Bengalis (singular Bengali  ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divided between the independent country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, Barak Valley, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand and part of Meghalaya and Manipur. Most of them speak Bengali, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family.

Bengalis are the third-largest ethnic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and Arabs. Thus, they are the largest ethnic group within the Indo-Europeans and the largest ethnic group in South Asia. Apart from Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur, and Assam's Barak Valley, Bengali-majority populations also reside in India's union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with significant populations in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand as well as Nepal's Province No. 1. The global Bengali diaspora (Bangladeshi Bengalis and Indian Bengalis) have well-established communities in the Middle East, Pakistan, Myanmar, the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Italy, Singapore, Maldives, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Bengalis are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. Today, approximately 68% are adherents of Islam with a large Hindu minority and sizable communities of Christians and Buddhists. Bengali Muslims, who live mainly in Bangladesh, primarily belong to the Sunni denomination. Bengali Hindus, who live primarily in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam's Barak Valley, Jharkhand and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, generally follow Shaktism or Vaishnavism, in addition to worshipping regional deities. There also exist small numbers of Bengali Christians, a large number of whom are descendants of Portuguese voyagers, as well as Bengali Buddhists, the bulk of whom belong to the Bengali-speaking Barua group in Chittagong and Rakhine (who should not be confused with other Buddhists of Bangladesh that belong to different ethnic groups).

Like every large culture group in history, Bengalis have greatly influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably the arts and architecture, language, folklore, literature, politics, military, business, science and technology.

Etymology

The term Bengali is generally used to refer to someone whose linguistic, cultural or ancestral origins are from Bengal. The Indo-Aryan Bengalis are ethnically differentiated from the non-Indo-Aryan tribes inhabiting Bengal. Their ethnonym, Bangali, along with the native name of the language and region Bangla, are both derived from Bangālah, the Persian word for the region. Prior to Muslim expansion, there was no unitary territory by this name as the region was instead divided into numerous geopolitical divisions. The most prominent of these were Vaṅga (from which Bangālah is thought to ultimately derive from) in the south, Rāṛha in the west, Puṇḍravardhana and Varendra in the north, and Samataṭa and Harikela in the east. In ancient times, the people of this region identified themselves with respect to these divisions. Vedic texts such as the Mahābhārata makes mention of the Puṇḍra people.

The historic land of Vaṅga (bôngô in Bengali), situated in present-day Barisal, is considered by early historians of the Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions to have originated from a man who had settled in the area though it is often dismissed as legend. Early Abrahamic genealogists had suggested that this man was Bang, a son of Hind who was the son of Ham (son of Noah). In contrast, the Mahabharata, Puranas and the Harivamsha state that Vaṅga was the founder of the Vaṅga Kingdom and one of the adopted sons of King Vali. The land of Vaṅga later came to be known as Vaṅgāla (Bôngal) and its earliest reference is in the Nesari plates (805 CE) of Govinda III which speak of Dharmapāla as its king. The records of Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty, who invaded Bengal in the 11th century, speak of Govindachandra as the ruler of Vaṅgāladeśa (a Sanskrit cognate to the word Bangladesh, which was historically a synonymous endonym of Bengal). 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his ʿAin-i-Akbarī that the addition of the suffix "al" came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 in breadth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyāz us-Salāṭīn.

In 1352 CE, a Muslim nobleman by the name of Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united the region into a single political entity known as the Bengal Sultanate. Proclaiming himself as Shāh-i-Bangālīyān, it was in this period that the Bengali language also gained state patronage and corroborated literary development. Thus, Ilyas Shah had effectively formalised the socio-linguistic identity of the region's inhabitants as Bengali, by state, culture and language.

History

Ancient history

Archaeologists have discovered remnants of a 4,000-year-old Chalcolithic civilisation in the greater Bengal region, and believe the finds are one of the earliest signs of settlement in the region. However, evidence of much older Palaeolithic human habitations were found in the form of a stone implement and a hand axe in Rangamati and Feni districts of Bangladesh.

Artefacts suggest that the Wari-Bateshwar civilisation, which flourished in present-day Narsingdi, date as far back as 1100 BC. Not far from the rivers, the port city was believed to have been engaged in foreign trade with Ancient Rome, Southeast Asia and other regions. The people of this civilisation live in bricked homes, walked on wide roads, used silver coins and iron weaponry among many other things. It is thought to be the oldest city in Bengal and in the eastern part of the subcontinent as a whole.

It is thought that a man named Vanga settled in the area around 1000 BCE founding the Vanga Kingdom in southern Bengal. The Atharvaveda and the Hindu epic Mahabharata mentions this kingdom, along with the Pundra Kingdom in northern Bengal. The spread of Mauryan territory and promotion of Buddhism by its emperor Ashoka cultivated a growing Buddhist society among the people of present-day Bengal from the 2nd century BCE. Mauryan monuments as far as the Great Stupa of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh mentioned the people of this region as adherents of Buddhism. The Buddhists of the Bengal region built and used dozens of monasteries, and were recognised for their religious commitments as far as Nagarjunakonda in South India.

One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BCE. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd ('Land with the Ganges in its heart') in reference to an area in Bengal. Later from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.

Middle Ages

One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around the early 7th century, who is generally thought to have originated from Magadha, Bihar, just west of Bengal. After a period of anarchy, a native ruler called Gopala came into power in 750 CE. He originated from Varendra in northern Bengal, and founded the Buddhist Pala Empire. Atiśa, a renowned Buddhist teacher from eastern Bengal, was instrumental in the revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramashila monastery in Bihar.

The Pala Empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire, the Tibetan Empire, and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate. Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East. The people of Samatata, in southeastern Bengal, during the 10th century were of various religious backgrounds. Tilopa was a prominent Hindu priest from modern-day Chittagong, though Samatata was ruled by the Buddhist Chandra dynasty. During this time, the Arab geographer Al-Masudi and author of The Meadows of Gold, travelled to the region where he noticed a Muslim community of inhabitants residing in the region. In addition to trade, Islam was also being introduced to the people of Bengal through the migration of Sufi missionaries prior to conquest. The earliest known Sufi missionaries were Syed Shah Surkhul Antia and his students, most notably Shah Sultan Rumi, in the 11th century. Rumi settled in present-day Netrokona, Mymensingh where he influenced the local ruler and population to embrace Islam.

The Pala dynasty was later followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena Empire. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiyar Khalji, a Turkic general, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Bengal Sultanate for the next few hundred years. Many of the people of Bengal began accepting Islam through the influx of missionaries following the initial conquest. Sultan Balkhi and Shah Makhdum Rupos settled in the present-day Rajshahi Division in northern Bengal, preaching to the communities there. A community of 13 Muslim families headed by Burhanuddin also existed in the northeastern Hindu city of Srihatta (Sylhet), claiming their descendants to have arrived from Chittagong. By 1303, hundreds of Sufi preachers led by Shah Jalal, who some biographers claim was a Turkistan-born Bengali, aided the Muslim rulers in Bengal to conquer Sylhet, turning the town into Jalal's headquarters for religious activities. Following the conquest, Jalal disseminated his followers across different parts of Bengal to spread Islam, and became a household name among Bengali Muslims.

The establishment of a single united Bengal Sultanate in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah finally gave rise to a "Bengali" socio-linguistic identity. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty acknowledged Muslim scholarship, and this transcended ethnic background. Usman Serajuddin, also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali, was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign. Alongside Persian and Arabic, the sovereign Sunni Muslim nation-state also enabled the language of the Bengali people to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favoured Sanskrit, Pali and Persian. The born-Hindu Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funded the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Mecca and Madina in the Middle East. The people of Arabia came to know these institutions as al-Madaris al-Bangaliyyah (Bengali madrasas).

Mughal era

The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the 16th century, ending the independent Sultanate of Bengal and defeating Bengal's rebellion Baro-Bhuiyan chieftains. Mughal general Man Singh conquered parts of Bengal including Dhaka during the time of Emperor Akbar and a few Rajput tribes from his army permanently settled around Dhaka and surrounding lands, integrating into Bengali society. Akbar's preaching of the syncretic Din-i Ilahi, was described as a blasphemy by the Qadi of Bengal, which caused huge controversies in South Asia. In the 16th century, many Ulama of the Bengali Muslim intelligentsia migrated to other parts of the subcontinent as teachers and instructors of Islamic knowledge such as Ali Sher Bengali to Ahmedabad, Shah Manjhan to Sarangpur, Usman Bengali to Sambhal and Yusuf Bengali to Burhanpur.

By the early 17th century, Islam Khan I had conquered all of Bengal and was integrated into a province known as the Bengal Subah. It was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire, as it also encompassed parts of Bihar and Odisha, between the 16th and 18th centuries. Described by some as the "Paradise of Nations" and the "Golden Age of Bengal", Bengalis enjoyed some of the highest living standards and real wages in the world at the time. Singlehandedly accounting for 40% of Dutch imports outside the European continent, eastern Bengal was globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding, and was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter, and agricultural and industrial produce in the world.

Mughal Bengal eventually became a quasi-independent monarchy state ruled by the Nawabs of Bengal in 1717. Already observing the proto-industrialization, it made direct significant contribution to the first Industrial Revolution (substantially textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution).

Bengal became the basis of the Anglo-Mughal War. After the weakening of the Mughal Empire with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by three dynasties of Nawabs until 1757, when the region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey.

British colonisation

In Bengal, effective political and military power was transferred from the Afshar regime to the British East India Company around 1757–65. Company rule in India began under the Bengal Presidency. Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772. The presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army, and had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule, notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943, each killing millions of Bengalis.

Under British rule, Bengal experienced deindustrialisation. Discontent with the situation, numerous rebellions and revolts were attempted by the Bengali people. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to Dhaka, Jalpaiguri and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North India. Havildar Rajab Ali commanded the rebels in Chittagong as far as Sylhet and Manipur. The failure of the rebellion led to the abolishment of the Mughal court completely and direct rule by the British Raj.

Many Bengali laborers were taken as coolies to the British colonies in the Caribbean during the 1830s. Workers from Bengal were chosen because they could easily assimilate to the climate of British Guyana, which was similar to that of Bengal.

Swami Vivekananda is considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a world religion during the 1800s. On the other hand, Ram Mohan Roy led a socio-Hindu reformist movement known as Brahmoism which called for the abolishment of sati (widow sacrifice), child marriage, polytheism and idol worship. In 1804, he wrote the Persian book Tuḥfat al-Muwaḥḥidīn (A Gift to the Monotheists) and spent the next two decades attacking the Kulin Brahmin bastions of Bengal.

Independence movement

Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Many of the early proponents of the independence struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Shamsher Gazi, Chowdhury Abu Torab Khan, Hada Miah and Mada Miah, the Pagal Panthis led by Karim Shah and Tipu Shah, Haji Shariatullah and Dudu Miyan of the Faraizi movement, Titumir, Ali Muhammad Shibli, Alimuddin Ahmad, Prafulla Chaki, Surendranath Banerjee, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose, and Sachindranath Sanyal.

Leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against the British. Bose was the co-founder and leader of the Japanese-aligned Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Azad Hind. A number of Bengalis died during the independence movement and many were imprisoned in the notorious Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands.

Partitions of Bengal

The first partition in 1905 divided the Bengal region in British India into two provinces for administrative and development purposes. However, the partition stoked Hindu nationalism. This in turn led to the formation of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906 to represent the growing aspirations of the Muslim population. The partition was annulled in 1912 after protests by the Indian National Congress and Hindu Mahasabha.

The breakdown of Hindu-Muslim unity in India drove the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution in 1943, calling the creation of "independent states" in eastern and northwestern British India. The resolution paved the way for the Partition of British India based on the Radcliffe Line in 1947, despite attempts to form a United Bengal state that was opposed by many people.

Bangladesh Liberation War

The rise of self-determination and Bengali nationalism movements in East Bengal, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This eventually culminated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against the Pakistani military junta. The war caused millions of East Bengali refugees to take shelter in neighboring India, especially the Indian state of West Bengal, with Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, becoming the capital-in-exile of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh. The Mukti Bahini guerrilla forces waged a nine-month war against the Pakistani military. The conflict ended after the Indian Armed Forces intervened on the side of Bangladeshi forces in the final two weeks of the war, which ended with the surrender of East Pakistan and the liberation of Dhaka on 16 December 1971. Thus, the newly independent People's Republic of Bangladesh was born from what was previously the East Pakistan province of Pakistan.

Geographic distribution

Bengalis constitute the largest ethnic group in Bangladesh, at approximately 98% of the nation's inhabitants. The Census of India does not recognise racial or ethnic groups within India, the CIA Factbook estimated that there are 100 million Bengalis in India constituting 7% of the country's total population. In addition to West Bengal, Bengalis form the demographic majority in Assam's Barak Valley and Lower region as well as parts of Manipur. The state of Tripura as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory, which lies in the Bay of Bengal, are also home to a Bengali-majority population, most of whom are descendants of Hindus from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) that migrated there following the 1947 Partition of India. Bengali migration to the latter archipelago was also boosted by subsequent state-funded Colonisation Schemes by the Government of India.

Bengali ethnic descent and emigrant communities are found primarily in other parts of the subcontinent, the Middle East and the Western World. Substantial populations descended from Bengali immigrants exist in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Kingdom where they form established communities of over 1 million people. The majority of the overseas Bengali diaspora are Muslims as the act of seafaring was traditionally prohibited in Hinduism; a taboo known as kala pani (black/dirty water).

The introduction of Islam to the Bengali people has generated a connection to the Arabian Peninsula, as Muslims are required to visit the land once in their lifetime to complete the Hajj pilgrimage. Several Bengali sultans funded Islamic institutions in the Hejaz, which popularly became known by the Arabs as Bengali madrasas. As a result of the British conquest of Bengal, some Bengalis decided to emigrate to Arabia. Notable examples include Mawlana Murad, an instructor of Islamic sciences based in Mecca in the early 1800s, and Najib Ali Choudhury, a participant of the Battle of Shamli. Notable people of Bengali-origin in the Middle East include the renowned author and journalist Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar of Saudi Arabia and Qur'an translator Zohurul Hoque from Oman. The family of Princess Sarvath al-Hassan, wife of Jordanian prince Hassan bin Talal, are descended from the Suhrawardy family of Midnapore.

Earliest records of Bengalis in the European continent date back to the reign of King George III of England during the 16th century. One such example is I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim cleric from Nadia in western Bengal, who arrived to Europe in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim as a diplomat for the Mughal Empire. Another example during this period is of James Achilles Kirkpatrick's hookah-bardar (hookah servant/preparer) who was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the Prince of Sylhet. The man, presumably from Sylhet in eastern Bengal, was waited upon by the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King. Today, the British Bangladeshis are a naturalised community in the United Kingdom, running 90% of all South Asian cuisine restaurants and having established numerous ethnic enclaves across the country – most prominent of which is Banglatown in East London.

Language

An important and unifying characteristic of Bengalis is that most of them use Bengali as their native tongue, believed to belong to the Indo-Iranian language family. With about 226 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages, ranked sixth in the world, and is also used a lingua franca among other ethnic groups and tribes living within and around the Bengal region. Bengali is generally written using the Bengali script and evolved circa 1000–1200 CE from Magadhi Prakrit, thus bearing similarities to ancient languages such as Pali. Its closest modern relatives may include other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages such as Assamese, Odia and the Bihari languages. Though Bengali may have a historic legacy of borrowing vocabulary from languages such as Persian and Sanskrit, modern borrowings primarily come from the English language.

Various forms of the language are in use today and provide an important force for Bengali cohesion. These distinct forms can be sorted into three categories. The first is Classical Bengali ( Śadhu Bhaśa), which was a historical form restricted to literary usage up until the late British period. The second is Standard Bengali ( Čôlitô Bhaśa or  Śuddho Bhaśa), which is the modern literary form, and is based upon the dialects of the divided Nadia region (partitioned between Nadia and Kushtia). It is used today in writing and in formal speaking, for example, prepared speeches, some radio broadcasts, and non-entertainment content. The third and largest category by speakers would be Colloquial Bengali ( Añčôlik Bhaśa or  Kôththô Bhaśa). These refer to informal spoken language that varies by dialect from region to region.

Social stratification

Bengali people may be broadly classified into sub-groups predominantly based on dialect but also other aspects of culture:
 Bangals: This is a term used predominantly in Indian West Bengal to refer to East Bengalis – i.e. Bangladeshis as well as those whose ancestors originate from Eastern Bengal. The East Bengali dialects are known as Bangali. This group constitutes the majority of ethnic Bengalis. They originate from the mainland Bangladeshi regions of Dhaka, Mymensingh, Comilla, Sylhet, Barisal and Chittagong.
 Among Bangals, there are four subgroups that maintain distinct identities in addition to having a (Eastern) Bengali identity. Chittagonians are natives of the Chittagong region (Chittagong District and Cox's Bazar District) of Bangladesh and speak Chittagonian. The people of Cox's Bazar are closely related to the Rohingyas of the Rakhine State in Myanmar. Sylhetis originate from the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and they speak Sylheti. Noakhailla speakers can be found in greater Noakhali region and southern Tripura. The  Dhakaiya Kuttis are a small urban Bengali Muslim community residing in Old Dhaka city that noticeably differ from the rest of the people of Dhaka Division by culture.
 Ghotis: This is the term favoured by the natives of West Bengal to distinguish themselves from other Bengalis.
 The people of Purulia, and greater Manbhum, reside in far-western Bengal and have some regional differences with the mainland Ghotis via dialect and culture. Other Ghoti communities include the Ghosis and Lodhas.
 The region of North Bengal, which hosts Varendri and Rangpuri speakers, is divided between both West Bengal and Bangladesh, and they are normally categorised into the former two main groups depending on which side of the border they reside in even though they are culturally similar to each other regardless of international borders. The categorisation of North Bengalis into Ghoti or Bangal is contested. Rangpuri speakers can also be found in parts of Lower Assam, whilst the Shershahabadia community extend into Bihar. Other northern Bengali communities include the Khotta and Nashya Shaikh.

Bengalis Hindus are socially stratified into four castes, called chôturbôrṇô. The caste system derived from Hindu system of bôrṇô (type, order, colour or class) and jāti (clan, tribe, community or sub-community), which divides people into four colours: White, Red, Yellow and Black. White people are Brahmôṇ, who are destined to be priests, teachers and preachers; Red people are Kkhôtriyô, who are destined to be kings, governors, warriors and soldiers; Yellow people are Bôiśśô, who are born to be cattle herders, ploughmen, artisans and merchants; and Black people are Shūdrô, who are born to be labourers and servants to the people of twice-born caste. People from all caste denominations exist among Bengali Hindus. Ram Mohan Roy, who was born Hindu, founded the Brahmo Samaj which attempted to abolish the practices of casteism, sati and child marriage among Hindus.

Religion

The largest religions practiced in Bengal are Islam and Hinduism. Among all Bengalis, more than two-thirds are Muslims. The vast majority follow the Sunni denomination though there are also a small minority of Shias. The Bengali Muslims form a 90.4% majority in Bangladesh, and a 30% minority among the ethnic Bengalis in the entirety of India. In West Bengal, Bengali Muslims form a 66.88% majority in Murshidabad district, the former seat of the Shia Nawabs of Bengal, a 51.27% majority in Malda, which contains the erstwhile capitals of the Sunni Bengal Sultanate, and they also number over 5,487,759 in the 24 Parganas.

Just less than a third of all Bengalis are Hindus (predominantly, the Shaktas and Vaishnavists), and as per as 2011 census report, they form a 70.54% majority in West Bengal, 50% plurality in Southern Assam's Barak Valley region, 60% majority in the India's North Eastern state of Tripura, 30% plurality in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 9% significance population in India's Eastern state of Jharkhand and 8.54% minority in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Hindus are mostly concentrated in Sylhet Division where they constitute 17.8% of the population, and are mostly populated in Dhaka Division where they number over 2.5 million. Hindus form a 56.41% majority in Dacope Upazila, a 51.69% majority in Kotalipara Upazila and a 51.22% majority in Sullah Upazila. In terms of population, Bangladesh is the third largest Hindu populated country of the world, just after India and Nepal. The total Hindu population in Bangladesh exceeds the population of many Muslim majority countries like Yemen, Jordan, Tajikistan, Syria, Tunisia, Oman, and others. Also the total Hindu population in Bangladesh is roughly equal to the total population of Greece and Belgium. Bengali Hindus also worship regional deities.

Other religious groups include Buddhists (comprising around 1% of the population in Bangladesh) and Bengali Christians. A large number of the Bengali Christians are descendants of Portuguese voyagers. The bulk of Bengali Buddhists belong to the Bengali-speaking Baruas who reside in Chittagong and Rakhine.

Culture

Festivals

Bengalis commemorate the Islamic holidays or Hindu festivals depending on their religion. People are dressed in their new traditional clothing. During the major Islamic holidays Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, charity is distributed. Children are given clothes or money. Relatives, friends, and neighbors visit and exchange food and sweets.

Significant cultural events or celebrations are also celebrated by the community annually. Pohela Boishakh is a celebration of the new year and arrival of summer in the Bengali calendar and is celebrated in April. It features a funfair, music and dance displays on stages, with people dressed in colourful traditional clothes, parading through the streets. Festivals like Pahela Falgun (spring) are also celebrated regardless of their faith. The Bengalis of Dhaka celebrate Shakrain, an annual kite festival. The Nabanna is a Bengali celebration akin to the harvest festivals in the Western world.

Fashion and arts

Visual art and architecture

The recorded history of art in Bengal can be traced to the 3rd century BCE, when terracotta sculptures were made in the region. The architecture of the Bengal Sultanate saw a distinct style of domed mosques with complex niche pillars that had no minarets. Ivory, pottery and brass were also widely used in Bengali art.

Attire and clothing

Bengali attire is shares similarities with North Indian attire. In rural areas, older women wear the shari while the younger generation wear the , both with simple designs. In urban areas, the  is more popular, and has distinct fashionable designs. Traditionally Bengali men wore the jama, though the costumes such as the panjabi with  or pyjama have become more popular within the past three centuries. The popularity of the , a shorter upper garment, is undeniable among Bengalis in casual environments. The  and  are a common combination for rural Bengali men. Islamic clothing is also very common in the region. During special occasions, Bengali women commonly wear either sharis,  or abayas, covering their hair with hijab or ; and men wear a panjabi, also covering their hair with a tupi, ,  or .

Mughal Bengal's most celebrated artistic tradition was the weaving of Jamdani motifs on fine muslin, which is now classified by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. Jamdani motifs were similar to Iranian textile art (buta motifs) and Western textile art (paisley). The Jamdani weavers in Dhaka received imperial patronage.

The traditional attire of Bengali Hindus is dhoti and kurta for men, and saree for women.

Performing arts

Bengal has an extremely rich heritage of performing arts dating back to antiquity. It includes narrative forms, songs and dances, performance with scroll paintings, puppet theatre and the processional forms like the Jatra and cinema. Performing of plays and Jatras were mentioned in Charyapada, written in between the 8th and 12th centuries. Chhau dance is a unique martial, tribal and folk art of Bengal. Wearing an earthy and theatrical Chhau mask, the dance is performed to highlight the folklore and episodes from Shaktism, Ramayana – Mahabharata and other abstract themes. In 2010 the Chhau dance was inscribed in the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Bengali film is a glorious part of the history of world cinema. Hiralal Sen, who is considered a stalwart of Victorian era cinema, sowed the first seeds of Bengali cinema. In 1898, Sen founded the first film production company, named Royal Bioscope Company in Bengal, and possibly the first in India. Along with Nemai Ghosh, Tapan Sinha and others, the golden age of Bengali cinema begins with the hands of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Rittwik Ghatak. Chinnamul was recognized as the first neo-realist film in India that deals with the partition of India. Ray's first cinema Pather Panchali (1955) achieved the highest-ranking Indian film on any Sight & Sound poll at number 6 in the 1992 Critics' Poll. It also topped the British Film Institute's user poll of Top 10 Indian Films of all time in 2002. In the same year, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam, directed by Ritwik Ghatak with the joint production of India and Bangladesh, got the honor of best Bangladeshi films in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the British Film Institute.

Gastronomy

Bengali cuisine is the culinary style of the Bengali people. It has the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from South Asia that is analogous in structure to the modern service à la russe style of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once. The dishes of Bengal are often centuries old and reflect the rich history of trade in Bengal through spices, herbs, and foods. With an emphasis on fish and vegetables served with rice as a staple diet, Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle flavours, and its huge spread of confectioneries and milk-based desserts. One will find the following items in most dishes; mustard oil, fish, panch phoron, lamb, onion, rice, cardamom, yogurt and spices. The food is often served in plates which have a distinct flowery pattern often in blue or pink. Common beverages include shorbot, borhani, ghol, matha, lachhi, falooda, Rooh Afza, natural juices like Akher rosh, Khejur rosh, Aamrosh, Dudh cha, Taler rosh, Masala cha, as well as basil seed or tukma-based drinks.

East and West Bengali cuisines have many similarities, but also many unique traditions at the same time. These kitchens have been influenced by the history of the respective regions. The kitchens can be further divided into the urban and rural kitchens. Urban kitchens in eastern Bengal consist of native dishes with foreign Mughal influence, for example the Haji biryani and Chevron Biryani of Old Dhaka.

Traditional Bengali Dishes:

Shukto, Macher Patodi, Chingri Malai Curry, Aloo Posto, Mishti Doi, etc are some of the traditional dishes of the Bengali's.

Literature

Bengali literature denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language, which has developed over the course of roughly 13 centuries. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature can be found within the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic hymns dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. They were discovered in the Royal Court Library of Nepal by Hara Prasad Shastri in 1907. The timeline of Bengali literature is divided into three periods − ancient (650–1200), medieval (1200–1800) and modern (after 1800). Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Islamic epics by the likes of Abdul Hakim and Syed Sultan, secular texts by Muslim poets like Alaol and Vaishnava texts by the followers of Krishna Chaitanya. Bengali writers began exploring different themes through narratives and epics such as religion, culture, cosmology, love and history. Royal courts such as that of the Bengal Sultanate and the Kingdom of Mrauk U gave patronage to numerous Bengali writers such as Shah Muhammad Saghir, Daulat Qazi and Dawlat Wazir Bahram Khan.

The Bengali Renaissance refers to a socio-religious reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, centered around the city of Calcutta and predominantly led by upper-caste Bengali Hindus under the patronage of the British Raj who had created a reformed religion known as the Brahmo Samaj. Historian Nitish Sengupta describes the Bengal renaissance as having begun with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) and ended with Asia's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).

Though the Bengal Renaissance was predominantly representative to the Hindu community due to their relationship with British colonisers, there were, nevertheless, examples of modern Muslim littérateurs in this period. Mir Mosharraf Hossain (1847–1911) was the first major writer in the modern era to emerge from the Bengali Muslim society, and one of the finest prose writers in the Bengali language. His magnum opus Bishad Shindhu is a popular classic among Bengali readership. Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), notable for his activism and anti-British literature, was described as the Rebel Poet and is now recognised as the National poet of Bangladesh. Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) was the leading female Bengali author of this period, best known for writing Sultana's Dream which was subsequently translated into numerous languages.

Marriage

A marriage among Bengalis often consists of multiple events rather than just one wedding. Arranged marriages are arguably the most common form of marriage among Bengalis and are considered traditional in society. Marriage is seen as a union between two families rather than just two people, and they play a large part in developing and maintaining social ties between families and villages. The two families are facilitated by Ghotoks (mutual matchmakers), and the first event is known as the Paka Dekha/Dekhadekhi where all those involved are familiarised with each other over a meal at the bride's home. The first main event is the Paan-Chini/Chini-Paan, hosted by the bride's family. Gifts are received from the groom's family and the marriage date is fixed in this event. An adda takes place between the families as they consume a traditional Bengali banquet of food, paan, tea and mishti. The next event is the mehndi (henna) evening also known as the gaye holud (turmeric on the body). This is normally followed by the main event, the walima, hosting thousands of guests. An aqd (vow) takes place, where a contract of marriage (Kabin nama) and is signed. A qazi or imam is usually present here and would also recite the Qur'an and make dua for the couple. The groom is required to pay mohor (dowry) to the bride. The Phirajatra/Phirakhaowa consists of the return of the bride with her husband to her home, which then becomes referred to as Naiyor, and payesh and milk are served. Other post-marriage ceremonies include the Bou Bhat which takes place in the groom's home.

Arranged marriages are arguably the most common form of marriage among Bengalis and are considered traditional in society. Though polygamy is rarity among Bengalis today, it was historically prevalent among both Muslims and Hindus prior to British colonisation and was a sign of prosperity.

Science

The contribution of Bengalis to modern science is pathbreaking in the world's context. Qazi Azizul Haque was an inventor who is credited for devising the mathematical basis behind a fingerprint classification system that continued to be used up until the 1990s for criminal investigations. Abdus Suttar Khan invented more than forty different alloys for commercial application in space shuttles, jet engines, train engines and industrial gas turbines. In 2006, Abul Hussam invented the Sono arsenic filter and subsequently became the recipient of the 2007 Grainger challenge Prize for Sustainability. Another biomedical scientist, Parvez Haris, was listed among the top 1% of 100,000 scientists in the world by Stanford University.

Fazlur Rahman Khan was a structural engineer responsible for making many important advancements in high rise designs. He was the designer of Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world until 1998. Khan's seminal work of developing tall building structural systems are still used today as the starting point when considering design options for tall buildings.

Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath: a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and writer of science fiction who pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the subcontinent. He is considered one of the fathers of radio science, and is also considered the father of Bengali science fiction. He first practicalised the wireless radio transmission but Guglielmo Marconi got recognition for it due to European proximity. Bose also described for the first time that "plants can respond", by demonstrating with his crescograph and recording the impulse caused by bromination of plant tissue.

Satyendra Nath Bose was a physicist, specialising in mathematical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. He is honoured as the namesake of the boson. He made first calculations to initiate Statistical Mechanics. He first hypothesised a physically tangible idea of photon. Bose's contemporary was Meghnad Saha, an astrophysicist and politician who contributed to the theorisation of thermal ionization. The Saha ionization equation, which was named after him, is used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.

Economics and Poverty Alleviation

Several Bengali Economists and entrepreneurs have made pioneering contributions in economic theories and practices supporting poverty alleviation. Amartya Sen is an economist and philosopher, who has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economic and social justice, economic theories of famines, decision theory, development economics, public health, and measures of well-being of countries. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 and India's Bharat Ratna in 1999 for his work in welfare economics. Muhammad Yunus is a social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. Abhijit Banerjee is an economist who shared the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".

Sport and games

Traditional Bengali sports consisted of various martial arts and various racing sports, though the British-introduced sports of cricket and football are now most popular amongst Bengalis.

Lathi khela (stick-fighting) was historically a method of duelling as a way to protect or take land and others' possessions. The Zamindars of Bengal would hire lathials (trained stick-fighters) as a form of security and a means to forcefully collect tax from tenants. Nationwide lathi khela competitions used to take place annually in Kushtia up until 1989, though its practice is now diminishing and being restricted to certain festivals and celebrations. Chamdi is a variant of lathi khela popular in North Bengal. Kushti (wrestling) is also another popular fighting sport and it has developed regional forms such as boli khela, which was introduced in 1889 by Zamindar Qadir Bakhsh of Chittagong. A merchant known as Abdul Jabbar Saodagar adapted the sport in 1907 with the intention of cultivating a sport that would prepare Bengalis in fighting against British colonials. In 1972, a popular contact team sport called Kabadi was made the national sport of Bangladesh. It is a regulated version of the rural Hadudu sport which had no fixed rules. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of Bangladesh was formed in 1973. Butthan, a 20th-century Bengali martial arts invented by Grandmaster Mak Yuree, is now practiced in different parts of the world under the International Butthan Federation.

The Nouka Baich is a Bengali boat racing competition which takes place during and after the rainy season when much of the land goes under water. The long canoes were referred to as khel nao (meaning playing boats) and the use of cymbals to accompany the singing was common. Different types of boats are used in different parts of Bengal. Horse racing was patronised most notably by the Dighapatia Rajas in Natore, and their Chalanbeel Horse Races have continued to take place annually for centuries.

Football is the most popular sports among Bengalis. Bengal is the home to Asia's oldest football league,  Calcutta Football League and the fourth oldest cup tournament in the world, Durand Cup. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are the biggest clubs in the region and subsequently India, and amongst the biggest in Asia. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan participate in Kolkata Derby, which is the biggest sports derby in Asia. Mohun Bagan, founded in 1889, is the oldest native football club of Bengal. The club is primarily supported by the Ghotis, who are the native inhabitants of West Bengal. East Bengal, on the contrary, was founded on 1 August 1920 and is a club Primarily supported by the ethnic eastern Bengalis. Mohun Bagan's first major victory was in 1911, when the team defeated an English club known as the Yorkshire Regiment to win the IFA Shield. In 2003, East Bengal became the first Indian club to win a major international trophy in the form of ASEAN Club Championship. While Mohun Bagan currently holds the most amount of national titles (6 in total), East Bengal is the stronger side in the Kolkata derby, having won 138 out of a total of 391 matches in which these two teams participited. East Bengal also takes the crown for having won the most number of major trophies in India (109 compared to the 105 of Mohun Bagan). Mohammed Salim of Calcutta became the first South Asian to play for a European football club in 1936. In his two appearances for Celtic F.C., he played the entire matches barefoot and scored several goals. In 2015, Hamza Choudhury became the first Bengali to play in the Premier League and is predicted to be the first British Asian to play for the England national football team.

Bengalis are very competitive when it comes to board and home games such as Pachisi and its modern counterpart Ludo, as well as Latim, Carrom Board, Chor-Pulish, Kanamachi and Chess. Rani Hamid is one of the most successful chess players in the world, winning championships in Asia and Europe multiple times. Ramnath Biswas was a revolutionary soldier who embarked on three world tours on a bicycle in the 19th century.

See also
 Bengali nationalism
 List of Bangladeshis
 List of Bengalis
 List of people from West Bengal
 States of India by Bengali speakers

References

Bibliography

 Uberoi, Anuradha (6 January 2020), Chennai Brew- Some Voices Some Communities & [https://www.thehindu.com/books/chennai-brew-tells-stories-of-people-from-other-parts-of-india-who-found-warmth-and-love-in-the-city/article30491202.ece "These Communities Call Chennai 'home'''"]. The Hindu. .

Further reading

External links

 Bengalis Encyclopædia Britannica'' entry

Bengali culture

Ethnic groups in Bangladesh
Indo-Aryan peoples
Ethnic groups in India
Ethnic groups in South Asia
Ethnic groups divided by international borders
Ethno-cultural designations
Bengali-language literature
Collectivism
Cultural assimilation
Linguistic groups of the constitutionally recognised official languages of India

Bengalis


Betrachtung (published in English as Meditation or Contemplation) is a collection of eighteen short stories by Franz Kafka written between 1904 and 1912. It was Kafka's first published book,  printed at the end of 1912 (with the publication year given as "1913") in the Rowohlt Verlag on an initiative by Kurt Wolff.

Eight of these stories were published before under the title Betrachtungen ("Contemplations") in the bimonthly Hyperion. The collection Description of a Struggle, published in 1958, includes some of the stories In English, in whole or in part. All the stories appear in The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka (1971) and were published in a single volume edition by Twisted Spoon Press, illustrated by Fedele Spadafora. They have also been translated by Malcolm Pasley and are available in the Penguin Books edition, The Transformation and Other Stories (1992).

The book was printed in 800 editions and had in one year (1 July 1915 – 30 June 1916) sold 258 copies; it wasn't sold out until 1924, the year Kafka died.

The Stories

"Children on a Country Road"

The original German title is "". Narrated by an unnamed little child, this short story follows children's thoughts as they experience childhood nighttime escapades. The plot begins with a little child on a swing watching passing carts of laborers returning from the fields. After dinner, the children venture into the woods and play a  game with other village children. The game is similar to King of the Hill, where some are pushed into deep ditches by others. Later on they go to the train tracks and sing: "When you mix your voice with others you are caught like a fish on a hook." The night ends with our narrator kissing a boy, and hearing from him rumors of the next village where the residents never sleep. This story has a tone of innocence, playfulness, and retrospection as the reader is transported into the mind of an eight- or nine-year-old. Images of big grown-ups, ever-deepening ditches, and youthful recklessness serve to further our impression of this child as an innocent adventurer. The fact that the narrator's name and gender are never specified allows the story to maintain a level of non-specificity. These themes can transcend time and place, so as to capture the thoughts of a child living at any time or any place.

This story is from an unpublished second version of "Description of a Struggle".

"Unmasking a Confidence Trickster"

The original German title is "". The narrator, ostensibly a recent immigrant from the country, arrives at the doorway of a grand house, having been invited to a social engagement, accompanied by a man whose fellowship he has not solicited, and with whom the narrator is only slightly acquainted. Evidently reluctant to remain with the man any longer, the narrator prepares to enter the house, but is detained by the other, who stretches out his arm toward the house and smiles as a mood of silence overtakes them both. The narrator, snapping out of his funk, suddenly recognizes his companion for a confidence trickster who stands to take advantage of his relative naiveté, and is embarrassed that it has taken him so long to realize this fact. "Caught in the act!" says the narrator, who immediately excuses himself, and, with a sense of relief, enters the house. It is left for the reader to judge the legitimacy of his accusation.

Two early drafts appear in Kafka's diaries of 1910. In 1912 he wrote that he completed "Confidence Trickster", saying of it "more or less satisfactory."

"The Sudden Walk"

The original German title is "". This contemplation tells the story of a renaissance. It is a reawakening of the human mind; the man in the story is jerked into an awareness of his own potency that arises simply out of his being human. He has been lulled into a kind of vegetable state by routine and convention; he needs a meaningless piece of work or entertainment just to occupy his sleeping mind. As petty excuses run through his mind (it is cold, it is evening), a "fit of restlessness" raises him to his feet. What is it inside this man that slaps him awake from his customary lethargy? His mind has changed suddenly, and he has to redress himself before he goes out and "rediscovers himself down in the street." At first, the man is especially aware of the power of his body: "your limbs responding with particular agility to the unexpected freedom you have procured for them." Then he is overcome by the power of a decisive act: action has the ability to change. The man's awareness of his being has given him independence, but it has not entirely isolated him. He has broken away from his family, who are headed for "the void", but awareness of his ability to act allows him to seek companionship; perhaps in staying among his sleepy family members, the man was isolating himself from his friends. Perhaps friendship and love are only possible for an active person.

Appeared in Kafka's diaries in 1912.

"Resolutions"

The original German title is "". "Resolutions" begins with the narrator planning to put on a false exterior and pretend to be something he is not.  He must hide his "miserable mood" and act as though he is happy and social.  He plans how he will behave towards A, B and C even though he knows it will all be false.  He soon realizes that with just one slip in this act, he will ruin his social exterior and reveal to A, B and C his true feelings.  He then decides it would be better to just erase all emotions and act neither happy nor depressed, but rather like an animal observing.  It rises into question whether or not putting on an act is really worth it.  Do we really need to pretend to be happy or social when all we truly want to do is sulk in a chair?  The narrator claims it is easier to just to "throttle down whatever ghostly life remains in you" and refrain from any sort of human actions.

From his diaries, 1911.

"Excursion into the Mountains"

The original German title is "". "Excursion into the Mountains" is a passage about an individual isolating himself from reality. The passage is written in the first person, allowing the reader to fully connect to the thoughts and emotions of the speaker. Kafka's works often depict a passive individual who wants to stray away from the realities of life; this passage is no different, "I cried without being heard, I do not know, if nobody comes, then nobody comes…a pack of nobodies would  be rather fine". The narrator illustrates self-imposed isolation through images of mountains, a group of "nobodies" linked together going through the mountains, and the vivid image of the "nobodies" happily scavenging through the mountains. This is ironic because the reader can depict these images in any way they want, but based on the descriptions by Kafka it seems to be that the speaker is alone and him going into the mountains with this group of "nobodies" is him isolating himself from society.

From "Description of a Struggle".

"Bachelor's Ill Luck"

The original German title is "". Also called "The Fate of a Bachelor," this story is written in the third person.  The narrator is describing the life of a bachelor and the increasing loneliness of that comes with the passing of time and no one with whom to share it.  For example, the narrator imagines the bachelor lying sick in a room that is empty of any family to care for him, or having to repeatedly explain to others that he does not have any children of his own.  The dominant motif in this story is loneliness.

"The Businessman"

The original German title is "" (The merchant). This short story is narrated through the perspective of a businessman. It is spoken in first person. In a world where he is experiencing a never-ending feeling of dissatisfaction, the businessman lives a mentally desolate life.  He begins with describing the mental and physical stress that his work causes him such as aches, worry, anxiety, and fear.  Although he is surrounded by other individuals and finds himself worrying about their problems, they are "strangers; their circumstances remain a mystery to me [him]" (p. 21).  He imagines that these secretive individuals are having a far grander time than he is; "They have grown extravagant and are giving a banquet in some restaurant garden, and others are stopping off at this party" (p. 21).  When he gets off work, he is liberated from the stressful demands of his business. He goes further to describe his excitement and anticipation for this time that he has to do whatever he wishes. He turns this anticipation, however, to no purpose and he simply decides to walk home and suddenly the tone of the passage swings to slightly depressing and lonesome. His imagination wanders and he paints a vivid picture in the reader's mind of an out of body experience that occurs when he gets to the elevator in his apartment building.  He describes a man being robbed and then walking "sorrowfully" down a street alone; one can make an analogy that the businessman is being robbed of his soul and is being taken advantage of by his ceaseless work.  The businessman feels he is in battle with his own personal needs of happiness and the "incessant demands of my [his] business" (p. 21).  At the end of the story, although it is obvious that he has gained wealth from his business, he is lonely and unsatisfied.

"Absent-minded Window-gazing"

The original German title is "". The story is also known as "A Stray Glance From The Window". Early in the story, the sky was blue, then the speaker observes a little girl, strolling along with the light on her face, when she suddenly falls into the shadow of a man, briskly approaching her. Then the man passes her and "by then the face of the child is quite bright."

"The Way Home"

The original German title is "". This story is told in first person by an unknown narrator as he walks home along a street after a thunderstorm. The power of the newly calmed air brings him to reflect upon his power over everything that happens along the street. This reflection leads him to weigh his past against his future, and he concludes that there is nothing to criticize in his life except for his unjust amount of good fortune.

Although the narrator can find no imperfections in his life, the tone is not boastful. Instead, the narrator is simply contemplating the importance of his life and his accomplishments. The tone even becomes slightly melancholic as the narrator fails to find a meaning in his life, despite all his good fortune. It is not until he reenters his house, that the narrator enters into a state of true internal mediation and evaluation. He tries to find some aspect of his life to reflect upon, but finds nothing of importance. He throws open the window, unlocking a gate to reveal the outside world, while music pours in. This breach in the shelter of his house allows real life to intrude upon his realm of contemplation, banishing any opportunity for a true reflection.

"Passers-by"

The original German title is "". Also known as "The Men Passing By", the narrator contemplates the vision of a man running past him down the street during the night. This man is followed by another man, and the narrator lets them run by. The narrator imagines several scenarios between these two men running past him. These scenarios include the two playing a game, the first running away from the second, or the two teaming up to catch an unknown third person. Depending on the scenario, the narrator feels that he would have different responsibilities. After these images pass through his mind he begins thinking that the two could have nothing to do with each other, they could be sleepwalking or returning home to their families. He then meditates on the image of the first man being the one in trouble, him being armed. The imagery in this short story is very important because, as the narrator changes his idea of the relationship between the two men, the image of the two men shifts drastically. The tone changes drastically with the narrator's change of scenario because he sets or takes away blame from one of the men, or the other. The theme of "The Men Passing By" is that of guilt and perception. The narrator's level of guilt changes with each shift of scenario and perception because, depending on the scenario, he feels that he needs to decide whether or not to intervene.

Adaptations in Austrian Sign Language were done by the deaf actor Werner Mössler  .

"On the Tram"

The original German title is "" (The passenger). "On the Tram" is a short story told in first-person perspective. It describes a man standing on a tram platform, contemplating the uncertainties of his place in the world. At one point, a woman approaches the tram and the narrator is struck by her vibrance. The story focuses on images of the  uncertainty of existence and one's purpose in the world, and the tone is contemplative and existential. The man on the tram cannot even defend the fact that he is on the tram, holding onto the strap, and watching people move about in the streets. When he sees the woman, however, his perspective changes. The narrator sees the girl "as distinctly as if [he] had run [his] hands over her." He goes on to describe the woman's physical attributes with incredible detail, from her clothing to her hair.  He ends his contemplation by wondering "How is it that she is not astonished at herself, that she keeps her lips closed and says nothing of that kind?" Although the narrator does not understand his own place in the world, he understands the woman's with strange clarity.

An adaptation in Austrian Sign Language was done by the deaf actor Horst Dittrich .

"Clothes"

The original German title is "" (Dresses). "Clothes" is constructed of three paragraphs with three significant points to sum up the entirety of the short story. It is told from the first person perspective of a very observant person, hypothesized to be a man observing women. Paragraph one essentially states that beautiful things exist but do not last forever. It questions women who wear beautiful things that will eventually lose value, asking, why should one indulge in something that will result in worthlessness? The second paragraph comments on how beauty should not be confined or committed to just one person, place or thing. And lastly, the third paragraph is somewhat connected to the second; familiarity is to worthlessness. Clothes are what capture the eye but if personality cannot carry its own weight, flaws will show and the worthlessness of the clothes will reflect on the worthlessness of the woman. Kafka uses symbolism such as the looking-glass to represent the mirror and the clothing, dresses, as a representation of the women.

From Description of a Struggle.

"The Rejection"

The original German title is "". Told from the perspective of a man who is discussing what happens when he meets a pretty girl, "The Rejection" is structured as an imagined dialogue between this man and a hypothetical
'pretty girl'. The narrator says that she will go by without saying a word, but imagines that what she means is that she does not want anything to do with him. This is also imbued with a series of images relating to lovemaking, with mention of a limousine which 'carries you in long thrusts swaying through the street' and an 'escort of gentlemen, pressed into their suitings, following behind you in a strict semicircle and murmuring their blessings on your head.' The images also present of sexual desire, ranging from commenting on the girl's breasts to her thighs and hips. The taffeta dress she is wearing represents delight, though the story's tone is told with a sense of longing and a sense of frustration evident in the narrator's attempt at chasing women, with themes focusing on love, sexuality, and rejection.

The story's conclusion also brings about the existential realization of both the narrator and the pretty girl that they are not as important as they think they are. Since both lack what the other party deems as qualities of a good mate, they "go [their] separate ways home" as to keep them "from being irrefutably aware of [their mediocrity]".

"Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys"

The original German title is "". The story is also known as "For the Consideration of Amateur Jockeys". Told from the perspective of a jockey, the narrator tells the reader about the dangers and consequences of being a jockey. The narrator uses images of envious opponents, successful and unsuccessful gambling friends, and women looking down upon the pride of the winners. The tone used in the story is that of a wiser, seasoned veteran warning amateurs and rookies of the consequences of their sport. The story focuses in depth on the unfortunate events that take place after a victory. The narrator goes on to tell of the envy of the losers and how their influences in the community will create distress for the victor. The narrator also goes on to describe the fortunes and misfortunes of friends, of those who gambled for one's victory and those who did not fearing the anger of their friend had he lost both his race and their bet. He also goes on to describe the women in the crowd, who disapprove of the victor, finding it ridiculous that the victor is so proud of his victory and of the handshaking and baby kissing that comes with it. The narrator ends his description with the unfortunate announcement of overcasting skies, foretelling rain. The story centers around the theme of the consequences and misfortunes that follow a victory, describing how winning does not always bring fortune.

"The Street Window"

The original German title is "". The story is also known as "The Window on the Street" The story is a two sentence long passage written by Kafka. The Narrator of this passage omnisciently takes perspective of life through a window overlooking our character's street. The character is a man who lives a life of solitude, but occasionally wants to have human interaction, and by looking out the window and seeing the people on the street, he fulfills his desire to have human interaction. In the second sentence of the passage, the Narrator discusses the times when the man does not want to look out the window, but the desire ("the horses") then overwhelms him and in looking out the window, he attains the happiness he desired. The imagery of "horses ... drag[ing] ... him into the train or their wagons ... towards the harmony of man" show the break of our solitude character's life being ripped through the window he will never cross.

"The Wish to Be An Indian"

The original German title is "". The story is also known as "Longing to be a Red Indian". The work is notable for the early use of experimental writing techniques, though often considered incomprehensible by literary scholars.

"The Trees"

The original German title is "". Humanity is compared to tree trunks in the snow. It appears that with a gentle push we could move them, but we cannot because they are firmly attached to the ground. That too is only apparent. The tree trunks apparently cannot be moved because they are firmly rooted to the ground, much like humans are rooted to their beliefs and morals and cannot be changed. However, even if trees don't move they are not so firmly rooted, since they eventually fall down —just as humans eventually die.

A comics adaptation of the story, illustrated by Peter Kuper, is included in Give It Up!.

"Unhappiness"

The original German title is "". The story begins with a confused, chaotic scene inside the narrator's house.  Kafka again uses the image of horses waiting outside of a house, as in his short story The Street Window.  Suddenly, from a dark corridor within the narrator's own house, an apparition of a child appears.  The narrator is not certain whether the child is real, or a ghost.  The narrator engages in a dialog with the child.  He learns the child already knows him.  When the man is overly-formal in his interaction with the child, the child asks "I'm just a child; why stand on so much ceremony with me?" Ultimately, the conversation is aggravating and intense for the narrator.  The child is gone, without having said goodbye, as soon as the narrator turns on a light in his house. The narrator concludes the child was indeed a ghost.

The child is part of the narrator's psyche trying to remind him of a natural and youthful childhood he once had, before he became alienated to the world, as a reference to the first story in Contemplation, Children on a Country Road.  The narrator meets the girl with skepticism, indicating the narrator is not only alienated from the world, but now alienated from himself as well.

Later, the narrator engages in a subsequent dialog with a neighbor on the stairs of his apartment building.  After the dialog with the child apparition and the man on the stairs, the narrator's conclusion is that he feels "forlorn" and just wants to go to bed.

Early drafts appeared [unpublished] in Kafka's diaries in 1910 and 1911.

Footnotes

Short story collections by Franz Kafka
Rowohlt Verlag books
1912 short story collections
Schocken Books books

Contemplation (short story collection)


3 Parachute Battalion is a Citizen Force paratroop unit of the South African Army. It was established in July 1977 within the formation of the Parachute Battalion. Later it was a battalion within 44 Parachute Brigade. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.

History
With the implementation of one year National Service in South Africa in 1968, 1 Parachute Battalion struggled to administer the Permanent Force and the Citizen Force Parabats.
To prevent the loss of these trained national servicemen at the end of their one-year service to other units of the South African Defence Force, it was decided to form a new citizen force parachute unit to take these men. The battalion was formed at Tempe in July 1977 of five rifle companies.

On 20 April 1978, 3 Parachute Battalion and other parachute units became part of the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade.

Operations
3 Parachute Battalion would take part in Operation Reindeer in Angola during 1978, Elements of this battalion took part in the parachute drop over Cassinga.

Leadership

Battle Honours

References

Further reading

Infantry battalions of South Africa
Airborne units and formations of South Africa
Military units and formations in Bloemfontein
Military units and formations of South Africa in the Border War
Military units and formations established in 1977

3 Parachute Battalion


Dragnet is a 1987 American buddy cop comedy film directed and co-written by Tom Mankiewicz in his directorial debut. Starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, the film is based on the radio and television crime drama of the same name. The screenplay, both a parody of and homage to the long-running television series, was written by Aykroyd, Mankiewicz, and Alan Zweibel. The original music score is by Ira Newborn.

Aykroyd plays Joe Friday (nephew of the original series protagonist) while Hanks plays Pep Streebek, his new partner. Harry Morgan reprises his role from the television series as Bill Gannon, now a captain and Friday and Streebek's boss.

Plot
LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday's nephew and namesake, whose anachronistic views reflect those of his late uncle, is involuntarily assigned a cocky, streetwise new partner, Pep Streebek. Their contrasting styles clash at first, with Friday disapproving of Streebek's attitude, hairstyle, and wardrobe. However, they start to bond while investigating a series of bizarre thefts. One of the stolen items is the entire print run of Bait, a pornographic magazine published by Jerry Caesar. Reverend Jonathan Whirley has been leading a moral crusade against Caesar's business.

The trail leads Friday and Streebek to a cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N., an acronym for "People Against Goodness and Normalcy." They focus on member Emil Muzz, who also works as Caesar's limousine driver. Under interrogation, Muzz reveals the time and place of a secret ceremony. Friday and Streebek sneak in, disguised as members, and witness a masked leader using several of the stolen items in a ritual leading up to a virgin sacrifice.

The leader throws the victim, Connie Swail (referred to as "the virgin Connie Swail"), into a pit of water with an anaconda. Friday and Streebek disrupt the ritual, saving Connie and subduing the snake, and report the incident to their boss Captain Bill Gannon. However, when Gannon and Police Commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick (who is running for mayor) visit the site with them the next day, no evidence of the ritual can be found. Kirkpatrick removes Friday and Streebek from the case.

Streebek gets a tip on the whereabouts of a load of chemicals stolen by P.A.G.A.N. that can be used to mass-produce a toxic gas. He and Friday lead a SWAT team to raid the location, which proves to be an ordinary milk factory; the chemicals and gas-making equipment are actually hidden next door. With no further leads to follow, Streebek tags along on a birthday dinner at the Brown Derby for Friday and his grandmother, and Connie soon joins them at Friday's invitation.

During dinner, Connie sees Whirley, Gannon and Kirkpatrick at another table. She identifies Whirley as the P.A.G.A.N. leader; she came face to face with him and removed his mask while fleeing the ritual. Friday attempts to arrest Whirley, but the corrupt Kirkpatrick, whose mayoral campaign is being secretly bankrolled by Whirley and Caesar, overrules him and relieves him of duty (all crimes of the P.A.G.A.N. cult had been part of Kirkpatrick's campaign, as an elevated crime rate would discredit the current mayor). Gannon takes Friday's badge and gun and orders Streebek to stay away from Whirley.

As Friday takes Connie home, Muzz captures them and takes them to the Griffith Observatory, where Whirley reveals to them his plan to kill Caesar at a reunion party for the models of Bait. He has his men take Connie to his private jet and prepares to kill Friday, but Streebek arrives just in time, having forced Muzz to reveal Friday's whereabouts at gunpoint. Streebek infiltrates Caesar's mansion and disrupts the P.A.G.A.N. plans to release the gas made from the stolen chemicals, just before Whirley sets fire to the stolen magazines to cover his escape. Gannon arrives with SWAT teams and Friday crashes the estate gates with an armored vehicle. Streebek personally arrests Muzz while Friday is thanked for stopping the gas attack by a grateful Caesar. Gannon reinstates Friday and returns his badge so he can pursue Whirley.

At the airport, Whirley meets Kirkpatrick and then abandons her and takes off with Connie as his hostage. The following morning, Friday catches up to him in a police jet and forces him to land. Whirley is convicted on multiple charges and received "43 consecutive 99-year sentences" in the Men's Correctional Institue in Chino. Kirkpatrick's fate is never given, though the exposure of her criminal activity means the end of her career. Friday continues his partnership with Streebek and begins dating Connie, who is no longer called "the virgin" by Friday.

Cast

 Dan Aykroyd as Sergeant Joe Friday
 Tom Hanks as Detective Pep Streebek
 Christopher Plummer as Reverend Jonathan Whirley
 Harry Morgan as Captain Bill Gannon
 Alexandra Paul as "the Virgin" Connie Swail
 Jack O'Halloran as Emil Muzz
 Elizabeth Ashley as Commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick
 Dabney Coleman as Jerry Caesar
 Kathleen Freeman as Enid Borden
 Bruce Gray as Mayor Peter Parvin
 Lenka Peterson as Granny Grace Mundy
 Julia Jennings as Sylvia Wiss
 Fred Asparagus as Tito Provencal
 Kimberly Foster as Officer Betsy Blees
 D. D. Howard as Officer Robyn Gilbert
 Peter Leeds as Roy Grest
 Meg Wyllie as Mrs. Delilah Gannon
 Dona Speir as Baitmate
 Nina Arvesen as Lady Motor Cop

Production
The script for Dragnet was written by Dan Aykroyd and Alan Zweibel, who had worked together during Aykroyd's tenure on Saturday Night Live. Aykroyd had in fact starred as Friday in a Saturday Night Live parody of Dragnet in 1976. Tom Mankiewicz, best known for his work on Superman and the James Bond series, had a deal at Universal and was brought in to work on the film script with them. Ted Kotcheff was originally attached to direct but did not like the draft the three writers had come up with, so Frank Price at Universal suggested Mankiewicz himself direct. Albert Brooks was offered the role of Pep Streebek, but he turned it down. Aykroyd originally wanted Jim Belushi to play Streebek, but Belushi was unavailable and Tom Hanks was cast instead.

British electronic group Art of Noise produced an update of the series' original theme music for the title credits. They set the Dragnet theme against an electronic breakbeat and added soundbites from the film, such as Friday's trademark lines "This is the city", "Just the facts, ma'am", and "I carry a badge.", timed to the music.

The soundtrack includes an original song called "City of Crime", a rock/hip-hop hybrid collaboration performed by Aykroyd and Hanks with bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes guitarist Pat Thrall, and was choreographed by Paula Abdul. The track is played over the film's closing credits and had a promotional music video that featured Aykroyd and Hanks.

Reception
The film received favorable reviews from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their program Siskel and Ebert and the Movies. Siskel praised Aykroyd's performance in particular, going so far as to say he deserved an Academy Award nomination. Ebert extended this praise to the ensemble cast, although he lamented the lack of stylized camera shots from the original television show and criticized the use of contemporary pop music. Siskel concluded that "they didn't have enough confidence in the material that they had to try and hook kids in with some disco thing."

In his written review, Ebert gave the movie three out of four stars, concluding that "it is great for an hour, good for about 25 minutes and then heads doggedly for the Standard 1980s High Tech Hollywood Ending, which means an expensive chase scene and a shootout." He also added that he felt the film would have been more effective in black and white.

  Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on a scale of A+ to F.

Box office
Dragnet performed well at the box office, grossing $57.4 million domestically with an additional $9.3 million internationally, for a total of $66.7 million worldwide.

References

External links

1987 films
1987 comedy films
1987 directorial debut films
1980s American films
1980s crime comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s parody films
1980s police comedy films
American buddy cop films
American crime comedy films
American parody films
American police detective films
Dragnet (franchise)
Films based on television series
Films based on radio series
Films directed by Tom Mankiewicz
Films produced by Robert K. Weiss
Films scored by Ira Newborn
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by Dan Aykroyd
Films with screenplays by Tom Mankiewicz
Films with screenplays by Alan Zweibel
Universal Pictures films

Dragnet (1987 film)


The Garrott House is a historic house in Batesville, Arkansas, located at the corner of Sixth and Main Streets.  Built in 1842, it is the oldest standing house in the Batesville area.

History
Built in 1842 by George Case for his wife's sister and husband, Robert and Eliza Ridgway Williams, this was the first structure in Batesville to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. When Robert Williams' widow emigrated to California in 1853, Case took possession of the house, and later deeded it to his daughter, Mary Catherine Case Maxfield, who owned the house until her death in 1940. The Rev. and Mrs. E.P.J. Garrott, daughter and son-in-law of the Maxfields, then lived in the house until the mid-1960s. It has been restored by the current owners and residents.

Structure
A story-and-a-half Georgian, the house is five bays wide, with a side gable roof and five chimneys.  A porch extends in front of the centered entrance, supported by fluted wooden columns, with a projecting gable section above.  The house has two large rooms on each side of a central hall downstairs, each room containing a fireplace. Its 1840s features include braced-frame construction, random width heart pine flooring, original pegged doors and mantel, and original woodwork. Late Victorian features are the stone kitchen in the rear, an 1880s addition, as well as the central dormer, the two-over-two front windows, the fretwork around the eaves, and cast-iron faux marble mantels on the west side, where the 1880s flues have replaced the 1840s fireplaces.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Independence County, Arkansas

Notes

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Houses in Batesville, Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Independence County, Arkansas
Houses completed in 1842
1842 establishments in Arkansas
Georgian architecture in Arkansas

Garrott House


The Power Pad is a controller for the NES. It was released in North America, Japan and Europe. It is a pad which you lie onto the floor and use your hands and legs to control. There are two sides, side A has 8 buttons spread like a NES controller D-Pad, whilst side B has 12 buttons numbered 1 to 12.

Video game controllers

Power Pad


Jean Bernard (13 August 1907 – 1 September 1994) was a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942 in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. He was released for nine days in February 1942 and allowed to return to Luxembourg, an episode which he later wrote about in his memoirs of the camp and which was turned into a film.

Life
Born in 1907, the sixth of ten children, into the family of a Luxembourg businessman, he attended the Athénée de Luxembourg until 1925, then studied at the university of Louvain in Belgium and then studied theology and philosophy at the Catholic seminary in Luxembourg. He was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 1933. From 1934, he headed the international Catholic film bureau (OCIC) in Brussels until it was closed down by the Gestapo in June 1940. He then became involved in helping Luxembourg families who had fled to France ahead of the German forces to return to their home country.

On 6 January 1941, he was arrested by the German occupation forces as a symbol of Luxembourg Catholic resistance to German occupation; that May he was sent to Dachau. In February 1942, he was unexpectedly released for nine days. He believed that this was part of a scheme to persuade six Luxembourgish priests to publicly voice their support for the Nazi regime. Bernard refused to cooperate, and was sent back to Dachau. Apparently, intervention by his brother with senior Nazi officials in Paris secured his definitive release on 5 August 1942.

Until September 1944, when Luxembourg was liberated, Bernard lived in a monastery.

After the war, he served as the editor of the Luxemburger Wort, held senior positions in the Catholic Church in Luxembourg, and received many awards. From 1945 to 1946 he described his experiences in a series of articles in the Wort, under the title Dachau. Aus dem Tagebuch eines Sträflings, and later in the book Pfarrerblock 25487. The book was the basis for Volker Schlöndorff's film The Ninth Day (Der neunte Tag), released in November 2004, about his nine-day release from Dachau.

From 1947 to 1970, Bernard was president of OCIC (which later became SIGNIS). In 1955 he was appointed honorary canon of the cathedral in Luxembourg. In 1958 he retired as editor due to health reasons, but continued to work at the newspaper. In 1970, Bernard was appointed an honorary prelate by Pope Paul VI. He was a member of the papal commission for film, radio and television; for the Second Vatican Council, he was a member of the working group on the press, film, radio and television, and was president of the Commission for the persecuted church, within the International Catholic Organisations Conference.

He died on 1 September 1994.

Honours
 Officer of the Order of the Oak Crown
 Knight of the Order of Merit
 Knight of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
 Stella della Solidarietà

Works

Publications
 Pfarrerblock 25487. (Reprint) Luxembourg 2004.
 Schneider, Deborah Lucas (English translation). Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau. 2007.

Filmography
 Mat Läif a Séil am Seminaire. (With Heart and Soul in the Seminary) 1932, 23 minutes.

References

Further reading
 Dostert, Paul. "Jean BERNARD 1907-1994". In: 400 Joer Kolléisch, Band II, p. 403-404. Luxembourg: Éditions Saint Paul, 2003.
 Schmitt, Christoph : BERNARD, Jean. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 28, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-413-7, pp. 105–108

External links
  Krieps, Roger. Hut ab vor Mgr. Bernard!; Obituary in forum, No. 154, October 1994.
  Der Neunte Tag by Volker Schlöndorff

Luxembourgian Roman Catholic priests
Luxembourgian non-fiction writers
Luxembourgian journalists
Male journalists
Luxemburger Wort people
1907 births
1994 deaths
People from Luxembourg City
Luxembourgian people imprisoned abroad
Dachau concentration camp survivors
Luxembourg Resistance members
Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg
20th-century Roman Catholic priests
20th-century journalists

Jean Bernard (priest)