From Agra to London!
Asrar Chowdhury
Daily Star
Pahela Baishakh 1416 Special Issue
14 April 2009
URL: http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2009/baishakh/agra.htm
DISCLAIMER: Daily Star cut some crucial parts of the article. This leads to a chandapatan in the reading of the text. The original version of the edited parts is presented in capitals in this version.
The version here is my original version. Not the printed version.
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Pahela Baishakh originated in the Sixteenth Century under Akbar the Great. The objective was to remove uncertainties and inconveniences related to tax payments. The astronomer, Fatehullah Shirazi developed the Bangla calendar that was based on the existing Hijri (lunar) and Hindu (solar) calendars. Pahela Baishakh is celebrated as New Year's Day of the Bangla calendar in Bengali communities throughout the world.
Since the birth of the Bangla calendar was related to tax payments, a tendency started to clear all debts on New Year's Eve. This is the last day of the Month of Chaitra. This day soon came to be known as the Chaitra Sangkranti. After paying all debts people would clean their slates and start afresh with Halkhatas. Distribution of sweets was one of the first cultural expressions of Pahela Baishakh.
Whatever the reason behind the creation of a calendar, the celebration of a New Year in all cultures soon becomes festivity and makes its way into the culture. Very soon Pahela Baishakh gained popularity through annual fairs in rural Bengal. Fairs from the middle ages in all cultures have served a dual purpose. First, fairs would have an element of commercialisation for traders to trade their goods. Artisans of Bengal for centuries have banked on these fairs to sell their products. Second, fairs would be a source of entertainment. One part of entertainment included games and funfair. Kite flying in Old Dhaka, bull racing in Munshiganj, wrestling in Chittagong still attract attention just as much as cockfights, pigeon racing, boat racing and many other forms of games and entertainment that have stood the test of time. Another part included songs. Originally, these songs started out as various forms of folk music that were localised. The final feature of entertainment includes the oral tradition of story telling of epics that still survives today. The kichchhas of Laili-Majnor, Yusuf-Zulekha, and Randha-Krishna are now a part of our literature just as much as the puthis. By the twentieth century, Pahela Baishakh started to develop an identity truly of its own.
Rural celebrations of Pahela Baishakh slowly entered the urban setting. The Partition of British India witnessed Dhaka becoming the principal city of this country. This positively influenced Baishakhi celebrations. Several fairs would be celebrated in and around today's Puran Dhaka. The largest one was the Baishakhi Fair at Azimpur. However, for a long time the Dhaka Baishakhi Fairs remained an extension of their rural counterparts. It was evident sooner or later Pahela Baishakh would represent the heart of a Nation. Two institutes played pivotal roles towards this end. They are the Chhayanat and the Fine Arts Institute.
In 1965 the Chhayanat held the first of their many Baishakhi celebrations at the Ramna Batamul of Ramna Park. The location kept true to the rural heritage of fairs. It was beside a source of water and at the roots of a large tree. The mid sixties were turbulent times. Tagore's music was banned. When rulers lack wisdom they tend to treat music as their enemy. But then. Music and stories that remain in the hearts of men cannot be easily erased. Sooner or later the men of hearts wake up and with them awake an entire Nation.
THE RAMNA BATAMUL BAISHAKHI CELEBRATION WAS A DEFINING MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF BANGLADESH. TAORE’S ESHO HE BAISHAKH AND THE CELEBRATION OF THE BANGLA NEW YEAR BECAME SYNONYMOUS TO EACH OTHER. THE RESPONSE FROM THE PEOPLE PROVED AS LONG AS SONGS AND STORIES OF FREEDOM ARE ALIVE A NATION WILL ALWAYS BE ALIVE. WITH TAGORE, THE SONGS OF THE PANCHAPANDAVA OF BANGLA MUSIC WERE ALSO FREED. TODAY THE RAMNA BATAMUL BAISHAKHI CELEBRATION REPRESENTS A TRULY NATIONAL CELEBRATION OF ALL BANGLADESHIS. IN THE 1980S, STUDENTS OF THE FINE ARTS INSTITUTE ADDED COLOURS TO THE NOTES OF THE CHHAYANOT. THE BAISHAKHI CELEBRATIONS OF DHAKA HAVE NOW BECOME A CARNIVAL. CHHAYANOT AND THE FINE ARTS INSTITUTE HAVE DONE A LOT IN PRESERVING THE BANGLA CULTURE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.
IN THE 1990S, DHAKA BECAME A MEGA-CITY. IN SPITE OF ITS PROBLEMS, URBANISATION DOES BRING WITH IT A MARKET READY TO CONSUME GOODS. IT IS EVEN THE BETTER IF COMPETITION IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GROWTH OF MARKETS. RAPID URBANISATION OF DHAKA IN RECENT YEARS HAS BEEN BENEFICIAL TO THE TRANSFORMATION OF BAISHAKHI CELEBRATIONS. TODAY EVERYBODY WHO IS ANYBODY WANTS TO HOP ON TO THE BANDWAGON OF BAISHAKH. THE FASHION INDUSTRY, THE FOOD INDUSTRY, THE HANDICRAFTS AND HANDMADE TOYS INDUSTRY ALL EAGERLY WAIT FOR BAISHAKH. COMPETITION TO PROMOTE ONE’S PRODUCTS WITH OR WITHOUT BRANDED LABELS HAS HAD TWO BENEFICIAL EFFECTS. INNOVATION HAS LEAD TO BANGLA CULTURE RECEIVE NEW CREATIVE DIMENSIONS IN ITS PRESENTATION. THE TRADITIONAL PANTA-BHAT AND ILISH BHAJA STILL TOPS THE LIST OF DISHES ON PAHELA BAISHAKH. BUT STOP FOR A MOMENT AND DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF A SET OF HANDMADE DUG-DUGIS AND A TAMBOURA ACCOMPANY THE PLATTER THAT BRINGS THAT TRADITIONAL DISH, AND A MATIR BANK TO SEE YOU THROUGH IN LEAN PERIODS. THIS IS DEFINITELY AN ARTISTIC IMPROVEMENT IN OUR CULTURE.
THE SECOND BENEFIT OF THE RECENT COMMERCIALISATION OF BAISHAKHI CELEBRATIONS IS NOT UNIQUE. BAISHAKHI FAIRS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE FOR PRODUCERS TO SELL THEIR PRODUCTS. IT CARRIES ON BEING SO. THE DIFFERENCE NOW LIES IN THE SCALE. WHAT GOES UN-NOTICED IS THE EMPLOYMENT THE URBAN SPENDERS OF DHAKA GENERATE TO THE SUSTENANCE AND GROWTH OF INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATED WITH BAISHAKHI CELEBRATIONS.
Now comes the time for Baishakhi to impress. Wherever the people of Bangladesh have gone, they have taken with them two thingstheir food and their cultural expressions. It is just a matter of time that the hard labour and the creative genius of our people surfaces. We all know that Indian food in the UK is a Bangladeshi version of the food from the sub-continent that has now replaced the Fish and Chips of the Brits. What many of us do not know is that the Baishakhi Festival at Brick Lane in London is the largest open-air Asian festival of Europe. After the Notting Hill Carnival, “our” Baishakhi Festival is the second largest street festival in the UK that attracts 80K plus people from UK and Europe. Small wonder the celebration started only in 1997! What more can one say about the positive image we have the potential to show the world?
Akbar the Great would probably be smiling if he were reading all this. The Great man's decision to create a Bangla calendar to ensure funds to run the empire has certainly yielded more revenue than his wildest imagination. Shabash Bangladesh! And Shubho Nababarsha.
Source and Acknowledgement: www.wikipedia.org and discussions with Professor Nazrul Islam, Chairman, University Grants Commission and Mr Anowar Hossain of Jahangirnagar University School and College.
Photo: Amirul Rajiv
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Asrar Chowdhury is a university academic in Bangladesh.
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