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.