History of Bengal

Information about History of Bengal

History of South Asia and History of India

Stone Age70,000–3300 BCE
Mehrgarh Culture7000–3300 BCE
Indus Valley Civilization3300–1700 BCE
Late Harappan Culture1700–1300 BCE
Vedic period1500–500 BCE
Iron Age1200–300 BCE
Maha Janapadas700–300 BCE
Magadha Empire545–320 BCE
Maurya Empire321–184 BCE
Middle Kingdoms230 BCE–1279 CE
Satavahana Empire230 BCE–199 CE
Kushan Empire60–240
Gupta Empire280–550
Pala Empire750–1174
Chola Empire848–1070
Delhi Sultanate1206–1526
Deccan Sultanates1490–1596
Hoysala Empire1040–1346
Kakatiya Empire1083–1323
Vijayanagara Empire1336–1565
Maratha Empire1674–1818
Mughal Empire1526–1707
Sikh Confederacy Misls1716–1799
Sikh Rule in Delhi1772, 1778, 1783
Sikh Empire1799–1849
Punjab (British India)1849–1947
East Punjab1947–1966
Punjab (India) - Sikh State1966 - Present
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Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire
Further information: History of Bangladesh
The history of Bengal (including Bangladesh and West Bengal) dates back four millennia.[] To some extent, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in Indian history.

Ancient history

Remnants of Copper Age settlements in the Bengal region date back 4,000 years,[0][2] when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed by the 10th century BC, located in and around the Bengal region. The Anga, Vanga and Magadha kingdoms are first described in the Atharvaveda around 1000 BC.

From the 6th century BC, most of Bengal was a part of the powerful kingdom of Magadha, which was an ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom of ancient India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It was also one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha, having risen to power during the reigns of Bimbisara (c. 544-491 BC) and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460 BC). Magadha spanned to include most of Bihar and Bengal.

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahā Janapadas (Sanskrit, "great country"). The Magadha empire included republican communities such as Rajakumara. Villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions. Bimbisara was friendly to both Jainism and Buddhism and suspended tolls at the river ferries for all ascetics after the Buddha was once stopped at the Ganges River for lack of money.

In 326 BC, the army of Alexander the Great approached the boundaries of the Nanda Empire of Magadha. The army, exhausted and frightened by the prospect of facing a larger Indian army at the Ganges River, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas) and refused to march further East. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return.

Magadha was the seat of the Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, which extended over nearly all of South Asia and parts of Persia and Afghanistan under Ashoka the Great; and, later, of the powerful Gupta Empire, which extended over the northern Indian subcontinent and parts of Persia and Afghanistan.

One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bengal. For example, Diodorus Siculus (c. 90-30 BC) states that, "...Gandaridai, a nation which possesses the greatest number of elephants and the largest in size." This is presently known as 'Gangaridi' civilization and encompasses a period presumably from 400 BC to 100 AD. Some recent excavations in South 24 Parganas in West Bengal reveal small pearls of garnet, opal, quartz etc, which helped to detect the time and life-style of the people of this ancient civilization. There are engravings such as couple, snake, swastika, plough, trident, betel-leaf etc. found on these pearls.

Early Middle Ages

The first recorded independent king of Bengal was Shashanka - reigning from 606.

More concrete evidence of Bengal becoming an independent political entity is found in the 6th century, with the first recorded independent king of Bengal - Shashanka - reigning around 606.

The first Buddhist Pala king of Bengal, Gopala I came to power in 750 in Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. The dynasty's most powerful kings, Dharmapala (reigned 775-810) and Devapala (reigned 810-850) united Bengal and made the Pala Empire the most powerful empire in 9th century India after expanding across much of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Afghanistan. Internecine strife during the reign of Narayanpala (reigned 854-908) and administrative excesses led to the decline of the dynasty.

A brief revival of the kingdom under Mahipala I (reigned 977-1027) ended in battle against the powerful, South Indian Chola kingdom. The rise of the Chandra dynasty in southern Bengal expedited the decline of the Palas, and the last Pala king, Madanpala, died in 1161.

The Malla dynasty emerged in Bengal in the seventh century, although they only rose to prominence in the 10th century under Jagat Malla who moved his capital to Vishnupur. Unlike the Buddhist Palas and Chandras, the Hindu Mallas worshipped first the Hindu god Shiva, then the Hindu god Vishnu. The Mallas built temples and spectacular religious monuments during their rule in Bengal.

Under the Sena dynasty, which lasted from 1095 to 1260, Bengali emerged as a distinct and important language in northern India, and Hinduism began to displace older Buddhism.

Muslim rule

The Turkic invasion of India (including Bengal) came in the early 13th century. The invaders under the leadership of Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, defeated the Sena king Lakshman Sena at his capital, Nabadwip in 1203 (1204?) The Deva family — the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal — ruled briefly in eastern Bengal, although they were suppressed by the mid-fourteenth century.

During the early Muslim period, the former kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bangala, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts in power between the Afghan and Turkish rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Moghul rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.

In 1534, the Afghan Sher Shah Suri, or Farid Khan — a man of incredible military and political skill — succeeded in defeating the superior forces of the Mughals under Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540). Sher Shah fought back and captured both Delhi and Agra as he established the most powerful Bengali kingdom that would ever exist, stretching far into Punjab. Sher Shah's administrative skill showed in his public works, including the Grand Trunk Road connecting Sonargaon in Bengal with Peshawar in the Hindu Kush. Sher Shah's rule ended with his death in 1545, although even in those five years his reign would have a powerful influence on Indian society, politics, and economics.

Shah Suri's successors lacked his administrative skill, and quarrelled over the domains of his empire. Humayun, who then ruled a rump Mughal state, saw an opportunity and in 1554 seized Lahore and Delhi. Humayun's death in 1556 led to the accession of Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, who defeated the Karani rulers of Bengal in 1576 and ruled through governors. Akbar exercised progressive rule and oversaw a period of prosperity (through trade and development) in Bengal and northern India.

Bengal's trade and wealth so impressed the Moghuls that they called the region the "Paradise of the Nations". Administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire court (1575-1717) gave way to four decades of semi-independence under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who respected the nominal sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. The Nawabs granted permission to the French East India Company to establish a trading post at Chandernagore in 1673, and the British East India Company at Calcutta in 1690.

When the British East India Company began strengthening the defences at Fort William (Calcutta), the Nawab, Siraj Ud Daulah, at the encouragement of the French, attacked. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, British troops and their local allies captured Chandernagore in March 1757 and seriously defeated the Nawab on June 23 1757 at the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab's soldiers betrayed him. The Nawab was assassinated in Murshidabad, and the British installed their own Nawab for Bengal and extended their direct control in the south. Chandernagore was restored to the French in 1763. The Bengalis attempted to regain their territories in 1765 in alliance with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, but were defeated again at the Battle of Buxar (1765).

The centre of Indian culture and trade shifted from Delhi to Calcutta when the Mughal Empire fell.

Dutch colonies

Main article: Dutch Bengal

British rule

See also:  and
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Map of the Bengal province, 1893
During British rule, two devastating famines were instigated costing millions of lives in 1770 and 1943. Scarcely five years into the British East India Company's rule, the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770, one of the greatest famines of history occurred. Up to a third of the population died in 1770 and subsequent years.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule by the Company with the direct control of Bengal by the British crown.

A centre of rice cultivation as well as fine cotton called muslin and the world's main source of jute fibre, Bengal, from the 1850s became one of India's principal centres of industry, concentrated in the capital Kolkata (known as Calcutta under the British, always called 'Kolkata' in the native tongue of Bengali) and its emerging cluster of suburbs. Most of the population nevertheless remained dependent on agriculture, and despite its leading role in Indian political and intellectual activity, the province included some very undeveloped districts, especially in the east. In 1877, when Victoria took the title of "Empress of India", the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British Raj.

India's most populous province (and one of the most active provinces in freedom fighting), in 1905 Bengal was divided by the British rulers for administrative purposes into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and Orissa) and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) (1905 Partition of Bengal). Hindu - Muslim conflict became stronger through this partition. While Hindu Indians disagreed with the partition saying it was a way of dividing a Bengal which is united by language and history, Muslims supported it by saying it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will be majority and they can freely practice their religion as well as their culture. But owing to strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited East and West Bengal in 1912, and made Bihar and Orissa a separate province.

Another major famine occurred during the second world war, the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated 3 million people died.

Bengal Renaissance

Main article: Bengal Renaissance
An important aspect in Bengal's history is the Bengal Renaissance.

Partitions of Bengal

Main article: Partition of Bengal
In the 20th century, the partitions of Bengal, occurring twice, has left indelible marks on the history and psyche of the people of Bengal. The first partition occurred in 1905 and the second partition was in 1947.

As partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in 1947, Bengal again split into the state of West Bengal of secular India and a Muslim region of East Bengal under Pakistan, renamed East Pakistan in 1958. East Pakistan (East Bengal) later rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become independent republic of Bangladesh, literally "Land of Bengal", after a war of independence against the Pakistani army in 1971. West Bengal remains a part of India. However, culturally and sociologically, the two segments of Bengal share considerably more than just a single language.

Bengal (both West Bengal and Bangladesh) is now one of the most densely populated regions of the world.

''See East Bengal for information on East Bengal (now Bangladesh) after the first partition of Bengal.


''See East Pakistan for information on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the second partition of Bengal.

Ruling houses of Bengal

Pala Dynasty

Sena Dynasty

Ilyas Dynasty (1st period)

Ganesa Dynasty

Ilyas Dynasty (restored)

Habshis Dynasty

Husaini Dynasty

Suri Dynasty

Karani (Kararani) Dynasty

Nawabs of Bengal

References

1. ^ History of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Student Association. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
2. ^ "4000-year old settlement unearthed in Bangladesh", Xinhua, 2006-March. 

Further reading

External links

The term South Asia usually refers to the political entities of the region now known as the Indian subcontinent - the Republic of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and the island nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1700 BCE. This Bronze Age civilization was followed by the Iron Age Vedic period, which witnessed the rise of major kingdoms known as the
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will be treated The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in South Asia.

Paleolithic

Homo erectus

Homo erectus lived in South Asia during the Pleistocene Epoch.
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Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to 3200 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the "Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan, and is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia.
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The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3000–1500 BCE, flourished 2600–1900 BCE), abbreviated IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys primarily in what is now Pakistan and western India, extending westward into
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Cemetery H culture developed out of the northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BCE, in and around the Punjab region. It was named after a cemetery found in "area H" at Harappa.
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Vedic period (or Vedic Age) is the period in the history of India when the sacred Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas were composed. The associated culture, sometimes referred to as Vedic civilization, was centered on the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
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Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition. The cultures of the Punjab and Rajasthan in this phase spread eastward across the Gangetic plain.
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Mahajanapadas (महाजनपद) literally means "Great kingdoms" (from Sanskrit Maha = great, Janapada = foothold of tribe = country). Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya (I. p 213; IV.
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Magadha (मगध) formed one of the sixteen so-called Mahājanapadas (Sanskrit, 'great country') or regions in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the portion of Bihar lying south of the Ganges, with its capital at Rajagriha (modern Rajgir).
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Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was a geographically extensive and powerful political and military empire in ancient India.

Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic plains (modern Bihar and Bengal) in the eastern side of
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Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 2nd century BCE since the decline of the Maurya Empire, and the corresponding rise of the Satavahana dynasty, beginning with Simuka, from 230 BCE.
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The Sātavāhanas (Marathi: सातवाहन, Telugu:శాతవాహనులు), were a dynasty which ruled from Junnar (Pune), Prathisthapana (Paithan) in Maharashtra and Amaravati
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The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries) was a state that at its height, about 105–250, stretched from what is now Tajikistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and down into the Ganges river valley in
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Gupta Empire was one of the largest political and military empires in the world. It was ruled by members of the Gupta dynasty from around 320 to 600 CE and covered most of Northern India, the region presently in the nation of Pakistan and what is now western India and Bangladesh.
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Pala Empire was a dynasty in control of the northern and eastern Indian subcontinent, mainly the Bengal and Bihar regions, from the 8th to the 12th century. The name Pala (Modern Bengali পাল pal
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History of Tamil Nadu

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The Delhi Sultanate (Urdu:دلی سلطنت), or Sultanat-e-Hind (Urdu: سلطنتِ هند) / Sultanat-e-Dilli (Urdu:
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The Deccan sultanates were five late medieval kingdoms–-Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar of south-central India. The Deccan sultanates were located on the Deccan Plateau, between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range.
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The Hoysala Empire (Kannada: ಹೊಯ್ಸಳ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ) (pronunciation: ]
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The Kakatiya dynasty was a South Indian dynasty that ruled parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083CE to 1323CE[1]. It was one of the great Telugu kingdoms that lasted for centuries.
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Sangama Dynasty
Harihara Raya I 1336-1356
Bukka Raya I 1356-1377
Harihara Raya II 1377-1404
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Bukka Raya II 1405-1406
Deva Raya I 1406-1422
Ramachandra Raya 1422
Vira Vijaya Bukka Raya 1422-1424
Deva Raya II 1424-1446
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The Mughal Empire (Persian: سلطنت مغولی هند,
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The Sikh Confederacy (from 1716-1799) was a collection of small to medium sized independent sovereign, punjabi Sikh states, which were governed by barons[1], in Punjab[2].
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The Sikh Confederacy (from 1716-1799) was a collection of small to medium sized independent sovereign, punjabi Sikh states, which were governed by barons[1], in Punjab[2].
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Punjab was a province of British India. It was split in 1947 between India and Pakistan. It comprised the present day areas of:
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Bangladesh became one of the youngest major nation states following a pair of twentieth century secessions from India (1947) and Pakistan (1971).
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