Where there is a will, there is a way

It is necessary to have a strong will behind every work. Success in any endeavor is guaranteed if the willpower is strong. Anything impossible can be accomplished by willpower. 

Will is power. This power, which drives a man to his desired goal, manifests through concentration, patience and perseverance in the mind. Will is the key to the success of human life. Will is enough for doing any work. Human life is full of struggles. In this world, people have to struggle to survive. Nothing can be earned easily. People have to move forward by overtaking many obstacles, but no work is impossible for human beings. If you work with eagerness, patience and dedication, success will definitely come. This is what we call will. Through the power of will, human civilization has progressed and developed so much. Everything, except the gift of life, has been made possible in the world. 

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By willpower, a human being has conquered space from the underworld; science has developed so much. A man can get success in any situation if there is a will. Through his willpower, Abraham Lincoln became the president of America, Napoleon Bonaparte was able to conquer Europe. By the power of strong will, a subjugated nation gained independence by overcoming all obstacles. Bangladesh has also become independent. Those who have been successful in the world in the field of epistemology and conquest have been conquered by indomitable will. A person who is weak and has a shortage of strong willpower cannot expect success in his life.

 

Thus, the willpower of human beings leads them to their desired goal. It becomes easy for people to succeed if there is a will. The stronger the willpower, the easier it will be to achieve success. Because human beings are the bearer of invincible willpower, the world today is moving towards development quickly.

Ekushey February: The way the movement started with the demand for Bengali as the state language

The movement centering on mother tongue started from the birth of Pakistan state by combining two different nationalities speaking different languages, living in two regions located at a distance of about two thousand kilometers and this language movement is considered as the first step on the path of creation of Bangladesh state.

This day was observed as Martyrs’ Day in Bangladesh until UNESCO declared the day as International Mother Language Day in 1999. In Bangladesh, many people know this history. But there is a history of many more struggles, which led to the creation of the context of this movement. 

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How movement started from language:

The debate over language started long before the partition of India based on the two-nation theory in 1947.

Language activists Abdul Matin and Ahmed Rafiq in their book titled Bhasha Andolon- Itihas O Tatporjo (ভাষা আন্দোলন-ইতিহাস ও তাৎপর্য) have written, “The first battle was mainly confined to the field of literature and culture.”

According to the description of this book, litterateurs talked about this issue in the early forties even before the partition of the country. At that time, there were different views on the pros and cons of the four languages- Bengali, Urdu, Arabic and English, among Bengali Muslim litterateurs, teachers and politicians.

Abdul Matin and Ahmed Rafiq have written, “Language movement was not an isolated case. It started several decades before the original movement began and secular nationalism of Bengali Muslims has worked behind this.”

Political and economic context:

After the formation of the Pakistan state was confirmed, the Urdu-Bengali debate resurfaced. In an editorial in Millat, the important newspaper of that time, it was written, “There can be no greater slavery than accepting a language other than the mother tongue as the state language.”

Gradually, economics and politics became part of that debate. In 1947, in the daily Azadi newspaper, writer and journalist Abdul Haque wrote, “Immediately after the declaration of Urdu as the state language, every person who could communicate in Urdu would qualify for the job, and every Bengali-speaking person will become unfit for jobs.”

Bengali-speaking people were also worried about the cultural differences between the people of the two territories located at a distance of two thousand kilometers.

Sowing the seeds of disbelief:

In 1947, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad, the then vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, proposed to make Urdu the state language of Pakistan. Then the debate over language reawakened. By that time, the self-exploration of the Muslim Bengali began.

In 1947, within a few months of the partition of the country, Urdu and English were used excluding Bengali from Pakistan’s first currency, stamps, train tickets, postcards etc. After this announcement of the Pakistan Public Service Commission, a protest rally of students and intellectuals was held in Dhaka.

Bengali officials of the commission staged a protest demanding the use of the Bengali language in government work. In 1948, the Chief Minister of East Pakistan at the time of the formation of Pakistan, who later became the Governor-General of Pakistan, Khwaja Nazimuddin, in a legislative assembly session said, “These have been printed before the debate related to language begin though not everyone accepted his statement.”

Formation of Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad:

At that time, intellectuals expressed their worry that if Urdu is imposed instead of their mother tongue, the next generation of Bengali speakers would become illiterate, and the very existence of the Bengali language would be jeopardized. This is considered to be a big blow to the practice of mother tongue independently.

The feeling of resentment in the minds of Bengalis about these issues has been building since then. Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad was formed towards the end of that year.

Many including Nurul Haque Bhuiyan of Tamaddun Majlish, an Islamic Cultural Organization of that time, Shamsul Haque, the then parliament member, Oli Ahad, founder of the East Pakistan Muslim Student League, Syed Nazrul Islam, the first interim president of Bangladesh, Mohammad Toaha, founder of the East Pakistan Student Federation, were its members who secretly conducted the activities in the beginning.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his inflexible position:

In the then Pakistan state, Bengali speakers were the majority than Urdu speakers. Then on March 21, 1948, during his visit to East Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah at an assembly at the Race Course ground (now Suhrawardy Udyan) made it clear that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan.

Many people present at this rally immediately protested. This declaration can be said to be the beginning of the end of Bengali’s dream about the new state. From the beginning, Jinnah expressed his inflexible attitude about establishing Urdu as the state language.

Bengalis believed that Urdu was made into the state language with the intention to establish political and economic domination over the Bengalis and to exploit them. The pillar of distrust towards Pakistan was created in the minds of Bengalis.

The language and culture differences were appearing more strongly. Not religion, rather the concept of Bengali nationalism started becoming clear. On the other hand, another reason for their aversion to the Bengali language was that the then Urdu-speaking people considered Bengali culture to be ‘Hinduani’.

The creation of deadly fire spark:

Even after the death of Jinnah, various proposals and counter-proposals regarding the state language continued. From the partition till the beginning of 1952, the Bengalis have strongly expressed their dislike about the state language Urdu.

In response, the movement continued intermittently, but the most terrible fire spark in this movement was born when the final decision to make Urdu the only state language was taken at the assembly of Pakistan on January 26, 1952.

Despite being a resident of East Bengal, Khawaja Nazimuddin coming to visit Dhaka on January 27, 1952, repeated Jinnah’s speech at a rally at Paltan. At that time, many people protested by shouting the slogan ‘We want Bangla as the state language’ in strong protest.

What happened on the 21st of February

It is said that Khawaja Nazimuddin’s position and his speech due to political reasons added a new dimension to the language movement. His announcement only added to the sense of deprivation in the minds of the Bengalis of East Pakistan.

Rejecting Khawaja Nazimuddin’s statement, spontaneous strikes and demonstrations started in East Pakistan from the next day. Here the students of Dhaka University played an important role.

People from the political, cultural and professional communities of East Pakistan took part at the conference led by Mawlana Bhashani. On February 21, a general strike was declared. Section 144 was declared at Dhaka University and its surrounding areas to prevent the strike. Violation of the curfew resulted in Martyr's Day.

On that day in 1952, Muhammad Mahfuz Hossain was working in the emergency department of the hospital as a student of Dhaka Medical College. In an interview given to BBC Bangla three years ago, the picture of that day has come to light in his description.

In that interview, he said, “I took three people to the hospital on the afternoon of 21^st of February. Rafiq, who was shot in the forehead, was declared dead, and Barkat, who was shot in the thigh, died at night, right before my eyes.”

The students were shot near Dhaka Medical College.

He said, “Then we could hear a lot of noise from outside. We heard that many people were injured in the shooting. The emergency ward was full at the moment.

The exact number of martyrs in the language movement has not been determined today. Apart from Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and Shafiur, many others were martyred in the police firing that day and the next day.

Sowing the seeds of the state of Bangladesh:

The killings failed to quell the movement for the mother tongue. The movement made it clear that the feeling of oneness in the minds of the inhabitants of a state created by combining the nationalities of two different languages in two territories at a distance of two thousand kilometers would probably not awaken.

However, on 7 May 1954, more than two years after this incident, the National Assembly of Pakistan recognized Bengali as a state language and adopted the resolution. It took two more years for the Bengali language to get the recognition of state language as per the constitution. The seeds of an independent state called Bangladesh were sown in this movement with the mother tongue.

Source:

BBC

Muslin: A fabric for royal families and aristocrats

Muslin (মসলিন) is one type of very fine cotton fabric, which is known worldwide as Dhakai Muslin. Local artisans in Dhaka city and surrounding areas used to make muslin with a very thin cotton yarn named Phuti Karpas. The origin of the word ‘Muslin’ is unclear. It is thought that the word ‘Muslin’ is derived from Mosul, an ancient trading center in Iraq. During the Mughal period, after the capital of Bengal was shifted to Dhaka, the popularity of Dhakai Muslin increased. The Mughal emperor and aristocrats patronized the expansion of muslin industry in Dhaka. In those days, fine muslins were purchased in huge quantity by provincial governors, emperors, high officials and elite class people. 

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Dhaka used to produce a wide variety of muslin fabrics. Very fine and high-quality fabrics were woven specially for the emperors, viziers, nawabs and elite class people while thick and heavy fabrics were woven for the poor. Depending on the fine quality, transparency, source of production and use, Dhakai Muslin was named Malmal (মলমল), Jhuna (ঝুনা), Rongo (রঙ্গ), Abrawan (আবিরাওয়ান), Khash (খাস), Shubnam (শবনম), Alaballee (আলাবালি), Tanzeb (তনজিব), Nyansookh (নয়ন-সুখ), Jamdani (জামদানি) etc. Among various types of Muslin, Jamdani is still used by people. The name of the finest Muslin was Malmal. These are quite expensive, and it would take the weaver a long time, even up to six months, to weave this type of fabric. It was made exclusively for the nawabs and royal figures.

It is said that garments made of Muslin were so fine that a 50-meter-long muslin could be packed easily in a matchbox. In the nineteenth century, after the establishment of British rule in India, 70-80 percent tax was levied on locally made garments whereas only 2-4 percent tax was levied on imported garments made in Britain. As a result, local weavers lost their interest in making muslin fabric. It is said that the British colonial rulers cut off the thumb fingers of the weavers to stop the production of muslin.

Muslin is a glorious monument of the rich ancient tradition of Bangladesh. In the first century AD, during the golden era of the Roman empire, the aristocratic Roman women loved to show off their bodies wearing the muslin made in Dhaka. The book titled “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea”, written in the same century contains special information about muslin. Here, the thick muslin is mentioned as molochina (মলোচিনা), wide and smooth muslin as monachi (মোনাচি) and the best muslin as Gangetic or Gangajali muslin (গেনজেটিক বা গঙ্গাজলী). Interestingly “Gangajali” (গঙ্গাজলী) or “Gangar Jol” (গঙ্গার জল) saree was mentioned in the twentieth-century ballad of Sonai Bibi. For example,

“Oh Brother! the sari she wore. (পরথমে পাইড়াইল শাড়ি ভাইরে)

Called Gangar Jol. (শাড়ি নামে গঙ্গার জল)

When you try to hold it (নুখেতে নইলে শাড়ি)

It would slip away from your grasp (আরও করে টল্মল রে)

If you put the sari in water (পানিতে থইলে গো শাড়ি)

It will disappear (শাড়ি পানিতে মিলায়)

If you put it in the dry place (শুখেনায় থইলে শাড়ি ভাইরে)

Ants will carry it away.” (পিঁপড়ায় টাইন্যা লইয়া যায় রে)

Here, we can find a striking resemblance between the description of muslin narrated by foreigners in the first century and the description given in the local ballad, which has been orally passed down. That means the memory of muslin for two thousand years has remained alive in the consciousness of the people of secular Bangladesh. While searching the history of muslin, we can find the mention of Dhakai Muslin in the writings of many historians from Herodotus, Strabo of the ancient time to Ptolemy and Pliny.

Researcher Wood and other scholars have found that Dhakai Muslin was able to gain special fame in ancient Assyria and Babylon. Wilford commented: Dhakai Muslin is mentioned in a Babylonian textile encyclopedia. Dhakai Muslin was used in the luxuries of ancient Egyptian civilization. Archeologists found a mummy wrapped in blue colored muslin produced in Bangladesh. In the second century BC, Dhakai Muslin was sold in Greece. Yate said Dhakai Muslin was sold in Greece in the second century BC.

We can come to know the fine quality of muslin from different events of history. For example, Pliny complained that Roman beauties used to reveal their curvaceous figure through the cover of transparent muslin. Not only that, because of wearing a special type of Muslin called ‘Jhuna’ malmal, the Greek youths were severely criticized by the local philosophers and satirists. Besides, a corrupt priestess dressed in Jhuna Malmal was sharply criticized in an ancient Tibetan book titled ‘Kulva’. Even after wearing seven-yard-long Abrawan muslin, princess Zeb-un-Nissa was reprimanded by her father King Aurangzeb for he thought that his daughter did not wear anything. Stories like this from different continents and ages serve as testimonials of the weaving quality and fine nature of muslin.

The fineness and beauty of Bangladesh’s muslin and textiles have fascinated many foreign tourists. In the ninth century AD, the Arab traveler and geographer, Sulayman al-Tajir, in his book titled ‘Silsilat al-Tawarikh’ has narrated that in a kingdom called Rumi (most probably present-day Bangladesh), the fabric was so fine and delicate that one can pass a 40-yard-long and 2-yard-wide fabric very easily through a ring. Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan tourist from Africa, came to Bangladesh in the middle of the fourteenth century. He saw the best muslin being made in Sonargaon. Seeing this, he became amazed and commented that such a high-quality garment may not be found anywhere else in the world. In the fifteenth century, the Chinese traveler Ma Huan witnessed the making of Malmal and other types of muslin in Sonargaon. Then, in the sixteenth century, the English traveler Ralph Fitch, Portuguese traveler Duarte Barbosa and the 18th-century Dutch traveler Stavorinus witnessed the making of muslin in some special areas of Bangladesh and praised the delicate and fine weaving of muslin.

Not only foreign travelers but also Robert Orme, the government-employed historian of the British Company, expressed his astonishment for the fine nature and highly intricate weaving of the muslin. He was able to witness the weaving and tradition of muslin during his stay in Bangladesh in 1750. He wrote, “How the people of this place can weave such fine fabrics is a mystery to me because they do not have the machinery necessary for such intricate weaving.” Robert Orme also observed all the fine and delicate fabrics made for the emperor and his harem and said, “So great the quality of the fabrics that it will cost ten times more than the fabrics made in Europe.” In his explanation, he mentioned that the unique skill of the Bengal weavers made it possible to weave such fine quality fabrics. He further said that the weavers of this region did not have the expertise in machinery, but they had the flexibility and the sensibility. Women’s cooking hand of this country was softer and more beautiful than the hand of any European beauty. The 1789 report of the East India Company said, “The weavers of Bengal without any machine make very beautiful and fine garments with some very simple equipment invented by them.”

It is worth mentioning that in old days in Bangladesh, alongside muslin or other fine garments, a large number of cheap garments that are thick and heavy were also made. Cheap or thick and medium quality garments were exported to many countries in Asia and North Africa before the arrival of the European companies. But fine textiles were mainly exported to Agra, Lahore, Multan, Persian Gulf and the Red Sea region. European companies also exported some fine fabrics along with ordinary garments. But they did not export expensive muslin fabrics made for the royal families because there was no buyer.

According to researchers, the oldest center for making muslin was Kapasia, now surrounded by the Bhawal forest. In the middle age, Sonargaon became the main production center of Dhakai Muslin, and in the modern era, fine muslin was produced across 1960 square miles surrounded by Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna. In this region in 1841, muslin was produced in 4168 looms. Dhaka (ঢাকা), Sonargaon (সোনারগাঁও), Demra (ডেমরা), Titbaddhi (তিতবদ্ধী), Baliapara (বালিয়াপাড়া), Napara (নাপাড়া), Maikuli (মৈকুলি), Bacharak (বাছারক), Charpara (চরপাড়া), Bashteki (বাশটেকি), Nabiganj (নবীগঞ্জ), Shahpur (শাহপুর), Dhamrai (, ধামরাই), Siddhirganj (সিদ্ধিরগঞ্জ), Kachpur (কাচপুর) etc. were the main centers for making muslin.

A special kind of fine yarn was needed for making muslin. This kind of yarn was not imported from anywhere else. Rather, boirati and phuti karpas were cultivated in riparian areas of Meghna and Shitalakshya rivers of Bangladesh. Girls aged from sixteen to thirty with the help of their sensitive fingers used to make fine yarn from that karpas cotton. But yarn made from phuti karpas cotton produced on the banks of the Meghna river was the main material for making high-quality muslin. Relatively low-quality muslin was made by boyrati karpas yarn.

After the production of yarn from cotton, the yarn was woven after passing the stages of Natan, Tana Hotan, Sana Bandha, Narad Bandha, Bu-Bandha etc. But even after weaving is completed, muslin passed through three levels before it was taken to the market for sale. These included washing clothes, trimming and refining yarn, and ironing, dyeing, and needlework. Finally, a bundle of cloth was tied. The interesting thing is that for the production and marketing of muslin there were different professionals at each step. At each stage, different persons or professionals would perform the task. For this weaving and selling muslin was a kind of social profession with a balanced arrangement of skills at each level.

In late 2020, Muslin fabric got Geographical Indication (GI) certificate thanks to the effort of the Bangladesh government. Therefore, it has secured its recognition as a Bangladeshi product. Because of the serious effort and timely initiative of the present Awami League government, the traditional fabric has revived from its extinction.

Sources:

Kalerkantho

Ittefaq