Book Review: RAJSHAHIR ITIBRITTYA by Ibne Golam Samad Reviewed by Dr. N.N. Sarker

Book Review

RAJSHAHIR ITIBRITTYA by Ibne Golam Samad

Published by: Priti Prokashoni, 1999. 184 pages.

Composed at: The Bengal Press, Ranibazar, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Reviewed by Dr. N.N. Sarker ([email protected])

In the book, Rajshahir Itibrittya, Mr. Samad included 26 topics with individual chapters, for examples, Geographical boundary, Ethnicity, Old history, Muslim Culture in the Middle Age, Silk and Indigo Cultivation, the Jamindars and Education and Culture, Social System of Early Days, Christian Missionaries, Muslim Peers, Aolias and Darbeshes, Changes in the Muslim Ideology, Folk Culture, Nath Literature, Khetu Fairs of the Baishnavas, Trees and Animals, Wars, Crimes and Punishment, Natural Calamities, Technical Education and Rajshahi University. Since the title of the book is on the History of Rajshahi, it would have been better if the historical events were arranged in terms of historical time frames rather than putting times into topic frames. Instead, the author used a free form of presentation like a story teller. The book could have some references to published literatures on Rajshahi too.

Religious Prejudice of the Author

The book contains valuable information of Rajshahi over a significant period of time even though not in any chronological order. This book could earn some credibility and virtue if the author were not busy with his concerted effort of portraying a particular religious community as superior to the others. He seemed to be very gleeful with a feeling of being physically present at the birthplace of his religious master whenever he could identify any word of Middle Eastern origin. The authorï¿½s personal comments on the religion based communities are prejudiced and irritating throughout the book even though mentions were often inconsistent.

In the very first page, he says that the son of King Ganesh (Jadu) accepted Islam at his own will (p. 1). ï¿½At his own willï¿½ signifies that Jadu was amazed at the religious superiority of Islam over his own religion. Unfortunately Murshid [1] tells a different story. The Muslims were not pleased with the Hindu king, Ganesh. They planned to invite the mighty Moghal emperor in Delhi to dethrone him. Ganesh was not a match to the Emperor. He tried to appease the Muslims. Nothing worked. He found the only option, to protect the kingdom for his son to heir, was to have him converted to Islam before it was too late.

He made his prejudice very transparent by saying that the Hindu community had lot of problems, but the Muslim community did not have any (p. 65). This is ridiculously a childish claim. A community without any problem is just impossible to exist on the face of this earth.

Mr. Samadï¿½s subjective mind drove him to ridicule the Hindus by all means. He vomited all his anger and prejudice against the Hindus throughout the book. Now with this book published he should be comforted and cooled down. In the Muslim majority Bangladesh, the Hindus are the everyday target and subject of oppression for their lives, property and honor. Hardly any events are brought out to fill the newspaper columns. The Hindus have learnt to keep quite to avoid further persecution because there is no justice available for fair trials.

Widows in the Hindu Society and the Great Nikah System(!) in the Muslim Society

In the Hindu society, the widows were not allowed to marry again. As a result some were seen to get engaged into illegal activities (p.58, 59). But the Muslim society had a good system for the widows to get married again. It is called Nikah (p.85). A Muslim man in Rajshahi could have any number of nikah women in addition to four regular wives. The nikah women did not have equal status like women from regular marriages (p.85). But the good thing about nikah, as Mr. Samad mentioned, was its easy divorce. Even a woman could divorce instantly if she wished not to stay with the man any more (p.85). Does it not bring the prostitution home? Does it not legalize prostitution for food and lodging, Mr. Samad? How in the world this prostitution system could be praised? Certainly these women did not get any property on divorce. What was the provision for any child born to a nikah woman? Mr. Samad found a great thing on a system which could survive for any duration of time from a few years down to a few months, few weeks or to even a few days. This reminds me of a Thai plumber who came to fix my bathroom water system in Thailand in 1977. With broken English, he said, ï¿½I go to Rangsit (a prostitute place) and marry for one hour. Every time I get a new girl.ï¿½

The nikah system is still in prevalent. A poor widow in a village usually goes through a series of nikah as long has she possesses sex appeal. She eventually becomes a street beggar. How can it be better than a Hindu widow? I have seen lots of nikah women living on begging, but never had I seen a single Hindu widow begging. The Hindu society does not guarantee her sexual need but protects her other dignities and honors in the family. A widow without any child may have a chance of mistreatment from the family of the deceased husband. The society enforces the family to provide lifetime ownership of some property to ensure food and lodging. The so-called Nikah system of Mr. Samad is no where near the Hindu widow protection system.

Durga Puja Financed by Muslim Peasants

Hinud Jamindars spent lavishly on Durga puja festivals with money collected as tax mostly from Muslim peasants (p. 42). Mr. Samad, you can not help here. Taxation is universal. Let me comfort you. Samrat (King) Shahjahan ruled a kingdom where 90% of the population was non-Muslims. With the money he collected from this non-Muslim population, he built a monument to make him immortal. Instead of building the Tajmahal, he could have done thousands of philanthropic works, like, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, roads and so forth. Both Muslims and non-Muslims, rich and poor, could have been benefited, or he could reduce the amount of tax burden on the peasants. He never thought about any philanthropy.

Attempts to Demean Acclaimed Personalities

Rabindranath Tagore is an accomplished person even today and will remain as such for his immense contribution to Bengali literature, music and arts. He was honored with Nobel Prize in 1913. This is one certificate that he was the citizen of the world. His two songs are being used as National Anthems in India and Bangladesh. Yet Mr. Samad could not find a single good quality in Tagore. Rather he tried his best to defame Tagore with all his strength, anguish and narrow vision.

In recent time, Professor Yunus has become a world renowned figure because of his Grameen Bank for rural the people. About one hundred years before Professor Yunusï¿½ time, Tagore thought of helping the poor peasants. He established one Agriculture Bank in Patisar, Naogaon, Rajshahi by borrowing money at 8% rate from his well-wishers. He also put the total amount of Taka 108,000 that he obtained as part of the Nobel Prize. Mr. Samad mentions all these at pages 51-52. This bank was one of his noblest efforts to help out the poor farmers from the evil grips of the then rich people, Hindus and Muslims.

But the author could not find any philanthropy of Tagore on it. Rather, it caused him body ache. He accused Tagore because the bank charged the borrowers at a rate of 12%. Do the peasants get interest free money from the Grameen bank established by Professor Yunus, Mr. Samad? The way the interest is calculated and charged, it goes up to 35%.

He mentioned that the farmers during the reign of Sher Shah had to pay one-fourth (25%) of the produce as tax. Akbar, the so-called great king, asked for one-third (33.33%) (p.39). Interestingly, Mr. Samad did not mention a single word against these super high interest rates. The author did not mention the high interest rates the rich of that time in Rajshahi used to charge against the poor peasants. The rich of those days used to lend money purposely at such a high rate with one-sided terms and conditions such that the poors ultimately had to end up by loosing their mortgaged lands and houses to the lenders. Tagoreï¿½s bank might have protected hundreds of thousands of poor peasants from the ill devises of the then rich people. The rich, like Mr. Samad, might have been angry against Tagoreï¿½s bank for losing their easy but lucrative businesses.

Unfortunately Tagoreï¿½s bank failed and he lost all of the Nobel Prize money. In the end this brought immense joy and happiness to the author.

In 1910, Tagore established a high school in Patisar (p.51). Again, Mr. Samad did not see any benefit of it. As usual he found fault on Tagore and accused him as the peasants had to pay an extra tax of 3 Paisas for each Taka (64 Paisas made a Taka). Just to educate Mr. Samad, it is worth mentioning that the Independent Schools District system in the USA is supported mostly from the tax paid by the local residents.

The Muslims occupied India and ruled it until the British defeated them and took over the administration. The British ended its rule in August of 1947. At the demise of British power, this Muslim did not want to be ruled by the majority Hindus. For a Muslim, Islam is the first and foremost identity; state or cultural identity is always the secondary issue. Therefore, on their demand India was cut into three pieces. With two pieces, located 1000 miles away because of the main land India in between, the Muslim dream land Pakistan was created. The western piece was named as West Pakistan and the eastern piece as East Pakistan. Other than the religion, the people of East Pakistan did not have any commonality with that of West Pakistan. Rather, it had more commonalities with the people of the neighboring states of India. The East started realizing that the West Pakistan was dominating too much. The western part tried to keep East Pakistan attached emphasizing more on its religious identity. It emphasized any tie with the neighboring India as the act of infidels which is against the tenet of Islam.

Tagore was an extra-ordinary human being. His work has tremendous power and energy in the search for cultural heritage and patriotism. The Pakistani administration knew it very well and took all measures to ban the works of Tagore in East Pakistan. Mr. Samad grew up with this Islamic spirit of Pakistani teachings. He digested this spirit in his blood stream which always drives him to hate Tagore and his works. Unfortunately to Mr. Samad, Tagoreï¿½s teaching is universal and undefeatable. A government can fight down human beings but not the humanity.

In 1970 national election, the people from East Pakistan had the mandate to form government. But the West did not want it. The East got upset. The religious identity got weakened. Cultural identity became dominant. Tagoreï¿½s literature, particularly patriotic songs, penetrated deep into the heart and blood and thrilled and inspired them to die until East Pakistan was liberated to independent Bangladesh. Tagore, in fact, virtually acted as the Chief Commander of liberation war.

Unfortunately soon after liberation, the taste of liberation started becoming bitter. Many elites started realizing that the liberation was just a defeat of Islamic brotherhood. It was the victory of the Kafir country India. It caused heavy sore in the minds and hearts of Mr. Samad and others and new wave of anti-India feeling started. Patriotic songs were stopped right after liberation. Popularity of Tagore remained limited to the so-called progressive people only. With his reasons and justifications, Mr. Samad clearly distances himself from this so-called progressive segment of the population of Bangladesh.

With his deep hatred against Tagore, he believes that the cost of Tagoreï¿½s world trip used to come from the poor peasants of Patisor (p.51). Mr. Samad does not have idea that Tagore did not travel the world for pleasure. All his travels were part of invitations from academic societies around the globe and every time he was paid with handsome honorarium for his lectures. He put all these money to his Vsva Bharati to grow and sustain. The real source of his income was through his writings. Mr. Samad may not like his works but the whole India and even the world adored him with due respect and honor.

The author, Mr. Samad, read about one Rani Bhabani who earned fame and reputation with lot of philanthropic activities. To tarnish her reputation he cited one story that she wanted to gift her own daughter to Nawab Sirajuddoulla, but the Nawabï¿½s did not accept the gift. What a fabulous story (p.36)? How could a mother give away her daughter to prostitution? Reference? None. Now I know what I did not know about Sirajuddoulla; he might have been a stupid womanizer, an invader to grab kingdoms of others by force.

Mr. Samad did not mention the Maharani Hemantakumari Memorial Dhhupkol[3] (মহারানী হেমন্তকুমারি স্মৃতিবাহী ঢোপকল), a philanthropy to supply purified water to all. More than 100 Dhhupkols were established in 1937 to save people from epidemics of cholera and diarrhea [3].

In modern times, Bangladesh has several agricultural colleges and universities. Long time back, Annadashankar Roy realized the importance of education in agricultural science and introduced one course on agriculture (p.106). As usual, Mr. Samad failed to understand the foresightedness of Mr. Roy. He put up a theory that Mr. Roy had ulterior motive to tie and keep the Muslims as peasants for generations.

One leader of Congress, with name Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi, came to Rajshahi for fundraising (p.91). Mr. Samad probably would not have mentioned this name at all unless he had found one Muslim donating more money than a Hindu from Rajshahi.

He praised his favorite leader, Mr. Jinnah, with a wide heart (p.84) even though he never visited Rajshahi. He extracted some parts of Mr. Jinnahï¿½s infamous lectures to peoplesï¿½ assembly and to Radio Pakistan. But he did not mention a single word from Mr. Jinnahï¿½s desire of making Urdu as the national language of Bangalees. The Bangalees vehemently protested Mr. Jinnahï¿½s ill design. Salam, Barkat, Rafiq and many unknowns sacrificed their lives against Mr. Jinnahï¿½s ill design. A new country has emerged in the map of the world; the United Nations has adopted 21^st February as the International Language Day. But Mr. Samad conveniently did not mention a single word that could add a particle of dust on his beloved leader.

He might have life-long body ache and heart burn due to the breakaway of East Pakistan to become independent as Bangladesh. It is this Mr. Samad who wrote the history of Rajsahi.

[1] Murshid, G. 2006. ï¿½Hajar Bachhorer Bangali Samskrit.ï¿½ Launched on the 4^th January, 2006 at the Vsva Sahitya Kendra in Dhaka; published by Abasor Publications.

[2] Hasmi, T. 2006. ï¿½The Tagore Mania: Identity Crisis and Anti-Bangladesh Syndrome.ï¿½ Prothom Alo, Thursday, May 11, 2006.

[3] Prothom Alo. 2008. Will the Maharani Hemantakumari Memorial Dhhupkol of Rajshahi be lost? Thursday, 3 January 2008.

In eighties, the author was an Associate Professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University. He is disturbed by the rise of fundamentalism by the gradual extinction of the minorities in Bangladesh including the indigenous people in Madhupur, Sylhet, and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Revised on 12 February 2008