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The chronicle of Bangla calendar

Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid
14 Apr 2023 00:00:00 | Update: 13 Apr 2023 23:50:29
The chronicle of Bangla calendar

Abul Fateh Jalal Uddin Muhammad Akbar (1542-1705), the third Mughal emperor of Delhi, had nine ministers in his imperial cabinet, who were known in history as Navaratna ( nine gems ). Abul Fazl (1551-1602) was the Grand Minister, Raja Todar Mall (1500-1589) was the Minister of Finance, Raja Birbal alias Mahesh Das (1528-1586) was an adviser on Hindu affairs and the Chief General, Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak alias Faizi (1547-1595) was the titleholder of Malik uShu’ara or Sabhakabi (Poet Laureate), Raja Mansingh 1 (1550-1614) General, Mia Tansen (1500-1586) Musician, Mollah Dopiyaja (1527-1620) was Witty Adviser, Fakir Azio Ao Deen (1506-1572) was the minister of religion and Abdul Rahim Khan e Khanan (1556-1627) was a poet and Akbar’s mentor.

It is remarkably observed that Emperor Akbar’s cabinet was dominated by military experts, intellectuals, scholars of finance and religion, poets and musicologists. For a long period of 49 years from 1556 to 1805, Emperor Akbar the Great was engaged in the pursuit of great military power, genius, expansion of the state and consolidation of administrative power, religion, money and revenue. For acquiring this, the members of his Jewel Cabinet enriched him with their knowledge, wisdom and erudition. His epoch-making contribution to introduce the crop year while sitting on the throne of distant Delhi is still remembered by the people of Sube Bangla (present-day Bangladesh). The crop calendar season introduced by him is the only one which is still alive today as Bangla San and is followed in Bangladesh within the whole of India.

The research and review of the context of introducing Banglasan, it is transpired that it came into being in a special situation, the Bengali year originated out of the need of time in the interest and convenience of revenue collection in a climatic region and handling huge state work. Government rents were collected on a lunar-year basis. At that time the southeast coastal region known as Suba Bangla ( the State of Bengal ) , which is now Bangladesh, was obviously an agro-economy. At that time, land tax and harvest rent were collected based on periodical payments for crop production. In this case, the Hijri fiscal year was followed for calculation. But since the Hijri fiscal year was based on lunar months, it could not coincide and correspond with a crop season. In a lunar year, the months do not remain fixed in any particular season. This would have reduced the time to 11 days a year. As a result, the seasons of the crop did not match.

Farmers usually market their crops in the month of Baishakh. After the farmers ate the produce, the government would come to collect the rent. There would be no crops in people’s hands, and no money as well. As a result, therefore it could create great inconvenience for the revenue department in preserving the accounts in the collection of revenue or rent. One day some representatives from the Hindu community of the state went to Emperor Akbar. They persuaded the Emperor to consider - ‘We are not willing to follow the Arabic year i.e. Hijri year in our religious ceremonies. So you give us a specific year.’ Shortly afterwards, dissatisfaction arose again among the Emperor’s Revenue Department officials. In their plea to the Emperor, they said, ‘It is not possible to fix the period of collection of revenue from the crop due to some defects in the Hijri solar system being a lunar year. In that case, introduce a science-based new year with a combination of Hijri and solar years. So that we can collect land rent on a specific day or time. ‘

Emperor Akbar was a noble ruler of the kingdom and was liberal in religion. He comprehended the momentousness of the matter. After 29 years of his rule, he felt the need to invent and introduce a new solar year to facilitate revenue collection. He discussed this matter with his Grand Minister Abul Fazl and Finance Minister Raja Todar Mall. On their advice, the Emperor entrusted the task to Mir Fatehullah Siraji, a prominent scientist and astronomer.

Syed Mir Fateh Ullah Shiraji (? -1569), a Sufi of the Safavid dynasty of Persia, was a mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist, mechanical engineer and Islamic jurist. He was a disciple of Ghias al-Din Mansur (1461-1542), a renowned philosopher and scholar of the Qur’an and Hadith. They were also well-known as makers of gunpowder weapons. In this capacity, Fateh Ullah Siraji joined Emperor Akbar’s court in 1556 as a foreign specialist to create cannons.

In the beginning, first, he excelled in making volley guns, hand cannons, small cannons and canon-related machines to clean sixteen gun barrels simultaneously. Fateh Ullah Shiraji also developed a seventeen–barreled cannon fired with a matchlock. He became a prominent figure in the Mughal army and gained a reputation as the best talent in the artillery branch. He was conferred with the title of ‘Ayudaduddaula’ or the Arm of Emperor Akbar, the Great.

Not all of his creations were intended for warfare, he designed a carriage praised by the Cabinet Ministers for its comfort, it could be used to grind corn when not transporting passengers.

Siraji was a wise man. He lived a very normal life. Historian and Grand Minister Abul Fazl in his Akbar Nama mentioned that has also said that if all the antiquities of India were destroyed, Siraji would be able to bring them back. That is why he also mentioned him as an archaeologist in his texts. King Akbar was deeply saddened by and shocked at the death of Fateh Ullah Siraj. Abul Fazl wrote in Ain Akbari.

Akbar, the Great used to mourn the death of his courtiers. Akbar considered Mir Fateh Ullah as his Vekil (legal and theological expert) . According to Akbar, no philosopher, physicist, or astronomer in Indian history was equal to Mir. Emperor Akbar used to say, “If for some reason Siraji is captured by the enemy, even by Franks, and all the reserves of my treasury are demanded as a ransom for his release, I will not be reluctant to give it, and have bought that precious jewel cheap.

Astronomer Amir Fateh Ullah Sariji, who was engaged to invent the New Year in 1584, coordinated the lunar and solar eclipses of different regions of India. Here Amir Siraj reviewed and examined all the calendars prevalent at that time and kept the year of Hijri year intact with the main event of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). He premeditated, exposed and retrieved the Hijri year 963 AH, the year of the ascending of Emperor Akbar in the maenad ( cathedra ), in that particular year the duration of the year was completed from 354 days to 365 days. He brought a proposal to the king’s court in 1585 AD showing that the 963 AH is correct, only 365 days from the following year it is counted and its relationship with the season is established. In 1585, Emperor Akbar approved the calculation of this special solar year of the Hijri lunar year and set out to start the calculation of the new solar calendar from the year he ascended the throne 29 years ago (963 AH, 1556 AD). Although this year is known in the royal court as Elahi year, Fasli year, etc., this year is widely accepted as Bangla year in Suba Bangala or Bengal province formed by the Emperor.

According to the Sariji Innovative Calendar, a decree was issued by the Mughal court declaring the month of Baishakh as the New Year; And in this month the land revenue or usury is paid. In this way, the month of Baishakh becomes the first month of the Bengali year. The ‘Bangla Year’ is undoubtedly considered to be very practical and scientific. This is because it is the inheritor of the lunar and solar systems at the same time. As a result, the ‘Bangla Year’ is in harmony with the universally recognized English and Gregorian calendars.

It is very thought-provoking to note that the first Boishakh of 1556 AD/ 963 AH was 11 April and in the current 1428 Bengali year is falls on 14th April. In other words, in 1428-963 = 465 years, there has been a difference only in three days. And in the future, it is very unlikely that there will be more differences than this. Adding a new Bengali year to this 963 will give the current Calendar year. Adding 693 to the new Bengali year 1428 gives 1428 + 693 = 2021, that is, the current calendar year 2021. In the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Fateh Ullah Sariji demonstrated great achievement in discovering the ‘Bangla Year’ based on scientific acumen. He occupies a place as a memorable personality in the history of Bangladesh.

Muslims have a great tradition and history with two famous calendars of the world. Muslims have followed both Bengali and Hijri seasons. ‘Shon’ (Year) and Tarikh (date) are both Arabic words. Shon means ‘year’ or ‘calendar’ and Tarikh means ‘date’. History is also understood by Tarikh in Arabic. ‘Sal’ is a Persian word meaning year.

As mentioned earlier, there was a problem in calculating the months in the calendar of Bangladesh. 29 days 12 hours 40 minutes is a lunar month. In this calculation, one lunar year will be 354 days and 9 hours. And the solar year will be 365 days 5 hours and 48 minutes. Each solar year differs or less from one lunar year to 11 days. As a result, one lunar year increases every 32 and a half years. So far, the Hijri year (lunar year) has increased by 13 years in Bengali or the crop year (solar year).

In 1963, at the initiative of the Bangla Academy, a committee was formed under the leadership of Dr Muhammad Shahidullah (1885-1989) to reform the Bengali year. The research committee submitted its final report on February 16, 1966. In light of this, the following conclusions were taken by correcting the irregularities of days and dates with the provision of leap year in 1986:

(1) The year has to be reckoned from the Bangabda introduced during the Mughal period during the reign of Emperor Akbar.

(2) For the convenience of calculating the Bengali month, 31 days per month from Boishakh to Bhadra and 30 days from Ashwin to Chaitra will be counted.

The recommendation further states that the year which is divisible by 4 will be considered as leap year. On that basis, the present Bengali calendar reformed and became effective from 1986 onwards.

Shiraji also followed the tradition of Shakabda, the oldest calendar still being followed in India , for the naming of days and months in the Bangla Calender which is largely dependent on the Islamic year, the Islamic year. The name of weekdays are taken from the planets, Robi (Sun) , Mongol ( Mars) , etc. from the planets and the sun. Experts believe that the names of the months in the Sun Nakshatraki Rules are derived from the names of the constellations in the Nakshatraki Rules. Sravan to Sravan, Bhadrapada to Bhadra, Ashwani to Ashwani, Rkatki to Rkatki, Agrahayan to Agrahayan, Padhesa to Padhesa, Magha to Magh, Falguni to Falgun, Chatri.

In the early stages of the Bengali year, the first month of the Bengali year, Kanti Chhoti has been in a bit of a dilemma. That is, the first month of the year, the first day of the year, and the first day of the year in our New Year; However, when the ‘Fasli San’ or ‘Bangla San’ was started in 963 AH, the first month of the Hajiri year coincided with the month of Muharram Bashaikh. As a result, the first day of this decade is marked as ‘Nowroz’ or ‘New Year’. It is worth mentioning that in the English and Gregorian Calvary, the first match was played on ‘New Year’s Day’, but in the next stage, on the first of January, it did not occupy a respectable place. During the time of Emperor Akbar, different names were used for each day.

During the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan, seven names were fixed for seven days a week, avoiding this complicated practice. The resemblance of the Roman weekly names to the seven names currently in use is easily overlooked. It is permitted that, following the advice of a European (Portuguese) scholar who came to the court of King Shah Jahan, the following names originating from the planets were introduced: - Sun (Sun), Mon (Moon), Mars (Jupiter), Mercury (Mercury). (Jupiter), Venus (Venus) and Saturn (Saturn). The Bengali week has similarly started from Rabi. In a word, the famous royal astrologer Amir Fatehullah Sariji is converting the present year into the Bengali year.

The writer is former Secretary to the Government and former Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). He can be contacted at mazid.muhammad@gmail.com

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