Bengal was a historical region in the eastern Indian subcontinent, which is politically split today between the South Asian republics of Bangladesh and India. Due to its long history and complicated political divisions, various names have been used to refer to the region and its subsections. The name Bangla is used by both Bangladesh and West Bengal in international contexts. In the Bengali language, the two Bengals each use a different term to refer to the nominally identified nation: Bānglā (বাংলা) and Baṅga (বঙ্গ)
Bangla (Bengali: বাংলা) may be a transliteration of either Bengal (a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia) or Bengali (an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Bengal). It can also refer to the endonym of the region in the Bengali language or the native name of the region.
Bongo (Bengali: বঙ্গ) is a transliteration of the Bengali name of the region of Bengal as a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia.
Language:
Bangladesh The etymology of Bangladesh ("Bengali Country") can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as "Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo" (1922) by Kazi Nazrul Islam and "Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy" (1905) by Rabindranath Tagore, used the term. The term Bangladesh was often written as two words, Bangla Desh, in the past. Starting in the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term in political rallies in East Bengal (In the year 1971 it became Bangladesh) province of Pakistan. The term Bangla is a major name for both the Bengal region (Bangladesh and West Bengal) and the Bengali language. The origin of the term Bangla is the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom (Now divided between the Bangladesh and the West Bengal). The ancient term Vangaladesa (Now used as 'Bangladesh') for the Bengal region (Modern day Bangladesh, West Bengal and Tripura) is found in 11th-century South Indian (Dravidian) records. The word "Bangāl" and "Banglā" became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. The historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his Ain-i-Akbari 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". The Indo-Aryan suffix Desh is derived from the Sanskrit word deśha, which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal". Alternatives to the name Bangladesh are:
Bangadesh (Bengali: বঙ্গদেশ; lit. Bengali Country)[1]Bongobhumi or Banglabhumi (Bengali: বঙ্গভূমি/ বাংলাভূমি; lit. Bengali Land)[1]Bangarajya or Banglarajya (Bengali: বঙ্গরাজ্য/ বাংলারাজ্য; lit. Bengali Realm)[1]Bangarashtra or Banglarashtra (Bengali: বঙ্গরাষ্ট্র/ বাংলারাষ্ট্র; lit. Bengali State)
Politics:
East Bengal – The 1947 Partition of Bengal divided the British Indian province of Bengal as part of the formal Partition of India. East Bengal (now Bangladesh), which was predominantly Muslim, became a province of Pakistan. In 1955, East Bengal became the new province of East Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan declared Independence during the Liberation War of Bangladesh and the new nation of Bangladesh was formed.
Bangabhumi or Bir Banga – A separatist movement to create a Hindu country in southwestern Bangladesh, envisioned by Banga Sena.
Greater Bangladesh – A political theory circulated by a number of politicians, intellectuals and writers that the People's Republic of Bangladesh has aspirations to unite Bengali-speaking regions into a greater historical Bengal. According to the theory this would include the Indian states of West Bengal, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Assam, Andaman Islands, and the Rakhine State (formerly Arakan/Rohang) in Myanmar (formerly Burma) as part of its own territory with democratic governance.[4]
Maps of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh, showing North Bengal in green and South Bengal in red
East Bengal (Bengali: পূর্ববঙ্গPurbô Bangla) was the name used during two different periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal which made one half East Bengal or Bangladesh.
Historically, it referred to the fertile Bhati region of the Bengal delta, which corresponds to the modern-day Dhaka Division.
West Bengal (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ) comprises roughly one-third of the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. When India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The western part went to the Dominion of India (and was named West Bengal).[further explanation needed]
Hilly Bengal
Hilly Bengal (Bengali: পার্বত্যবঙ্গ) is a term used for the southeastern parts of Bangladesh and parts of northern Myanmar. The Bangladesh part consists of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban, while the Myanmar part consists of 14 districts in the Northern part of Rakhine (Arakan/Rohang): Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyaukpyu, Ponnagyan, Rathedaung, Sittwe, Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myabon, Ann, Kyaukpyu, Rambree and Munaung.[citation needed]
Vanga – a seafaring state located in the eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent comprising today's politically divided Bengal region (West Bengal, India and Bangladesh)also mentioned in Sanskrit text Mahabharata.South Asia in BC 300, showing the Chola (blue), Vangadesam (adjoining pink) and Kalinga Kingdoms
Vangaladesa – a term found in South Indian records in the 11th century.[8][9][10]
Gauda – a kingdom located in Bengal in ancient and medieval times.[11][12] The Pala emperors were referred to as Vangapati (Lord of Vanga) and Gaudesvara (Lord of Gauda). Sena kings also called themselves Gaudesvara. From then Gauda and Vanga seem to be interchangeable names for the whole of Bengal.[11]
Bangala or Shahi Bangala – a sovereign state that encompassed present-day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal and the Myanmar state of Rakhine between the 14th and 16th centuries. It was a regional power and a melting pot of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, located at the crossroads of modern South Asia and Southeast Asia. During the Bengal Sultanate[13][14]Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself the first Shah of Bangala in 1342.[13]Bangla became the most-common name for the region during the Islamic period.
Bengal Subah or Mughal Bengal – a state of the Mughal Empire encompassing modern Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was established following the dissolution of the Bengal Sultanate. The Mughals played an important role in developing modern Bengali culture and society. By the 18th century, Mughal Bengal had emerged as a quasi-independent state.
Bengal Presidency – the largest colonial subdivision (presidency) of British India, with its seat in Calcutta, the capital of British-held territories in South Asia until 1911. At its territorial peak in the 19th century, the presidency extended from the present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan in the west to Burma, Singapore and Penang in the east. The Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India for many years. Most of the presidency's territories were eventually incorporated into other British Indian provinces and crown colonies.
British India was reorganized in 1912 and the presidency was reunited into a single Bengali-speaking province. The 1947 Partition of British India resulted in Bengal's division on religious grounds, between:
West Bengal – to be renamed as Banga Pradesh in par/aligned with other Indian states respectively.
Bangladesh – East Bengal, which became a province of Pakistan according to the provisions set forth in the Mountbatten Plan, later became the independent country of Bangladesh after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Adjectives
Bangla – the contents and attributes of the Bengali language or the country of Bangladesh.
Banglar – something of, from, or related to the country of Bangladesh.
Bengalese – something of, from, or related to Bengal.
Bangalee (Bengali: বাঙালি/বাঙ্গালী) – until 1978 the Constitution of Bangladesh referred all citizens of Bangladesh as Bangalees, an archaic spelling for Bengali.
Bangladeshi (Bengali: বাংলাদেশি) – from 1978 this was a widely used term to refer to the citizens of Bangladesh.
Bangal (Bengali: বাঙাল; Hindustani: बंगाल, بنگال) – used informally in India to refer to Hindu Bengalis with family roots associated with East Bengal. Bangal is also the Hindustani word for Bengal.
Bangabasi (Bengali: বঙ্গবাসী) – peoples of Bengal.
Bangadesiya (Bengali: বঙ্গদেশীয়) – something of, from, or related to Bengal or Bengalis.
Banga-Santan (Bengali: বঙ্গসন্তান) – lit: Son/ child of Mother Bengal- an adjectival prefix referring to People of Bengal or Bengalis.
Banga-Lalana (Bengali: বঙ্গললনা) – lit: Daughter of Mother Bengal- an adjectival prefix referring to a girl/lady of Bengal or any Female Bengalis.
Bong- an Indian slang used to refer anyone from West Bengal.
Other names
Bengali: গঙ্গাহৃদ/ গঙ্গাঋদ্ধি/ গঙ্গারাষ্ট্র; Gangarid / Gangaridai / Ganga Rashtra – meaning Heart of Ganges / Wealth of Ganges / Nation on the River Ganges[15]
Bengali: গৌড় রাজ্য; Gauṛa rajya — Gauda Kingdom; meaning radiant kingdom (from Sanskrit गौड़ gauṛa "white, radiant, fair, golden", rājya, राज्य "kingdom, state"). Bengal is described in ancient Sanskrit texts as 'Gaud-Desh'.
^"Bangladesh: early history, 1000 B.C.–A.D. 1202". Bangladesh: A country study. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. September 1988. Retrieved 1 December 2014. Historians believe that Bengal, the area comprising present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, was settled in about 1000 B.C. by Dravidian-speaking peoples who were later known as the Bang. Their homeland bore various titles that reflected earlier tribal names, such as Vanga, Banga, Bangala, Bangal, and Bengal.
^Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 220. ISBN978-0-87113-800-2. In C1020 ... launched Rajendra's great northern escapade ... peoples he defeated have been tentatively identified ... 'Vangala-desa where the rain water never stopped' sounds like a fair description of Bengal in the monsoon.
