Announcement

Message from the Editorial Board

Hello, season's greetings, and best wishes for the upcoming Bengali New Year 1421!

Works are currently in full swing for our Vol.3, No.1 (Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads). It would be published on the occasion of Buddha Purnima. Please note that the final date of submission has been modified to 20 April 2014 owing to editorial compulsions. We solicit co-operation from our contributors in this regard.

The Call for Papers for Vol.3, No.2 will be uploaded soon.

We are glad to announce that we shall henceforth be live at www.bengalistudies.com. We shall of course continue publishing our materials on this blog.

From this upcoming issue, we shall provide separate exclusive links to every individual author's articles, reviews etc. We shall soon provide the same for our old issues as well. Check out www.bengalistudies.com for details.

Thank you very much!

Call for Papers for JBS Vol.3, No.1 (Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads)

After the proud publication of our inaugural issue on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal, and the consecutive issues respectively on Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema (Vol.1, No.2), Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2, No.1), Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives (Vol.2, No.2), Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed academic interdisciplinary online journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426) meant for discussions into the history and culture of the Indic Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its fifth issue on the theme of Literature of Movements: Bengali Crossroads (Vol.3, No.1), due to be published on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, 14 May 2014. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 30 April 2014.

Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads

The theme of this issue is centred on the interrelationship between the literature produced by the Bengalis (not necessarily written in Bengali alone) during a given historical period and the social, cultural and political ferments of that age. We argue that since antiquity, Bengal witnesses a number of intellectual, cultural and social ferments which have actively interacted with literature; here it may be pertinent to recall Tamal Dasgupta's theorisation of the interactions between history and literature from his article "Understanding Hi-story" in JBS inaugural issue:

　

The relationship between history and story (narrative/art/literature) works at multiple levels. Historical fiction in Bengal is well established as a genre that began with Bankim Chandra. Secondly, fictionalised history (different from historical fiction) is a popular format and just like popular science it offers documentary-fiction, and as a classic example of that we have Sailesh Dey's

Ami Subhash Bolchi (This is Subhash Speaking). In recent times, Shankar's Ami Vivekananda Bolchi (This is Vivekananda Speaking) is a specimen that falls within this genre. Thirdly, history can be made by stories as well, so the novels of Bankim which created nationalist history, like Anandamath did, constitutes another category; stories which gave birth to history. A similar example from abroad is the Russian novel What is to be Done by Nikolai Chernyshevsky (Lenin, who was a lifelong admirer of Chernyshevsky, took the title of his eponymous history-making treatise from this novel). Another category, the fourth one includes the plethora of narratives and legends and stories/songs/poems which accompanied the events of revolutionary nationalism, for instance Sharatchandra's Pother Dabi (The Demand of the Path), and the revolutionary songs and poems of Nazrul Islam (both the writers were actively involved with the revolutionaries); later on, similar narratives were made to describe the continuity, legacy and heritage of the revolutionary nationalist movement as inherited by the communist party.

　

Thus the relationship between literature and movements during a given historical period is dynamic, multi-faceted and interactive.
The relationship is never one way, and literature is never simply a reflection of social, cultural and political movements: literature is sometimes the most significant determinant of those movements.

　

The important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):

Ancient times to the early middle ages and the flourish of literature in Bengal. Sanskrit and Prakrit literature produced in Bengal and the Indic religious and social ferments. Chorjapod and Buddhism;
the seeds of tantra, shakti, mystical cults of baul-sahajiya etc.

Jayadeva's Gitgovinda and Vaishnavism. Jayadeva as an essentially Bengali poet whose Gitgovinda celebrates Radha-idea which is in tune with Bengal, not with the Jagannath worship of Orissa (for historical evidences of Jayadeva as a Bengali poet, one may refer to P K Dasgupta's excellent treatise, Jayadeva and Some of His Contemporaries).

Chandidas's ShriKrishnaKirtan. The flourish of Vaishnav literature in the middle ages and Chaitanya movement.

Social engineering of the middle ages and Mongol Kabyo.

Shakto literature and the flourish of Shakti worship: from late middle ages to the modern period; beginning of Durga Puja and Agomoni songs. Shyama songs and Kali puja.

Bengal Renaissance and literature.

Registers of popular ferments: literature of Bot tola.

Hindu Revival and literature: Bankim Chandra and others.

Literature celebrating the glorious past of Bengal, and Bengali nationalism.

Literature and Ognijug.

Literature and the communist and naxalite movements.

Literature and the refugees; registering the trauma of the Hindus uprooted from East Bengal, the experiences of Noakhali, Marichjhapi and post-independence Bangladesh. Taslima Nasrin's Lajja, Amitav Ghosh's Hungry Tides.

The Eurocentric turn of modern and postmodern Bengali literature (Buddhadeb Basu wanted to emphasise that Bengal was culturally a province of Europe) and the dominant left-liberal-universalist milieu of the bhadralok-comprador classes. Globalisation and contemporary Bengali literature.

Group theatre movement and Bengali theatrical literature.

The Hindu response to Eurocentrism:
The non-communist, non-materialistic movements of literature, most notably the works of Kamal Kumar Majumdar.

Poetry and politics in Bengal.

Literature and the overturning of the communist regime: Bratyo Basu's plays, Joy Goswami's poetry and Kabir Suman's songs.



General details about submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:

Journal of Bengali Studies is published in English and is an online journal. A contribution must be electronic and in English language. It should consistently follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions must always be double spaced. An article, with notes and bibliography, should not be more than 10000 words. In case of reviews, the upper limit is 2000 words; we welcome reviews of new books as well as old and out of print ones, not necessarily of books written in English alone; we accept reviews of books, texts and artworks (new and old alike) which are related to our theme. From our Cinema issue onwards, we started a section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features creative/critical works which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative/literary writing that concerns the relationship between Bengalis and social, cultural and political movements is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical and political fictions/plays/poetry, which may be originally written in Bengali, in which case it has to be in English translation, or it may be originally written in English. In either case, it should focus on our theme and be relevant to the CFP. The workshop may also include critical writings, for example, the narration of the experiences in one's creative/literary/artistic field/profession, exploring the question of a writer's involvement with social, cultural and political movements. Upper Limit of Creative Workshop: 10000 words. We have no lower word limit for the contributions, the authors are free to use their discretion. Contributions should either be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to all of these three email ids: editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com. Before submission, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions for further details at
http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

Editor: Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta

Editorial Board: Tamal Dasgupta (founder-editor), Sourav Gupta, Joydeep Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Mallick.

　

JBS Vol.2, No.2 Is Now Online

The Autumn Issue of Journal of Bengali Studies 2013 (Vol.2, No.2), a peer reviewed interdisciplinary online academic journal, has been published on the occasion of Kojagori Lokkhipurnima. You can read the journal here (click on the cover image):

ISSN: 2277-9426

Journal of Bengali Studies

Vol. 2, No. 2

18 October 2013

Kojagori Lokkhipujo, 31 Aashshin 1420

Autumn Issue

Science and Technology in History:

Modern Bengali Perspectives

Issue Editor: Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta

Asst. Issue Editor: Joydeep Bhattacharya

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta

Asst. Editor: Sourav Gupta



 

 

Contents

Editorial 5

Articles

The Deprived Technologist: Hiralal Sen and Bioscope

Sourav Gupta 8

Mahendralal Sarkar and His Indian Association for Cultivation of Science

Soumen Ghosh 17

Conveyance in Bengal Waterfront and Its Technological Excellence

Swarup Bhattacharya 31

Reviews

A Nationalist Approach towards Science and Technology: A Review of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy's Collected Essays (in Bengali)

Tamal Dasgupta 47

A Review of Kadambini Ganguly: The Archetypal Woman Of Nineteenth Century Bengal by

Mousumi Bandyopadhyay

Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta 55

Workshop

Field Notes: The History of Modern Pharmaceutical Technology in Bengal

Tanushree Singha 61

Commentary

The Lady Doctors: Bengali Women in Medical Science in the Modern Period

Nachiketa Bandyopadhyay 67

CALL FOR PAPERS: JBS VOL.2, NO.2

Please Note: This issue has been published. Check out this space for our new Call for Papers



CALL FOR PAPERS:

After the proud publication of our inaugural issue on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal, and the consecutive issues respectively on Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema (Vol.1, No.2) and Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2, No.1), Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed academic interdisciplinary online journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426) meant for discussions into the history and culture of the Indic Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its fourth issue (Vol.2, No.2) on the theme of Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives, due to be published on the occasion of Durga Pujo, 2013. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 30 September 2013. 　


Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives

The important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):
Ancient times to the early middle ages and the flourish of science and technology in the Eastern Indic civilizations of which Bengal was the prominent seat:

The flourish of Ayurveda and pharmaceutical sciences.

Civil Engineering, architecture and draftsmanship.

Metallurgy, and other branches of Inorganic chemistry.

Sculptural technology, woodcraft, terracotta, different forms of handicraft.

Textile technology.

Navigation.

Irrigation and other forms of water management.

Agriculture, Fishing technology, Veterinary sciences, and other Biological sciences.

Physical sciences.

Linguistics, grammar and philology.

Military technology.


The general setback suffered by the Indic science and technology in the middle ages by Islamic invasion (the destruction of Nalanda University immediately coming to mind); later, the appropriation of the native science and technology by the Islamic rulers.


The British colonization. British destruction of native knowledge and technology, immediately coming to mind is the brutal annihilation of superior textile technology of Bengal by cutting out the thumbs of Bengali muslin weavers. Also, the systematic uprooting of Ayurveda by encouragement given to Western system of medicine.

Bengalis' encounters with western science and technology.

Asiatic society and the flourish of philology and archeology.

The establishment of Medical College in Calcutta in 1835, and Bengal Engineering College at Shibpur in 1856.

Bengal renaissance, the nationalist awakening and the flourish of science and technology in Bengal. Bankim Chandra's tome of writings on modern science.

Mahendralal Sarkar's establishment of Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. Presidency College and Calcutta University. The great scientists during Bengal Renaissance: J.C. Bose and others.

The spirit of Hindu Revival in A.P.C. Ray's History of Hindu Chemistry. Tagore's exchange with A.P.C. Ray regarding the chemist-turned-litterateur Rajshekhar Basu (whose brother Girindrashekhar was the first Freudian psychoanalyst in the entire non-Western world) exhibiting the tremendous amount of talent which went into the cultivation of science and technology in Bengal.

Developments in Printing technology. Upendrakishore (U. Ray and Sons) as a case study.

Bengali nationalism and Bengal Chemicals of A.P.C. Ray.

Ognijug and the flourish of science and technology in an overall atmosphere of nationalism.

Establishment of Bengal Technical Institute in 1906 and its later merger with National Council of Education in 1910, a merger that gave birth to what is known today as the Jadavpur University. The contribution of Jadavpur University towards advancements in science, engineering and technology.

The sustained flourish of Calcutta University's Science Colleges.
The phenomenal, original contributions of Satyen Bose, Prasanta Mahalanobis, Meghnad Saha and other such luminaries.
Interactions and exchanges: science and technology, and other disciplines. Science and literature, Bengali science fictions. Popular Science. Science and philosophy. Science and art and culture. Technology and Bengali cinema (particularly early Bengali cinema, prior to the left-IPTA take-over of Bengali cultural scenario; for a brief idea of the technological superiority of early Bengali cinema one may refer to Tamal Dasgupta's article in the JBS cinema issue).


Post-Independence to the present. The stagnation. The flight of talents. Bengali bhadralok fascination with Joint Entrance Examination (for admissions into Medical and Engineering). Left domination and the degeneration of science and technology in Bengal, immediately coming to mind the fate of Doctor Subhash Mukhopadhyay (on the basis of whose tragic but nevertheless pioneering life, Tapan Sinha made the movie Ek Doctor Ki Maut). The paradox of largely left dominated so-called science movements (so-called rationalist movements) in Bengal which could not arrest, but perhaps further fueled the degeneration and decline of the dilapidated condition of cultivation of science in Bengal that increasingly embraced mediocrity; the vulgar Marxist, mechanically materialist outlook of such movements, so aptly touched upon in Nabarun Bhattacharya's Herbert. 　


General details about submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:
Journal of Bengali Studies is published in English and is an online journal. A Contribution must be electronic and in English language. It should consistently follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions must always be double spaced. An article, with notes and bibliography, should not be more than 10000 words. In case of reviews, the upper limit is 2000 words; we welcome reviews of new books as well as old and out of print ones, not necessarily of books written in English alone; we accept  reviews of science and technology related books, texts and artworks (new and old alike). From our Cinema issue onwards, we started a section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features creative/critical works which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative writing that concerns the relationship between Bengalis and science is welcome for this issue; a priority may be given to science fiction stories, which may be originally written in Bengali, in which case it has to be in English translation, or it may be originally written in English. In either case, it should focus on our theme and be relevant to the CFP. The workshop may also include critical writings, for example, the narration of the experiences in one's particular field/profession, exploring the question of the Bengalis' involvement with science and technology. Upper Limit of Creative Workshop: 10000 words. We have no lower word limit for the contributions, the authors are free to use their discretion. Contributions should either be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to all of these three email ids: editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com. Before submission, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions for further details at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta

Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta, Sujay Chatterjee, Rishi Ghosh, Nirvik Banerjee.

For this science and technology issue of JBS, Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta will be the issue editor.

Journal of Bengali Studies: Theatre Issue (Vol.2, No.1)

Our Spring Issue 2013 is being published on the occasion of Dolpurnima. Journal of Bengali Studies Vol.2, No.1 is available here for download. The theme of this issue is Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre.

 

 

Contents

Editorial 5

Articles

Analysing Contemporary Response to Tagore's Philosophy of 'Indian' Theatre: A Selective Study of Productions in West Bengal

Sourav Gupta 7

Nineteenth Century Bengali Theatre: Nationalism and Identity

Rudrasish Dutta 18

Getting Our Bearings: The 'Unbearable' Tagore and Karnad's Bearable Dramaturgy

Dattatreya Datta 26

The Lonely Crusader's Journey: Sambhu Mitra and His Theatre

Gautam Sengupta 50

Open Air Theatre in Bengal

Dani Karmakar 56

Third Theatre: Thematic and Structural Decolonization

Debadrita Bose 62

Review

 

A Performance of Ruddhoshongeet by Bratyojon in New Delhi

Tamal Dasgupta 71

Theatre in Practice: Concerns of a Field Worker

Theatre: Bread and Butter versus Broad and Better

Rishi Ghosh 77

Commentaries

Bengali Theatre and Bengali Audience

Soumitra Basu 82

Theatre in Patna

Ajit Ganguly 88

Delay in Publication of JBS Vol.2, No.1 (Theatre Issue)

Owing to unavoidable circumstances, the publication of JBS Vol.2 No.1 (Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre) has been delayed. We regret the inconvenience caused to our readers, and would like to inform them that this issue will now be published online on the occasion of Dol Purnima (27 March 2013). The deadline for submission of articles etc. for this issue is extended to 10 March 2013.

Launch of Shoptodina

বাঙালি আত্মপরিচয়ের সন্ধানে। সপ্তডিঙা। আবার ভেসে উঠেছে...

Shoptodina refers to a grand fleet of merchant ships from ancient and early medieval Bengal. “Shopto” means seven in Bengali. There are also reasons to believe that Shoptodina could have been named after Shoptogram, an ancient harbour of Bengal. “Dina”/"ডিঙা" (which is correlated with the term dinghy, but stands for a much larger boat than a dinghy), as in Shoptodina, is an Austric word, and it belongs to the language of the most ancient, earliest group of native inhabitants of Bengal. All we know is that we really don’t know how far dina/ডিঙা goes back in history. Shoptodina thus stands as a symbol for the Bengali identity as well as the global reach and spread of the Bengalis and their culture.


We welcome everyone who has a lively interest in Bengal's history and culture. We welcome Bengalis and non-Bengalis alike to experience the unique feel of Bengal.

 

Journal of Bengali Studies is henceforth managed by Shoptodina, an organisation meant for promoting Bengali identity, history, culture and community. Be a part of the Shoptodina experience. Join us. This is our site: www.shoptodina.org