ART
AND LITERATURE IN BANGLADESH
ART
Introduction:
Bangladeshi art is a form of visual arts which
is discovered or has been practiced throughout the history in the land what is
now known as Bangladesh. Bangladeshi art has a perennial history which
originated more than two thousand years ago and is practiced even in this date.
Among the various forms of Bangladesh art, photography, architecture, sculpture
and painting are the most notable.
History:
History of Bangladeshi art dates back to 450
BC. Proper evidence about the earliest development of Bangladeshi art refers to
the Mauryan age. A number of sculptures have been discovered in Bangladesh
which reflect the rich heritage of Mauryan art. The most significant
development of Bangladeshi art took place during the Pala rule which existed
from 750-1124 CE. The Palas created a distinctive form of Buddhist art in
Bangladesh which even influenced the Chinese, Japanese, eastern Asian and
Tibetan art. Bangladeshi art witnessed the influence of Islamic art though the
arrival of Muslims in Bengal beginning from the 11th century.
Islamic art in Bangladesh mostly flourished during the Mughal rule. A new wave
of evolution was introduced in Bangladeshi art through the pervading of British
rule. The British left their impact in almost every field of visual arts in
Bangladesh. Bangladeshi art was bolstered through the introduction of Modern
art. This period also gave birth to many famous artists in Bangladesh including
the great ZainulAbedin.
Photography:
Photography is the contemporary art form where
Bangladesh has really made its mark. The early work was done by the pioneers
like GolamKasem Daddy, ManzoorAlam Beg, Nawazeshahmed and Naibuddin Ahmed.
Sayeedakhanom was one of the first women photographers. However, while
Bangladeshi photography is celebrated worldwide, within Bangladesh it has not
been sufficiently recognized. It is taught neither at the Faculty of Fine Arts
(Charukala Institute) nor at the Department of Fine and Performing Arts
(Shilpakala Academy). The entry rules of the Asian Art Biennale do not allow
the submission of photography or video, though international artists have
submitted photography and been awarded for them.
Architecture:
The remains of the ancient archaeological
sites bear ample testimony to the fact that the art of architecture was
practiced in Bangladesh from very early period of her history. The
Somapuramahavihara, a certain of the Pala ruler Dharmapala, at Paharpur,
Bangladesh, is the largest Buddhist Vihara in the Indian subcontinent, and has
been described as a “pleasure to the eyes of the world.” The Kantajew Temple in
Dinajpur, built in navaratna style contains one of the finest examples of
terracotta ornamentation of the late period of the art. The Sixty Dome Mosque in
Bagerhat has been described as “the most impressive Muslim monument in the
whole of the Indian subcontinent.” The Lalbagh Fort is considered as one of the
greatest examples of Mughal architecture. The influence of European
architecture is also noticeable which is visible in several colonial monuments
and churches in the country. The most significant one is Ahsan Manzil, the
former residence of the Nawabs of Dhaka, later turned into a museum. With the
growing urbanization and modernization, the architectural form is turning into
modernity covering a wide range of its heritage and tradition.
Sculpture:
Unlike other parts of the Indian Subcontinent,
the art of sculpture in Bangladesh started through the moulding of terracotta
because of the dearth of stone relief and abundance of the soft alluvial clay.
This dates back to the 3rd/2nd century BC. In course of
time, the influence of north and central India began to grow in the sculptural
art of Bangladesh and the introduction of using stones started. From the early
three centuries of the common era, the local sculptors started to make black
stone sculptures in the Kusana style, native to northern India. These
sculptures were the images of the deities worshiped by the followers of the
three major religions of the time, namely, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Bronze sculpture began to be assimilated in the 7th century AD
primarily from the Chittagong region. The earliest sculptures of this kind were
depictions of Buddhist believes but the art was later integrated into the Hindu
art as well. In modern times, the theme of sculptural art has been dominated by
some historical events, mainly the Bangladesh Liberation War. Aparajeyo Bangla,
Shabash Bangladesh are some of the noteworthy examples of this trend.
Folk
art:
As in other countries of the world, the people
of rustic, and primitive ideas developed folk art in Bangladesh. Because of
this the structure and growth of the folk-art of Bangladesh are filled with
pure and simple vigor and the symbolic representations of hope, aspiration and
sense of beauty of the rural Bangladeshi folk. Different forms of folk art tend
to repeat these common motifs. For instance, the lotus, the sun, the
tree-of-life, flowery creepers etc. are seen in paintings, embroidery, weaving,
carving and engraving. Other common motifs are fish, elephant, horse, peacock,
swastika, circle, waves, temple, mosque etc. The folk art of Bangladesh has
been largely contributed by the rural women because of the aesthetic value as
well as the quality of their work. Thus, artists like blacksmiths, potters,
cobblers, painters, goldsmiths, brass-smiths, weavers earn their livelihood
form what they produce while traditionally, from the past, Alpana artists or
Nakshikantha needlewomen were working within the home and received no monetary
recompense for their labor. Both Alapna and Nakshikantha are some of the most
attractive forms of Bangladeshi folk art.
Modern
art:
The movement of modern art in Bangladesh has
its roots in the early 20th century. Back then there was no training
or educational institutions for arts in Bangladesh. In the late 19th
century, the British started to establish some art schools in Calcutta. The art
lovers of Bangladesh or erstwhile East Bengal were also induced by this. This
phenomenon gave birth to many preeminent figures of arts in Bangladesh whose
fame spread all the way through not only in Bangladesh but in the whole world.
ZainulAbedin was from this generation of artists. Since the establishment of
the art institute, the artists in Bangladesh started to gain the much required
professionalism and also started to attach commercial value to it. After the
independence of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy was set up in 1974
which later started to organize regular art exhibitions and festivals involving
both national and international artists. After the independence of Bangladesh,
a major influence came from the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, which
included several Bangladeshi such as Nandalal Bose ManishiDey, MukulDey, Jamini
Roy and Rabindranath Tagore.
Contemporary
art:
Several art movements arose in Bangladesh as
well, artists exhibited internationally and few groups of artists formed in the
Bangladeshi contemporary art scene. Few institutions established to be involved
on contemporary creation. Several artists left the country and practiced on
interdisciplinary media in Europe, America and Japan. Bangladeshi born Runa
Islam, HasanElahi, NaeemMohaiemen, Firoz Mahmud and Rana Begum practiced on
various media including video, installation, photography, text, sound, painting
and other new media of art and got recognition exhibiting internationally.
Britto organized several art events on contemporary media. Samdani Art
Foundation has established in early 2010’s and massively changing the scenario
of contemporary art and culture.
LITERATURE
Bengali
literature:
Bengali literature denotes the body of writing
in the Bengali language. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist myatic
songs dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries.
Thereafter, the timeline of Bengali literature is divided into two periods –
medieval (1360-1800) and modern (after 1800).
Old
Bengali literature:
The first works in Bengali, written in new
Bengali, appeared between 10th and 12th centuries C.E. It
is generally known as the Charyapada. These
are mystic songs composed by various Buddhist seer-poets: Luipada, Kanhapada,
Kukkuripada, Chatilpada, Bhusukupada, Kamlipada, Dhendhanpada, Shantipada,
Shabarapada etc. The famous Bengali linguist HaraprasadShastri discovered the
palm leaf Charyapada manuscript in
the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907.
Middle
Bengali literature:
Pre-ChaitanyaVaishnava literature:
Pre-Chaitanya or Early Vaishnava literature denotes the literature of the time
preceding the time of ChaitanyaMahaprabhu, the founder of GaudiyaVaishnavism.
These include: Sri Krishna Kirtana by
BoruChandidas; lyrical poems, known as the VaishnavaPadavali of Vidyapati and
Chandidas; Sri Krishna Vijaya, the
partical translation of BhagavataPuranaby
MaladharBasu and Krittivasi Ramayana by
KrittivasOjha.
ShrikrishnaKirtana:BasantaRanjan Roy
Bidyatvallava discovered the torn manuscript of the Sri Krishna Kirtana from the cowshed of Debendranath Chatterjee’s
house at Kakinlya village, Bankura district in modern-day Paschimbanga (West
Bengal). Sri Krishna Kirtanawas
written by BoruChandidas in the later half of 14th century CE. It is
considered as the second oldest work of Bengali literature after Charyapada.
Post-ChaitanyaVaishnava
literature:
Post-Chaitanya or Late Vaishnava literature denotes the literature of the time
succeeding the time of ChaitanyaMahaprabhu. These include: biographies of
Chaitanya by GaudiyaVaishnava scholar-poets and later VaishnavaPadavali with a special subgenrer based
on the life of Chaitanya. Major figures of the Late Vaishnava literature are
KrishnadasaKaviraja, VrindavanaDasaThakura, Jayananda, Govindadasa, Jnandada,
BalaramDasa etc.
Mangalkavya:
Mangal-Kavya, a group of Hindu narrative
poetry, composed more or less between 13th Century and 18th
Century, eulogise the indigenous deities of rural Bengal in the social scenario
of the Middle Ages. ManasaMangal, ChandiMangaland Dharma Mangal, the three major genus of Mangal-Kavya tradition
include the portrayal of the magnitude of Manasa, Chandi and Dharmathakur.
Major poets of Mangalkavya tradition are MukundaramChakrabarty, Bijay Gupta,
RupramChakrabarty etc.
19th
century:
In the middle of 19th century,
Bengali literature gained momentum. During this period, the Bengali Pandits of Fort William College did the
tedious work of translating the text books in Bengali to help teach the British
some Indian languages including Bengali. This work played a role in the
background in the evolution of Bengali prose. Translating from Sanskrit to
Bengali, writing essays on religious topics and publishing magazines were some
the areas Raja Ram Mohan Roy focused on. He established a cultural group in the
name of ‘AtmiyaSabha’ (Club of Kins) in 1815. Another significant contributor
of bengali literature in its early stage was Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyaya. A
great drama was published from Dhaka in the name of ‘Nil Darpan’ (The Indigo
Mirror). DinabandhuMitra was the writer of this play. Michael MadhusudanDutt
introduced blank verse (AmitraksharChhanda), literary epics and sonnets in
Bengali language. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is considered one of the leading
Bengali novelist and essayist of the 19th century. His first novel Durgeshnandini, considered a benchmark
in the history of Bengali literature, was published in 1865. Possibly the most
prolific writer in Bengali is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. His 2,000 Rabindrasangeetsplay a pivotal part in
defending Bengali culture. Other notable Bengali works of his are Gitanjali, a book of poems for which he
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and many short stories and
a few novels. In the similar category is KaziNazrul Islam, who was invited to
post-partition Bangladesh as the National Poet and whose work transcends sectarian
boundaries. He is frequently called the “rebel poet” mainly because of his most
famous and electrifying poem “Bidrohi” or “The Rebel”. His work includes 3,000
songs, known as both as “NazrulGeeti” and
“NazrulSangeet”. Sarat Chandra
Chattopadhyay was one of the most popular novelists of early 20th
century whose specially was exploring the life and suffering of women in
contemporary rural Bengal.