The Formation of Bengal Delta

HIS 101: BANGLADESH CULTURE AND HERITAGE

Asif Basar (MAB2)

Department of history and
Philosophy
North South university.
Introduction
There is very little recorded history of the land,
language, and its people of Bengal. The history
of Bengal is one of the most complex in the
world, because it was flooded by many historical
ups and downs over the years.
The Key Geographical/ Physical Features that
Bangladesh has are:
1. Active Delta
2. Extended River System
3. Floodplain and Fertile landscape
4. Mountainous North-East
5. Mighty Mangrove Forest
6. Resourceful of Bay of Bengal
1. The Bengal delta
The formation of Bengal Delta began some 125
million years ago after the fragmentation of the
Gondwanaland.

The Gondwanaland break-up, Indian plate

movement, collision of the Indian plate with the
Burmese and Eurasian plate, development of the
huge mountain range of the himalayas,
development of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river
system and sea level changes in several historical
periods and tectonic activities over millions of
years completed the formation process of Bengal
Delta.
It is said that without the
Himalays, Bangladesh
would not exist. Every
year the melted snow,
the icy water and the
monsoon rains sweeps
along particles of soil,
forming into rivers that
rush to the sea. This
million years process has
created the territory that
we now live and called
Bangladesh.
2. Extended River System
Bangladesh is a land of rivers. There are almost
300 active rivers along with 400 tributary rivers
currently flowing over Bangladesh. The most
important feature of the Bengali landscape is its
vast river system which characterizes the Bengali
people and their literature. Among the main
rivers the Ganges/Padma and the Brahmaputra
are the two most important and these are referred
to many literary compositions, including the
Carya poems. Three Major River Systems are:
a. Yamuna-Brahmaputra River System
b. Ganges-Padma river System
c. Surma-Meghna River System
River System of Bengal
a. The Jamuna-Brahmaputra River System
The Jamuna Brahmaputra River system is one of
the largest river systems in South Asia.

Brahmaputra-Jamuna and Old Brahmaputra, with

their main tributary Tista, and a good number of
small tributaries and distributaries constitute the
largest floodplain of Bangladesh.
The Brahmaputra is one of the major rivers of Asia
possessing mythological importance. The term "
Brahmaputra" means "son of Brahma" in Sanskrit.
It originates from Mount Kailash in the Himalayan
Mountains in western Tibet
According to Hindu Mythology, mount Kailash, the origin
of Brahmaputra River is the abode of Lord Shiva and
goddess Parvati. The lands and towns along the
Brahmaputra River thus attain mythological importance in
Hinduism along with the rivers.

In earlier times there were only relatively small rivers

between the ancient urban centres of Mahasthan and
Savar, whereas the Brahmaputra formed a significant
barrier between Samatata and the western urban centers.
Therefore, large kingdoms of the western part often had
little impact on the eastern small kingdoms.

The Brahmaputra-Jamuna drains the northern and eastern

slopes of the himalayas, and has a catchment area of
5,83,000 sq km. The rivers combined suspended sediment
load of about 1.84 billion tons per year is the worlds
highest.
The Main Channel of the Brahmaputra used to flow
past Mymensing and Sonargaon towns and has
shifted her course after 1787.
a. Ganges-Padma river System
The Ganges and the Padma are the main
channels of this river system. The Bhagirathi-
Hugli, Gorai-Madhumati and Arial Khan are
three second-order rivers of the system.

The River originates at the GangotriGlacier in

the Indian state of Uttarakhand, in the central
Himalayas
The Ganges has a total length of about 2,600
km and a catchment area of approximately
907,000 sq km.
The total drainage area of the Ganges is about
1,087,400 sq km, of which about 46,300 sq km lies
within Bangladesh.
The present course of Ganges is very different from
what it was before in the 16th century. It flowed
further north and east and the ancient city of Gauda
was probably on its right bank.
About 25 miles to the south of ancient Gauda the
Ganges divides itself into two branches, the Bhagirathi
in the West Bengal and the Padma flowing in the
south-eastern direction.
The river has long been considered a holy river by
Hindus and worshiped as the goddess Ganga in
Hinduism.
It has also been important historically, many earlier
regional and imperial capitals like Patliputra,
Allahabad, Kannauj, Kara, Calcutta and Murshidabad,
have been located on its banks. The ancient great
empire of Gangaridai had also emerged on the bank
of Ganges river.
c. Surma-Meghna River System
The Surma-Meghna, at 669 kilometres by itself the
longest river in Bangladesh. It enters Bangladesh
from the east and with over fifty other rivers flow
from India across the border of Bangladesh.
Together these many rivers have deposited very
thick layers of fertile silt that now form one of the
largest river deltas on the earth.
The ancient Janapads Samatata and Harikela
were also developed on the bank of Meghna
river.

3. Floodplain and Fertile Landscape

The main surface feature of Bangladesh is the

floodplains of the Ganges-Brahmaputra and
Meghna. Floodplain dominates the life of
Bangladesh.
Key Contributions of Floodplain:
1. 80% of countrys surface is considered as
floodplain and it played an important role in
the development of agriculture of this region.
2. Due to the richness of soil, floodplains
became the main physical resource for its
population to produce grains and to develop
the agrarian societies.
3. Depending on the richness on the soil,
cultivation of plants and domestication of
animals occurred well before 1500 BCE.
4. Rice cultivation was also developed overs the
years and become the main occupation of its
population and became the staple food.
4. Mountainous North-East
The Eastern and Northern Frontier Hilly
Region represents the hill areas of Bangladesh
and comprises two main sub-regions -
Chittagong Hill Tracts and Foot Hills of the
Shillong massif.

In the cultural history of Bangladesh this hilly

areas are important because it links ancient
Bengal to ancient Myanmar through the
Arakan kingdoms.
Beside this mountainous feature, the uplands between
the Ganges and Brahmaputra-Jamuna is historically
known as Barind tract and the upland between the
Jamuna-Meghna is known as the Madhupur Tract.

The important difference between the two upland

tracts is that parts of the Barind were settled and
urbanised long time ago while Madhupur remained
largely a forested area.
5. Mangrove and Rainforest
For hundreds of thousand of years, the Bengal delta
was covered by dense rainforests. Much of it survived
well into historical times but due to the development
of human habitation and cultivation, considerable
declined of rainforest happened during last few
centuries.
Sundarbans, The largest single block of tidal
halophytic mangrove forest in the world,
located in the southwestern part of Bangladesh.
The tract of the Sundarbans is of recent origin,
raised by the deposition of sediments formed
due to soil erosion in the Himalayas.
6. Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal occupies an area of about 2.2
million sq km and the average depth is 2,600m.
Bangladesh is situated at the head of the Bay of
Bengal.

Since the ancient period, bay of Bengal plays a very

influential role in the development of trade and
commerce of this region. The historical sea ports of
Tamralipti, Saptagram, Xatigan all were located on
the coastline of bay of Bengal. The growth of trade
based on these ports can be traced back to the 8th
century AD. The importance of Chittagong port was
enhanced through the Arab merchants mainly with
the textile products during this century.
Ethnical Origin of Bengali People
Bangladesh is a melting pot of ancient peoples. They
came by land routes, across mountains, down the river
valleys and also possibly by boats.

There are many accounts and references which point

out that the ancient people of Bengal were different in
race, culture and language from the Aryans who
compiled the Vedic literature. The original inhabitants
of Bengal were non-Aryan. Probably, the oldest
inhabitants of the land were a group of Austric people.
Many linguists and anthropologists believe that the
early tribes of Bengal were Dravidian, but belonged to
a separate family.
It is said that even within historic times many
people in Bangladesh spoke a language related
to Telegu, which is a Dravidian language.

The later arrival race is well known as Aryans.

They spoke a language of the Indo-European
family. Over the centuries they mixed with
tWith the adoption and spread of rice
cultivation this mixed population of Ayro-
Dravedians moved in to the Bengal basin
around 600 BC.
Through the rise of trade and commerce,
imperialism and natural immigration
Bangladesh became a place where racial
mixing became very common. Therefore, the
Bengali ancestry includes the Austria speakers,
the Mongoloids, the Dravidians, the Aryans,
the Turk, the Pathan, the Europeans and so on.
The Janapadas
The historic term Janapad means human
settlement. The sources of ancient Bengal suggest
that, in the earliest period Bengal was divided
among various tribes or kingdoms which are
known as the Janapadas. The ancient Janapadas
are as follows:
Banga
Pundra
Gaura
Radha
Samatate
Horikel
The name of these Janapads ware purely
descriptive and had no ethnic connection.
These Janapads are inhabited by non-Aryan
people. The Hindu sources like : the
Mohabharat and other Vedic literatures are
the primary sources about these human
settlements.
The Banga:
The Banga is an ancient human settlement
situated in Eastern Bengal. But its geographical
connotation varied in different periods of history.
The Hindu literatures indicate that the Banga is
sea-faring nation and its realm extended up to the
sea. They also mentioned that this is an area
where finest quality white & soft cotton fabrics
were produced.
There was a coastal area approachable from the
sea in the territory of Banga. From the above
mentioned references, Banga appears to be an
area of south and southeastern part of present
Bangladesh.
The Pundra:
The Pundra or Pundranagara is the earliest
urban centre in Bangladesh, which goes back to
the 4th century BC. The ruins of this have been
identified at Mahasthan in Bogra district. It
continued to be the headquarters of the
administration of Maurya, Gupta and Pals. It
was the capital of Pundrabardhan Bhukti
under the Gupta rule. The famous China
visitor Hiuen-tsang visited this place in
the 7th century AD.
Pundra was situated on the western bank of
the Karatoya. It was well connected with other
parts of Bengal through land and river routes.
For this connection it was an important centre
of trade and commerce throughout the ancient
period.
Radha:
Radha is the ancient human settlement of
Bengal. It is difficult to locate exactly its
geographical position. But historical sources
suggest that Radha is the west-southern part
of ancient Bengal.
Howrah, Hughli and Burdwan in West
Bengal are some areas of ancient Radha.
Samatate:
Samatate is an ancient territorial unit in
ancient Bengal. Chinese traveler Hiuen-tsang
visited Samatat at 7th century AD. As per his
account, it was the South-eastern part of
Bengal and was a Buddhist cultural centre.
The archaeological discoveries in the Lalmai-
Mainamati area, it can now be stated with
certainty that Samatata was formed
at Comilla-Noakhali areas and the adjacent
parts of hilly Tripura.
Harikel:
Harikel is another geographical entity in
ancient Bengal. But it is so difficult to locate it.
Most of the evidence support that Harikel is
the similar with our present Sylhet region.
Another archeological evidence suggests its
location at present Chittagong district.
Harikel was situated by the side of Samatat.