Wednesday, September 4, 2013

History of Bengal Sultanate | Arabic and Persian | Part 1


Bengal for her enormous natural resources and moderate climatic conditions had been a covetous country of attraction for the foreigners from the ancient time. Many civilizations in this region grew up and declined with the passage of time since its record in the history. From the historical records it is evident that over this fertile soil of Bengal, the Mauryans, the Guptas, the Palas and the Senas before the coming of Muslims had their sway and contributed a lot to the enrichment of her political, administrative and cultural attainments.

A fragmentary Mauryan Brahmi Inscription paleographically dated in the 3rd century B.C. discovered at Mahasthan twelve kilometers north of Bogra city reveals to us Pundanagala equating with Pundranagara and conclusively identified with Mahasthan, an emporium of Bengal from very ancient time. Archaeological excavation of this mound of Mahasthan unfolds the various starts as of civilization to speak the glorious past of Bengal history. Even in and around the vicinity of Mahasthan are unearthed the ancient relics in the form of viharas and temples which tell her past heritage.

Likewise the Sumapura Vihara of Paharpur in the district of Naogaon district and Shalbana Vihara of Mainamati in the district of Comilla district bear witness to the rich heritage of the ancient Bengal. In this chain of cultural attainments the advent of the Muslims at the beginning of the 13th century A.C. added a new vista of contribution to the history.




Pertinently it may be mentioned here that the Janapada names existed at the advent of the Muslims sank into oblivion and Bengal emerged as a country uniting three administrative divisions of Lakhnawati, Satgaon and Sonargaon. The credit of this unification goes to Sultan Shams al-Din IIyas Shah (1342-1359 A.C.) who assumed the title of Shah-i-Bangala bringing the above mentioned regions under his suzerainty in 1352 A.C. Hence Bengal of the Sultanate period denotes the territorial expanse of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India extending from Rajmahal hill in the west to hilly region of Chittagong in the east and from the Himalayan mountain in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south.

The time span of Bengal Sultanate began with the conquest of Lakhnawati Kingdom of the Senas by Ikhtiyaral-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji in 1204 A.C. and ended with its annexation to the Mughal Empire of Delhi in 1576 A.C. Arabic as the language of religion and Persian as the language of cultural accomplishment of incoming Muslims got utmost consideration for study during their rule in Bengal.


To see the extent of Arabic and Persian studies during the period of Bengal Sultanate literary and archaeological sources are to be taken into consideration. Arabic, the youngest Semitic language got its recognition among the richest languages of the world as being the language of the holy Quran and the Prophet (Sm) of Islam. With the expansion of Islam over half of the then world just after the demise of the Prophet (Sm), Arabic got momentum as an enriched language to produce voluminous works in all branches of learning for onward transmission to the contemporaneous and to the posterity as well.

In the heydays of Muslim civilization tentatively from the beginning of the seventh century A.C. to the end of the thirteenth century A.C. Arabic became the language of expression and bearer of knowledge in all the Muslim occupied territories of three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. It did not preclude the cultivation of indigenous language of the countries of their domination. Hence Persian second to Arabic as language got flourishment at the hands of the Muslim rulers since tenth century A.C. and spread all over the Central Asian regions as one of the richest languages of at time.

It is not, therefore, unreasonable to assume that the Central Asian Turks with the rich linguistic heritage of Arabic and Persian entered the Indian subcontinent as the conquerors. In the case of Bengal it is not an exception. The Khalji Turks of Central Asia who entered Bengal as conquerors initiated the cultivation of Arabic and Persian learning by introducing Persian as the court language and establishing madaris where due attention was given for the study of both the languages. This move continued unabated in later times of the rulers and sultans till the end of the Sultanate period.

Click to read the Part -2

Source: ARABIC AND PERSIAN STUDIES UNDER BENGAL SULTANATE: AN APPRAISAL
By- Dr A K M Yaqub Ali


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