I wonder how it would have been in 1912, when the day before the Bengali New Year, the then biggest ocean liner..the "invincible" Titanic kissed the bottom of the Atlantic? It was some 97 years ago, and my wonder is nothing but a vague idea to start off with. But one thing I can account for in that year, from my Great Grand Father's notebook, Mr. Satyanarayan Paul wrote:
15th April, 1912: (Bengali) Aaj 1319, Bangla Naba Barsha. Kintu kal jahajdubi-r por ajker din ta fyakashe... Today, 1319, Bengali New Year. But after what happened yesterday, as per the news,a ship-wreck the day's celebration seems very blunt and faded!
Bengali New Year. In colloqial its being termed as Poila Baisak. The first month being Baisak, as according to the Bengali Calender. According to the Gregorian Calender, it falls in either 14th or 15th of April each year. The Bengali calender was devised earnestly because of various practices that were once upon a time practiced in the subcontinent. Having a diverse religious influence in it's culture and tradition, there was existence of Hijri Calender, which was based on the Lunar Cycle. The Gregorian Calender was based on a solar cycle. Since the various land taxes and agricultural taxes were taken based on the Hijri calender by the Islamic rulers, there was difficulty in following the cultivation taxes as per the Lunar Months. Hence, as known in History, Fatehullah Shirazi, a renowned astronomer and scholar deviced a Bengali Calender that was an amalgamation of the Solar Calender Year as well as the Hijri Calender. It started with the month of Baisak as according to the Surya Sidhanta, the Hindu Solar Calender with Chaitra being the last month. The period of one year which started on an average between 14/15 April (Gregorian Calender) came to be called as Bangabda (A Bengali Year span).
This time around (15/4/09) the Bengali New Year, celebrated across Bengal (undivided) as the Year 1416.
15th April, 1912: (Bengali) Aaj 1319, Bangla Naba Barsha. Kintu kal jahajdubi-r por ajker din ta fyakashe... Today, 1319, Bengali New Year. But after what happened yesterday, as per the news,a ship-wreck the day's celebration seems very blunt and faded!
Bengali New Year. In colloqial its being termed as Poila Baisak. The first month being Baisak, as according to the Bengali Calender. According to the Gregorian Calender, it falls in either 14th or 15th of April each year. The Bengali calender was devised earnestly because of various practices that were once upon a time practiced in the subcontinent. Having a diverse religious influence in it's culture and tradition, there was existence of Hijri Calender, which was based on the Lunar Cycle. The Gregorian Calender was based on a solar cycle. Since the various land taxes and agricultural taxes were taken based on the Hijri calender by the Islamic rulers, there was difficulty in following the cultivation taxes as per the Lunar Months. Hence, as known in History, Fatehullah Shirazi, a renowned astronomer and scholar deviced a Bengali Calender that was an amalgamation of the Solar Calender Year as well as the Hijri Calender. It started with the month of Baisak as according to the Surya Sidhanta, the Hindu Solar Calender with Chaitra being the last month. The period of one year which started on an average between 14/15 April (Gregorian Calender) came to be called as Bangabda (A Bengali Year span).
This time around (15/4/09) the Bengali New Year, celebrated across Bengal (undivided) as the Year 1416.
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