BANGLADESHvsWORLD

FROM THE HISTORY OF BANGLADESH IN B.C

Bangladesh is characterized by a unique coming together of many races, languages and religions. Its culture is a distinctive composite to which Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, Vaisnavas and Muslims have all contributed. From time to time Bangladesh searches for its roots as if trying to put back the missing parts in its long history. In the search for these roots we must look at its poetry.

Defining poetry and tradition¹, C.M. Bowra states that poetry is the most important element of history. He maintains that poetry ensures the continuity of civilization by preserving the treasures of the past for future generation; in so doing it also predicts and shapes the future. The poetry of a nation reveals to us what that nation has seen and left. In the absence of recorded history poetry can serve as a dependable documentation of the past. It unfolds a civilization. At the same time it enables us to know ourselves and to look at our own translation from a fresh perspective. Poetry serves as an important cultural vehicle. The translation of poetry allows us to look deeply into a foreign civilization and communicate with others. Though translation can never be an adequate substitute for the original, it is nevertheless a valuable instrument for spreading new outlooks and ideas, in showing us what kind of culture others experience, and for suggesting areas of exchange and the cooperation of ideas and techniques.

In 1907 an Indian scholar, Haraprashad Sastri, working in the Royal Archive in Nepal discovered a palm-leaf manuscript of 'Caryagiti' mystic poems by Bengali Buddhist poets. The poems, also collectively known as the 'Caryapada' were published by him in 1916. Sastri's discovery brought to light the oldest specimens not only of Bengali poetry but also of Indo-Aryan literature. According to Dr. Mohammad Shahidullah the discovery of the Cayagiti means that Bengali literature can be dates as far back as the seventh century. It is probable that the language had developed a hundred years before this.

These poem-songs in old Bengali, designed to be sung with a particular rage, constitute an integral part of the heritage of Bangladesh and the basis of a long established tradition of poetry which has survived to the present day. These verse by Buddhist mystic poets are not only beautifully written and add greatly to Bengali literary traditions but they also constitute an invaluable source for the study of Bengali society and the Buddhist religion between the seventh and twelfth centuries. They are a particularly important discovery, since there are very few historical documents of the period in existence. Although the siddhacaryas, the writers of the Caryagiti dealt primarily with certain deeper metaphysical problems of tantric Buddhism, they also described their world.

They give us a vivid account of the life and occupations of the common people, their work, events of birth, marriage and death, religious activities, dress and ornaments, food and utensils, and music and musical instruments. There is also a beautiful description of the riverine and green eastern part of Bengal which is Bangladesh today. The poems describe rivers, canals, ponds, muddy shores, various types of boats and their different parts, ferrying, and rowing; all these were used by the siddhacaryas as spiritual symbols.

The Bengali siddhas, Buddhist mystics, used poetry as a vehicle for teaching one of the most difficult and mystic religious, that known as the shahajia mystic school of Buddhism. Through the use of the mother tongue of the common people, the mystic poets conveyed serious religious philosophies. The poems are a part of the cultural and religious heritage of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Although these songs are still ritually sung in Nepal and Bhutan very little research has been carried out on the subject. They deserve to be known outside the region.

According to Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, the Caryagiti as a literary genre are the origin of both the later Vaisnavaite songs, according to Dr. Shahidullah, are:

1. They are short rhymed poems intended for singing,
2. The name of the composer appears in the last verse,
3. They are near erotic in theme².

The Caryagiti influenced Gita-govinda, a famous Sanskrit work of the Bengali poet Jayadeva and Vaisnava Padabali, and much later, Rabindranath Tagore and the Baul songs of Bangladesh; Gita-govinda is a celebration of love between Krishna, the god of love and Radha. Divine love is humanized and the poems present erotic mysticism. Gita-govinda is written in a Kavya form, divided into formal cantos, and includes lyric drama, pastoral, an opera, a melodrama and a refined Yatra or play. The poems do not follow the Sanskrit tradition but bear a close resemblance to the spirit and style of theCaryagiti and old Bengali poetry. The musical padabalis, although composed in Sanskrit, actually follow the Bengali manner of expression and use rhymed and melodious moraic metres, uncommon in Sanskrit poems. Tagore was greatly influenced by the Baul songs during his stay in East Bengal, as he frequently mentions in his writing. In Bangladesh the Shahajia Baul songs continue the tradition today.

My main objective here is to provide an anthology in English of the poems Sastri's text. There have been three attempts to translate the Caryagiti into English but in no case did any of the scholars have access to the original manuscript, depending instead on Tibetan and Mongolian translations and on the Sanskrit notes provided in the manuscript by the Sanskrit commentator, Munidatta.

The need to publish an up-to-date translation is particularly urgent, since the original palm-leaf manuscript in Nepal appears to be missing and is therefore no longer available to scholars of the microfilm copy of the original manuscript in my possession.

In addition to the Sastri collection, I am including three poems which are missing in the Nepal collection which have since been retrieved from Tibetan sources. I have also included three caryas composed by Atisa Srigana Dipankara. More importantly, this anthology includes a second Caryagiti manuscript which I discovered during an extensive search in Nepal in `984 and 1988; the paper manuscript containing these Caryagiti has not been published anywhere. It is possible that the source of this manuscript has not age, or older than, the manuscript found by Sastri. My publication of this finding will, I hope, encourage other scholars to search for old manuscript which still lie buried in archives and temples and which are in danger of being destroyed.

For the first time in an English edition, this anthology includes the iconography and life sketches of the siddhas from the school of the famous eighty-four siddhas.

In translating these poems I have been struck by their simplicity and grace and I have attempted to use simple English in order to make them more readable. Whilst I have kept as close as possible to the original, I have also tried to retain a local flavor. Both in my translations and commentaries I have avoided burdening the reader with notes, strictly adhering to the view that the poems should speak for themselves. I have deliberately treated them with a light hand so as not to overburden them with my own interpretations of their meanings and inner-meanings. After all, who can be sure what the poets really meant? Besides, If everything were to be explained, it would dilute the mystic qualities of the poems.