Bhasha Mandakini
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Bhasha Mandakini
Bhasha Mandakini is CIIL’s flagship programme that aims to uphold the rich tradition and culture associated with Indian languages, literature, and diverse communities through audio-visual presentations in documentaries. Although the primary motto of the initiative is to facilitate the users with basic language learning methodologies, the videos of the Bhasha Mandakini Project take into consideration a holistic approach in the process by giving the learners an overall experience of not only how the language functions but also the associated history, socio-cultural perspectives, literary traditions and much more.
The idea of teaching modern Indian languages through television is one of its kind that promotes the diversity of the Indian linguistic landscape to the audience and encourages mother tongue education. These interesting videos are carefully curated to meet the needs of the learners, imbibe a sense of pride in one’s own language and promote the growth in usage of mother tongues in all levels of learning. Moreover, the documentaries result from well-researched works that showcase how infotainment can be integrated with language learning and education.
CIIL has produced around 1000 short films of half an hour duration in Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, and Tamil. The design of each language segment is modular and incremental, and they refer to the six major divisions under each language as decided by CIIL, namely, the following: 1) Space, 2) Time, 3) Society, 4) Culture, 5) Speech pattern and 6) Writing system. These (audio-visual contents) were aired in the Gyan-Darshan TV programme of IGNOU, New Delhi, under a MoU with CIIL. It was also proposed to telecast them on various regional and national news channels.
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- ItemDurga PujaThe goddess is worshipped as a representative of shakti(power or energy)or Adi Shakti(the primordial power or energy) in the Indian subcontinent and parts of South Asia. Shakti worship has taken the form of Durga Puja, a ten-day festival celebrated in Sharad (autumn months of September and October) in the eastern parts of India, primarily West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Odisha as well as in Bangladesh. In India, Durga Puja coincides with Navratri, primarily celebrated in the northern parts of the country. The final day of Durga Puja known as Dashami which marks the victory of good over evil happens on the same day as Dusshera (celebrated across India as the day Rama killed Ravana and is a marker of the fact that good will always destroy evil) or Dashain (celebrated in North Bengal and Nepal). Primarily, Durga Puja celebrates the victory of goddess Durga after a ten-day battle over Mahishasurawho after a boon from Brahma that no man can ever kill him, had started to torment the gods and other natives of Swarga (heaven). It also celebrates goddess Parvati’s (an avatar of goddess Durga) annual visit to her paternal home and “serves as a thanksgiving for a good harvest” (Malakar 2021). Modern-day Durga Puja marks a shift from the time it was first introduced by King Suratha. The Markandeya Purana states that King Suratha worshipped the goddess, Durga or Chandi in the spring season(also referred to as Basanta Kaal) as she was considered the goddess of fertility. However, according to the Ramayana, it was Rama who in order to get Devi Durga’s blessings fought Ravana worshipped goddess Durga for the first time in Autumn or what is known as the Ashwin month. This worship referred to as AkaalBodhonor ‘untimely worship’ is regarded as the precursor of the present-day Durga Puja. While Navaratri is a ten-day festival with the last day culminating in Dusshera, the main Durga Puja events happen for five days, starting with the fifth day of Navaratri which Bengalis refer to as Panchami. Panchami is followed by Shasti(sixth day), Saptami (seventh day), Ashtami (eighth day), Navami (ninth day), and Dashami.“Durga Puja was first organized in 1610 CE by the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family at their ancestral home at Barisha” (Malakar 2021), now in Kolkata. Other records show that the first-ever Durga Puja was “celebrated in Krishnanagar by its royal family and dates back to 1606” (Sen 2019). Since the past century, Durga Puja celebrations are categorized into bonedibaripuja-s (house/family pujas, known for their traditions, rituals, and grandeur) or barowaripuja-s (community/public pujas, also referred to as sarbojaninwhich means ‘for all men and women, marked by their innovative pandals, idols, decor, and lighting). Mahalayafalls on a new moon day a week prior to Durga Puja and marks the end of Pitripakshaand the beginning of Devipakshaor the day on which Goddess Parvati starts her journey from her husband Shiva’s home in Kailash to her parents’ home. She is usually accompanied by her vahana (lion) and her four children, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Ganesh, and Kartik along with their vahanas (swan, owl, mouse, and peacock respectively). Durga Puja is incomplete without Mahalayaas this is the day that officially sets the mood for the days that follow.Mahalayais are marked by many important rituals as it is only on this day that the eyes of the goddess are drawn (referred to as ChakshuDaanor the giving of eyes) as the final step in the creation of the idol. People also come to take a dip in the Ganges on Mahalaya to pray for the departed souls of their ancestors (referred to as Tarpan). Even though Durga Puja officially begins with Panchami, this day does not witness any major rituals. However, the idol is brought from the idol maker’s or potter’s place to the respective homes or pandals on this day. The worship of goddess Durga officially begins on Shasti which is marked by the Kalparambharites and the Mahasnan (great bath) ritual which is performed before the start of the puja. The commencement rituals are performed under a bael(wood apple tree) and Mahashakti who is worshipped on this day is summoned to the bael tree. Other rituals that are performed on this day include a special Shasti puja along with rituals that are done in order to welcome goddess Durgasuch asAmantran, Adhibas, Bodhan, and Baran. On Saptami, the idol of goddess Durga is given life through a ritual referred to as Prana Dana. This day also witnesses the worship of a banana stalk(referred to as Kola Bou)along with the Navapatrika (eight other sacred crops)to thank the goddess of fertility. Together, these nine plants represent the nine forms of the goddess Durga. Ashtamicelebrates the Mahishasurmardiniavatar(the destroyer of Mahishasura)of the goddess. Devotees normally fast until the Pushpanjali ritual during which mantras are chanted and flowers are offered to the goddess. The juncture between Ashtami and the second last day, Navami is marked by a ritual referred to as Sadhipuja which celebrates and worships the Chamunda or Chamundiniavatar of the goddess (the form that killed the two asuras named Chanda and Manda).Navamirecalls Rama’s worship of goddess Durga as a result of which 108 lamps are lit and 108 lotuses are offered to Devi Durga along with clothes, jewelry, hibiscus garlands, and baelleaves. The day also witnesses a lot of important rituals including Hom, Kumari Puja, Balidan, and Maha Aarti. On the final day, Dashami goddess Durga is sent back to her husband, Lord Shiva in Kailash with pomp and glory. A symbolic ritual referred to as Visarjana(immersion) marks her farewell. Before Visarjana, SindoorKhela(playing with vermillion), a ritual observed by married women takes place. After Visarjana, people wish each other and elders bijoya(‘The Auspicious Victory’). This bijoyais considered subhoor auspicious and is believed to bring one good health and prosperity.
- ItemFolk Performances in Bengal Part-1The folk theatre in Bengal evolved out of the community spirit which has been existent in rural Bengal since before the sixteenth century. Genres such as the Panchaligaan(oral narrative or ballad songs) and the Kathakata(narrative) are considered predecessors of the present-day folk theatre in Bengal. Both the Panchaligaanand the Kathakatafocus primarily on religious themes and mythological stories even though with the passage of time, other socially and culturally relevant themes and subjects have also come into focus. The primary aim of these folk forms apart from the entertainment and education of the masses was to simplify and subsequently instruct through religious texts. Songs have been a dominant trait of the folk theatre in Bengal and whatever be the subject and the story of a particular performance, it is borne and carried forward by songs as well as crisp and dramatic dialogue and enunciation. Folk theatre performances are usually held during religious festivals to pay homage to gods and goddesses. In such performances, usually, there is a single narrator, and this narrator tends to represent multiple characters and as a result, multiple voices and points of view (similar in spirit to the modern-day one-man show). With the use of songs and music, these village performers have the ability to raise their narration to the level of drama. There are numerous folk theatre forms in Bengal and many of those are relevant to this day. Gambhira(also, Gambhira-gaanor naach)is a well-known form of Bengali folk theatre extremely popular in the Malda district of West Bengal. Gambhira spreads out as far as the Dinajpur and Murshidabad districts, located to the north and the south of the Malda districts respectively. It is directly linked to the Hindu festivals of Gajanand Charakwhich celebrate Lord Shiva. These festivals are generally held on the last day of Chaitra (in Aprilprior to the Bengali New Year or PoilaBoishak). Gambhiraperformances usually have two performers – one of who usually portrays the role of the village or the community Elder. The performance progresses with a dialogue between the two usually through song (and through dance in the case of Gambhiranaach). Gambhira performers not only dress up on their own but also do their own makeup. The Gambhiraperformance usually begins with a concert in which many musical instruments are played followed by an introduction known as Mukhopadwhere the performers and characters introduce themselves. The Mukhopadis followed by what is known as the Bandana or the salutation where Lord Shiva or Mahadev makes an entry (as a tribute to the Gajanand Charakfestivals). Mahadev is referred to as “nana” and he is a representative of the feudal lord (in the past) and of the government (at present). The other performers, representative of the poverty-stricken common masses are usually in soiled dhoti-s and shreds of cloth. Duets performed by a man and a woman (usually played by another man) or Charyari(an act with four characters) follow the Bandana. The most skilled actor is usually the symbol and the voice of the common masses or the underprivileged. The Gambhirausually ends with a Report which is a summation of all the significant events that have taken place in a particular year. These are usually events that are of national importance. The language of the Gambhira-gaan is a combination of various languages of West Bengal and nearby states including Bengali, Maithili, Hindi, Rajbanshi, Palia as well as dialects from the Barind tract (néeVarendra). Gambhirais truly the reflection of the zeitgeist – of the stark truth (under the guise of laughter) that dictates the lives of the ordinary toiling people of Bengal. The Gambhira-gaan of today is secular and can be held at any time of the year and has no relation to the four-day Gambhira festival which was held for four days during the Gajanand Charakfestivals. Domni or Domni-gaan is a folk theatre form popular in the West Bengal-Bihar border area, especially in Diara, Ratua, and Manikchak areas of the Malda district. Like many other Bengali folk theatre genres, Domni sees men (referred to as chakra-s orsokra-s) portray the role of female characters. Domni performances are replete with music, dance, and dialogue. However, owing to the language, which is the conversational language of the area, and incomprehensible to people outside of the community, Domni has remained restricted within the Diara area and is on the verge of extinction. The Diara area witnesses a New Year festival (also called the Sirua festival). This is the time the Domni performance groups visit affluent houses and collect fees in order to prepare for open-air Domni performances. Most Domni plays begin with the Bandanawhich first pays homage to the gods and then to the hosts. The chokra-s in the guise of women dance a Lacharior a Nachari. After the Bandana, the main body of the play starts. Serious subjects such as social oppression, injustice, marginalization, etc., all of which are of immediate social importance to the area are depicted through the means of Domniperformances. The audience of these performances is mostly the locals of the area, most of who are farmers or daily wage laborers. The Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur areas of West Bengal are a conglomeration of various communities and classes. Together they have given rise to the folk theatre form called Khanor Khangaan (derived from the word ‘khanda’ or ‘fragments’) which is organized post-harvest. Tales of love, replete with problems are portrayed through Khan's performances. Khan's performances are unique in the sense that most of the dialogues are improvised as the performanceprogresses. Further, the pace of the dances included in these performances is usually slow. Every year, Khanperformances witness the rise of new stories based on socially relevant issues. The toiling people and the common masses of the area portray their simple lifestyle and focus on their own problems and their efforts to solve these problems through the means of Khan performances. Some of these performances see the presence of elements from religious rituals referred to as Bo-Khela amongst which HaluaHaluani (from the word ‘hal’or ‘plough’) is very popular. Dhaamor Dhaamgaan is an important folk theatre form of the Jalpaiguri district. These performances see the coming together of women dancers (also sokra), singers (locally known as gidal and Dohari), and instrumentalists. With the course of time, Dhaamperformances have taken up socially relevant themes and contemporary events and are now known as Palatia.Palatiais of three types depending on the importance of the subject: Khashpanchal, Rangpanchal, and Manpanchal. In the Cooch Behar district of North Bengal, Kushan and Dotra plays are important forms of folk theatre. Both these use the traditional Bhawaiya tune. Dotra plays usually depict popular legends or public scandals and contain themes that are secular. The burden of the play is carried by the Geedal or theMool(lead singer) whose songs are accompanied by the music of the dotara. Young girls dance to this tune. The Geedal usually wears a dhoti and a shawl and does not have any special costume. Dotra plays have a comic character called the Duaari (the local equivalent of the jester) whose role is to provide comic relief. The Duaari throughout the play regards the Geedal as his guru. Kushan plays (from the name Kush, the second son of Rama and Sita) are very popular among the Rajbanshi community of North Bengal. Kushan plays can be performed at any time of the year and are not linked to a particular festival or season.Sokra-s sing and dance to the tune of the senior bana, a bamboo instrument while the Geedal narrates the story through the medium of songduring a Kushanperformance. Some Kushan performances such as “Bishahara”(trans., “The Removal of Poison” which depicts the popular myth of the snake-goddess Manasa and Chand Sadagar, a merchant who refused to worship her, performed mostly in winter during a marriage ceremony) also sees the use of the mukhamashe, a folk flute. Kushanperformancestell the story of Rama as it is said to have been told at the court of Sri Rama in Ayodhya. Apart from this, tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are portrayed in these plays. Sometimes in order to break the monotony of the play and provide dramatic relief, contemporary events (called that or khosha or phash) are brought in which have no direct link with the main play. ManasaPalapopular in South Bengal is similar in spirit to “Bishahara”. However, it is directly related to ManasaPuja, a festival celebrating the Snake goddess, Manasa, and is held during the monsoon season in the months from July to September. Manasa Pala is held at local fairs during Manasa Puja and is open to anyone who wants to attend. The Bengali folk theatre despite being a secular space does not go into deep philosophy or theory. It is a representative of the lives, thoughts, and problems of the common people of rural Bengal. Most of these folk theatre forms and the festivals which are associated with them are participated in, viewed, and celebrated by Hindus and Muslims alike without any kind of communal or religious bias.
- ItemPeople of Bengal Part-1The growth and history of Bengal and its people were intertwined not only with the history of the Indian subcontinent but also with the growth of present-day South Asia. Bengal was one of the earliest Aryan colonies in the Indian subcontinent and included modern-day West Bengal and Bangladesh as well as parts of Orissa, Bihar, Assam, and the present-day Northeast. ‘Banga’ or Vanga was first mentioned in the Aitereya Aranyaka and frequent references to the land of ‘Vanga’ are found in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. People of ancient Bengal are said to have originally belonged to various tribal communities – North Indian Aryan Long Heads, South Indian Dravido-Munda Long Heads, Alpine Short Heads, and Mongolian Short Heads. These communities mingled with each other, and both the Bengali culture and the Bangla language were a result of this grand synthesis. The Modern Bengali language that we know today is a result of several evolutionary changes in the Vedic Sanskritic language (from colloquial Magadhi Prakrit to Magadhi Apabhramsa to Ancient Bangla to Medieval Bangla to Modern Bangla). Although there is very little recorded information about the early ages of Bengal, as we travel through the pages of history, we discover the rise and fall of various kingdoms. Even though accurate historical information about Bengal is available only from the Gupta period, the Gangaridai and Prasioi empires seemed to have existed in ancient Bengal in the deltaic region of the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna rivers around 400 BC which coincided with the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. The Gupta period was known as a period of immense religious tolerance and this period also saw a lot of development in the art of sculpture. Many janapadas (small kingdoms) flourished as the Gupta empire faded away, some of which were Gour, Vangala, Varendri, Summa, Samatat, Radha, Pundra, Harikel, Tamralipta, Kajangala, and Banga. The unified polity of Bengal saw the rise of her first independent king in the form of Shashanka, who ruled approximately between 590 and 635 CE. His capital was located at Karnasubarna near Rajshahi, Bangladesh in present-day Murshidabad. With the rise of the Pala dynasty under King Gopala Pala in 750 CE, the golden age of Bengal was established. Bengal under the reign of Dharmapala and Devpala has been regarded by historians as a period of political genius. The Pala-s were Buddhists and the most venerated Buddhist monk and scholar, Atish Dipankara Srijnana (980-1053 CE) carried Buddhism to Tibet during this period. This was also the time when the earliest form of the Bengali script originated from the Brahmi alphabet of the Ashokan inscriptions and subsequently from the spoken Laukika or Apabhramsa-Avahatta, which “can be rightly called proto-Bengali” (Sen 1960, 8). The Caryapada (or the Carya songs) is the earliest literature composed in the earliest form of the Bengali language. Sukumar Sen (1900-92) writes in History of Bengali Literature (1960) that even though the language of the carya songs is vernacular, it is also something of a literary language at the same time (Sen 1960, 4-5). The Sena dynasty headed by Vijayasena supplanted the Pala-s towards the end of the eleventh century during the rule of Mahipala II. The Sena-s were Brahma-Kshatriyas, originally from the south of the Indian subcontinent and went all out to restore the identity of the Brahmins and introduced Kulin Pratha (the practice of Kulinism), which was a social reform system that allowed Kaulinya Brahmins to assert social and religious superiority over people belonging to other races, communities, or religions. Vaishnavism also flourished under the rule of the Senas and Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda is an exemplary example of this. During the Middle Bengali period (1350-1800), Brajabuli was popularised by Vidyapati and his Vaishnava songs. Muslim rule was established in parts of Bengal with Bakhtiyar Khilji’s conquest of Lakshmanavati. With the advent of the Turkish invasion and the massive looting and destruction of temples and seats of learning that followed, Bengal received a massive blow as “intellectual activities were extinguished for about a couple of centuries” (Sen 1960, 34). From the debris of the “Dark Centuries” which followed the Turkish invasion of Bengal in the thirteenth century, a new Bengali people emerged in the Chaitanya period which began in the sixteenth century and saw an all-around development in the social, cultural, and religious fronts in Bengal and Orissa. Led by Sri Chaitanya, this period saw the rise of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism Movement, Samkirtan (singing the name of god together), and the assertion of the right to public worship. Many folk forms seemed to exist in rural Bengal alongside the Muslim rule on one hand and the rise of Gaudiya Vaishnavism on the other. Some of these which exist to date were Brotokatha, recitals of the Kasidasi Mahabharata, Alkaap, Gambhura, and Manashar Gaan. Murshid Quli Khan became the first Nawab of Bengal and served from 1717 to 1727 while Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah (1733-57), the last Nawab of Bengal seized Calcutta and came to power in 1756. This coincided with the expansion of the British settlement in the Indian subcontinent. With the visit of Job Charnock, an administrator with the British East India Company, Calcutta was established by merging the three villages of Kalikata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti in 1756. With the French as his allies, Siraj-ud-Daulah caused the Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta in 1756 cost innumerable British lives. The British answered to this with the Battle of Plassey led by Robert Clive in 1757 that marked the victory of the East India Company over Siraj-ud-Daulah and his French allies and decided the fate of Bengal. Calcutta became the centre of administration and commerce and was the capital of British India from 1722 to 1911. Bengal was marked by a period of extreme uncertainty in the eighteenth century after the defeat of Siraj-ud-Daulah and was marked by repeated attacks from the Marathas (from 1741 to 1751, referred to as Bargir Hungama), and the great Bengal Famine of 1770 which is popularly referred to as Chhiattor-er Monnontor. During this time, the only relief came in the form of the devotional poems of Ramprasad Sen (1718-75) who was a Shakta Bengali poet, Bharatchandra Ray Gunakor’s (1712-60) Vidyasundar, and Dasharathi Ray’s (1806-57) Panchali or narrative poems remarkable in their religious sentiments and musical quality. A new class of Bengalis or a new middle class emerged towards the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. Sukumar Sen states that “some of the nouveaux riche came forward as supporters of the new quasi-literary and cultural trends that emerged in Calcutta and in the other townships along the Hooghly” (Sen 1960, 147). The eighteenth century was also marked by the introduction of the printing press in Serampore, the publication of the first Bengali grammar book by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed called A Grammar of the Bengali Language in 1788, and the establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 among others. Some notable literary and intellectual figures of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth-century Bengal were Rammohun Roy (1772-1833), Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838-84), Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-73), and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-91) – all of who ultimately led to the Bengal Renaissance that is said to have finally ended with Rabindranath Tagore in the twentieth century.