In the early twentieth century the British Empire was at its zenith- the sun never set on the empire, which spread all over the globe from Australia, New Zealand to Malay, Burma and India, to Yemen, Transjordan, Egypt, Africa, Guyana and on to Canada. Birendra lost faith in endless street agitations, conferences, meetings, the boycotting of British made goods and patriotic songs. He did not think these could ever achieve Independence. Birendra wanted to hit the mighty empire directly and did so independently with his faithful brave associates. “Days of Glory” is a Memoir of Birendra Bhattacharjee who played a prominent role in the revolutionary cadres of the time in Bengal. Seeking more action and impact, he formed his own small organisation with some faithful associates and went on to strike out at the British Empire. Providence however did not grant him much time. His one act of insurrection became a prominent and celebrated case, but he was betrayed and turned over to the authorities, arrested, tortured and imprisoned. There is considerable debate about how exactly India gained its freedom. In the late 1940’s and 50’s it was taught and widely accepted that it was Gandhi who gained the independence. It was said that the British were afraid of the damage that would be caused to their reputations by the sight of non-violent Indians being willingly beaten by stick-wielding policemen in the Raj’s employment. Over time this belief has changed based on new facts and attitudes. Although this will be criticised as an unpatriotic stance, Independence did not turn out to be a matter of gaining a glorious freedom but was rather a transfer of power, leaving everything intact from the British administration and transferring the levers of power to the new rulers. This included placing Indian Governors / Rashtrapati in the Vice-regal palace. At the outset there was only an administration that was selected by the preferences of a single man Gandhi, who won the hearts of millions of Indians. He preferred a simple agrarian life, cleaning latrines and spinning cloth and viewed all industrial progress with suspicion. It all started with great enthusiasm. Mahatma Gandhi started the full independence movement in 1921 but after the violence in Chourichoura he abandoned the movement altogether. Bengal had steered its own course in the early part of the century. In 1905, it was Curzon, a staunch imperialist who undertook the division of Bengal. With the acquiescence of the Nawab of Dhaka, who was himself suspicious of the Hindu population and the prospect of a loss of power should the British leave. Curzon divided Bengal into the Muslim dominant east and the Hindu majority west. 1908 saw Arabinda and Barin Ghosh convicted in the Alipore bombing case. That was the year when Khudiram Bose was hanged for another bomb-throwing case. The Bengali youth lost confidence in Gandhi’s approach. His approach of non-violence with its attendant motivations to embarrass the British, were not making sufficient progress in their eyes. The Bengali youth wanted action. Birendra was born with the surname Bhattacharjee. His ancestors were all Gangopadhyay, but in native Bramhanbaria they took the title of Bhattacharjee. His was a lower middle-class family from an obscure village and the family income came from what little land they owned, supplemented by his father Mahendra Chandra’s salary from a Dhaka landlord’s office. The family was always financially constrained. Mahendra would disembark from the train several stops before his destination and walk up to twenty miles to save a few annas. Birendra was the great hope for the family. From a young age his intelligence, charm and charisma were remarked upon. But he left his family, his home and a comfortable professional path for a life of ideology, action, danger and ultimately arrest, torture and imprisonment. This sacrifice is impossible to understand in today’s world.
This book is a collection of some of the published papers of the author, published mostly abroad, and unravels some significant yet hitherto neglected aspects of history, culture and religion of Bihar and Bengal: two areas that were connected through an intricate network of rivers. Themes looked into are: early historic urbanisation in the Mithilā plains of North Bihar; the social history of Brahmanical religious institutions (temples and Mathas) in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the social history of Buddhist monasticism in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the integration of a local goddess into the institutional fabric of Mahayana Buddhism; the survival of Buddhism in the thirteenth and fourteenth century AD; pilgrimage from Central India and Deccan to a Hindu pil grimage centre of Bihar in the medieval period; and the debate on the Islamisation of medieval eastern Bengal. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sautar is an indigenous tribe residing mainly in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. Sautars belong to the Proto-Australoid racial group. Both men and women of the Sautar community are masters in archery. They are often considered a martial community by the masses. Since they are skilled fighters, they were often hired by the commoners during fights. Due to this practice, several Sautars were killed. In Bihar, Sautar is one of the major communities, forming a majority of the state's tribal population. The Sautar mostly speak Sautari, a member of the Munda language family. In Bihar, the Sautars are mostly landless. Though, some people from the tribe engage themselves in agriculture. This community has fallen prey to ignorance in the process of socialisation. The ignorance of the Sautar community developed gradually when most of their people were converted to Christianity. Some also became followers of Chauvinism. Due to this religious conversion, their original beliefs and culture got destroyed. In the cultural structure of India, the cultural identity and values of Sautars were ignored. This book is an attempt by the author to present the few aspects and facts behind the problems being faced by this community.
In the early twentieth century the British Empire was at its zenith- the sun never set on the empire, which spread all over the globe from Australia, New Zealand to Malay, Burma and India, to Yemen, Transjordan, Egypt, Africa, Guyana and on to Canada. Birendra lost faith in endless street agitations, conferences, meetings, the boycotting of British made goods and patriotic songs. He did not think these could ever achieve Independence. Birendra wanted to hit the mighty empire directly and did so independently with his faithful brave associates. “Days of Glory” is a Memoir of Birendra Bhattacharjee who played a prominent role in the revolutionary cadres of the time in Bengal. Seeking more action and impact, he formed his own small organisation with some faithful associates and went on to strike out at the British Empire. Providence however did not grant him much time. His one act of insurrection became a prominent and celebrated case, but he was betrayed and turned over to the authorities, arrested, tortured and imprisoned. There is considerable debate about how exactly India gained its freedom. In the late 1940’s and 50’s it was taught and widely accepted that it was Gandhi who gained the independence. It was said that the British were afraid of the damage that would be caused to their reputations by the sight of non-violent Indians being willingly beaten by stick-wielding policemen in the Raj’s employment. Over time this belief has changed based on new facts and attitudes. Although this will be criticised as an unpatriotic stance, Independence did not turn out to be a matter of gaining a glorious freedom but was rather a transfer of power, leaving everything intact from the British administration and transferring the levers of power to the new rulers. This included placing Indian Governors / Rashtrapati in the Vice-regal palace. At the outset there was only an administration that was selected by the preferences of a single man Gandhi, who won the hearts of millions of Indians. He preferred a simple agrarian life, cleaning latrines and spinning cloth and viewed all industrial progress with suspicion. It all started with great enthusiasm. Mahatma Gandhi started the full independence movement in 1921 but after the violence in Chourichoura he abandoned the movement altogether. Bengal had steered its own course in the early part of the century. In 1905, it was Curzon, a staunch imperialist who undertook the division of Bengal. With the acquiescence of the Nawab of Dhaka, who was himself suspicious of the Hindu population and the prospect of a loss of power should the British leave. Curzon divided Bengal into the Muslim dominant east and the Hindu majority west. 1908 saw Arabinda and Barin Ghosh convicted in the Alipore bombing case. That was the year when Khudiram Bose was hanged for another bomb-throwing case. The Bengali youth lost confidence in Gandhi’s approach. His approach of non-violence with its attendant motivations to embarrass the British, were not making sufficient progress in their eyes. The Bengali youth wanted action. Birendra was born with the surname Bhattacharjee. His ancestors were all Gangopadhyay, but in native Bramhanbaria they took the title of Bhattacharjee. His was a lower middle-class family from an obscure village and the family income came from what little land they owned, supplemented by his father Mahendra Chandra’s salary from a Dhaka landlord’s office. The family was always financially constrained. Mahendra would disembark from the train several stops before his destination and walk up to twenty miles to save a few annas. Birendra was the great hope for the family. From a young age his intelligence, charm and charisma were remarked upon. But he left his family, his home and a comfortable professional path for a life of ideology, action, danger and ultimately arrest, torture and imprisonment. This sacrifice is impossible to understand in today’s world.
This book is a collection of some of the published papers of the author, published mostly abroad, and unravels some significant yet hitherto neglected aspects of history, culture and religion of Bihar and Bengal: two areas that were connected through an intricate network of rivers. Themes looked into are: early historic urbanisation in the Mithilā plains of North Bihar; the social history of Brahmanical religious institutions (temples and Mathas) in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the social history of Buddhist monasticism in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the integration of a local goddess into the institutional fabric of Mahayana Buddhism; the survival of Buddhism in the thirteenth and fourteenth century AD; pilgrimage from Central India and Deccan to a Hindu pil grimage centre of Bihar in the medieval period; and the debate on the Islamisation of medieval eastern Bengal. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In the religious landscape of early medieval (c. AD 600-1200) Bihar and Bengal, poly-religiosity was generally the norm than an exception, which entailed the evolution of complex patterns of inter-religious equations. Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism not only coexisted but also competed for social patronage, forcing them to enter into complex interactions with social institutions and processes. Through an analysis of the published archaeological data, this work explores some aspects of the social history of Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina temples and shrines, and Buddhist stūpas and monasteries in early medieval Bihar and Bengal. This archaeological history of religions questions many ‘established’ textual reconstructions, and enriches our understanding of the complex issue of the decline of Buddhism in this area. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The theory of water waves is most varied and is a fascinating topic. It includes a wide range of natural phenomena in oceans, rivers, and lakes. It is mostly concerned with elucidation of some general aspects of wave motion including the prediction of behaviour of waves in the presence of obstacles of some special configurations that are of interes
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