Emran Emon

Pahela Baishakh is a public folk festival of Bengalis. The journey of this day begins with the oath to move on to new endeavors forgetting the filth and failures of the past. Pahela Baishakh is one of the many festivals in the national life of Bengalis that have kept the culture of Bengalis alive for thousands of years. Forgetting all the differences irrespective of religion, caste and creed—this one festival is celebrated by all together.

Pahela Baishakh or Bangla Noboborsho (Bengali New Year) has a rich history behind becoming a universal festival in the national life of Bengalis today. According to the Hindu solar calendar, The 12 months of Bengal were celebrated long ago. This solar calendar began in the Gregorian calendar in mid-April. The first day of the Hindu solar year has long been celebrated as an integral part of the culture of Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Now, as the New Year has become a universal celebration of the beginning of the new year, at one time it was not like that. At that time, Bengali New Year or Pahela Baishakh was celebrated as Artab Utsav or seasonal festival. Its main significance was agriculture at that time. Since the era of technological application had not started, the farmers had to depend on the seasons.

After the establishment of the Mughal Empire in Indian subcontinent, the emperors used to collect rent for agricultural products according to the Hijri calendar. But since the Hijri year was dependent on the moon, it did not match the agricultural yield. This forced the farmers to pay rent at untimely times. The Mughal emperor Akbar introduced the Bengali year with the aim of making the collection of rent fair. He originally ordered reforms to the ancient calendar. At the behest of the emperor, Fatehullah Siraj, the famous astronomer and thinker of Bengal at that time, deconstructed the rules of the New Bengali Year based on the solar year and the Arabic Hijri year. The reckoning of the Bengali year began on 10 March or 11 March,1584 AD. However, this method of calculation was implemented from the time of Akbar's accession to the throne (November 5, 1556). At first, this year was called the crop year, it was known as Bangabda or Bengali year later.

The custom of celebrating Bengali New Year (Bangla Nobobosho) started from the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar. On the last day of Chaitra, the farmers used to settle all their debts with the landlords and on the first day of Baishakh, the landlords used to make the farmers sweetened. The essence of Pahela Baishakh is the joy of the farmers to bring home new crops and to be free from debts from the landlords. And this is why the Pahela Baishakh became a celebration of the life of family and social life of the Bengalis. However, the saddest thing is that very few people know the essence of the Pahela Baishakh!

One of the most important part of Pahela Baishakh is the preparation of 'Halkhata'. Halakhata is still in vogue in various business institutions. On this day, fairs are held in different parts of the country and various indigenous products are displayed in the fair.

The news of modern New Year celebrations was first found in 1917. Home Kirtan and puja were arranged on the Pahela Baishakh of that year to wish victory to the British in the First World War. Then in 1938, similar activities were mentioned. Later, the practice of celebrating the Pahela Baishakh, which took place before 1967, did not become very popular.

As part of the protests against the oppression and cultural terrorism of the Pakistani regime in the 1960s, the cultural organization "Chhayanaut" celebrated the first Bengali New Year in 1967 at Ramna Batamul. Since then, every year since 1967, thousands of culture-loving people of this country have welcomed the Bengali New Year (Pahela Baishakh) with the song "Esho Hey Boishakh, Esho Hey ...". 

 Although the place is known as Batamul, in fact the tree in the shade of which the stage is made is not a Bat tree—it is a Ashwattha tree. This is a day, in this festival, all religions, castes and races forget all their differences and join the same category. Although our personal life, social life and state life are plagued with various problems, this one festival gives us life. We see the transmission of that life at Ramna Batamul. But at different times, we are shocked by the activities of some communal evil forces which are strongly opposed to the culture of this country. The incident of 2001, bombing on Pahela Baishakh’s program at Ramna's Batamul, is a shining example. Moreover, eve-teasing of women at different times is happening, which does not match with our culture. Even though we identify ourselves as a non-communal nation, the poison of communalism still exists in the country. Recent events are a big example for us. Last year, a legal notice has been issued to stop the traditional 'Mangal Shobhajatra' organized on Pahela Boishakh for the sake of religion, which is a blow to our millennial culture. There is still an evil force to destroy our culture and communal harmony just for political purposes.

Different evil forces have been trying hard at different times to destroy the Bengali culture. The Pakistani regime also tried, but did not succeed. We have to be vocal against all the evil forces. The Pahela Baishakh is being celebrated with great pomp as the days go by since the country became independent. Our Bengaliness is getting stronger day by day. However, we have to take care that the aggression of culture does not happen. We need to be vigilant so that degenerate cultures do not hurt our millennial living cultures.

Our parents were not able to celebrate the Pahela Baishakh in the way that we are now celebrating in a grand occasion. Growing up, one day I asked my parents—'How did you celebrate the Pahela Baishakh?' They said, 'We used to stay at home and celebrate the Pahela Baishakh in a festive atmosphere—put on new clothes, keep the house clean and cook various traditional Bengali dishes. Nowadays, you go to the fair, go to the Mongol Shobhajatra, go to eat Panta Ilish, go for traveling—at that time it was not possible for us to do these things.'

By the passage of time, the type of cultural celebration has changed. But we have to be careful not to deviate from the root. It is a matter of great bliss that we are becoming more civilized, modern and cultured day by day by breaking the barrier of all superstitions. Once upon a time, there were many obstacles in the celebration of the Pahela Baishakh. It was said that Pahela Baishakh was only a festival of the Hindu community. No one else can observe it. By saying these hypocrisy speaks, they used to spread the poisonous vapor of communalism. Overcoming all obstacles, Pahela Baishakh is now a universal folk festival of Bengalis.

The news of hope for us is that the tradition of celebrating Pahela Baishakh or Bengali New Year is increasing day by day among the people of this generation by avoiding all superstitions. And in this case, the present generation is playing an effective role. Pahela Baishakh is now a great secular festival and a spirit of secularism. The present generation must be vocal to keep this festival alive forever. Above all, we, everybody have to be vocal against all forms of communal evil.

The writer is a researcher, journalist and columnist. He can be reached at emoncolumnist@gmail.com