Islamic missionaries and traders as early as the 8^th century AD, people from different races from Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Persia and Abyssinia entered the Indian subcontinent including the eastern part.

People of Mongoloid race in the upper Himalayan countries and in the hilly north and north east remained undisturbed and outside the intermingling of races as in the plains. In Bangladesh, the ethnic communities known as Koch, Hajo and Polias in Rangpur, the Garo, Khasia, Monipuri, Chakma, Magh, Murang, Lushai, Khumi and others who migrated to Mymensingh, Sylhet, Chittagong Hill Tracts and in some small pockets have migrated from the 17^th century onwards. There are also Chinese, South Indian and Anglo Indian and Portuguese populations who have either settled here, been brought by their colonial masters or of racial intermixing. Most try to preserve their ethnic and cultural distinctions while adopting many traits from the local population.

Rivers, fertile land with a warm climate, the silk, the spices, the muslin, arts and crafts and ideology of new religion attracted traders, travelers as well as invaders. The Bengalis were known to be heroic a people. Poet Virgil has written about the bravery of the Bengalis in his poem Georgies, "On the doors will I represent in gold and ivory the battle of the Gangaride and the arms of our victorious Quirinius & (Dr. D.C. Sen, Introduction)?"

Culture

There has been remarkable similarities of arts and crafts of Bengal with the artifacts found in Mahenjadoro and Harappa. Cave paintings found in Singanpur also bear similarity with ancient Bengali paintings. The cave paintings in Ajanta carry Bengali painting skills and features (Dr. D.C. Sen, Introduction). In Tibet I found the same familiarity with Bengali art when I saw a huge portrait of Atisha painted in once brilliant colors now preserved on the carved wall of the hill next to the temple where he lived and died. In the present day artifacts found in Bangladesh we see similarities with those found at ancient excavation sites. Of great interest is the art form of the Patuas, who were folk artists who used paintings to dramatize religion much like the use of papyrus in the Vatican during 1st and 2^nd centuries. The Buddhists also used paintings in spreading their religion. The Patua art form is usually painted on clay blocks, sometimes on the lid of the clay cooking pot or flat wooden stools. Its bright color and living figures still catch one’s eyes in remote village fairs in Faridpur, Jessore and Rajshahi areas.

The Nakshi Kantha or embroidered quilt is typically Bengali. These are still to be found in various parts of Bengal. Fairdpur, Rajshahi and Jessore are famous for the embroidery made by village women using layers of old saris with the colorful threads taken out from the seams or borders of the simple everyday saris woven by the local weavers. Out of the ordinary extraordinary kantha art form have been created which depicts the life of a woman from birth, childhood, marriage to death. Kanthas of great beauty collected from Bangladesh are preserved in the Gurusadai Datta Museum in Calcutta. There are some rare quilts in the private collection of Zainul Abedin’s family.

Bengali painters also adorned the covers of hand written palm leaf books. Some rare covers are still preserved at the Varendra Museum at Rajshahi University. Terracotta ornamentation used from ancient times are preserved at the various Buddhist temple sites in Bangladesh. Roofs in traditional houses in Bhutan still use Bengali carpentry techniques from ancient times. Ornamental bricks, clay figurines, images of gods and goddesses in clay, stone or metal, gold and silver jewelry, mats, wooden sculptures, ivory, silver, temple decorations, houses - from every day use objects to tributes to god - all these bear excellence of ancient Bengali craftsmen. Some of it is still being carried out. When settlers and invaders came they too contributed their best art forms once they settled down. The Muslims brought Persian and other Islamic art heritages to Bengal.

Oral and written down puthi literature are still to be found in Bengal. Many handwritten and illustrated manuscripts in paper and palm leaf are still to be found in Faridpur, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet, Assam and different parts of West Bengal. Folk tales, folk songs and folk sayings still delight and provide wisdom to villagers. Farmers still follow guidelines provided by two legendary women by the names of Khana and Dak in their agricultural practices and everyday life. Some of these are still used by homemakers in the urban setting, for example a house facing the south gets fresh air and keeps people healthy. The Bengali influence in the arts and crafts of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma, Java, Sumatra and Cambodia are still to be found but have not been properly studied.

History: Classical and Historical Period from Ancient Literary Sources

The early history is based on legends and epics and is known as heroic age. The literary references in the Vedic, Epic and Sutra texts do not present any chronological order. The land belonging to Eastern India was not mentioned in the Vedic hymns. However the Aitareya Brahmana refers to the people who lived in the area as dasyus, which means demons. The Vedic literature only mentions some ethnic groups such as Pundras, Vangas and Suhmas who lived in independent principalities outside the Vedic Aryan civilization. The first time this area was called by a name, Vangas, occur in the ancient epics such as Aitareya Aranyaka and the Dharmasutra of the Buddhists. The name Vangas was attributed to an early Bengali tribe by some historians.

The Bodhayana Dharmasutra made the first unambiguous reference to Vangas as a historical area. The Dharmasutra divided the land into three ethnic and cultural areas and held these with esteem. The holiest was Aryavarta, lying between the Himalayas and the western Vidhyas by the upper Ganges and Jamuna rivers. The area next in degrees of sanctity included Malwa, East and South Bihar, South Kathiawar, the Deccan, and the lower Indus valley. The outermost region was formed by the Arattas of the Punjab, the Pundras of North Bengal, the Sauviras of Southern Punjab and Sind, the Vangas of Central and Eastern Bengal, and the Kalingas of Orissa. The regions inhabited by these people were considered outside the Vedic cultural supremacy. Natives who lived temporarily outside the so called Vedic sacred areas were required to go through expiatory rites upon their return.

In the epics which followed Ramayana and others, the Vangas were no longer considered impure barbarians. The poets of northern India in the Tirthayatra section of the Vanaparvan and other works held the Bengal land scape and rivers in growing esteem. The sanctity of the Karatoya river, which flowed by the Pundranagara or present day Mahastangarh in North Bengal and the point where the Ganges meet the sea, were held as sacred in their works. In the Ramayanas, Bhima an epic hero, undertook a hurricane campaign in Bengal.

Jaina writers of the Acharanga sutra describe the land of the Radhas in West Bengal as a road less country inhabited by aggressive people who attacked peaceful Jaina monks. In one of the Upangas, the Radhas and Vangas were classified as Aryans. Ancient cities mentioned in the Jaina text as Tamralipti and Kodivarisa or Kotivarsha have been identified in the northern part of Bangladesh. The Acharanga sutra divided Bengal into two parts named Vaabhumi and Subbha or Suhma bhumi. The name Vajrabhumi or Land of Diamond is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari of the Sarkar of Madaran in South-West Bengal where there was a diamond mine. The Sarkar was accountable to parts of Bengal during the Moghul period. The Suhmas were mentioned in the Mahabharatas. The name also appears in the Buddhist text Samayutta Niikaya and the Telapatta Jataka under the name of Sumbhas. Early Buddhist writers who referred to the Sumbhas did not know much about the Vangas. Some mentions of the ancient people of the Vangas are made in the epithets Vangantaputta and Vangisa found in Pali canon.

The earliest clear literary reference to Vanga is made in Milinda-Panho. Panini an ancient historian who flourished before the second century BC, mentions Gauapura but not Vanga. However his commentator, Patanjali, makes reference to Vanga in his works. According to Pliny, Ptolemy and other classical writers, the people who lived east of the Ganges were heroic people. The unknown author of Periplus of the Erythraean Sea who referred to Bengal existed in the early centuries after Christ. The Periplus describing the east of India mentions Ganges and a trading town on its bank with the name of the river. In the geography of Ptolemy, the Milinda-Panho and the Nagarjunikonda inscriptions we get more description of Bengal. The city of Gange is also mentioned by Ptolemy, but he distinguishes it from Tamralipti. He mentions five mouths of the Ganges: the Kambyson mouth, the most western; the Mega; the Kamberikhon; the Pseudostomon and the Antibole. There are contradictions as to the tributaries of the Ganges. Kambyson has been identified as the Kapisa mentioned by the great epic poet of the region, Kalidasa. The Mega has been identified with Hooghly. The Kamberikhon may represent Kobbadak of Renell’s map or more likely the Kumara river, an offshoot of the Padma joining Gorai. The Pseudostomon, "False Mouth," is probably so called as it lay concealed behind numerous islands. It refers to the estuary of the Padma and Meghna. The Antibole or "thrown-back" is regarded by some as identical with the old Ganga or Buriganga which flows past Dhaka. the Milinda-Panho also mentions Vanga in a list of maritime countries where ships came carrying sea trade with many parts of the world.

After Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 B.C. he soon learnt of a resistance being prepared by the people of the Ganges valley as Gangaridae, with 4000 war elephants and a formidable army. The Gangaridae was probably a confederate kingdom ruled by the Nanda dynasty, referred by the Greeks Chroniclers as ‘Agrammes’ and ‘Xandrames.’ On his withdrawal from the banks of Beas river to Babylon in Persia, Alexander’s army was immediately routed from India by the great Mauryan king Chandragupta.

A Brief History of Different Periods: The Buddhist Period

During the 3^rd century BC Bengal became a part of the vast Mauryan kingdom as Pundravardhana Bhukti, according to an epigraphic record discovered from the ancient ruins of Mahastangarh. Chandragupta Maurya established his kingdom in Bengal with the help of Kaitillya (Chanakya) who introduced politics, economics and philosophy of state craft in his book Kaitillya Shastra. After the defeat of Selucus, one of Alexander’s army chiefs who had crossed the Indus, he was forced to hand over Kabul, Herat and Kandahar to Chandragupta before he was allowed to depart. Later Selucas sent Megasthenes as his envoy to the court of Chandragupta. Megasthanes lived in Pataliputra for some time and made many observations about that period. He wrote that Chandragupta possessed garrisons of 30,000 horses, 9000 war elephants and more than 600,000 soldiers.

Chandragupta ruled for 24 years over a large area in India from Hindukush mountains near Afghanistan, Agra, Ayodhya, Bihar, Kathior, Deccan, Punjub and Bengal. Towards the end of his rule he turned to Jainism under the guidance of his Guru, Bhadrabahu who hailed from Pundravardhana, in Bangladesh. Chandragupta later became a Jaina ascetic. His grandson Ashoka, inherited his greatness in statesmanship but became famous for spreading Buddhism in Asia and for his kindness and justice towards his subjects.

Both Jaina and Buddhist legends connect the names of the great Mauryas and their contemporaries with Pundravardhana. Chinese pilgrims found Ashokan monuments in various parts of the province. The existence of Pundranagara in the Maurya epoch was proven by an old Brahmi inscription unearthed in Mahastangarh, the ancient site of Pundravardhana.

Stone pillars from Ashoka’s rule (273 BC - 298 BC) bear testimonials to his greatness. It is said that Ashoka’s appearance was predicted by Buddha himself. Ashoka defeated the Kalingas in a battle, but it left a scar on Ashoka’s conscience. In repentance he not only gave away his wealth and kingdom, he also offered his only son and daughter to serve Buddhism as missionaries who went to Ceylon to spread the religion. Ashoka’s inscriptions are regarded as a mark of his affection as a ruler of not a kingdom, but a large family. He banned Hindu animal sacrificial rituals which were quite common then. He planted trees by the roadsides so that they would provide shade to people and animals. He constructed water tanks every mile or half a mile apart so that people and animals would have water throughout the year. Ponds excavated during Ashoka’s time are still to be found in Bengal. He established medical clinics for animals and people. He introduced many medicinal plants and fruit bearing trees. He called his subjects his "sons." He banned fishing during breeding times and banned sealing or marking trees with hot rods during certain times of the moon. He said his religion and his services were for all people, no matter what were their beliefs. In his pillars of victory, he left no instructions of fortifications or protection of his army, he left instructions to look after the family of the prisoners. His doors were open from morning to night to hear grievances from his subjects. No other ruler on earth is said to match Ashoka in his benevolence. Yet Ashoka’s greatness remained hidden for a long time because he was a Buddhist king and he was considered the greatest messenger of Buddhism. Hindus regarded him and his religion as a threat to Hinduism. The bhakti and kindness preached by later reformers borrowed from Ashoka’s humanism.

Around 300 AD, Chandragupta had laid the foundation of the Gupta dynasty in Magadha, (South Bihar) which ruled over Bengal up to middle of 7^th century AD and was known as Pundravardhana Bhukti. With the establishment of the Gupta empire, various independent principalities of Bengal came to an end except the kingdom of Samatata in the trans-Meghna region. At the beginning of the 6^th century Vinay Gupta (507-8 AD) brought Samatata under his rule. After the collapse of Gupta kingdom by the middle of 7^th century, Vanga and Gauda became independent kingdoms. Gopachandra, Dharmadditya and Samarchardeva ruled over the Vanga kingdom. Gold coins of these rulers and other kings who ruled in Vanga have been found at Savar near Dhaka and Kotalipara in Faridpur district of Bangladesh.

From the 4^th century AD onwards, the epigraphic records of the periods are more chronological and refer to as Gupta, Pala and Sena rules which enable us to trace more clearly the main political or geographical divisions and administrative units of Bengal. The boundaries are not known for certain even for well-known divisions such as Gauda, Vanga and Radha which varied at different periods. The kingdoms of Bengal had close relations with neighbors in the west.

The first independent Gauda king in the early 7^th century AD was Mahasamanta. During the declining days of Gupta rulers, the Maukhari king, Isanavarman of Kosala or Oudh, invaded Gauda. According to the Haraha inscription of 554 AD, the people of Gauda were forced to seek refuge near the sea as Isanavarman Maukhari led an assault on Gauda. In the early 7^th century, Sasanka (606-637 AD) became the first independent king of Bengal. He rose from a humble position to great power taking advantage of several foreign invasions against the Gupta Empire. These invasions included a Tibetan tribal attack in Bengal between 581 and 600 AD. The kingdom of Sasanka included Northern and Western Bengal with the capitals in Karnasuvarna as well as Magadha. He also tried to invade in northern India and Kamarupa (Assam) in the east. After the death of Sasanka, his empire passed into the hands of the king of Kamarupa. At this time, Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited Bengal. He mentioned Pundravardhana, Karnsuvarna, Samatata and Tamralipti as four kingdoms in Bengal, but he did not mention the names of the ruling kings. All the kingdoms were annexed into the empires of Harshavardhana and Bhaskaravarman after Sasanka’s death.

For the next century, the history of Bengal remains obscure. After the sudden death of Harshavardhan (464-7), political instability arose in eastern India. A minister of Harsha took over the throne. The Chinese envoy Wang Hiuen-tse (647), a strange military adventurer, took over northern Bihar in retaliation for the king’s treacherous pillage of the Chinese mission to Harsha. This was followed by a series of invasions from the west, particularly by Yasovarman, king of Kanauj (724-735 AD) and by Lalitaditya, king of Kashmir (736 AD).

According to Tibetan historian Lama Taranath, in his History of Buddhism in India, written in the early 17^th century, Bengal in the middle of the 8^th century was unstable without a central authority. Contemporary epigraphic records describe the situation as similar anarchical conditions such as matsya-nyaya, which meant practice of the fishes. Stronger neighbors were preying their weaker neighbors in the absence of a central authority.

The political and social instability at the beginning of the 6^th century AD in Bengal led people to suffer, but at the end they achieved a political maturity and wisdom which was quite unique in India. In 750 AD, the people of Bengal elected a Kshatria chief from Varendra, named Gopala, as their king in order to introduce a government of the people. Many historians attribute this move as a unique heritage of democratic practice in Bengal. Gopala was son of Bapyata of the ‘race of the sea.’ After Gopala was elected a king, a period of prosperity, stability, and flowering of Bengali culture began. Dharamapala (770-810 AD), who succeeded his father Gopala, conquered most of northern India. It was also the beginning of a great Buddhist dynasty, the Pala period. Dharmapala patronized Buddhist centers of learning such as the great Vikramsila Vihara in Bihar and the famous Somapura Vihara in Varendra (Paharpur). He established diplomatic relations with the Indonesian kingdom of Srivijaya who controlled the greater part of the Archipelago.

Dharmapala was succeeded by his son Devepala, who not only maintained his father’s extensive empire but also extended his territory from whole of northern India from Kashmir to Assam and from the Himalayas to the Viddhya mountains. After Devapala’s death, the decline of the Pala dynasty in North India was rapid. Northern Bengal was first invaded and annexed by the king of Pratihara, Mahendrapala, sometime before 898 AD and later northern and western Bengal were annexed by the Kambojas, a powerful hill tribe from the north or the east. The Palas also lost hold over east and south of Bengal. During the second half of the 10^th century AD, a Buddhist king named Kantideva broke off Harikela (Sylhet) from the Pala kingdom while the Chandra rulers took over Samatata as an independent kingdom.

The Pala territory further shrunk when the Sura of kings of the south-west established a separate dynasty. The most well-known of them was Adisura, a legendary king of Gauda who was credited with having revived the Hindu Brahmanical religion in Bengal which had been under the shadow during the Buddhist Pala period.

The Tamil king of south India, Rajendra Chola, invaded Bengal in about 1023 AD during the reign of Mahipala, the 9^th Pala king. These invasions and a general decline of the Pala authority resulted in fragmentation of territory followed by a succession of weak rulers. A local Kaivarta chief, Divvoka, killed Mahipala and occupied Varendra. The Kaivarta chief held power for a short period until he was overthrown by Rampala, the 14^th Pala king. A long and irregular earthen rampart exists in Bogra and Rangpur districts, popularly known as Bhimer Jungle. It is associated with Divoka’s nephew Bhima, who probably built it to guard his new territory and also to serve as a highway. Rampala restored the glories of the Pala dynasty and recovered Varendra. After his death the Pala empire was defeated in the hands of the eastern Ganga kings, the Chalukyas and the Gahad valas. The rise of a new power emerged as the Senas, Hindu rulers from South India, took over Bengal. The four centuries of Pala rule are regarded as the most prosperous in the history of Bengal. The Palas brought peace and patronized many art forms such as sculpture, both metal and stone, and architecture which served as centers for Buddhist learning.

From ancient times Bengal was known in East Asia and the Indian Islands, but it became an important trading center from the 7^th century AD onwards under the patronage of the Palas. Bengal’s influence on Burmese culture and literature was significant. Bengal had ancient links with Ceylon, and the founder of Ceylon is believed to have hailed from Bengal. Through Buddhism, Bengal was connected with Tibet and China. From the 4^th century AD, Chinese travelers Fa Hien, Huang Tsang and Yet Sing traveled to Bengal and wrote valuable details of contemporary society.

With the fall of the last Pala king at the hand of the Senas, Buddhism collapsed in Bengal. According to Dr. D.C. Sen, the Brahmins were responsible for wiping out Buddhism and Jainism from Bengal, Buddhist and Jaina temples were converted into Hindu temples, and even some of the deities who were widely worshipped were given Hindu names and worshipped as Hindu gods without acknowledgment of their Buddhist or Jaina origin. In this manner many historical Buddhist and Jaina monuments became objects of Hindu worship. The names of the great Buddhist emperor Ashoka, great Buddhist scholar, Dipankara, and others remained unknown in Bengal for a long time. The famous Buddhist centers for learning Nalanda, Vikramshila, Udantapur, Sompur Vihar and Mainamati Vihar became abandoned sites. Dr. Sen quotes from Shakar-Vijaya to show how Buddhism and Jainsim were driven out of India by the Brahmins. In Jaina literature, Sunna Purana, there are details of how not only the Buddhist religious heads were under the fear of Hindu procarstation, the lower class people also suffered at the hands of the Brahmins. The past glories of Buddhism and Jainism were wiped out. The Buddhist priests and tantric siddhas were forced to live as the lowest caste designated with jobs such as handling and burning the dead, cleaning human excretion and eating inferior food (D.C. Sen, p.10). Eventually the Buddhist fled to Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma and Chittagong carrying Buddhist manuscripts and books with them.

The Senas - Hindu Period

Hindu civilization traces its origin from the Aryan invasions of approximately, 1500-1000 BC. Their influence remained in the northern and the southern regions of South Asia over many centuries. The most celebrated were the Mauryas, Guptas, and Harsha in the north, and Chola and Pallava in the south. Very little is known about the background of the Senas except that they migrated from Kanarrese in the Deccan and that they were orthodox Brahmins. Of the Senas, Vijaya Sena (1095-1158) was the most prominent. He extended his territory all over Bengal and took over Kamarupa, Kalinga,Mithila Kausambhi and Gauda.Vikrampur near Dhaka was one of the capitals of victory from where he issued all his land grants. Vijaya was succeeded by his son Vallal Sena who introduced ‘kulinism’, a system of nobility and caste among the Brahmanas, Vaidayas and Kayasthas. His son Lakshmana Sena was considered a great patron of learning. It was during his time that the great Sanskrit poets Jayadeva, Dhoyi, Sarana and probably Govardhana flourished in Bengal. The Senas continued to rule over eastern Bengal until the later part of the 13^th century. During this period the Hindu caste system was vigorously introduced in Bengal.

According to Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen, at the end of Buddhist rule in Bengal and the beginning of Brahmin rule under the Sena kings, the common people felt helpless at the hand of the Hindu rulers. The newly created caste system built walls around the people, and they lost the close contact with their ruler they had enjoyed under the Pala rulers. So when the Muslims invaded Bengali, the ordinary people sighed in relief (D.C. Sen, Brihat Banga, p.530). Dr. Sen noted that it was easy for the Muslims to defeat Bengal because they were welcome in place of the oppressive Sena rulers. Poets and singers did not find the Sena kings worthy of their praises while they have praised the Pala kings profusely in Bengali folk tales and folk songs. Bengali poets who were patronized by the Sena kings were forced to write in Sanskrit as Bengali was not considered to be fit for a written language. The Buddhists embraced Islam as the ruling Muslims reintroduced a caste-free society in Bengal (D.C. Sen, BrihatBanga, p.533). The last Sena king who ruled Bengal, Laksman Singh, was 80 when he escaped from his capital Nadia to East Bengal where he spent the rest of his life. In effect the Senas continued to rule in East Bengal for a little longer.

The most significant influence from Hindu period is the social organization based on the caste system. Although Hindu kingdoms continued in the subcontinent, Muslim invasions in the 10^th century AD overshadowed Hindu importance for many centuries.

The Muslim Period

Muslim traders, travelers and missionaries from the Arabian Peninsula came to Bengal by sea as early as the 8^th century. They created trade and cultural links with Europe and South East Asia. Among them, the famous Moorish historian Ibne Batuta arrived in Bengal in 1346. He wrote a valuable account of contemporary Bengal in his book, Rehla. Between 999 and 1025 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni, an Afghan of Turkish lineage from Central Asia seized Punjab and set series of attacks by Muslim invaders. Another of Turkish Dynasty, Ghur took over and extended his kingdom to Delhi in 1192. By the early 13^th century AD, Turko-Afghans or Mughuls established Muslim sovereign in north India for the next 600 years until the British colonial power took over. The conquest of Bengal by Bahktiar Khilji in the 13^th century marked the beginning of Muslim rule in Bengal popularly known as the Mughul period. The Muslim rulers intermixed freely with the local people and introduced Islamic influence in the arts and a caste-free society.

During the Mughul rule, the country was under half-military and half-civilian rule. Bengal was divided administratively into regions such as Iqlim, Arsa, Kasba and Khita. While lqlim may be attributed to present day divisions, Arsa may be compared to Zilla and town. Kasba and Khitta all referred to townships of various uses such as a trading center while Kasba and Khitta were towns created for military establishments. The army was divided into four divisions: horse cavalry, foot soldiers, navy and elephant cavalry, the most famous. We find references to the horse and elephant cavalries in Bengal from the early accounts in Greek history. Since there are many accounts of Muslim and British rules available to the reader, I shall be very brief.

Although northern India became a Muslim bastion, the Muslims were a small minority in contrast to the Hindu majority. The comparative unity of the Muslims triumphed over the fragmented Hindu civilization. The impact of Hinduism over the Muslims was no less. There was a great interaction between the Hindu and the Muslims. The great Moghul dynasty also borrowed from other Islamic cultures such as Persia which formed the foundation of the state. The Moghuls used Persian language which has a mixture of Persian, Arabic and Turkish and combined with Hindi to form a new language, Urdu in the Moghul courts.

The Moghuls of India represent the golden age of Islam in India. Under Akbar (1556-1605) there were strong attempts to bridge Hindu-Muslim differences. Many Muslim practices were banned such as cow slaughter. Hindus were recruited in the civil administration and army and scholars were respected and encouraged to form a common faith for an integrated India. When Aurangzeb (1658-1707) assumed the Moghul throne, he tried to reintroduce Islamic tradition. It was the beginning of the fall of the Moghul dynasty. The Muslim rulers of Hyderabad, Bengal, Mysore, Oudh and Rohilkhand tried to consolidate their control as British, French and Dutch settlements began to flourish.

The British Period

Once the British defeated their European competitors, they moved against the individual Muslim state and in 1803, occupied Delhi. In 1858 India was incorporated into the British Empire. The region was under direct rule except for a large number of princely states under British protection. Small states like Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim along the Himalayan foothills never came directly under the British suzerainty although colonialism was present in different forms. In the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayan regions bordering Burma, several hill tribes defied integration, although their economic and political autonomy gradually diminished under the colonial power.

With the introduction of modern education and western civilization, cultural revivals in both modernist as well as fundamentalist versions took place. Both communal and secular organizations were used to the advantage of British rule in India. After the British victory the Muslims isolated themselves turning away from the opportunities offered by the British in return for their loyalty. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan a great champion of Muslim renaissance in India, was convinced that the Muslim community’s survival was dependent on modern education. He founded the Muslim Anglo-Oriental College in 1875, later to be called as Aligarh University. Aligarh combined an English educational curriculum with Islamic training which became a training ground for Muslim leadership. Sir Syed Ahmed conceived of the Two-Nation theory which recognized that the Muslims in India were a sizable minority living within India, were a nation and hence entitled to self-determination. The partition of India was the only way to realize this claim. The haste and error of judgment in the partition by the British is held greatly responsible for today’s crisis in South Asia. The division of Bengal in 1905 was seen as a divide and rule policy of the British. It was resisted by the Hindus and annulled in 1911. In 1947 India was divided into India and Pakistan before the British quit India and granted independence. Bengal was divided into Hindu majority, West Bengal under India and Muslim majority, East Bengal under Pakistan. Muslims got independence from the British as well as the Hindus in 1947. There was no clear policy on the princely states such as Nepal, Skkim and Bhutan, they either joined the two countries or remained independent.

Colonial rule encouraged the people to unite under nationalist movements - both all India based and regional which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, against British rule. Patriotism was seen as the root of nationalism. Old resistance movements of late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were events foreshadowing subsequent nationalism. The concept of nationalism in South Asia has moved from pre-colonial patriotism to radical movements for independence.

Archeological Sites: Another Source of History

The use of archeology as an important tool for gathering information for early periods has remained neglected. The excavation of early settlement offers us a means of learning about many aspects of life and society. The present population explosion and process of development made many of these cultural heritage sites unfavourable for conservation. We see destruction of what has long been preserved. Now by benign neglect we are witnessing the destruction of our cultural heritage which could advance our knowledge of our early history in so many areas.

Archeology was first introduced by European merchants, colonial powers and travelers. They were followed by British officers who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1748. In 1861 the Archeological Survey of India was created in order to bring archeological explorations and findings into formal settings. The Indian subcontinent then emerged as a rediscovered civilization. Discoveries of Indian civilization and the excavation of Buddhist sites and monuments revealed the ancient history of India as a whole. The eastern part of the sub-continent remained undiscovered for a longer period. Even now few attempts have been made to discover, excavate and conserve ancient ruins in the eastern Himalayan region, including Bangladesh.

After the Mohenjo-daro and Harrapa civilizations, the most noteworthy discovery of urban settlement is the Mahastangarh in north Bangladesh. Following the breakup of the Harappan civilization, the late Vedic or early Iron Age, a period of consolidation or renewed urbanization took place in the Ganges valley. It is also the beginning of a cultural tradition which has survived to this day. This development may be traced in early historic South Asia to the rise of the Mauryan empire. Diverse ethnic groups with their diverse practices created cultural differences and complex societies. They introduced a new social system preserving cultural diversity and yet creating social stability. At the same time, adoption of the Aryan social system and language, namely old Indo-Aryan, was introduced to displace all other languages. Literary traditions flourished and boundaries emerged for the urban settlement. Punch-marked coins appearing by the end of the 5^th century BC symbolized the emergence of a higher level of political authority. This was also the period which saw an expanding volume of trade on which the political authority probably depended.

The reappearance of stable political structure after the collapse of Harappan urbanism along with an eastward shift of economic and political power and growth and the spread of new Indo-Aryan dialects required almost a millennium. Lack of environmental or social circumscription has been held responsible for the slow development. Although information about the earliest settlement pattern is limited we do know that the population density was low, land was fertile and that there were no significant centers of authority.

It was likely that the Vedic tribes found it easy to move into the vast uninhabited fertile but forested tracts where people of great artistic skill lived. The next three centuries witnessed dramatic changes in population growth. Agricultural activities in the fertile plains were facilitated by the introduction of iron. Long distance sea and land trade, a monetary economy and writing all emerged (before 2^nd century BC). Smaller ethnic tribes submitted to the authority of territorially based states. The Buddhist Pali Canon records political rivalries until the Southern and Northwest part of India came under the Mauryan empire.

The oldest epigraphical record, found in Mahastangarh is a short inscription on stone written in Prakrit dating back to the 3^rd century BC. It belonged to the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (c.BC 272-232), who ruled with the aid of an organized bureaucracy. His rule bore the marks of an advanced political organization and equally advanced cultural foundation. Coins appeared earlier, initially punch marked or inscribed, but these did not assist in dating archeological layers. In absence of written records, a chronology of the early historic state formation has been difficult to form. Oral tradition has been held responsible for the wide absence of written records.

The discovery of terracotta figurines of the Sunga period at Mahastangarh prove that the city of Pundrabardhana continued to flourish even after the fall of the Mauryas who ruled India before Alexander came. Fragments from a huge image, the pedestal of which bore an inscription was discovered in Silua, Noakhali, belonging to the 2^nd century BC. The inscriptions of the age of Samudragupta disclose the existence of new kingdoms. There are many such examples of a very ancient civilization which surface from time to time as new archaeological discoveries are made.

Some Ancient Cities: Mahastangarh

Mahastan is located near Bogra in north Bangladesh, on the banks of Karotoya river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The main ruins of the ancient city consists of an oblong plateau, 15 feet above the plains. It occupies an area 500 feet long from north to south and 4000 feet from east to west. Within 4 miles, isolated ruins of Buddhist monasteries and temples have been discovered. The urban area is covered by a city wall or rampart which is 1.5 km long and 1 km wide.

The early urban settlements such as Mahastan were known as janapada. With population growth, political and economic centralization and the concentration of population, Mahastan is similar to other ancient urban settlements. From literary sources we find that concentration of power was important among leading politicians during Buddha’s time. Larger settlements built massive ramparts to protect themselves from invasion and floods. As in other ancient urban settlements the entire town was abandoned for long periods of time and rebuilt or added to much later by future inhabitants.

According to the Gupta epigraphs Pundravardhana or Mahastangarh has been the largest administrative division of the Gauda empire (R.C. Majumder, p.24). It extended from the summit of the Himalayas in the north to Khadi in the Sundarbans region of the south. The Bhagirathi separated it from Vardhamana bhukti in the west. The Madhyana Plate of Visvarupasena extends its eastern boundary to the Bay of Bengal. According to the Mehar copper-plate dated 1234 AD, it comprised of a part of the district of Tippera.

Mahastan was first mentioned in Buchanan’s description in the 19^th century of Dinajpur. Later in 1879 during the British rule the site was identified with the ancient city of Pundravardhana which Hiuen Tsang visited in the 7^th century AD. Huien Tsang noted that in the kingdom of Pundravardhana there were about twenty Buddhist monasteries where 3000 monks studied Hinayana form of Buddhism. He also mentioned the city was adorned by beautiful houses with gardens by the river. Agriculture was rich and crops were abundant. The identity of Mahastan with Pundravardhana was confirmed by the discovery of a Mauryan Brahmi inscription.

The stone slab records the earliest written date belonging to 3^rd or mid 2^nd century BC. The inscription is an order directed to the administrator of prosperous Pundravardhana to grant rice to the Samvamgiyas. It refers to a famine in Bengal and the generous direction of the ruler.

Nineteen specialties for which Pundravardhana was well-known were mentioned in a poem written around 12^th century. The poem written in ancient Bengali was attributed to the last Pala king of Pundranagar, Parsuram. The poem known as Karatoya Mahatmyan mentioned nineteen qualities Mahastan was famed for including fresh air, rich crops, kind animals and other environmental qualities. Mahastan was also famous for its wells. At the recent excavation site I saw half a dozen wells in a small area which belonged to varying dates which seem very puzzling as to why so many wells in such a small space.

The enormous size of the rampart discovered at Mahastangarh may have served dual functions such as an orderly settlement on vast waterways or forested areas and as protection from flood. The wall was well planned and had gateways. Study of archeological findings can throw light on early urban settlement patterns. A thorough inventory of the objects from Mahastan stored in various museums in Bangladesh, India, Europe and USA will be invaluable.

Larger settlements such as Mahastangarh also dispersed primary administrative and service functions over wider areas. When excavation at Mahastangarh is completed, we shall have more information regarding economic, ethnic and social stratification and economic and political centralization of the period.

The functions of early settlement categories may be guessed from those seen in Mahastangarh, now under excavation. Villages or clusters of living quarters were inhabited by those who probably attended agriculture and animals. Among examples of craftsmanship, terracotta figurines of gods and goddesses and simple images of man, woman and animals and decorations have been found in abundance in these sites. The houses were first built with sun-dried bricks and later with kiln-burnt bricks often with ornamentation.

The Bangladesh-France Joint Program which began in 1993 has been the most systematic excavation so far, based on scientific research, training and musiology. The joint collaboration selected Eastern Rampart Excavation as an excavation site. In a joint exhibition in 1999, many unpublished facts and artifacts findings were presented.

Among recent findings there are many examples of ceramic manufacture and full production of luxury items such as beads made of semi-precious stones. Beads were manufactured out of a wide variety of stones such as agate, amethyst, garnet, jasper, onyx, quartz, coral, copper, glass, bone and shell. Since precious and semi-precious stones are not available in the local alluvial plains, their collection would have to have been organized. Unfinished beads suggest that there was a bead making industry at Mahastan and that raw materials were transported and finished product traded. The variety of shape and techniques such as etching of the surface of black agate and of carnelian was first attested in the Harappan civilization. Beads recently found in Mahastangarh are being sold illegally to collectors which further threatens conservation of ancient ruins.

Among the most noteworthy artifact findings at Mahastan are ring stone carving of female figures and a tree in the middle. Nearly seventy similar objects have been found in around ancient trade routes from Gandhara to Bihar belonging to the Mauryan period. The particular ring exhibited by the France Bangladesh Excavation team can be compared to that of some rings in the Taxila findings. Polished black ceramic dish cup and container found recently covers a period from the earliest occupation during the 3^rd century BC. It proves that Mahastan was one of the production centers of such pottery in the Ganges valley. Bird shapes in beads and amulets found in Mahastan date from the Mauryan period.

Other Ancient Cities

According to Panini, Gaudapura was an ancient city which is yet to be located. The famous port of Tamralipti maybe older than Mahastangarh was mentioned in the great epic Ramayana. The earliest dated reference to it was made in the Geography about the middle of the second century, placing the city on the Ganges. During Hiuen Tsang’s time it was the port for embarkation for Ceylon, Java and China and the west. The ancient book Kathasaritsagara metions people going on ships to Kataha or the Malay Peninsula from Bengal.

Ptolemy mentions the royal city of Gange which is already known to the author of Periplus during the first century: "Through this place are brought mallabathrum and Gangetic spikenard and pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts which are called Gangetic" (R.C. Majumder, p.30). The market town was located on the banks of the Ganges but it has not yet been located. Vanganagara is another ancient city referred to in the Ceylonese chronicles in connection with the Bengali Prince Vijaya who went to Ceylon, but it has also not been located. There is also another city mentioned in the same literature, Simhapura whose exact location has not yet been confirmed.

According to a Susunian inscription of the fourth century, Pushkarana was identified with Pokharna. Chandravarma-kota was another city named after its founder, the famous ruler Chandravarman mentioned in a Faridpur grant, and has been located at Kotalipara in Faridpur district, Bangladesh.

The Baigram inscription of 448 AD refers to Panchanagari in Dinajpur district and Paharpur or Somapura in the Rajshahi district, dating back to the fifth century AD. Paharpur was a famous Buddhist monastery during Dharmapala’s time. Its ruins are preserved and attract many tourists.

During the seventh century Karnasurvanna was the capital of Sasanka and was occupied by Bhaskaravarman of Assam, near Rangamati, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Gauda was the kingdom of the famous Pala kings located in Bangladesh, but its capital is not yet identified. According to anargha-raghava of Murari of possibly the 8^th century AD, Champa was the capital of Gauda. The Chittagong Plates of Kantideva of Harikelamandala of the 9^th century AD, mentions Varhamanapura. Gaur became known as the capital of the Palas located in Rajmahal near the Ganges. Vikrampura in Bangladesh, was another center for Sena rulers. Suvarnagram or modern Sonargaon in Bangladesh was a center for South Bengal. According to Tibetan tradition Chatigram or modern Chittagong, is the birthplace of the Buddhist Tantric siddha, Tila-yogi of the 4^th century AD. The city was famous for a Buddhist monastery known as Pandita-vihara.

The Kingdom of Vanga and Samatata

Vanga was first mentioned in the epic Aitareya Aranyaka but more clearly mentioned in the later epics including Dharmasutras as land belonging to the barbarians. In the Ramayana the Vanga appeared as a respectable land of heroic people.

Kalidasa the poet from 5^th century places Vanga amidst the streams of the Ganges. Jaina literature Prajnapana mentions Tamralipti as a city in Vanga. Vanga is now generally understood as the eastern part of the Gangetic delta.

In the late Pala period Vanga was divided into two parts, northern and southern. Of the two sub-divisions, Vikrampura (in Dhaka) is well-known. The other, Navya which means accessible by boat refers to south-eastern part of the Gangetic delta. In the east Navya extended to the estuary of the river Meghna.

There are many references often conflicting ones when it comes to location of these ancient divisions or kingdoms in the region. The Samatata has been mentioned as same as Vanga. The Brihat-samhita of 6^th century AD distinguishes it from Vanga. Hiuen Tsang (7^th century AD) described it as a low and humid country on the sea, south of Kamarupa (Assam). It also included Tippera, west Comilla.

Before the beginning of the 4^th century independent states or kingdoms existed in Bengal until the establishment of the Gupta empire in northern India. With the exception of Samatata or eastern Bengal, rest of Bengal came under Samudragupta. The Gupta empire collapsed after the 6^th century.

Samatata became fully independent after the end of the Gupta rule. Five inscriptions discovered in Faridpur reveal the existence of three rulers named Gopachandra, Dharmaditya and Samachardeva who were independent as well as powerful. How and when the kingdom of Samatata came to an end is not known. According to Mahakuta inscription Kiritvarman, king of Chalukya had conquered Anga, Vanga, Kalinga and Magadha (R.C. Majumder, p-54). Buddhist kings known as Khadgas ruled Samatata between 650 and 700 AD. They were overcome by the Devas, a Buddhist dynasty identified by the discovery of royal copper-plate grant discovered in Mainamati, Comilla. They ruled during the 7^th and the 8^th centuries.

The next ruling dynasty known as the Chandra dynasty was recently identified from copper-plate grants found in Sylhet and Comilla. They ruled as independent kings between 900 and 1050 AD at first over a small area known as Rohitagiri located in the Lalmai-Mainamati hill range. Later they extended their kingdom over Vanga and Samatata.They founded Vikrampur (near Dhaka) as their capital. They were also linked socially and politically with the Chandra kings of Arakan in Burma.

The Kingdom of Pattiker

Burmese and Arakanese sources from 11^th century refer frequently to a small principality in eastern Bengal named Pattikera, which enjoyed an intimate relationship with the kingdom of Burma. A copper-plate grant of 13^th century records a land grant given to a Buddhist monastery in Pattikera in 1220 AD by king Rana Vankamalla Harikeladeva. Its location has not yet been discovered although it is believed to be near Comilla. They were closer to Burma than the powerful Pala and Sena Kings in Bengal. A number of coins from the era show a close resemblance to a Burmese series.

The early periods of ancient culture and civilization in eastern India and Bangladesh made significant contributions to the civilization of South East Asia. The increased volume of trade by sea and Buddhist and Hindu missionary expeditions to these areas brought close contacts with people and customs. Silendra, the Buddhist king of Indonesia, had built the 400 feet square terraces of Borobudur, one of the largest Buddhist monuments of the world, after the architecture of Paharpur built by the Palas. While monuments in Cambodia and Indonesia and other places are widely acclaimed by modern tourists, the original grandeur remain obscure due to lack of patronage and negligence. Often they are protected by villagers who have built homes on top of these ruins or unexcavated hills.

Regional and Foreign Ties: Interrelationship of Culture in South Asia

As ecology and culture are not confined in political frontiers, we should also look into the interactive relationship with immediate neighbors in south Asia. The region between the Oxus river and the Indus experienced major cultural development during the proto-historic period. Within the three periods of Stone, Copper-Bronze and Iron, there have been several studies of the Neolithic, the Harappan or Indus civilization and the Megalithim but there has not been much study done on the interrelationship among the cultures of eastern part of South Asia. During the seventh to third millennium BC these cultures of eastern part of South Asia were probably passing through the Neolithic phase, based on their subsistence economy which was conditioned by local environment and capacity to exploit its resources. During the third and second century BC expansion of trade led to cultural interrelationship between these regions. Trade prospered by land and sea routes. Along with goods, the most important exchange was that of ideas and religious teachings.

Eastern part of South Asia made unique contribution to the cultures and religions of the world. The rise of Jainism and Buddhism earlier in the 6t^h century BC contributed generously to Indian religious and cultural history. Their effects were felt from Indus to Java, China to Sri Lanka and beyond. Bangladesh which once ruled north India, is located at the heart of his region.

The most significant literature of ancient period in Bengal was composed by Buddhist siddhas belonging to the Shahajia Tantric branch of Buddhism which flourished in the eastern Himalayan region. These mystic poems known as Charyagiti as mentioned earlier in this study, were written in Bengali in the Shahajia tradition of which very little is known. The poems are lost in the original but are preserved in Tibetan translation in the Bstan-tgvur. They flourished in Bengal under the Buddhist Pala kings between 9^th and 11^th centuries or even earlier. The discovery of the poems in 1907 at the royal Archieve of Nepal brought to light the oldest specimen not only of Bengali poetry but also of Indo-

Aryan literature in this region. Fragments of the manuscript now exist in Nepal. Besides this and the Tibetan translations, the poems are also preserved in Mongolian translations found in Mongolian Tanjur vol. 49, folio 292b-345a under the title Yabudalun dayulal-un Sang-un tailburi. A copy of this rare book is preserved in the State Public Library of the Mongolian People’s Republic in Ulan Bator (H. Moudud, p.18). A rare paper manuscript of Charyagiti was discovered in a private archive in Nepal by myself. These poems are examples of common cultural and religious heritage of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Even today these songs are being recited somewhere in Nepal, Bhuttan and Tibet, but very little is known of it. Although these poems written by Bengali siddhas dealt primarily with metaphysical problems of Trantric Buddhism, through these we get a vivid picture of the common people and a beautiful description of the riverine Bengal.

Bengal’s Connection with the Outside World

There was an intimate cultural and trade link between Bengal and the rest of Asia by both inland, river and sea route. The development of Bengal’s crafts and industries, religious ideas and the rivers system and sea access have contributed to early link with the outside world. The role of rivers in trade and communication link was of great significance. The history of Bengal’s foreign trade can be traced back to four or five centuries before Christ.

Bengal carried active exchange beyond India in both religious and trade matters. The port of Tamralipti was well known in the ancient world as a busy and prosperous trading center connecting the eastern and western world. Bengal connected, by way of land, rivers and sea, the Indian sub-continent with the east from South China to Burma and on to Malay Peninsula and Indo China. It was particularly interesting to find innumerous Chinese references to Bengal followed by traders, pilgrims, travelers and a diverse class of people who traveled to Bengal and the Far East. Apart from being an intermediary in trade and commerce, Bengal played an important role in exchange of diverse civilizations of Eastern and South-eastern Asia for one thousand and five hundred years. An inscription found in the Malay Peninsula of the 4^th century AD records the gift of one Mahanavika or ‘Great Captain’ Buddhagupta probably from Bengal (R.C. Majumder, p.671).

Recently some seals have been found dating back to 3500 BC and belonging to the Mediterranean island of Crete. It proves that Bengal was already in touch with one of the earliest civilizations. We also find several references in Greek and Latin literature of the 1^st and 2^nd century AD to fine textiles from "Gange" city, believed to be in Bengal.

Buddhism was established in Java and the neighboring region during the Pala period. An inscription found in Java mentions that the teacher of the Sailendra emperors hailed from Gauda, a part of Bengal. The teacher known as Kumaraghosa set up the state of Manjusri in the year 782 AD. There was an intimate exchange and influence of art and archeology between the Palas of Bengal and the Sailendra kingdoms of Java. The influence extended beyond Java. In Burma and in Nepal, Bengali influence in temple architecture was considerable. The Javanese scripts written in ancient scriptures bear proto-Bengali alphabets. The affinity between the scripts continued until the 14^th century AD during the period of Buddhist influence.

Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen, a leading Bengali historian, noted that a time when the Bengalis sailed the seas and excelled in sea trade, sea travel was banned by the Sena rulers in 468-69 AD (D.C. Sen, Brihat Banga). Bengal connected Java, Bali and Sumatra, were banned by the Sena kings at home for fear of losing Hindu control and influence. Bengal remained trapped during the Sena period.

Bengal’s Relation with Tibet

Bengal was briefly conquered by the powerful Tibetan king Srong Tsan. Between 581 and 600 AD he led a victorious campaign to India, and possibly Bengal, since the campaign is commemorated in both Bengal and Assam. Through his queen, a Buddhist from Nepal, he was converted to Buddhism. Srong Tsan introduced Buddhism in Tibet. He revised the Tibetan alphabet on the model of Bengali script. He invited Bengali pundits to Tibet and had Buddhist scriptures translated into Tibetan. The Tibetan alphabet is similar to the Bengali alphabet.

According to Tibetan chronicles, Bengal influenced Tibet in many way. The form of Buddhist religion and monastic order in Tibet was largely influenced by Buddhist scholars from Bengal such as Santirakshita, Kamalashila, Shilavadra and Atisa Dipankara. The Tibetan chronicles have preserved detailed accounts of these Pundits from Bengal, in particular from the Pala period. The Pundits not only preached Buddhism and translated many Indian and Bengali texts but also transmitted Bengali culture and civilization. According to the Tibetan book, Pag Sham Jon Zang, of the 11^th century (compiled in 1747 AD), Bengali art was the most popular in Tibet.

In the middle of the 8^th century AD the Bengali Pundit Santirakshita was invited to Tibet by the king. According to Pag Sham Jon Zang, Santirakshita was born into the royal family of Zohar, now identified as Savar, outside Dhaka, the capital of modern Bangladesh. On his advice the king of Tibet also invited Padmasambhava to teach in Tibet. Together they founded the order of the Lama in Tibet. After Santirakshita and Padmasambhava, Kamalasila went to Tibet by the king’s invitation.

Of all the Buddhist scholars, Atisa Srigana Diphankara was the most famous and he is still worshipped in Tibet second only to Buddha. Dipankara was born in 980 AD in the royal family of Gauda in Vikrampura, a site now marked in Bangladesh which I have visited in 1998. He was a great scholar and he mastered the Hinayana and Mahayana schools of Buddhism. At the age of thirty-one he was ordained a Bhikshu or monk. He went to Suvarnadvipa or Java, then an important center of Buddhism in the east. He studied there for twelve years. On his return he became the High Priest of the Vikramsila monastery. About the middle of the 11^th century AD the Tibetan king Lha lama Ye-se-bod, who was a pious Buddhist, invited Atisa to reform Buddhism in Tibet which was under the influence of Tantric and Bon mysticism. But Atisa declined the king’s repeated invitations. Only after the death of the king Atisa decided to pay a visit for a short time. Ratnakara, the chief of the Vikramsila remarked: "Without Atisa India will be in darkness." At the age of fifty nine, Dipankara started his journey for Tibet with Vinayadhara, Gya-tson, Pandit Bhumigarbha and the Maharaja Bhumisnagha, king of western India who was his disciple. In Nepal he was met by Ananta-kirti, the king of Nepal who founded a monastery called Than-vihara in respect of the venerable teacher. The king’s son Padmaprabha was ordained as monk by Dipankara who also accompanied him to Tibet. At the borders of Tibet Dipankara was received very warmly by Chan Chub, king of the frontiers of Tibet. When he reached the monastery of Tholing he was given a grand ovation from the king. Brom-ton, founder of first great hierarchy of Tibet, became his disciple. Dipankara succeeded in removing tantric elements from Buddhism. He wrote more than two hundred books on Buddhism during his stay, among which Bodhipatha-pradipa was the most prominent. At Basam Yas monastery he found many Sanskrit manuscript which no longer existed in Bengal or India and he translated them into Tibetan. He lived in Tibet for thirteen years and died there in c.1053 AD at the age of seventy-three at the Snyc-thang monastery. In 1994 I had the opportunity to visit Tibet and visit the shrine where his ashes are preserved. I planted a tree in the courtyard as a sign of respect. The monastery still preserves a cool stone slab which the venerable teacher used as his seat. Some of his ashes were returned to Bangladesh which remains at the Kamalapur Buddhist monastery in Dhaka. Many original manuscripts are believed to be still buried under the monastery which is not very far from Lhasa.

Dr. Michael Aris, a Tibetan scholar, noted in his article, "India and the British according to a Tibetan Text of the later Eighteenth Century" that (But) the general Tibetan view of India was the one which lay frozen in the Buddhist cannons translated into Tibetan. The silence of the later Tibetan literature simply reflects the dearth of meaningful cultural or political contacts between the north and the south. Such commercial relations as did persist find no significant mention in Tibetan literature. Dr. Aris further noticed that the Accoount of India to the South: or, The Mirror of the Eight Subjects of Scrutiny, composed in 1788 by a famous Tibetan scholar and visionary Jigmelingla (1730-98), is an account of India "revealing an all embracing curiosity in an expanding, cosmopolitan world - a curiosity tempered by genuine skepticism and rationality, though the door is left wide open to the mysterious and the magic. We can also note a certain sense of cultural relativism in the enthusiastic descriptions of many peculiar and exotic rituals." Dr. Aris noted, "We are led to the simple conclusion that human curiosity, rationality and intelligent discourse can be expressed in very similar cultural contexts."

Eastern India was the India in the South of Tibet which enjoyed maximum sharing of such cultural curiosities than any other part of the world.

A Brief History of Foreign Trade

The early growth of commerce, demand for Bengal’s crafts and industries and highly efficient modes of river and sea transport made Bengal the center for regional inland and foreign trade. The ancient trade is recorded in Jataka stories the accounts of Starbo and Pliny and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The mention of hattapati, saulkika and tarika (officers in charge of markets, customs, tolls and ferries) made in the land grants suggest that the state derived considerable revenue from trade (R.C. Majumder, p.660). The main centers of inland trade were in the towns. In addition to river routes there were also land routes used for trade and transportation wherever possible.

Foreign trade can be traced back to four or five centuries before Christ. Starbo refers to the "ascent of vessels from the sea by the Ganges to Paliibothra," based on Megastheses’s account (R.C. Majumder, p.660). According to Jataka stories, merchants and businessmen narrated many tales of trades with Bengal. The Milinda-panho of the first century AD refers to overseas trade between Vanga and different parts of the world. The Periplus of the Erythraean documents sea trade of the time as very active and successful. Tamralipti was a very famous and major sea port in Asia. From there the sea trade went south east to Burma and to Malay Peninsula and the far east. A third line of trade led in south west past Ceylon, to the Arab Peninsula, Africa and Europe.

A major land route connected Pundravardhana with Kamarupa (Assam) which allowed Hiuen Tsang to travel to India in the seventh century AD. From ancient times Kamarupa of Assam was famous for textile, sandal wood and agaru. From Kamarupa the route moved to the direction of South China through Assam and Upper Burma.Chang-kien, a Chinese ambassador to the Yue-chi country submitted in 126 B.C. the above trade route with Bengal and China. When he was in Bactria he was surprised to find silk and bamboo from the Yunnan and Szechwan provinces. He found out that these products were carried by caravans from Bengal to South China and later to Afghanistan. This route was in well use until the ninth century AD and was joined by another route from Assam. Kia Tan (785-805 AD) makes reference to the land route from Tonkin to Kamarupa which crossed the Karatoya river, passed by Pundravardhana, then ran across the Ganges to Kajagal and finally Magadha (R.C. Majumder p.663).

The route of trade which led westwards from various points in Bengal and joined the network of highways which converged to Beneras was the road link to Bodh-Gaya, the center of Buddhist pilgrimage. These western routes formed the principal means of communication as well as famous military routes between Bengal and Northern India (R.C. Majumder, p.663). Trade and military expeditions seemed to go hand in hand.

A third route of overland trade led through the passes of the Himalayas, past Sikkim and Chumbi Valley to Tibet and the interiors of China. The Perplus of the Erythraean Sea states that as early as the 1^st century AD "raw silk, silk yarn and silk cloth" came to Bengal from China and were re-exported to "Dammirriea by way of the river Ganges" (Periplus, p.48). Later this route became the main route of Buddhist pilgrimage between Magadha and Tibet. Horses in large numbers have been imported into Bengal along the tract. According to Tabaqat Nasiri, Karbattan or Karambattan, not yet identified, was a city located at the foothills of the Himalayas and was a center for horse trading. "Every morning in the market of the city, about fifteen hundred horses are sold. All the saddle horses which come into the territory of Lakhnauti are brought from the country. Their roads pass through the ravines of the mountains, as is quite common in that part of the country. Between Kamarup and Tibet there are thirty-five mountains passes through which horses are brought to Lakhnauti" (R.C. Majumder, p.663)." Later Buddhist missionaries and scholars traveled through these well known routes as well as secret passes through the Himalayas to Tibet, China and beyond.

A fourth route over land ran southwards, along the Kalinga coast to the South Indian peninsula. Hieuen Tsang and presumably the Palas, Senas, Cholas and the Eastern Ganges also used the route for travel and military expeditions.

Ethnic Conflict: Beginning of Ethnic Identity Crisis

A threat to existing culture in eastern part of South Asia came from Aryanization. Around 2^nd century BC, Aryan influence in India extended to the Ganges valley and further down. The non-Aryan, the Dravidians and the aboriginals (such as Kol), fought with the invading Aryans and eventually made peace with them. Many non-Aryans remained unaffected by the Aryan culture and language for quite some time. They were looked down upon as lower caste "Sudras" by the Aryanan settlers or the "Vaisas" as they were known. The Dravidian culture was not inferior to that of the Aryans. They were clever agriculturists and artisans and their philosophy influenced the Aryans as did many factors. The cosmic notions of the Aryans were derived from Dravidian beliefs. The eastern Aryans were a people of mixed background. Bengal came under Aryan influence much later than any other region in India.

The culture of this region was composite and has evolved during different periods accommodating the popular beliefs and expressing aspirations of common man. The earlier culture was non-Vedic and non-Aryan. But the Aryan culture, the Vedic, the Jainism, Buddhism and Islam have all left lasting influence in the region in many ways. The primitive culture became absorbed, but it also influenced its adopted religion (H. Moudud, p.8). The diffusion of Vedic culture is seen during the Gupta period in epigraphic inscriptions. The Palas were influenced by Buddhism. The Varman and Sena kings were chief patrons of the Vedic culture. The Muslims rulers adopted many local beliefs and customs just as they brought their own tradition and values. There were conflicts but usually these conflicts settled down. The people had tremendous ability to adapt and thus to survive. This has given a particular character of resilience among the people.

In pre-colonial India, ethnic and communal peace was maintained by the Muslims rulers. The plurality of religions and popular spiritual movements such as Vaisnavism, Bhakti or Sufism helped to create peaceful coexistence. Many literary works of the period pay tribute to the composite culture that did not threaten any individual religion. During colonial rule ethnic tension began to mount as various communities competed for opportunities and the British carried out divide-and-rule policies to their fullest advantage. The introduction of Christianity and modern education by missionaries and colonial rulers created some distrust among the tribal people who lived in remote hilly regions and among agricultural settlers in the plains.

As the partition of India into India and Pakistan was based on the two-nation theory, it opened new challenges to nationhood. After gaining independence from the British in 1947, the on going national, tribal and ethnic identity crisis became a challenge to the new states. While Nepal and Bhutan remained independent kingdoms, Sikkim was annexed by India and Tibet was made a part of China. The most dramatic and successful expression of nationalism was the break-up of Pakistan in 1971 at the end of a bloody liberation war. In 1971 the creation of Bangladesh was readjustment of independence and liberation from the military and the feudal lords who still rule Pakistan. Economic disparity, exploitation, a sense of neglect and a strong sense of Bengali culture, language and national identity, resulted in a separatist movement in East Pakistan. The two provinces of Pakistan shared the same religion, but could not hold together because of physical distance, cultural difference and economic and civic disparity. The events leading to independence of Bangladesh may offer fresh perspectives on nationalism and ethnic identity struggles in the region or elsewhere.

The subject of ethnic tensions in eastern Indian states is considered by India so sensitive that even a discussion may be seen as an intervention in Indian domestic affairs. Recently the arrest of an Indian citizen in Bangladesh claimed to be a prominent leader of the Indian ethnic movement in Eastern India has caused much concern. The Indian Government has asked Bangladesh to hand him over and the subject has created tension.

Ethnic identities and movements in South Asia have a long history. In India ethnic movements have continued to persist while in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan they are move or less contained. In the past ethnic groups maintained their respective identities and exchanged freely with one another. They were by no means closed societies, they were curious and eager to explore. Mutual respect for each others culture in a larger multi-ethnic society was based on this tolerance. But politicized ethnicity has produced the present armed conflicts. One may attribute many factors for this including neglect by the central government after the achievement of independence, lack of democratic and civic rights of the minorities and deprivation of an ancient way of life. Environmental damage has also added to the growing discontent among ethnic members. Water and nature resource use have given rise to concerns for environment security in the region. Eastern Himalayas is rich in not only forest products but also in water and mineral resources, which governments have sold to investors without any local share or profit. The earned revenue has not been spent for the improvement of the local communities. In some cases loss of ancient way of living due to spread of alien religion, education, TV, video and film, communication, missionary activities, banning of Jhum or traditional hill cultivation and military activities have further aggravated the situation. Many young people are trained by para-military, self-styled forces to oppose these changes and press their demand for national identity. The principle of self-determination has emerged as a western democratic input in the demands for autonomy and secession. Ethnic identity has eclipsed national identity. Today nationalism mean one thing for the minority and another for the majority of the population.

Some Features of Ethnic Tension

Education and economic development are no longer considered enough to solve ethnic tension. Shortage of food grain, environmental degradation and population growth have combined with a cultural identity crisis to generate extreme violence and damaged the relationship between state and ethnic minorities. The cultural factor which are often played up against the state are race, language and religion.

The primitive people of Bengal were different in race from the Aryans who compiled the Vedic epics (R.C. Majumder, p.36). In later Brahminical literature the primitive tribes were regarded as dasyus and give them names such as Suhmas (sinful), Kiratas, Hunas, Andhras, Pulindas, Pukkasas, Abhiras, Yavanas and Khasas. The early Jaina text Acharanga-sutra noted the local native as hostile to the Jaina. Anthropologist and linguist, Sylvain Levy concluded that the primitive people of Bengal and some neighboring provinces spoke a language that was neither Aryan nor Dravidian, but belonged to a separate family of speech. Many scholars find a strong Polynesian influence on the Pre-Dravidian population of the southern coast of India. A Bengali tribe, the Goudas and a royal family, the Palas were considered to have an oceanic connection (R.C. Majumder, p.36). Whatever may have been the ethnic associations of primitive races in Bengal, the Aryan influence soon intermingled with the local races. Mahabharata refers to the Vangas and the Pundras as well-born Kshatriyas. Later Jaina epics accord the Vangas and the Ladhas as Aryan people. The people in the hills and mountains are generally considered as tribal or ethnic people with strong Mongolian features as opposed to a more mixed people from the plains. By the time Bengal adopted the Aryan culture as early as the fifth century, numerous castes had evolved by different arts, crafts, and professions as well as tribal, racial and religious factors intermixing with one another.

According to Gilner, besides racial differences, language has become the centerpiece of national identity in modern states (Ishtiaq Ahmed, p.48) language is not only a medium of communication, it is also a cultural factor expressing emotions, feeling, ideology etc. Language and literature play an important role in integrating various groups into larger communities and nations. Language as a product of social communication produces dialects or give and take processes blending phrases, idiom, folk tales and different ways of pronunciation.

The role of religion was immense in the Indian subcontinent and in the eastern Himalayan region. The introduction of Buddhism, Jainism and Islam helped create a yearning for non-caste and non-repressive order and expectations which encouraged tolerance for other religions and coexistence. There was little room for communal discord in the pre-colonial period.

Gods and myths of the Indus valley civilization were accommodated into Aryan beliefs. Later on, the concept of nandi and female worship came into the Hindu pantheon. Various Dravidian gods and Buddhist gods and beliefs were also accommodated into the new system of communication. Out of this give and take there emerged a mystical oneness of religions despite their ritualistic differences. People believed that God did not pay heed to external ritual of worship but the sincerity of devotion. Thus tolerance lifted all narrow differences. The idea of a non ritualistic mysticism appealed to the people – a unifying philosophy of diverse religions. The Moghul Emperor Akbar promoted a unifying religion and literature but his propagation of a unified religion did not survive. The mystic appeal of Bhakti and Sufism blossomed through literature to this day because it was spontaneous, unconscious and it appealed to people. Bhakti was based on Hinduism while Sufism was based on Islam. Both celebrated the motive of love. These still exist in folk literature and culture but is fading with present day influences of violence, sex, crime and drug. Pressure of population increase and resource depletion have become threat to peace in or outside the region.

Dr. Mizanur Rahman Shelley, a Bangladeshi political scientist observes that many post colonial states are multi-ethnic, multi-linguist and are driven by inter communal and sub-regional conflicts. Both internal and external factors often prevent these relatively new nation-states from resolving their conflicts. As a result movements for autonomy or secession ensue (M.R. Shelley, p.10).

India’s Role

India as a regional power does not play its desired role. India’s relationship with its immediate neighbors is described by Mahfuz Anam, a Bangladeshi editor, "India is insensitive and condescending to the needs of its smaller neighbors. It’s obsession with Pakistan and fear of China clouds all its thinking on South Asia. It does not understand, nor have any respect for the fundamental urge of its neighbours to be totally independent and be treated with respect and dignity. For India to be a regional or global power it must enjoy the full confidence of its neighbours which India expects but does not try to earn (M. Anam, The Sunday Times, India, Aug. 3, 2000).

Culture, Ethnicity and Conflict

Culture in south Asia, as anywhere else, embraces all aspects of life. The intellectual and artistic expression of a people give them a sense of identity. In South Asia this feeling of cultural identity also expresses national identity. Although the region is divided into states with very limited direct contacts between them, a continuation of its ancient civilization makes this region unique. A Bangladeshi farmer continues to live as his forefathers did two thousand years ago. His house, the pottery he uses, the shape of his roof, the shape of his boat, the traditional agricultural tools and wisdom he uses, the songs he sings or hears while working in the fields, the food he eats, the lungi and gamcha he wears or the sari his wife wears, the quilt that his mother stitches, the rice cakes the women make, the songs sung by women for wedding or funerals are still the same. Recently influences from films, TV and radio are changing all these. While one may still find the ancient pace and life style in this part of the world, changes are also taking place. Health care, population control and education have been recognized as positive modern benefits. Secularism (tolerance for all religions) is being replaced by communalism (hatred and intolerance of other’s religion). It is difficult to remove the distrust and hatred built by communalism from the societies. Communal and political tensions are destroying the traditional harmony that existed among the people.

In pre-colonial times, ethnic and communal peace was not considered a big problem. Religion, culture and trade provided healthy give and take and peaceful co-existence within the region and outside. We see plenty of examples in folk tales, folk songs and in popular spiritual movements combining Hindu, Buddhism and Islamic ideas with universalistic ideas. An ancient folk song composed by an illiterate Bengali poet is an example of such universalism:

Cows are of different color but milk is same

I see sons of the same mother all over the world.

Religion has always played a very significant role in South Asia. Hinduism once covered the whole of South Asia was followed by Jainism and Buddhism. Like Hinduism, Islam also came from outside but lasted side by side with Hinduism. Buddha and Mahavira did not use Sanskrit, ‘the language of the God’ of the Hindus. They used the language of the people. Muslims were confident enough with Islam to adapt to local languages and patronized the translations of Sanskrit religious books into the languages used by the people. It was the identity with the masses which appealed to the common man who took to Jainism, Buddhism and Islam. It also produced mystic religion and mysticism in which the common man found a place. The mysticism and spiritualism made the harmonies between people possible and also helped them to forget the poverty, social injustice or negligence which they experienced. The poets used mysticism where the experience of God was immediate and not through a third person. By using the language of the people and not of the elite, the poets empowered the people. It recognized women and low caste people.

Language has been identified with nationhood in South Asia. The emergence of Bangladesh as a nation based on language is an example. In the absence of harmony and tolerance of different races, religions and language, the region may be under threat of emerging as an area of increasing violence and armed conflict.

Towards the end of British colonial rule in India a massive wave of anti-colonial and anti-imperial activities challenged the British empire. The British Raj became representative of a repressive culture and civilization providing the west with manpower and resources. The resistance against the British created a new intellectual elite throughout the sub-continent of India in which the Bengalis played a leading role. Gandhi’s opposition to western civilization was welcome and became most successful in Bengal. Nationalism became a symbol of resistance against colonial rule. Its leaders were products of the colonial education. Power to rule gave rise to corrupt dictatorship, corrupt democratic practice and corrupt government. The sub-continent remained a part of the Third World whereas many other parts in Asia which gained freedom later became more prosperous.

While nationalist culture depended on national identity and national politics depended on politics of identity, ethnic and other conflicts began to rise. Bengal is for Bengalis, Assam is for Ahoms, Nepal is for Nepalese, Bhutan is for Bhutanese and so on. The fight between the native and the settlers became a fresh struggle.

Edward W. Said writes, "One of the first tasks of the culture of resistance was to reclaim, rename, and re-inhabit the land" (Said, Culture and Imperialism, p.273). Nationalism grew more complex once the British rule ended but the political culture did not change much. The national identity struggle to free itself from imperialist domination became the modern state. Army, flag, constitution and political parties symbolized the national state. The culture of opposition and resistance produced nationalist independence movements and liberation struggles. The conflicts in Indian north eastern states and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh may be considered as movements for freedom by those engaged in armed resistance against their governments.

In Edward Said’s words who has written extensively on human plights and divisions in the world today, we need to "re-introduce mankind into the world" (Said, Culture and Imperialism, p.325 ). We need new economic and socio-political justice in the new century and to reaffirm our faith in human interdependence. In this way the regions in conflict will begin to pull one another out of misery and distrust into an era of trust and mutual cooperation.

Background of Ethnic Crisis in North East India

The seven states of northeastern India are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. This physically contiguous area once shared a natural resource base, trade and religion.

The people in this region are a mix of Aryan, Dravidian, Austric, Montagnards and Negrito origin. Indo-Tibetans are the oldest group and have settled in the Himalayan foothills for 3000 years. Aryan invaders around 1550 BC called the original people Kirata. The Vedas, Ramayana and Mahhabharata viewed them as fearful and terrible highlanders. The Ramanaya describes: The Kiratas with their hair down up in knots, shining like gold and pleasant to look upon, bold enough to move under water, terrible, veritable tiger-men, so are they famed (S.M. Ali, p.23).

Kirata kings were in close contact with other hill people as well as plainsmen. As a result they developed a mixture of animist, Vedic and Buddhist practices out of which came Tantric form of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Tantric Buddhism spread to the highlands from Tibet. Tantric Hinduism was restricted to the Brahmaputra valley and foothills (S.M. Ali, p.24) with its medival centers at Kamarupa and Kamakhya. Kiratas are ancestors of Bodos, a tribal community of Brahmaputra valley which caused political instability in Assam in the 1980s.

The Montagnards are divided into 217 scheduled tribes recognized by the Indian constitution. Each tribe views itself as having a special kinship and bond excluding outsiders. Outsiders are plainsmen of Indic origin who control political and economic decision-making and migratory settlers. Competition for scarce resources, populations pressure, lack of understanding between plainsmen and tribal people and central authority complicate relationship. Diverse religion and language also create problems. It is said that about 420 languages or dialects exists in this region. Isolation has further created a sense of suspicion and negligence.

added advantage in the past, now is in decline. India as a stronger economy will be the major beneficiary. Bangladesh at present suffers huge and growing trade deficits with India. Within India Assam which used to export tea, timber, bamboo and jute to the rest of the world through the rivers of Bangladesh has a much reduced export base now. Only one percent of the north eastern states of India border with mainland India through the Siliguri Corridor. Ninety-nine percent of the boundaries of the north east are shared with Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar and mostly with Bangladesh (R. Sobhan).

The kingdom of Kamarupa disintegrated in the 12^th century. Fragmentation of tribes and land let the (Shan-Tai) Ahoms enter the Brahmaputra valley and establish a powerful kingdom in 1228 AD. The Ahoms subordinated most of the other tribal groups with the help of Kalitas and Koch, two powerful alliances. The Ahoms and Kochs ruled north-eastern India for 6 centuries. Ahom kings also advanced towards Mithila and Kanauj, ancient Aryan power and Vedic learning centers. Ahoms, Koch and Kalitas were given a higher ranking in the caste hierarchy than in the original Aryan order. Thus the Ahoms acquired a socio-religious and political-economic position which they sustained until 1819.

Burmans from lower Burma attacked and took control over the valley while the highlands remained free. The Burmans themselves became subject to the colonial expansion of the British East India Company. Towards the end of the first Anglo-Burma war in 1826, the East India Company annexed Burma’s Assamese satrapy to its sub-continental colony. British encroachment was violently met by the tribal people. The British then encouraged plainsmen from Bengal, Bihar and other areas to settle in the valleys to supervise the British plantation economy. When the Nagas ravaged the plantation settlements, the British retaliated with force against the Nagas and introduced Christian missionaries. The conflict of cultures between plainsmen and hunter-gatherer tribal people increased. In 1868, the British took Kohima, the main Naga town. In 1878 the Nagas revolted, which made the British declare the Naga Hills a district with special privileges and thus the Angamis and the Nagas were pacified. British also helped spread the concepts of national identities and state formation.

Manipur was a Hindu kingdom in the valley of Manipur river. Its tribal population converted to Vaishnavite school of Hinduism in the 16^th century. They also possessed a rich culture and were accomplished dancers. Manipur enjoyed special religious and cultural links with Bengal Manipur retained internal autonomy under the British. In Bangladesh Manipur people carry on their district culture in various parts of Sylhet district.

In the south the Mizo-Lushai Hills did not fall under the British until 1890s. In the later 19^th century, the Chin movement from upper Burma forced Lushai tribesmen to seek new homes in the eastward in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. In 1892 the British conquered the Mizo Hills and missionary activities further increased Christian and British influence. In 1935 the hill districts were: the Naga Hills, the North East Frontier Tract (later, Agency or NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh), the Lushai Hills (now Mizoram), and North Cacahr Hills were separated from the plains.

During the 2^nd World war, the Japanese took over Manipur (Imphal) and Nagaland (Kohima) for several months. Finally the British took over with the help of many tribesmen, especially the Nagas. Subhas Bose a controversial leader of West Bengal organized Azad Hind Fouz or INA recruiting POWs taken by the Japanese, by joining the Japanese against the Allies. The encounter worsened relations between the Indian nationalists and the tribal areas. Against this background, the British partitioned India into India and Pakistan. The advent of Communist China across the border, transformation of East Pakistan into Bangladesh, which was in itself in search of a national identity, are factors of post colonial period and independence. The population pressure, flood and drought pushed many plainsmen to the highlands in search of new home and food, creating bitterness among the highlanders.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Chittagong Hill Tracts is located in south eastern part of Bangladesh. It has an area of 13,150 Sq. kilometers which is one tenth of Bangladesh territory, and has population of 1 million including Bengal settlers. It has enormous land and forest resources including potential for gas, oil, hard rock, lime-stone, coal, tourism etc. It already generates hydroelectricity with potential for more production once gas is discovered there. The Chittagong hill Tracts has been a political issue of concern for a long time before independence in 1972. The issue became more complicated when the then member of parliament from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Manabendra Larma, refused to vote in favour of the Bangladesh constitution claiming, "a Chakma can never be a Bengali ...... our main worry is that our culture is threatened with extinction. But we want to live with our separate identity (M. Ahmed, p.129)." Larma formed a political front called Parabattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Sangha (PCJSS) in which he included leaders of Rangamati Communist Party. As a sequence an armed wing named Shanti Bahini was formed on February 7, 1973. The decision by Government of Awami League in 1972 to settle poor land less people from mainland in the tribal areas led to armed conflict. The intrusion of Bengali settlers in their land and culture gave the tribal leaders reason to reiterate their demand for an autonomous state. Some tribal leaders began to organize guerrilla warfare against the Bengali settlers and tribal people who did not agree to such violence. The demand for self rule by the tribal people in the Hill Tracts has been a source of conflict for all governments. The settlement of Bengalis led to armed conflict. The army intervened to safeguard the Bengalis who were then put in camps for safety. The Tribal people who have been uprooted by the settlers or the guerrillas or have returned from India where they had fled as refugees were also put in different camps under army protection and fed by the government. Many economic and political reform programs have been taken by different governments since but they failed to mitigate the tension and conflict. While tribal leaders were more willing to give the various peaceful and political measures a chance to work, the armed Shanti Bahini, who are given training and sanctuary in India, were not willing.

In 1996 when Awami League was elected to power, an agreement was arrived at between the Government and Shantu Larma, leader of the armed Shanti Bahini. The negotiation was supported by India and secretly concluded. An agreement was signed without discussion, debate or participation of the opposition in the Parliament. While the agreement has brought temporary relief, the cost at which it was gained remains a matter of suspicion to the people. There are tribal leaders who do not accept the agreement. According to them Shantu Larma is not an elected representa