The history of Bangladesh is often described as a history of conflicts, power shifts and disasters. The earliest historical references to political life in the Bangladesh occur in writings recounting Alexander the Great’s invasion of India in 326 BCE (Before the Common Era). Greek and Latin historians hypothesized that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter attack from the empires of the Bengal region.

The first Muslims came to the area around 13th Century CE seizing control and establishing independent rule. During the 15th Century many European traders began coming to the region. The Portuguese came first, followed by the Dutch, French and then the British. At first the Europeans exerted only economic influence over South Asia, but by the late 1750’s with the defeat of the last Muslim leader of Bengal, the British imposed political rule over the region as well. The British would control the area known as West Bengal for nearly two hundred years.

In 1945, at the close of World War II, the British were strongly pressured to reduce the size of their empire. Viceroy Lord Mountbattan was assigned the task of restoring the subcontinent’s sovereignty. He worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi to unite the two major religious groups of the area, Hindus and Muslims. Despite Gandhi’s even-handed approach, Muslims were concerned that an independent India would be dominated by Hindus. Considering an agreement between the two groups to be impossible, Mountbatten decided to partition the subcontinent. In June 1947 the United Kingdom declared it would grant full dominion status to two successor states: India and Pakistan. India would become the Hindu state and Pakistan, the Muslim state. The latter would consist of two non-continuous areas: Punjab in the west and Bengal in the east. For months following the partition, a horrific bloody exodus took place as Hindus moved out of both wings of Pakistan and into India; conversely, Muslims moved out of India and into the new Muslim states.

The two regions became known as West Pakistan (Punjab) and East Pakistan (Bengal). Besides sharing the Muslim faith the two areas had little in common. They were separated by nearly 1,600 km of Indian land, spoke different languages (Urdu in the West, Bangla in the East) and had different cultural histories. There were large economic disparities between East and West Pakistan, which fueled resentment among the citizens of East Pakistan. Further, it was felt by many in the East that the country administrated unfairly by those in West Pakistan, where the country’s capital was located. The final blow came when the government declared that ‘Urdu and only Urdu’ would be the national language of all Pakistan. This was a language that virtually no one in East Pakistan spoke.

Bangladesh becomes an Independent Nation
The Bangla-speaking Bengali nationalists and academicians decided it was time to assert them. The issue of national language quickly built into one of self-government. When a political party that espoused separation of West and East Pakistan won a majority in the 1971 national elections, the President of Pakistan refused to open the National Assembly, effectively repudiating the election result. Riots quickly followed and the independent State of Bangla-desh (desh = land or country) was quickly announced. Pakistan, in turn, sent troops to quell the uprising.

The war that followed was one of the shortest and bloodiest of this century. The Pakistani army quickly occupied all major towns and violently suppressed those favoring separation. Border clashes between India and Pakistan intensified as Indian-trained guerrillas began crossing the border into West Bengal to support the independence movement. The Pakistani Air Force made a pre-emptive attack on Indian forces in December 1971 and precipitated an all out war between the India and Pakistan. The Pakistani army found itself being attacked from all directions. The war officially lasted nine months with causality estimates topping three million. When it was all over, Bangladesh had become the 139th country in the world.

Ethnic groups
The vast majority of the population of Bangladesh is Bengali—a term describing both an ethnic and a linguistic group. The Bengali people are historically of diverse origin, having emerged from the confluence of various communities that entered the region over the course of many centuries. The Vedda peoples were perhaps the earliest group to settle in the area. According to some ethnologists, they were followed by peoples from the Mediterranean and neighbouring areas, particularly those who spoke Indo-European languages. During the 8th century ce, persons of Arab, Persian, and Turkish origin moved in large numbers to the subcontinent. By the beginning of the 13th century, they had entered what is now Bangladesh. The contention that contemporary Bengali Muslims are all descended from lower-caste Hindus who had converted to Islam, then, is clearly incorrect; a substantial proportion are descendants of Muslims who reached the subcontinent from elsewhere.

Non-Bengalis—consisting primarily of smaller indigenous groups—constitute only a tiny fraction of the population. Most of these peoples inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast, the most sparsely settled area of the country. Some of the groups are related to the peoples of Myanmar (Burma), and many follow Buddhism, although both Hinduism and Christianity also have a significant following. Of the dozen or so ethnolinguistic groups of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the largest are the Chakma, the Marma (Magh or Mogh), the Tripura (Tipra), and the Mro; the Khomoi (Kumi), the Kuki, and the Mizo (formerly called Lushai) are among the smaller groups. Since the mid-1970s ethnic tensions and periodic violence have marked the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where many peoples long resident in the area have objected to the influx of Muslim Bengali settlers.

Indigenous minority peoples in other parts of Bangladesh include the Santhal, the Khasi, the Garo, and the Hajang. The Santhal peoples live in the northwestern part of Bangladesh, the Khasi in Sylhet in the Khasi Hills near the border with Assam, India, and the Garo and Hajang in the northeastern part of the country.

Languages
Bengali (Bangla), the national language of Bangladesh, belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of languages and is related to Sanskrit. Like Pali, however, and various other forms of Prakrit in ancient India, Bengali originated beyond the influence of the Brahman society of the Aryans. The Pala rulers of Bengal (8th to 12th century)—who were Buddhists and whose religious language was Pali—did not inhibit the emergence of a colloquial tongue known as Gaudiya Prakrit, the language from which Bengali developed.

Bengali is the mother tongue of almost the entire population of Bangladesh. However, the indigenous minority groups have their own languages and dialects, some of which are Tibeto-Burman languages. English, an Indo-European language, is spoken in urban centres and among educated groups.

The Bengali language has two distinct styles: sadhu bhasa, the literary style, which contains many words derived from Sanskrit, and calit bhasa, the colloquial style, which is the standard medium of informal discourse, both spoken and written. Until the 1930s sadhu bhasa was used for all printed matter, but calit bhasa is now the basic form used for contemporary literature. There also are a number of dialects. Bengali contains many loanwords from Portuguese, English, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi.

Religion
Most of the people of Bangladesh follow the religion of Islam, which was made the official religion by a 1988 constitutional amendment. The arrival of Muslims in Bengal at the beginning of the 13th century and the rapid increase in their strength and influence permanently changed the character and culture of the area. When the Muslims first arrived, Hinduism was by far the dominant religion, although there were pockets of Buddhists and a few adherents of local religions. The Hindus remained in the majority through the Mughal period (16th to 18th century). Even as late as the early 1870s, there were more than 18 million Hindus in Bengal, compared with about 16 million Muslims. From the 1890s onward, however, the weight began to shift toward the Muslims.

There were several reasons for the increase in the proportion of the Muslim population. Perhaps the most significant was the activity of ascetics and Sufis (practitioners of Sufism, a mystical form of Islam), who won converts among lower-caste Hindus. Also significant was an influx of Muslims from northern India and from other countries.

Most Muslims are Sunni, but there are a small number of Shiʿis, primarily descendants of immigrants from Iran. Hindus form a significant minority, while Roman Catholics and Buddhists constitute just a tiny fraction of the population. Of the tribes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Chakma, Marma, and Mro are mostly Buddhists. Portions of the Kuki, Khomoi, and Mro communities practice local religions. While most of the Mizo are Christians, the Tripura are Hindus.

Bangladesh is a melting pot of races. She, therefore, has a mixed culture. Her deep rooted heritage is amply reflected in her architecture, literature, dance, drama, music and painting. Bangladeshi culture is influenced by three great religions- Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam in successive order, with Islam having the most pervading and lasting impact. Like a colorful montage, the cultural tradition of the country is a happy blending of many variants, unique in diversity but in essence greatly symmetrical.

Festivals
A series of festivals varying from race to race are observed here. Some of the Muslim rites are Eid-e-Miladunnabi, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Muharram etc. Hindus observe Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja, Kali Puja and many other pujas. Christmas (popularly called Baradin in Bangla ) is observed by Christians. Also there are some common festivities, which are observed countrywide by people irrespective of races. Pahela Baishakh (the first day of Bangla year) is such a festival. National festivals are Independence Day (26th March), 21st February (the National Mourning Day and World Mother Language Day), The Victory Day (16th December), Rabindra & Nazrul Jayanti etc.

Literature
Bangalees have a rich literary heritage. The earliest available specimen of Bengali literature is about a thousand years old. During the mediaeval period, Bengali Literature developed considerably with the patronage of Muslim rulers. Chandi Das, Daulat Kazi and Alaol are some of the famous poets of the period. The era of modern Bengali Literature began in the late nineteenth century Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate is a vital part of Bangalee culture. Kazi Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan Datta. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaya, Mir Mosharraf Hossain and Kazi Ahdul Wadud are the pioneers of modern Bengali Literature.

Music
The traditional music in Bangladesh shares the perspectives of that of the Indian sub-continent. Music in Bangladesh can be divided into three distinct categories -classical, folk and modern. The classical music, both vocal and instrumental is rooted in the remote past of the sub-continent. Ustad Alauddin Khan and Ustad Ayet Ali Khan are two names in classical instrumental music who are internationally known.

The store of folk song abounds in spiritual lyrics of Lalan Shah, Hasan Raja, Romesh Shill and many anonymous lyricists. Bangla music arena is enriched with Jari, Shari, Bhatiali, Murshidi and other types of folk songs. Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Sangeet are Bangalees’ precious heritage. Modern music is also practiced widely. Contemporary patterns have more inclinations to west. Pop song and band groups are also coming up mainly in Dhaka City.

Bangladesh has a good number of musical instruments originally of her own. Originally country musical instruments include, Banshi (bamboo flute), Dhole (wooden drums), Ektara (a single stringed instrument), Dotara (a four stringed instrument), Mandira (a pair of metal bawls used as rhythm instrument), Khanjani, Sharinda etc. Now-a-days western instruments such as Guitar, Drums, Saxophone and Synthesizer etc. are being used alongside country instruments.

Painting
There is a rich tradition of modern painting which was pioneered by Zainul Abedin, Kamrul Hassan, Anwarul Haque, Shafiuddin Ahmed and S. M. Sultan. Zainul Abedin earned international fame for his sketches on famine of 1943 in Bangladesh. Other famous artists of Bangladesh are Abdur Razzak, Qayyum Chowdhury, Murtaza Baseer, Aminul Islam, Debdas Chakraborty, Kazi Abdul Baset, Syed Jahangir, and Mohammad Kibria

Drama
Drama in Bangladesh has an old tradition and is very popular. In Dhaka more than a dozen theater groups have been regularly staging locally written plays as well as those adopted from famous writers, mainly of European origin. Popular theatre groups are Dhaka Theatre, Nagarik Nattya Sampraday and Theatre. In Dhaka, Baily Road area is known as ‘Natak Para’ where drama shows are regularly held. Public Library Auditorium and Museum Auditorium are famous for holding cultural shows. Dhaka University area is a pivotal part of cultural activities.

Dance
Classical forms of the sub-continent predominate in Bangladeshi dance. The folk, tribal and Middle Eastern traits are also common. Among the tribal dances, particularly popular are Monipuri and Santal. Rural girls are in the habit of dancing that does not require any grammar or regulations. Bangla songs like jari and shari are presented accompanied with dance of both male and female performers.

Jatra
Jatra(Folk Drama) is another vital chapter of Bangalee culture. It depicts mythological episodes of love and tragedy. Legendary plays of heroism are also popular, particularly in the rural areas. In near past jatra was the biggest entertainment means for the rural Bangalees and in that sense for 80% of the population since the same percentage of the population lived in rural Bangladesh. Now-a-days jatra has been placed in the back seat in the entertainment era. Gradually western culture is occupying the place of traditional culture like jatra.

Traditional Transportation Means
There are some transportation means that are parts of culture of Bangladesh. In rural areas bullock carts, buffalo carts and tomtoms(horse carts) are commonly used. In old Dhaka once tomtom was a common vehicle and still it is found, though rare. Bicycles are used both in rural and urban areas. Palki (a box-like vehicle carried on shoulders by six men) is a wedding transportation means. Brides are carried to the bridegrooms’ places by Palki. Being a land crisscrossed by rivers, Bangladesh has a wide-ranged tradition of ferry transport. Wooden boat popularly called nawka is a vital means of rural communication. Rickshaw is a very common vehicle to Bangladeshis.

Clothing
Bangladeshi women habitually wear Sarees. Jamdani was once world famous for it’s most artistic and expensive ornamental fabric. Moslin, a fine and artistic type of cloth was well-known worldwide. Naksi Kantha, embroidered quilted patchwork cloth produced by the village women, is still familiar in villages and towns simultaneously. A common hairstyle is Beni (twisted bun) that Bangalee women are fond of. Traditionally males wear Panjabis, Fatuas and Pajamas. Hindus wear Dhuty for religious purposes. Now-a-days common dresses of males are shirts and pants.

Government and non-government organizations like Bangla Academy, Nazrul Institute, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Fine arts Institute, Chhayanat etc. play significant role to flourish Bangladeshi art and culture providing encouragement in music, drama, dance, recitation, art etc. Many other cultural organizations are also popularizing Bangladeshi art and culture.

Located in the continent of Asia, India covers 2,973,193 square kilometers of land and 314,070 square kilometers of water, making it the 7th largest nation in the world with a total area of 3,287,263 square kilometers. Surrounded by Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh to the North East, China to the North, Pakistan to the North West and Sri Lanka of the South East coast.

India is a land of ancient civilizations. India’s social, economic, and cultural configurations are the products of a long process of regional expansion. Indian history begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization and the coming of the Aryans. These two phases are usually described as the pre-Vedic and Vedic age. Hinduism arose in the Vedic period.

The fifth-century saw the unification of India under Ashoka, who had converted to Buddhism, and it is in his reign that Buddhism spread in many parts of Asia. In the eighth century, Islam came to India for the first time and by the eleventh century had firmly established itself in India as a political force. It resulted in the formation of the Delhi Sultanate, which was finally succeeded by the Mughal Empire, under which India once again achieved a large measure of political unity.

It was in the 17th century that the Europeans came to India. This coincided with the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, paving the way for regional states. In the contest for supremacy, the English emerged ‘victors’. The Rebellion of 1857-58, which sought to restore Indian supremacy, was crushed; and with the subsequent crowning of Victoria as Empress of India, the incorporation of India into the empire was complete. It was followed by India’s struggle for independence, which we got in the year 1947. Here is a brief timeline about the history of India:

Ancient India History

The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization and the coming of the Aryans. These two phases are generally described as the pre-Vedic and Vedic periods. The earliest literary source that sheds light on India’s past is the Rig Veda. It is difficult to date this work with any accuracy on the basis of tradition and ambiguous astronomical information contained in the hymns. Indus valley civilization, which flourished between 2800 BC and 1800 BC, had an advanced and flourishing economic system. The Indus valley people practiced agriculture, domesticated animals, made tools and weapons from copper, bronze, and tin and even traded with some Middle East countries.

The Indus Valley Civilization

A long time ago, in the eastern world, there rose a few civilizations. The main reasons for the rise of these urban civilizations were access to rivers, which served various functions of human beings. Along with the Mesopotamian civilization and the Egyptian civilization, rose the Indus Valley civilization spanning Northwest India and modern-day Pakistan. The largest amongst the three civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization flourished around 2600 BC, at which time agriculture in India started flourishing. The fertile Indus valley made it possible for agriculture to be carried out on a large scale. The most well-known towns of the Indus Valley in today’s date are Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. Unearthing these two towns showed excavators glimpses into the richness of the Indus Valley civilization, evidenced in ruins and things like household articles, war weapons, gold and silver ornament – and so on. The people of the Indus Valley civilization lived in well-planned towns and well-designed houses made of baked bricks. In an era of developments and prosperity, civilization, unfortunately, came to an end by around 1300 BC, mainly due to natural calamities.

Vedic Civilization

The next era that India saw was that of the Vedic civilization, flourishing along the river Saraswati, named after the Vedas, which depict the early literature of the Hindus. The two greatest epics of this period were the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, still held in great reverence by the followers of Hinduism.

Buddhist Era

Next came the Buddhist era, during the time of the Mahajanapadas which were the sixteen great powers, during the 7th and the 6th centuries BC. Prominent powers at the time were the Sakyas of Kapilavastu and the Licchavis of Vaishali. Buddha, whose original name was Siddhartha Gautam, was born in Lumbini near Kapilavastu and was the founder of Buddhism – a religion based on spiritualism. He died at the age of 80 in 480 BC but his teachings spread throughout southern and eastern Asia and are followed across the world today.

The Invasion of Alexander

When Alexander invaded India in 326 BC, he crossed the Indus river and defeated the Indian rulers in battle. Noteworthy of the Indians’ attempts at war, was the use of elephants, something that the Macedonians had never seen before. Alexander then took over the lands of the defeated kings.

The Gupta Dynasty

The Gupta period has been referred to as the Golden Age of Indian history. When Chandragupt I received the gift of Pataliputra in dowry when he married the daughter of the chief of the ‘Licchavis’, he started to lay down the foundation of his empire, which extended from the river Ganges or the Ganga to the city of Allahabad. He ruled for 15 years and was also referred to as the ‘king of kings’ for his strategic conquests and the flourishing state of India.

Harshavardhana

The last of the ancient kingdoms in India was by the king Harshavardhana, who ascended the throne at Thanneshwar and Kannauj after his brother died. While successful in a few of his conquests, he eventually got defeated by the Chalukya Kingdom of Deccan India. Harshavardhana was well-known for establishing relations with the Chinese, and also for having high religious tolerance and strong administrative capabilities.

Medieval Indian History
The medieval history of India is renowned for deriving a lot of its character from Islamic kingdoms. Extending across almost three generations, medieval India included a number of kingdoms and dynasties:
– The Chalukyas
– The Pallavas
– The Pandyas
– The Rashtrakutas
– The Cholas

The Cholas were the most important rulers at this time, the 9th Century AD. Their kingdom covered a large part of South India, including Sri Lanka and the Maldives. While the rulers ruled bravely and carried out the annexation of multiple territories in India, the empire came to an end in the 14th Century AD with an invasion by a man named Kafur Malik. The monuments from the Chola Dynasty are still intact and are known for their rustic charm.

The next major empire was that of the Mughals, preceded by a rise in Islamic rulers. The invasion of Timur was a significant point in Indian history before a Hindu revival movement called the Bhakti movement, came to be. Finally, in the 16th Century, the Mughal empire started to rise. One of the greatest empires of India, the Mughal empire was a rich and glorious one, with the whole of India united and ruled by one monarch. The Mughal Kings were Babar, Humayun, Sher Shah Suri (not a Mughal king), Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. They were responsible for setting up efficient public administration, laying out infrastructure, and promoting the arts. A large number of monuments in India today exist from the Mughal period. The death of the last Mughal King, Aurangzeb, sowed the seeds of disintegration within India. Influencers of Islamic architecture in India, the Mughal kings are still looked back in awe.

Akbar

Emperor Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great or Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire, after Babur and Humayun. He was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun and succeeded him as the emperor in the year 1556 when he was only 13 years old.

Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan, also known as Shahbuddin Mohammed Shah Jahan, was a Mughal Emperor who ruled in the Indian Subcontinent from 1628 to 1658. He was the fifth Mughal ruler, after Babur, Humayun, Akbar, and Jahangir. Shah Jahan succeeded the throne after revolting against his father, Jahangir.

Chhatrapati Shivaji

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was the founder of the Maratha Empire in western India. He is considered to be one of the greatest warriors of his time and even today, stories of his exploits are narrated as a part of the folklore. King Shivaji used the guerrilla tactics to capture a part of, the then, dominant Mughal empire.

Modern Indian History

During the late 16th and the 17th Centuries, the European trading companies in India competed with each other ferociously. By the last quarter of the 18th Century, the English had outdone all others and established themselves as the dominant power in India. The British administered India for a period of about two centuries and brought about revolutionary changes in the social, political and economic life of the country.

However, the zenith of colonisation was achieved when the British arrived in the early 1600s as traders. Capitalizing on the disintegration that existed in India after the Mughal rule, the British actively used the strategy of ‘divide-and-rule’ to rule over India for over 2 centuries. While the British had come in earlier, they only achieved political power in 1757 AD after the Battle of Plassey.

They took a keen interest in the resources that India had to offered and have been looked back at as plunderers of India’s wealth of resources – as they took cotton, spices, silk, and tea, amongst numerous other resources. While they did lay out a massive chunk of India’s infrastructure, by also bringing the Indians steam engines, it is seldom looked back at as an equal relationship. The British Raj was divisive and pit Indians against one another, on the basis of religion; and also mistreated the laborers. The Indians were essentially slaves of the British rule and were working hard without any returns on their work. This, naturally, led to multiple mutinies; and prominent freedom fighters came to the forefront. Different ideologies of thought believed that there were different ways of gaining freedom; however, they all had one common goal – freedom.

The British queen had asserted that the aim of the British was to help India progress – however, multiple problems arose without the consultation of Indian leaders. One important instance of this was when in the First World War, Britain launched an attack on Germany on behalf of India, even though India did not wish for that to happen; and millions of Indian soldiers were at the forefront of the British Indian Army during both the world wars – further fuelling the Indian resistance. Over a million Indian soldiers were killed in both the World Wars.

Ethnic groups
India is a diverse multiethnic country that is home to thousands of small ethnic and tribal groups. That complexity developed from a lengthy and involved process of migration and intermarriage. The great urban culture of the Indus civilization, a society of the Indus River valley that is thought to have been Dravidian-speaking, thrived from roughly 2500 to 1700 bce. An early Aryan civilization—dominated by peoples with linguistic affinities to peoples in Iran and Europe—came to occupy northwestern and then north-central India over the period from roughly 2000 to 1500 bce and subsequently spread southwestward and eastward at the expense of other indigenous groups.

Despite the emergence of caste restrictions, that process was attended by intermarriage between groups that probably has continued to the present day, despite considerable opposition from peoples whose own distinctive civilizations had also evolved in early historical times. Among the documented invasions that added significantly to the Indian ethnic mix are those of Persians, Scythians, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and Afghans. The last and politically most successful of the great invasions—namely, that from Europe—vastly altered Indian culture but had relatively little impact on India’s ethnic composition.

Broadly speaking, the peoples of north-central and northwestern India tend to have ethnic affinities with European and Indo-European peoples from southern Europe, the Caucasus region, and Southwest and Central Asia. In northeastern India, West Bengal (to a lesser degree), the higher reaches of the western Himalayan region, and Ladakh (in Jammu and Kashmir state), much of the population more closely resembles peoples to the north and east—notably Tibetans and Burmans. Many aboriginal (“tribal”) peoples in the Chota Nagpur Plateau (northeastern peninsular India) have affinities to such groups as the Mon, who have long been established in mainland Southeast Asia. Much less numerous are southern groups who appear to be descended, at least in part, either from peoples of East African origin (some of whom settled in historical times on India’s western coast) or from a population commonly designated as Negrito, now represented by numerous small and widely dispersed peoples from the Andaman Islands, the Philippines, New Guinea, and other areas.

Languages
There are probably hundreds of major and minor languages and many hundreds of recognized dialects in India, whose languages belong to four different language families: Indo-Iranian (a subfamily of the Indo-European language family), Dravidian, Austroasiatic, and Tibeto-Burman (a subfamily of Sino-Tibetan). There are also several isolate languages, such as Nahali, which is spoken in a small area of Madhya Pradesh state. The overwhelming majority of Indians speak Indo-Iranian or Dravidian languages.

The difference between language and dialect in India is often arbitrary, however, and official designations vary notably from one census to another. That is complicated by the fact that, owing to their long-standing contact with one another, India’s languages have come to converge and to form an amalgamated linguistic area—a sprachbund—comparable, for example, to that found in the Balkans. Languages within India have adopted words and grammatical forms from one another, and vernacular dialects within languages often diverge widely. Over much of India, and especially the Indo-Gangetic Plain, there are no clear boundaries between one vernacular and another (although ordinary villagers are sensitive to nuances of dialect that differentiate nearby localities). In the mountain fringes of the country, especially in the northeast, spoken dialects are often sufficiently different from one valley to the next to merit classifying each as a truly distinct language. There were at one time, for example, no fewer than 25 languages classified within the Naga group, not one of which was spoken by more than 60,000 people.

Lending order to the linguistic mix are a number of written, or literary, languages used on the subcontinent, each of which often differs markedly from the vernacular with which it is associated. Many people are bilingual or multilingual, knowing their local vernacular dialect (“mother tongue”), its associated written variant, and, perhaps, one or more other languages. The constitutionally designated official language of the Indian central government is Hindi, and English is also officially designated for government use. However, there are also 22 (originally 14) so-called “scheduled languages” recognized in the Indian constitution that may be used by states in official correspondence. Of those, 15 are Indo-European (Assamese, Bengali, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and Urdu), 4 are Dravidian (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu), 2 are Sino-Tibetan (Bodo and Manipuri), and 1 is Austroasiatic (Santhali). Those languages have become increasingly standardized since independence because of improved education and the influence of mass media. English is an “associate” official language and is widely spoken.

Most Indian languages (including the official script for Hindi) are written by using some variety of Devanagari script, but other scripts are used. Sindhi, for instance, is written in a Persianized form of Arabic script, but it also is sometimes written in the Devanagari or Gurmukhi scripts.

Religions
Because religion forms a crucial aspect of identity for most Indians, much of India’s history can be understood through the interplay among its diverse religious groups. One of the many religions born in India is Hinduism, a collection of diverse doctrines, sects, and ways of life followed by the great majority of the population. For an in-depth discussion of the major indigenous religions of India, see the articles Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Philosophical ideas associated with those religions are treated in Indian philosophy. For further discussion of other major religions, see Islam and Christianity.

The land where classical melodies merge seamlessly with a mesmerising mosaic of exquisite paintings, ancient weaves and other handicrafts, divine dance forms, fascinating festivals and scintillating sculptures, India is a vibrant potpourri of arts and crafts. With each of its states and union territories bursting with ethnic flavours that multiply at every turn, the country sparkles with vitality and vivacity.

Be it the gorgeous and remarkably intricate Bidriware in Bidar or the beautiful pink-kissed meenakari jewellery of Agra city, the roots of these crafts are embedded in various eras of history. While the premium heavy-weight silk Kanjeevaram sarees of Kanchipuram found a humble beginning during the reign of the Pallava kings (275 CE to 897 CE), the chikankari embroidery of Lucknow is said to be the endowment of Mughal empress, Nur Jahan, in the 17th century, who herself was a master of the craft.

To savour the nuances of India’s diverse cultural palate, deep dive into some of the most awe-inspiring archives of the country’s arts and crafts.

Dance Forms
Dance is an eloquent form of expression. From classical and traditional to folk and tribal, there are various dance forms in India. The most popularly recognised classical dance forms are eight, which find themselves steeped in a rich mythological and religious history and have been mentioned in the ancient Hindu text of Natya Shastra. These are Bharat Natyam (Tamil Nadu), Sattriya (Assam), Manipuri (Manipur), Kathak (northern and western India), Odissi (Odisha), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Kathakali (Kerala), Mohiniyattam (Kerala).

Musical Forms
Music has been as integral a part of the socio-religious expressions of cultural values as dance in India. The most important classical traditions of music in India are the Hindustani classical tradition which finds home in the northern and western parts of the country and the Carnatic classical tradition, which is practiced primarily in the southern parts of the country. Other important as well popular musical traditions involve the Sufi tradition (throughout Northern and Western India), the Rabindra Sangeet (West Bengal) and Bihu (Assam) among others. If one wants a more local and folk flavour in one’s music, India has a lot to offer even there. One can choose from the Marathi Lavani, Uttarakhandi music, North Indian Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Qawwali or even the Tamang Selo, a musical tradition prominent in Nepal but equally popular in many parts of India.

A number of these musical formats and traditions have now fused with each other and with more western musical patterns to create what is popular as Bollywood music.

A music enthusiast should savour the wildly different musical forms though musical festivals like the Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata, Ruhaniyat across the country, Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh in Varanasi, Udaipur World Music Festival, Ziro festival of Music in Arunanchal Pradesh and Sunburn and Sula Fest in Maharashtra.

Paintings
The earliest paintings found in India were scratched onto the walls of caves. There are also the famous wall frescoes at the Kailash temple at Ellora, which showcase the advancement in aesthetic techniques as well as sensibilities in the Indian subcontinent. Ellora is considered the finest examples of rock-cut architecture, and comprises Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves that were chiselled between the 4th and the 9th century.

The focus of the much more nuanced visual art tradition of India through the ages has similarly been one of the most important and prized aspects of culture. There are many schools of paintings throughout the country and even if one spends a whole lifetime exploring these aesthetic cultures, one can barely begin to scratch the surface. But for a beginner, here are some of the most historically prominent schools that one should admire.

Miniature Paintings, as the name suggests were small in size but wonderfully detailed. The Mughal painting techniques were inspired by the Persian rulers in North India and this school of painting had a lot of impact on the genre of miniature paintings as well.

Another school of painting which has some overlapping features is the school of Pahari painting. It was mostly practiced by Rajputs and because a number of their kingdoms were either overtaken by the Mughals or were always in close connect with them, one can see the influence of Mughal painting seeping into this technique as well.

For any art enthusiast, Mysore paintings are a treat. Traditionally created from organic sources and embellished with gold foil, these paintings look divine, to say the least. And that is not just because they are primarily depictions of religious figures.

Tanjore painting is another art form which finds its home in the southern part of the country. It is also primarily religious in its inspiration and is known for its vivid colours, gold foil work as well as in the inclusion of glass beads to create a rich effect.

Another important painting technique is the folk art of Madhubani from central India. The paintings are done either on cloth or on paper and include a lot of nature-inspired motifs and designs.

Textiles
The beauty of luxurious Indian silks, weaves, prints, patchwork, embroidery work, stitch work and the vibrant colours and patterns are things of legend from time immemorial. History is full of the many quests that have been made for these treasures. Merchants from many distant shores have dared the perils of the sea for Indian cloth and designs as much as for spices. To dive into this opulent world is to be lost forever. But for the casual observer, here is a crash course in some of the most exquisite textile and design patterns in the country.

The Pashmina, from Jammu and Kashmir, is one of the most coveted and expensive of all woollen textiles in the country. The Union Territory is also famous for its distinctive and intricate embroidery techniques called Kashidari and Aari. For the lovers of embroidery and stitch work, the famous chikankari work from Uttar Pradesh, Kantha from West Bengal and Odisha, Pulkari from Punjab, zardozi from central India, patchwork from Rajasthan and mirror work from Gujarat are just some of the popular examples.

The number of varieties of silk available throughout the country is astounding. From the quaint and graceful Chanderi silk, one can find variations like Bhagalpuri silk, Munga Silk, Mysore silk, Kuchai silk to the extravagant Kanjeevaram silks and Benarasee silks.

Cinema
The hub of Hindi cinema and the powerhouse of Hindi film industry, Bollywood is based in Mumbai. Producing about 800 films a year, the industry ropes in almost 14 million national viewers annually. A beguiling Indian counterpart of the famous Hollywood industry, Bollywood invites actors and audiences from all over the country. Some of the best movies in the world have been given by Bollywood. These include highly venerated Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray, Mother India by Mehboob Khan, Salaam Bombay by Miran Nair, Lagaan by Ashutosh Gowariker and many others. The industry boasts some of the most eloquent and talented artistes that have earned a name for themselves internationally. Besides, there are state-specific cinemas as well like Tollywood, which makes films in Telugu, and Bhojpuri that is centred around Bihar.

Besides, National School of Drama (New Delhi), Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (Kolkata), Asian Academy of Film and Television (Mumbai), Centre for Research in Arts, Film and Television (New Delhi), etc., are some of the prestigious centres where artistes are trained.

Fairs & Festivals
Festivals in India are a vibrant representation of the culture and ancient traditions of the country. The most prominent celebration is that of Diwali, which is popularly called the festival of lights, celebrated in October or November. Like most festivals in the country, its story is rooted in myths, legends and religion. It is said that Lord Rama returned him on this day after a 14-year-long exile. The people in his kingdom were so happy that they lit diyas (earthen lamps) in their houses to welcome him. Today, thousands of people decorate their homes with candles and diyas and burst crackers to mark the occasion. This is done after the customary puja rituals.

Another major festival is Holi, called the festival of colours. It generally falls in March. During Holi, people smear each other’s faces with colours and throw water balloons at friends and family. A fiesta of fun and food, Holi sees people coming together to exchange presents and burn a holy bonfire that marks the burning of all evil. Many signature dishes like gujiya (deep-fried sweet dumpling), dahi vada (a snack served with yoghurt), thandai (beverage made with almonds, rose petals, watermelon kernels, cardamom), and pakora (fritters) are prepared during the festivities.

Eid is celebrated all over the country after the holy month of Ramadan comes to a close. While Muslims observe austere fasting throughout Ramadan, Eid is the occasion of feasting and translated means festival of breaking the fast. On this day, devotees offer prayers at the mosque and exchange greetings of “Eid Mubarak” with each other.

Celebrated on December 25 as the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas is the major festivals of Christians. On Christmas Eve, churches all over the country observe a mass, where prayers and worship are offered to the lord. The next day festivities begin and people get together to feast on delicious cakes and dishes.

Celebrated all over the state of Kerala, Onam is the most popular festival of Malayalis. Spanning over ten days, Onam starts on Atham day and lasts till Thiru Onam or Thiruvonam, meaning sacred Onam day. This unique festival brings the colours and cultures of the state into the limelight, when people across Kerala prepare to have a grand time. On the first day, a street parade is organised that sees caparisoned elephants, carnival floats, brightly dressed dancers and musicians, and various other artistes.

Ratha Yatra (also popularly referred to as the Chariot Festival) is one of the most important Hindu festivals in India. The festival, most elaborately organised in Puri, is held annually during the Hindu calendar month of Asadha, which falls on the second day of the lunar fortnight during June and July. The main deity worshipped during the festival is Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The festival is marked by the transportation of the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra in three different chariots to their summer temple for a week.

Besides these, there are numerous other festivals in which make across the country make merry, and welcome the spring, a new harvest, or deities and gods. Some of the more prominent ones are Gurupurab, which is celebrated as the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev, Janmashtmi, celebrated as the birthday of Lord Krishna, Durga Puja, Raksha Bandhan, Baisakhi, etc.

There is a celebration in almost every corner of India throughout the year, and many carnivals and fairs are organised across the length of the country. Some of the must-attend festivities are :

The city of Kochi lights up during the Cochin Carnival that is a celebration of life and vigour. Generally, held during the last two weeks of December, the carnival hosts multiple competitions and activities like vadam vali (tug of war), kalam vara (floor art), beach football, swimming, marathon racing, cycle racing, bullet racing, kayaking, boxing, kabaddi and beach bike racing. For those with a mellower spirit, art shows, musical concerts and elaborate rallies can be an amazing option. A major attraction in the carnival is the burning of the effigy of Papanai between December 31 and January 1. This is done to bid goodbye to the past year and welcome the new one.

One of the most prominent festivals of the state of Karnataka, Mysuru Dasara is a celebration of the victory of good over evil. The festival of Dasara has a centuries-old association with the palace of Mysore. It falls in October or November and has been celebrated for the last 400 years. The 10-day festivities end with a grand procession, which takes off from Mysore Palace and culminates at Bannimantap. Observed as the state festival of Karnataka (Nadahabba), Dasara witnesses the Mysore palace illuminated like never before.

One of the best festivals in not just the state of Goa but also the whole of India, Goa Carnival draws people in droves. This unique festival has been celebrated since the 18th century after it was introduced by the erstwhile Portuguese rulers of Goa. Music, dancing and revelry make up this three-day non-stop extravaganza in the state. Colourful parades with floats are taken out all over Goa.

The Taj Mahotsav, in Agra, is an annual 10-day-long celebration of art, craft, culture and cuisine at Shilpgram near the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal. It brings together artisans from other parts of the country and gives them a platform to showcase and sell their work to travellers from across India and the world. Besides craftsmanship and food, the festival also offers travellers an experience of India’s many folk traditions. A series of folk music and dance performances from various regions across the country are a highlight of the Taj Mahotsav.

The Rann Utsav is a fun festival that takes place annually at the Rann of Kutch, in Gujarat. A vibrant carnival that brims with song, dance, culture, adventure and art, it is said that during it, the beauty of the pristine land of Bhuj is accentuated on full moon nights. Golf carts, ATV rides, paintball, camel safaris, game cart excursions, paramotoring, and horse and camel rides are also a part of the celebration. Those looking for peace and relaxation can participate in various meditation and yoga sessions conducted during the festival.

Nepal’s history dates back to the time of the Gopalas and Mahishapalas who are believed to have been the earliest rulers of the valley with their capital at Matatirtha, the south-west corner of Kathmandu Valley. They were ousted by the Kirantis around the 7th or 8th Century B.C. The Kirantis are said to have ruled the valley for many centuries following their victory. Their famous King Yalumber is even mentioned in the ‘Mahabharata’ as he is said to have led his troops to the epic battle. Then around 300 A.D. the Lichhavis arrived from northern India and overthrew the Kirantis.

One of the legacies of the Lichhavis is the Changu Narayan Temple near Bhaktapur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Culture), which dates back to the 4th Century. In the early 7th Century, their King Amshuvarma, married off his daughter Bhrikuti to the famous Tibetan King Tsong Tsen Gampo, thus establishing good relations with Tibet. The Lichhavis brought art and architecture to the valley but the golden age of creativity arrived in 1200 A.D after the Mallas conquered them.

During their 550 year rule, the Mallas built remarkable temples and artistically designed palaces with picturesque squares filled with woodcarvings and metal works. It was also during their rule that the valley society and the cities became well organized; spectacular religious festivals were introduced and literature, music, art and drama were encouraged. After the death of King Yaksha Malla, the valley was divided into three kingdoms: Kathmandu (Kantipur), Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon) and Patan (Lalitpur). At the time, Nepal as we know it today was divided into 46 independent principalities. One among these was the kingdom of Gorkha ruled by a Shah king. Much of Kathmandu Valley’s history around this time was recorded by Capuchin friars from Italy who lived in the valley on their way in and out of Tibet.

An ambitious Gorkha King named Prithvi Narayan Shah embarked on a conquering mission that led to the defeat of all the kingdoms in the valley including Kirtipur.by 1769. Instead of annexing the newly acquired states to his kingdom of Gorkha, Prithvi Narayan decided to move his capital to Kathmandu, thus establishing the Shah dynasty which ruled unified Nepal from the late 18th century to 2008.

The Gorkha state dates back to 1559 when Dravya Shah established his kingdom in a land predominated by Gurung and Magar people. During the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Gorkha kingdom was slowly expanding, conquering some neighbouring states while forging alliances with others. Eventually it was Prithvi Narayan Shah who led his troops to the Kathmandu Valley. After a long struggle, he defeated all the valley kings and established his palace in Kathmandu leaving Gorkha for good. Recognizing the threat of the British Raj in India, he banished European missionaries from the country and for more than a century, Nepal remained closed to the outside world.

During the mid-19th Century Jung Bahadur Rana rose to power as Nepal’s first Prime Minister, becoming more powerful than the Shah King he was supposed to serve under. The king became a mere figurehead and Jung Bahadur started a hereditary reign of the Rana Prime Ministers that lasted for 104 years.

In 1950, the Ranas were overthrown in an uprising to bring democracy in the country with strong support from the-then monarch of Nepal, King Tribhuvan. Soon after the overthrow of the Ranas, King Tribhuvan was reinstated as the Head of the State. In early 1959, Tribhuvan’s son King Mahendra issued a new constitution, and the first democratic elections for a national assembly were held. The Nepali Congress Party was victorious and their leader, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (popularly known as B.P.) formed a government and served as Prime Minister. But this government didn’t last long as King Mahendra decided to dissolve Parliament in 1960, and introduced a one party ‘Panchayat’ rule.

The Panchayat system lasted until 1990, when a popular people’s movement led by the political parties that had been banned by the government which until then had been known as ‘His Majesty’s Government’, gave way to democracy. The long struggle paid off when King Birendra accepted constitutional reforms and established a multiparty parliament with himself as the Head of State and an executive Prime Minister under him. In May 1991, Nepal held its first parliamentary elections.

In February 1996, the Maoist parties declared a People’s War against monarchy and the elected government. Then on 1st June 2001, a horrific tragedy wiped out the entire royal family of Nepal including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya along with most of their closest relatives. With only King Birendra’s brother, Gyanendra and his family surviving, he was crowned king. King Gyanendra abided by the elected government’s rule for a short time, but then dismissed the elected Parliament to wield absolute power. In April 2006, another People’s Movement was launched jointly by the democratic parties focusing on Kathmandu, which led to a 19-day curfew imposed by the king. With the movement not cowering down and ignoring even the curfew, King Gyanendra eventually relinquished his power and reinstated Parliament.

On 21st November 2006, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist Chairman Prachanda signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) 2006, committing to democracy and peace for the progress of the country and people. The king was removed and the decade long Maoist war on the state came to an end. A Constituent Assembly election was held on 10th April 2008. And on 28th May 2008, the newly elected Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic, abolishing the 240 year-old monarchy. Nepal today has a President as Head of State and a constitutionally elected Prime Minister heading the Government.

There are about 101 ethnic groups speaking over 92 languages. The distinction in caste and ethnicity is understood better with a view of customary layout of the population. The official language of Nepal is Nepali which is spoken and understood by a majority of the population. The ethnic groups have their own mother tongues. English is taught in schools and many of them are English medium schools so a large portion of the population understands the language. Most private schools today teach in EngIish.

Northern Himalayan People
The mountainous regions of Nepal are inhabited by Sherpas, Dolpa-pas, Lopas, Baragaonlis, Manangays. The Sherpas are mainly found in the east, Solu and Khumbu region; the Baragaonlis and Lopas live in the semi-desert areas of Upper and Lower Mustang in the rain-shadow area; the Manangays live in Manang district while the Dolpa-pas live in Dolpa district of west Nepal.

Middle Hills and Valley People
Several ethnic groups live in the middle hills and valleys. Among them are the Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs, Rais, Limbus, Thamis, Sunuwars, Newars, Thakalis, Chepangs, Brahmins, Chhetris and Thakuris, Damai, Sarki, Kami and Sunar.

Ethnic Diversity in the Kathmandu Valley
Kathmandu Valley represents a cultural melting pot of the country, where people from varied backgrounds have come together to form a diverse population. The natives of the Kathmandu Valley are the Newars. Although Newars are either Hindus or Buddhists, their culture is vastly different from the rest of the Nepali people. Their rituals, food and festivals are unique to them. Newars of Kathmandu Valley were predominantly traders or farmers by occupation.

Tarai People
The main ethnic groups in the Tarai are Tharus, Darai, Kumhal, Rajbangsi, Bote, Majhi and other groups. They speak north Indian dialects like Maithili and Bhojpuri. Owing to the fertile plains of the tarai, most inhabitants subsist on agriculture. There are, however, some occupational castes like Majhi (fisherman), Kumhal (potter) and Danuwar (cart driver).

Languages
The principal and official language of Nepal is Nepālī (Gorkhali), spoken in the Tarai and the mid-mountain region. Nepālī, a derivative of Sanskrit, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family. There are a number of regional dialects found in the Tarai and mountain areas. The languages of the north and east belong predominantly to the Tibeto-Burman family. These include Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Sunwar, Tamang, Newari, and a number of Bhutia dialects, including Sherpa and Thakali. Although Newari is commonly placed in the Tibeto-Burman family, it was influenced by both Tibeto-Burman and Indo-European languages.

Religion
In Nepal a vast majority of the population is Hindu, but a small percentage follows Buddhism or other religious faiths. Hindus and Buddhists tend to be concentrated in areas where Indian and Tibetan cultural influences, respectively, have been dominant.

Customs and traditions differ from one part of Nepal to another. The capital city Kathmandu enjoys a rich tapestry of cultures blending to form a national identity. Kathmandu Valley has served as the country’s cultural metropolis since the unification of Nepal in the 18th Century. A prominent factor in a Nepali’s everyday life is religion. Adding color to the lives of Nepalis are festivals the year round which they celebrate with much pomp and ceremony. Food plays an important role in the celebration of these festivals.

Religion
Nepal was declared a secular country by the Parliament on 18th May 2006. Religions practiced in Nepal are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism, Bon, ancestor worship and animism. The majority of Nepalis are either Hindus or Buddhists and these two religions have co-existed in harmony through centuries.

Buddha is widely worshipped by both Buddhists and Hindus of Nepal. The five Dhyani Buddhas; Vairochana, Akshobhaya, Rathasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi represent the five basic elements: earth, fire, water, air and ether. Buddhist philosophy conceives these deities to be the manifestations of Sunya or absolute void. Mahakaala and Bajrayogini are Buddhist deities of the Vajrayan sect worshipped by Hindus as well.

Nepali Hindus worship the ancient Vedic gods. Bramha the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer as the Supreme Hindu Trinity. People pray to the Shiva Linga or the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva in most Shiva temples. Shakti, the dynamic element in the female counterpart of Shiva, is highly revered and feared and some of the names given to her are: Mahadevi, Mahakali, Bhagabati and Ishwari. Kumari, the Virgin Goddess, also represents Shakti. Other popular deities are Ganesh for luck, Saraswati for knowledge, Lakshmi for wealth and Hanuman for protection. Krishna, believed to be the human incarnation of Lord Vishnu is also worshipped widely. Hindu holy scriptures: Bhagawat Gita, Ramayan and Mahabharat are widely read in Nepal. Vedas, Upanishads and other holy scriptures are read by learned Brahmin Pundits during special occasions.

Customs
The diversity in Nepal in terms of ethnicity again makes room for various sets of customs. Most of these customs go back to the Hindu, Buddhist or other religious traditions. Among them, the rules of marriage are particularly interesting. Traditional marriages call for deals arranged by parents after the boy or girl come of age.

The slaughter of cows is illegal in Nepal. The cow is considered a Universal Mother, symbolizing motherhood, charity, and pity. To respect it is to put into practice the concept of Ahimsa, which in Sanskrit literally means “non-violence”, an important component of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Before entering a temple or a house, you will often be asked to take off your shoes, so as not to pollute the pure interiors with your stained soles. Some temples are forbidden to non-Hindus. The right hand, considered pure, is used to eat, pay, give and receive. If rural Nepal is mostly agrarian, some aspects of the urban life carry the glitz and glamour of the ultra-modern world..

Food
Food habits differ from region to region and much of Nepali food has been influenced by Indian and Tibetan styles of cooking. However the Newar people have their unique cuisine which is vast and nutritious. The Thakalis also have a distinct cuisine although the staples are the same daal and bhat which most Nepali people eat. The regular Nepali meal is daal (lentil soup), bhat (boiled rice) and tarkari (curried vegetables), often accompanied by achar (pickle). Curried meat is very popular, but for many it is saved for special occasions. Momos (steamed or fried dumplings) deserve a mention as one of the most popular snacks among Nepalis. Rotis (flat bread) and dhedo (boiled flour) are also the staple diet in some homes.

The name ‘Bhutan’ appears to derive from the Sanskrit ‘Bhotant’ meaning ‘the end of Tibet’ or from ‘Bhu-uttan’ meaning coronation-logo’high land’. Though known as Bhutan to the outside world, the Bhutanese themselves refer to their country as Druk Yul or the Land of the Thunder Dragon. ‘Druk’ meaning ‘Dragon’ and extending from the predominant Drukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

The documented history of the Kingdom begins with 747 A.D. with Guru Padsambhava also known as Guru Rinpoche who made his legendary trip from Tibet across the mountains flying on a tigress’s back. He arrived in Paro valley at Taktsang Lhakhang also known as Tiger’s Nest. Guru Rinpoche is not only recognized as the founder of the Nyingmapa religious school but also considered to be second Buddha. In the ensuing centuries, many great masters preached the faith resulting in full bloom of Buddhism by the middle ages. Although sectarian at first, the country was eventually unified under Drukpa Kagyupa sect of Mahayana Buddhism by saint/administrator Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century. Ngawang Namgyal codified a comprehensive system of laws and built a chain of Dzongs which guarded each valley during unsettled times and now serving as the religious and administrative centre of the region.

During the next two centuries civil wars intermittently broke out and the regional Governors became increasingly more powerful. At the end of 19th century, Trongsa Governor overcame all his rivals and soon afterwards recognized as the overall leader of Bhutan. The Governor of Trongsa, Sir Ugyen Wangchuck, was elected as the first King of Bhutan in 1907 by an assembly of representatives of the monastic community, civil servants and people. The country has now the system of constitutional monarchy.

People
Bhutanese people can be generally categorized into three main ethnic groups. The Tshanglas, Ngalops and the Lhotshampas.

Tshanglas: The Tshanglas or the Sharchops as they are commonly known as, are considered the aboriginal inhabitants of eastern Bhutan. According to historians, Tshanglas are the descendants of Lord Brahma and speak Tshanglakha. They are commonly inhabitants of the eastern part of the country. Weaving is a popular occupation among their women and they produce beautiful fabrics mainly of silk and raw silk.

Ngalops: The Ngalops who have settled mostly in the six regions of western Bhutan are of Tibetan origin. They speak Ngalopkha, a polished version of Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. Agriculture is their main livelihood. They cultivate cereals such as rice, wheat, barley and maize along with a variety of other crops. They are known for Lozeys, or ornamental speech and for Zheys, dances that are unique to the Ngalops.

Lhotshampas: The Lhotshampas have settled in the southern foothills of the country. They speak Lhotshamkha (Nepali) and practice Hinduism. Their society can be broken into various lineages such as the Bhawans, Chhetris, Rai’s, Limbus, Tamangs, Gurungs, and the Lepchas. Nowadays they are mainly employed in agriculture and cultivate cash crops like ginger, cardamom and oranges.

The other minority groups are the Bumthaps and the Khengpas of Central Bhutan, the Kurtoeps in Lhuentse, the Brokpas and the Bramis of Merak and Sakteng in eastern Bhutan, the Doyas of Samtse and finally the Monpas of Rukha villages in WangduePhodrang. Together the multiethnic Bhutanese population number just over 700,000.

Society
Bhutanese society is free of class or a caste system. Slavery was abolished by the Third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck in the early 1950s through a royal edict. Though, a few organizations to empower women were established in the past, Bhutanese society has always maintained relative gender equality. In general our nation is an open and a good-spirited society.

Living in Bhutanese society generally means understanding some accepted norms such as Driglam Namzha, the traditional code of etiquette. Driglam Namzha teaches people a code of conduct to adhere to as members of a respectful society. Examples of Driglam Namzha include wearing a traditional scarf (kabney) when visiting a Dzong or an office, letting the elders and the monks serve themselves first during meals, offering felicitation scarves during ceremonies such as marriages and promotions and politely greeting elders or seniors.

Normally, greetings are limited to saying “Kuzuzangpo” (hello) amongst equals. For seniors and elders, the Bhutanese bow their head a bit and say “kuzuzangpo la” (a more respectful greeting). Recently, shaking hands has become an accepted norm.

The Bhutanese are a fun-loving people fond of song and dance, friendly contests of archery, stone pitching, traditional darts, basketball and football. We are a social people that enjoy weddings, religious holidays and other events as the perfect opportunities to gather with friends and family.

The openness of Bhutanese society is exemplified in the way our people often visit their friends and relatives at any hour of the day without any advance notice or appointment and still receive a warm welcome and hospitality.

Religion
The Bhutanese constitution guarantees freedom of religion and citizens and visitors are free to practice any form of worship so long as it does not impinge on the rights of others. Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are also present in the country.

Buddhism: Bhutan is a Buddhist country and people often refer to it as the last stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism. Buddhism was first introduced by the Indian Tantric master Guru Padmasambhava in the 8th century. Until then the people practiced Bonism, a religion that worshiped all forms of nature, remnants of which are still evident in some remote villages in the country.

With the visit of Guru Padmasambhava, Buddhism began to take firm roots within the country and this especially led to the propagation of the Nyingmapa (the ancient or the older) school of Buddhism.

Phajo Drugom Zhigp from Ralung in Tibet was instrumental in introducing yet another school of Buddhism – the Drukpa Kagyu sect. In 1222 he came to Bhutan, an event of great historical significance and a major milestone for Buddhism in Bhutan, and established the DrukpaKagyu sect of Buddhism, the state religion. His sons and descendants were also instrumental in spreading it to many other regions of western Bhutan.

By far the greatest contributor was Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyal. His arrival in 1616 from Tibet was another landmark event in the history of the nation. He brought the various Buddhist schools that had developed in western Bhutan under his domain and unified the country as one whole nation-state giving it a distinct national identity.

The Buddhism practiced in the country today is a vibrant religion that permeates nearly every facet of the Bhutanese life style. It is present in the Dzongs, monasteries, stupas, prayer flags, and prayer wheels punctuate the Bhutanese landscape. The chime of ritual bells, sound of gongs, people circumambulating temples and stupas, fluttering prayer flags, red robed monks conducting rituals stand as testaments to the importance of Buddhism in Bhutanese life.

Animism: Though Bhutan is often referred to as the last Vajrayana Buddhist country, you can still come across animistic traditions and beliefs being practiced by the people.

The form of Buddhism practiced in Bhutan has absorbed many of the features of Bonism such as nature worship, worship of a host of deities, invoking and propitiating them. According to Bonism, these deities were the rightful owners of different elements of nature. Each different facet of nature was associated with its own specific type of spirit.

For example, mountain peaks were considered as the abodes of guardian deities (Yullha), lakes were inhabited by lake deities (Tshomem), cliff deities (Tsen) resided within cliff faces, the land belonged to subterranean deities (Lue and Sabdag), water sources were inhabited by water deities (Chu giLhamu), and dark places were haunted by the demons (due).

Every village has a local priest or a shaman to preside over the rituals. Some of the common forms of nature worship being practiced are the Cha festival in Kurtoe, the Kharphud in Mongar and Zhemgang, the BalaBongko in WangduePhodrang, the Lombas of the Haaps and the Parops, the JomoSolkha of the Brokpas, the Kharam amongst the Tshanglas and the Devi Puja amongst our southern community.

These shamanistic rituals are performed for various reasons ranging from to keep evil spirits at bay, bring in prosperity, to cure a patient or to welcome a new year.

While Bhutan is one of the smallest countries in the world, its cultural diversity and richness are profound.

As such, strong emphasis is laid on the promotion and preservation of its unique culture. By protecting and nurturing Bhutan’s living culture it is believed that it will help guard the sovereignty of the nation.

Eating Habits
Traditional Bhutanese eating habits are simple and, in general, food is eaten with hands. Family members eat while sitting cross legged on the wooden floor with food first being served to the head of the household first.

It is usually women who serve the food and in most cases, the mother. Before eating, a short prayer is offered and a small morsel placed on the floor as an offering to the local spirits and deities. With modernization, eating habits have changed and in urban areas, people usually eat with cutlery whilst seated at a regular dining table.

Traditionally dishes were cooked in earthenware, but with the easy availability of modern goods, pots and pans have largely replaced their use. A typical Bhutanese meal consists of rice, a dish of Ema Datshi, the country’s favourite dish of chili and cheese, pork, beef curry or lentils.

Funeral
Death signifies re-birth or a mere passing on to a new life. In keeping with the traditions, elaborate rituals are performed to ensure a safe passage and a good rebirth.

The 7th, 14th, 21st and 49th days after a person’s death are considered especially important and are recognized by erecting prayer flags in the name of the deceased and performing specific religious rituals. While the deceased are normally cremated, funerary practices vary in few cases. In some parts of the country, people typically bury their dead while in some, they carry out ‘Sky Burials’, a process in which the deceased are prepared and left atop mountains to be devoured by vultures in a final act of compassion and generosity. Elaborate and ancient rituals are also conducted on the anniversary of the death with the erection of prayer flags. The relatives and people of the locality come with alcohol, rice or other sundry items to attend such rituals.

Birth
The birth of a child is always welcomed. In Bhutan extended family and guests are discouraged from visiting during the first three days after the birth.

On the third day, a short purification ritual is performed after which visitors are welcomed to visit the new born and mother. Bhutanese value children as progenitors of the future and therefore do not discriminate on the sex of the child. Traditionally various gifts are offered ranging from dairy products to cloth and money.

The child is not immediately named; this responsibility is usually entrusted to the head lama (Buddhist priest) of the local temple. The mother and child will also receive blessings from the local deity (natal deity) and it was traditional that the name associated with the deity is given. In some cases, the child is given the name of the day on which the child is born. Based on the Bhutanese calendar, a horoscope is written based on the time and date of the birth, this will detail the various rituals to be performed at different times in the life of the child and to an extent predict his or her future.

Marriages
Until just a few decades ago arranged marriages were common and many married among their relatives. In eastern Bhutan cross-cousin marriages were also once common, however, this practice is now becoming less common place among the literate masses and most marriages are based on the choice of the individuals.

Marriages are simple affairs and are usually kept low-key. However, elaborate rituals are performed for lasting unions between the bride and the bridegroom. As the religious ceremony comes to an end, parents, relatives and friends of the couple present the newlyweds with traditional offerings of scarves along with gifts in the form of cash and goods.

In the Western Bhutan, it was commonplace that the husband goes to live in his wife’s house after marriage while the practice in Eastern Bhutan is for the wife to move into the husband’s home. Of course, the newlyweds may also choose to live on their own. Divorce is also an accepted norm and carries no ignominy or disgrace within the country.

Bhutanese Dress
One of the most distinctive features of the Bhutanese is their traditional dress, unique garments that have evolved over thousands of years. Men wear the Gho, a knee-length robe somewhat resembling a kimono that is tied at the waist by a traditional belt known as Kera. The pouch which forms at the front traditionally was used for carrying food bowls and a small dagger. Today however it is more accustomed to carrying small articles such as wallets, mobile phones and Doma (beetle nut).

Women wear the Kira, a long, ankle-length dress accompanied by a light outer jacket known as a Tego with an inner layer known as a Wonju.

However, tribal and semi-nomadic people like the Bramis and Brokpas of eastern Bhutan generally wear clothing that differs from the rest of the Bhutanese population. The Brokpas and the Bramis both wear dresses woven either out of Yak or Sheep hair.

Bhutanese wear long scarves when visiting Dzongs and other administrative centers. The scarves worn vary in color, signifying the wearer’s status or rank. The scarf worn by men is known as Kabney while those worn by women are known as Rachus. .

The Rachu is hung over a woman’s shoulder and like the scarves worn by men, they too have specific rank associated with their color. Rachus are usually woven out of raw silk and embroidered with beautiful rich patterns.

Festivals
Bhutan is rich in cultural diversity and this richness is further enhanced by the wide variety of elaborate and colorful religious festivals that are celebrated throughout the country. Every village is known for their unique festival though the most widely known is the annual Tshechu, an annual religious festival.

As the Tshechu begins, the villagers and the general populace dress in their finest clothes and congregate at their local temples and monasteries where these festivals take place. Tshechus are usually occasions to mark important events in the life of the second Buddha, the Indian/Pakistani Tantric master known as Guru Rinpoche or the Precious Master. Various mask dances are performed together with songs and dances for three days on average.

These religious celebrations are lively, high-spirited affairs during which people share meals of red rice, spicy pork, Ema Datshi and Momos (pork/beef dumplings) whilst drinking the heady traditional rice wine known as Ara. These occasions provide the villagers with a respite from the hard labor of their day to day lives and gives the community an opportunity to catch up with family and friends.

With a history expanding over 3000years, Sri Lanka holds some of world’s ancient cities including Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Digamadulla; their once glorious townships, palaces, temples, monasteries, hospitals and theaters intricately carved and modeled out of stone lay and abandoned and forgotten with time amidst the soaring jungles.

Of all the ancient cities of Lanka, the most famed and most exquisite is the Kingdom of Anuradhapura. Sri Lanka’s third and the longest serving capital and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world is also one of the most sacred cities of World Buddhists. It was the capital of Sri Lanka from the Fourth Century BC up to the turn of the eleventh Century and was one of the most stable and durable centers of political power and urban life in South Asia.

Sigiriya, a fifth century AD fortress and a water garden displays some of the most futuristic elements of landscaping and some of the oldest murals recorded in the country.

Polonnaruwa, the second most ancient kingdom of the country boasts of Irrigation systems that are far superior to those of the and they still provide irrigation water to the farmers in and around Polonnaruwa.Digamadulla, the Eastern kingdom of Sri Lanka was the agricultural and spiritual capital of the country during the Anuradhapura kingdom.

Sri Lanka’s last kingdom the Kingdome of Kandy is a testament to the Sri Lankan’s ability to pick up and rise from ashes. After being burned and ravaged more than thrice by the invading Portuguese the Kandyan Kingdom still holds beautifully carved and built houses, palaces and temple preserved for nearly 500 years.

Ethnic Composition
Ethnic, religious, and linguistic distinctions in Sri Lanka are essentially the same. Three ethnic groups—Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim—make up more than 99 percent of the country’s population, with the Sinhalese alone accounting for nearly three-fourths of the people. The Tamil segment comprises two groups—Sri Lankan Tamils (long-settled descendants from southeastern India) and Indian Tamils (recent immigrants from southeastern India, most of whom were migrant workers brought to Sri Lanka under British rule). Slightly more than one-eighth of the total population belongs to the former group. Muslims, who trace their origin back to Arab traders of the 8th century, account for about 7.5 percent of the population. Burghers (a community of mixed European descent), Parsis (immigrants from western India), and Veddas (regarded as the aboriginal inhabitants of the country) total less than 1 percent of the population.

The Sinhalese constitute the majority in the southern, western, central, and north-central parts of the country. In the rural areas of the Wet Zone lowlands, they account for more than 95 percent of the population. The foremost concentration of the Sri Lankan Tamils lies in the Jaffna Peninsula and in the adjacent districts of the northern lowlands. Smaller agglomerations of this group are also found along the eastern littoral where their settlements are juxtaposed with those of the Muslims. The main Muslim concentrations occur in the eastern lowlands. In other areas, such as Colombo, Kandy, Puttalam, and Gampaha, Muslims form a small but important segment of the urban and suburban population. The Indian Tamils, the vast majority of whom are plantation workers, live in large numbers in the higher areas of the Central Highlands.

Language and Religion
Among the principal ethnic groups, language and religion determine identity. While the mother tongue of the Sinhalese is Sinhala—an Indo-Aryan language—the Tamils speak the Dravidian language of Tamil. Again, while more than 90 percent of the Sinhalese are Buddhists, both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils are overwhelmingly Hindu. The Muslims—adherents of Islam—usually speak Tamil. Christianity draws its followers (about 7 percent of the population) from among the Sinhalese, Tamil, and Burgher communities.

Languages and Literature
In the Republic of Sri Lanka all laws require to be promulgated in Sinhalese (Sinhala), but the 1972 constitution provides that a Tamil translation is to be published simultaneously. Sri Lanka has thus two official languages. The distribution of the two languages does not exactly follow the breakdown of the population by race or religion. The Buddhists speak Sinhalese and the Brahmanists speak Tamil, but these two groups account for barely 80% of the population; moreover there are Christians in both cultural groups, and the great majority of the Muslims are Tamil-speaking. During the last twenty years, however, Sinhalese appears to have been extending its hold, as a result of the revival of national feeling and the greater emphasis placed on the language in the universities.

English is still the language of an elite group who has inherited the traditions of the colonial period. It is widely understood in the towns, particularly among educated people, and is the usual language of communication with foreigners; it is also a common language used by many Sinhalese and Tamils in their dealings with each other.

Sinhalese (Sinhala)
The visitor’s first contact with Sinhalese is likely to be in inscriptions, advertisements and newspapers, when his eye will be attracted by the rounded script with its harmonious curves and its agreeably flowing and regular rhythm. The traditional alphabet, the Elu Hodiya, a basic and pure Sinhala consist of 12 vowels and 25 consonants which is learned by Sinhalese school children. While Sinhala alphabet, has 67 characters 30 which are purely Sinhalese, 24 representing sounds and letters taken over from Sanskrit and Pali, and 13 formed by the combination of two letters. This may appear a disconcertingly large total at first sight, but visitors will find that if they put their minds to it they will be able within a few days to decipher the occasional inscription, the names of towns, the wording on postage stamps, and so on. Some contemporary writers are trying to simplify the alphabet by getting rid of what they regard as unnecessary refinements; and there is some prospect that by the elimination of 4 consonants and 4 vowels which appear superfluous and of 13 double consonants which printers do not use the Sinhalese alphabet may be reduced within the next generation to 46 characters. One complication has already been removed: whereas Old Sinhalese had its own system of figures, the modern language uses Arabic figures.

The present script was probably devised by the monks of Anuradhapura in the 8th or 9th century. It is related to the alphabet and system of writing used by the languages of South India, and is a regional development of the earliest Indian script, Nagari or Devanagari, which was used for writing Sanskrit and various North Indian languages. The earliest Sinhalese texts are written in this rather square script, the present script with its harmonious curves being adopted throughout the island only in the 10th or 11th century.

Sinhala is a very ancient language, the exact origin of which is not known. The earliest recorded texts, rock inscriptions dating from a relatively late period, reveal a highly developed language with a rich array of regular syntactical forms which point to a long period of evolution.

Sinhala belongs to the Indo-European language family, which originated in a primitive language known to the Indians as Aryan or Prakrit, believed to have been spoken by the Aryan invaders of the 2nd millennium B.C. From this original language evolved under the influence of the Brahmanist priests a learned language which was used in the earliest Hindu texts. Whilst this language, Sanskrit was being developed by the educated class the Prakrit of the Indo-European invaders was spreading throughout the Indian peninsula and splitting up into regional dialects, much influenced by the languages of the indigenous tribes.

Sinhalese is one of these regional languages: according to a widely accepted tradition it was brought in by Sri Lanka’s Aryan conquerors in the 5th century B.C., but this theory is not without its difficulties: First, the invading Sinhalas led by Vijaya were said to have consisted of 700 warriors and their families a total of some 5000 people at most. It seems difficult to believe that such a small group of incomers could impose their language on the indigenous Proto-Dravidian or Australoid tribes; Secondly, the conquerors of Sri Lanka are traditionally supposed to have come from the kingdom of Magadha in north-eastern India, in which the local language would be Pali or Magadhi. It is difficult to understand, therefore, why the language introduced by the invaders was not Pali but Sinhala, a language which from its earliest beginnings had been quite different from Pali.

It may be necessary to think in terms of an earlier Aryan penetration into Sri Lanka. On this theory Sinhalese would be the language spoken by invaders who came to the island some time before the 5th century; and it might be supposed that the Sinhalas, themselves speaking a related language, adopted the language of the incomers and made it their own. It does not seem unreasonable to suppose that the great epic poem, the Ramayana, contains references to invasions of this kind in early historical times. Whatever the truth of the matter may be, it seems clear at any rate that Sinhalese is one of the oldest languages in the world, established in Sri Lanka the most southerly point reached by the Indo-European languages at some remote date which cannot be exactly established.

For many centuries Sinhalese developed without leaving any written documents apart from a few rock inscriptions. According to an ancient tradition there were works written on palm leaves (olas), but the repeated invasions from which Sri Lanka suffered, destroyed this early evidence of its language.

When Buddhism reached Sri Lanka about 250 B.C. Pali, the language spoken by the Buddha and used in the basic Buddhist texts, became a sacred language and has remained so to this day. Thereafter the two languages borrowed from one another and influenced each other in various ways. In spite of this interaction between the two languages we find a very pure Sinhalese, without any alien elements, in a long inscription at Mihintale dated to the reign of Sangabo Abhaya (late 3rd c. A.D.): this is Old Sinhalese, sometimes called the “Elect”.

In the 4th century Sanskrit was introduced for the purposes of science and scholarship, so that the educated classes of this early mediaeval period were equally at home in Sinhalese, Pali and Sanskrit.

Sinhalese Literature
Classical Sinhalese literature is usually divided into two main periods: the mediaeval golden age, from 1153 to 1450, during which the language reached its definitive form, and the 18th century, or more exactly the period from 1727 to 1780, dominated by the great reign of Kirti Sri.

The Medieval Period
The earliest texts which have been preserved were written in the reign of Parakrama Bahu I (1153-1186), a king renowned as the restorer of Buddhism who did a great deal for the education of his people and is said to have established 128 libraries throughout his kingdom. These first Sinhalese works, written on olas with a stylus, are full of Sanskrit features in both syntax and vocabulary. They include prose treatises on religion, morality, medicine and science, but there are more poems than prose works, for the Sinhalese people were (and are) passionate lovers of poetry.

King Parakrama Bahu III wrote a poem, the Kawsilumina, which is rated highly by scholars, and a prose work on the teachings of the Buddha, the Visuddhimagga. His son Parakrama Bahu IV commissioned Sinhalese translations of the Jatakas, the hagiographical tales of the incarnations of the Buddha which had hitherto been accessible only to monks and those who knew Pali.

At the end of the 14th century a number of very interesting historical works appeared, including a Chronicle of the Tooth (Dalada-vamsa) and the Chronicle of the Shrines (Thupavamsa). The most important work of the period, however, was undoubtedly the fundamental grammar of classical Sinhalese, which is still studied “The Sidath Sangarava” (Summary of First Principles), written by an educated monk, Vedeyha, at the request of the chief minister of King Parakrama Bahu IV.

The early 15th century, the age of poets, saw the spread of education and the emergence of a literary school which created an elegant and scholarly language strongly impregnated with Sanskrit. A great poet of this period, still famous in Sri Lanka, was the prince of poets, Tottagamuwa. His real name was Rahulastha Viraya, but he is known under a pseudonym derived from the name of the little township in southern part of the country where he was born. He was a favourite of King Parakrama Bahu VI but outlived his master. A great encyclopaedist and polyglot, he was known as Shad-bahasha-parameswara, Great Master of Six Languages. His principal works, which are still read, were the Kaviasekara, celebrating one of the incarnations of the Buddha; the Selalihini Sandese, an epistle written by a mynah bird named Selahini to Yibushana, the god worshipped in the temple at Kelani, seeking his protection for the royal family at Kotte; and the Paravisandese, an epistle written by a pigeon to Krishna seeking divine aid for the royal armies fighting the Tamils at Jaffna.

The distinctive characteristic of this period is the richness of its vocabulary, which has innumerable synonyms and many words with different meanings. A much esteemed literary achievement was to write a poem which had a double meaning, depending on the particular sense given to the words. During this period, too, the language crystallised into a highly elaborate and sophisticated instrument, until finally no fewer than four different forms were recognised and regulated one spoken when addressing the king or a noble, one used when addressing a monk or churchman, one used to equals and one used to inferiors.

The Intermediate Period (1450-1720)
This period was a difficult one, marked by divisions, intestine struggles and invasion by Westerners: a period unpropitious for the development of literature.

King Rajah Sinha I, after successfully resisting the Portuguese, renounced Buddhism and returned to the Brahmanist faith, and thereafter undertook a furious campaign of destruction in which many of the older writings perished. In spite of the political troubles of the time, however, a few books were still written. One work which has survived is a poem celebrating the solemn transfer of the “Tooth” to the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy by King Wimala Dharma Suriya after the persecutions in the reign of his predecessor. To his period also belongs the great poet Alagiyawanna, author of the Parangihatane (Wars of the Portuguese), which glorifies the victories of Rajah Sinha II (1620-1630).

From this period we have also some verses written by a poet calling himself Gascon (Portuguese Vasco), the son of a Portuguese, who escaped death in a massacre while still a child and was brought up at the court of Kandy by King Senerat. An accomplished master of the Sinhalese language and a poet by temperament, he became Rajah Sinha II’s chief minister. His career came to an unhappy end, however, when he was found guilty of adultery with the king’s favourite wife and was executed. The poem which he addressed to the queen from prison and the queen’s sorrowful reply are still remembered in Sri Lanka.

The 18th Century
The Dutch colonisation and the progress which came with it provided a powerful stimulus to Sinhalese intellectual life. Printing was introduced in the country, and books in Sinhala began to be published. One of these works, the Kustantinu-hatane, celebrated the national struggle against the Portuguese and in particular the war against the forces of the Portuguese General, Don Constantino. The Dutch took an interest in the language of Sri Lanka for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, and the first European grammar of Sinhalese appeared in 1699. It was written by a Dutch pastor named Ruell, who dedicated it to the Dutch missionaries in the country.

In the middle of the 18th century, by a nationalist reaction, there was a revival of Buddhism, which gave fresh impetus to Sinhalese literature. Beginning in the reign of Vijaya (1739-1747), this religious renaissance reached its peak under the great Kirti Sri (1747-1780). Among the chief literary works produced during this period were: the accounts of a Kandyan embassy to Siam by the ambassador himself, Vilbagedara Mudianse (1747), a work of historical and documentary interest; “A history of Ceylon from 1410 to 1762″(the date of the foundation of Kotte); a Sinhalese translation of the “Melindaprasne”, an ancient Buddhist doctrinal work written in Pali; and a collection of didactic poems by a noble of southern Sri Lanka, Makaradwaja.

In the 19th century, however, Sinhalese literature sank to a low ebb, unable to compete with the more dynamic culture of the British occupiers. Literature now degenerated into a mere aesthetic pastime or a vain contemplation of the past. The poets of the day delighted in purely mechanical exercises writing poems in geometric form, in the shape of diagrams, pentagrams, and so on.

This was a period of decadence, recognised as such by the Sinhalese nationalist James de Alvis, a Christian and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, in his “Survey of Sinhala Literature” (1852, republished 1966). It was a natural enough result of the process of acculturation: the Sinhalese people, heirs to an ancient cultural tradition, were deeply unsettled by the encounter with a modern culture different from their own and better adapted to the new type of civilisation which was being imposed upon them. There was a vague and ill-defined feeling that the old refined, elegant and sophisticated language, developed in a civilisation which was now outdated, was not suitable for a new type of life. During the first half of the 19th century, therefore, there was a kind of intellectual torpor, a period of hibernation before the rebirth of the Sinhalese language in a simplified form better adapted to the needs of the modern world.

Modern Sinhalese Literature
In the last thirty years of the 19th century Sinhalese literature began to show the results of the encounter between an old established native culture and the language and literature of the British colonial power. The effect was a genuine renaissance. Educated Sinhalese now discovered and assimilated the literature of the West not only English literature but also the literature of other countries in English translation, including the great masterpieces of French and Russian literature.

The closing decades of the century saw the appearance of numerous Sinhalese translations of Western works, and these had a considerable influence on the language, obliging the translators to develop a modern Sinhalese language by renewing the vocabulary, selecting the best of possible alternatives, avoiding unnecessary grandiloquence and simplifying some unduly elaborate syntactical forms. The result was to produce a more disciplined language and one better able to express the realities of modern life.

It was only at the beginning of this century that the first Sinhalese works in a new style appeared, written in a language which was a synthesis between the old learned language and the modern spoken language. The impact of European values on the ancient culture of Sri Lanka was now reflected in the work of a group of writers influenced by the two different worlds.

The leading figure in this movement of renewal was Piyadasa Sirisena (1875-1946), who was a pioneer in the renaissance of Sinhalese literature, though not himself a writer of the highest class. The true creator of the modern Sinhalese novel was Malagama M. Wickremasingha, a prominent literary figure for more than half a century, whose novels and short stories paint a faithful picture of the life and aspirations of Sri Lankan villagers. His works have recently been translated into Russian. G. B. Senanayake described the life of humble town-dwellers. The works of Gunadasa Amarasekara reflect the tensions arising from the conflict between Western values and traditional realities. K. Jayatileke painted a faithful picture of the life of his own village. With Ediriwira Sarachchandra, who was also a playwright, exoticism entered the Sinhalese novel: having visited Japan, he made that country the setting of one of his books. Several of his novels have been translated into English. Some Sri Lankan authors writing in Sinhalese have also published books in English, like J. Vijayatunga, author of an appealing novel of childhood recounting the life of a village boy from the Baddegama area, Grass for my Feet. Vijayatunga has also written a history of Ceylon under the title “Island Story” (Madras, 1949).

As noted above, poetry was the most favoured form of expression in classical Sinhalese literature, and it had tended towards a rather artificial formalism and a refined and often esoteric form of expression. The prestigious and sophisticated heritage of the past hampered the revival of poetry in modern times, and there have been few notable poets until the last few decades. The years after Independence, however, saw the emergence of a new poetic school which rebelled against the formalism and the subtleties of traditional metrics and prosody. Siri Gunasingha published poems in vers libre which affronted the literati of classical leanings, but he had a profound liberating influence and was imitated by a number of other poets who broke out of the strict traditional frameworks. Mahagama Sekera was a great lyric poet who drew his inspiration from Sri Lanka’s rich past and popular traditions. More recently a new wave has come to the fore: the confrontations and contestations of the last few years have brought forward a number of new poets Monica Ruwanpathirama, Parakrama Kodituwakku, Sunil Ariyaratne, Buddhadasa Galapatti, Jayalath Manoratne and others whose works are popular with students in Sri Lanka.