Bangladeshi national calendar: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[Bengali calendar]] |
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{{short description|Civil calendar used in Bangladesh}} |
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{{Today/BS/AH/AD}} |
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{{Duplication|dupe=Bengali calendar|date=May 2017}} |
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The '''Bangladeshi calendar''' ({{lang-bn|বাংলা সাল}}, also called the '''Bangla Year''') is a [[civil calendar]] used in [[Bangladesh]], alongside the [[Gregorian calendar]] and the [[Islamic calendar]]. With roots in the ancient calendars of the region,<ref name="Sengupta2001">{{cite book|author=Nitish Sengupta|title=History of the Bengali-speaking people|publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors|year=2001|isbn=978-81-7476-355-6|pages=76–77|quote=Some historians attribute it [the Bengali calendar] to King Sasanka of Gaur (C 606-637) ... Whether this was started by Sasanka or whether it was a modification of the Hijra calendar ... and came to Bengal along with the Turkish conquest is difficult to answer. But clearly this is the calendar starting around AD 595, which was given recognition as the standard Bengali calendar either by Hussain Shah or by Akbar.|author-link=Nitish Sengupta}}</ref><ref name=meghna>{{Cite book |title=The Bangladesh Reader: History, Culture, Politics |last=Guhathakurta |first=Meghna |last2=Schendel |first2=Willem van |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780822353188 |pages=17–18}}</ref><ref name= Chakrabarti114>{{cite book|author1=Kunal Chakrabarti|author2=Shubhra Chakrabarti|title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |year= 2013|publisher =Scarecrow|isbn= 978-0-8108-8024-5|pages=114–115}}</ref> it is based on '''Tarikh-e-Ilahi''' (Divine Era),<ref name="Shrestha2002">{{cite book|author=Nanda R. Shrestha|title=Nepal and Bangladesh: A Global Studies Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMz0ZKWrQ8YC&pg=PT224|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-285-1|page=200}}</ref> introduced by the [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Akbar]] on 10/11 March 1584. Amartya Sen states that only traces of Akbar's influence survive.<ref name=amartyasen>{{cite book|author=Amartya Sen|title=The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bKvAAAAQBAJ|year=2005|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-10583-9|pages=319–322}}</ref> The calendar is important for Bangladeshi agriculture, as well as festivals and traditional record keeping for [[revenue]] and [[taxation]]. |
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Bangladeshi land revenues are still collected by the government in line with this calendar.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Our fiscal year should be based on Bangla calendar |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-32555 |work=The Daily Star |date=17 April 2008}}</ref> The calendar's new year day, [[Pohela Boishakh]], is a national holiday. |
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==Origins== |
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The [[Saka Era]] was the widely used in [[Bengal]], prior to the arrival of Muslim rule in the region, according to various epigraphical evidence.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ |year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509984-3|pages=148, 246–247, 346}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=D. C. Sircar|title=Indian Epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXMB3649biQC |year=1996 |orig-year=First published 1965 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1166-9|pages=241, 272–273}}</ref> The [[Bikrami calendar]] was in use by the Bengali people of the region. This calendar was named after king [[Vikramaditya]] with a zero date of 57 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eleanor Nesbitt|title=Sikhism: a Very Short Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XebnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-874557-0|pages=122, 142}}</ref> In rural Bengali communities, the Bengali calendar is credited to "Bikromaditto", like many other parts of India and [[Nepal]]. However, unlike these regions where it starts in 57 BCE, the modern Bangladeshi and Bengali calendar starts from 593 CE suggesting that the starting reference year was adjusted at some point.<ref name="Klass1978p166">{{cite book|author=[[Morton Klass]]|title=From Field to Factory: Community Structure and Industrialization in West Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAZ2JBQ2vwsC&pg=PA166|year=1978|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-7618-0420-8|pages=166–167}}</ref><ref name="Nicholas2003p13">{{cite book|author=Ralph W. Nicholas|title=Fruits of Worship: Practical Religion in Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLI7nyI2UVYC&pg=PA13|year=2003|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-8028-006-1|pages=13–23}}</ref> |
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==Akbar's influence== |
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Crop cycle's depended on solar calendars. The Islamic [[lunar calendar]] of the Mughal government, before Akbar's era caused problems in tax collection since the lunar year was shorter than the solar year by about eleven days per year.<ref name="banglapedia1">{{cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bangabda |title=Bangabda - Banglapedia |publisher=En.banglapedia.org |access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref><ref name="Crump2014">{{cite book|author=William D. Crump|title=Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDTfCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|year=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9545-0|pages=27–}}</ref> Akbar commissioned his astronomer [[Fathullah Shirazi]] to develop a new syncretic calendar to allow land tax and crop tax collection according to the harvest cycles. In 1584, Emperor Akbar commissioned a new calendar as part of tax collection reforms.<ref name=meghna/><ref name= Chakrabarti114/><ref name="banglapedia1"/> |
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Shirazi's new calendar was known as the ''Tarikh-e-Ilahi'' (God's Era).<ref name=amartyasen/><ref name="banglapedia1"/><ref name="Nath1985">{{cite book|author=R. Nath|title=History of Mughal Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8FIAQAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Humanities Press|isbn=978-0-391-02681-0|page=42}}</ref> It used 1556 as the zero year, the year of Akbar's ascension to the throne.<ref name=amartyasen/><ref name="banglapedia1"/> The ''Tarikh-e-Ilahi'' calendar were one of the syncretic reforms Akbar introduced, along with a new religion called Din-ilahi, a syncretic faith that integrated Islam and Indian religious ideas.<ref name="Ratti2013">{{cite book|author=Manav Ratti|title=The Postsecular Imagination: Postcolonialism, Religion, and Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5I03DLcyvMC&pg=PA83|year= 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-09689-2|page=83}}</ref> However, Akbar's ideas were almost entirely abandoned after his death, and only traces of the ''Tarikh-e-Ilahi'' calendar survive in the modern Bengali calendar, according to [[Amartya Sen]].<ref name=amartyasen/> |
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[[Shamsuzzaman Khan]] believed that Nawab [[Murshid Quli Khan]] was responsible for widely implementing the tax collection according to the Bengali calendar throughout Bengal. Khan promoted celebrations of the Punyaha, a ceremonial collection of land taxes.<ref>{{cite web|author=Amitava Kar |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news/a-giant-in-our-cultural-history |title=A Giant in Our Cultural History |work=The Daily Star |date=18 May 2013 |access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref> The calendar year became known as the ''Bangla san'' in [[Arabic]] and ''Bangla sal'' in [[Farsi|Persian]]; both terms mean the Bangla Year.<ref name="thedailystar1">{{cite web|author=Shamsuzzaman Khan |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/emergence-of-bengali-new-year-and-calendar-20078 |title=Emergence of Bengali New Year and Calendar |work=The Daily Star |date=14 April 2014 |access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref> |
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In 1966, a committee headed by [[Muhammad Shahidullah]] was appointed in Bangladesh to reform the traditional Bengali calendar. It proposed the first five months 31 days long, rest 30 days each, with the month of Falgun adjusted to 31 days in every leap year.<ref name= Chakrabarti114/> This was officially adopted by Bangladesh in 1987.<ref name= Chakrabarti114/><ref name=Banglapedia>{{cite book |author=Syed Ashraf Ali|chapter=Bangabda|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bangabda|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |editor=Sirajul Islam|editor2=Ahmed A. Jamal |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |year=2012 |edition=2nd}}</ref> |
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==Months and seasons== |
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The calendar has 12 months and 6 seasons, which are illustrated in the table below.<ref name="banglapedia1"/> |
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==Week== |
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The following illustrates the 7-day Bengali week.<ref name="banglapedia1"/> Bengali weekdays are named after deities of celestial bodies in the [[Surya Siddhanta]], an ancient treatise on [[Indian astronomy]]. |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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|- |
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! Bengali Day !! Celestial body !! Gregorian equivalent |
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|- |
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| Robibar || [[Sun]] || [[Sunday]] |
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|- |
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| Shombar || [[Moon]] || [[Monday]] |
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|- |
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| Mongolbar || [[Mars]] || [[Tuesday]] |
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|- |
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| Budhbar || [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] || [[Wednesday]] |
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|- |
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| Brihospotibar || [[Jupiter]] || [[Thursday]] |
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|- |
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| Shukrobar || [[Venus]] || [[Friday]] |
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|- |
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| Shonibar || [[Saturn]] || [[Saturday]] |
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|} |
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==Era and zero year== |
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The government and newspapers of Bangladesh widely use the term Bangla shal (B.S.). For example, the last paragraph in the [[preamble]] of the [[Constitution of Bangladesh]] reads "In our Constituent Assembly, this eighteenth day of Kartick, 1379 B.S., corresponding to the fourth day of November, 1972 A.D., do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution."<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?id=367 | title=Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh}}</ref> |
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The zero year in the Bangladeshi calendar era is 593 CE.<ref name=amartyasen/><ref name="Klass1978p166"/><ref name="Nicholas2003p13"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Porter Berkey|title=The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLV6lo4mvj0C&pg=PA61 |year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58813-3|page=61}}</ref> |
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==Festivals== |
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The following lists major festivals on the Bangladeshi calendar. |
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===Pohela Boishakh=== |
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{{Main|Pohela Boishakh}} |
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The first day of the month of [[Boishakh]] ushers the Bengali New Year and is known as [[Pohela Boishakh]]. The festival is similar to [[New Year's Day]], [[Nowruz]] and [[Songkran]]. The cultural organization Chayanat hosts a notable concert in [[Ramna Park]], starting at dawn on 14 April in Dhaka. The [[Mangal Shobhajatra]] parades are brought out in many Bangladeshi cities during the festival and is regarded by [[UNESCO]] as an [[intangible cultural heritage]]. |
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The Bengali New Year's Day on 14 April is a [[Public holiday|national holiday]] in Bangladesh. |
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====Haal Khata==== |
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{{Main|Haal Khata}} |
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Traders start a new [[Haal Khata]] book on Pohela Boishakh to keep financial records and settle debts.<ref name="thedailystar1"/> |
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====Boishakhi Mela==== |
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{{Main|Boishakhi Mela}} |
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The [[Boishakhi Mela]] are fairs organized on Pohela Boishakh.<ref name="thedailystar1"/> |
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===Pahela Falgun=== |
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{{Main|Pahela Falgun}} |
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Pahela Falgun ({{Lang-bn|পহেলা ফাল্গুন romanised: Pohela Falgun}}), meaning the first of [[Falgun]], is the first day of spring in the Bangladeshi calendar. |
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===Boli Khela=== |
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{{Main|Boli khela}} |
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In the Chittagong region, the [[Boli khela]] wrestling matches are organized during the month of Boishakh.<ref name="thedailystar1"/> |
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===Cattle racing=== |
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Cattle races are a popular activity in [[Manikganj]] and [[Munshiganj]] districts during Boishakh.<ref name="thedailystar1"/> |
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==See also== |
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* [[Bangladesh Standard Time]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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{{Calendars}} |
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[[Category:Calendars]] |
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[[Category:Culture of Bangladesh]] |
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[[Category:Time in Bangladesh]] |
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[[Category:National symbols of Bangladesh]] |
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Revision as of 19:01, 15 April 2024
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