Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Dedication
To the sacred memory of all those outstanding
personalities of Ráŕh who, by their sacrifice,
perseverance and humanistic efforts, have illuminated
the face of universal humanity.

	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Gondwanaland is the name given by geologists to a super-continent as they consider it to have existed hundreds of millions, even billions, of years ago. And the very oldest part of that continent that has remained above water came to be called, after human beings appeared who could give names to things, Ráŕh. (Or more precisely, western Ráŕh.) When Gondwanaland broke up and gradually metamorphosed into a number of our modern land masses, that ancient land of Ráŕh was to be found within the Indian sub-continent, occupying an area that is now mostly coextensive with the western part of West Bengal. (Geologists do not necessarily speak of Gondwanaland in the past tense, but sometimes speak of all the dispersed parts of Gondwanaland, as Gondwanaland even today.) Then came the geological birth of eastern Ráŕh, the appearance of human beings in Ráŕh, and the geological birth of the remaining portions of Bengal still farther east than eastern Ráŕh. With Ráŕh as the main nucleus, civilization developed throughout Bengal, and Ráŕh spread its influence to other lands also. In Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar tells this story.

The original book was published in Bengali in 1981. In view of the wealth of information that the author has given in the book on geological and geographical, historical, archaeological, sociological, linguistic, artistic and even spiritual subjects, there has been a long-standing demand for an English version (a demand to which some noted archaeologists have recently added their voices). We are now happy to be able to fulfil that demand, however belatedly.

Unsigned footnotes, indicated with asterisks, are those of the author. Since many readers may not be entirely familiar with Bengal or even India, the translators have also provided notes wherever necessary. Footnotes by the translators have all been indicated with numbers and signed “–Trans.” Square brackets [   ] in the text are used to indicate translations or other insertions by the translator, while round brackets (   ) indicate a word or word given by the author, and normally his own use of such punctuation. Some of the translators’ footnotes provide further background to a topic with excerpts from other works by the author.

The author used a certain shorthand for explaining the etymologies of words. Under this system, a minus sign (–) follows a prefix, and a plus sign (+) precedes a suffix. Thus ava – tr + ghaiṋ = avatára can be read, “the root tr prefixed by ava and suffixed by ghaiṋ becomes avatára.”

This book contains a multitude of place names and names of historical figures. Since Europeans first came to India, such proper names have been rendered in roman script according to a variety of romanization systems, and also sometimes in haphazard ways that could not be called systems at all. The surname that in Ananda Marga’s romanization system would be rendered as “Ráycaodhurii”, has over the years been romanized in about sixty ways – “Roychoudhury”, “Roy Choudhury”, “Raychowdhuri”, etc. Nevertheless, such spellings have stuck, and citizens of India are now familiar with them. In this book we have normally tried in the case of each proper name to use the romanization preferred by that particular person or that particular place themselves, and with which Indians might be most familiar; but obviously we may often have been wrong as to what was preferred or most familiar. If the name was an obscure one for which there might be no preferred or familiar romanization, we have followed the Ananda Marga system. For all common nouns, name of gods and goddesses, name of religions, philosophical systems, literary movements, etc., we have followed the Ananda Marga system.

In the original Bengali book, the number 9 as a chapter number was inadvertently skipped, so the chapters were numbered 1-8 and 10-32. In this book they have been numbered 1-31.

Shrii Viiresh Bose set the English translation of this book on a strong foundation, preparing the entire first draft. Since Shrii Viiresh was unable to be present during later review and modification, any defects there may be in the book are the responsibility of the co-translator alone.

We wish to thank Ácárya Satyashivánanda Avadhúta and Ácárya Prańavátmakánanda Avadhúta, who contributed greatly to the translation of the early chapters of this book, Ácárya Priyashivánanda Avadhúta, who contributed greatly throughout, and Shrii Hitáḿshu Banerjee, who assisted much with the later chapters. We are also grateful to some of the archaeologists mentioned above, who spared their valuable time to assist us.

Chapter 1	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

There was a great ocean, its surface agitated by rows of towering waves, an ocean which had neither name nor gotra [clan]. Who was there to name it, who was there to tell others about it? No one, because human beings had not yet come on earth. This was about 300 million years ago.⁽¹⁾ [And as regards the land mass,] there was no name yet on earth for that arid, mountainous terrain, nor even yet a single grove of trees to which a name could be given.⁽²⁾

After a long time this very terrain, this nameless mountainous terrain, was given the name Ráŕh. The word ráŕh originated in the ancient Austric language and means a land of red (laterite) soil. In the world of those days there was no Áryyávartta;⁽³⁾ there were none of the plain lands of Bengal and the Deccan, nor were there the deserts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The northern part of the Arabian Sea did not exist either; what existed was its southern part, which linked the Deccan peninsula with Africa, the Andamans, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. They were linked by [land] that lay sometimes a little above the water level, sometimes a little below.⁽⁴⁾ In that world uninhabited by human beings, the Ráŕh of those days was older than any other land. The snow-covered mountains of Ráŕh gave birth to numerous rivers. These rivers, fed by melting snow, flowed some to the east and some to the southeast, towards the ocean.

Days passed, time passed, from beginninglessness to endlessness. Rainstorms and thunderbolts struck the mountains, and gradually the mountains diminished. Their snowy crowns fell off their heads, their height decreased. As the mountains became smaller and smaller through erosion, each river basin that lay between two mountains became higher. The undulating red soil that we see today in the west of Ráŕh, the undulation that advances ahead of us till it mingles in the remote blue, the undulation that gives a hint of some lost address as it recedes behind us – that undulating land is our Ráŕh.

Miśt́i Ráŕher mát́i –
Sonár Lauṋká, sonár svarga ceyeo jáni khánt́i.

[Sweet is the soil of Ráŕh –
Purer, I know, than golden Lanka⁽⁵⁾ or golden heaven.]

The mountains were gradually eroding and were being transformed into sand and silt. This sand and silt, carried by the rivers of Ráŕh, formed eastern Ráŕh. This was lakhs and crores⁽⁶⁾ of years ago.

The Himalayas were born many crores of years after the birth of Ráŕh.⁽⁷⁾ From the Himalayas issued a daughter, the River Gauṋgá [Ganges], and a son, the River Brahamaputra.⁽⁸⁾ The sand and silt their waters bore formed new soil; northern India and Báḿlá [Bengal] were formed.⁽⁹⁾ The bed of the sea that was to the east of Ráŕh rose higher and higher thanks to that sand and silt, and – after the formation of eastern Ráŕh – long after – many lakhs of years after – formed a vast plain (samatal). That plain [to the east of eastern Ráŕh] is known as Samatat́a in the Sanskrit language and Bágŕi in the Bengali language. Farther to the east, the sand and silt borne by the rivers of Ráŕh mingled with the sand and silt of the Brahmaputra and formed Vauṋga,⁽¹⁰⁾ or D́abák. The people of western Ráŕh migrated to eastern Ráŕh and set up habitation. This happened some lakhs of years ago. If human beings appeared a million years ago, then those inhabitants of the western Ráŕh of a million years ago found eastern Ráŕh to have been in a ready condition for them even before their birth. Even a portion of northern India arose before the origin of human beings. Samatat and D́abák, however, originated a little after the appearance on earth of humans. The people of western and eastern Ráŕh removed the forest cover and dwelt in Samatat-Vauṋga-D́abák.

This is a description of the genesis of Ráŕh and Báḿlá.⁽¹¹⁾ What we consider, roughly, to be Samatat is 1) eastern Murshidabad, 2) Nadia, 3) 24 Parganas, 4) Kusthia, 5) Jessore, 6) Khulna, 7) western Faridpur and 8) western Bakhargunj.⁽¹²⁾

We consider eastern Ráŕh to be, roughly, 1) western Murshidabad, 2) the northern part of Birbhum, 3) eastern Burdwan, 4) the whole of Hooghly, 5) the whole of Howrah, 6) eastern Midnapur and 7) the Indás Police Station⁽¹³⁾ of Bankura District.

We consider western Ráŕh to be 1) Santhal Pargana,⁽¹⁴⁾ 2) most parts of Birbhum, 3) western Burdwan, 4) Bankura District except for the Indás Police Station, 5) Purulia District, 6) Dhanbad District, 7) Kasmar, Peterwad, Gola, Jeredi, Ramgarh, etc., of Hazaribag (now Giridih) District, 8) Silli, Sonahatu, Bundu and the Tamar Police Station of Ranchi District, 9) Singhbhum District and 10) the Jhargram Subdivision and Sadar North and Sadar South Subdivisions of Midnapur District.

Human beings originated at a few particular points on this planet. Even without getting into a detailed discussion as to which humans appeared first and which appeared later, I can say that the origin of humankind in Ráŕh is very ancient. No trace can be found of any more ancient human habitation.⁽¹⁵⁾ When forests appeared on earth, dense forests spread over the hard [e.g., granitic] rock, the metamorphic rock, the igneous rock and the sedimentary rock of Ráŕh. This very forest of that time provided vital nectar to Ráŕh as a human habitation. This very forest reined in the rivers of Ráŕh. Again, it was this forest, after the erosion of the snow-covered mountains, that invited rain clouds to Ráŕh. And the rain-god conferred his abundant and inexhaustible blessings on Ráŕh. This is our land of Ráŕh – a living onlooker to many a cycle of creation, preservation and destruction, a mute witness to a host of changes.

Countless were the wild creatures in the forests of Ráŕh. Human beings appeared on the soil of Ráŕh after the ice age had retreated from its heart. The enormous animals were gradually becoming smaller. The mammoths (aerávatas in Sanskrit) had been frozen in ice and fossilized, leaving behind elephants as their descendants. The age of gigantic dinosaurs, guntosaurs and kakt́esiyás was over, and other kinds of large animals took their place. The forest-dwellers of Ráŕh, clad in leaves, bark and animal skins, lived by hunting. The human beings of today may disregard them, but those people were the epitome of simplicity, they were the representatives of the undulating soil and the thunderous reverberation of Ráŕh, the underdeveloped humans of that time who were the revered ancestors of the people of today, and the dust of whose feet we touch to our heads as we march ahead.

Afterwards, those people learned how to tend animals, and slowly learned a little agriculture. The flaming colours of the palásh [Butea monosperma] forests in the month of Phálgun [mid-February to mid-March, when the palásh tree blooms] set their minds as well into a colourful dance. A fire for self-expression stirred their hearts as well. This was many thousands of years ago. Surely, they did practise tapasyá [suffering or austerity for the attainment of a certain goal]. But what was it for? How did they do it? Who taught them? No one but the Lord of their inner world, the Supreme Master of their life, taught them – “Search, search, someone is there – someone is coming – someone will give you what you need to journey forward, and help you properly direct your efforts to reach the target.” This was their nameless, silent tapasyá. When the Aryans started coming into India, at a time when some had already come, and some were about to start from the barren, arid lands of Central Asia – Lord Sadáshiva, that great personality, the life and soul of everyone, was born. The people of Ráŕh came in touch with His eternal gospel and infallible guidance and received the much-desired touch of the enlivening wand of their Abhiiśt́a.⁽¹⁶⁾ Thus Ráŕh became the cradle of civilization.⁽¹⁷⁾

Ráŕh was not only the starting-point of civilization, Ráŕh represented the first-ever steps towards cultural progress. The intermingling of the basins of small and big rivers, and the exchange of activities and ideas, laid the foundation for the civilization and the culture of Ráŕh, whose splendour in turn ushered in a golden dawn not only in Ráŕh, but also in the life of all of the underdeveloped humanity of that dark age. People of many lands started converging on Ráŕh to hear the páiṋcajanya, the clarion call, of humanity, and to join in singing the paean of humanity. China called Ráŕh by the name of “Láti”, Greece called it “Gauṋgá Rid́i” and the Aryans called it “Rát́t́ha”. This civilization and culture of Ráŕh were not confined to Ráŕh alone – they could not be confined, and it would have been wrong to confine them. They sailed by sea from its port of Támralipta [modern Tamluk], responding to the call of its far-off nameless and unknown friends.

Ráŕh’s contribution to the building of a social structure was also extraordinary. There was no stratum of life, no vein in the tender leaf of life that did not throb to Ráŕh’s touch. The ancestral land of the majority of the Brahmans of modern Báḿlá was Ráŕh. Hence they call themselves Ráŕhii Brahmans even today. Wherever they are now, the Bandopadhyays (of Bandyaghati village of Birbhum), the Mukhopadhyays (of Mukhoti village of Bankura in western Ráŕh), the Chattopadhyays (of Chatuli village of Burdwan in Ráŕh), the Gangopadhyays (of Gangoli village of Burdwan) and the Ghosals⁽¹⁸⁾ (of Ghosali village of Manbhum) had their roots in Ráŕh and subsequently set off for other parts of the world.

Though intellect is what makes a human being most venerable, one’s kśátra shakti [soldierly strength] and kśátra shaoryya [soldierly valour] can in no way be ignored. Vijaysingha, the son of Singhabahu the king of Singhapur⁽¹⁹⁾ of southern Ráŕh, conquered Lanka [now Sri Lanka], and as a mark of his victory gave it the name Singhal. Pandu Basudev, the nephew of the sonless Vijaysingha, ascended the throne of Singhal in c. 534 BCE and conquered the south-western coast of India. The transplanted people of Bengal laid the foundation of the Nair society of Kerala. The Ráŕhii Brahmans of Bengal set sail for the coast of Konkan where they set up the Gaoŕiiya Sárasvata Brahman society. Sahasrabahu, another prince of Singhapur, founded the Thailand dynasty and named the country Shyámdesh. None of the above went as a conqueror; wherever they went they became sons of the soil and merged with the local inhabitants. This is a matter of great joy. The superiority of Ráŕh did not lie, as a hidden agenda, in the conquest of those lands; it lay in devoting themselves to the service of those new places. This was Ráŕh – Ráŕh the starting-point of civilization.

Footnotes

(1) The Carboniferous Period of the Palaeozoic Era was 270-350 million years ago. –Trans.

(2) Seed plants first emerged during the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era, 210-250 million years ago. –Trans.

(3) Lit., “land of the Aryans”; northern India, which the Aryans at one point occupied. –Trans.

(4) The name used for this ancient land mass is Gondwanaland. Where Áryyávartta was to arise there was still sea; the plain lands of Bengal and the Deccan were still sea and had not yet been built up from alluvial deposits; where Rajasthan and Gujarat were to arise there was still sea; the northern part of the Arabian Sea was a land link between the mass that was to become India and the mass that was to become Africa. –Trans.

(5) Sri Lanka. –Trans.

(6) One lakh = one hundred thousand. One crore = ten million. –Trans.

(7) As with northern India, where the Himalayas were to arise there was still sea. –Trans.

(8) The words “Gauṋgá” and “Brahamaputra” are feminine and masculine, respectively. –Trans.

(9) The name Ráŕh is not used for any modern political area. The Ráŕh area forms the western part of what is now Báḿlá. So strictly speaking the meaning here is “the rest of Báḿlá was formed”. –Trans.

(10) The term “Vauṋga” is sometimes used as a synonym for “Báḿlá”, “Bengal”; but at other times, as in this book, “Vauṋga” refers only to the easternmost part of Bengal – i.e., what is now basically eastern Bangladesh. –Trans.

(11) [Correction: A footnote was to come here, but was found unnecessary.]

(12) In these paragraphs the author defines the ancient areas of Samatat, eastern Ráŕh and western Ráŕh in terms of the districts of West Bengal, and regions adjoining West Bengal, that existed as of the composition of this book in 1981. Some of those districts have now been split up into various districts, while in other cases a few districts have been combined into one district. –Trans.

(13) The jurisdiction of a police station is often used in India to denote a geographical area. –Trans.

(14) Now six districts. –Trans.

(15) “… the farthest eastern part was that part of Gondwanaland that people nowadays call Ráŕh.… Elsewhere [in Gondwanaland] it was extremely cold and full of snowstorms. There was no proper environment there for human beings to evolve. Ráŕh had the living touch of warmth so humans came there first.” (Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Shabda Cayaniká Part 1, “Apána” section) –Trans.

(16) The collective name of all a person’s desiderata in the physical and psychic spheres, together with that person’s Desideratum in the spiritual sphere. –Trans.

(17) Lit., “starting-point of civilization”. –Trans.

(18) Surnames of Ráŕhii Brahmans. –Trans.

(19) Modern-day Singur in Hooghly District. –Trans.

Chapter 2	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The greatest proof that someone is a developed person is that person’s refined taste and subtlety based on his or her intelligence and wisdom. A person comes to be a philosopher when that person studies his or her environment and thereby learns to see his or her inner self. This very Ráŕh presented human society the first philosopher, who was none other than Maharshi Kapil. He wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery of creation and bring the causal factors of the universe within a framework of a theory of numbers. We in today’s world cannot imagine how much self-confidence and inner daring it took for a person to do this. Maharshi Kapil was born in a certain place near Jhalda in Ráŕh. He came to the highest philosophical realization at Gangasagar, on the Bay of Bengal, at the furthest extremity of Samatat in Ráŕh. Later another philosopher, Maharshi Patanjali (who was born in Patun village in Burdwan), endeavoured to establish a heartful union between the earth and human beings, and between human beings and their inner divinity.

The Mahábhárata is an all-encompassing history of the India of the middle period of India⁽¹⁾ The poet Kashiram Das, from Siddhi village (modern Singi village) of Burdwan in Ráŕh, a Ráŕhii Kayastha [a caste], made that Mahábhárata accessible to Bengalees in lucid language and in a sweet style. Valmiki’s Rámáyańa is of course an epic, but perhaps more than an epic, because it abounds in educative features. Some call it a puráńa [educative fiction], but so much aesthetic sense is hard to find in a puráńa. But that Rámáyańa epic [of Valmiki] is not for the common people. It was Krittivas Ojha who offered the Rámáyańa to common people in a new way, telling the story in a context of the joys and sorrows, the smiles and tears, of the general populace. As between Valmiki’s Rámáyańa and Krittivas’s Rámáyańa, Valmiki’s is a poetic story or an epic, while Krittivas’s is a ballad of the life of the common people of Bengal. Krittivas was also a man of Ráŕh. And it was Maladhar Basu of Kulingram of Burdwan District, also a Ráŕhii Kayastha, who brought the Bhágavata Shástra, that unending flow of devotion, through the ears of deep-thinking Bengalees into their very hearts.

The Vaeśńava [Vaishnavite] poets of this very Ráŕh – Lochandas Thakur, Vrindavandas Thakur and Govindadas Thakur – were all sons of the red soil of Ráŕh, most of them Vaidya by caste. Giving a heartfelt touch, they dyed their deepest thoughts with the mystic ideas of the Bauls⁽²⁾ of Ráŕh. Those who drenched Ráŕh in a flow of sweetness in those days and caused people to lose themselves in joy were the original Vaeśńava poets, people of Ráŕh – Dvaja Chandidas (from Nanoor of Birbhum), Dina Chandidas (from Burdwan) and Baru Chandidas (from Chatna of Bankura). The mission to enliven the human mind with a flow of sweetness was first taken up precisely by people from Ráŕh, and they inspired the rest of the world to activate themselves in this same mission. What flooded, and is still flooding, the minds of the people of Ráŕh is the joy of inspiring others to do noble deeds.

The basic theme of the Mauṋgalkávya⁽³⁾ involves presenting a description of the joys and sorrows, the smiles and tears, of common people, to those same people through the stories of different known or unknown gods. All these gods and goddesses have the power to bestow wrath and love and curses and boons and all such things. If they curse, the merchant ship Saptad́iuṋga sinks, and if they are propitiated, the ship which has sunk may float up with everything in it untouched by water. Logical argument about this fact [the reality of these things] would be out of place here, because the deities had no social standing though they had gained currency in society [i.e., in the worship of the common people]. The poets of the Mauṋgalkávya helped the deities gain social standing. The poetic stories of the Vaishnavites were almost contemporary with the Mauṋgalkávya era. The Mauṋgalkávya poets were almost all from Ráŕh. Those who vibrated people’s minds through characterization and a flow of sweetness were Ghanaram Chakravorty (of Burdwan, who wrote the “Dharmamauṋgal”), Kavikankan Mukundaram Chakravorty (of Damunya [village] of Burdwan, who wrote the “Chandimauṋgal”), Raygunakar Bharatchandra Ray (of Penŕo Vasantapur of Bhursoot, who wrote the “Annadamauṋgal”), etc. They were all from Ráŕh.

Jaydev, a poet who appeared at the beginning of the Vaishnavite Age and the author of the famous Giitagovindam, was a son of the red soil of Ráŕh. Sitting on the sandy north bank of the Ajay River in Birbhum District (the ancient kingdom of Gopabhum), a spot filled with the fragrance of nágeshvar [a kind of magnolia], he made the human mind dance to the rhythm of his poetry.

Litterateurs who came much, much later, such as Kathashilpi Sharatchandra,⁽⁴⁾ Shailajananda Mukhopadhyaya, Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, Premendra Mitra, etc., were people of Ráŕh. Though not born in Ráŕh, Rabindranath [Tagore] and Michael Madhusudan Dutta were Ráŕhii by lineage. Rabindranath also became a man of Ráŕh by choosing Ráŕh in which to work. The contribution of Kazi Nazrul Islam to Bengali literature demands praise. He also emerged from the undulating red soil of western Ráŕh. The wizard of rhythm, poet Satyen Dutta, who trained his flow of rhythm to surge and dance with vitality like a fountain, was a man of Burdwan District – a Ráŕhi Kayastha. Rajshekhar Basu (Parashuram), who left a novel imprint on Bengali literature, was by lineage a Ráŕhii Kayastha and by place of birth also a Ráŕhi (of Brahmanpara of Burdwan District). Dr. Sunitikumar Chattopadhyay, internationally famous and a pioneer of linguistic science, was also a son of Ráŕh.

Since the dawn of civilization, shining celestial bodies have had an inseparable relation with man on earth. They provide human beings with what they need to journey forward. They illuminate people’s external world. They stir people to action in quest of their inner divinity. They transform people’s desire into intense longing through arithmetical rhythm and the expression of mathematical sweetness. So the forward movement of Ráŕh in this sphere at that time never came to a standstill. Shubhankar Das, the illustrious mathematician, created his Shubhauṋkarii⁽⁵⁾ on this very soil of Ráŕh. He was a Ráŕhii Kayastha of Bankura.

I was speaking about arithmetic and mathematics just now. I also said that this branch of science received its inspiration from the celestial bodies. And if their course is not known, people cannot be acquainted with years and months. The ancient calculations of the Suryasiddhánta⁽⁶⁾ could not keep pace with the passage of time. Calculations were becoming prone to error. It was under the auspices of Shalibahan, the king of Dańd́abhukti (of southern Ráŕh, i.e., of the Midnapur area) that Jayanta Panigrahi, an outstanding son of Ráŕh, introduced a new system of calculation. This resulted in a new system of calculation based on the solar year. In those days Márgashiirśa, that is, Agraháyań, was considered to be the first month of the Bengali year. Later, however, Vaeshákh came to be the first month in the calculation of the Bengali year.

Though the word sál, meaning “year”, originated in Farsi, the Bengali word shál did not derive from the Farsi word sál. It came from the name of Shalibahan, the king of Dańd́abhukti.

The celestial bodies influence every pore of the surface of the earth, all atoms, molecules and dust particles. They also influence human psychology, trade, agriculture, thought processes, in short, all the dimensions of life. Based on the all-pervasive influence of the celestial bodies, a branch of knowledge arose in day-to-day life. And this branch of knowledge was beautifully nurtured, with all its flowers, leaves and twigs, by Kshana,⁽⁷⁾ a beloved daughter of Ráŕh, the offspring of the Ráŕhii Vaidyas [a caste] of Bankura (Senbhum).

Dr. Mohammed Kudrat-i-Khuda, an outstanding son of Birbhum in Ráŕh, was one of the pioneers in the use of Bengali in mathematics and physics.

The famous scientists Dr. Gyan Chandra Ghosh, Professor Satyendranath Bose (famous for the Bose-Einstein theory), Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy (inventor of mercurous sulphide), etc, were Ráŕhii either by birth or lineage.

Rashbehari Bose, a flame of revolution, an outstanding man of action, who laid the foundation of the Indian freedom struggle outside India and who founded the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauz), was also a son of Ráŕh (Burdwan). And who does not know of Subhash Chandra Bose, to whom Rashbehari Bose, in his old age, confidently turned over all the responsibility of the Azad Hind Government [Indian National Government], this thunder like jewel of manliness, this blazing comet of politics, this flaming meteor, was Ráŕhii by lineage.

When the people of India were floundering in a quagmire in social and spiritual realms and had strayed from the path of progress, there came Raja Rammohan Roy, an eminent Western-educated scholar and an eminent revolutionary in the realm of knowledge. He was an inhabitant of Radhanagar Village under Goghat Police Station, Hooghly District. (At that time Goghat Police Station was in the Burdwan District.) Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, who brought about a revolution in the field of education, who fought throughout his life against social injustice and social dogma and who brought to a peak the spirit of generosity and sense of dutifulness, was a son of Birsingha village in this very Ráŕh. (When Vidyasagar was born, Birsingha was in the district of Hooghly. Later it became included in the newly-formed sub-division Ghatal in Midnapur.)

When India first began to receive Western education, a crisis of conscience arose and the people of India were caught in a dilemma as to what path to the future they would follow. They tended to consider whatever was Indian as bad, and whatever was foreign as good. In that transitional period of illusion and emotionality, the rustic man who appeared before his countrymen with an earthen lamp of enlightenment was Gadadhar Chattopadhaya (Ramakrishna Paramahansa). He was a son of Kamarpukur village of Arambag Subdivision, Hooghly District, of Ráŕh.

The monk who epitomized manliness, spiritedness and valour, and struck at the root of the timidity of the youth of India of that time, Narendranath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda), was also a Ráŕhii Kayastha. (He came from Dattadeŕet́an Village of Kalna Subdivision of Burdwan District.)

Shrii Aurobindo Ghosh (the son of Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh of Konnagar), a pathfinder in the realms of revolution, intellect, philosophy and spirituality, was a Ráŕhii Kayastha.

All manifestations are rhythmic. And these manifestations establish their existence in the greatness of the new through crests and troughs of rhythm. If the old, having once entered the realm of the manifestation of the new, wants to survive, it will have to change its rhythm in order to do so. And the old order which lacks this capacity, that is, lacks the inner power that comes from elasticity, sinks into eternal sleep in the cavern of primeval darkness. It is lost in the dust of oblivion.

When India was wavering between the past and the present and spinning in a vortex of hesitancy about its future, Raja Rammohan Roy [introduced above] created, using newer rhythms, new trends and new techniques, a rhythmic environment of knowledge about the past, the future, and that which lies between. Everybody knows that to welcome the new requires courage. To accept the old in a new way, not to speak of accepting the new, demands not a little courage. The new trend set in motion by Raja Rammohan Ray was courageously welcomed by Dwarakanath Tagore, Devendranath Tagore, Akshay Kumar Dutta and Brahmananda Keshab Chandra Sen, who were all great sons of Ráŕh either by birth or by lineage.

Human beings like to think of their aim in life. They rush to attain their Iśt́a [Goal] with a full-hearted devotional urge; they wish to surround their Iśt́a with every expression of their existence; they heartily embrace their Iśt́a with the all-encompassing rhythmic manifestations of life. It was these very manifestations that gave birth to Bauls, kiirtana,⁽⁸⁾ Brahma Saḿgiita and Shyáma Saḿgiita on the soil of Ráŕh. He who stirred the realm of Shyáma Saḿgiita⁽⁹⁾ with his full-hearted longing was the sádhaka [spiritual aspirant] Ramprasad Sen,⁽¹⁰⁾ the jewel of a Ráŕhii Vaidya family – a precious treasure of Ráŕh.

When there occurs a great stir in any particular sphere of human life, the person who is the práńapuruśa [life and soul] behind that stir finds some great personalities, some elevated personalities, to assist him. These great souls work with unwavering earnestness and establish that life-and-soul entity in the psychic world of the people. Herein lies their greatest credit, the greatest glory of their existence. Mahaprabhu Shrii Chaitanya brought about a great stir in the realm of ideas, in the practical realm and in the social realm. And one great soul who emerged and stood by Mahaprabhu was Thakur Shri Nityananda. He was a beloved son of Ráŕh and was born in Ekchakra village of Birbhum. (His parents were Mukunda Batabyal and Rama Devi.)

The Sháuṋkar Darshan [philosophy of Shankaracharya] made people apathetic about the world. Too much apathy makes people cynical. The psychology of the people of Ráŕh could not entirely escape those ill effects either. The sweetness, softness and tenderness of Gaoŕiiya⁽¹¹⁾ Vaeśńava Dharma rescued the people of Ráŕh when they were about to be lost in those melancholic and cyclonic dark nights of cynicism. Indians are reluctant to write history. The people of Ráŕh were no exception. But the man who tore asunder the darkness of ignorance and strove with firm, forceful steps for the first time to write history, out of zeal to set down the biography of Mahaphrabhu Shri Chaitanyadev, that first historian [of Ráŕh], was Thakur Krishnadas Kaviraj.⁽¹²⁾ He was also a son of Ráŕh, a dweller of Jhamatpur village of Ketugram Police Station of Katwa Subdivision, Burdwan District.

The seeds of ideas germinate in the psychic sphere. Then they generate pulsations ceaselessly in each manifestation of the mental set-up. When the world of ideas takes shape in the external world [in the form of art], those ideas undergo that transformation not only through language but also through [the display of] emotions, through different techniques, rhythms, mudrás [symbolic gestures] and beautiful visual forms. Painting is a subtle expression of this type. Not only did the traditional screen painting artists of Ráŕh earn fame for themselves; many of them also exalted their art from the sphere of the objective world sphere of the noumenal world. Thanks to their lofty ideas and dexterous hands, the classical art of Ráŕh developed. Gaganendranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore (“He writes pictures!”), Nandalal Basu and Surendranath Kar were all Ráŕhii either by birth or lineage. Yamini Ray and Ramkinkar Bej were also great personalities of Bankura District in Ráŕh.

Any attempt to say a word or two about Kalidas⁽¹³⁾ is likely to give rise to a controversy [about his place of habitation]. But argument for the sake of argument will not go far towards victory in a debate. Victory rests on a strong basis of logic. The description of a sea coast that Kalidas has given is the exact description of the sea coast of Contai. Had he been an inhabitant of a mountainous coast region, his description would have been different. Again, had he lived at a barren, grey, desert-like sea coast, his description would have been different yet. So it will be by no means a travesty of truth to guess that Kalidas dwelt in the Contai region of southern Ráŕh. The sea at the Contai coast is to the south. So in order to enjoy the wind blowing from the sea, people build south-facing houses. This is also a strong point of logic in this matter.

Footnotes

(1) Not to be confused with the “middle ages”, which refers to the several centuries that preceded the coming of the British. –Trans.

(2) See Chapter 7 for the derivation of this word and information about the Bauls. –Trans.

(3) Poetic works by different thirteenth- and fourteenth-century poets, aimed at establishing the glory of certain gods and goddesses. –Trans.

(4) Sharatchandra was given the epithet “Katháshilpii” – “Novelist”. –Trans.

(5) Some easy rules in verse for mathematical calculation. –Trans.

(6) The Suryasiddhánta, or Suryasiddhánta Sárańii, was a reckoner, based on solar positions, used in very ancient India for the astronomical calculations needed to prepare the annual calendar. –Trans.

(7) A famous astrologer in ancient India. She rendered astrological instructions needed in day-to-day life into the form of beautiful verses. –Trans.

(8) Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender, is known as kiirtana. Some types of kiirtana may involve descriptions of the features of the Lord. –Trans.

(9) Devotional songs for the goddess Kálii. –Trans.

(10) Rájá hate cái ne go Má
Sádha nái go Má rájá hate
Ámár mátir ghare báṋsher khuṋti Má
Táy yena pái khaŕ jogáte.

[I don’t want to be a king, Mother,
Have no desire, Mother, to be a king;
My thatched hut rests on bamboo poles, Mother,
Straw for it I may bring.]

The temple architecture of Ráŕh is modelled on such huts.

(11) “Gaoŕiiya” means “related to Gaoŕa”. Gaoŕa was also known as Paiṋcagaoŕa, Báḿlá or Báḿládesh – “Bengal”, as the British called it. “Shashanka.… founded Paiṋcagaoŕa.… That is, during his time Bengal was divided into five political divisions: 1) Ráŕh, 2) Mithila, 3) Samatat, 4) Barendra, and 5) Vauṋga-D́abák.…” (Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Shabda Cayaniká Part 1, section on “Átar”) “This land of ours was famous as Paiṋcagaoŕa.… This Gaoŕadesha [Land of Gaoŕa] of ours can as a whole be called Gaoŕadesha, Paiṋcagaoŕa, Báḿlá or Báḿládesh. It can be given any of these names.” (Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Shabda Cayaniká Part 12, section on “Khagoŕ/Khagaoŕ”)
“Gaoŕa” was first applied to the Samatat area where guŕ [raw sugar] is abundant, but later was used sometimes to mean that area, or kingdom, at other times to mean Paiṋcagaoŕa as a whole. Paiṋca means “five”.
What was Barendra is now basically northern Bengal and part of modern Bangladesh. “Báḿládesh”, or “Bangladesh”, is now normally used to mean only that modern country – which is basically coextensive with the ancient Vauṋga-D́abák plus the eastern half of the ancient Samatat. Vauṋga-D́abák was sometimes called only Vauṋga. “Vauṋga” could also be used to refer to all of Báḿlá. So the word “Vauṋga” is similar to the word “Gaoŕa” in that it refers sometimes to the entire land, sometimes to only one of the five components of the land. –Trans.

(12) The Rájtaraḿginii of Kahlan is not history worthy of the name. The veracity of history has been trampled under the feet of the royalty. The accuracy of the Rájmálá has also deviated from that of a normal account due to eulogizing the kings.

(13) Kalidas of ancient India was famous for the beauty of his Sanskrit poetical works and dramas. –Trans.

Chapter 3	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The varńáshrama social system [four-caste system] did not originate in India. This weed crept into India from the north-west and, sucking all the vital juice out of the verdurous expanse of people’s minds, it threatened not only to destroy their minds, but to annihilate them totally. The effects linger on. We still feel the ill effects in our innermost being, in every vein and capillary. This varnáshrama system is an ineradicable black spot on us. Ráŕh, situated at the furthest end of northern India, was also touched by this all-obliterating wave. Just as in northern India, the social discipline in Ráŕh was about to be devastated by this caste system. [Throughout northern India,] all attempts to stop the onrush of the scourge of this wave, this wave of discrimination, superiority complex and inferiority complex, with weak embankments of sand, proved futile. No one could stop it, but in Ráŕh some efforts were made. There an attempt, at least, was made to give some support to society so as to save the social edifice from the jaws of disaster. It was Smárta⁽¹⁾ Raghunandan who made this attempt through his two-caste system. This system, like the four-caste system, was defective, but the defects were not as serious as in the four-caste system. And the main thing was that, defects or not, an experiment at least was certainly made. Bankimchandra and Haraprasad Shastri appeared at a time when the people of Ráŕh and Bengal had, in confusion, forgotten their real selves; when they failed to find a link in their lives between the past and the present; and when self-recrimination was the order of the day. They came with a lamp of enlightenment in that dark age. In their literary work they both sallied forth not only with strokes of the pen and marks of ink, but also in a vital literary achievement that resonated with the loud clang of swords. Bankim and Haraprasad were Ráŕhii by lineage.

Like the shruti shástra [the Vedas] the smrti shástra [social scripture] is neither unchangeable nor divine. The social scripture undergoes changes in every age according to the needs of society. At a time when India clung to the interpretation of Mitákśará⁽²⁾ given in the smrti shástra of Manu, without considering its merits and demerits, and wanted to fling the people of India into a dark well of oblivion and isolate India from the rest of the world, Jimutbahan Bhattacharya, an inhabitant of Ráŕh, introduced the Dáyabhága⁽³⁾ system, based on a much more scientific and humanistic outlook and on sensitivity for the rights of daughters, and thus set Ráŕh and Bengal free from family squabbles.

At that time myriad evils and aberrations, and various unholy and corrupt practices, paralysed social life. Some influential persons, enjoying the privilege of higher social standing, began to make people outcastes with or without reason. Those who were thus excommunicated found it hard to live in society with self-respect and with their heads held high. Due to the mental pressure on them, and due to the irresistible lure of acquiring social status, many among them began to think it proper to convert to other religions. And in fact, many such conversions did take place. It was at that time that Devibar Ghatak (of Birbhum) introduced the melbandhan (pat́ibandhan as it was called in the Barendra caste) system⁽⁴⁾ among those outcastes. As a result, the tendency to convert to other religions came to a halt. The scholars of Ráŕh had on earlier occasions also been fighting against the existing customs. The invention of the melbandhan system was a great revolutionary step on the part of the social reformers of Ráŕh. This clearly showed their originality of thought and their spirit of independence.

Krishnananda Agambagish, another revered son of Ráŕh, brought about innovations in religious life by thoroughly reforming the ritualistic system of worship and festivals of Ráŕh. He introduced some sort of logic into the illogical system of offering worship.

Krishnachandra, the king of Krishnanagar (a Ráŕhii Brahman), did much for the society of that time. His fame spread far and wide, crossing the borders of Bengal. On the one hand, he brought many sweets experts from the neighbouring district of Burdwan and built up the sweets industry by getting them to prepare new varieties of sweet. And on the other hand, he won fame by bringing many shellac artists from Ilambazar, Birbhum, and helping them to settle in Ghurni, Nadia. And if Nadia has a worldwide reputation in clay-modelling, it was due to King Krishnachandra. At that time, most townships grew in an awkward way. But this very King Krishnachandra got the town of Krishnanagar built in a planned way by Allal Dastur Pir, a city architect of the then Bengal.

Footnotes

(1) Well-versed in smrti [social scripture]. –Trans.

(2) Mitákśará entails the heirs’ equal rights of inheritance, not subject to the father’s discretion. –Trans.

(3) Dáyabhága is a system of inheritance in which the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father, who has the right to disinherit any of the children. Another feature of this system is the rights of inheritance for women. –Trans.

(4) See Chapter 16. –Trans.

Chapter 4	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The influence of environment on the human mind is boundless. But the environment is not made up only of the five rudimental factors [ethereal, aerial, luminous, liquid and solid]. The environment is not made up only of earth, water, air, rivers and vegetation. The environment must include also citta [the objective mind], ahaḿtattva [the ego], mahattattva [the “I exist” feeling] and átmá [the soul].

The mental trend of Ráŕh developed in a special environment, and that environment in turn had been formed in such a way that it became easy and natural for the mind to vibrate the átmá [spirit] in a special manner. Initially, there was no dharma [spirituality, spiritual path] in Ráŕh. Though the Rgveda was composed in the distant past – about fifteen thousand years ago – the Vedas were not dharma. The collection of the Vedas composed by different rśis [sages] is nothing but the Árśa Mataváda [Doctrine of the Rśis]. Many rśis gained deep inspiration from their internal culture], and shaped that inspiration into words in the Vedic verses (shruti). The árśa doctrine that thus developed gave rise to the Árśa Dharma [Religion of the Rśis]. Lord Sadáshiva’s advent occurred about 7500 years ago. The people of Ráŕh turned the liberal Shaeva Dharma [Shaivism] which that great entity had propounded for the welfare of humanity, into their vital treasure in all respects.

The Aryans began to proceed towards Ráŕh from the north-western part [of India] at that time. But the liberal Shaeva Dharma was being practised in Ráŕh long before the influx of the Aryans [into Ráŕh]. The influence of the Paoráńika Dharma [Puranic cult or religion] propounded by Shankaracharya was felt only 1300 years ago. This Paoráńika Dharma of Shankaracharya’s should not be called Hindu Dharma [Hindu religion, Hinduism]. Shankaracharya’s religion mainly aimed at driving out the Baoddha Dharma [Buddhism] widely practised at that time. What was the essence of Paoráńika Dharma? It was mainly just obedience to cows, Brahmans, Vedas and kings. And obedience to a king did not mean just any kind of obedience. It meant regarding the king as an incarnation of Viśńu. Thus the narrow Paoráńika Dharma prevailed in Ráŕh, displacing the liberal Shaeva Dharma.

Prior to Shankaracharya, there were caste divisions in Ráŕh, but caste discrimination [i.e., the practical sense that one caste was superior to another] was unknown there. The caste divisions came through the Aryans from the north-west. And the caste discrimination system came only 1300 years ago, after Shankaracharya preached his Paoráńika Dharma. Intimidated by the followers of Paoráńika Dharma, the Buddhists of that age were unable to worship Buddha directly, and took to the worship of Dharmat́hákur [the converted form of Buddha in the name of Shiva]. The Buddhists set up Dharmat́hákur in remodelled temples in the Paoráńika Age, and such can be found spread all over Ráŕh even today. The priestly functions in these temples of Birbhum and Gopabhum were performed by members of the Sadgope community who use Devangshi as their surname.

Having come under the influence of Paoráńika Dharma, the priests of these temples sometimes used sacred threads made of copper. The priests in these temples of Dharmarája⁽¹⁾ in the Bankura area belonged to the Jalik Kaivarta community or the Dom community.⁽²⁾ The mantras they used, and still use, to worship the gods and goddesses, were in the Bengali language. All these priests used Pandit as their surname. The Doms still use Pandit as their surname. Ramai Pandit, for example, composed the Shunyápuráńa.

The Kurmi Mahatos of western Ráŕh also performed priestly functions in many such temples. They were deprived first of their religious rights, then of their social rights, and now of their human rights. Yet they are one of the six indigenous communities which constitute the Bengalee race. They are original people of the Bengalee races and as such certainly deserve respect. They are not outsiders, they are the children of the soil of Ráŕh. Thus those who were once venerated are now no longer so. This disrespect for them should be considered as disrespect for Bengalees as a whole. This state of affairs calls for immediate rectification.

Thus we see that before becoming tightly fettered with the caste system, the indigenous communities of Ráŕh had the full right to priesthood. The monopoly of the Brahmans on priestly rights became established only during the Paoráńika Age, not before that.

In Ráŕh, the Shaeva [Shaivite] marriage custom is still popular among the people of the so-called low castes. The bride and the bridegroom exchange garlands, the bridegroom offers some unhusked rice (paddy) to the bride. The rice-offering indicates, “I take responsibility of maintaining this girl throughout life.” He then applies some vermilion on her forehead and says, Ájiivanaḿ bhátkápad́aḿ sváhá [“As long as you live I will provide you clothes and food”]. Thus in a simple, unostentatious way the marriage is solemnized within a few minutes. There is no need to call in a Brahman priest. This is an example of the liberal Shaevism.

There is no proof as to whether Shiva upheld idol worship. But it was after His passing away that a special kind of worship known as phallus worship came into being. In this phallus worship there was a nice combination of spirituality and earthly need. At that time the different groups remained locked in continual fighting with one another. All the groups wanted to increase their own populations. So they first introduced phallus worship to symbolize the increase of their numerical strength. Later this phallus worship became subtilized by infusing it with spiritual ideations. As the thoughts and ideas of the people of that age were very simple and at the same time somewhat crude, they started to practise the phallus worship with the idea of the relationship between Puruśa [Consciousness] and Prakrti [Operative Principle] (Shivashaktyátmakaḿ Brahma⁽³⁾). This very phallus worship [the earlier kind] was the most ancient system of worship in the world. Sociologists identify it as humanity’s first step on the path of dharma [religious belief, spirituality]. This type of phallus worship was prevalent in the Mayan civilization of Mexico in Central America. Numerous Shiva lingas of this kind are scattered in many places in Ráŕh. Many of the Shiva temples that are found virtually everywhere in Ráŕh – in almost each and every village – date back to 2500 to 7000 years ago.

Footnotes

(1) Dharmarája means the same as Dharmat́hákur, and is not to be confused with the Dharmarája of Hinduism, meaning Yudhisthira of the Mahábhárata. –Trans.

(2) Dom is a community, or caste, who tend cremation pyres. –Trans.

(3) Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram. –Trans.

Chapter 5	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Shashanka, a king of Ráŕh, was an orthodox Shaivite. In fact, everyone in Ráŕh were adherents of Shaivism at that time. King Shashanka could not tolerate the Buddhists at all. He obliterated a number of Buddha idols in Magadh [on the west of Ráŕh]. In food matters, the people of Ráŕh, being influenced by Shaivism, were sentient. They adopted the Shaivite ideology in all spheres of their life. So we see for example that in the vratakathá [verses recited during the domestic worship of a deity] of Ráŕh only the glory of Shiva is preached again and again. The Carak, Gájan and Bolán festivals of Ráŕh are all completely Shiva-centric. Even Rabindranath, a poet of the modern age, has referred to the worship of omnipresent Shiva in his poems:

Chili ámár putul kheláy prabháte shivapújár beláy
Tore ámi bheḿgechi ár gaŕechi,
Tui ámár t́hákurer sane chili pújár siḿhásane
Tár-i pújáy tomár pújá karechi.

[You were there in the play of my childhood dolls,
You were there in my morning worship of Shiva.
I have broken and rebuilt your image again and again.
You are seated on the altar with my deity;
When I do His worship, I worship You as well.]

Even innumerable rural folk-rhymes prevalent in Ráŕh are paeans to Shiva. A liberal Shaeva [Shaivite] ideology permeated every existential vibration, every cell of the bone and marrow of Ráŕh. For this reason the women of Ráŕh always enjoyed more liberty than those of other countries. They had absolute freedom to move anywhere – in the markets and fairs, in the villages and towns. They still enjoy the same amount of liberty today.

In the past, men and women shared equally in the hard work of the fields and farms. They continue to do so today. Even on the battlefield women stood beside their men and actively fought in wars. There were no artificial social restrictions. Even Bagri [Samatat] and Barendrabhumi⁽¹⁾ did not allow women as much freedom as Ráŕh, what to speak of Vauṋga-D́abák. Moreover, there were numerous restrictions based on caste.

Shankaracharya came to Ráŕh only [not the rest of Bengal]. Hence many Buddhists and Jains of Ráŕh embraced Paoráńika Dharma. D́abák being marshy land, neither Shankaracharya nor any of his disciples with leadership qualities visited there much. So the inhabitants of that land remained Buddhists and later embraced Islam on a large scale. It can be said that Muslims are scarce in modern-day Ráŕh, except for some in eastern Ráŕh. Hindus and Muslims are almost equally numerous in Bagri. But in D́abák Muslims are in great number. The reason is this.

The history of Ráŕh is not the history of Ráŕh alone, it is the history of Bagri, D́abák, Barendra and Orissa also. Wherever the people of Ráŕh have settled down, they have mingled and become one with the local people. So it can be observed that there exists a close link between the people of Ráŕh and the people of Orissa.

It has been said before that severe caste discrimination arose in Ráŕh due to the influence of the Paoráńika Dharma propounded by Shankaracharya – an evil which created fatal rents in the otherwise well-knit social fabric of Ráŕh. A man who showed outstanding wisdom while rescuing Ráŕh from the sway of that horribly destructive system was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Vishwambhar Mishra). He formed a new group, the Vaishnavite group, with those people who were not socially recognized by the high-caste Hindus. The people of this Vaishnavite group are still spread in many places throughout Ráŕh. Mahaprabhu’s historic contribution still permeates every atom of the soil of Ráŕh. So no one can lose caste so easily today.⁽²⁾

Footnotes

(1) Barendra. See footnote on “Gaoŕiiya” in “Outstanding Personalities of Ráŕh”. –Trans.

(2) If someone becomes de-recognized by the higher castes, that person now has another group to go to, and this in turn discourages the higher castes from de-recognizing in the first place. –Trans.

Chapter 6	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

While dharma in the true sense of the term is based on logic and the realizations of great sádhakas [spiritual aspirants], religion, or dharmamata, is based entirely on irrational blind faith. So religions are always sheltered within dogma. While the propagation of dharma goes on spontaneously, for the propagation and establishment of dogma-based religions, the financial power of the vaeshyas [capitalists] and the intellectual prowess of the vipras [intellectuals] is inevitably needed. What we observe from the history of humankind is that the religions which have come so far have, without exception, taken shelter under the wings of capitalism. While money has been spent lavishly for the construction of beautiful places of worship, money has never been arranged for food, clothing, housing, education and medical care for the welfare of the poor. While for four full years all the state revenues of Orissa were spent for the construction of the Konark temple, during that period not a penny was spent for human welfare. Needless to say, the history of all countries is replete with such examples.

In the background of the Jainism that was introduced into the heart of Ráŕh 2500 years ago there was the same strong influence of the vaeshyas. The exponent and propounder of this religion, Vardhaman Mahavir, was himself born in a rich vaeshya family of Vaishali. His father’s name was Siddhartha and his mother’s Trishala. Almost at the same time, in the Terai region of Nepal (or, according to some, the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh), Siddhartha (who later became famous as the propounder of Buddhism) was born in the Kśatriya [warrior] Malla sub-tribe of the Shakya tribe. His father’s name was Shuddhadhan and his mother’s name Maya Devi. It is to be noted here that Mahavir Jain, the propounder of Jainism, belonged to a vaeshya family, whereas Buddhadeva, the propounder of Buddhism, was a kśatriya by birth.

Just as the people of Ráŕh had at one time settled in Samatat-Barenda-Vauṋgabhumi in the east, so they later migrated on a large scale to Magadh-Mithila and such regions in the west. At one time, just as in Ráŕh, the people of Magadh were followers of Shaeva Dharma. The people of both lands were accustomed to living a simple, unsophisticated life.

Both Vardhaman Mahavir and Buddha first started preaching their religions in Magadh. Buddha preached compassion, penance and karma sannyása [setting Supreme Consciousness, and not the world, as one’s goal of life]. The people of Magadh listened to him with reverence, and a few accepted his ideology. Then he set out for Varanasi to preach his religion there. Later he passed away in Kushinagar.

[But for the most part] the people of Magadh did not accept the religion preached by Mahavir Jain. Out of many reasons that the people of Magadh did not wholeheartedly accept the Jain religion, the three main ones were: 1) Jainism’s aversion to struggle. The interpretation of ahiḿsá⁽¹⁾ given by Mahavir in his religion was so unnatural and unrealistic that it was completely impossible for the common people of Magadh to accept it. For example, according to Jainism, it is forbidden to kill any living being. Since tilling the land may bring about the death of the insects in the soil, agriculture became impossible for the followers of Jainism. So that during respiration microbes should not enter the body through the nostrils and die, the nose must be covered with a piece of cloth. 2) Nirgranthaváda [no use of clothing on the body]. In the final stage of religious practice, nirgranthaváda (digambara) should be followed (one should remain naked). For people living in society, this nirgranthaváda cult failed to evoke any response. 3) Between Shaeva Dharma and Jainism there was a yawning gap. For the followers of Shaeva Dharma in Magadh, this atheistic Jainism appeared like a very far-off object.

Having found it futile to preach his religion in Magadh, Mahavir went to Astiknagar, the most ancient town in Ráŕh. It goes without saying that there also the common people could not easily accept his ideology of inaction. A handful of the rich merchant community, however, did pay recognition to Vardhaman Mahavir, not so much for any uniqueness of his religion, but rather to him as a representative of the vaeshyas.

In spite of the vaeshya community of western Ráŕh having accepted Jainism, the common people there remained Shaevas in their minds and hearts. Of course, externally they called themselves Jains. Even though they offered worship in the Jain temples, Shaivism flowed deep in their hearts like the subterranean Phalgu River [of mythology]. All the Jain temples and idols that are found in Ráŕh were lavishly constructed by the Jain vaeshyas. They were not constructed by the kśatriya kings [or the common people]. Shiva temples, on the other hand, could be built at little expense by the common people. In Ráŕh Jain temples are found every ten miles, but a Shiva temple can be found in every village. This proves the deep commitment to Shaivism among the common people.

As a result of Shaivism and Jainism coexisting in this way in Ráŕh for a long time, they influenced each other in quite a natural way. So the Shiva of Shaeva Dharma became transformed into the Jain Shiva. Moreover, it was under the influence of Shaivism that Jain Tantra came into existence. The Ambiká Devii of the Ambiká Devii temple in the city of Kalna, Burdwan District, is a Jain Tantric goddess; she came into being under the Shaeva influence. Shaeva Tantra, Jain Tantra and Buddhist Tantra had a combined influence on the land of Anandanagar in western Ráŕh, though the influence of the latter is little.

Vardhaman Mahavir propagated Digambara Jainism [Jainism that enjoined nakedness] in Ráŕh, so all the idols of the Tiirthauṋkaras⁽²⁾ that are found here are without clothes. The idols of the gods and goddesses are clothed and ornamented. However, the idols of those gods who enjoyed status equal to that of the Tiirthauṋkaras are naked.

The Jains established Paiṋcaratna⁽³⁾ temples in different places. The name páncrá is derived from the word Paiṋcaratna. Many villages in Ráŕh bear the name Páncrá. The very name Páncrá indicates that there is, or was, a Jain Paiṋcaratna temple in the nearby area. There are villages bearing the name Páncrá near Asansol of Burdwan District and in the basin of the Kopai River in Birbhum District.

Footnotes

(1) Ahiḿsá means to refrain from purposefully inflicting pain or hurt on anybody by thought, word or action. However, as the author has said elsewhere, “The existence of life implies destruction of certain lower forms, no matter whether there is intention of doing harm or not.” –Trans.

(2) Jain preceptors (twenty-four in number). –Trans.

(3) In ancient Ráŕh, when the Jain religion was very strong, the people used to worship the Paiṋca Jin (Five Tiirthauṋkars). nearby there would be five temples (mandirs). These temples used to be called Paiṋcaratna mandir. –Trans.

Chapter 7	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Now the question is, what is the underlying spirit or essence of dharma? The underlying spirit or essence of dharma is that it carries a person in the direction of greater and greater expansion, and finally establishes that person in the supreme pervasiveness. (By the “essence of dharma” we mean its purest part, its innermost existence.)

Let this “essence” be explained with the help of an example. A mango has in it skin, pulp, fibres, seed and juice. When juice without the other constituents of a mango is collected and thoroughly dried in the sun, we get a sheet of mango essence. This sheet of mango essence is not the same thing as the mango. The real essence of dharma is like the sheet of condensed mango essence. This essence of dharma is known as the essence of the essence. The Guru has also been defined in scriptures as the essence of the essence:

Vandaná kariba ámi Gurure ámár
Yini púrńa, yini nitya, yini sárátsára.

[I shall worship my Guru
Who is absolute, eternal and the supreme essence of all.]

The essence of Shaeva Dharma [Shaivism] is all-round expansion – that is, it takes an individual from the lokáyata [objective] to the lokottara [noumenal] life. Shaivism is that which takes the individual to the supreme fulfilment along a sweet and more and more resplendent path. Shaeva Tantra [Shiva Tantra] is not a cult based on the sayings of the munis and rśis, rather it is concerned with the hopes and aspirations of the masses. It is something which deals with the subtler mystic aspect of human life.

Here let us try to understand the subtle difference between the objective and the noumenal worlds. Suppose there is a bird – take the case of a bird confined in a cage. The bird in a cage eating little morsels of food can be likened to lokáyata [objective] sádhaná, and the restless, intense psychic urge to soar freely into the vast distant blue sky can be compared with lokottara [noumenal] sádhaná. Shaeva Dharma in Ráŕh is Tantra-oriented; and as I have said, Tantra means all-round expansion. As the inhabitants of Ráŕh accepted this Tantra from the core of their hearts, even in the distant prehistoric past, they made multidimensional progress: progress in art and literature, progress in dance and music, progress in architecture and sculpture. The inhabitants of Ráŕh made unimaginable progress in all spheres of human life.

There should be a harmonious adjustment between movement in the psychic sphere and movement in the external sphere. There should be a healthy social structure as well. All the necessary materials for that structure are fully present in Shaeva Dharma and in Shaeva Tantra.

The women throughout Ráŕh enjoyed great independence. Women were highly respected in society. Even divorced women of higher caste were permitted to remarry if they so desired.⁽¹⁾ These were direct contributions of Shaeva Tantra.

Later, the nirváńatattva and arhattattva [doctrine of renunciation] of Buddhism and Jainism entered the heart of Ráŕh. This tattva [theory] was based completely on a negative outlook towards the mundane world and towards life. What became the guiding principle of life was a karma sannyása and sthiti sannyása⁽²⁾ which was motivated by the attitude that the universe was full of suffering and affliction and was nothing but a realm of staticity created out of Avidyá⁽³⁾); and which also cheated the physical world – that is, in a way, cheated oneself. Discarding rhythmic expansion in life, people began to feel that there was nothing in life except the gloom of staticity all around them. This is to extinguish that vigorous burning lamp which illuminates and at the same time glorifies the entire existence of humanity. Once the lamp is completely burnt out, its flame cannot be revitalized, even if a burning stick is brought to it a thousand times. This is an emphatic kind of negativism. This negative Jainism created fissures in the well-formed structure of Ráŕh. Both Buddhist and Jain philosophy can be summed up as a science that, as a result of inaction, as a result of karma sannyása, extinguishes the lamp of life.

Mokśa [emancipation, non-qualified liberation of the soul] and nirváńa are not synonymous. Because Tantra, which is based on mokśa, is the sádhaná [spiritual practice] of absolute expansion, the sádhaná of moving at lightning speed from the cimmerian darkness of staticity to the fullness of divine effulgence; while the pursuit of nirváńa is the sádhaná of knowingly extinguishing one’s most precious treasure, one’s lamp of life – it is nothing but to let the radiance of one’s inner and outer world become dimmer and dimmer and to lose oneself in the deepest abyss of darkness – not only to lose oneself, but to deny one’s existence under the impact of utter ignorance. The sádhaná of extinction, the sádhaná of being lost in darkness, can never be the dharma or nature of human beings. So Jain and Buddhist philosophy brought incalculable harm to Shaivite Ráŕh. So the same Ráŕh which had once, awakened by Shaivite philosophy, plunged into the ocean of vigorous activity, and, through tireless sádhaná and struggle, etched a mark of unimaginable liveliness in all spheres of life, became engaged later on, under the evil influence of the negative sentiment of Buddhism and Jainism, in a useless attempt to establish a repulsive tortoise-like withdrawal as the spirit of the life of that age. This brought about a state of pause in the all-round development of the social life of Ráŕh.

Though Jaena [“Jain”] is derived from the word jin and means “to be victorious” – “to struggle and be victorious in all spheres” – how is it possible to be victorious living like a tortoise? What is required for victory is a vigorous upward momentum. So Jainism leads people from light to darkness, throws them into a dark cavern of inactivity, and makes them total cynics. That is why Jainism has never spread outside India – it is not compatible with a natural philosophy of life. It is only in the western part of India, among a few merchants, that Jainism has survived. Today Jainism has been rooted out of Ráŕh, where it had once originated.

As was mentioned earlier, two diametrically opposite theories, nirgrantha Jainism (the Digambara Jain doctrine), based on the doctrine of nirváńa, and expansive Shaivism, remained side by side in the heart of Ráŕh for a long time. An age of synthesis came about in a natural way. During this period Jain Tantra spread among those of the Digambara Jains who were of sádhaka [ardent aspirants of the inner self] calibre, as the theoretical nirgranthaváda [váda = “ism”] could no longer internally satisfy them. Indeed, Jain Tantra is just another name for Shaeva Tantra. The psychology based on this Jain Tantra gave rise to the Baul psychology.

The Bengali word Bául is derived from the Sanskrit word bátul. The Sanskrit letters ka, ta, pa and da are transformed into a in Mágadhii Prákrta. Thus bátul became bául. The person who directs all his or her psychic urges towards knowing the unknown and obtaining the unobtainable is deemed by the common people as bátul [mad] – bául – as expressed here:

Kálsamudrer tiire Tár-i pratiikśáy
Áchi yug dhari,
Bháungi ár gaŕe shudhu bálukáy
Divasa-sharvarii.

[On the shore of the ocean of time, I have awaited Him for ages; all the day and night I break and again build a house on sand.]

Tikta jalasikta ánkhi, rikta buk mor,
Tavu áchi jági “durlabher lági”.

[My eyes are wet with bitter tears and my heart is empty; yet still I wake, waiting for the unattainable.]

Bátul means “mad”. Pointing to the Bauls, people would say that they seem to be not really of this world; they seem to have come from a different world; they seem to be denizens of the noumenal world – they are a bit mad. The outlook and tunes of the Bauls have had a great impact on most of the folk songs of Ráŕh. The modern poet Rabindranath was influenced to a great extent by the tunes and music arising out of the Baul mentality. In a well-known lyric by Rabindranath, there is a line:

Grám-cháŕá oi ráunámát́ir path
Ámár man bhuláy re.

[Yonder the path of red soil that leaves the village
Casts a spell on my mind.]

What is noticeable here is that it is not simply a “path”, but a “path of red soil”, that leaves the village heading into the distance and that casts a spell on the poet’s mind. This clearly reflects the Baul mentality in Rabindranath. This is perhaps the reason that when the senior Baul singers of Birbhum hear Raviindra Saḿgiita, they say, “This is a song by Rabi[ndranath] Baul!”

Footnotes

(1) In most other cultures of the Indian sub-continent up until recent times, only lower-caste women had been permitted to remarry. –Trans.

(2) Karma sannyása can also be used in a positive sense. Elsewhere the author has said: “According to some interpretations, it means naeśkarma [total inactivity]. Some are of the view that it signifies samyaka karmánta [perfect completion of work]. And others opine that unification with the Supreme Consciousness through karma is karma sannyása.… if one aspires to undertake any noble ventures, then one has to unite one’s own intellect with the Cosmic Intellect, and work with the help of the supreme knowledge of Parama Puruśa. This is the spirit of karma sannyása.” (“The Cardinal Spirit of Action and the Supreme Stance of Devotion” in Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 9.) Sthiti sannyása means “adherence to staticity”. –Trans.

(3) Ignorance; centrifugal, or extroversial, force; force of repulsion from the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude. –Trans.

Chapter 8	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

There are mainly two types of mentality at work behind an inclination towards spirituality: the selfish mentality, or átmá-sukha tattva [theory of selfish pleasure], and sama-samája tattva [the theory of social equality]. When utter self-centredness manifests itself in people, when someone thinks only “I shall eat and dress well, ride luxury cars and fulfil all my desires,” that is the dualistic or selfish mentality, that is, to take shelter in a dogma and exploit others. Most of the religions of the world are based on this selfish mentality. This selfish mentality is at work behind people’s worship of different non-scriptural gods and goddesses. People pray with folded hands to Lakśmii, the goddess of wealth, saying: “Come, Mother Lakśmii, please be seated, Mother Lakśmii, stay in my house, Mother Lakśmii.” In a hot, humid country, snakes pose a nuisance. So people introduced the worship of Manasá Devii, the goddess of snakes, for the purpose of propitiating her. Smallpox also breaks out in hot countries. Hence people started worshipping Shiitalá Devii in order to ward off that disease. Thus people set about worshipping various gods and goddesses with their own self-interest in view. If we minutely scrutinize what we call majhab or dharmamata or religions, we shall clearly see that they all promise self-centred gain either in the near future or in the distant future. The extremely harmful signal that they send sometimes prompts people to forget their rationality and creates in them an inability to tolerate [other faiths]. Instead of love for mankind, imaginary selfish pleasure or heavenly pleasure becomes the be-all and end-all of life.

The Márkańd́eya Puráńa, or Cańd́ii [mythological goddess in the Puráńa], says: Rúpaḿ dehi, jayaḿ dehi, yasho dehi, dviśo jahi [“Give me beauty, give me victory, give me fame, and vanquish my enemy”]. This is also sullied with the same defect of átma-sukha tattva.

Vidyá dadáti vinayaḿ vinayát yáti pátratám;
Pátratát dhanamápnoti dhanáddharma tato sukham.

[Knowledge leads to humility, and humility in turn makes one a fit receptacle;
As a receptacle one will become prosperous, and prosperity leads to happiness.]

This shloka [couplet] shows that people have accepted religion only in hopes of getting wealth and pleasure.

It is only in sama-samája tattva that actual dharma [the characteristic of human beings] lies. True dharma is that which establishes human beings in both spheres of life, that is, the objective world and the noumenal world. People will take with them everything that exists in the objective world, and proceed towards the noumenal world in such a way that all the expressions of objective life will merge into one with that sweet eternally-flowing entity within the noumenal. Keeping in mind this principle of sama-samája tattva, Ananda Marga started out on its universalistic journey. This principle must be adhered to by all dhármik people.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born long after [the birth of] Jainism. Of all the factors that made Mahaprabhu “Maháprabhu” [a great master], two are important: 1) His birthplace was the confluence of Ráŕh and Bagri. He was born during a transitional period in the social life not only of Ráŕh, but also of Bengal. The philosophy of life [based partly on Jainism] which then prevailed in Ráŕh diminished human beings; it totally devalued humanity. Under the influence of an ideology of life that was opposed to the práńa dharma [the práńa dharma of a society means the distinctive characteristics of that society] of Ráŕh, the life of Bengal was drying up and turning into a desert. Endowed with a lofty mind and a deep sensitive heart, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was unable to bear this state of affairs. 2) Supra-sensory “madness” among the Bauls of Ráŕh. In a bid to redress this unnatural situation [the devaluation of humanity] in social life, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu propounded Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma, which served to quite some extent as a balm for the stinking wounds of the then society.

Though there was some impact of sama-samája tattva in the Vaeśńava society founded by Ramananda, Ramanuja and Ballabhacharya, the system of caste discrimination was very strong. But Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava philosophy was free from this evil influence. Thanks to the pervasive influence of Shaeva Dharma in Ráŕh, there was also some influence of sama-samája tattva. And since the Vaeśńava Dharma of Ráŕh was based on Shaeva Dharma, sama-samája tattva found a place in Ráŕh also. But the Vaeśńava Dharma of other parts of India was based on prapattiváda.⁽¹⁾

The soil of Ráŕh being very hard, Shaeva Dharma here formed a base that was also as hard as a diamond. A revolutionary attitude is the fundamental spirit of Tantra. The Baul doctrine and the influence of Jain Tantra and Shaeva Tantra all combinedly gave birth to an introversive, synthetic philosophy of life in Ráŕh; and in that environment emerged Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, Barhu Chandidas, Jaydev, Govindadas Thakur, Gyanadas Thakur, Lochandas Thakur, Naraharidas Thakur, etc., whose influence on the minds of the people of Ráŕh has been pervasive and profound.⁽²⁾

Footnotes

(1) The idea that everything is being done by Paramátman, by the Divine Entity. This idea was sometimes taken to an extreme or misinterpreted. –Trans.

(2) In the original Bengali book, the number 9 as a chapter number was inadvertently skipped, so the chapters were numbered 1-8 and 10-32. In this book they have been numbered 1-31. –Trans.

Chapter 9	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The psychology of Ráŕh which was based on the original Shaeva Dharma did indeed accept Jainism, but only superficially. Ráŕh did not internalize, rather it rejected, Jainism insofar as the latter was not consistent with the fundamental rules of Shaeva Dharma. Though all the idols of the Tiirthauṋkaras found in Ráŕh are nude, in conformity with the Digambara Jain cult, none of the idols of Jain gods and goddesses found there are nude. The idols of the Jain goddesses Ambiká and Manasá which have been found in Ráŕh are all clothed and adorned with ornaments. All the idols of the Jain gods and goddesses of Ráŕh that have been found and that were worshipped as orthodox or non-scriptural gods and goddesses [i.e., worshipped as different types of Hindu gods and goddesses] in a later period are nothing but different expressions of the human mind. And these feelings would become associated with each other, and would become sublimated into mahábháva [a higher stage of realization] and Paramashiva [Nucleus Consciousness]. It is not possible to find any consistency between these feelings and atheistic Jainism. Of all these Jain gods and goddesses, some have found a place in Paoráńika [Puranic] scriptures, while others have been transformed into non-scriptural deities. Many, however, have not been recognized at all, directly or indirectly. Of many reasons for this, one was the torrential and irresistible advent in Ráŕh of the Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma propounded by Mahaprabhu Chaitanya.⁽¹⁾ At that point, the priests of that era did not find sufficient time to convert the [remaining] Jain deities into Puranic gods and goddesses. Like all other sections of the general populace in Ráŕh, the Jain ascetic preachers, the Jain priests, and afterwards the Utkal Brahmans (as they came to be known) of Ráŕh, came under the influence of the Vaeśńava Dharma of Ráŕh.

[Extremes of] casteism developed in Bengal at that time. The Utkal Brahmans of Ráŕh retained their caste system while embracing Vaeśńava Dharma. The unnamed deities of Jain Tantra also veered from the Jain path of ahimsá to some extent and, coming to be considered merely as different forms of the [Shákta] goddess Cańd́ii, began to be propitiated with sacrificial offerings, as an external ritual of Shákta Tantra (which was nothing but a misdirected form of Shaeva Tantra). Ducks, hens, pigs, buffaloes, etc., were offered as sacrifices. By that time, Ráŕh had drifted a long way from Jainism, and most of the Jain temples in western Ráŕh had been transformed into Jain Shiva temples.

Footnotes

(1) Which effectively stopped the development of Paoráńika Dharma. –Trans.

Chapter 10	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Ancient Ráŕh, the mother of gems and jewels, was composed of mountain ranges surrounded by oceans. Those ranges at one time resonated with storms and tempests, rain and thunderbolts. There were no human beings, nor were there any other living beings. Even shrubs and creepers were not to be seen. Except for Parama Puruśa [Supreme Consciousness], there was no one to witness the exquisite beauty of Ráŕh. The mountains having become pulverized under the process of constant erosion, in between those mountains plains, valleys and plateaus began to come up. The rivers carried that silt and sand onwards. Those eroded mountains became the red soil that we see today. The eastern part of Ráŕh, and Samatat were formed out of the silt and sand from the mountains, carried by the rivers. And many crores of years later, the rivers of Ráŕh were instrumental in forming even more of this new soil. That new soil is today’s Samatat and Vauṋga-D́abák. Enticed by the smell of the rain-drenched dry earth (the earth had been created by the rivers), the people of Ráŕh wended their way to the east, towards that new soil, with axes, hoes and ploughs. Hence the soil [mát́i] is not merely mát́i for the people of Ráŕh – it is má-t́i, má-go [“the mother”, “O mother”].

At a time when eastern Ráŕh was non-existent, Bagri [Samatat] and D́abák were inconceivable. The present-day mounds in the wavy soil of western Ráŕh are the decaying summits of the old mountains, and the bottoms of the slopes, and the small rivers and the rivulets, are other names for the last remaining parts of the valleys.

Much later the Aryans, moving from the north-west region towards the east and having crossed the plains of the Brahmaputra and the Gauṋgá, finally reached the borders of Ráŕh and came to a sudden halt. In the Ráŕh of that time the crests of the undulating topography [the mounds] were covered with forests, while the troughs [the bottoms of the slopes] were sites of human habitation. It was for this kind of topography that the land was named Birbhumi or Birbhum in the Austric language. The word biir in Austric means “forest”. Instead of using the Austric name Birbhum, the Aryans gave it a new name, Varjyabhúmi, which meant “a land in which Aryans should not live” – a land which the Aryans should reject. It is said that the people of Ráŕh at that time were not prepared to welcome the Aryans, and that instead of welcoming them, the inhabitants of Ráŕh set their pet lions and wolves on them. So the question remains, why did the Aryans call the land Varjyabhúmi – because of Ráŕh’s uncongenial geographical environment, or for fear of the wolves?

Whichever it may be, let us come to another topic. The searing summer heat of this tropical region, and the whirlwinds of red dust, spurred the inhabitants of Ráŕh to break the bondages of this limited world and to run in the direction of limitlessness. And at the very sight of the natural landscape of Ráŕh, tears welled up in their hearts, and their entire beings quivered, for the great unknown entity. This longing in their hearts made the people of Ráŕh mystical. What is mysticism? Mysticism is the never-ending endeavour to find out a link between finite and infinite. So the people of Ráŕh are all mystical by birth. When they look up at the boundless sky, their inner self becomes eloquent in this way:

Uŕiche tomár dhvajá megharandhracyuta tapaner jvaladarcirekhá;
Karojoŕe ceye áchi úrdhvamukhe – paŕite jáni na, kii táháte lekhá.

[Your banner is flying like a beam of sunlight flashing through the clouds.
I am looking with upturned face and folded hands – but I cannot read what is written there.]

The fervour, and the ardour deep in their minds, for the infinite, stirred them to the point of bátulatá [madness]. And this bátulatá gave birth to the Bául Márga [Path of Baul], Baul music and the Baul ideology. Baul music is always characterized by a single tune, a single resonated impact. Hence a Baul song is played on one string – on an ektárá [“single-stringed” instrument].

Ek mane tor ektárát́i
Ekt́i sure bendhe rákhis.

[Tune your ektárá single-mindedly
To a single melody.]

This is the first and the last word of Baul.

If the subject of Baul is delved into, it will be found that on the one side, there is a typical dark-coloured Ráŕhii man with an ektárá in his hand, and on the other side, there is his life and soul [the Supreme], whom he has loved, though he has not seen.

Yáke ná dekhe’ nám shuńe káńe
Man giye táy lipta hála
Bhávt́i bheve paráń gela.

[My mind mingles in Him
Whom I have not seen, but whose name has reached my ears.
Thinking of Him, I die.]

Later, it was in this Ráŕh that kiirtana⁽¹⁾ came into being. Kiirtana drew its impetus from Baul. The development of the rhythmic movement of the human mind in quest of the Supreme Entity is what is called kiirtana. Though kiirtana is prevalent in India and many other countries, the distinguishing feature of the kiirtana of Ráŕh is that it is chiefly, if not entirely, based on Baul. It more concerns sweet devotional ideation on Parama Puruśa than descriptions of His hands, feet, eyes, nose and face.

Sai kevá shuńáila Shyám nám
Káńer bhitar diyá marme pashila go
Ákul karila mor práń.

[O friend, who uttered the name of Shyám?⁽²⁾
Through my ears it enters into my depths,
Made restless my heart.]

In the hands of Jaydev, Chandidas, etc., who were deep-dyed poets of the soil of Ráŕh, this kiirtana became vibrated with a new resonated impact. When, long after them, Mahaprabhu entered deep into Ráŕh and came in touch with the unique wealth of Baul and kiirtana, he said to all, of his own accord:

Ráŕhii sure Ráŕhii bole
Ráŕhii ákhare kiirtana kariba.

[To the tunes of Ráŕh and in the speech of Ráŕh
And with the words of Ráŕh, I shall sing kiirtana.]

Footnotes

(1) Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender, is known as kiirtana. Some types of kiirtana may involve descriptions of the features of the Lord. –Trans.

(2) Krśńa. –Trans.

Chapter 11	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

As I mentioned before, phallus worship was the first step to the oldest form of religious thinking. The people of Ráŕh, who had heartily embraced Shaeva Dharma, started worshipping Shiva without crafting Shiva idols. They did, however, build Shiva temples. Though afterwards Jainism spread everywhere in Ráŕh, Shiva remained unaffected. His influence did not decrease at all. It was Digambara Jainism that Ráŕh was under the influence of. All the idols of the Tiirthauṋkaras that have been found so far in Ráŕh are naked. Under the influence of Digambar Jainism, Shiva became naked as well. But what is found in Shiva’s dhyána mantra⁽¹⁾ is:

Dhyáyennityaḿ Maheshaḿ rajatagirinibhaḿ cárucandrávataḿsam;
Ratnakalpojjvaláḿgaḿ parashu-mrga-barábhiitihastaḿ prasannam.
Padmásiinaḿ samantáḿ stutamamaragańae vyághrakrttiḿ vasánam;
Vishvádyaḿ vishvabiijaḿ nikhilabhayaharaḿ paiṋcavaktraḿ trinetram.

[One should constantly meditate on Maheshvara, who is like a silver mountain, whose ornament is the lovely moon –
Whose limbs are brightened with the splendour of jewels, with axe in hand, holding animals, bestowing boons, ever-blissful –
Seated in lotus posture, wearing a tiger-skin, worshipped by all the gods –
The seed, the cause of this vast world, who removes the boundless fears of the entire universe – the One with five faces and three eyes.]

In other words, Shiva was clad in tiger-skin. But the people of Ráŕh said about Shiva: Ádidev digambar bholánáth káshiishvar [“O original god, unclothed, ever-merciful, the Lord of Káshii (Varanasi)”]. So in Ráŕh Shiva was depicted as Nyáḿt́eshvara [Naked God]. A poet of Ráŕh has composed a song in this respect:

Buŕi tui gánjár yogáŕ kar,
Tor jámá-i elo digambar,
Śánŕat́á karche hoggá hoggá –
Dekhe sabár láge d́ar
Buŕi tor jámá-i ela digambar.

[Procure hemp, O old woman,⁽²⁾
Your son-in-law⁽³⁾ unclothed has come,
The ox is bellowing,⁽⁴⁾
All scared are trembling,
Thus unclothed your son-in-law has come.]

It was all as a result of the nudistic Jain influence.

It has been said before that the idols of the Tiirthauṋkaras found in Ráŕh were all naked. Mahavir himself was nirgrantha [without clothes], or digambara. But the populace never did accept nudism. So the Jain gods imagined by them are all clothed and adorned with ornaments. In short, in the depths of their minds the people of Ráŕh were all followers of Shaeva Dharma. It was like an enamelled ornament; the gold underneath was Shaeva Dharma and the enamel was Digambara Jaena Dharma.

It was under the influence mainly of Jainism and secondarily of Buddhism that the festivals of Caŕaka and Shiva Gájan made their appearances in Ráŕh. Where the Buddhist influence is greater, Caŕaka and Gájan are observed on Vaeshákhii Púrńimá [the full-moon day in the Bengali month of Vaeshákh, i.e., Buddha’s birthday]. Where the influence of Shaeva Dharma is greater, they are observed on Caetra Saḿkránti [last day of the last month of the Bengali year]. Where the influence of Jainism is greater, they are celebrated on the Jain festival day. The word Bolán is widespread in Ráŕh. It is a special festival. Bolán has come from the [verb] balá [“speak”].

The devotees used to say aloud: Shiva balo [“Say ‘Shiva’”]. This balo turned into bolán in the same way as Caŕaka came from cakra and Gájan came from garjan [Caŕaka and Gájan were two other festivals related to Shiva.] The devotees of Shiva shook the air all around them, crying, Shiva he [“Hey Shiva!”]. This Bolán ritual is observed especially in those areas where Burdwan, Birbhum and Murshidabad Districts all meet. At one time all these areas – not only these areas, but the entire Ajay and Hingula river basins – were regarded as deep-dyed Shiva areas.

The enamel that covered the religious life of the people of Ráŕh disappeared under the influence of Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma, while the innate Shaeva Dharma continued to remain like the subterranean flow of the Phalgu River. No village of Ráŕh is without a Shiva temple. A village without a Shiva temple is regarded as unholy. The people of Ráŕh accept Vaeśńava Dharma and act in accordance with Vaeśńava Dharma, yet intrinsically they are all Shaivites.

The Shákta⁽⁵⁾ influence on Ráŕh is negligible. A hundred years ago, also, Durgá Pujá did not have much influence on Ráŕh. Durgá Pujá is a sensationalistic festival. It has little meaning for the common people. They simply don new clothes and hop the Pújá pandels.

The common people of Ráŕh do not follow the marriage and other systems dictated by the Brahmans. They are observed according to the simple Shaeva system. Besides, the sáuṋá [the uṋ here is pronounced “ng”], the wedding of a man who has somehow (through death or divorce) lost his wife, or a woman who has somehow lost her husband, is solemnized everywhere in Ráŕh without the participation of Brahmans.

It is Shiva who is the original god. He is called Buŕá Bábá⁽⁶⁾ by the villagers. All the deities of Ráŕh are somehow or other related to Shiva. For example, Manasá is said to be Shiva’s daughter. Likewise, one goddess may be Shiva’s shakti (wife), others His daughters or His sisters. The priests of those deities of Ráŕh which have been denied the status of Paoráńika gods all belong to one or another original Bengalee community.

Footnotes

(1) A Sanskrit verse listing the attributes of a deity, to be used for visualizing that deity in meditation. –Trans.

(2) The mother of Shiva’s wife, Párvatii. –Trans.

(3) The son-in-law is Shiva himself. –Trans.

(4) The ox was the mount of Shiva. –Trans.

(5) Sháktácára, the Shakti Cult, a doctrine based on the might of the Supreme Operative Principle, was characterized by the judicious application of power. –Trans.

(6) “… vyúd́ha, that is, one who has married in a special way.… Shiva was the first man to marry in earnest so the people of that time called him vyúd́ha out of respect. This vyúd́ha Shiva in later times, and in modern Bengali, became buŕo Shiva. This word buŕo has not come from the word vrddha [old] – it has come from the word vyúd́ha. (Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Shabda Cayaniká Part 2, section on “Úd́ha”) –Trans.

Chapter 12	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Long ago I said that the culture of the human race is one. But there are variations in the cultural expressions according to changes of time, place and person. These variations in expression are not cultural differences. If all the children in one family have different food habits and speak in different styles, then do they belong to different cultures? Nevertheless we speak much about culture, and we keenly observe cultural advancements and declines. The more introversial the movement of a culture is, the subtler it is.

It cannot be said just what the culture of Ráŕh was like at the dawn of human history. But it is obvious that it could not have been developed, because the movement of the human intellect is from crude to subtle.

If there is anything that is sweet and anything that is worth following in the culture of Ráŕh, it is due to the advent of Lord Sadáshiva. There is neither caste discrimination nor caste division in Shaeva Dharma, so where did the caste discrimination and caste division in today’s Ráŕh come from? Another question may arise here: why do I bring up caste discrimination and caste division while talking about culture? It is because culture cannot move in an appropriate way if caste division, which is the expression of a fissiparous mentality, exists. Hence everything comes within the purview of a discussion on culture.

The Aryans entered India between seven and ten thousand years ago. This was well before the advent of Shiva. The conflict between the pre-Aryan civilization and that of the invading Aryans went on for centuries. Then in the course of time synthesis began to come. This state of synthesis went on for thousands of years and extended up to the Buddhist and Jain ages. The process of give-and-take between the pre-Aryan civilization and the invading Aryan civilization did take place, but not without much bargaining and many a tug-of-war. Of all the defective gifts of the Aryans that the indigenous Indians accepted, one was the system of caste division, which spread hatred between the high and the low.

The Aryan civilization came to a standstill at the threshold of the kingdom of Káshiirájya (Varanasi). Then a lot of strenuous efforts were made in order for Mithila to be accepted in Áryyavartta [Land of the Aryans], or Uttarápath [northern India]. But in the end Magadh did not win this acceptance. The word magadh means “a population which is opposed to the Vedic system”. Maga means “opposed to the Vedas” and dha means “one who abides by”. Ráŕh, which was located on the further [eastern] border of Magadh, had no opportunity to become “sanctified” by the touch of the Aryans’ feet. But just as the system of caste division entered Magadh under the influence of Áryavartta, so also did it enter Ráŕh to some extent. Ráŕh too became segmented into so many castes, but thanks to the firmly-rooted Shaeva Dharma, caste-based hatred could not crystallize in Ráŕh.

That there was casteism in India even before the emergence of Buddhism and Jainism is best proven by the fact that Buddha came from a Kśatriya varńa [here, a sub-caste] belonging to the Malla branch of the Shakya pravara [dynasty]. (His father was a feudal king.) And Vardhaman Mahavir was born in a Vaeshya family of Bideha. His father, Siddhartha, was a businessman. So the caste system did exist in India. This caste system also reached a peak in Magadh in a later period. After the demise of Buddha, the kings – both Buddhists and non-Buddhists – said clearly that since Buddha was a Kśatriya, they were entitled to the ashes from his cremation. But it was not like this in Ráŕh. The caste system was made to grow among the common people in Ráŕh [inhabitants of Ráŕh].

There is no logic behind the contention that the Ráŕhiiya Utkal Brahmans came from outside. To say, based on imaginative stories, that the Brahmans of Ráŕh were outsiders, would not be logical. In clear terms I hereby refute the Kulatantrárńava of the Ráŕhii Brahmans.⁽¹⁾

But it is true that caste discrimination came to Ráŕh much later. The Paoráńika Dharma of Shankaracharya weighed Ráŕh down and immobilized its social consciousness. It converted the spontaneous flow of life in Ráŕh into a stagnant pool and paved the way for countless weeds to burgeon. The defective mentality and way of life of Paoráńika Dharma became intolerable for people, hence a great number of people in Ráŕh-Samatat-Barendra-D́abák who came in contact with the more humanitarian Islam took shelter in it.

Footnotes

(1) A book containing the details, history and lineage of the Ráŕhii Brahmans, and indicating that they were not among the original inhabitants of Ráŕh. –Trans.

Chapter 13	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The question remains as to the origin of the Utkal Brahmans in Ráŕh. They live in large numbers in the south-west part of Ráŕh. Did lakhs of people, batch after batch, sail across the seven seas and thirteen rivers and settle down in Ráŕh? It is not possible. The fact is different. I have already mentioned that caste division was present in the Buddhist age. But it was not as strict as it had been in the pre-Buddhist age. Many elements were combined together in a confused way. So advocates of Paoráńika Dharma, and their Prayágiiya Bráhmańa Sabhá [Prayag Brahman Conference], accepted and thereafter formally recognized a conglomerate of five branches of North Indian Brahmans, and another conglomerate of South Indian Brahmans, all of them followers of Paoráńika Dharma, in the names Paiṋca Gaoŕii and Paiṋca Drávid́ii⁽¹⁾ respectively. As the Brahmans of Ráŕh represented a more developed culture, they found it hard to accept the dominance of Paoráńika Dharma (which teaches the supremacy of the Vedas, Brahmans, cows and kings). Besides that, there was an unwillingness to study the Vedas that was deep-rooted in their nature. For this reason they did not get the recognition of the Prayag conference. The Brahmans living in that part of Ráŕh which was under the rule of the king of Gaoŕa at that time accepted that non-recognition. But as a mark of their own speciality, they introduced a beautiful social system, the Dáyabhága system, and thus displayed an example of their own originality of thought. But the Brahmans living in those parts of Ráŕh which were not under the rule of the king of Gaoŕa began to call themselves Utkal [Orissa] or post-Utkal Brahmans with a view to getting recognition from the Prayágiiya system. They went on with the old Mitákśará system. So none of them came from outside. Their lifestyle, customs and physical structures – all bear the stamp of Ráŕh.

Does this mean that no Brahmans came from Utkal? No, a good many did come [later]. They were brought for their scholarly capacity. These invited Brahmans called themselves Dákśińátya Vaedika (Southern, or Deccan, Vedics). They follow the Dáyabhága system. Shibnath Shastri, M.N. Ray and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were all Deccan Vedic. (According to some, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Western Vedic.) They live in the districts of Midnapore, Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas, Jessore, etc. Some of them use common surnames such as Chakravorty and Bhattacharya, but some of course use the old Utkal Brahman surnames such as Panigrahi, Panda, Sarangi, Patra, etc.

Footnotes

(1) Elsewhere the author has written: “Paiṋca Gaoŕii used to mean the Sárasvata Brahmans of Kashmir-Jammu-Punjab; the Gaoŕa Brahmans (they came from Gaoŕadesha, hence Gaoŕa Brahmans) of Rajasthan and Haryana; the Kanya Kubja or Kanaojii Brahmans of Uttar pradesh; the Nagar Brahmans of Gujarat; and the Maethilii Brahmans of Northern Bihar.… Paiṋca Drávid́ii would mean the Utkal Brahmans of Orissa; the Citpavan Brahmans of Maharashtra; the Traelung Brahmans of Andhra; the Karnat Brahmans of Karnataka; and the Tamil Brahmans of Tamil Nadu.” (Shabda Cayaniká Part 25, section on “Guńd́icá”)

Chapter 14	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The Gaoŕádya Vaedikas [Vedics belonging to Gaoŕa] are inhabitants of Ráŕh in this sense. The middle-class Brahmans, composed of the Ráŕhiiya Brahmans and Ráŕhiiya Utkal Brahmans, and the Maharashtrian Brahmans who had come from outside, live in the southern region of Ráŕh. They call themselves Madhya Deshiiya Ráŕhii Brahmans. I find nothing wrong with this [with their calling themselves Ráŕhii].

The Kayasthas of western Ráŕh are very few in number. From this one might assume that the Kayasthas came from outside. But in eastern Ráŕh and adjoining Bagri (Kandi, Katwa, Kalna, Kulingram, Konnagar, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Jessore, Baghhati, Baghanchra, Akna, Mahinagar and Jyotsiram), the Kayasthas are very many in number. Is it probable that such a large number of Kayasthas came from outside? Rather, the Kayasthas in the whole of Ráŕh and also in adjoining Bagri call themselves Ráŕhiiya Kayasthas. In other words, they have completely identified themselves with the red soil of Ráŕh. Now, there is a tradition that Shashanka, the king of Ráŕh, unified all the small Kayastha leaders in his battle against Buddhism. And let us judge whether it is believable that Vijaysingha conquered Lanka with the help of his Kayastha followers.

In the Buddhist age, the Kayasthas lived in Ráŕh, and their domination also was immense. Many used to write, while introducing themselves, Sadbaoddha-Karańa-Káyastha-T́hakkur [surnames of Kayasthas in the Pali language]. The Buddhist and the Jain ages were really different expressions, according to changes of place and person, of the same age. So the Kayasthas were certainly there in Ráŕh during the Jain age. Since they were there in the Jain-Buddhist age, it can easily be supposed that they had been there even in the pre-Jain-Buddhist age. So according to their psychology and also from a historical standpoint, the Kayasthas are originally sons of the soil of Ráŕh. Maybe a handful of Kayasthas who followed Paoráńika Dharma came or were brought to Ráŕh from outside to assist the Brahmans in imposing Paoráńika Dharma on Ráŕh like a jagaddal stone [a kind of immovable stone]. But the idea that all the Kayasthas of Ráŕh have come from outside is absolutely untenable. Those who came from outside were probably honoured as kuliina Káyasthas [Kayasthas of noble descent]. The rest were denied that honour due to their relationship with Buddhism or Jainism. They are known everywhere as maolik [original] or ancient Bengalees.

A considerable number of Ráŕhii Kayasthas migrated from the Singur and Haripal regions of Hooghly District in the south of Ráŕh and settled in Samatat across the Bhagirathi, and also in Vauṋga-D́abák further east. It is they who are the kuliinas [of noble descent] of those areas, and not those who had been living there previously. King Shashanka did unify the strength of the Kayasthas. Again, it just might be true that Vijaysingha, accompanied by his followers, conquered Singhal [Sri Lanka] and Kerala in c. 534 BCE. Though the Singhalese became Buddhists, Buddhism did not get firmly established in Kerala. The progeny of the followers of Vijaysingha still live in Kerala. They are known as the Kerala Kayasthas (Nairs). They use surnames such as Nair, Menon, Kaimal, Panikkar, etc. Their customs, lifestyle, facial appearance, everything, resemble those of the Ráŕhii Kayasthas. Therefore it seems that Vijaysingha, in association with his Kayastha followers, may possibly have done something like this. But in conclusion I will mention that whatever I have said about Shashanka and Vijaysingha is more speculative than based on concrete information.

Chapter 15	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The people of Ráŕh are a mixture mainly of two races, Austric and Negroid. In eastern Ráŕh there is also some Mongolian influence. Pure Austric and pure Negroid are not to be found in Ráŕh; but Mongolian blood will not be found in the western part of Ráŕh. So very fair-complexioned persons are very few in that region. The people there are dark-complexioned. But due to the Mongolian influence, the people of eastern Ráŕh are a bit fair-complexioned. Though the inhabitants of Ráŕh are a mixture of Austric, Negro and Mongolian blood, they are not very flat-nosed. And they are taller than the Austrics. The Kurmis and the Mahatos of Ráŕh are medium-sized or short, yet not shorter than the Austrics. The people of Midnapore are more or less short, but some are medium-sized, and a few are tall. The Sadgopes of Ráŕh are medium-sized or tall. If anybody draws a straight line from Arambag of Hooghly District to the north across Burdwan and Kandi, the people living along that line, especially the Brahmans, the Kayasthas and the Sadgopes, are the tallest of all the people of Ráŕh. They have comparatively high-bridged noses and are somewhat fair-complexioned. It was possibly due to the long-time political importance of this region, and its importance in trade and commerce, and the existence of Buddhist and Jain places of pilgrimage, monasteries, etc., that the Aryan outsiders’ blood entered in, and brought about these changes. But the people who live along that line are not the most long-lived. Those who have the longest lifespan in Ráŕh are the Kayasthas of Bankura and Manbhum. They are also tall and have high noses, but they are not as fair-complexioned as those who live along the line of Arambag, Burdwan and Kandi.

Chapter 16	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

When the Puranic religion came to Ráŕh it did not come alone, it brought with it incalculable social ulcers and social ills.

After the first Aryan migrations to India, caste divisions overtook Ráŕh just as they did other parts of India. I have mentioned this before. Although caste divisions entered in, there was no caste discrimination; there was not even any social bar to inter-caste marriages. But when the kings of Ráŕh embraced the Puranic religion, they imposed an inflexible system of caste discrimination with the help of orthodox Brahmans and Kayasthas. Ráŕh, which was not a restrictive caste-oriented society, could not accept this completely. As a result, there was a lot of social chaos. It became difficult for the people to categorize the many castes that arose from the social intermingling of Brahmans and non-Brahmans.

When a particular wrong is decreed, one has to continuously support a chain of wrongs. Similarly, in promulgating one falsehood, a chain of falsehoods is created. So when this unnatural system of caste distinctions was adopted, other theories supporting this sort of discrimination needed to be invented. At this juncture,⁽¹⁾ Raghunandan came and attempted to solve the problem. Being unable to trace the complicated lines of descent underlying the caste divisions, he gave his decision that Ráŕh should not follow the four-caste system of India, rather it should recognize a two-tier system of Vipra and Shúdra.

The common people accepted this divisive social system out of fear of the kings who supported the Puranic religion (though mentally they did not accept it). The system of one-month purification [in mourning or as a penance], which had once applied only to Shúdras, was imposed on 95% of the people of Ráŕh [all non-Vipras had become classified as Shúdras]. This two-caste system developed by Raghunandan did no good to Ráŕh, rather it harmed the society enormously. It also brought down the curse of the kuliina [nobility] system on Ráŕh.

The kuliina system was introduced among the Brahmans, Kayasthas and Vaidyas who blindly supported the Puranic religion. The intention was to keep those Brahmans, Kayasthas and Vaidyas recently converted from Jainism and Buddhism under the control of the orthodox Puranic Brahmans, Kayasthas and Vaidyas.⁽²⁾ It was proclaimed that a girl of a kuliina [noble] family must marry into another kuliina family, otherwise the kuliina status [of her family] would be lost. If, on the contrary, shrotriya Brahmans married their daughters to kuliina boys, their social status would increase. (In the Brahman social hierarchy the shrotriyas were non-kuliina, and in the Kayastha social hierarchy the maoliks were non-kuliina.) The result was that a kuliina Brahman or Kayastha could marry a hundred or more girls. Their numbers increased by leaps and bounds. The numbers of followers of the Puranic religion also increased by leaps and bounds, and the numbers of shrotriyas and maoliks considerably decreased. No one wished to marry their daughters into non-kuliina families. As another result, the influence of Buddhism and Jainism substantially waned. But quantitative growth does not necessarily lead to qualitative growth. Social vices overtook the society due to the rampant polygamy among the kuliinas and its opposite among the non-kuliinas.

During the Pathan rule,⁽³⁾ the prime minister of Bengal, Gopinath Basu, introduced a new system to save the Kayastha community from this vicious atmosphere. The eldest son of a Kayastha family must marry a kuliina girl [though the other sons were not required to do so]. But the Brahman community did not accept this system.

Since as a result of the kuliina system, one section of society had a lot of marriages and the other few, society suffered a lot of degeneration and deterioration. Later on, Devibar Ghatak of Ráŕh introduced melbandhan (in Barendra it is known as pat́ibandhan) so that conversion to another religion or surrender to social vices might stop,⁽⁴⁾ and society might be saved from degeneration and distortion. Melbandhan meant the creation of groups made up of people having similar defects or virtues. This allowed them to remain within the [Hindu] society. In a community of people having similar qualities, no one could ostracize others. No doubt the Brahmans saved their skin through this system, but they could not maintain their honour.

The social degeneration that resulted from the imposition of the Puranic religion in Ráŕh caused a simmering discontent in the minds of the people. The harmful effects of this became clearly visible after a few hundred years, particularly during the Pathan rule and during the days of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. These disgruntled people embraced either Islam or the Gaoŕiiya Vaishnavism propagated by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the Buddhist-influenced parts of Bengal, the people converted to Islam in large numbers long before the birth of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Those who did not convert to Islam embraced Gaoŕiiya Vaishnavism, especially in western Ráŕh where the influence of Jainism was greater. Both internal and external differences between Jainism and Islam are great. For this reason the people of western Ráŕh did not readily accept Islam. On the contrary, they accepted Gaoŕiiya Vaishnavism in overwhelming numbers. For the differences in practical life between Jainism and Vaishnavism were minimal, whatever the philosophical differences may have been.

We can find traces of the above-mentioned suppressed anger in the Shúnya Puráńa by Ramai Pandit.

The Puranic religion weighed heavily on Ráŕh, like an immovable stone. It struck a heavy blow at the roots of sama-samája tattva, the principle of social equality, the invaluable asset of Ráŕh, and threw it deep into the darkest dungeon. One of the main factors responsible for the present backwardness of Ráŕh, especially western Ráŕh, is the Puranic religion that was forcibly imposed on it.

Footnotes

(1) About the mid-15th century CE. –Trans.

(2) Such converts could be given Brahman, Kayastha or Vaidya status, but not the full status: they would be designated non-kuliina. –Trans.

(3) The Pathans were Pashto-speaking people from Afghanistan and adjoining areas who ruled Bengal during one period. –Trans.

(4) The kuliina system created large numbers of lower-caste persons. Lower-caste persons were prone to convert to other religions. –Trans.

Chapter 17	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The soil of Ráŕh is approximately thirty crore years old. It can be assumed that the first vibration of life in Ráŕh came at the same time as the first vibration of life on earth. The atmosphere of Ráŕh reverberated with the sounds made by animals at the same time that the atmosphere of the earth first reverberated with such cries. When western Ráŕh was first created, there was no animated world there, but when the sand and silt carried by the rivers of the undulating western Ráŕh formed the plain lands of eastern Ráŕh, different kinds of flora and fauna appeared there. It is assumed that eastern Ráŕh was formed before the appearance of human beings on earth. The fossils that we have found in western Ráŕh lead us to assume that Ráŕh pulsed with the vibration of the animated world at the very dawn of [animate] creation. The fossils bear witness that hard-bodied tiny animals moved on the soil of Ráŕh after unicellular tiny animals, and ekadharmii multicellular tiny animals [multicellular tiny animals sharing one characteristic], had come into being. Thereafter came the age of large animals on the earth, and the fossils of Ráŕh are proof of that age also. All of this concerns western Ráŕh. It does not seem that an age of large animals ever occurred in eastern Ráŕh. At least no proof is available for that. It is also assumed that if there were lofty mountain ranges in the Ráŕh of that time, between the mountains there were very deep gorges, some of which had a link with the seas. We should remember that the whole of northern India and Samatat-D́abák were deep in the seas, and that for this reason we have found fossils of sea animals in the mountainous areas of western Ráŕh.

In the past a short-lived ice age engulfed the world. Ráŕh was not excepted. It is assumed that the large animals and other living beings of the prehistoric age were frozen to death for want of heat. We have found in Ráŕh the fossils of animals that had been frozen to death in this way. But after the ice age, in the post-ice age, when Ráŕh basked in warmth again, various kinds of animals appeared in Ráŕh – because Ráŕh got its heat back within a very short time. We can find fossils of lions and lion-type animals, mammoths, monkeys, monkey-type men and ancient human beings of the Ráŕh of this time. They did not become crippled and die out due to cold, because no ice age followed their emergence in Ráŕh. They probably died from earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Today’s Ráŕh does not fall [geologically] in the volcanic belt. But in those times the volcanic belt probably went along the western end of western Ráŕh, because between those days and today a polar shift has occurred. Instead of having decomposed naturally, these suddenly-expired animals and men were transformed into hard fossils. We have found samples of all these kinds of fossils.

I have said before and will say again now that Samatat, Vauṋgá and Barendrabhúmi, which had come up from the sea, were not the habitats of lions, but of large tigers. And Ráŕh was the habitat of large and medium-sized maned lions. It cannot be said, however, that there were not a small number of tigers in western Ráŕh. (In western Ráŕh, in common parlance, lions are called tigers.) Tigers like damp climates and dense jungles, while lions like dry weather and less-dense forests. So it is assumed that tigers came via the north-east corner from the direction of China; but lions came to Ráŕh from no direction; lions are children of the soil of Ráŕh. As ancient Ráŕh abounded with lions, the word siḿha [lion – “Sinha”] is associated with the names of many a person and many a village. Scattered all around in the east of Ranchi District, and all around the Bagmundi, Dalma, Meghasini, Tilabani, Jaychandi and Panchakot hills in the west of Purulia District, and around [the Shushunia Hills], there are heaps of different fossils, known, or unknown, or unrecognized – the fossils of all those lion, mammoth, rhino, monkey and human species.

The small-sized indigenous cows that are found in Ráŕh, besides being small, do not give so much milk; but the milk is very nice-tasting and nice-smelling. These cows are the descendants of the ancient cow-type forest animals of Ráŕh. Once upon a time the forests in Ráŕh teemed with wolves. The traditional story goes that when the Aryans first tried to enter Ráŕh, the people of Ráŕh, from their side, set their pet lions and wolves on them. It forced the Aryans to declare Ráŕh as Páńd́avavarjita [forsaken by the Páńd́avas] or anáryyávartta [not part of Áryyávartta, the land of the Aryans]. As long as King Shashanka was alive, the Aryans were unable to exert a pervasive influence on Ráŕh. Of the many reasons for this, one was Ráŕh’s fearful forests. After the death of Shashanka, there was no one with governmental power to save Ráŕh. So the land-hungry Aryans entered Ráŕh through different waterways and did everything to rob Ráŕh of its freedom, and later on destroyed the priceless asset of Ráŕh, its forest cover. In the wake of the destruction of the forests came the destruction of Ráŕh’s wildlife and natural beauty. Today Ráŕh is no better than a neglected desert. This all happened about 1750 years ago. Since then Ráŕh, bereft of its own rhythm of life, has remained as a colony of Áryyávartta. Ráŕh has never been recognized as a part of Áryyávartta, but it had to live a life of disgrace under the rule of Áryyávartta.

Chapter 18	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The surface of Ráŕh slopes from the west and the northwest towards the east and the southeast. The courses of the rivers are the same. All the rivers from the Bansh River in the north to the Suvarnarekha in the extreme south follow the same pattern. These east-flowing rivers formed eastern Ráŕh and Samatat, and the silt and sand of these rivers, together with the silt and sand of the Gauṋgá and the Brahmaputra, formed Barendrabhúmi and D́abák. The Kansai and the Keleghai-Suvarnarekha formed the south and the south-east of Midnapore District and the southernmost part of Samatat. Where the Damodar Valley, the Kangsavati Valley and the Suvarnarekha Valley come in closest proximity in the western extremity of Ráŕh, there are some hills (in ancient times mountains) which are the principal watersheds of Ráŕh.

The cultural evaluation of these rivers of Ráŕh will be dealt with later. Let me now speak of their power to create fertility.

In the rock formations of Ráŕh we find all varieties of rock. For example, 1) ancient hard (granitic) rock – this provides us with gold, silver, copper, mercury, mica, manganese, etc.; 2) igneous rock – this provides us quartz and other rocks of certain special kinds; 3) ancient sedimentary rock and mrta prastar [dead rock] – this provides us coal, and sand of high quality. Presumably in the past diamonds were available in small quantities, since in the regions rich in coal, many a village bears the name Hirapur [“a place where diamonds are available”]. The Damodar, the biggest river in Ráŕh, flowed down the course of a kind of rock, and on either bank there was in ancient times a dense forest, thick with tall trees. Those forests underwent gradual changes for a long time and have now turned into coal. In Ráŕh, coal is colloquially called áḿgár (aḿgár in Sanskrit). There is no dearth of villages bearing the name Áḿgárd́ihi in Ráŕh.

There being profuse coal beneath the riverbed, the river is known as Dámodar (dám + udar). In the Sanskrit language dám means “fire”. The river which has dám in its udar [belly], or fire, is the Dámodar.

There is also some coal in the Ajay Valley. We should remember that the existence of this coal depends on the extent of a special kind of rock on the bank of the river. Another noteworthy thing is that the coal-fields are situated in western Ráŕh, as the river-valleys there have an accumulation of coal. Not even one coal-field is to be found in eastern Ráŕh. Western Ráŕh is old, so are its forests. So coal is to be found there. Eastern Ráŕh emerged from under the sea; so in eastern Ráŕh there were no forests to be transformed into coal. However, in all the regions of eastern Ráŕh which were the site of sargasso seas, mineral oil may be available. In ancient times, this abundance of minerals in western Ráŕh helped very much in its economic and social development.

Let me come also to another matter. While the wealth of western Ráŕh is under the ground, the wealth of eastern Ráŕh is above the ground. Land as fertile as that of Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah [Districts], and East Midnapore and Kandi Sub-divisions, is rare in the world. This is so because of the ancient and medieval sedimentary rock, rich in calcium and other minerals, in the upstream parts of the Damodar and other rivers of Ráŕh. And however much silt and sand carried by the rivers may fall on the surface of the land, in almost all cases there is sticky soil, able to hold water, a little below the surface.

The hills of today in the watershed regions of western Ráŕh, such as Dalma, Bagmundi, Tilabani, Panchakot, Shushunia and Jaychandi, were once lofty mountains. Their melting snow nourished the rivers of Ráŕh. The foothills were covered with dense forests. Because of the high mountains and the forests, rainfall was plentiful in Ráŕh. The rivers were navigable. Because of the forested tablelands on either side of the rivers, soil erosion was little. Ships used to navigate these rivers – not only in ancient times, but also in the middle ages. Not long ago the farmers cultivating their land in the valleys of the Damodar and Mayurakshi could retrieve masts from under the earth. Due to river currents washing over different types of rocks, even today sand (silica) of various qualities is found underground in eastern Ráŕh.

It will be a mistake if one thinks that the resources of western Ráŕh lie under the surface only. The surface soil of western Ráŕh is red (laterite) soil. In the Austric language, Ráŕh, or Ráŕho, means a land of red soil; such a land is called láti in Chinese and riŕi in Greek. This red soil is not completely barren. With a little effort, in this soil of western Ráŕh rich in calcium (rocky lime and powdered limestone), apples, pears, mandarin oranges, papayas, guavas, grapes, custard-apples, etc., of good quality can be produced in large quantities. Also efforts can be made to create orchards, and to cultivate three strains of paddy (áush [early paddy], áman [autumn paddy] and boro [late paddy]) in a single year, by introducing different kinds of irrigation (small-scale river irrigation, pond-water irrigation and lift irrigation). It is needless to say much about eastern Ráŕh as it has all potential for good agriculture.

It is interesting to know that shál [Shorea robusta], piyáshál (piyál) [Mimosa odoratassima], hijal [Barringtonia acutangula], palásh [Butea monosperma], ashok [Saraca asoca], kusum [lac tree], garjan [a forest tree], kuŕcii [Holarrhena antidysenterica], bakul [Spanish cherry, Minusops elangi], belphul [Jasminium sambae], kundaphul [Jasminium malabaricum], kút́araj [a medicinal tree], nágeshvar chánpá [a kind of magnolia], nágkeshar (nágchánpá or diighalchánpá) [Mesua ferraca], shvet padma [white lotus], jám [Eugenia jambolana Lam.], kánt́ál [jackfruit], kendu (small gáb [small mangosteen]), arjuna [Terminalia arjuna], krśńabat́ [black banyan, Ficus benghalensis krishnae], jahurii chánpá [a kind of magnolia], etc., all originated in Ráŕh.

Chapter 19	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

As ancient Ráŕh is our main subject matter, before we begin to discuss the language of Ráŕh, we should say something about the origin of language. Though the inhabitants of Ráŕh are a mixed race of Austric and Negro (and in a few cases Mongolian), there is an abundance of Sanskrit words in the language of Ráŕh. The language is replete with tatsama words [Sanskrit words used in unchanged form in the Bengali language], bhagnatatsama words [Sanskrit words used in changed form in Bengali language], tadbhava words [Bengali words derived from Sanskrit root but used in a corrupted form in the Bengali language] and semi-tadbhava words [Bengali words derived from Sanskrit root but corrupted to the point of their roots being unrecognizable]. About ninety-two percent of the words are directly or indirectly related to the Sanskrit language. Ráŕh is situated in the extreme east of India. If Sanskrit were a foreign language and if it were thought to have come into India across its north-west border, then how could so many Sanskrit words have entered the colloquial language of the remote outpost Ráŕh? It will not, therefore, be out of place to guess that Sanskrit had almost no relation with the influx of the Aryans, nor is Sanskrit of foreign origin.

The language in which the Vedic scriptures were composed was not Sanskrit; hence it is called the Vedic language. There is a heaven-and-hell difference between Sanskrit and Vedic. What many people say, that the Prákrta language is a metamorphosed form of this Vedic language, is true to some extent. Some parts of Prákrta are purely a popular form of Sanskrit, and other parts are a popular form of a mixture of Sanskrit and Vedic.

A language survives for approximately one thousand years on the average. Were Prákrta [entirely] a metamorphosed form of the ancient Vedic language, by now it would have veered so greatly from that Vedic that the trail of its lineage would have been lost. Instead of regarding Sanskrit as the changed form of Vedic, we shall have to search for the origin of Prákrta.

The few foreign words found in ancient Bengali literature did not come to Ráŕh either leaping or limping on horseback across the soil of the Áryyávarta. Those words came by river through foreign trade with Ráŕh. We received words such as kágaj [paper], vanát [velvet], palte [wick], adálat [court of law], káchári [office], and rajju [rope] in this way. I said earlier that the Mayurakshi, Ajay, Damodar, Dwarakeshwar, Rupnarayan, Kangsavati and Suvarnarekha rivers of Ráŕh were navigable even a few hundred years ago. Ships navigated them, foreign trade went on. The principal exports of Ráŕh were shál wood, fine rice, silk, tasar [cloth of non-mulberry silk], scented articles, fine cloth (Vishnupuri muslin, dhúpcháyá saris made in Burdwan), sugar, copper, etc. It could be assumed that along with this export trade, the import of a few items would go on in a natural way. So on river-bank sites in Ráŕh and the regions of Bagri near Ráŕh we find earthenware from Egypt and drinking vessels from China. No wonder if some foreign words came in as well! An ancient port of Ráŕh engaged (lipta) mainly in the export of copper (támra) was called Támralipta (now Tamluk). In the past, copper was abundantly available in Támákhun of Puncha [Block], in the Manbhum area of Ráŕh [Purulia District and adjoining areas]. Following the destruction of the ancient port of Támralipta, another port was built in Ráŕh – Saptagram in the district of Hooghly.

There are seven metamorphosed forms of Sanskrit, that is, seven Prákrta languages. (Prákrta means “related to the populace”.) They are 1) Mágadhii Prákrta of eastern India, 2) Shaorasenii Prákrta of mid-northern India, 3) Paeshácii Prákrta of north-western India, 4) Páshcatya [Western] Prákrta of extreme northwestern India, 5) Saendhavii Prákrta of the Sindhu Delta, 6) Málavii Prákrta of mid-western India and (7) Maháráśt́rii Prákrta of south-western India.

In connection with Ráŕh, the subject of Mágadhii Prákrta needs further elaboration. Mágadhii Prákrta has two daughters: a) Púrvii [Eastern] Ardha-Mágadhii and b) Pashcimii [Western] Ardha-Mágadhii. Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii in turn has six daughters, and Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii four daughters. The six daughters of Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii are i) Maethilii, ii) Angika, iii) Báḿlá [Bengali], iv) Assamese, v) Oriya and vi) Koshali. The four daughters of Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii are i) Magahi, ii) Bhojpuri, iii) Nagpuri (Sadani) and (iv) Chattrishgarhi. Of them, though Nagpuri has come from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, Báḿlá and Koshali have had a tremendous influence on it. And though Koshali has come from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii, Nagpuri and Chattrishgarhi, which have come from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, have had a tremendous influence on it. Chattrishgarhi comes from Pashcimii Ardha-Mágadhii, yet it has been greatly influenced by Koshali, from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii, and the Váŕárii language (Vidarbha) of Maharashtra Prákrta.

Chattrishgarhi is such a remote language of Mágadhii that the languages of Shaorasenii Prákrta did not have any influence on it. Chattrishgarhi does not show change in gender of a verb in consonance with change in gender of the subject in nominative case, which is one of the many characteristics of the Shaorasenii language. But though Maethilii has come from Mágadhii, it does show, in some cases, change in gender of a verb in consonance with change in gender in nominative case (only in the present perfect tense, such as Rám geláh [“Ram has gone”], Siitá geliih [“Sita has gone”]). Such changes are more frequent in Bhojpuri. For example, Rám karatá, Siitá karatiiyá). This is so because Shaorasenii Prákrta is geographically close to Bhojpuri.

Bengali, which has come from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii, is the language of Ráŕh. Within this Bengali language there are twelve main dialects. Some of the dialects are so big that they include more than one sub-dialect within them. The twelve dialects are:

1) Mid-Ráŕhii Báḿlá:

a) Birbhum District, except for Nalhati and Murari
b) Kandi Subdivision
c) Dumka, Jámtuŕá and Deoghar Subdivisions of Santal Parganas District
d) Durgapur and Asansol Subdivisions of Burdwan District
e) Dhanbad District (up to Pareshnath Hill in the west)
f) Purulia District
g) some parts of Giridih District
h) the eastern part of Ranchi District, – Silli, Sonahatu, Bundu and Tamáŕ
i) the north-eastern part of Singhbhum District
j) Midnapur District except for the Contai area
k) Bankura District except for the Indás police station

Within this dialect there are numerous sub-dialects. Two of the many characteristics of this dialect are: i) the use of the second [objective] case-ending if destination is meant, for example, Mui ghare áchi [“I am at home”], but Mui gharke yábu [“I shall go home”], ii) the use of the suffix ek in the first person of a transitive verb, for example, dilek [“I/We shall deliver”], dibek [“I/We shall give”], basibek [“I/We shall sit”], habek [“I/We shall be”].

Tathástu baliyá devii dilá baradán,
Dudhe bháte thákibek tomár santán.

–Bharatchandra

[“Blessed thou art” was the boon of the goddess,
“Your children will live in affluence.”]

2) Contai Báḿlá: It extends from the mouth of the Rasulpur River to the mouth of the Suvarnarekha River.

3) Kolkata Báḿlá: It is spoken in a) the city of Kolkata and b) the adjoining regions of Ráŕh and Bagri.

4) Shantipuri Báḿlá:

a) Nadia District
b) the southern part of eastern Murshidabad
c) the areas along the bank of the Bhagirathi River in Burdwan District
d) the Bijpur-Naihati regions of 24 Parganas District. (At one time this [sub-dialect of] Shantipuri Báḿlá was the literary Báḿlá.)

5) Sher Shahvadiiya or Jangipuri Báḿlá:

a) most areas of Murshidabad District
b) the Nalhati-Murari police station areas of Birbhum District
c) Pakurh and Rajmahal Subdivisions in Santal Parganas
d) Maldah District (Sher Shahvad Pargana is located in Maldah District)
e) some parts of Katihar District
f) Nawabgunj Subdivision of Rajshahi District. (This dialect contains some sub-dialects.)

6) Jessore Báḿlá:

a) Jessore District except for Banagram Subdivision
b) the Sadar Subdivision of Khulna District
c) Gopalgunj Subdivision of Faridpur District

7) Chandradwipi Báḿlá:

a) the whole of Bakhargunj District
b) Patuakhali District
c) Bagerhat Subdivision of Khulna District
d) the areas adjoining Madaripur Subdivision of Faridpur District

8) Bikrampuri Báḿlá:

a) Dhaka District
b) the eastern part of Pabna District
c) the areas adjoining Faridpur District

9) Sylheti Báḿlá:

a) Sylhet District
b) Kachar District
c) the adjoining areas of Mymensingh District
d) Brahmanberia Subdivision of Comilla District
e) the southern foothills of the Khasia-Jayantia Hills

10) Chattal Báḿlá:

It is spoken in the entire coastal area of Chittagong Division.⁽¹⁾
Within this dialect there are some sub-dialects.

11) Barendri Báḿlá:

a) Rajshahi District except for Nawabgunj Subdivision
b) the western part of Pabna District
c) the southern bank of the Karatoya River of Bagurha District
d) the southern part of Dinajpur District

12) Rangpuri Báḿlá:

a) Rangpur District
b) Dinajpur District
c) certain parts of Bagurha
d) West Dinajpur District
e) Coochbehar District
f) Jalpaiguri District
g) the plains of Darjeeling District
h) Kishanganj Subdivision of Purnia District and the
Palashi Police Station of Araria Subdivision
i) Goalpara District of Assam
j) Jhampa District of Nepal

[As we can see,] Bengali has a number of sub-dialects. The above list [also] tells us that five dialects or so, some primary and some secondary, are prevalent in Ráŕh. Today every dialect of Bengali has a natural tendency towards literary Bengali. And within a short time, no dialect will be prevalent among the people. So all the folk-rhymes and folk-songs of the different dialects should be collected and preserved without delay. Otherwise, there will be no trace of them within another fifty years.

Bengali pronunciation: Every language has some specialities of pronunciation. The dialects of Ráŕh as well as the [other dialects of the] Bengali language have a host of specialities in pronunciation. These specialities more or less follow the Yajurvedic system. Unlike “a” in the English alphabet, which has twenty-one different pronunciations, a [the first letter of all Indo-Aryan alphabets] is pronounced mainly in three ways in India: 1) saḿvrta [[closed]], 2) vivrta [[open]] and 3) tiryak [[distorted]]. When a is pronounced according to the saḿvrta system, it sounds like “au” in the English word “authentic”. When a is pronounced according to the vivrta system, it sounds somewhat like “u” in the English word “but”. And when a is pronounced according to the tiryak system, it sounds somewhat like “o” in the English word “origin”. In the Bengali language the saḿvrta and tiryak pronunciations of a are in use, while the vivrta is not in use.

The pronunciation of ণ [cerebral ńa] in Bengali is according to the Yajurvedic rule – নঁ [dental na with dot and crescent to indicate nasalization]. It is not like the Rgvedic ঢ়ঁ [ŕha with dot and crescent to indicate nasalization]. In Bengali the pronunciations of antahstha ব [the semi-vowel va] and vargiiya ৰ [ba belonging to a particular varga, or group of consonants, namely the labial group] are the same. In Bengali, regarding the pronunciations of antahstha য [the semi-vowel ya] and antahstha য় [the semi-vowel ya occurring in the middle of a word], Padánte padamadhyasthe ya-kár “ia” ucyate, that is, “If the letter comes at the beginning of a word, it is pronounced somewhat like vargiiya জ [ja belonging to a particular varga, or group of consonants, namely the palatal group] (it is pronounced like a soft version of vargiiya ja), but if it is in the middle or at the end, it is pronounced ia.” ড় and ঢ় [ŕa and ŕha in the middle of a word] follow the same rule as does য়. As regards two of the other semi-vowel letters, র [ra] and ব [va] (ua) the difference between their semi-vowel and non-semi-vowel versions has been lost.⁽²⁾ In Bengali the semi-vowel ল [la] has no pronunciation of ল় [lra]. In Bengali dental স [sa] has almost no [separate] pronunciation. In most cases, the pronunciation of tálavya শ [palatal sha] is used. Múrdhanya ষ [cerebral śa] has no separate pronunciation, but in accordance with the Yajurvedic rule, if this ষ follows ক [ka], it is pronounced like ক্ষ [kśa – an aspirated “k” sound]. In Assamese and Punjabi, however, múrdhanya ষ is pronounced in all cases like múrdhanya খ [cerebral kha – খ being used here for purposes of illustration].

As regards the pronunciations of mahápráń [letters – i.e., emphatic letters] and hiinapráń [letters – i.e., mild letters] in the Bengali language, mahápráń has not been given much importance. In fact, except for the Sher Shahvadiya dialect, in no dialect do we find full pronunciation of mahápráń [letters]. In Chattal and some other dialects, the pronunciation of mahápráń is almost negligible. In the pronunciation of words of the Kolkata dialect, the mahápráń pronunciation is given fully only at the beginning of the words: for example, chele [“boy”], d́háká [covered], jháláno [soldering], thálá [plate] dhámá [a basket made of rattan], etc. If such letters are in or at the end of words, they are converted into the respective hiinapráń: for example, mách (mác) [fish], májh (máj) [middle], kathá (katá) [word], sádh (sád) [desire], etc.

Full pronunciation and pronunciation with hasanta [consonantal mark]: For the most part all letters in the Bengali language are fully pronounced. There are, however, some exceptions, such as Shiva (Shiv), Ráma (Rám), rúpa (rúp), etc. The rules which govern such pronunciations are roughly as follows:

1) The consonants are fully pronounced if they are at the beginning of, or in the middle of, words, but if they are at the end of words, they are pronounced with consonantal mark; for example, rúpa becomes rúp, but rúpaváńii will not be pronounced as rúpváńii, as pa is no longer at the end of the word, it has now come inside the word. So its pronunciation will be rúp-a-váńii. Shiva will be Shiv, but Shivarám will be Shiv-a-rám, Shivaprasád will be Shiva-a-prasád.

2) In the case of a conjunct letter, it will be fully pronounced; pronunciation with hasanta [consonantal mark] is not acceptable – for example, Kanishka (not Kanishk), Devadatta (not Devadat), Vaedya (not Vaed), etc.

3) Even if the letter is not a conjunct, its pronunciation will be full, should there be a suffix like kta in krdanta or ta in taddhitartha;⁽³⁾ for example, sammata [“agreed”] (not sammat), grhiita [“accepted”] (not grhiit), sthagita [“postponed”] (not sthagit), álocita [“discussed”] (not álocit), diirgháyata [“prolonged”] (not diirgháyat), etc. It is a pity that very often incorrect pronunciations such as sthagit, ápyáyit, etc., are heard on radio and television. This creates confusion among students. The lack of knowledge of Bengali phonetics is the cause of this kind of defective pronunciation.

4) Even in the absence of suffixes such as kta and ta, non-[conjuncts] will be fully pronounced if the letter concerned is preceded by anusvára (ং [aḿ]), visarga (ঃ [ah]), the sign for ঐ [ae] or the sign for ঔ [ao], for example, Kaḿsa (not Kaḿs), vaḿsha [“lineage, pedigree”] (not vaḿsh), siḿha [“lion”] (not siḿ), duhkha [“woe”] (not dukh), nihsva [“penniless”] (not nis), Jaena [“Jain”] (not Jaen), gaońa [“inconsequential”] (not gaoń), saodha [“mansion”] (not saodh), etc. Moreover, where as a consequence of metamorphosis vowels are used in place of consonants in Sanskrit, it is desirable to use i and u (respectively) instead of ae and ao even if there is no difference so far as pronunciation is concerned. (I have not mentioned ঈ [ii] and ঊ [ú], as they are not pronounced in Bengali.) Dadhi → dahi → dai (dai, not dae [though the pronunciation would be the same – dai indicates that a vowel has replaced a consonant]), badhú → bahu → bau (bau, not bao), madhu → mahu → mau (mau, not mao).

5) Words which are created with the suffix d́a will be pronounced fully; for example, jalada [“rain-cloud”] (not jalad), varada [“one who gives a boon”] (not varad), Amitábha (not Amitábh), drutaga [“someone or something that goes fast”] (not drutag), etc.

Footnotes

(1) Modern Bangladesh (which is basically coextensive with the eastern part of Samatat and with Vauṋga-D́abák) consists of six divisions, each containing several districts. –Trans.

(2) The non-semi-vowel version of ra is r, and the non-semi-vowel version of va is ba. –Trans.

(3) Krdanta and taddhitartha are two kinds of suffixes. When kta or ta is suffixed to a root, it does not mean that the resulting word will necessarily contain kta or ta in that exact form. –Trans.

Chapter 20	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The metamorphosed form of the ancient Bráhmii script is the Shriiharśa script. It was named Shriiharśa after King Harshavardhan, since a seal in his handwriting that was discovered, was written in this script. This Shriiharśa script was the script of the whole of eastern India (Allahabad and the regions to the east). Manipuri (Mithei and Viśeńpurii), Assamese, Bengali, Maethilii and the like are written in this script, though with local variations, of course. Languages such as Angika, Magahi, Bhojpuri, Nagpuri and Chattrishgarhi also use this script. But those people’s mother tongues having been suppressed for a long time, their mother script is unfamiliar to them. The script of Oriya also is this Shriiharśa script. The characters in the Shriiharśa script are basically angular. In Orissa it was the custom to write on palmyra leaves with an iron kitchen implement, but writing the angular characters in this way with that iron implement, the palmyra leaves were likely to be damaged. Thus the practice was introduced of avoiding angles and writing in a circular way. Hence the present Oriya script is nothing but the Shriiharśa script, avoiding angles.

As Shriiharśa is one of the ancient scripts of India, Sanskrit has been written in this script since ancient times, and most ancient books in Sanskrit were written in this script. The Devanagari script came much later. The deed of gift written in the Sanskrit language by King Chandravarma of Shushunia Hill, Ráŕh, was written in Shriiharśa script, and that Shushuniyá script is the most ancient example of Bengali script.⁽¹⁾ From this perspective, Shushunia Hill may be regarded by scholars and litterateurs as a sort of tiirtha [sacred place]. Such inscriptions carved in stone in ancient Bengali script are available in Jaida of Singhbhum District and Chiyada of Bankura District. If searches are carried out, such will be found in many more places. Some think that Devanagari is the script of Sanskrit, but this idea is totally wrong. Sanskrit has no script of its own. The Shriiharśa script is much older than Devanagari, and it facilitates swift writing (as one can write for a long time without raising one’s hand).

Footnotes

(1) The Shushuniyá script is 1100 years old. In 1984, a few years after writing the above, the author himself discovered some older scripts at Bhula-Pavanpur village under Patamda Police Station, Bangurdá village under Kamalpur Police Station, and at Jaida village under Chandil Police Station, all within East Singhbhum and Seraikela Districts. The author opined that these scripts must date back 1700 years or more, clearly indicating that they are older than the Shushunia script. The author named this script Dálmá script, because the river basins where they were available (as mentioned above) are surrounded by the Dálmá Hills in western Ráŕh. (See Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Varńa Vicitrá Part 2.) –Trans.

Chapter 21	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Sáhitya means all those [literary] manifestations of the human minds that always move along the path of welfare [hita], that are associated with [with = sa] welfare. Hitena saha ityarthe sáhitya, that is, sáhitya is a reflection of social movement on the mirror of welfare. The basic idea of sáhitya is not simply to give joy to people, since crude enjoyment can sometimes be presented through [popular] songs and folk-rhymes, but such compositions are not of the category of sáhitya. [And] there are some [popular] songs, folk-rhymes and other verbal expressions that fail to lead one along the path of hita [welfare], but at the same time do not add to the burden of ahita [troubles]. Such compositions may be accepted as folk tales and folk songs, but they can never be accepted as classical sáhitya.

It cannot be said emphatically that there can be no literature in the absence of civilization. But the diamond splendour of literature bursts out in all its radiance and captures people’s attention only when it is associated with civilization. No doubt the radiant literature of Ráŕh came only after civilization had dawned. When on that long-ago morning in the remote past the golden light of civilization fell on the bosom of Ráŕh and diffused in all directions, the simple, open faces of the young men of Ráŕh in that bright dawn broke out in smiles; the flower-bedecked hair buns of the young women of Ráŕh tossed to the rhythm of a dance; and the rhythm of that dance spread amid the intoxicating fragrance of the mahul-tree groves; and the radiant literature of Ráŕh was born.

The ancient folk tales and folk songs of Ráŕh are now extinct, as that language is now extinct. But perhaps that oldest of compositions, the Sáḿkhya philosophy of Kapil (from Jhalda) can be included within the classical literature. Presumably the language of Ráŕh at that time was the earliest form of Mágadhii Prákrta. Rather than writing in that language, Kapil wrote in the classical language of that time, Sanskrit. And much later, Maharshi Patanjali (of Patun village of Burdwan) also wrote his Yoga Sútram, or Seshvarsáḿkhya, in the classical language, Sanskrit, and not in the then-prevalent Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii. In a still later age (the Sen dynasty), Jaydev, a poet of Ráŕh, composed his Giitagovindam in Sanskrit, and not in the spoken language of that time (an ancient form of modern Bengali). But as one age gave way to the next, the spoken language gradually came to attain the status of a classical language. For this reason, Jaydev’s Sanskrit is not classical Sanskrit in the true sense of the term, but rather Bengali with the Sanskrit anusvára and visarga endings [aḿ and ah].

It is to be noted that what both Kapil and Patanjali composed was philosophical literature. The joys and sorrows and hopes and desires of the common people have not been reflected in their works. Jaydev’s Giitagovindam is a devotional scripture. It is not a mirror of the common people either. Thus it is not difficult to understand that the literature of Ráŕh which was concerned with the life of the common people was handed down verbally, and did not attain the status of book form. Of the ancient books that first began to sparkle like rubies and emeralds with the joy and sorrow and tears and smile of the populace, Shriikrśńakiirtana, by Barhu Chandidas (of Chatna of Bankura) deserves special mention.⁽¹⁾

People’s tastes go on changing in accordance with changes in time, place and person. There is no good reason to think that people’s judgement will become subtler and more introversial simply with the onward march of time. Just as we find instances of subtler feelings in ancient literature, so we find a profusion of crude taste and extroversial mentality in ultra-modern literature. In the Shriikrśńakiirtana we find an assortment of the various tastes of that age. So some parts of this book can be considered classical literature, some parts can be considered folk songs, and some parts, if tested on the touchstone of literature, are merely fool’s gold. In the compositions of Dwija Chandidas (from Nanur village of Birbhum), characteristic human psychology, with its sometimes inward, sometimes outward, perspective, has been given more importance than the joys and sorrows of the common people.

Footnotes

(1) It was discovered in a heap of dry bel leaves on the shelf of the old Shiva temple in the house of a Sadgope farmer of Beliatorh village under Barhajorha Police Station, Bankura District, by Shrii Basantaranjan Ray Vidvadvallabh of that same village.

Chapter 22	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The golden age of the Mauṋgalkávya⁽¹⁾ came in Ráŕh. Though the main theme of the Mauṋgalkávya was to establish certain deities – non-scriptural deities, Buddhist deities, Jain deities and Paoráńika deities – in society, in doing so the poets have depicted the joys and sorrows of the common people. Kavikankan Mukundaram (from Damunya of Burdwan) sketched a picture of the life of the distressed Ráŕh of his time in his Phullarár Váramasyá [“Twelve Months in the Life of Phullará”]. In order to show how the deities of the Mauṋgalkávya wreaked havoc on those at whom they became angry, the poets have depicted in words the life of that distressed Ráŕh.

In the post-Buddhist era, under the rule of the Paoráńika cult, no poet dared to express the kinds of tortures that were meted out to followers of Buddhism and Jainism. But when Islam arose, the Buddhist poets, experiencing the joy of heaving a free sigh, sang a song of liberation through their Mauṋgalkávya; that is, they opened their hearts. In Shúnyapuráńa, by Ramai Pandit, in Niraiṋjaner Ruśmá, and in Dharmamauṋgal by Ghanaram Chakravorty (Burdwan), etc., a clear picture has been presented of all this.

The age of Vaishnavite literature [Vaeśńavkávya] ran almost parallel with – sometimes a little ahead of, sometimes a little behind – the age of the Mauṋgalkávya. I am not speaking of Baul here since it is more verbal than written; whereas Vaishnavite literature, through writing, portrayal and oral expression has made itself exquisitely charming. The main theme of Vaishnavite literature is to define the relationship between the limited and the limitless. So wherever Vaishnavite literature has delved a little bit into one’s inner feeling, it has become delicately sweet, unparalleled in its soothing beauty. Since long before the advent of Mahaprabhu Chaitanyadev, Vaeśńava literature had been surging across Ráŕh. Jaydev, Barhu Chandidas, Dwija Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, Lochandas Thakur, Brindavandas Thakur, Naraharidas Thakur, Govindadas Thakur, Gyanadas Thakur – all were sons of Ráŕh, representatives of the aesthetic flow of Ráŕh. The deepest melody of Ráŕh reverberates on the ektárá [single-stringed instrument] of Baul. It was in this way that Vaishnavite padávalii [verses] and mahájaniiya kiirtanas originated. (Those who are great sádhakas and composers of Vaeśńava literature are called mahájanas [great souls].) This kind of Vaeśńava mystic literature is unparalleled in this world. This literature has added heretofore-unseen verdure to the almost treeless Ráŕh. Much later, Rabindranath too, sitting on the soil of Ráŕh, created unique cadence on the ektárá of Baul. Now the question is, from where did Ráŕh get this unprecedented literary wealth and incomparable treasury of art?

Footnotes

(1) See Chapter 2. –Trans.

Chapter 23	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Everything has a point of origin, a source; nothing is without a source. [The waves that cause] all feelings and sensations, crude, subtle or causal, start from some source and proceed towards the infinite. From the very moment a feeling or sensation originates, it begins to stir the human mind and to make the soul surge with bliss. The farther it [the wave] travels from the source, the less power it has to stir and to saturate with bliss. Lord Sadáshiva, the central figure of universal humanity, appeared around 7500 years ago. It is not that He sat in just one particular place and created ideational waves; riding on his yak, He travelled all over the world and propagated the keynote of humanism. Though the keynote of this humanism has Parama Puruśa as its goal, this movement towards Parama Puruśa is multi-staged, is prolonged in manifold directions, and experiences myriad flows of sweetness, before it reaches its single goal.

For their survival, human beings have to make constant efforts (sádhaná) not only in body but also in mind and spirit. And the seed of escaping the monotony of existence has to be kept embedded in their constant onward march itself. Without that, life becomes unbearable. The subtler pulsations of humanity are the means to keep human life enlivened with this aesthetic flow. Those subtler pulsations contain within them literature, art and various sweeter and sweeter humanistic and spiritual expressions. This was what beloved Shiva gave to the world.

Shiva appeared after the influx of the Aryans into India. During that conflict-ridden period, Shiva was ekamevádvitiiyam [“one without a second”] – the singular ideal of humanity. If the highly-aesthetic expressions of Ráŕh are anything to go by, it will not be wrong to say that the soil of Ráŕh was blessed by Shiva’s holy footsteps. And it was from this starting-point that Ráŕh assimilated all subtle and aesthetic manifestations of humanism and then diffused them into every atom of the air, the sky and every pulsation of existence. A poet says:

Tomár parash chaŕáye rekhecha
Bhúloke dyuloke goloke
Sattár prati palake;

[You have spread your touch in all places
In human and divine worlds, in paradise
Everywhere, in every blink of existence.]

Herein lies the superiority of Ráŕh – the virtuosity of Ráŕh’s vitality.

Chapter 24	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The world is rhythmic. The subtler reverberations in human brains which manifest themselves in the realm of language are the first mundane expressions of the subtle world. Hence the sound tanmátra⁽¹⁾ is the subtlest of tanmátras. Whether or not an individual is educated, he or she can give ecstatic expression to his or her deep feelings only through language. One may say that the subtlest stratum of art is the lines of drawing, and not words or language spoken or written. This is true, but are not “drawing” and “writing” here just two different names for language? “Aban Tagore writes pictures.” What is the meaning here of the word “writes”? It means that he actually writes language [through painting]. Human beings cannot express in the form of spoken language even one per- cent of what they feel deep inside; they cannot express in writing everything that they can express in spoken language; and they cannot express through drawings everything that they can express in writing. This is why I said elsewhere that the art of painting is a subtler art - because here even higher expressions remain confined within a few lines of drawing. It is like a violin, which has no frets, amid musical instruments studded with frets.⁽²⁾ But the fact of the matter is that the expression is purely acoustic. The resonance of wisdom that lies within these acoustic expressions easily captivates the human mind and seizes human attention, carrying it to the realm of ideas. This evidently happened in the past due to the inspiration created by the Shaeva ideal of Lord Sadáshiva, and thus it was possible to distribute the taste of aesthetic feelings through the medium of the inner sweetness of the human mind. This is Ráŕh’s Baul,⁽³⁾ and that Baul is thoroughly drenched with Shaeva Dharma. The spirit of Baul is: “I am unable to embrace Him and make Him my own – Him whom I know, recognize and realize, and who is my nearest kin, my life and soul (in Rabindranath’s words jiivan devatá) – and in a bid to embrace Him, I roam about, searching him vigorously in heaven, earth and the nether world.”

“Ráŕher Bául, Ráŕher Bául, káre tumi cáo?”
“Cái yáháre pái ne táre kotháy bale dáo.”

[“O Baul of Ráŕh, O Baul of Ráŕh, tell me whom you want.”
“I cannot find Him whom I want, O tell me where He is.”]

If Shiva is the life and soul not only of Ráŕh, but also of the world, we can say that Baul is the worldly reverberation of the Shaeva ideals.

I have already said that kiirtana is prevalent in various places and various forms. But one of the reasons for the ineffability and divine sweetness of Ráŕh’s kiirtana is that it is inspired by the ideas embodied in Baul. The other kinds of affair related to vocal and instrumental music are concerned with body and mind, i.e., their appeal is to body and mind. And therein lies their supremacy and other-worldly charm which can be touched, yet cannot be touched. Ráŕh’s kiirtana, on the other hand, based on Baul, appeals to the mind and also to the soul. So the kiirtana of Ráŕh not only overwhelms the human mind; it causes a person to become completely lost. Kiirtana composed according to nandana vijiṋána induces in a person the tactual perception of mohana vijiṋána⁽⁴⁾. The kiirtana of Ráŕh is not merely saḿgiita [song, dance and instrumental music]; it sways the finite humankind with the vibration of the unlimited and infinite; it makes humans in their little homes hear the call of the far-away blue firmament. Hence it is outstanding and unparalleled.

Kiirtane ár báuler gáne ámrá diyechi khuli,
Maner gopane nibhrta bhuvane dvár chila yataguli.

-Satyendranath Dutta

[Through kiirtana and Baul songs we have opened up –
Opened up all the doors hidden in our minds and in our solitary worlds.]

Let me say one more thing. Kiirtana is not like Baul, which is more verbal than written. Kiirtana is both verbal and written. So of course kiirtana comes within the purview not only of culture, but also of literature.

The life of Ráŕh is ensconced in Baul. The psychology of the people there is basically to be content with little. Once their bare subsistence is more or less assured, they no longer run after money.

The jhumur songs of Ráŕh fall within that part of literature which is connected neither with hita [welfare] nor with ahita [troubles]. I do not mean to say by this that jhumur songs are lacking in subtlety; subtlety is very much there. [Jhumur songs can delight people as long as they are not inclined towards ahita.] Jhumur songs are indigenous to Ráŕh. Bhavakritananda Ojha of Deoghar was the main composer of jhumur songs. Another important composer was Pachai Shaikh of Manbhum. Here is an example of a jhumur song:

Kata baul phot́e-e-e-e-e
Pather dháre go pather dháre,
U gánye yába nái, yába nái, yába nái re.
U gánye yeitye man keman kare
Kiser neshá yena jaŕáni dhare,
D́ar láge kakhan ke cupisáŕe
Yadi paráń káŕe.
U gánye yába nái, yába nái, yába nái re.
U gánye tháke ke jáni nái nám,
Shudhu kánkan váje kár shuńechilam
Hámár buk kana kana sei theikye gela nái re
Dekhái yata ojhá re
U gánye yába nái, yába nái, yába nái re.
Tabu gharke yeitye man náhi sare,
Damká háoyá yena mátál kare,
Mahul phuler jhánjhe neshá dhare,
I rager⁽⁵⁾ upáy kii bale de, bale de re
U gánye yába nái, yába nái, yába nái re.

–Kataras, Dhanbad

[How many bauls⁽⁶⁾ bloom-m-m-m-m
By the side of the path, lo, by the side of the path,
To that village I shall not go, shall not go, shall not go.
To that village I long to go
Inebriated I feel
Afraid lest someone gently
Take my life away.
To that village I shall not go, shall not go, shall not go.
Who lives there I don’t know her name,
Only heard her bangle jingle
Since then the throbs of my heart still nagging
All exorcists have failed.
To that village I shall not go, shall not go, shall not go.
Still undecided to go home,
As though a gusty wind makes me drunken,
Pungent mahul flowers intoxicate me,
Tell me, tell me, the remedy of this malady
To that village I shall not go, shall not go, shall not go.]

What we mean by márga saḿgiita, or classical music, is to control and direct musical notes and rhythmic expression through an approach based on acoustic science and psychology. This classical music (dance-song-instruments) takes on different characteristics in different places. These local characteristics are called gharáńás [styles particular to particular places]. Ráŕhii kiirtana also has four such styles, viz., 1) Manoharshahii, 2) Garanhata, 3) Reneti and 4) Mandaran. In other forms of musical culture also, besides kiirtana, Ráŕh had its own styles. Vishnupur, the capital of Mallabhum, for centuries occupied the highest place in the classical expression of music. Most of the famous singers not only of Ráŕh, but also of Bengal as a whole, hail from Vishnupur or its neighbouring areas. Due to a lack of proper effort and zeal, the Vishnupur style is now on the brink of ruin.

Footnotes

(1) Literally, “minutest fraction of that,” i.e.. of a given rudimental factor of matter. Also translated “generic essence” of “inferential wave”. The various types of tanmátras convey the senses of hearing, touch, form (vision), taste and smell. –Trans.

(2) In A Few Problems Solved Part 1, “The Practice of Art and Literature”, the author has said: “Yet it is in painting and sculpture, which are considered the subtlest of all arts, that we find the true expression of the wonderful aesthetic sense of the human mind. In the calm stillness of a painting or a sculpture, all has to be vividly expressed – laughter and tears, hopes and fears, gestures and language. Indeed, it is the arts of painting and sculpture that beautifully bridge the gap between the mundane and the supramundane.” –Trans.

(3) [[“Baul” most often refers to a community of singers, but it can also refer to an individual member of that community or to the school of music followed by that community. –Trans.]]

(4) Nandana vijiṋána [aesthetic science] is the science of giving joy to others and getting joy from others. Mohana vijiṋána [supra-aesthetic science] is the science by which the supreme draws the microcosms closer to Himself through inferential and other ectoplasmic attractions, or by attracting others to Himself through His irresistible charms. It is the endeavour to ensconce the microcosmic entity, the individual entitative rhythm, in the eternal being, the infinite rhythm of Parama Puruśa. Other music comes within the scope of aesthetic science, but kiirtana comes within the scope of mohana vijiṋána. So of all the branches of music, kiirtana is the best. –Trans.

(5) In the rural language of Rárh, many persons pronounce the word as rag instead of rog [disease]. For example, the word bara rag is used for the disease of leprosy.

(6) Baul means the bakul flower (Spanish cherry, Minuspos elangi) and is not related to Bául, i.e., Bauls. The author has noted here; “In Ráŕhii Bengali, bakul is pronounced baul, e.g., Bakulpur > Baulpur > Bolpur.” –Trans.

Chapter 25	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Civilization and culture move ahead not across hills and through jungles, but along the basins of rivers. Ráŕh abounds in rivers. Rárh was rich in forest resources, and most of its rivers – big, medium-sized and small – in those days were full of water all throughout the year. And each of those countless rivers, or joŕas, was the life-blood of its respective basin. (In the Austric language, joŕa means a small river and joŕá means a big river.) On both banks of each river, in ancient times, people would build their villages, their habitations, their places of pilgimage and towns of pilgrimage.

The rivers of Ráŕh – not all of them necessarily big or even medium-sized – like a network of nerves, provided various populations of people with opportunities to progress along their basins with their respective civilization and culture. Thus the Siḿ Muńd́á, the Kushmet́e Muńd́á, the Ho-Muńd́á, the Kheŕiyá-Kháḿgár Muńd́á [different tribes] each progressed on its own path of life along the basin of its particular river. The very ancient fossils of humans and animals that we have found in western Ráŕh are all from river basins. Languages also abide by this same basin rule. We find the same language along a fifty-mile stretch of the same basin, but the language becomes different within only ten miles if the basin is changed.

The people of those bygone days had not learned how to dig wells and ditches. So what sustained them was river water and the water lying under the sand by a river. So civilization is the civilization not only of races, but also of rivers.

Thus there came into being in different parts of Ráŕh the different ways of life, songs, dances, and all other ingredients of enlivened existence, of different river-carried civilizations and cultures.

Starting from the Bansh River in the north and gradually moving south, khańd́a sabhyatá [part-civilizations], or sthániiya sabhyatá [local civilizations], arose along the banks of the Brahmani, the Dáṋŕká, the Mayurakshi, the Bakreshwar, the Kopai, the Ajay, the Barakar, the Damodar, the Gandheshwari, the Dwarakeshwar, the Rupnarayan, the Kumari, the Kangsavati, the Keleghai, the Haldi and the Suvarnarekha. Later, these khańd́a janagośt́hiis [part-groups], these part-civilizations and khańd́a saḿskrti [part-cultures] came to eastern Ráŕh, [which had been formed after western Ráŕh due to changes brought about by the silt of the rivers], and they mingled with one another to build a single and indivisible civilization of Ráŕh.

If we undertake thorough searches along the basins of the big and small rivers, and if we strive to unravel the archaeological mysteries, we shall find many a thing. The rivers which are relatively long, such as the Damodar, the Rupnarayan, the Kansai [Kangsavati] and the Suvarnarekha, can supply ample ingredients of the true history of Ráŕh.

Chapter 26	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Not only were the ancient civilizations and cultures that the river basins of Ráŕh carried with them in their eastward course assimilated in Vauṋga-D́abák; simultaneously with the Ráŕhiiya civilization, Aryan civilization along the Gangetic basin from north-west came and mingled, and the Mongolian civilization along the Brahmaputra basin from north-east came and mingled.

Hence the Bengalee civilization represents the confluence of the three civilizations. The mixture of the three is Báḿlá civilization – Báuṋálii culture. Bengal is not an appendage of Áryyávartta [northern India], nor is it an annex to greater China; nor is it only the flag-bearer of the Austric-Dravid [legacy]. So in trying to give an identity of Bengal, I am left with no alternative but to say that Bengal owes that identity to its river-based existence only. This soil is resplendent with its own originality, lively with its own existence. It is self-sufficient, with its own identity – Bengal is nothing but Bengal.

Manifestation [of culture] is coupled with purification of feelings – civility and decorousness of expression. This is how each and every river- or rivulet-centred part-civilization of Ráŕh moved ahead. In this respect, even an insignificant ditch (recognized neither as a river nor as a canal) should not be ignored. They not only moved towards [worldly] fulfilment along the river basins, they surged ahead from crude towards subtle along those same basins. Subtilization came in them through clash and cohesion. However much one may try, this clash can in no way be avoided. It does not dry up the flow of vitality, rather it triggers newer and newer waves. It was in just this way that different folk-songs, different dance forms and different rhythmic and lyrical expressions came into being.

One river basin saw the emergence of ráiveshe [a form of dance] (in the Mayurakshi basin), somewhere else there was the leto dance (in the Ajay river basin, prevalent especially among the Muslims), somewhere else the nácni dance, somewhere else jhumur, somewhere else the cho dance, somewhere else the lathi dance, and somewhere else t́usu-bhádu songs.

I have said that the flow continues, but new waves are created. The ráiveshe dance in Mayureshwar Police Station is not the same as in the area of the Raniishvara and Rajnagar police stations. The leto dance in the Aushgram region is not the same as in Jamtura Subdivision. Similarly, the nácni dance and jhumur in the plains regions of Ráŕh are not of the same kinds as their counterparts in the mountainous regions. Variations have arisen in three realms: style of expression, rhythm and tune. However, the flow has been towards one single goal of perfection.

The cho dance⁽¹⁾ (cho means unusual gestures, or decorative dress, or adornments) was born in the Bagmundi palace of the ancient Barahabhum kingdom, but from there it has progressed in three streams. The three gharáńás [styles] of the cho dance are: 1) The Manbhum style. It is prevalent in Manbhum and Bankura Districts. One of the many characteristics of this dance is that the dancers are to sport masks (mohará in Ráŕhii Bengali, rather than mukhośa). 2) The Seraikela style. It is prevalent in Singhbhum District and the western part of Midnapur District. In this style, masks are used as needed. 3) The Bhanjabhum style. It was (and is) prevalent in Mayurbhanja and in the Nayabasan regions of Midnapur. This style does not use masks.

The ancient rhythmic and heroic dance of Ráŕh was the lathi dance. Under the influence of Jainism in the Jain age, some people transformed the lathi dance into the stick [a thin and very small stick] dance; they thought that dancing with lathis was against the Jain ideology. The lathi dance nevertheless survived, but later, when the people of Ráŕh were initiated into Vaeśńava Dharma, it met its death and was [finally] transformed into the stick dance. Whether these changes were good or bad, they were effected either by the pressure of change of place, or by the pressure of change of time, or by the pressure of change of person.⁽²⁾ I would include ideological pressure within the pressure of change of persons, since ideology is carried forward through the medium of persons. This was what happened in Ráŕh, because this ideological pressure corroded the spirit of valour of Ráŕh. Today its influence is still reflected all throughout Ráŕh.

Footnotes

(1) An ancient martial dance still popular in Ráŕh. –Trans.

(2) Elsewhere the author has defined the three relative factors (the three factors that change and induce changes in other things) as time, place and person. –Trans.

Chapter 27	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Just as the people of Ráŕh engaged themselves in philosophical exercises on the one hand, on the other hand, in a lighter mood, they were ever vivacious, with laughter, amusements, dance, song, wit and humour. The people of Ráŕh are sociable and prefer to remain in company and in a pleasant mood. Though burdened with poverty, they invite people for meals. They serve what they themselves eat – rice, black gram (biŕi in Ráŕhii Bengali), and curry of baŕi-posta [dumplings made of pulse, flavoured with poppy seeds] and pumpkin (“pumpkin” is d́iḿlá in Ráŕhii Bengali). They feel no inhibitions in their behaviour and actions due to their poverty. They do not feel shy to speak the correct thing in a clear way. Here is an example of the straightforwardness of the people of Ráŕh:

A judge asked a very simple, illiterate Ráŕhii farmer, “Well, you say that the land is yours; can you tell me how many embankments⁽¹⁾ there are on the land?”

The illiterate farmer could not answer that question. He sat looking up in the air. The judge said, “What in the world are you looking at?”

The farmer said, “Well, my lord, you have been sitting in judgement in this room for a long time. Now, without looking up, can you say how many beams and girders there are in the ceiling?”

The judge said, “Who tutored you to say this?” The farmer said, “No one, I spoke for myself. In my other statements I was tutored by the lawyer as to what to say. Now I spoke just the right thing, and you should give just the right judgement.”⁽²⁾

Such is the simplicity of the people of Ráŕh. So in the rural life of Ráŕh, there is no end of festivals and there is no shortage of ingredients of merry-making. Inexpensive and common adornments are ingrained in the life of Ráŕh; but they have never been allowed to stand in the way of the simple lifestyle of Ráŕh. From time immemorial, the people of Ráŕh, like other Dravidian and Mongol populations, used to chew betel leaf and exchange it with others, and make wide use of non-Aryan things such as betel-leaf, betel-nut, banana, pieces of sugar cane, etc., during festivals, wedding ceremonies and other social functions. These things are absolutely non-Aryan. Equivalent words for these things are not to be found in the Aryan Sanskrit language; they are found in non-Aryan Sanskrit only. For example, “betel-nut” has no equivalent word in Aryan Sanskrit; in non-Aryan Sanskrit it is called guvák or puuṋgiphalam. From guvák the Bengali word guyá has been derived –

Áy Rauṋga hát́e yái;
Guyá-páń kine khái.

[Hey Rauṋga, let’s go to the village market;
Let’s buy and eat betel-nut and betel-leaf.]

“Betel-leaf”: there is no equivalent word in Aryan Sanskrit. It is nágvallarii or parńa in popular Sanskrit. From this word parńa the Bengali word páń has come. In Sanskrit the word parńa has two other meanings: “mature leaf” and “yellow leaf”.

“Banana”: there is no equivalent word in Aryan Sanskrit. It is kadalii or rambhá in non-Aryan Sanskrit.

“Sugar cane”: there is no equivalent word in Aryan Sanskrit. It is ikśu or kusheriká in non-Aryan Sanskrit.

The custom among the people of Ráŕh of taking betel-leaf and betel-nut can be traced back to prehistoric days. The male-folk of Ráŕh used to carry with them a betel-leaf container and nut-cutter whenever they went out of doors.

It is known to all, and is still true today, that the women-folk of Ráŕh still enjoy freedom to a great extent. This freedom has brought a sort of comfort in the life of Ráŕh. In market-places and in paddy-fields, women and men work side by side. In ancient times, when hunting was a very widely-practised feature of life in Ráŕh, the men used to do the hunting and the women came back home with the killed birds and animals on their heads. The simple cosmetics which these women living in a free and clean manner used to resort to, after working in the paddy-fields, and coming back home with bundles of sticks on their heads, were to take a bath, applying a paste of raw turmeric over the body, and then to apply collyrium on their eyes, cakitaharińiiprekśańá [“like the long and startled eyes of a deer”]. The wide use of this collyrium would give the dark-complexioned women of Ráŕh a graceful appearance. Therefore at one time they would keep a container of collyrium inserted in their coiffures.

In other words, at that time the men of Ráŕh always had a nut-cutter with them, and the women always had a container of collyrium. Even today during a wedding ceremony in Ráŕh, in continuation of that old custom, the groom holds a nut-cutter and the bride has on her head a container of collyrium.

It goes without saying here that the custom of wearing veils appeared in Ráŕh at the beginning of the Mughal Age.

Footnotes

(1) Low mud walls, a foot or so wide, may be used, especially in paddy fields, to demarcate boundaries or to retain water or both. –Trans.

(2) The incident probably occurred in the Jamtura court.

Chapter 28	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

This is not a story of modern times. When in the remote past the people of Ráŕh first received from Lord Sadáshiva an opportunity to fly the colours of victory of humanism far and wide, they thought that they would need to congregate at a particular place to chalk out plans for their constructive religious activities. It was in order to meet together that they conceived the idea of building temples.

The villages and towns of Ráŕh, be they big, medium or small, abound with Shiva temples, most of which have Shiva lingas based on different ideations.

As I have mentioned, this was in the remote past, when Jainism was yet to come to Ráŕh. The people of Ráŕh were faced with the problem of how to build the necessary temples – a question that was both easy and difficult. The people of Ráŕh used to build – and still build even today – thatched huts with bamboo poles and mud walls. Naturally their temples would be in keeping with that same system of building houses. The temples of Ráŕh resemble huts with thatched roofs above the walls. This is the famous Ráŕhiiya style. According to the style of construction of a particular temple, there will sometimes be one roof, sometimes two, or other variations. The four styles basically used in the building of temples in India are: 1) The Rajput style of north-western India, in which the roof tapers upwards to a point. 2) The Dravidian style, in which there is a small roof atop the temple, along with a special type of gopuram [a special kind of decoration]. 3) The Utkal style. 4) The thatched-hut style of Ráŕh. (The Kalighat temple is to be noted here.) It is impossible to fix the exact day and time that saw the beginning of this temple-building in Ráŕh. There is no doubt, however, that it is more than six thousand years old. In this style, the artisans of Ráŕh who built the temples showed their ingenuity and excellence in the dexterity of their construction. All such temple places as Vishnupur, Kalna, Burdwan, Chandrakona, Banshberhe and Guptipara have generally followed this Ráŕhiiya style of roofs with a single roof (or [up to] eight roofs).

It cannot be said, however, that there are no exceptions to the thatched-roof style of one roof or eight-roofs. Generally speaking, we find exceptions in these places: 1) Nerhadeul of Midnapur; 2) Rekhadeul of Ráŕh in the Barakar River basin; 3) the Khargeshvara temple of Birbhum; 4) the Hangsheshwari temple of Banshberhe; 5) the Ekateshvara temple of Bankura; etc. Of all these temples, the Hangsheshwari temple of Banshberhe stands apart and independent as regards the idea therein, though the temple is not so old. This kind of temple is unique and unparalleled. There are many temple towns in India, such as Varanasi, North Varanasi, Jammu, Jamnagar, etc. They are generally built in accordance with the style of north-western India. The temple towns in Ráŕh – 1) Vishnupur, 2) Kalna, 3) Chandrakona, 4) Burdwan, 5) Banshberhe and 6) Guptipara – are chiefly built in accordance with the Ráŕhiiya style. What is more noteworthy is that the most ancient temples of Ráŕh are situated in western Ráŕh and the less ancient temples in eastern Ráŕh, especially in Hooghly and in the Vishnupur Subdivision of Bankura. There are quite a few temples in western Ráŕh that are over two thousand years old. The Pareshnath temple on the bank of the Kangsavati River in Bankura District is one such. It is an ancient Jain temple. The Ekateshvara temple of Bankura is somewhat ancient, though perhaps not very ancient. It is either a Shaeva-influenced Jain temple or a Jain-influenced Shaeva temple. At one time there were many Jain Paiṋcaratna⁽¹⁾ temples in western Ráŕh, but none of them have remained completely intact. Either they faced decay due to the wear and tear of time or they were destroyed in later days by the followers of Paoráńika Dharma. The word páncrá is a distorted form of the word “Paiṋcaratna”. There are many places in Ráŕh which have Páncrá as their name. If searches are undertaken, many Jain temples will be found in or around such places.

Burdwan was one of the many important hubs of Jain culture and Jain civilization. Having been somewhat disappointed in preaching his religion in Magadh, Vardhaman Mahavir came to this town, and with the town as his nucleus, he preached the Jain religion in Ráŕh for eight years. The town is very ancient. Its Sanskrit name was Ástiknagar. Later on it came to be known as Atthinagar in Prákrta. The meaning of the name is “a town whose inhabitants believe in God”. After Mahavir had come to this town, a handful of vaeshyas [capitalists] first accepted him, and with their cooperation, the Jain religion struck its roots in Ráŕh. It was these vaeshyas of the city who renamed that city Vardhaman (Burdwan), after Vardhaman Mahavir. This happened 2500 years ago. Burdwan is the most ancient of all towns not only in Ráŕh, but in the whole of Bengal. It is one of the oldest towns in India also. As the laterite soil of Ráŕh is the oldest soil and as Ráŕhiiya habitations are the most ancient human habitations and the most ancient human civilization, it will not be unjust to assume that Burdwan is the oldest town in the world.

To the far north of Burdwan, there is a town Sainthia, the Sanskrit name of which is Svámiisthána, which was within the territory of the ancient Gopabhum kingdom (now Birbhum District). Vardhaman Mahavir himself came to this town on foot in order to preach Jainism. Hence Sainthia is also an important holy place for the Jains. Situated on the bank of Mayurakshi, this town also is over 2500 years old.

Adyapur was another great centre for Jain culture in eastern Ráŕh. (Ádyápur in Sanskrit → Ájjápur in Prakrit, → Ájápur in modern Bengali.) The name Ádyápur came from the names of the Jain deities Ádyáshakti and Ádyádevii. This big village with well-educated people is situated a stone’s throw from the Masagram railway station on the Howrah-Burdwan cord line under the Jamalpur Police Station of Burdwan District. The historically important relics of this village are now on the way to fast extinction.

Now, the question is, were the Jain temples destroyed by wear and tear only, or was there any other reason? When the Paoráńika Age came to Ráŕh, the initial tendency was to accept the Jain deities as being different forms of the Paoráńika ones and to arrange for their preservation. Wherever this was possible, meaning that these jain deities could become deities of Paoráńika scripture, those temples and the deities in them survived, and the Brahman priests started worshipping them with appropriate mantras. But the deities which could not be accepted as scriptural deities became accepted as non-scriptural deities. Somehow or other, they also survived. They lived on amid people’s mixed feelings of reverence and neglect. The priesthood was carried on by the indigenous Bengalees – the Sadgopes, the Jalik Kaivartas, the Kurmi Mahatos or the láyás of the Siḿ Muńd́as. (The láyás, or náyás, are the priests of the Muńd́a community.) The idols of all the Jain deities that could in no way be accepted were transfigured a little, and thus attempts were made to upgrade their status. Thus in the case of many a male Jain deity with a serpent on the head, breasts were added onto the chest with chisels and hammers, and it began to be worshipped, and is still being worshipped today, as the serpent goddess Manasá. If the researchers cast a searching glance even today, they will find the later marks left by the chisels and hammers. But the temples of those deities which could in no way be made fit for worship became neglected and were destroyed, or are being destroyed; and the deities themselves had to take shelter under trees. This “conversion” of deities in Ráŕh continued for a long time.

[As mentioned earlier,] The idols of the Jain Tiirthauṋkaras were all nude. So there was no means by which they could be considered as Paoráńika deities. So almost all of the Tiirthauṋkaras were left under trees. A great many gods and goddesses from the neglected Jain temples were strewn here and there. Many a person from outside has removed these idols in order to decorate their drawing-rooms. In many cases, villagers have handed the idols over to the outsiders in exchange for a small amount of money. And in some cases, even government officals have shifted such idols to distant museums, the whereabouts of which are unknown even to the local people. This state of affairs calls for a museum in Ráŕh immediately. If the artefacts or archaeological remains of Ráŕh are allowed to remain in neglect any longer, there will be no vestige of such things in the near future. It was in just this way that the Maradu temple village (under Silli Police Station of Ranchi District) on the bank of the Suvarnarekha was destroyed; and Deulghata (Devalayaghata – situated on the bank of the Kansai River of Purulia District), and the temple complex near Pareshnath in the Kansai River basin of Bankura District, and the Jinshahar area on the bank of the Kansai near the city of Midnapore, and Panchra in the basin of the Ajay of Burdwan District, and Panchra in the basin of the Kopai of Birbhum District, were all ruined. Further things cannot be allowed to be ruined in this way. The necessary steps should be taken without delay. The Rupnarayan basin, which comprises Gandheshwari, Dhalkishore, Dwarakeshwar, Shilavati, Jaypanda, etc., is rich in artefacts, yet still lies neglected; still no proper research has been undertaken. The need of the hour is research in these areas. If a museum is set up, it may inspire speedy research work.

Another contribution of Ráŕh, along with its culture and architecture, and which is unique in the world, is its terracotta art fixed on the exteriors of temples. There are no hills in the middle-east of Ráŕh, though hills are numerous in the western region. So temples were by and large built of brick. Where temples were built of stone, there was scope for stone sculpture, but where the temples were built of brick, the need for a special kind of art arose. And that was nothing but terracotta art. The artisans of Ráŕh wrought their work in the soft clay, then fired it, and finally cemented the work to the exterior of the temple with a mixture of lime and sugar or of other ingredients. This is how terracotta was introduced in Ráŕh’s temple architecture. Places such as Kalna, Chandrakona and Vishnupur were witnesses to exquisite examples of this art, and are witness to a few even today. Vishnupur (in Bankura District) was the birthplace of this art. Hence wherever in Ráŕh the temples most richly display this terracotta art, research will reveal that the artisans who created it were all from Bankura.

Inseparably connected with the temple art of Ráŕh were two other arts – flower art, or cork art,⁽²⁾ and the art of making sweets. So famous did the flower art of Ráŕh become at one time that its reputation reached as far as Persia. Every time the Mughal emperors came to Bengal, they were greeted with gifts of floral ornamentation of various kinds. The cork art of Ráŕh is so old that it would be an exercise in futility to trace its date of origin. So beautiful were the works of this cork art that the people of Egypt, China, etc. would buy them with utmost interest. The Málákáravás [a community of artisans with this specialization] of Ráŕh were skilled in both flower art and cork art. Today these artisans are just barely surviving. I am hereby drawing the attention of lovers of beauty in this country to this state of affairs.

Aloktarainjita pitrbhúmi Ráŕh!

[This red-coloured Ráŕh is our fatherland!]

This is a haunt of gods side by side with human beings. So countless temples were built for countless gods. As has been said earlier, the people of Ráŕh were sociable by nature. They were not only sociable in their behaviour and actions; they were also sociable in regard to sweets. Similar arrangements were made for the deities.

The sweets to be offered to the deities as food differed from one temple to another. In this way a temple-centred sweets art developed in every town and in every village that had various temples. The gods also became sociable as regards the enjoyment of sweets. The sweets of Ráŕh were made mostly of condensed milk and cháná [the solid part of curdled milk], but grams (chick-peas), black grams and mung beans were often used. I wonder how many of us know that Patiram Moyra of Janai village (Hooghly) in Ráŕh invented the present-day nimki and siunáŕá [popular salty snacks]. It was in this village that sandesh, manohará and khaecuŕ (all made of condensed milk) were invented.

Footnotes

(1) See second footnote of Ch. 6. –Trans.

(2) The original flower art involved decorations made of actual fresh flowers. However, the flowers were of course short-lived, so artisans began carving flowers out of cork. This cork art then diversified into depictions of other things of beauty besides flowers. –Trans.

Chapter 29	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

Ráŕh is a land of rough and undulating red soil. Even if this does not completely hold true for eastern Ráŕh, eastern Ráŕh is a rather high and arid land compared to Bagri. So the air of Ráŕh is clear and the climate is conducive to good health. The clean air blowing across western Ráŕh can hardly be found anywhere else. And its water is equally good. Adequately rich in minerals, it is, as it were, nectar (sudhá). A long vein that runs from Bakreshwar to Nannur (in Birbhum District) in Ráŕh, sometimes beneath the surface, sometimes above, is rich in sulphur ore. Hence the water there is warm and healthful. Besides, it contains some special kinds of minerals and gases, some of which, if not all, are good for health. The milky fountain of Bankura in Ráŕh is a magnificent gift of nature. Its water is crowned with milky froth and is like nectar (amrta) as a drink. This kind of thing is rare in the world.

The undulating soil, the clean air and the mineral-rich water can make Ráŕh an attractive destination for those who want to recover their health. So I think that if cheap health resorts or sanatoriums are built in selected places, people may come here from outside in order to regain their broken health quickly and at little expense, and in this way the local poor people will get an opportunity to earn some money.

A dreaded disease in Ráŕh is leprosy. Why does leprosy break out in such an incomparably healthy place as this? In no way is the soil, water, climate or nature responsible for this. It is only a defective man-made socio-economic system that is at fault. People cannot live on water and air alone. Ráŕh is trapped in extreme poverty. A large part of the population cannot fill their stomachs with nutritious food. It is due to this malnutrition that they contract leprosy. If poverty is removed through people’s efforts – the efforts not only of the people of Ráŕh themselves, but of everyone – the bodies of the people of Ráŕh will once again resemble those of the Greek heroes as seen in sculptures.

While discussing the health of the people of Ráŕh, the púrvádra theory needs to be discussed. [Púrva = “east”. Ádra = “damp”.] Basically the rule is that the farther east the land is, the damper or more moist the climate is, the more unhealthful the place is, and the more unhealthy and the more averse to labour the people are. In other words, “east” and “damp” are basically correlated. Vauṋga-D́abák is in the extreme east, hence it is very moist. The people there are in ill health and unable to toil much. Samatat-Bagri is on the west of Vauṋga-D́abák and is a little less moist and a little more healthful, and the people are healthier and more hard-working. In comparison, eastern Ráŕh is farther to the west and hence more arid and more healthful, and the people are still more hard-working.

Western Ráŕh is in the extreme west and is very dry, so the climate there is very healthful, and the people are healthy and very hard-working. The people of western Ráŕh come to eastern Ráŕh to earn a living as labourers, but the people of eastern Ráŕh do not go to western Ráŕh to work, because they cannot compete with the local people as regards manual labour. When Pratapaditya, the local king of Jessore, was preparing to fight against the Mughals, one part of his preparations was to beef up his infantry with a large number of Bagdis from the Burdwan area of Ráŕh. He settled them with landed property in Jessore and Khulna, and their descendants have remained there permanently.

Chapter 30	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

The land of Ráŕh is very ancient. Just as its people are ancient, so their civilization and culture are ancient. There cannot be a very interesting history of the Shúdra Age. Its history is the history of how humanity marches onward towards the Kśatriya Age.⁽¹⁾ This Ráŕh, which was called Gauṋgá Ráŕh in the histories written in the middle ages, Gauṋgá Rid́i in some languages, and Láti in some other languages, can be roughly divided into two parts – north and south – parts which, in ancient times, were called Brahmadesh and Suhmadesh respectively. Later the northern part of Ráŕh came to be called Burdwan Bhukti and the southern part Dańd́a Bhukti (the Midnapur region). Following the end of the rule of powerful kings in Ráŕh, there emerged numerous small and medium-sized kingdoms or regions. Some of their rulers were sovereign kings, some were feudal lords; while others remained in a position of half-sovereignty, paying a nominal tax or giving occasional presents to the king of Gaoŕa. Others who had lost their power turned into zamindars [landlords].

One thing that was very noticeable was that most of the kingdoms or regions had names ending with bhum. Though there were a few exceptions, this bhum ending was a speciality of Ráŕh. A brief history of such places is as follows:

1) Birbhum: In the Austric language, biir means “forest”. This Birbhum consisted of Rajmahal and Pakurh Subdivisions of Santal Pargana District, Rampurhat Subdivision of Birbhum District, Kandi Subdivision and the Ráŕh portion (the areas to the west of the Bhagirathi River) of the district of Murshidabad. The rulers of Birbhum were Kayasthas whose surname was Sinha. They thwarted the inroads of Buddhism for a long time.

When Santal Pargana District was created in 1856, Pakurh Subdivision and Rajmahal Subdivision were annexed to that district. Later, even Kandi Subdivision was cut out of Birbhum and made a part of the district of Murshidabad.

2) Gopabhum: The Gopabhum kingdom consisted of Deoghar and Dumka Subdivisions of the district of Santal Pargana and Shiuri Sadar Subdivision of Birbhum. This entire kingdom was included in the Zilla [district] Birbhum during the Mughal period. The Sadgope kings, whose surname was Ghosh, ruled the land. Ichai Ghosh was the most notable of all the kings of the Ghosh dynasty. Most probably it was Ichai Ghosh who for the first time used Bengali in place of Sanskrit for the administrative work. It was Ichai Ghosh who brought a good number of Brahmans and Kayasthas to his kingdom, settled them on tax-free land, and planned to build a society of scholars. The Brahmans came from Burdwan and the Kayasthas from Kandi. A somewhat similar thing happened in Chut́iyá Nagpur (it is erroneous to call it Chota Nagpur). King Ratu of Ranchi brought a large number of Ráŕhii Brahmans from Burdwan and settled them there, in his own kingdom. In Ranchi District they are now known as Deoghariiya Brahmans [Brahmans of Deoghar origin – Deoghar was within Burdwan District at the time of their arrival]. It was these Deoghariiya Brahmans who established the Paoráńika cult in the Silli, Tamarh and Bagmundi regions. Afterwards, when Santhal Pargana was created, Dumka and Deoghar Subdivision were included in that newly-created district.

3) Samantabhum: Samantabhum consisted of Durgapur and Asansol Subdivisions of Burdwan and Jamtara Subdivision of Santal Pargana District. At one time the whole of Samantabhum had fallen within Ranigunj Subdivision of the district of Burdwan. Later, when Santal Pargana came into existence, Jamtara was joined with it. Asansol being a bigger town than Ranigunj, the headquarters of the subdivision was shifted to Asansol. Later, the importance of Durgapur having increased, Durgapur Subdivision was formed out of the eastern part of that subdivision, and Asansol Subdivision was formed out of the western part. The Ugrakśatriya [a kśatriya sub-caste] kings with Samanta as their surname ruled Samantabhum.

4) Shikharbhum: The expanse of this Shikharbhum kingdom included the present-day district of Dhanbad and everything west up to Sametshikhar, or the Pareshnath Hills. The kingdom of Shikharbhum was named after Sametshikhar. The Shikharbhum kingdom of Ráŕh lay to the east and south, and the kingdom of Jharkhand to the north and west, of Sametshikhar. Later the kingdom got divided up into the regions of Jharia, Katras, etc. A branch known as Shikhar Samaj exists among the Rajuaras, the Bede Mahatos, the Bauris and the Ráŕhii Maithili Brahmans of Bengal.

5) Mallabhum: Vishnupur Subdivision of Bankura District was known as Mallabhum. Vir Hambir Malla was the founder of this kingdom, hence it was so named.

6) Senbhum: Senbhum consisted of the Sadar Subdivision of Bankura. Vaidya kings with the surname Sen ruled here, hence the name Senbhum. Among the Vaidyas of Ráŕh there is a distinct section called the Senbhum Samaj. Though there is some controversy about the matter, it seems likely that Bankura owes its name to Banku Ray, a king of Senbhum. During the time of the Vaidya kings, Senpaharhi also was an important place.

7) Manbhum: Manbhum was also known as Panchakot, Panchet or Pacheti. The present-day district of Purulia, the land to the south of the Damodar River in the district of Dhanbad (Chas, Chandankeyari and Bokaro), and Jeredi, Peterwar, Kasmar, Gola and Ramgar of Hazaribag District (now Giridih District) were included in this kingdom.

This kingdom owes its name to King Mansingha Dev. Its former capital was Manbazar. Later the kingdom of Kashipur was formed out of a large part of Manbhum. The zamindaries [estates] of Jaipur and Jhalda were also a part of it.

8) Barahabhum: This kingdom consisted of the southern part of the district of Purulia, that is, Barahabazar, Balarampur, Bandwan and Bagmundi; the Chandil, Patamda, Ichagar and Nimdi areas of the district of Singhbhum; and the Panch Parganiiya areas of Ranchi District, that is, the Silli, Sonahatu, Bundu and Tamar areas. Two Munda brothers, Adibaraha and Keshbaraha, founded this kingdom. Later, it disintegrated into the small zamindaries of Barahabhum, Bagmundi, Silli, Tamar, etc.

9) Singhabhum: This kingdom consisted of the central and western parts of the present-day district of Singhbhum. The kings of the Kole sub-tribe ruled this kingdom. In course of time, this kingdom broken into two segments – Singbhum in the west and Porahat in the east. Still later, the kingdom of Porahat split in two – Kharsoyan in the west and Seraikela in the east. During the British rule, Kharsoyan and Seraikela were two principalities. The Keraikela region was also included within this kingdom.

10) Dhabalbhum or Dhalbhum: This kingdom consisted of Dhalbhum Subdivision of Singhbhum District and Jhargram Subdivision of Midnapore District. The surname of the kings was Dhabaldeo, and the kingdom was named after them.

11) Shabarbhum: This kingdom was formed out of most of the areas of the district of Midnapore. The kings of the Shabar clan (of the Kheŕiyá Muńd́á) ruled it. Later this kingdom broke up into numerous small zamindaries.

12) Bhanjabhum: The ancient name of the kingdom of Mayurbhanja was Bhanjabhum. As each and every emblem of the royal family bore the figure of a peacock [mayúr], the kingdom was called Mayurbhanja. The kings of Mayurbhanja also had zamindaries in the Nayabasan area of Midnapore District. The British long ago annexed the Nayabasan area to British India.

13) Saptashati: The Saptashati region consisted of the eastern parts of the districts of Burdwan and Hooghly. The Saptashati (i.e., Satshaika) Brahman kings ruled here. Their rule came to an end during the Muslim period and then some parts of this kingdom went into the formation of Sharifabad Pargana (an area near the city of Burdwan).

14) Bhurishreshtha, or Bhursoot: Bhurishreshtha, or Bhursoot Pargana, consisted of the southern part of Burdwan District, the western part of Hooghly District, and Howrah District. Ráŕhii Brahman kings with the surname Ráy (or Bandyopádhyáy) ruled here. This kingdom also was reduced to zamindaries during the Muslim period.

Having no lofty goal or ideal [during this period], the kings of Ráŕh used always to be engaged in quarrels among themselves. They ignored the greater interest of the people. Even after Gaoŕa had been conquered by the Pathans, Ráŕh had its freedom. Had the kings of Ráŕh remained unified, Ráŕh could have resisted foreign invasions and the history of Ráŕh also would have been different. When Alexander invaded India, Ráŕh was well-organized and united. For that reason Alexander desisted from proceeding towards the east. But later the situation changed. It was due to the folly of the local rulers of Ráŕh that Ráŕh had to wear the chains of slavery for a long time. They would get involved in hostilities over just a small piece of land. Thus the people had to undergo untold miseries, which they did not like at all. It was under a kind of pressure of the common people that the warring kings of Senbhum, Mallabhum and Dhabalbhum were forced to sign a treaty of peace.

At that time the custom in Ráŕh was that in case of a newly-formed alliance, all concerned would sit together to dine on rice, [black gram, and rice boiled in sweetened milk. In the place where they held this feast to mark their unity (ekatá), they built a temple named Ekateshvara. This temple is situated in the district of Bankura. As I have mentioned earlier, this temple was either a Shiva temple influenced by Jainism or a Jain temple influenced by Shaeva Dharma.

Ráŕh was subjected to continuous socio-economic exploitation, and moreover, the tyranny of their kings was equally bad. The nature of the people of Ráŕh is such that unless they are incited they do not protest. The ideals of Digambar Jainism are largely responsible for this. Later, the people of Ráŕh who refused to embrace the Paoráńika Dharma had to tolerate the pangs of social indignity, and as a result they fell victim to an inferiority complex. Still later, in a bid to come out of the vortex of inferiority complex, they accepted, in throngs, the Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma. Apart from the burden of this inferiority complex for seven hundred years, the way they had to accept Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma, or the way this Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma was presented to them, made them somewhat averse to struggle.

Here it should be borne in mind that Vaeśńava Dharma does not emphasize excessive ahiḿsá as much as Jainism does. And the doctrine of ahiḿsá in Vaeśńava Dharma was explained differently in different places. There are some excesses in the practice of ahiḿsá in the Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava doctrine of Ráŕh, though maybe they are not so great as in Jainism. For example [in Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńavism] one must say “prepare” vegetables and not “cut” them, rasá and not jhol [both meaning “soup”, the liquid part of a vegetable preparation, but the latter suggesting a non-vegetarian preparation], oŕ flower and not jabá flower [both names for a blood-red flower, the China rose, or hibiscus, but the latter name used when worshipping Kálii with this flower], sehái and not káli [both meaning “ink”, but the latter suggesting the goddess Kálii], etc. The excessive ahimsá in Digambara Jainism and a type of excessive ahimsá in the Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava Dharma prevalent in Ráŕh did a lot of damage to the spirit of valour of the people of Ráŕh. Notwithstanding their strength, capability, courage and diligence, they were not easily able to leap into a struggle. It is really a pity that Ráŕh, which had once been noted for its military skill, began to enter into a repulsive tortoise-like withdrawal. And it is probably for this reason that we notice that the role played by Bagri in the struggle for the independence of India was much greater than that played by Ráŕh. Moreover, the role played by Vauṋga-D́abák (Dhaka, Barisal, Mymensingh, Chittagong, etc.) was even greater than that of Bagri. It is to be noted that the further east one goes in Bengal, the greater was the influence of Buddhism and the less was that of Jainism. Places where the influence of Buddhism was greater, had a greater role in the struggle for independence. This was so, among other reasons, because Buddhism does not have the same excessive ahiḿsá that we see in Jainism. The people of the south-eastern parts of Ráŕh (Midnapur, Hooghly, Howrah, etc.), where the influence of Buddhism was great in comparison with that of Jainism, played an important role in the struggle for independence.

Footnotes

(1) A shúdra is a person with a mentality of physical enjoyment only, a member of the labourer social class. A kśatriya is a person whose mentality is to dominate over matter. In the social cycle, the Shúdra Age comes first, followed by the Kśatriya Age. For more information about the social cycle, see Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Human Society Part 2. –Trans.

Chapter 31	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

This world of ours is made up of good and bad. And the good and the bad things are done not so much by nature as by human beings. The good things that humans have the capacity for are friendliness, intimacy, love, sweet amiability – both internal and external – sitting together to eat and to talk, trying to feel the joys and sorrows of others, and so on. And of the bad things that humans do, the first and foremost is the exploitation of one human by another. This exploitation occurs sometimes in the religious sphere, sometimes in the social sphere, sometimes in the mental sphere and sometimes in the economic sphere.

When human beings first appeared on earth, that was the Shúdra Age. Ráŕh was no exception. When the people of that age all began to feel that they should live collectively in order to fight against the obstacles and dangers of their adverse environment, they began to search for a chieftain. At the initial stage, a woman used to be the chieftain. Even though she may not have had to do anything, she served as a symbol of group-oriented living – just like a queen ant or a queen bee or a queen white ant. In this way there emerged the ancient matriarchal society. When, later on, it made way for the patriarchal society – when it became evident that a patriarchal society [patrilineal order] was necessary for determining the lineage of the children – males began to assume the roles of chieftains. These chieftains used to be called, in more polished language, rájás [kings]. Ráŕh too saw the emergence of patriarchal society. But it was slightly different than in other parts of the world. In most countries, where the society was matriarchal, the matrilineal order of lineage prevailed, and where the society was patriarchal, the patrilineal order prevailed. Though Ráŕh’s present social system is patriarchal, the systems of lineage and right to perform the last rites, and, in some cases, inheritance, are not completely patrilineal. What is found is a beautiful mixture of the patrilineal and matrilineal orders.

The male-dominated society is followed by the Kśatriya Age. At the initial stage there is only the kśatriyas’ shásan [control and administration], but later comes shośań [exploitation] as well. During the Kśatriya Age, if the populace can flatter their king, they can pass their days happily. But when the Vaeshya Age eventually follows, people’s very existence becomes unbearable. The Kśatriya Age lasted for a long time in Ráŕh. But soon after the fall of local kingdoms, the Vaeshya Age with all its ruthlessness tightened its noose around the people of Ráŕh. There being no way out, the hapless people of Ráŕh, like the people of other countries in the world, gave in to the exploitation of the Vaeshya Age.

The exploitation in Ráŕh was very extreme, and it still is. The vaeshya control and administration and vaeshya exploitation in Ráŕh manifests itself in two different ways: 1) exploitation by the local vaeshyas, which is relatively insignificant, and 2) exploitation by the outsider vaeshyas, which is very extreme. The fundamental difference between the exploitation by the local vaeshyas and that by the outsiders is this: though both are exploiters and the exploitation of both causes people to cry aloud for relief, the local exploiters mostly keep their exploitation-gotten wealth within the territory of the land, and hence there is a chance for that wealth to be utilized in future in the service of the people. But the outsider exploiters will in most cases transfer outside all the wealth that they have ruthlessly squeezed out of the land. This means that there is no chance whatsoever for those resources to be utilized in future in the service of the local people.

Today a heavy load of exploitation is breaking the backs of the people of Ráŕh. To save Ráŕh without delay, an all-round socio-economic rehabilitation plan is needed. Ráŕh is filled with nature’s inexhaustible store, and yet the people of Ráŕh are not able to eat their fill of nutritious food. What a heart-rending sight! It may not be possible for the present inhabitants of Ráŕh alone to do all that is necessary to save their land from this miserable plight. So those from outside Ráŕh must also come forward to help Ráŕh, otherwise a highly-civilized and cultured human population will be ruined.

Nature has blessed Ráŕh bountifully with underground resources, above-ground resources, water resources, and everything else. It is up to human beings to arrange for the rational utilization and humane distribution of those gifts.

Ráŕh appears emaciated from starvation, miserably struck by misfortune, and chained with slumber because of the lack of proper consciousness regarding the need of the hour. Let all rational persons of the world think collectively about Ráŕh’s distress, and let them come forward with their help to build up Ráŕh.

Ráŕh is the starting-point of human civilization, Ráŕh is the hub of human culture. Let that Ráŕh shine again in its own glory. Let that Ráŕh again brim over with fruits, flowers, treasures, humanity and spirituality. Let the shroud of mist obscuring Ráŕh’s path of progress blow away, let Ráŕh’s melancholy face brighten with a smile. With these good wishes, let me conclude.

	Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

ÁCÁRYA m. OR ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all lessons of meditation.
AHIḾSÁ. One of the points of morality: to refrain from purposefully inflicting pain or hurt on anybody by thought, word or action.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; ÁNANDA MÁRGA PRACÁRAKA SAḾGHA.
ÁNANDA MÁRGA PRACÁRAKA SAḾGHA. The socio-spiritual organization founded by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar to spread the ideology and spiritual practices of the path of bliss.
ÁRYYÁVARTTA. Lit., “Land of the Aryans”; northern India, which the Aryans at one point occupied.
AVADHÚTA m. or AVADHÚTIKÁ f. Literally, “one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually”; a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of SHAEVA TANTRA.
AVIDYÁ. Ignorance; centrifugal, or extroversial, force; force of repulsion from the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude.

BAULS. A psychology based on Jain TANTRA (which is another name for SHAEVA Tantra) gave rise to the Baul psychology. The Bauls were devotional singers whose devotion seemed to onlookers almost like madness.

DÁYABHÁGA. A system of inheritance in which the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father, who has the right to disinherit any of the children. Another feature of this system is the rights of inheritance for women.
DEVII. A goddess, a female deity.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHYÁNA MANTRA. A Sanskrit verse listing the attributes of a deity, to be used for visualizing that deity in meditation.
DIGAMBARA, NIRGRANTHA. Unclothed.

GAOŔIIYA VAEŚŃAVA DHARMA. The Bengalee Vaishnavite religion.

KAYASTHA. A caste.
KIIRTANA. Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender. Some types of kiirtana may involve descriptions of the features of the Lord.
KŚATRIYA. Written as kśatriya, a person whose mentality is to dominate over matter; written as “Ks’atriya”, a member of the second-highest caste in India
KULIINA. Of noble descent.

LIUNGA (LINGA). A cylindrical, aniconic image of Lord SHIVA tracing its origins to phallus worship.

MANTRA. A sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation. A mantra is incantative, pulsative, and ideative.
MAUṊGALKÁVYA. Poetic works by different thirteenth- and fourteenth-century poets, aimed at establishing the glory of certain gods and goddesses.
MELBANDHAN. The creation of groups made up of persons having similar defects and virtues. Within such a group, no one could be discriminated against.
MITÁKSARÁ. Mitákśará entails the heirs’ equal rights of inheritance, not subject to the father’s discretion.

PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness.
PURÁŃA. Mythological story with a moral import; educative fiction.

RÁŔH. A land of red (laterite) soil.
RŚI. One who, by inventing new things, broadens the path of progress of human society.

SADÁSHIVA. See SHIVA.
SÁHITYA. Literature; all those literary manifestations of the popular mind that always move along the path of welfare.
SHAEVA, SHAIVITE adj. Following or pertaining to Lord SHIVA and his teachings.
SHAEVA n. Shaivite, a follower of Lord SHIVA.
SHAEVA DHARMA. Shaivism; the theoretical or philosophical side of spirituality as taught by Lord Shiva.
SHAEVA TANTRA. Shiva Tantra; the applied, or practical, side of spirituality as taught by Lord Shiva.
SHIVA, SADÁSHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness.
SHÚDRA. Written as shúdra, a person with a mentality of physical enjoyment only, a member of the labourer social class; written as “Shúdra”, a member of the lowest caste in India.

TANTRA. A spiritual tradition which originated in India in prehistoric times and was first systematized by SHIVA. It emphasizes the development of human vigour, both through meditation and through confrontation of difficult external situations, to overcome all fears and weaknesses. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition.

VAESHYA. Written as vaeshya, a person of acquisitive mentality, a member of the capitalist social class; written as “Vaeshya”, a member of the second-lowest caste in India.
VAEŚŃAVA. Vaishnavite; pertaining to the Viśńu Cult or Religion.
VARŃÁSHRAMA Four-caste social system.
VIPRA. Written as vipra, a person who controls others by his wits, a member of the intellectual social class; written as “Vipra”, a member of the highest caste in India.