Papers by Bhab Nagar
University of Hawaii Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Asian Theatre Journal, 2020
Abstract:The Indian epic, the Ramayan, has been kept alive in the popular imagination in India, t... more Abstract:The Indian epic, the Ramayan, has been kept alive in the popular imagination in India, through various textual, oral, visual, and performance forms. While Ramlila is the most popular live performance form to enact the Ramayan in the Hindi-speaking regions of North India, Ramayan Gaan is the form that prevails in the Bengali-speaking regions of West Bengal and Assam in India, and in Bangladesh where the event is also called "Kushan Gaan" or "Kush's Song." While Ramlila is based chiefly on Tulsidas's Rāmcaritmānas, Ramayan Gaan is indebted to Krittibas Ojha's slightly earlier Ramayan. This essay discusses salient features of Ramayan Gaan with occasional reference to Ramlila, illustrating some of their shared narrative and ideological elements as well as some of their critical disjunctures. It underscores the fact that in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, Ramayan Gaan is enthusiastically performed and appreciated by Hindus and Muslims alike. This essay also charts the transitional zone, ontologically and geographically, where Ramlila meets Durga Puja in the eastern regions. Significantly, in Ramayan Gaan, Ram invokes Mahashakti (Durga) before his battle with the ten-headed Ravan, and Sita, in the form of Bhadra Kali, defeats the thousandheaded Ravan. Together, these narrative elements help explain the conjunction of Ramayan Gaan and Durga Puja in the Bengali-speaking regions.Tutun Mukherjee (1952–2020) was Professor of Comparative Literature, and Joint Professor at the Centre for Women's Studies and the Department of Theatre Arts, at the University of Hyderabad, India. She specialized in literary criticism and theory, and her research interests include world literatures and comparative literary studies, women's writing, translation, theatre, and film studies. Her publications include: Staging Resistance: Plays by Women in Translation; Girish Karnad's Plays: Performance and Critical Perspectives; The Plays of Mahesh Dattani: An Anthology of Recent Criticism; "Women's Theatre" in OUP Encyclopedia of Indian Theatres, and 89 research papers and book chapters. She also translated plays by Mridula Garg and Mahesh Dattani.Saymon Zakaria is Assistant Director in the Folklore Department of the Bangla Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A scholar of Bangladeshi folklore, he wrote a doctoral dissertation titled The Traditional Theater in Bangladesh: Content and Mode of Language. Besides writing plays, he has conducted ethnographic field surveys related to Intangible Cultural Heritage. He has also delivered academic lectures and conducted workshops at universities around the world. His books include Pronomohi Bongomata: Indigenous Cultural Forms of Bangladesh, and Prācīn BāmglārBuddho nāṭok; Bāṃglādeśer loknāṭok: bishoy o āṅgik-baicitrya. He has co-edited, with Keith Cantú, Carol Salomon's City of Mirrors: Songs of Lālan Sāi (Oxford University Press, 2017). In 2019, he was a recipient of Bangladesh's prestigious Bangla Academy Literary Award for his research contributions on Bangladeshi folklore.
Bhābanagara: International Journal of Bengal Studies, 2020
Introduction
The diversity of cultural expression as the source of people’s creativity and innov... more Introduction
The diversity of cultural expression as the source of people’s creativity and innovation is a pre-condition for a vibrant and dynamic cultural society that follows the principle of equality for the achieving sustainable development. The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is an international conformity providing flexible framework to uphold, protect, preserve and ensure the free flow of the transmission of the cultural diversity within individual states and across the globe. This is the most important instrument of its kind for recognizing the specific nature of cultural goods and services possessing immense economic and cultural dimension that vigor sustainable human development. It is expected that the Bangla translation of this valued global instrument will be encouraging for the policy makers, development planners and the operational personnel to be active in creating the enabling national environment where the artists, cultural professionals, practitioners and communities at large can create, produce, distribute, disseminate and enjoy a broad range of cultural activities including goods and services and their access to domestic as well as international dome. It is a joint commitment of the members of UNESCO as well as the UN to assist the governments executing the respective policies and measures to protect and promote the expressions of the people’s cultural diversity in particular to advance inclusive economic growth and social cohesion in relation to our constitutional obligations. So, Bhābanagara Foundation, realizing the need of creating common understanding of all of the respective stakeholders including the duty bearers, artists, performers, artisans, consumers, researches as well as the wider citizens, has introduced the Bangla translation of the following instrument as the organization did about the other international frameworks regarding identifying, safeguarding, celebrating and transmission of our Intangible Cultural Heritage. Bhābanagara further developed a primary list of the original artists and performers of the Bangladeshi folk artists available in the organization’s website. The list and the Bangla translations of the international conventions and declarations on the protection and promotion of the diversity of the cultural expressions will be contributing to fulfilling the state’s development plans and perspectives.
Bhābanagara : International Journal of Bengal Studies, Dec 31, 2019
Introduction
For the sake of Documentation, Recognition & Celebration, Transmission of Knowledge ... more Introduction
For the sake of Documentation, Recognition & Celebration, Transmission of Knowledge & Skill and Sustainability of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Bangladesh and spreading the same globally to keep our core cultural identity high, first, the Bengali community needs to clearly understand the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH. Secondly, the concerned civil society also should be well aware of points and procedures of this convention to persuade and guide the government for being proactive in protection, celebration and transmission of ICH. This convention should be the basic framework for the state agencies to planning, enlisting, inventorying, educating community and the new generation population to sustainably uphold the country’s traditional cultural diversity still alive mostly in the less trodden remote rural locations.
Considering the importance in the context of rapid urbanization and consequent vulnerability of the valuable ICH elements, Bhābanagara Foundation opts to translate the basic frameworks on ICH safeguarding and contributing to achievement of UNESCO 4-Goals as a non-government initiative. The Foundation by this time has developed a Primary Inventory of the Folk Artists, Artisans and Performers available on the Foundation’s website (https://vabnagarfoundation.com/cultural-heritage).
In course of this translation work, we have faced questions on the Bangla term of ‘Intangible’. After series of discussions with local and international scholars, we have taken Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য as the Bangla term for Intangible Cultural Heritage by following the UNESCO Definition of ICH. Some scholars, academicians and organization of Bangladesh are using Bengali word, like Aparimayo / অপরিমেয় (that cannot be measured) or Adhora / অধরা (incapable of being caught hold of; elusive) or Sparshatit /স্পর্শাতীত (untouchable) for meaning of ‘Intangible’. But we observed that is not perfect meaning of ‘Intangible’ for Cultural Heritage of Bangladesh. ICH is globally identified as the ‘knowledge and practice of traditions, skills and customs pass on to generations, and/or to other communities’. Thus, the way of ICH transmission adapts subtle changes. So, we created a perfect Bangla terminology, which is Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya, based on UNESCO definition and practical feature of ‘Intangible cultural heritage’.
We Know that there are two different words in English and French. English ‘Intangible’ came of late Latin word ‘Tangibilis’. And, French ‘Intouchable’ (which is ‘untouchable’ in English) came also from late Latin Verb ‘toccare’. ‘Intangible’ is of course something abstract. But ‘untouchable’ has specific socio-political meaning regarding the inhuman caste convention in this subcontinent.
We believe, for paving the way of proper identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, and transmission of the diverse elements of Bangladesh ICH, Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য will be widely accepted as the eligible terminology for working in the realm of our continuing and creative cultural heritage.
It is our pleasure to publish the Bangla translation of the Basic Text of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, for the first time.
Bhabanagara, 2018
For the beginning student of folklore, an answer to the question “Who are the folk?” can provide ... more For the beginning student of folklore, an answer to the question “Who are the folk?” can provide both a fascinating and informative background on the subject of folklore. Who are the Folk? Written by Alan Dundes is one of the best descriptions available. This article elaborates folklore science and weight of folk perspective in study of folklore. Dundes’ discussion on the history of folklore study and concept of folk will take the readers to a confirm pronouncement that every human commune constituted of individuals possessing common cultural characteristics and behavioral patterns regardless of their socio-economic class in any context are folk. Folk may have unity of geographic boundary or beyond any physical boundary – unity of religion, belief, occupation, and even institution etc. Folk must not mean illiterate or rural or underclass. The group of Atomic Scientists has their own folklore and they are a folk group of course. Mass use of computer has created new folk. In fact, folklore is eternal, so is the folk. Every individual belongs to a group or community or a number of groups or communities. Everyone may claim that we are the folk.
Bhabanagara, 2018
Mohssen Al-Arishie, an Egyptian Journalist and writer, wrote the first book in the Arabic languag... more Mohssen Al-Arishie, an Egyptian Journalist and writer, wrote the first book in the Arabic language on the history of Bangladesh. In Arabic, its name is Hasīna: Haqāiq wa Asāt̥īr which means Hasina: Facts and Mythologies. In this book, he described the unparalleled sacrifices of Bengali people to gain firstly the dignity of their mother tongue and then their independence. In his writing, he tried to inform the real facts to the Arab people that happened when Bangladesh was ruled by Pakistani Generals and faced many injustices in every case. He was very keen to deal with history not only as a real fact but wants to focus from the angle of humanity. The great Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his daughter were vividly remembered during the description of many historical events. This interview will provide the background and also the author’s endeavor to write this book. In this interview, he also explained what was the source of his enthusiasm, why he is claiming Sheikh Hasina as a mythological character which will help the Bengali people to get acquainted with an Arabic writer's mind on Bangladesh.
Bhabanagara, 2018
This short article introduces, for the first time in published scholarship in Bengali or English,... more This short article introduces, for the first time in published scholarship in Bengali or English, the only known Bengali-language translation of Sabhapati’s Om. A Treatise on Vedanta and Raj Yoga (1880). Sabhapati had first delivered these lectures in Lahore, and they were edited by Sris Candra Basu, who also published their Bengali translation Bedantadarsan o Rajyog (1885), a copy of which is held at the National Library of India in Kolkata. The translator, however, was not S.C. Basu but one Ambikacaran Bandyopadhyay, a resident of Kolkata. In this article I therefore note the way Ambikacaran in his new introduction reframes Sabhapati’s philosophy in the context of western science and philosophy, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, and other categories of knowledge that would be more well-known to an educated Bengali audience. I then demonstrate an example as to how Ambikacaran refashioned Sabhapati’s English poems, likely themselves heavily edited by S.C. Basu, into Bengali songs complete with a functional meter and rhyming scheme in Bengali. After examining some of the vocabulary in these songs and gesturing toward their possible relation to extant Bengali folk songs, I thenanalyze how the English caption to Sabhapati’s primary diagram of the yogic body and the cakras — possibly the first such diagram printed in Bengal, decades before John Woodroffe’s The Serpent Power — was translated into Bengali, with special attention to the rendering of “lingasarir” as “suksmasarir.”
Bhabanagara, 2018
This article is about songs as mirrors of sectarian scissions. They reflect the reasons why in th... more This article is about songs as mirrors of sectarian scissions. They reflect the reasons why in the final decades of the 19th century, Bengal witnessed a rhizomatic appearance of religious movements which were not previously defined individually and demarcated with a separate name. These religious communities - for example those that came to be known as Baul, Sahajiyā, Kartābhajā, Matua etc. are formed by low-caste or so-called ‘untouchable’ people from subaltern milieus. They sprouted and often claim to be originated from a religious substratum known as Bengali Vaishnavism, or Caitanya Vaishnavism.
I will outline the exclusionary politics of 19th century Bengali Vaishnavism in its approach towards the ‘apasampradāyas’ (deviant sects) – a category which was employed to define a clearer border between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. While scholarly literature tends to treat heterodox lineages as passive subjects in the orthodoxization of Vaishnavism, I will focus on the agency and the repercussions among the esoteric and heteropractical subjects who responded to accusations and marginalization from the dominant Vaishnava discourse.
What was the impact of these newly created criteria to define who is a proper Vaishnava and who is not? How were these criteria accepted or contested by the groups that were excluded from the formation of a modern Vaishnava identity? Most studies seem to treat Baul, Darbeś, or Sahajiyā communities in general, as passive recipients of urban elites' condemnations. By contrast, I aim to show that these lineages were not simply excluded from the process of institution-making, but that connections and dialogues (although of an unequal and asymmetrical type) and responses to each other's criticism, shaped the formation of these modern Bengali religious identities, in relational terms.
I will portray the complexity of this phase of cultural and religious history by discussing and juxtaposing the songs of two composers, who lived in the same time period and grew up some fifty kilometers apart: Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, and Duddu Śāh. I propose to compare these two corpora because, although the two composers might not have personally interacted, their songs seem to speak to each other quite directly. In this virtual dialogue, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur represents the views of an educated elite of Vaishnava reformers, while Duddu Śāh could be considered as the spokesperson for antinomian and marginalized Sahajiyā lineages and their struggle to maintain their traditional authority and status. During the composers' lifetime, this demarcation line, as it will emerge in the course of the paper, was often blurred and impermanent, leaving open and overlapping spaces for dialogue, loans, adaptations and exchange.
Bhabanagara, 2018
This essay tries to explain the relationship between the cultural heritage of Nepal the Cacā song... more This essay tries to explain the relationship between the cultural heritage of Nepal the Cacā songs and Charyāpada of ancient Bengal. In the year of 1907 Bengali scholar, Mahāmhopadhyāya Haraprasad Shastri discovered Charyāpada as cultural and literary magnificence of ancient Bengal from Kathmandu, Nepal. Exactly 100 years later in 2007, the writer of this essay accomplished his field work and training on Cacā songs, the cultural heritage of Newari people, in the same place Kathmandu. Then the writer discovered that the Bajrācharyas, the elite of Newari Bajrayānas, do secret Pujas (Chakrapujā, Ghanachakra) which are confined between themselves. Dances with songs, drinking of wine and eating the meat is very common in these Pujas. Uninterruptedly religious songs are sung and in big Pujas dance with singing Songs is common. These ritual songs are called Cacā. The word Cacā is a derivative either from Charyā or Charyā. The dance which is occurred with Cacā songs is called Cacā Pyākhã. The main priest of Chakrapujā dances as a venerable deity. Every Cacā song is sung under certain notes and beats which are not identical to modern day’s Hindustani notes and beats. These notes and beats fossilized the form of music of hundreds of years back. Different words which had been used in Cacā songs are identical to many words used in Charyāpada manuscripts. From this observation, the writer concluded that Cacā songs have two importances 1. They are the reflection of ancient Bangla and simultaneously 2. The reflection of the development of the Newari tradition which is till now in existence in Kathmandu valley.
Dhaka Biswabidyalaya Potrika [Bangla Journal of the University of Dhaka, 2018
Contemporary Handwritten Manuscript Cultural in Bangladesh
This essay focuses on various facets ... more Contemporary Handwritten Manuscript Cultural in Bangladesh
This essay focuses on various facets of contemporary, Bangladeshi hand-written manuscript culture, their secrecy and use. Initiatives for preserving medieval manuscripts of Bangladesh via Microfilm and Digitization both inside of Bangladesh and internationally are well documented. Along with these technological innovations is seen a focus on traditional scholarly methods of defining, editing, and contextualizing texts. However, this presentation will look at a neglected element of Bangladeshi manuscripts culture: The history of contemporary use and preservation of “living” manuscript culture. It is positive that Bangladesh is recently experiencing the availability of technology on a wide scale – use of computer and mobile phones with internet access spread across even remote rural areas. An informed population can easily take the opportunity of going through manuscripts made available through digitization. Despite this availability, people still love the experience of hand-written, ritualistic manuscripts, considering them to be sacred resources. Access to sacred manuscripts, however, is limited to a few “Boi Master” (Manuscript Reader). Hand-written manuscripts are preserved in secret locations, the entrances to which are restricted to a few, select people. There are various prejudices, cultural practices, and ritual performance surrounding manuscript writing and preservation. This is especially true of manuscripts connected to ascetic practice and performance. Following traditional rural culture, most of the hand-written manuscripts are preserved by lead performers in their own confidential manner. Generation to generation, Guru to disciple, the manuscripts are believed to be sacred sources and are never given to outsiders. This “living” culture may be unbelievable and strange to contemporary researchers. If we can address this verity, I think, we will be able to open new avenues towards collection, preservation and editing Bangladeshi manuscripts.
Bhābanagara, Inernational Journal of Bengal Studies, 2018
Muhammad Mansuruddin (31 January 1904 – 19 September 1987) has been regarded as the founding fath... more Muhammad Mansuruddin (31 January 1904 – 19 September 1987) has been regarded as the founding father of Bengali folklore collection and research. He was famous for a huge collection of age-old folk songs, mostly anthologised in thirteen volumes under the title Haramoni. In recognition of his lifelong contribution to folklore collection and research, the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India awarded him honorary D.Litt. degree in 1987. Mansuruddin had his baptism in writing at a very early stage of his life. Although collection of folklore remains his monumental work, he also wrote literary essays and fiction all through his life. In 1952 he worked as editor of monthly literary Mah-e Nau for about six months (on deputation from government service). He spent fifty to sixty years in collecting Ethnic and traditional festival Songs from rural Bengal. He transcribed those without caring for lexical accuracy. He took down as he heard from the mouth of the singers. He also collected songs of Lalon Fakir and wrote on him. Also, in 1974, he translated some songs of Lalon Fakir for the international audience. A mentor of outstanding calibre Prof. Mansuruddin encouraged younger folklorists to follow international technic and methodology of folklore. At the same time he advised folklore researchers to travel to the rural areas to look for their context it. Apart from Haramoni (ÔnvivgwYÕ), his notable collection were Lalon Fakir-er Gaan : Songs of Lalan Fakir, published in 1948, Lalan Geetika (Ôjvjb MxwZKvÕ) published subsequently and Folksongs of Lalan Shah in English rendering was published in 1974. Introduction of different volumes of Haramoni are revealing and educative. A literary biographer, Prof. Mansuruddin wrote a biography of prophet Muhammad titled Hazrat Muhammader Jiboni O Sadhona, and his other contribution in this genre include Hazrat Shah Waliullah, Harun Rashid and Iraner Kobi. His books for children included Bokami (1952), Thokami (1958) and Mushkil Ahsan (1958). He compiled a dictionary of Bengali idioms under the title Hashir Ovidhan in 1957.
Sahitya Patrika, 2017
The article about revival of the ancient Buddhist mystic Bengali Charyasongs. Recently, Bhābanaga... more The article about revival of the ancient Buddhist mystic Bengali Charyasongs. Recently, Bhābanagara Foundation started the venture of revival of Charyasongs in easy contemporary Bangla language using traditional tunes supported by indigenous musical instruments that the Baul-Sufi practitioners of marginalized economic background are performing. In this project, there is equal participation of women Bauls-Sufi Sadhakas. Bhābanagara Foundation organized regularly cultural tourism, as a example, 2015 Bhābanagara organized Charyasongs at the ancient Buddhist heritage era SompurMahavihara (Paharpur Buddhist Vihara) for teacher and student of Hiroshima University.
Bhābanagara, the international journal of Bengal Studies, 2018
Magic Realism came of German language first used in 1925 by Franz Roh an Art Critic, in her criti... more Magic Realism came of German language first used in 1925 by Franz Roh an Art Critic, in her criticism on an Art Exhibition. Latter, Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier used the term for literature and consequently it got world-wide popularity as a trend of Latin American prose. Gradually, especially after eighties, it became a vital literary element. The entrance of the essay is a brief reflection of magic realism in the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and then how Gunter Grass applied it in his novel Tin Drum (Grass 1959). After that, to illuminate its application in the South Asian literature, magic realism in Salma Rushdie’s Midnight's Children (Rushdie 1980) has been analyzed. Then, the essay deals with Bangla Literature – Pterodactyl, Puran Sohay and Pirtha (1989) written by Mohashweta Devi, Herbert (1992) and Kangal Malsat (2003) of Nabarun Vatcharjee, Khoabnama (1996) by Akhtaruzzaman Elias, Se Ratey Purnima Chilo (1995) by Shahidul Jahir and Che and Kolabati (2014) by Angsuman Kar. Moreover, the essay discusses South Asian literature in Urdu, Hindi and Bangla languages in light of the theory of magic realism. The essay finally concludes by stating that the history of magic realism in literature proves that some literary movement overcomes borders of East and West, North and South it comes to be a universal atmosphere.
Bhābanagara, the international journal of Bengal Studies, 2018
Bhābanagara, the international journal of Bengal Studies, is a peer-reviewed journal published th... more Bhābanagara, the international journal of Bengal Studies, is a peer-reviewed journal published three times of a year by the Bhābanagara Foundation. The journal publishes original articles in the field of Bengal or Bangla Studies, as broadly defined. The views expressed are the authors, not necessarily those of the Foundation or its officials. Articles and communications should be sent to the editor. Books and audio recordings for review and citations for current publications should also be sent to the appropriate editor or bibliographer.
The vision of Bhābanagara is to create a long-term coordination between research initiatives in the field of Bengal Studies in the international arena. Scholars in many countries in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia have for decades worked on Bengal Studies focusing on the rich and widely popular cultural traditions in the Bangla language. But now a need is felt to incorporate these disconnected ventures into a mainstream confluence of international Bengal Studies.
This publication will articulate the achievements, characteristics and historical chronology of Bengal Studies, which will hopefully prove stimulating to the researchers of subsequent generations and provide them with effective directions for future research. This process will also re-invigorate interpersonal relationships between faculty in universities across Europe, North and South America, and Asia where Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hindi languages are research disciplines as a subset of Asian languages and literature. The potential for greater inter-connectedness greatly encourages us as we shape Bhābanagara into an effective international tool for Bengal Studies.
Thesis Chapters by Bhab Nagar
Bhābanagara : International Journal of Bengal Studies, 2018
Alan Dundes is an internationally welknown folklorist and theorist. This article named ‘Texture, ... more Alan Dundes is an internationally welknown folklorist and theorist. This article named ‘Texture, Text and Context’ is from his one of prominant books of theory “Interpreting Folklore” (Indiana University Press, 1980) which has been translated into Bangla considering its significance for the folklorists of Bangladesh who truely intend to capture rich Bangladeshi folklore for analyzing to identify the unique facets of Bangladeshi culture. This milestone piece in the field of folklore study criticises the conventional method of defining folklore by means of external criteria, such as `the way in which folklore is transmitted’. He suggests that a serious folklore collector must record texture, text and context for explaining the meaning of any form of folklore. Neither text nor texture nor context alone or leaving any of these levels of analysis, collection of folklore becomes meaningless. The text collected in original dialect including notes and tone as well as gestures may bring meaning to global arena when texture and context together with all of the in-depth features are clearly documented. Other chapters of this book in Bangla translation will soon appear on the Bhabanagara journal laterly.
Bhābanagara, the international journal of Bengal Studies, Jun 1, 2018
This article through the statement of a Muslim Sadhika, Mariam Begum, illuminates the mysterious ... more This article through the statement of a Muslim Sadhika, Mariam Begum, illuminates the mysterious religious realm of Bangladesh. In the previous episodes, we came to know that, in course of going through the steps of Sadhana, Mariam had come across various super-natural happenings, such as, she had viewed the appearance of Ma Kali, a goddess of Sanatan religion. She also experienced the feel of rebirth. This article, through some practical activities at the Mausoleum of Lalon Sain, draws our attention to a clear feeling that the existence of the Sadhikas like Mariam will soon disappear from Bangladesh. This episode of the essay documents and analyzed Mariam’s conversation with the people like Police and RAB, Islami Shariat follower Maulovi, Hafij-Qari and Imams. Thus, the mystery behind her Sadhana reveals. The article based on ethnographic field research states the challenging struggle of Mariam amidst Bangladeshi socio-cultural, religio-political and bureaucratic power structure.
Book Reviews by Bhab Nagar
Bhabanagara : International Journal of Bengal Studies, 2018
Carola Erika Lorea is a famous Italian researcher. With academic background on Bangla language an... more Carola Erika Lorea is a famous Italian researcher. With academic background on Bangla language and literature, she translated Shukumar Roy, Jivananda and Nabarun Vatcharjee. She did her PhD on the songs of Bhaba Pagla, a Baul equally famous in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Part of her PhD Thesis has been published by renowned Brill Publisher. It is Folklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman: A Journey Between Performance and the Politics of Cultural Representation. This book explores historical and cultural aspects of modern and contemporary Bengal through the performance-centered study of a particular repertoire: the songs of the saint-composer Bhaba Pagla (1902-1984), who is particularly revered among Baul and Fakir singers. The author shows how songs, if examined as 'sacred scriptures', represent multi-dimensional texts for the study of South Asian religions. Revealing how previous studies about Bauls mirror the history of folkloristics in Bengal, this book presents sacred songs as a precious symbolic capital for a marginalized community of dislocated and unorthodox Hindus, who consider the practice of singing in itself an integral part of the path towards self-realization.
Books by Bhab Nagar
Bhabanagara : International Journal of Bengal Studies, Dec 1, 2018
Osman living in a rooftop room dreams of his father’s death but finds himself in a distorted fact... more Osman living in a rooftop room dreams of his father’s death but finds himself in a distorted fact no less horrible. All he witnesses sometime seem hallucination sometime real. It’s a time when receiving news of someone’s being shot dead appear normal to Osman. The environs reflect situation of mass suffocation pressed under hideous images of late sixties Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan. Osman’s personal life reveals as abnormal, so does the public life. Even lamenting upon a dear one’s odd death is as if restricted. “It’s risky to answer” of any normal query! The first chapter of Elias’ Rooftop Soldier engulfs the readers with inner happenings of atypical socio-political state of pre-liberation Bengali life depicted with the unique language and style. The following translated piece from one of the best classic fiction of Bangla literature will surely be an astounding experience for world’s literature lovers.
Bhabanagara : International Journal of Bengal Studies, Jun 1, 2018
The novel Chilekothar Sepai (1987), written by Akhtaruzzaman Elias is a noteworthy literary piece... more The novel Chilekothar Sepai (1987), written by Akhtaruzzaman Elias is a noteworthy literary piece in Bangla language based on pre-liberation political history of Bangladesh, that is, the context of mass revolt in 1969. Crossing the boundary of Bangladesh and West Bengal, the novel has been included in the academic curriculum of Bangla Language and Literature under the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations in the University of Chicago in America. Matthew D. Rich, a PhD researcher of Anthropology in the same university analyzed the Text of this novel for American students and consequently became felt strong urge of translating this great piece. His translation work is in fact going on. His translation of 20th Chapter of Chilekothar Sepai (Rooftop Soldier) along with the Preamble of this translation work in both Bangla and English has been randomly chosen for publishing here.
Uploads
Papers by Bhab Nagar
The diversity of cultural expression as the source of people’s creativity and innovation is a pre-condition for a vibrant and dynamic cultural society that follows the principle of equality for the achieving sustainable development. The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is an international conformity providing flexible framework to uphold, protect, preserve and ensure the free flow of the transmission of the cultural diversity within individual states and across the globe. This is the most important instrument of its kind for recognizing the specific nature of cultural goods and services possessing immense economic and cultural dimension that vigor sustainable human development. It is expected that the Bangla translation of this valued global instrument will be encouraging for the policy makers, development planners and the operational personnel to be active in creating the enabling national environment where the artists, cultural professionals, practitioners and communities at large can create, produce, distribute, disseminate and enjoy a broad range of cultural activities including goods and services and their access to domestic as well as international dome. It is a joint commitment of the members of UNESCO as well as the UN to assist the governments executing the respective policies and measures to protect and promote the expressions of the people’s cultural diversity in particular to advance inclusive economic growth and social cohesion in relation to our constitutional obligations. So, Bhābanagara Foundation, realizing the need of creating common understanding of all of the respective stakeholders including the duty bearers, artists, performers, artisans, consumers, researches as well as the wider citizens, has introduced the Bangla translation of the following instrument as the organization did about the other international frameworks regarding identifying, safeguarding, celebrating and transmission of our Intangible Cultural Heritage. Bhābanagara further developed a primary list of the original artists and performers of the Bangladeshi folk artists available in the organization’s website. The list and the Bangla translations of the international conventions and declarations on the protection and promotion of the diversity of the cultural expressions will be contributing to fulfilling the state’s development plans and perspectives.
For the sake of Documentation, Recognition & Celebration, Transmission of Knowledge & Skill and Sustainability of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Bangladesh and spreading the same globally to keep our core cultural identity high, first, the Bengali community needs to clearly understand the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH. Secondly, the concerned civil society also should be well aware of points and procedures of this convention to persuade and guide the government for being proactive in protection, celebration and transmission of ICH. This convention should be the basic framework for the state agencies to planning, enlisting, inventorying, educating community and the new generation population to sustainably uphold the country’s traditional cultural diversity still alive mostly in the less trodden remote rural locations.
Considering the importance in the context of rapid urbanization and consequent vulnerability of the valuable ICH elements, Bhābanagara Foundation opts to translate the basic frameworks on ICH safeguarding and contributing to achievement of UNESCO 4-Goals as a non-government initiative. The Foundation by this time has developed a Primary Inventory of the Folk Artists, Artisans and Performers available on the Foundation’s website (https://vabnagarfoundation.com/cultural-heritage).
In course of this translation work, we have faced questions on the Bangla term of ‘Intangible’. After series of discussions with local and international scholars, we have taken Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য as the Bangla term for Intangible Cultural Heritage by following the UNESCO Definition of ICH. Some scholars, academicians and organization of Bangladesh are using Bengali word, like Aparimayo / অপরিমেয় (that cannot be measured) or Adhora / অধরা (incapable of being caught hold of; elusive) or Sparshatit /স্পর্শাতীত (untouchable) for meaning of ‘Intangible’. But we observed that is not perfect meaning of ‘Intangible’ for Cultural Heritage of Bangladesh. ICH is globally identified as the ‘knowledge and practice of traditions, skills and customs pass on to generations, and/or to other communities’. Thus, the way of ICH transmission adapts subtle changes. So, we created a perfect Bangla terminology, which is Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya, based on UNESCO definition and practical feature of ‘Intangible cultural heritage’.
We Know that there are two different words in English and French. English ‘Intangible’ came of late Latin word ‘Tangibilis’. And, French ‘Intouchable’ (which is ‘untouchable’ in English) came also from late Latin Verb ‘toccare’. ‘Intangible’ is of course something abstract. But ‘untouchable’ has specific socio-political meaning regarding the inhuman caste convention in this subcontinent.
We believe, for paving the way of proper identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, and transmission of the diverse elements of Bangladesh ICH, Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য will be widely accepted as the eligible terminology for working in the realm of our continuing and creative cultural heritage.
It is our pleasure to publish the Bangla translation of the Basic Text of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, for the first time.
I will outline the exclusionary politics of 19th century Bengali Vaishnavism in its approach towards the ‘apasampradāyas’ (deviant sects) – a category which was employed to define a clearer border between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. While scholarly literature tends to treat heterodox lineages as passive subjects in the orthodoxization of Vaishnavism, I will focus on the agency and the repercussions among the esoteric and heteropractical subjects who responded to accusations and marginalization from the dominant Vaishnava discourse.
What was the impact of these newly created criteria to define who is a proper Vaishnava and who is not? How were these criteria accepted or contested by the groups that were excluded from the formation of a modern Vaishnava identity? Most studies seem to treat Baul, Darbeś, or Sahajiyā communities in general, as passive recipients of urban elites' condemnations. By contrast, I aim to show that these lineages were not simply excluded from the process of institution-making, but that connections and dialogues (although of an unequal and asymmetrical type) and responses to each other's criticism, shaped the formation of these modern Bengali religious identities, in relational terms.
I will portray the complexity of this phase of cultural and religious history by discussing and juxtaposing the songs of two composers, who lived in the same time period and grew up some fifty kilometers apart: Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, and Duddu Śāh. I propose to compare these two corpora because, although the two composers might not have personally interacted, their songs seem to speak to each other quite directly. In this virtual dialogue, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur represents the views of an educated elite of Vaishnava reformers, while Duddu Śāh could be considered as the spokesperson for antinomian and marginalized Sahajiyā lineages and their struggle to maintain their traditional authority and status. During the composers' lifetime, this demarcation line, as it will emerge in the course of the paper, was often blurred and impermanent, leaving open and overlapping spaces for dialogue, loans, adaptations and exchange.
This essay focuses on various facets of contemporary, Bangladeshi hand-written manuscript culture, their secrecy and use. Initiatives for preserving medieval manuscripts of Bangladesh via Microfilm and Digitization both inside of Bangladesh and internationally are well documented. Along with these technological innovations is seen a focus on traditional scholarly methods of defining, editing, and contextualizing texts. However, this presentation will look at a neglected element of Bangladeshi manuscripts culture: The history of contemporary use and preservation of “living” manuscript culture. It is positive that Bangladesh is recently experiencing the availability of technology on a wide scale – use of computer and mobile phones with internet access spread across even remote rural areas. An informed population can easily take the opportunity of going through manuscripts made available through digitization. Despite this availability, people still love the experience of hand-written, ritualistic manuscripts, considering them to be sacred resources. Access to sacred manuscripts, however, is limited to a few “Boi Master” (Manuscript Reader). Hand-written manuscripts are preserved in secret locations, the entrances to which are restricted to a few, select people. There are various prejudices, cultural practices, and ritual performance surrounding manuscript writing and preservation. This is especially true of manuscripts connected to ascetic practice and performance. Following traditional rural culture, most of the hand-written manuscripts are preserved by lead performers in their own confidential manner. Generation to generation, Guru to disciple, the manuscripts are believed to be sacred sources and are never given to outsiders. This “living” culture may be unbelievable and strange to contemporary researchers. If we can address this verity, I think, we will be able to open new avenues towards collection, preservation and editing Bangladeshi manuscripts.
The vision of Bhābanagara is to create a long-term coordination between research initiatives in the field of Bengal Studies in the international arena. Scholars in many countries in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia have for decades worked on Bengal Studies focusing on the rich and widely popular cultural traditions in the Bangla language. But now a need is felt to incorporate these disconnected ventures into a mainstream confluence of international Bengal Studies.
This publication will articulate the achievements, characteristics and historical chronology of Bengal Studies, which will hopefully prove stimulating to the researchers of subsequent generations and provide them with effective directions for future research. This process will also re-invigorate interpersonal relationships between faculty in universities across Europe, North and South America, and Asia where Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hindi languages are research disciplines as a subset of Asian languages and literature. The potential for greater inter-connectedness greatly encourages us as we shape Bhābanagara into an effective international tool for Bengal Studies.
Thesis Chapters by Bhab Nagar
Book Reviews by Bhab Nagar
Books by Bhab Nagar
The diversity of cultural expression as the source of people’s creativity and innovation is a pre-condition for a vibrant and dynamic cultural society that follows the principle of equality for the achieving sustainable development. The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is an international conformity providing flexible framework to uphold, protect, preserve and ensure the free flow of the transmission of the cultural diversity within individual states and across the globe. This is the most important instrument of its kind for recognizing the specific nature of cultural goods and services possessing immense economic and cultural dimension that vigor sustainable human development. It is expected that the Bangla translation of this valued global instrument will be encouraging for the policy makers, development planners and the operational personnel to be active in creating the enabling national environment where the artists, cultural professionals, practitioners and communities at large can create, produce, distribute, disseminate and enjoy a broad range of cultural activities including goods and services and their access to domestic as well as international dome. It is a joint commitment of the members of UNESCO as well as the UN to assist the governments executing the respective policies and measures to protect and promote the expressions of the people’s cultural diversity in particular to advance inclusive economic growth and social cohesion in relation to our constitutional obligations. So, Bhābanagara Foundation, realizing the need of creating common understanding of all of the respective stakeholders including the duty bearers, artists, performers, artisans, consumers, researches as well as the wider citizens, has introduced the Bangla translation of the following instrument as the organization did about the other international frameworks regarding identifying, safeguarding, celebrating and transmission of our Intangible Cultural Heritage. Bhābanagara further developed a primary list of the original artists and performers of the Bangladeshi folk artists available in the organization’s website. The list and the Bangla translations of the international conventions and declarations on the protection and promotion of the diversity of the cultural expressions will be contributing to fulfilling the state’s development plans and perspectives.
For the sake of Documentation, Recognition & Celebration, Transmission of Knowledge & Skill and Sustainability of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Bangladesh and spreading the same globally to keep our core cultural identity high, first, the Bengali community needs to clearly understand the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH. Secondly, the concerned civil society also should be well aware of points and procedures of this convention to persuade and guide the government for being proactive in protection, celebration and transmission of ICH. This convention should be the basic framework for the state agencies to planning, enlisting, inventorying, educating community and the new generation population to sustainably uphold the country’s traditional cultural diversity still alive mostly in the less trodden remote rural locations.
Considering the importance in the context of rapid urbanization and consequent vulnerability of the valuable ICH elements, Bhābanagara Foundation opts to translate the basic frameworks on ICH safeguarding and contributing to achievement of UNESCO 4-Goals as a non-government initiative. The Foundation by this time has developed a Primary Inventory of the Folk Artists, Artisans and Performers available on the Foundation’s website (https://vabnagarfoundation.com/cultural-heritage).
In course of this translation work, we have faced questions on the Bangla term of ‘Intangible’. After series of discussions with local and international scholars, we have taken Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য as the Bangla term for Intangible Cultural Heritage by following the UNESCO Definition of ICH. Some scholars, academicians and organization of Bangladesh are using Bengali word, like Aparimayo / অপরিমেয় (that cannot be measured) or Adhora / অধরা (incapable of being caught hold of; elusive) or Sparshatit /স্পর্শাতীত (untouchable) for meaning of ‘Intangible’. But we observed that is not perfect meaning of ‘Intangible’ for Cultural Heritage of Bangladesh. ICH is globally identified as the ‘knowledge and practice of traditions, skills and customs pass on to generations, and/or to other communities’. Thus, the way of ICH transmission adapts subtle changes. So, we created a perfect Bangla terminology, which is Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya, based on UNESCO definition and practical feature of ‘Intangible cultural heritage’.
We Know that there are two different words in English and French. English ‘Intangible’ came of late Latin word ‘Tangibilis’. And, French ‘Intouchable’ (which is ‘untouchable’ in English) came also from late Latin Verb ‘toccare’. ‘Intangible’ is of course something abstract. But ‘untouchable’ has specific socio-political meaning regarding the inhuman caste convention in this subcontinent.
We believe, for paving the way of proper identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, and transmission of the diverse elements of Bangladesh ICH, Paribartanshil Sangskriitik Oitihya / পরিবর্তনশীল সাংস্কৃতিক ঐতিহ্য will be widely accepted as the eligible terminology for working in the realm of our continuing and creative cultural heritage.
It is our pleasure to publish the Bangla translation of the Basic Text of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, for the first time.
I will outline the exclusionary politics of 19th century Bengali Vaishnavism in its approach towards the ‘apasampradāyas’ (deviant sects) – a category which was employed to define a clearer border between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. While scholarly literature tends to treat heterodox lineages as passive subjects in the orthodoxization of Vaishnavism, I will focus on the agency and the repercussions among the esoteric and heteropractical subjects who responded to accusations and marginalization from the dominant Vaishnava discourse.
What was the impact of these newly created criteria to define who is a proper Vaishnava and who is not? How were these criteria accepted or contested by the groups that were excluded from the formation of a modern Vaishnava identity? Most studies seem to treat Baul, Darbeś, or Sahajiyā communities in general, as passive recipients of urban elites' condemnations. By contrast, I aim to show that these lineages were not simply excluded from the process of institution-making, but that connections and dialogues (although of an unequal and asymmetrical type) and responses to each other's criticism, shaped the formation of these modern Bengali religious identities, in relational terms.
I will portray the complexity of this phase of cultural and religious history by discussing and juxtaposing the songs of two composers, who lived in the same time period and grew up some fifty kilometers apart: Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, and Duddu Śāh. I propose to compare these two corpora because, although the two composers might not have personally interacted, their songs seem to speak to each other quite directly. In this virtual dialogue, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur represents the views of an educated elite of Vaishnava reformers, while Duddu Śāh could be considered as the spokesperson for antinomian and marginalized Sahajiyā lineages and their struggle to maintain their traditional authority and status. During the composers' lifetime, this demarcation line, as it will emerge in the course of the paper, was often blurred and impermanent, leaving open and overlapping spaces for dialogue, loans, adaptations and exchange.
This essay focuses on various facets of contemporary, Bangladeshi hand-written manuscript culture, their secrecy and use. Initiatives for preserving medieval manuscripts of Bangladesh via Microfilm and Digitization both inside of Bangladesh and internationally are well documented. Along with these technological innovations is seen a focus on traditional scholarly methods of defining, editing, and contextualizing texts. However, this presentation will look at a neglected element of Bangladeshi manuscripts culture: The history of contemporary use and preservation of “living” manuscript culture. It is positive that Bangladesh is recently experiencing the availability of technology on a wide scale – use of computer and mobile phones with internet access spread across even remote rural areas. An informed population can easily take the opportunity of going through manuscripts made available through digitization. Despite this availability, people still love the experience of hand-written, ritualistic manuscripts, considering them to be sacred resources. Access to sacred manuscripts, however, is limited to a few “Boi Master” (Manuscript Reader). Hand-written manuscripts are preserved in secret locations, the entrances to which are restricted to a few, select people. There are various prejudices, cultural practices, and ritual performance surrounding manuscript writing and preservation. This is especially true of manuscripts connected to ascetic practice and performance. Following traditional rural culture, most of the hand-written manuscripts are preserved by lead performers in their own confidential manner. Generation to generation, Guru to disciple, the manuscripts are believed to be sacred sources and are never given to outsiders. This “living” culture may be unbelievable and strange to contemporary researchers. If we can address this verity, I think, we will be able to open new avenues towards collection, preservation and editing Bangladeshi manuscripts.
The vision of Bhābanagara is to create a long-term coordination between research initiatives in the field of Bengal Studies in the international arena. Scholars in many countries in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia have for decades worked on Bengal Studies focusing on the rich and widely popular cultural traditions in the Bangla language. But now a need is felt to incorporate these disconnected ventures into a mainstream confluence of international Bengal Studies.
This publication will articulate the achievements, characteristics and historical chronology of Bengal Studies, which will hopefully prove stimulating to the researchers of subsequent generations and provide them with effective directions for future research. This process will also re-invigorate interpersonal relationships between faculty in universities across Europe, North and South America, and Asia where Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hindi languages are research disciplines as a subset of Asian languages and literature. The potential for greater inter-connectedness greatly encourages us as we shape Bhābanagara into an effective international tool for Bengal Studies.