Pahela Baishakh's Eventful Journey: From Mughal Era to Independent Bangladesh

Pahela Baishakh has its roots in the simple custom of cooking good food and taking it with fish and vegetables followed by some sweetmeats. This predominantly agrarian practice was common among the peasants in antiquated Bengal following harvesting of new paddy. However, at present Pahela Baishakh is a huge program which is held on 14 April every year by people from all walks of life across Bangladesh from all religions and ethnic backgrounds irrespectively.

This year’s Pahela Baishakh has an unprecedented flavour on the backdrop of the July Revolution which ousted a controversial and excruciating regime which bedeviled the whole Bangladesh for last 15 years. While celebrating Pahela Baishakh this year, we should bow our heads for a few moments to the departed souls of the martyrs of July Revolution 2024. However, there is no judgmatic way to rule out the mammoth importance of 1971.

Though a school of historians believe King Shoshangko of Gour should be credited with starting the Bengali era, commonly it is believed that Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar introduced a revised Bengali calendar (1584 A.D.) to facilitate tax collection in Bengal. The farmers of Bengal found it convenient as it was the time when they harvested a rich yield of paddy. Till then it was limited to the mundane rituals of farming, harvesting and husking.

Soon, the month of Baishakh was selected by the 'boniks' or merchants of Bengal to close account books of the previous year and open new ones, hence we saw the introduction of the custom called 'halkhata' throughout Bengal. Shop owners of old Dhaka and Narayanganj (as well as those in other district towns) used to offer sweetmeats to everyone who stepped inside their shop on the first day of Baishakh. Traders and customers used to come with cash to pay off all credits on that day and leave smiling devouring plenty of roshogollas. Today's commercialization of the day has its roots in the halkhata tradition of the yesteryears.

Pahela Baishakh was never a big cultural festival in Bengal in the '50s or '60s therefore it would be difficult to define or analyze its cultural construct, as we observe it today. Before the birth of Bangladesh, there was no centrally organized Pahela Baishakh festival, no rally with masks, no indulging in ilish-panta and so on. In some parts of old Dhaka and in district towns small melas used to spring up spontaneously where mostly women used to throng for glass bangles and children for sweets and clay dolls.

It was since the mid '60s that Pahela Baishakh began to take the character of a cultural festival with the opening of the day with Tagore songs at the Ramna Botomul (Banyan tree) under the stewardship of Chhayanaut, the leading cultural organization of the country. The decision was taken by the cultural stalwarts of the time in defiance of the banning of Tagore songs on radio by the then pro-Pakistani authority. The festivity at Ramna ground was limited to singing songs of Tagore, Dijendra Lal Roy and others, the theme of which were mostly about love for the country and paying honour to the cultural abundance of Bangladesh which has stood the test of time for hundreds of years.

Gradually, as more and more people, predominantly literate middle class, started to join in the early morning musical soiree at Ramna, teachers and students of Charukala Institute came up with the idea of starting a carnival type rally to go around the Dhaka University campus carrying bamboo and cloth made larger than life animal figures to add colour to the event. Roads were decorated with alpana on the roads, traditional designs depicting Bengali motifs. It became a big attraction for Bangalis coming from all walks of life. The number of people attending the rally swelled every year and today it has become a law and order situation for the administration.

The cultural construct has evolved slowly over the decades, to display loudly the rich cultural heritage of Bengal before the world. Interestingly, the Pahela Baishakh festival is the only of its kind that has no religious flavour to it. It is hundred percent secular where Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists join spontaneously. Recent years have seen an influx of people of other nationalities joining the rally to enjoy the extravagance.

True, many later day customs or rituals have been added to the festivity, like savouring ilish and panta early in the morning, but culture is not something that remains stuck with one or two things. It picks up many new things on its way while leaving many things behind. That is the beauty of Pahela Baishakh in Bengal. However, to conserve Hilsha fish fingerlings called “Jatka” the authorities concerned recently urged everyone in Bangladesh not to eat Hilsha fish as part of Pahela Baishakh festivities.

Pahela Baishakh comes only once a year with the messages of love and novelty. Peaceful celebrations of this grand event should be ensured by the law and order forces. Undesirable things must be avoided on this exclusive date.

Rifat Rafique Badhan is a
freelancer and a columnist.