EE7.5 - Bengali New Year

Bengali New Year

Published in:
A Few Problems Solved Part 5
Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 19 [unpublished in English]

Notes:

official source: A Few Problems Solved Part 5

this version: is the printed A Few Problems Solved Part 5, 1st edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

Online additional information

Nothing in this world is meaningless – rather everything is meaningful. Suppose a person stumbles while walking in a field; even this is not meaningless. Another person bursts into laughter; that also is not meaningless. Itihásati itiyarthe itihása – “That which brings smiles, is called history or itihása.” Thus amidst smiles and tears, human beings move forward. The branch of human knowledge which depicts these joyful or tearful events is called history

Dharmárthakámamokśarthaḿ niitivákyasamánvitam
Purávrttakathayuktam itihásah pracakśate.

[That which leads to the attainment of the four vargas, the four goals of life (dharma, or psycho-spiritual goal, artha or psychic goal, káma or physical longing, and mokśa, or spiritual salvation), that which imparts the knowledge of the highest morality, and which explains the chronological history of past events is called itihása.]

We belong to the world – the world is our homeland. To state it more clearly, the entire universe is our homeland. In one corner of this universe there is a small planet called earth, and in one corner of this earth there is a community called the Bengalees. While advancing from the distant past, this community has reached the end of a dark period; a new year’s dawn is about to break in its history. The Bengalees will have to move forward still further, and in this path of their movement, there is no pause, no rest – no punctuation mark with comma, colon or semi-colon. They must move ever forward. Indeed, they are moving and they will continue to move. For movement is the very essence of life, the living proof of its vital existence. Those who stop in the middle of their movement have lost the very characteristic or dharma of life.

Akásh pátháre caleche phuler dal
Niirava carańe barańe, barańe, chúte sahasra dháráy
Duranta jiivani nirjharanii
Maraner bájáye kiuṋkinii.

[In the vast void are floating an unending flow of flowers
Moving silently in various hues
In countless flows rush the indomitable stream of life
Tolling the knell of death.]

Human beings must move forward, ignoring the frowns of staticity. Only those who move ahead vigorously are capable of making history. The Bengali community is not a mere handful of persons: they total 160 million people. So they have enough vitality to move forward, ignoring the frowns of death. In this path of historical movement, what is the law of motion? Motion is never linear, rather it is always systaltic, it is always pulsative. Each New Year’s Day is the starting point of a pulsation in history. So during the stage of pause and speed at the New Year, people look back and discover that they have moved forward leaving many things behind; and they also look ahead and see many things in front of them – they realize that they will have to do many things in the future. Accordingly they make many plans and programmes to utilize the coming year in a fruitful way.

This New Year’s day is the day of recollection of our past resolutions, when we remember our past plans and goals. By reviewing our past mistakes, we find the rectificatory measures which will help us gain enough strength to move ahead with new zeal.

Many of you perhaps do not know that the modern Bengali community is over 3000 years old. If we accept that the Rg Veda was composed between ten to fifteen thousand years ago, and the Yajur Veda from five to ten thousand years ago, then the Atharva Veda is certainly 3000 years old. In the Jain scriptures which Mahaviira Jain propounded 2500 years ago, there is a direct reference to the Atharva Veda, which proves that the Atharva Veda is older than the Jain scriptures. That is why I say that the Bengali community is more than 3000 years old, for there were various references to Bengal in the Atharva Veda. Much later, when the demi-Magadhii language was being transformed into old Bengali, words like Vauṋga, Bengali, etc. were in vogue. Many people think that the word Báḿla has come from the Turkish word Banjal or the Persian word Banjal, but they are mistaken. In Chinese the word Banjal has been in use for the last 5000 years, for in Chinese the land of Bengal was called Banjal. So both the land of Bengal and its community of people are very ancient. When the demi-Magadhi language was being transformed into old Bengali, in the Buddhist poetry of the period, there are references to the words Baḿla and Bengali. For instance, Báḿla nila jáyá (“They married in Bengal”), or bhuesu-ku áji tu Báuṋálii bhaeli aiya gharańii cańd́álii lelahi (“Bhusuku, you became a Bengalee today, and the mistress of your house has become an untouchable.”)

The word Bengal is mentioned here. Had the word Bengali been from Turkish or Persian, then it would not have been more than 700 or 800 years old. So it clear that the Bengali people have been marching towards a glittering future from an ancient past for over 3000 years. This is not a community living in a state which has only recently been demarcated; its political structure has undergone numerous transformations. Because it is so ancient, it has achieved progress in various stages. Just as it has assimilated many things from others, so it has also given many things to others.

Consequently the Bengalees have their own dress and the women have their own distinctive style of wearing sariis. They have their own almanac, literature, script, and style of intonation, and they also have their own social system of inheritance. As far as I know no other community in the world has so many unique specialities. In Europe or elsewhere, a particular community is called a nation in modern terminology; however, if we would go deeper into the Latin root meaning of the word “nation”, we would be more cautious in using the term. But the Bengali community is more than a nation.

In every phase of its history the Bengali community has made enormous progress. A community which is constantly progressing should have a special system to record its chronological history, and also a system for reckoning time.

Ancient Bengal (the then Paondravardhana) had as its capital Siḿhapur for 750 years. Siḿhapur is presently a very small town in the district of Hooghly. Siḿhabahu was one of the kings of that period. His son Vijay Siḿha conquered Ceylon and changed its name to Siḿhala. As Vijay Siḿha died without children, he brought his nephew Pánd́u Vasudeva from Siḿhapur and made him the king of Siḿhal and Kerala. The descendants of Pánd́u Vasudeva are known as the Nayars of Kerala; they migrated from Bengal 2514 years ago and settled in Kerala. At any social function of Bengal, any auspicious social ceremony, Bengali women produce a special sound which is called “huludhvani”. This system is also found amongst the Nayyar community of Kerala even today.

Another prince of Siḿhapur was Sahasneváhu who conquered Thailand and named the country Siam. Another king of Siḿhapur was Shalibáhana, who opposed the then prevalent calendar system of India. In those days the calendar system was based upon the lunar month; that is, twenty-nine days made up a month and 354 days comprised a year. According to this system there was no link between the crops and the seasons, and in some years the Bengali month of Áśáŕha (the month of the monsoon) began before the rainy season, and in other years it began after the rains were over. This system caused much inconvenience to both the farmers and the government during the collection of taxes. Consequently, Shalibáhana rejected the lunar calendar system and 1387 years ago introduced a simple new system of calendar which is followed even today in Orissa, Assam, Bangladesh, and by the revenue collectors of North India.

During the reign of King Akbar, the hijrii year was changed from the lunar system to the solar system, and it was renamed the faslii year. The faslii year begins from the month of Áshvin (the time of harvesting the autumn rice). According to the previous calendrical system of Bengal, the year began at the time of harvesting the late autumn rice. So from the reign of King Shalibáhana, the Bengali year started from Agraháyań. (The astrological name of the month was Márga Shárśa but as it was the first month of the year it was called Agraháyań. Until the days of Akbar, Agraháyań was the first month of the Bengali year. Later, to maintain adjustment with the calendar of the rest of India, the first month of the year was changed from Agraháyana to Vaesháka. The full moon takes place in the month of Agraháyana with the appearance of the Mrgaśhira star. In the rhymes of old Bengal, for example,

Agráńete bachar shuru navánna hay mit́he
Paośete áoli báoli ghare ghare pit́he.
Mághmásete Shrii paiṋcamii cheler háte khaŕi.
Phálgunete rog sáráte pháger chará chaŕi.
Cáeter gájan bájan Kánpe báḿlá sárá.
Vaeshákh másete sabe cáy jaler dhárá.
Jaeśt́hi máse śaśt́i bátá bándhe śaśt́hiir dor.
Áśáŕhete rathayátrá náiko loker oŕ.
Shrávańete jhulan dolan pathya ghrta muŕi,
Bhádra máse pántá bahát khán Manasá buŕii.
Áshvine má Durgá ásen kolákuli kaŕe,
Kárttikete ákásh pradiip shasya rakśa kare.

[The Bengali year begins in Agraháyań when the new the rice
tastes deliriously sweet.
In the month of Paośa in the festival of áoli-báaoli,
Every house prepares sweet rice cakes.
In Mágh on the fifth lunar day the children first learns to read
and write.
In Phálguńa red powder is smeared to cure disease.
In Caitra on the occasion of the Gájan festival the whole Bengal
throbs with the sounds of drums.
In Vaeshákha people anxiously await the rains.
In Jaiśt́ha people celebrate the worship of Saśt́hi (the deity
of children).
In Áśáŕha there is an unending stream of people in the ratha
festival.
In Shrávana during the swinging ceremony of Krśńa people are
entertained with puffed rice fried with butter.
In Bhádra the old snake goddess is presented with stale rice.
In Áshvina the goddess Durgá is worshipped in every house.
And in Kárttik the lamps in the sky protect the cornfields.]

This poem is called báramásyá, the depiction of the twelve months of the Bengali year. This shows that the Agraháyana was the first month of the year. In those days married Bengali girls did not set out for their paternal homes in the month of Kárttika:

[Kárttik is the last month of the year, not an auspicious time for setting out for father’s house.]

This shows that the Kárttika was the last month and Agrahána was the first month of the year. But according to the Indian system of reckoning and the newly introduced system of Saḿvat, when the full moon takes place with the appearance of the Vishákhá star, the month is called lunar Vaesháka. In lunar Vaesháka as long as the sun remains within the scope of Me’s zodiac sign (Aries), the period is known as solar Vaesháka. The Bengali month of Vaesháka is the solar Vaesháka. Yesterday the sun was in Pisces zodiac sign, but today it is in Aries. That is why today is the first day of the Bengali New Year. This was first introduced by King Shálibáhana.

According to some, the Bengali word sal or year is derived from the Persian word sal. That may be true, but in the case of Bengal, the system of the Bengali year was introduced by King Shálibáhana. King Shálibáhana was assisted by the famous astrologer Jayanta Pánigráhii of the then Danda Bhukti, who introduced the new system of reckoning the Bengali year. In the Pathan and Mughal periods, Danda Bhukti, now known as Midnapur, was called Hizli Parganas. In those days Burdwan bhukti, Somatát bhukti, Páońd́ravardhana bhukti and Kámtapur bhukti (which included some districts like the present Jalpaiguri, Goalpara, Koochvihar and Raḿpur), were all under the sovereignty of the king, and so they all accepted the Bengali system, as did Assam and Orissa.

The Bengali community is making progress in various spheres of life. And with this progress, the lunar and solar dates and years are inseparably associated. None of these matters can be removed from social life, nothing can be discarded. It is rather like the crown of the bridegroom during a wedding – if the crown is removed, the bridegroom is no longer a groom.

Again the Bengali New Year has come. So the Bengali community, who were very vibrant in the past, are still alive today; and I hope they will live dynamically in the future also. The same Bengali community will have to renew their resolution to make the new year more successful, to make their existence more vigorous. This is a day of rejoicing, and amidst this rejoicing the Bengalees will have to determine ways of improving their individual and collective life, and developing their resources for their future Progress. Nányah panthá vidyate ayanáya. “There is no other way for a living community besides this.” This is not the time for laziness; rather it is the time for intense activity. Let every moment of your valuable time be used properly. With these words I conclude my discourse.