Old Bangla Photos

[kobiraaz]

Look at the way he is standing in between two muslim leader in Bangladesh soil.... He was surely a man with mission.... those who killed him were pure idiot......

 

[kobiraaz]

May Allah not bless his soul!

He wasn't a preacher. He was a warrior. He didn't come here to spread Islam. He came here to conquer!

But as a warrior, he was an awesome dude. I heard he was a short ugly guy with disproportionally long hands, but I guess it was his brain that helped him plan all his winning strategies in the battlefield.

but He didnt spread islam with sword.... He was a conquerer... His conquest helped saints preaching islam in Bengal....

 

[Zabaniyah]

May Allah not bless his soul!

He wasn't a preacher. He was a warrior. He didn't come here to spread Islam. He came here to conquer!

But as a warrior, he was an awesome dude. I heard he was a short ugly guy with disproportionally long hands, but I guess it was his brain that helped him plan all his winning strategies in the battlefield.

Warriors are cool.

 

[Kambojaric]

Great pics Farhaan. Keep them coming.

 

[eastwatch]

May Allah not bless his soul!

He wasn't a preacher. He was a warrior. He didn't come here to spread Islam. He came here to conquer!

But as a warrior, he was an awesome dude. I heard he was a short ugly guy with disproportionally long hands, but I guess it was his brain that helped him plan all his winning strategies in the battlefield.

Malik Bakhtiar brought many Lakhs of his own Turkic people from a poor Garmshir of Afghanistan to domicile in the fertile land of Bengal. This was the 1st group of huge number of Muslims in this soil. He brought his people and brought Islamic identity to this region. He was certainly not a preacher, he was a warrior. But, many Islamic scholars, Faqirs and Darveshes followed him and came to Bengal to spread the teachings of Islam. Islam spread as a result of their simple lives.

Malik Bakhtiar was not a preacher, but he established many mosques, Khankas, and schools. Bakhtiar was not handsome, he was a hunchback and his hands were unusually long. But, these handicaps did not dissuade him from achieving the status of a great general. He was, unfortunately, killed by one of his generals named Ali Mardan Khilji a few weeks after he returned from a failed Assam/Tibet expedition.

Malik Ali Mardan himself was also killed by two other generals. Note that the 1st four Maliks or Muslim Kings of Bengal were killed by their own people. It seems we are still following their footpaths. Think of Sk. Mujib, Zia, Khaled Musharraf, Col. Taher, four AL leaders, many hundred other military officers during Zia's time and finally that Pilkhana carnage by the BDR troops.

 

[InFn-0]

Regarding when the region came to being named Bangla/Bongo/Vanga etc. i d like to share a map here. The map names the region of Bengal as Vangadesam, which is basically Bangladesh ( Vanga = Bangla, Desam = Desh). My understanding is the region was names Vanga from ancient times (thousands of years ago), but during different ruling periods the name came to be pronounced differently.

 

[eastwatch]

Regarding when the region came to being named Bangla/Bongo/Vanga etc. i d like to share a map here. The map names the region of Bengal as Vangadesam, which is basically Bangladesh ( Vanga = Bangla, Desam = Desh). My understanding is the region was names Vanga from ancient times (thousands of years ago), but during different ruling periods the name came to be pronounced differently.

The map you have provided seems to have been derived in south India. I did not say that there was no Banga or Vanga, but only during Mughal period the entire region compassing Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah.

Immediately before this time, it was called Gaur by the name of the Capital City. It was called also Lakkhaanabati when Sens were ruling. The name changed to many names during ages, but Bangalah has become a permanent name only during the Mughals.

By the way, it would be interesting to note that the Calcutta centered Province of India has been named Paschim Banga. It is not Paschim Bangla, whereas we call ours as Bangladesh, and not Bangadesh. A part of Bengal was always called Banga or Vanga in ancient times. But, not the entire area, other parts had other names.

Only after Mughal conquest the entire region of Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah. It seems Calcutta chose a pre-Mughal name. But, we chose the Mughal name. However, even the people of west Bengal call their Province 'Bangladesh' when they talk with each other.

 

[InFn-0]

The map you have provided seems to have been derived in south India. I did not say that there was no Banga or Vanga, but only during Mughal period the entire region compassing Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah.

Immediately before this time, it was called Gaur by the name of the Capital City. It was called also Lakkhaanabati when Sens were ruling. The name changed to many names during ages, but Bangalah has become a permanent name only during the Mughals.

By the way, it would be interesting to note that the Calcutta centered Province of India has been named Paschim Banga. It is not Paschim Bangla, whereas we call ours as Bangladesh, and not Bangadesh. A part of Bengal was always called Banga or Vanga in ancient times. But, not the entire area, other parts had other names.

Only after Mughal conquest the entire region of Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah. It seems Calcutta chose a pre-Mughal name. But, we chose the Mughal name. However, even the people of west Bengal call their Province 'Bangladesh' when they talk with each other.

Interesting. It is unbelievable how little us general Bangladeshis know about our history. Most people seem to think we came into existence only after 1971, there is absolutely nothing regarding ancient bengal in the history text books that are being taught in schools. Also, books about this topic is almost non existent; i would squarely blame the government in this case.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Interesting. It is unbelievable how little us general Bangladeshis know about our history. Most people seem to think we came into existence only after 1971, there is absolutely nothing regarding ancient bengal in the history text books that are being taught in schools. Also, books about this topic is almost non existent; i would squarely blame the government in this case.

My mother has taught Bangladesh Studies in an international school in Dhaka. She said that Awami League men repeatedly phone the school's principal to make sure that Bangladesh Studies is always being taught and in line with their views of history.

I swear, that party is increasingly getting more and more fascist and corrupt to the core.

 

[LaBong]

The map you have provided seems to have been derived in south India. I did not say that there was no Banga or Vanga, but only during Mughal period the entire region compassing Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah.

Immediately before this time, it was called Gaur by the name of the Capital City. It was called also Lakkhaanabati when Sens were ruling. The name changed to many names during ages, but Bangalah has become a permanent name only during the Mughals.

By the way, it would be interesting to note that the Calcutta centered Province of India has been named Paschim Banga. It is not Paschim Bangla, whereas we call ours as Bangladesh, and not Bangadesh. A part of Bengal was always called Banga or Vanga in ancient times. But, not the entire area, other parts had other names.

Only after Mughal conquest the entire region of Bengal and Bihar was named Sube Bangalah. It seems Calcutta chose a pre-Mughal name. But, we chose the Mughal name. However, even the people of west Bengal call their Province 'Bangladesh' when they talk with each other.

There is difference in Bangla and Bangal, even today North Indians call Paschim Banga as Paschim Bangal, simply because there is no অ sounding word in Hindustani. It has nothing to do with Mughals. Personally I find Bangal very inappropriate, well at least they don't call us Pashim Bang!

 

[Zabaniyah]

Why can't we just simply call Bangladesh as Bengal?

 

[LaBong]

Why can't we just simply call Bangladesh as Bengal?

Because you believe in Bangladeshi nationalism as opposed to Bengali nationalism(whatever does that mean! there is one instance an elite member from Pakistan taught me that there is no Bengali in Bangladesh but they are Bangladeshi who don't speak Bengali!)

We wanted the same, to call our state as Bengal or Bangla, but the politicians who are of older generation don't seem to get rid of partition hangover!

 

[Zabaniyah]

Because you believe in Bangladeshi nationalism as opposed to Bengali nationalism(whatever does that mean! there is one instance an elite member from Pakistan taught me that there is no Bengali in Bangladesh but they are Bangladeshi who don't speak Bengali!)

We wanted the same, to call our state as Bengal or Bangla, but the politicians who are of older generation don't seem to get rid of partition hangover!

Bangladeshi nationalism is over-rated. Hence the relatively weak sense of identity of these "Bengali Muslims".

Anyways, this is my opinion judging from the current state of things in Bangladesh.

The problem is that in mainstream Bangladesh today, people tend to see the beginning of their history from 1971. Personally, I believe this is a flawed line of thinking.

 

[InFn-0]

Why can't we just simply call Bangladesh as Bengal?

To be honest it does nt matter what we call ourselves as long as it means the same thing.

 

[InFn-0]

My mother has taught Bangladesh Studies in an international school in Dhaka. She said that Awami League men repeatedly phone the school's principal to make sure that Bangladesh Studies is always being taught and in line with their views of history.

I swear, that party is increasingly getting more and more fascist and corrupt to the core.

I personally have no problem with the schools teaching the AL version of 71 war but that does not mean the Bangladesh Studies subject cannot have stuff about ancient bengal. I have read the book that is being taught in the schools in Dhaka for O level students, and there is hardly anything ancient about it. It would be great to know how the bangla language came into existence from sanskrit, how civilization really began around here and so on.