Sir Herbert Hope Risley (1851-1911) – who signed himself ‘H. H. Risley’ – was a member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) who became British India’s pre-eminent anthropologist.
After the creation of Pakistan, the nascent state embarked on vigorous projects to industrialise both parts of the country.
History is complicated; simplifying it is the work of politicians. My research on Bangladesh challenges the national memory of the 1971 war, as represented at the Liberation War Museum.
The fishermen communities of Bengal were diverse with regional variations. Apart from Malos, Kaibartas, Bagdis, and Pods, the numerically significant fishermen sub-castes, there were many other smaller and localized communities involved in fishing.
“Ding dong ding dong,” an irregular bell continued to resound within Dhaka Central Jail on a Monday at around 3 a.m. This unusual and disquieting disturbance echoed throughout various cells and wards, catching the incarcerated off guard.
Fazlul Huq is a largely forgotten politician in West Bengal. The apparent indifference towards Huq in West Bengal or India can be partly explained by the unfortunate vivisection of India in 1947.
The Medieval period in Bengal was noteworthy for its amazing religious syncretism, with the fusion of Shaiva, Shakta, and Vaishnava cults with regional folk traditions.
The riverine area of Bengal has held a significant position in Indian Ocean trade for centuries and has also given rise to different narratives about the region in European accounts.
In 1870, a song collector from Calcutta called Nanda Lal Sharma flicked through the pages of his newly published book, Sangit Sutra. In the central pages was a thumri lyric, set to the rag Alhaiya Khamaj.
The emergence of tea as a beverage in India is a unique social event in history. Sylhet, Assam, Cachar, Dooars, and Darjeeling were preferred for tea production, considering the hill climate favorable for tea production.
Historical evidence suggests that almost every year before independence in 1971, present-day Bangladesh consistently grappled with a widespread shortage of food grains.
I returned to Chattogram from the Liberation War on December 20, 1971 with my nephew,
Historically, Afghanistan, and its cities Kabul and Peshawar, were central in the Mughal imagination as the space where the idea of Hindustan took shape.
