| |
The best in Bengali literature since the
beginning of the nineteenth century is doubtlessly a product
of western influence. The development of Bengali prose, the
punctuation marks for which, with a solitary exception, were
borrowed from English, led to the introduction of periodicals
and newspapers, plays and farces, novels and short stories,
essays and criticism. Blank verse and sonnets were introduced
and a new body of epic and lyrical poems appeared. More important
was the freedom gained by Bengali literature from its erstwhile
religious character. Literature was instilled with ideas of
patriotism and humanism, individualism and universalism. A
new set of values was brought in, the spirit of questioning
persisted, social pictures were drawn with realism, and the
mysteries of the mind and the body probed into.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) represents
the high point of Bengali literature, which was made known
to the world at large by his works alone. One is at once struck
by the richness and variety of his works, though literature
was not the only field of his creativity. His contribution
was invaluable to music and painting, dance and the theatre,
and his response to the political, social and economic problems
of the country, significant. His religiosity and mysticism
(derived from the Upanisadas), his belief in the greatness
of Indian civilization, his bond with the middle class and
his faith in the benevolence of the West were, with the passing
of time, transformed into a quest for the universal, and a
rejection of nationalism that leads to aggression, a sympathy
for the toiling masses, and a criticism of colonialism and
militarism. There was much idealism in his call for building
a new world, but its spirit of humanism and internationalism,
and its awareness of political and economic issues are unmistakable.
Of the writers who followed Tagore, Saratchandra
Chatterjee (1876-1938) is well known for his criticism of
Hindu social practices in his novels; Qazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976),
the poet, is distinguished for a fusion of Hindu and Muslim
traditions and for his boldness in favour of the working class;
and Jasimuddin (1903-76) is known for reintroducing purely
rural matter and diction in poetry. A wave of Marxist and
Freudian ideas is discernible in the literature of the post-
first world war era, and so is the influence of contemporary
western poetry.
Another result of the contact with western
culture was the introduction of the theatre. The endogenous
dramatic entertainment used to be the yatra, open-stage performances
having Puranic themes with plenty of songs thrown in. In their
effort to emulate the colonial expatriates, wealthy Bengali
families built western-style theatres for the performance
of plays in Bengali, and in 1872 the first Bengali public
theatre was established in Calcutta. The yatra was gradually
pushed to the countryside, and the theatre became a vehicle
of nationalism and exercised considerable influence on the
public. Films at times stole a march over the theatre, but
the popularity of the stage was restored by group theatres
which experimented with themes and techniques of the western
theatre.
Creativity in music, in the main, was expressed
by a definite move towards the vernacular, and towards individual
performances from group singing. It was first manifested in
setting simple Bengali words to classical modes of north India,
while the blending of western melodies came later. With the
growing sense of nationalism, popular tunes like the Baul,
Bhatiyali, or Kirtana were resorted to, either within their
own given range or with a little innovation. To these were
added. again, a sophistication of words which reached its
height with Tagore. He made use of modes of Indian music,
but broke the rules in which they were meant to be used, thus
departing from the original form, adopting western melodies,
and unhesitatingly borrowed folk tunes of Bengal. For the
first time the Tagores produced the Bengali form of musical
notation that ended the oral tradition of handing over compositions
from one generation to another. Nazrul Islam made experiments
with Perso-Arabic melodies and gained immense popularity.
Interest was also taken in the traditional folk music of Bengal,
which was hitherto neglected as unsophisticated by the urban
gentry. A new wave of classical Indian instrumental music
was created by Alauddin Khan (1862-1972) and members of his
family, which had taken both home and abroad by storm. The
work of Tagore, Uday Sankar (1900-77), and Bulbul Chowdhury
(1916-53) has given the dance a new respectability and an
ability to interpret secular themes.
A new school of Bengali painting was developed
with the materials from the West, but, led by RanindranathTagore
(1871-1951), the style was modeled on the Indian. Themes varied
from the Puranic to Mughal historical, and much of the style
of the period was recreated. Jamini Roy (1887-1972) revived
the art of the Bengal patas in his works. Rabindranath Tagore's
paintings represented a world of fantasy in forms that were
unique, and Zainul Abedin (1914-76) brought in a new realism
in his black and white brushwork, depicting the scenes of
the Bengal famine of 1943. These people were followed by a
generation who, more often than not, took to the mode of western
painting.
The intellectual development which took place
in the nineteenth century and onwards was very diverse, and
it is undeniable that it represented a new awakening to which
many people have applied the much debated term of Bengal Renaissance;
yet, it was more like a grafting than a growth. Its inspiration
came from western education, and th culture was, therefore,
the product of a minority which was the English-educated urban
middle class. The very source of its inspiration created an
inviolable gap between those who had had the opportunity of
receiving western education, and those who did not have that.
For historical reasons, the Hindu predominated in the educated
urban middle class. It is, therefore, not surprising that
the new culture also took on a character that was essentially
Hindu.
As English education began to be available
to the Bengali Muslims, another stream flowed within this
culture which was the middle class - semi-urban at first,
but urban after the first world war - and Muslim. The traditional
approach to problems was reflected in the polemics with Christian
missionaries or amongst various Muslim sects, or in the debate
over whether certain art forms had religious sanction. At
the same time, another trend reflected a modernist approach
in the interpretation of Islam, or with regard to social questions
such as education, women's liberation, polygamy, and the practice
of pir-muridi. This liberalism soon developed into a universal
humanism of a secular kind, much to the dislike of the traditionalist,
and the debate between the two schools of thought was later
continued in the Pakistan period. However, one thing which
clearly emerged was a growing consensus that the Bengali language
should have an important place in society.
During the Pakistan period the infrastructure,
did not undergo any major change. The Zamindari system was
abolished, but the lot of the peasantry did not improve. The
middle class, however, developed further. There was more mobility
from the village to the city, and more opportunities for education,
employment, and contact with the outside world. The women
began to come out of the purdah; art forms which once were
taboo in Muslim society gained general acceptance; and, free
of competition from the Hindu, the middle class could afford
to be secular. They were also anxious to retain their Bengali
cultural identity, which was an anxiety that has been expressed
from the late nineteenth century and now strengthened in the
atomosphere of a multi-lingual state. The first conflict in
the new state centred round the issue of the state language,
a position for which the claim of Bengali was also put forward.
The subsequent economic and political development led to the
birth of Bangladesh under the leadership of the middle class,
but through a process of violence to which the people resorted
for the first time.
A conflict between an urgent religious sense
and liberal humanism has been a distinguishable feature of
the Pakistan period. This was also reflected in the Bengali
attitude to his culture, a scrutiny from the standpoint of
religious identity and a general acceptance of the Bengali
tradition. This led to a process of historical research that
was of importance. A growing awareness of the social and economic
exploitation of the masses and of cultural changes in the
world at large was reflected.
Bangladesh was conceived as a secular and
socialist democracy. Her six years of existence have shown,
however, that the dream has not come true, and that there
is a lot of ambivalence regarding the desired political, economic,
and cultural configuration of the country.
However, the pattern of intellectual activities
set during the British period has continued. Literature still
remains the main field of creativity, experiments have been
made with forms and diction; more works have been produced;
the number of writers has increased: but the stress continues
to be on poetry. Classical music, more cultivated in the fifties
and early sixties, seems to have declined, while vernacular
music has flourished. Since Bangladesh came into being, a
kind of pop music has surfaced which has done away with many
inhibitions, but its words are mostly spiritual and intensely
sentimental. The rise of the theatre had been the most noticeable
development in Bangladesh, and the unexpected support it has
enlisted from the community is remarkable. A revival of folk
art forms took place in the sixties. The use of endogenous
materials in tapestry, of bricks in mosaic work, and adoption
of the medium of tempera are some of the noticeable features
in fine arts.
The political change has given the Bengali
language a new role to play as a vehicle of office work and
a medium of higher education. An aspect of intellectual creativity
in Bangladesh has been an effort to meet this challenge.
Patronage has been extended by the government
to intellectual activities,. This has brought honour and financial
rewards for artists but has not necessarily helped develop
creativity. Since the government controls the media - television,
radio, and, to a large extent, the press - censors films and
the theatre, and regulates the importing of cultural materials,
public taste is likely to be shaped or at least greatly influenced
by government policies.
The historical process, through which we
have arrived on the threshold of the year 1979, leaves the
gulf wide open between the vast majority of the people and
the educated urban middle class who are in control -of the
state machinery. Thus, social conditions are hardly conducive
to the flowering of creative potentials of the more numerous
and underprivileged masses.
|
|