A SUMMARY OF
DISCOVERY OF
BANGLADESH
DISCOVERY OF BANGLADESH: EXPLORATIONS INTO DYNAMICS OF A HIDDEN
NATION
A SUMMARY OF
DISCOVERY OF BANGLADESH
Course: Bangladesh Studies (K202)
Submitted to
Md. Mosta Gausul Haque, PMP
Adjunct Faculty
Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka
Submitted by
Raiad Rafi
Batch: 26, Section: A
Roll: BEH-97
Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka
Date: 14th February, 2020
Chapter 1: Anatomy of Rural Settlements
The key to understanding of society in Bangladesh lies in proper appreciation of the dynamics of
her rural settlements. Unfortunately, the received doctrines on rural society in Bengal zone is
based not on independent investigations on the nature and structure of rural settlements but on
perceptions and preconceptions of generations of scholars on Indian village communities. The
rural settlements in Bengal are, assumed to be indistinguishable from the village communities in
South Asian subcontinent. This assumption is not only wrong but also misleading. It has precluded
an understanding of the dynamics of social life in this region.
Except the decade 1941-51, there was a steady increase of population during the period 18911991 whereas total number of villages fluctuated. The fluctuations in the number of villages
cannot be explained by the variation in total area. There are three concepts of village in
Bangladesh; viz., the survey village or the mauza, the 'local village and the census village. A mauza
is an artificial unit which was defined for the purpose of cadastral survey. In most districts of
Bangladesh, a mauza comprises a block of land which can be conveniently surveyed.
In order to test the reliability of data on villages in the recent censuses, the relationship between
the percentage change in the number of villages in a district with the percentage change in
population and percentage change in the total area of the district may be examined.
Period
1951-61
Correlation between the %
change in number of villages
and the % change of
population in a district
0.147
Correlation between the %
change in number of villages
and the % of the area of a
district
0.072
(0.57)
(0.28)
-0.292
0.135
(1.18)
(0.52)
0.412
-
(1.75)
(0.00)
1961-74
1974-81
(Bracketed number shows I statistics).
Source: Khan, 1987.
The first census of Bengal in 1872 resulted in a systematic survey of rural institutions in this
province. The census report of 1871 clearly indicates that the degree of corporateness of village
institutions diminished as one moved from the west to the east. He concluded as follows:
"Villages in Bengal proper are scattered about to a degree
unknown in northern India and there is almost a total absence of
communal organization and sympathy"
A review of the census reports and district gazetteers during last two hundred years clearly
indicates consensus among the colonial administrators on two hypotheses. First the structure of
village in Bengal Presidency differed significantly from those in other areas of South Asia.
Secondly, the degree of corporateness of rural institutions in Bengal itself diminished gradually
from the west to the east. The classification of village on the basis of the system of land revenue
ignores important differences among the villages.
Despite the diversity of forms of Indian villages, three interrelated characteristics of ideal-typical
villages of South Asia can be easily identified. First, a village is a distinct administrative unit.
Second, a village is an economic isolate. Third, a village is a social entity.
Outwardly the village in Bangladesh is very often portrayed as a clone of its north Indian
counterpart. One economic historian maintained that from time immoral the village has been
the "basic unit of the economic structure of the country". Srinivas's arguments regarding
interdependence of villages are equally valid about rural settlements in Bangladesh region. The
main reason for economic isolation of the village in north India is the lack of a viable
transportation system.
An open village was characterized by "individual responsibility in the payment of taxes, indistinct
boundaries between the village and the outside world, few or no restrictions on landownership,
imprecise notions of village citizenship and privately owned land". The villages in west Bengal
region which contains nucleated villages were a mix of corporate and open villages where the
elements of corporate villages were predominant.
Chapter 2: Dynamics of Rural Settlements
An anatomy of rural settlements in the active delta in Bengal which now constitutes Bangladesh
indicates that the pattern of settlement in a typical village has been linear and dispersed
compared to nucleated village in the moribund delta which is now included in the state of West
Bengal. A village in Bangladesh has been mainly "open" whereas the typical village in other parts
of South Asia has been "corporate'. This does not mean that all villages in Bangladesh region have
been similar.
Broadly speaking, there are two major schools on the determinants of the structure of rural
settlements: (1) psychological and (2) economic. The psychological school maintains that the
structure of a village is shaped by the villagers' attitude towards life. Another school maintains
that the peasants do not trust each other and consequently they prefer to live in open villages.
Basically, there are two ways to determine the structure of rural settlements:
1.
Psychological
2.
Economical
The psychological concept elaborates that the entire village is shaped by the villagers' perspective
towards life, where the peasants try to cooperate with each other.
The economical concept assumes that the peasants do not trust each other and prefer to live in
open villages. The peasants play a major, crucial role in the rural settlements. According to
George Foster, an anthropologist, the peasants believe that the goods are strictly limited to them
and whenever there's a gain for one party, there's a simultaneous loss for the other party. Envy,
distrust and suspicion are very rare among them, which makes the village lack corporateness.
The population of South Asia did not change much throughout the last 2000 years. High birth
rate was offset by high death rate in the pre-industrial society, thus the population stayed
constant.
Province
Density of population per square mile
Assam
78
Bengal
433
Bihar and Orissa
318
Bombay
132
Central Provinces and Berar
99
Coorg
106
Madras
219
United Province of Agra and Oudh
155
NWFP and Punjab
391
Source: Census of India, 1911.
Historical sources refer to occasional attacks of wild animals in different parts of Bengal.
Nevertheless, the design of houses in the settled areas in Bangladesh region clearly suggests that
wild animals were not considered a major threat to life and property. In areas where threats of
wild animals are critical, houses are built on stilts. In eastern and southern Bengal, houses were
always built on the ground and not on stilts. It is, therefore, likely that the need for communal
protection against wild animals was not strongly felt in Bangladesh region.
In short, the villages, in north and south India were corporate whereas those in Bengal were
loosely structured. However, there was regional difference in the degree of loosely-structured
villages in Bengal. They tended to be less loose in the western areas and looser in the eastern
areas of Bengal. Nevertheless, even though the fringes of settled areas in Bengal did consist of
forests and accreted lands, it is very clear that the majority of people in Bangladesh lived in
previously settled areas and not in newly cleared forests or fresh, reclaimed land.
Chapter 3: Dynamics of Political Instability
This chapter deals with the origin and functions of government in Bengal. Political fragmentation
was always prevalent in Bengal in ancient times. Bengal had a decentralized government, with
several independent groups within the deltaic region. Many Indian empires tried to siege Bengal
and the whole of Bengal ultimately fell into the grasp of Muslim rule in the 13th century.
There are two theories which clarifies the origin and role of the state:
 Contractual theory
 Predatory/exploitation theory
Even though the contractual theory is typical in South Asia’s past, most social scientists and
historians prefer the exploitation theory. Exploitation theory has two categories:
 Centralized (first formulated by Karl Marx) (Marx and Engels 1962)
 Decentralized
Analysis suggests that exploitation theory does not provide reasonable explanation on origin and
role of state in Bengal zones; the theories are new and influenced by western social sciences.
Whereas contractual theory is strongly linked to Bengal’s heritage. There are two types of
contractual theory:
 Spontaneous order (irrelevant for highly unstable polities in Bengal Zone)
 Neo classical theory of state (emphasizes the exchange of services of social infrastructure
between the ruler and the ruled)
However, there are two limitations of the second theory- competitiveness and transaction cost.
The structure of Bengal government was very fluid. The political entities in pre-Muslim Bengal
were significantly different from the political entities during Muslim rule. Some North Indian
based empires stretched their reach to Bengal; including the legendary Gangaridai empire. The
Maurya empire (321-151 BC) and the Gupta (331-600 AD) also ruled over some parts of Bengal,
mainly the Central and Western parts. Some Bihar-based all India empires also sporadically seized
some regions in Central and Western Bengal. However, these regions resisted the local
government and gained independence subsequently.
Bengal experienced perpetual political instability. Political entities in Bengal were always small
and had a short life-span. This can be due to many reasons like high enforcement costs due to
lack of corporate villages, high information costs, etc. These all made Bengal a difficult region to
navigate. Exacerbating the existing factors, there were also foreign invasions and upheavals from
within.
The establishment of the Muslim rule in the thirteenth century aided the expansion of the Muslim
government in terms of size. This was mainly due to two factors:
 The introduction of new military technologies greatly increased the policing capability of
all India empires
 Expansion of both inland and foreign trade was in harmony with the innovation of
international trade in Europe.
These factors marked the change from contractual polity to an exploitative polity. Revenue/GDP
ratio was approximately 43.8% in the heydays of the Mughal rule.
However, political instability persisted in medieval Bengal due to lack of corporate
establishments at grass-roots level and administrative flaws in the rural areas.
In conclusion, the author has tried to explain that even though the exploitation-based polity was
implemented at a later stage in the political history of Bengal, traces of contractual polity could
never be successfully erased. Therefore, political instability never ceased to exist in Bengal.
Chapter 04: Dynamics of Proselytization
The Muslims in Bengal possess strikingly different mindsets in comparison to Muslims hailing
from other Muslim-majority regions of the continent. These differences in core tenets, insights
and principles among Muslims of this region can be traced back to various theories put forth by
renowned scholars.
Noting the palpable resemblances in societal position, physique, demeanor and manners
between the Muslims and Hindus from lower castes, Beverley maintained that the spread of
Islam gained momentum owing to the conversion of lower-caste Hindus to Islam. Beverley’s
inferences were championed by the surveys of Herbert Risley, in which he classified South Asians
into seven categories based on their cephalic index, nasal index and stature, and derived a
conclusion that a significant proportion of Muslims of Eastern Bengal were, in fact, convert from
lower caste Hindus.
Khondkar Fazle Rubbee presented rebuttals attempting to disprove the hypothesis of Beverly
and Risley. However, their hypothesis couldn’t be fully discarded as scholars such as P.C.
Mahalanobis and B.S. Guha supported it.
A.A. Ghuznavi described the scenario in the following way: “I think that it will not be unsafe to
conclude that roughly speaking 20% of the present Mohammedans are lineal descendants of
foreign settlers, that 50% of them have an admixture of foreign blood and the remaining 30% are
probably descended from Hindu and other converts.” (Quoted in Ali 1985, Vol IB, p. 788)
The other significant factor influencing the change in population among Muslims is immigration.
No matter which theory is prioritized over another, it can be agreed that the general trend was
growth of Muslim population for a significant amount of time followed by transient deviations
signifying stagnation of growth for a certain period of time.
As the Brahmanical oppression heightened, the tendency of lower caste Hindus to find spiritual
enlightenment in Islam rose dramatically. More conversions to Islam took place when leaders of
a clan accepted Islam, but certain villagers were hesitant about accepting Islam despite their
willingness as they feared ostracism from their clan or village community. In Bengal, the
repercussions faced by victims of ostracism were rather lenient in comparison to that of other
regions of South Asia.
Influences of pirs and fakirs was another factor that resulted in spread of Islam. Instances of
mowing down mangrove forests and clearing Sal forests by certain pirs are notable events that
contributed to Muslim colonization. On another note, Christianity gained popularity and
maintained leverage for about 150 years amongst many groups owing to Western influence in
the political spectrums of Bengal.
Chapter 05: Dynamics of Dichotomy and Confrontation
With the advent of Islam in this part of Bengal, there arose the certain inevitability of the
conflictions between the two opposing theologies existing. At on side there was the monotheistic
Islam, while on the other, there was native religion Hinduism of thousand gods. And from early
on these conflicts were evident, which ultimately culminated in the two-nation partition by Sir
Redcliffe on 1947.
The historians puts forth an important theory of “Syncretism of Islam” that really influence the
then social ambience. The advent of Islam initialized the dichotomy and counterbalance in the
culture and language. As the “Ashraf” Muslims preferred foreign language and distasted the local
language and culture, while the local vernacular Muslim patronized and were really patronized
the native language and culture of the East Bengal. We saw this evident conflict within the
Muslim society culminated in the 1952 language movement. This put aside, there was initial
harmony amongst the Muslims in the “PAX BRITTNANNIA” as to uphold the rights of the Muslim
aristocrats. While the fundamentalist Muslims tried to shun the local culture, the general Muslim
kept up the parts of the culture and customs. This is the concretization of Islam. Although the
revivalist Muslim revolutions like “WAHABI”, ”MUHAMMADIYA”, tried to purge these culture
from the Muslims, there always remained the part of root in the east Bengal Muslims.
Although the initial conflictions between the Hinduism and Muslim slowed down during the antiBritish movement, even then, there always have been the ups and downs in the degrees of
conflictions. The 1940’s “Pakistan Resolution “was the effect of the ongoing dichotomy basing on
the ongoing conflicts which was intensified by the riots in Noakhali and so on. The conflicts that
started between the Hindu “Bhadrolok” and Muslim “Ashraf” ultimately ended in a bloody
division of the south Indian continent. But the interesting thing is that while the east Bengali
people protested basing on the religion in 1947, they again started uprising on the issues on the
native culture and language which ultimately ended in a separate nation Bangladesh, the
independent sovereign Bangladesh.
East Pakistan
West Pakistan
Disparity
Disparity ratio
(1)
(2)
(2-1)
(2-1) * 100
1
1.
1949-1950
288
351
63
21.9
2.
1954-1955
294
365
71
24.1
3.
1959-1960
277
367
90
32.5
4.
1964-1965
303
440
137
45.2
5.
1969-1970
331
533
202
61.0
Source: Rehman Sobhan 1992
What Renan said about nation-states is pertinent for Bangladesh as well: “Man, sirs, does not
improvise. The nation, even as the individual, is the end product of a long period of work,
sacrifice and devotion” (Hutchinson and Smith 1994). Akbar Ali Khan’s elucidation of the
dynamics of dichotomy and confrontation in Bengal in chapter 5 clearly indicates that the
fundamental forces in Bangladesh’s pursuit for identity were deeply-rooted and were not simply
influenced by political influential’ dispute for power.