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4 The Turkic Age (13 th – Mid 14 th Centuries) The Turkic general Bakhtiyar Khilji conquered Gaur in 1203. A fear of their invasion had haunted the rulers’ and the common people’s mind since before. After conquering the province, the Turks ruled it for nearly one and a half century. Bengal’s antique cultural progress was obstructed by this unexpected and shocking invasion by barbaric foreigners. Bloodshed, torture, harassment, forced conversion, looting and destruction of scripts, sculptures, temples and properties followed. Bengal’s cultural world was totally submerged by frustrating darkness; the soul of the Bengali nation was in fact wounded and paralyzed. As a result, probably no literature was produced in that era; and even if produced, those have not come to our hands. Literary practice in this province had to wait for another century. Yet some hold the idea that the medieval poet Ramai Pundit wrote Shunyopuran in the 13 th century; but their opinion is not supported by linguistic evidence. The Turkic rulers began to marry native girls; as a result, a new race called Bengali-Turkic emerged. Thus the Turkic Muslims were slowly integrating in the mainstream of Bengali society. History gave the hint that they would make effective role in Bengali culture in the next century. The Sultanate (Mid 14 th –15 th Centuries) In course of time, the alien brutes were slowly merging with the native people of our province. The rulers even started patronizing our art and culture. Thus, since the 14 th century, literary pursuit had a rebirth under patronage of the independent sultans. The historians recognize Fakruddin Mubarak Shah as the first sultan of Bengal. He declared himself as a distinctive monarch in 1338. Thereafter many feudal lords ruled the Bengal Sultanate until it was merged with the Mogul Empire in the early 17 th century. But it is noteworthy that the sultans’ reign in literature lasted only till the 15 th century; afterward it came under the influence of the Chaitanya movement. Poetical works of the era were quite creative, besides free translations of Sanskrit texts. Although poets had no common trend, the age holds the features that sultans and rajas patronized many of them, and a new language which was not more than a dialect before, became the vehicle of literature. Sultan Shamsuddin Ilias Shah, Raja Ganesh, Raja Shiva Singha (King of Mithila), Sultan Ruknuddin Barbak Shah, Sultan Hussain Shah and some other monarchs patronized Bangla literature. Baru Chandidas’s Sree-Krishna-Kirtan is the first ever surviving work of the period. It is considered a masterpiece of the Middle Ages. Krittibas Ojha, patronized by either Raja Ganesh or Sultan Ruknuddin Barbak Shah, wrote Sree-Ram-Panchali based on the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. Rama had less popularity than Krishna in medieval Bengal. That is why literature on Rama did
5 not flourish here. Krittibas’s work is also not at per with Tulsidas’s Hindi epic Ram- Charit-Manas. However, it is a remarkable work of the early Middle Ages. Vidyapati Thakur (poet laureate of Mithila) is immortal for his Vaishnava Padas (i.e. Kirtan songs). He composed love songs (surrounding the myth of Radha and Krishna) that have artistic delicacy and romantic imagination. Narayandev, Bijoy Gupta and Bipradas Piplai wrote Padmapuran (or Manasha-Mangal). Narayandev’s long poem on the myth of Manasha is often called an epic by some critics. Kabindra Parameswar (urged by Sultan Hussain Shah’s military commander Paragal Khan) and Sreekar Nundi (instructed by Paragal’s son Chuti Khan) translated Mahabharata in brief. Sreedhar Kabiraz, under Shahjada Feroze Shah’s patronage, wrote the first ever Bidya-Sundar. And Maladhar Basu, who was given the title ‘Gunaraj Khan’ by Sultan Ruknuddin Barbak Shah, wrote Sree-Krishna-Bijay based on Sreemad-Bhagabat. The poets of the period were sold by heart and soul to the feudal rulers. A sense of dependence, fear and helplessness gripped their mind. They expressed their allegiance to the gods and goddesses in a time of feudal despotic rule. Their gods and goddesses are also authoritarian and tyrant. Free will and humanistic ideas are absent in their writings. They only served the demand of their age, which was – a revival of Hinduism. And the era mainly produced mythic and folk culture. The Vaishnava Age or The Age of Chaitanya (16 th Century) Vaishnavism is a stream within Hinduism which is based on the popular worship of the god Vishnu and his two incarnations named Rama and Krishna. The movement of Bhakti (love for a personal god) developed in the middle ages surrounding these two avatars. Particularly in Bengal, Krishna captured the public’s mind. The 16 th century was the era of the Vaishnava movement led by the mystic philosopher Sree Chaitanya (1485-1533). It made a vast influence on the whole culture of the period named after him. Chaitanya preached the doctrine of ‘Love and Devotion’ (i.e. Prem-Bhakti Dharma), which interprets the love of the heroine Radha for her deity Krishna as a devotee’s love for God. The ritual he initiated was just choral performances of Kirtan songs with spontaneous dance. Although he himself was not a writer, his movement gave birth to a rich literature in an age of the Vaishnavites. It was the age of Chaitanya. His Vaishnava mysticism changed the course of history of the entire Eastern India. He was in fact a prophet who, with visionary and spiritual touch, made our culture having golden fruits. Around him, even a new genre i.e. hagiography developed in Bangla. Brindabandas, Lochandas, Jayananda, Krishnadas Kabiraz and some other poets wrote his hagiographies. Among these works, Krishnadas’s Sree-Chaitanya-
Page 1 and 2: Bangla Literature: A Critical Overv
Page 3: 3 By that time, Buddhism was in the
Page 7 and 8: 7 Chaitanya’s era as the mystic f
Page 9 and 10: 9 slowly merging. Even after the Ba
Page 11 and 12: 11 ’85) and Piarichand Mitra (181
Page 13 and 14: 13 were two late representatives of
Page 15 and 16: 15 Panju Shah (1851?-1914) and Haso
Page 17 and 18: 17 Panchagram (1943), Hashuli Banke
Page 19 and 20: 19 Also a new trend of historical n
Page 21 and 22: 21 3 Great Bengali Writers Jayadeva
Page 23 and 24: 23 lovers’ pains. According to hi
Page 25 and 26: 25 This poem is a reflection of the
Page 27 and 28: 27 Michael’s epic has a prehistor
Page 29 and 30: 29 lovers. And at the end of the no
Page 31 and 32: 31 An intense ray is dispersed into
Page 33 and 34: 33 Shey.(S/he) is a novel out of th
Page 35 and 36: 35 Tasher Desh (The Play-Cards’ L
Page 37 and 38: 37 autobiographical novel. It is a
Page 39 and 40: 39 fighter and eventually a martyr
Page 41 and 42: 41 He died a premature death out of
Page 43 and 44: 43 the tiresome journey of Man is n
Page 45 and 46: 45 Giving the child a farewell kiss
Page 47 and 48: 47 Sunil’s poems are a unique pla
Page 49 and 50: 49 Akhtaruzzaman Elias (1943-’97)
Page 51 and 52: 51 He warns mankind of a possible f
Page 53 and 54: 53 • A writer who wrote in two li

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