Bengali

Natural Language Processing is one of the most difficult areas in artificial intelligence. Because, completely different grammatical rules (on which the languages are based on) make the task more complicated. The same problems are found in conversion of Bangla text to English text. Bangla grammar maintains so many rules which make the task harder. Although, a number of researches are done in different area such as Bangla keyboard layout design, English to Bangla translator etc., very few researches are done to translate Bangla text to English. In this paper, we developed a system to do the conversion using OpenNLP tool that performs both statistical and rule based conversion. We have found that using this conversion method it is possible to translate about 40% of text from Bangla to English correctly.

The distinct genes of Bengalis become evident when they  choose their gods and governments that are so radically different from those in Delhi or India. On Diwali, for instance, while others pray to the fair Lakshmi with millions of dazzling lights, to seek wealth and prosperity, the Bengalis pray to their black goddess on this darkest night of the year, for some much required strength. When other Indians observe strict vegetarian and Vaishnava rituals during Diwali, Shakta Bengalis slaughter animals and worship with blood and blood-red hibiscus. It is not just a simple 'Aryan vs Austric' issue, because differences lie even in their root legends. Most Indians celebrate Diwali as Krishna's victory over the terrible demon Narak- asura, while Bengalis believe in the Skanda Purana version that on this occasion, the warrior goddess Chandi fought the fearsome danava called Rakta-vija, from whose drops of blood sprang thousands of giants equal in power to him in power. It was only when Chandi took the form of the Bhayankari Kali and started drinking every drop of the ogre's blood, could the asura be overpowered and vanquished....

Osman living in a rooftop room dreams of his father’s death but finds himself in a distorted fact no less horrible. All he witnesses sometime seem hallucination sometime real. It’s a time when receiving news of someone’s being shot dead appear normal to Osman. The environs reflect situation of mass suffocation pressed under hideous images of late sixties Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan. Osman’s personal life reveals as abnormal, so does the public life. Even lamenting upon a dear one’s odd death is as if restricted. “It’s risky to answer” of any normal query! The first chapter of Elias’ Rooftop Soldier engulfs the readers with inner happenings of atypical socio-political state of pre-liberation Bengali life depicted with the unique language and style. The following translated piece from one of the best classic fiction of Bangla literature will surely be an astounding experience for world’s literature lovers.

The paper discusses the issues faced while evaluating the different aspects of mapping language specific data onto the IMAGACT interface. The paper is a result of working on the IMAGACT project under the supervision of Prof. Girish Nath Jha of the School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. IMAGACT is an initiative of a consortium (namely University of Florence, ILC-CNR, Pisa and University of Siena) funded in Italy. It has been designed on corpus-based annotation by mother-tongue linguists. Beginning with English and Italian speech corpora, a substantial amount of variation of action-oriented lexicons across multiple action concepts was noticed.

Painting is deeply involved in the public life of Bengal. There is a lot of history hidden in the excitement of the people on the occasion of Puja Parvan and serving them beautifully. And among them painting and other arts have taken place. This article was written by Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya on the occasion of Lakshmi Puja.

A seminar, accompanied by exhibitions and follow up field initiatives are planned in order to prepare the ground for a further Bengal Renaissance, for the regeneration of the best and finest in Bengali, Indian and global traditions of humanity.

অন্ত্যমধ্যযুগীয় বাংলায় পুরুষদের প্রতিষ্ঠিত মন্দিরের তুলনায় নারীদের প্রতিষ্ঠিত মন্দিরের সংখ্যা খুবই অল্প। কিন্তু মল্লভূম অঞ্চলে আমরা অনেক নারী-প্রতিষ্ঠিত মন্দির দেখতে পাই। সপ্তদশ শতাব্দীতেই আমরা এই অঞ্চলের নয়জন নারীকে পেয়েছি, যাঁরা মন্দির প্রতিষ্ঠা করেছিলেন। অথচ মল্লভূম তথা বাংলার সামাজিক, রাজনৈতিক বা ধর্মীয় ইতিহাসে এই নারীদের কথা প্রায় উপেক্ষিতই। বর্তমান প্রবন্ধে সপ্তদশ শতাব্দীর মল্লভূমে নারীদের প্রতিষ্ঠিত মন্দিরের কথা তুলে ধরা হয়েছে।

Publisher's abstract:
Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel’s state-of-the-art history navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that created modern Bangladesh through ecological disaster, colonialism, partition, a war of independence and cultural renewal. In this revised and updated edition, Van Schendel offers a fascinating and highly readable account of life in Bangladesh over the last two millennia. Based on the latest academic research and covering the numerous historical developments of the 2010s, he provides an eloquent introduction to a fascinating country and its resilient and inventive people. A perfect survey for travellers, expats, students and scholars alike.

Table of Contents

List of Plates
List of Maps and Figures
Acknowledgements
Timeline
Preface to second edition

Introduction
Part I. The Long View
1. A land of water and silt
2. Jungle, fields, cities and states
3. A region of multiple frontiers
4. The delta as a crossroads

Part II. Colonial Encounters
5. From the Mughal empire to the British empire
6. British legacies
7. A closing agrarian frontier
8. Colonial conflicts
9. Towards Partition
10. Partition
11. Population exchange

Part III. Becoming East Pakistan
12. The Pakistan experiment
13. Pakistan falls apart
14. East Pakistani livelihoods
15. The roots of aid dependence
16. A new elite and cultural renewal

Part IV. War and the Birth of Bangladesh
17. Armed conflict
18. A state is born
19. Imagining a new nation

Part V. Independent Bangladesh
20. Shaping a political system
21. The triumph of identity politics
22. Transnational linkages
23. Boom or bust?
24. Gender movements
25. A national culture?
Conclusions

Bangladesh district maps
Key political figures since 1947
Glossary of Bengali terms
Notes
Bibliography
Index


Links:
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/history-bangladesh-2nd-edition?format=PB


https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/history-bangladesh-2nd-edition?format=PB


https://books.google.se/books?id=Io7mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR4&dq=bangladesh+history+2020&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf4pi6v8LqAhWy5KYKHaftB80Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Of identities, of experiences, of struggle: Manoranjan Byapari's book, "Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit", translated by Sipra Mukherjee from Bengali, despite being an engrossing read, is not an easy book to review.
First published in print in National Herald On Sunday, dated 08-April-2018.
This review may be read online, here:
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/reviews-recommendations/a-dalit-writers-journey-of-multiple-identities-and-struggles

তখন ১৯২৫ সাল। উপনিবেশের সূর্য মধ্য গগনে। শাসন-শোষণের সুচারু ব্যবস্থাপনা আর তথাকথিত ‘হোয়াইট ম্যানস বার্ডেন’-এর নামে অশ্বেতাঙ্গদের ওপরে শ্বেতাঙ্গদের শাসনের বৈধতার প্রচারণার জোয়ারে কঙ্গো তখন নিস্তেজ, প্রতিরোধহীন। এমনি এক বন্ধ্যা সময়ে স্বাধীন কঙ্গো রাষ্ট্রের প্রতিষ্ঠাতা প্যাট্রিস লুমুম্বার জন্ম দেশের উত্তরাঞ্চলীয় প্রদেশ কাসাইয়ের সানকুরা অঞ্চলের ওনালুয়া গ্রামে। উপনিবেশের আশাহীন বাস্তবতায় জন্ম নেওয়া লুমুম্বাকে শিক্ষক বানানোর স্বপ্ন দেখেন কৃষক পিতা। কিশোর লুমুম্বাকে পাঠানো হয় একটি মিশনারি স্কুলে। নামে স্কুল, আসলে কালো মানুষদের কায়িক শ্রম প্রশিক্ষণকেন্দ্র। তবে লুমুম্বার পড়ার দারুণ আগ্রহ দেখে শিক্ষকেরা মাঝেমধ্যে বই ধার দিতেন স্কুলে বসে সন্ধ্যার আগে পর্যন্ত পড়ার জন্য। রাতে পড়ার জন্য বই বাড়ি নেওয়ার প্রশ্ন আসে না; কারণ সন্ধ্যা হলে বাড়িতে আলো জ্বালানোর সামর্থ্য লুমুম্বাদের ছিল না।

— Devnagari is the most popular script in India it is used by over 400 million people all over world. Recognition of Devnagari handwritten word has been a popular research area for many years because of its various applications. This paper describes different techniques for pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction and classification which play an important role for recognition of word. Index terms- Preprocessing,Feature extraction,Segmentation

The phenomenon of reversing with respect to Compound Verbs in Hindi is an interesting avenue to check for linguistic processing effects. However, if the same phenomenon is replicated in Bangla, the results are totally different with respect to the consequent set of verbal constructions. In Hindi, reversing the polar and the vector components does not shift the semantic focus. The meaning comes from the same component even after reversing. But in Bangla, in most cases such a reversal makes the resultant sentence unacceptable. These reversals make the sentences incorrect as the polar positioning of the vector is incompatible for that particular sentence or for all sentences in general. In certain acceptable cases, the vector becomes an instrumental case marker in the reversed construction. So, while checking for the acceptability of such reversals in a self-paced reading paradigm, some latency effects are noticed.

"Syllable Structure of Bangla: An Optimality-Theoretic Approach is a three part study designed to provide the student/readers with a better understanding about the structure of Bangla syllables in terms of phonology and morphology. The book is divided into twelve chapters with each chapter focusing on one particular area of the study.

The first part of this three part study focuses on the frequency of occurrences of different consonant clusters in Bangla. It argues that these clusters are best described with the help of the Bangla lexicon into three strata that include native Bangla words (NB) as well as Sanskrit borrowings (SB) and the other borrowings (OB). This part of the study focuses on the analysis of these syllabic structures in Bangla with the help of the Optimality Theory (OT).

The second part of the study focuses on a morphological analysis of the standard verbal inflectional paradigms of Bangla in the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM). This includes categories of tense/mood, levels of politeness and persons. This analysis is then compared with the English verbal inflectional morphology. In a later stage, Kar picks up the Optimality Theory from where he left it at the first part and applies it to analyze the outcomes of the morphological analysis in DM and following phonological changes on them."

Based on a recent empirical project on 'the Bengal diaspora', the paper explores the construction and contestation of meanings around the iconic East London street, Brick Lane. Taking the 2006 protests around the film Brick Lane as its starting point, the paper draws on original interviews conducted in 2008 with a range of Bengali community representatives, to examine the narratives of space, community and belonging that emerge around the idea of Brick Lane as the 'cultural heartland' of the British Bangladeshi community. By exploring the representation, production and contestation of 'social space' through everyday practices, the paper engages with and contests the representation of minority ethnic 'communities' in the context of contemporary multicultural London and examines the process of 'claiming' and 'making' space in East London. In so doing, the paper contributes to a critical tradition that challenges essentialising and pathologizing accounts of ethnic communities and racialized spaces, or that places them outside of broader social and historical processes -redolent, for example, in contemporary discussions about 'parallel lives' or 'the clash of civilizations'. By contrast, this paper views social space as made through movement and narration, with a particular emphasis on the social agency of local Bengali inhabitants and the multiple meanings that emerge from within this 'imagined community'. However, rather than simply stressing the unfinished and processual nature of spatial meanings, the paper insists on the historical, embodied and affective dimensions of such meaning making, and a reckoning with the broader social and political landscape within which such meanings take shape. The focus on Brick Lane provides an empirically rich, geographically and historically located lens through which to explore the complex role of ethnicity as a marker of social space and of spatial practices of resistance and identity. By exploring Bengali Brick Lane through its narratives of past, present and future, these stories attest to the symbolic and emotional importance of such spaces, and to their complex imaginings.

Die Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung (IZSAF) ist eine elektronische, peerreviewed Zeitschrift, die vor allem Nachwuchswissenschaftler:innen, deren Forschungsarbeit einen Bezug zu Südasien aufweist, eine Plattform zur Veröffentlichung ihrer Forschungsergebnisse in deutscher und englischer Sprache bietet. IZSAF ist offen für neue Formate und publiziert auch Fotoessays, um Themen der Südasienforschung auf visuelle Weise zu präsentieren. Essay Die Mumbai Riots in Rahman Abbas' Roman Rohzin Almuth Degener 146-163 Contributors 164-165 SHABNAM SURITA | 83 Abstract: Electoral rolls, or voter lists, as they are popularly called, are an integral part of the democratic setup of the Indian state. Along with their role in the electoral process, these lists have surfaced in the politics of Assam time and again. Especially since the 1970s, claims of non-citizens becoming enlisted voters, incorrect voter lists and the phenomenon of a 'clean' voter list have dominated electoral politics in Assam.

‘আট বছর’ আগের একদিন’ কবিতা নিয়ে বিস্তর আলোচনা হয়েছে। এ লেখাটি আরেকটি আলোচনা মাত্র। যাকে সাহিত্যের ভাষায় শিল্পরীতি বলা হয়, আলোচনাটা প্রাথমিকভাবে সে গোত্রের। তবে, ‘কবিভাষা’র দিকে এ আলোচনায় বিশেষ মনোযোগ দেয়া হয়েছে। কবিতার পাঠটি এক অর্থে ‘নিওক্রিটিক’ ঘরানার, যদিও পরবর্তী একশ বছরের অনেকগুলো পাঠপদ্ধতি টুকরা-টাকরাভাবে ঢুকে পড়েছে আলোচনায়।

The historical Shiva, living around 7000 years ago, always worked for the welfare of all living beings, according to Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti in his book Namah Shiváya Shántáya. Shiva introduced Dharma to help human beings attain the Supreme Goal of life. He introduced marriage into human society for the first time, with women and men as equal partners. He introduced the 7-note musical scale that later became the octave. Although soft to some and severe to others as needed to rectify bad behavior, good people loved Shiva and exploiters strongly opposed him. Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti or Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar (1922-1990) was also such a personality, in the tradition of Shiva and Krishna. He founded the international socio-spiritual organization Ananda Marga (“Path of Bliss”) -- Richard Gauthier, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California, USA, November 30, 2020.

The novel Chilekothar Sepai (1987), written by Akhtaruzzaman Elias is a noteworthy literary piece in Bangla language based on pre-liberation political history of Bangladesh, that is, the context of mass revolt in 1969. Crossing the boundary of Bangladesh and West Bengal, the novel has been included in the academic curriculum of Bangla Language and Literature under the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations in the University of Chicago in America. Matthew D. Rich, a PhD researcher of Anthropology in the same university analyzed the Text of this novel for American students and consequently became felt strong urge of translating this great piece. His translation work is in fact going on. His translation of 20th Chapter of Chilekothar Sepai (Rooftop Soldier) along with the Preamble of this translation work in both Bangla and English has been randomly chosen for publishing here.

In light of recent attempts to defend the role of the arts in education against the effects of policies based on utilitarian principles, this paper examines the arts educational writings and practical projects of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) at Santiniketan in West Bengal, showing how they were motivated by a Romantic and Upanishadic philosophy centred on the anti-utilitarian concept of ‘surplus’. While the development of Santiniketan’s present arts and music departments away from Tagore’s original ideals is acknowledged and traced, the paper argues that Tagore’s aesthetic and educational philosophy still contains much to challenge us. In many ways, his thought can be seen as more compatible with progressive and liberal arts education than the ideology of high modernism that developed at the same period in Europe.

A language is considered as a sexist language if it conveys attitudes that stereotype a person according to gender rather than judging on individual merits. Feminists believe that English language is a sexist language because it involves negative attitudes towards women and maintains social inequalities between men and women. There are many English metaphors used to describe women in disagreeable manner, but this is rarely a case with men. Animal, food and villainous imageries are highly used to refer to women, such as: bitch, chick,-sugar, honey, tomato,-witch and so on. Animal imageries compare women with helpless creatures, food imageries with items used for sustenance and pleasure, and villainous imageries with evil creatures. More or less, in every society, women are believed to be weak and subordinate to men who are considered to be masculine. Even by linguistic items, men are presented as the head of societies. English morphology generally takes the male form as the base form, and adds suffix to construct the female form, for example: lion-lioness, tiger-tigress, actor-actress, etc. Suffix 'ess' carries connotations of lack of seriousness. By using the words 'he' and 'man' as generic forms, women are kept invisible and undermined. My first language is Bengali, so it was a question as to whether my language is also a sexist one. Sexism is also a usual feature of Bengali language, and even a careless observation on daily language can help identify the presence of sexism in Bengali. Women are sometimes referred by the following villainous imageries: Rakkhoshi (রাক্ষসী) = female monster; daini (ডাইনী) = witch. Even in terms of morphology, male form appears to be the base form in Bengali language, such as: chakor-chakrani (চাকর-চাকরানী) = servant-maidservant, shingho-shinghi (সসিংহ-সসিংহী) = lion-lioness, etc. Even names of Bengali children follow sexism; a male child is never named Nodi (নদী) = river and a female child is never named Shagor (সাগর) = sea. Even by means of names, men are presented as a strong figure and women as the subordinate figures who possess lesser strength comparing to their opposite gender. From the above discussion, it is obvious that both Bengali and English are sexist languages; delve into your language to discover sexism in your language.

ÔbqbPvivÕ M ‡íi ev¯Í eZv Avm ‡j Avgy i ev¯Í eZv; bM ‡ii Ges bqbPviv MÖ v ‡gi ev¯Í eZv| bqbPviv MÖ vg Avevi Avgy i Aw¯Í ‡Z¡ i wPývqK, †h-Aw¯Í ‡Z¡ i cwiwPZ Dcv`v ‡bi m ‡½ Zz jbv-m ‡Î †m wP ‡b wb ‡q ‡Q m`¨-cwiwPZ bMi| †h-bM ‡i Awb"Qvm ‡Ë¡ I Avevm †M ‡o ‡Q Avgy , †m-bMiwU `y wf© ÿ-cxwoZ Ñ `y wf© ÿB Zvi cÖ vq GKgvÎ ewne© v¯Í eZv| Avgy ‡K †mB ev¯Í eZvi †K ‡›`ª †i ‡L, Zvi Ae¯' vb I BwZe" Ë ‡K cÖ K… Z gj¨ w` ‡q wbwg© Z n ‡q ‡Q ÔbqbPvivÕ M ‡íi eû¯Í i AšÍ e© v¯Í eZv| MÖ v ‡g g" Zzi Kv ‡jv Qvqv bvg ‡Z †` ‡L cÖ k¯Í moK a ‡i hviv G ‡m †cŠu ‡Q ‡Q bM ‡i, Avgy Zv ‡`iB GKRb| Zv ‡`i m ‡MvÎ, wKš' Zv ‡`i g ‡Zv bq| Avgy fvey K, wb ‡Ri g ‡Zv K ‡i n ‡jI †`L ‡Z-ey S ‡Z Pvq PvicvkUv ‡K| Avm ‡j wb ‡Ri g ‡Zv K ‡i †` ‡L ‡Q e ‡jB Avgy i †PZbv ‡jv ‡K cÖ wZdwjZ ev¯Í eZvi g ‡a¨ G ‡m ‡Q GK Avðh© m2Zv| `y wf© ‡ÿi Av_© -mvgvwRK-ivR‰bwZK mÎ-mÜvb bq, `y wf© ÿ-KewjZ bM ‡ii w`bwjwcI bq, GKRb fz Lv-bv½v wbivkÖ ‡qi `" wó ‡Z wPwýZ gb¥q K ‡qKwU Qwe ‡Z Awfe¨wÄZ n ‡q ‡Q GKwU mgqLÐ Ñ BwZnv ‡mi, wPiKv ‡ji| wKš' Avgy hw` we ‡kl bv n ‡q †_ ‡K †hZ wbwe© ‡kl, hw` Zvi we ‡kø lK Avi Zz jbvcÖ eY gbwU mwµq bv- †_ ‡K †Kej Bw›`ª q c ‡Ki mwµqZvq †m hvcb KiZ H-KÕwU w`bivwÎ, Zvn ‡j Giƒ c Li-e¨Äbv wK m¤¢ eci nZ? GB cÖ koe wU ev¯Í eZvi; Ges GKB m ‡½ bvqK ‡Z¡ iI e ‡U| cÖ PwjZ aviYv nj, Avay wbKKv ‡j mvwn ‡Z¨i cÖ avb PwiÎ ev bvqK c ‡` nv ‡gkvB e" Z nb ÔmvaviYÕ gvby l| K_vwU mZ¨; Z ‡e Gi Ab¨Zi we ‡ePbvI Riaewi| hw` me© Á †jLK-`" wó ‡KvY †_ ‡K wPwýZ nq ewne© v¯Í eZv Ñ Avwi¯Í Zj hv ‡K e ‡j ‡Qb Ôhv N ‡U Zvi Aby KiY KivÕ, †jLK hw` †mB mvsevw`wK Aby Ki ‡YB Z… ß nb Ñ Zvn ‡jB †Kej ÔmvaviYÕ bvqK ev ÔmvaviYÕ cÖ avb PwiÎ m¤¢ e| G ‡ÿ ‡Î iPbvq Dcw¯' wZi cwigvYB n ‡e cÖ vav ‡b¨i cwigvcK| wKš' hw` †U·U Pvq AšÍ e© v¯Í eZv, hw`, g ‡bvRMZ ev †PZbvRM ‡Zi LvwbKUv AcÖ KvwkZ Wz ‡evPi ‡K mcÖ Kvk Kivi AwfcÖ v ‡q eqbK… Z nq †U·U, Zvn ‡j cÖ avb ev bvqK PwiÎwU ‡K †Kej cwigvYMZ bq, ¸YMZ we ‡ePbvqI evowZ gh© v`v bv-w` ‡q Dcvq _v ‡K bv| D`vniYwU †bqv hvK ÔcÙvb`xi gvwSÕ Dcb¨vm †_ ‡K| Kz ‡ei G Dcb¨v ‡mi cÖ avb PwiÎ Ges †kÖ Yx-Pwi ‡Îi wePv ‡i

XvKvi cÖ wgZ ev gvb evsjvi msKU †gvnv¤ §` AvRg, mnKvix Aa¨vcK, evsjv wefvM, XvKv wek¦ we`¨vjq GB †jLvi gj cȪÍ ve `y wU: GK. cÖ wgZ (standard) evsjv GKwU bq; Kgc ‡ÿ `y wU| Av ‡iv †ewk n ‡Z cv ‡i, Kg bq| Zvi g ‡a¨ GKwU XvKvi| ¯úó K ‡i ej ‡j, XvKvi cÖ wgZ evsjv KjKvZvi cÖ wgZ evsjv †_ ‡K Avjv`v| K_vUv Bkviv-Bw½ ‡Z A ‡b ‡K e ‡jb; wKš' Kvh© Z aviYvUv cÖ wZwôZ nqwb| cweÎ miKv ‡ii cÖ ‡hvRbvq evsjv GKv ‡Wwg †_ ‡K m¤úª wZ AwZ cÖ ksmbxq †h e¨vKiY †ewi ‡q ‡Q, Zv ‡Z GB wfboe Zv ‡K we ‡kl Avg ‡j Avbv nqwb| `y B. evsjv ‡` ‡k cÖ wgZ ev gvb evsjv wb ‡q aviYvMZ Ges e¨envwiK msKU cÖ ej| GB msK ‡Ui Ab¨Zg KviY XvKvi cÖ wgZ evsjvi Avjv`v iƒc m¤ú ‡K© msk ‡q †fvMv|