 Introduction:

The toughest and most precious thing in the world is to know or understand

oneself. Through the time all the wise persons in this world inspired us to find own self.

Reaching the root is not so easy; it needs devotion and hard work. That’s why people often

find no interest on this subject. We need to find out the oldest past in order to understand the

modern time society or life. We need to go back through time then trace back our present

world. Traditions can inspire a lame nation to stand on its feet and can light the candle of

hope, so the nation will eventually find the way to prosper. A nation can become greater in

all aspects, if they learn from past mistakes.

“Bangladeshi Civilization: How much a Typical NSU student knows about

it?” is my research topic. This is where history, achievements, culture, customs, traditions

all are focused in to form one of the greatest civilization the world has ever faced. People

often talk about the Roman or Incan civilization. They get surprised by learning how old

those civilizations are or by the vast achievements in the long journey through time. But,

people often forget about the civilization in front of their eyes, which is not only far more

ancient than those of Roman or Incan civilization, but also healthier in achievements. Yes, I

am talking about our very own Bangladeshi civilization, which is the achievement of almost

2500 years of history and hard work. From the early Austric or Austroloid settlements

30000 years back to present Bangladeshi civilization, it is all about history, myth and

archeology.

Who were the first to establish a civilization on this land? Who were the

ancestors of today’s Bangladeshi people? These are the questions I asked few of my friends

Bangladeshi Civilization 1
studying in some top public universities and surprisingly I found out they know nothing

about their ancestors. But, how much Typical North South University students know about

our ancestors and our civilization? Can they tell when, where and how the civilization first

started? Do they know the history of their ancestors? My recent visit to some important

archeological sites and the questions above made me curious and influenced me to do a

research on this.

 Importance of the topic:

North South University is one of the leading private universities in

Bangladesh. The students completing their studies here will take the wheel of the country in

the future. If they don’t know the history of their ancestors, their pride and achievements,

how can they lead the nation to be the greatest of all? These are the questions we all are

asking and hoping someone will speak out one day and will answer all the questions. The

time has come. Let’s find out the answers and make the people aware of being part of one

times one of the greatest civilizations and become proud for being a Bangladeshi.

Bangladeshi Civilization 2
  History review:

Although, we have a very enriched and glorious history, it is our bad luck that

we have been out of touch of our culture for a long time. Normally, if we talk about history,

the only thing that pops into people’s mind is the stories of the king, queen, sultans and the

heroes of the history book. But the real heroes are those men, who actually made it possible

to happen, in other word, the ordinary people. If we want to understand the Bengal for real,

we must get ourselves familiar with not only the history, but also with all the aspects of life.

Poor Bengalis can come out of the grip of hopeless life if they see the glorious past as

inspiration.

Finding Out The History from History Books:

Who were the first to establish a civilization on this land? Who were

the ancestors of today’s Bangladeshi people? The modern-day archeologists and historians

are desperate to find out answers of these questions. The land of Bengal was always a place

where people wanted to come for fortune. It has the perfect location and a lot of natural

resources that makes it easier to live here. History shows people actually came and struggled

to have some space on this land, and that is what makes it really difficult to find out the

history of this land and this civilization. Some archeological and historical researches show

that the civilization history on this land may be pre historic. But we only found solid

evidence of civilization from first quarter of the 400 B.C. Mythological references implies

the civilization to be far more ancient.

Bangladeshi Civilization 3
 The Archeological Research:

So, to say, we can not exactly tell who were the first to make this land

their home ground or who were the first to step foot on this land. But we can surely say, the

history we are about to find out is really old. The archeological study on this land is very

young. The main important findings are made only on the last decade. Lack of history, lots

of people holding the land and lack of proper authorization & equipment made it really

tough for the archeologists to actually do some research work on the history of this land.

Now if we look into the history we will actually find out why we know such a little.

Through the history there had been many changes of rulers and governments. If we consider

an example it will be very clear. Only in the 20 th century the rules had been changed three

times. The first half was British rule, then the Pakistani government and at last the People’s

republican government. Only time will say how many more change will this land see. So,

we can imagine how frequently the changes made in the history and as a result many people

from different region came to this land and started to live here. Today’s Bangladeshi race is

the mixture of so many races that it is impossible to find out the root.

Some Primary Historical References:

The earliest reliable reference we found was about the invasion of

Alexander the great. It was written by the Greek historians that Alexander was forced to

withdraw his mighty force because of the constant valiant counter attack of Gangaridian and

Parosioi army. It was recorded at 326 B.C. Some historical references suggested that, at that

time Bengal was ruled by few cluster like empire. Archeological findings say that was the

Mauryan civilization. At Mahasthangarh, Nalanda, we have found the relics of Ashoka-

Maurya’s rule. That is the earliest archeological evidence we have. Recent archeological

discovery of a fortified city at Wari-Bateshwar , Belabo, Narshingdi tells us that may be this

Bangladeshi Civilization 4
land was shared by some other civilization on the south eastern part. The carbon dating

shows that this civilization is as old as Mauryan civilization.

If we consider some other sources to find out the history we will be

surprised. We could not find any history before Mauryan period on this land, but references

from other civilization’s history gave us a clue to find out the mysteries of history. Recent

geographical or archeological researches have rung a bell in our sleeping history book. The

geographical findings tell us the land mass is prehistoric on this land. The modern

archeologists have found out the evidence of existence of the hunters from Stone Age on

this land. But, many people will find it as a matter of discussion whether these evidences are

justified or not. So, we may turn our concentration into another path to find out the truth.

Some Secondary Historical References:

By analyzing the history, written by other civilizations, we found that

there were civilized people on this land before the Mauryan’s. There was evidence of the

mighty “Gangaridian Empire” on Bengal in the writings of many geologists from 1000 B.C.

(“Periplus of The Eritrean Sea”, 1000B.C.). We find these evidences in the writings of

Ptolemy, Pliny and many other Greek sailors. Aryan’s never entered Bengal. But, their

history books tell us that they faced a lot of resistance while they tried to invade the land.

These books were written on 2000 B.C.

Anthropology to Find The Actual Root:

Now, let’s talk about some Anthropology. In pre-historic India there

were mainly five nations. Those were: Nrigoides, Austrics, Dravids, Aryans and Tibbetian-

Chinese. The eldest among them were the Nrigoids. But there are debates about their root

and there is no hard evidence of their existence on the land. There is evidence of many

Bangladeshi Civilization 5
civilizations, like Indus, Aryans, Dravids, Persian, Greek, Shoks, Hoons, and Muslims etc

on this land. That’s why we can say Bengalis are mixed nation. We find the evidence that

Aryans once tried to enter Bengal. They defeated the Dravids to invade India. The modern

day Anthropologists believe that the ancient aboriginal Bengalis are far more ancient

civilization than Dravids. The ancient Bengalis are called the Austrics or Austroloids. The

mystery behind the name is that, anthropologists found similarity between the Austrics and

the ancient Australian aboriginals. The Anthropologists believe that, the Austrics from

Bengal went to Australia almost 30000B.C. earlier and started the civilization there. The

remaining part of the Austrics becomes the Benagalis by merging with Dravids. Thus, the

ancestors of Bangladeshi civilization is the Austrics and the civilization started almost

30000 years back.

Chronological list of dynasties in Bangladesh:

Period Name of the Dynasty Archeological Evidence

272 – 32 B.C. Mauryan Dynasty Mahasthangarh, Nalanda.

120 A.D. Kushana, Kanishka Gandharwa images of Buddha

320–650 A.D. Gupta Dynasty Bodh-Gaya Monastery

650-700 A.D. Khadga Dynasty Copper images of Buddha

770-810 A.D. Pala Dynasty Pharpur Buddhist Monastery

8th century Deva Dynasty Salban Vihar, Kutila Mura.

900-1050A.D. Chandra Dynasty Of S. Bengal -

1155 A.D. End of Pala Dynasty Vikramsila Monastery

1095-1204A.D Sena Dynasty -

1204-1290A.D Slave King -

Bangladeshi Civilization 6
1290-1320A.D Khalji Dynasty Saithgambuz Mosque

1342-1493A.D Ilyas Shahi Dynasty Sonargaon relics

1493-1538A.D Hussain Shahi Dynasty Kusumba Mihrab

1564-1574A.D Karrani Dynasty -

1575-1757A.D Mughal Dynasty Lal Bagh Fort, Pori Bibi Tomb

1757-1947A.D British Rule Curzon Hall, Ahsan Manzil

1947-1971A.D Pakistan Rule Parliament House

1971-present Rule of Govt’ of Bangladesh Jamuna Bridge, Savar Memorial

Bangladeshi Civilization 7
  Research area:

While doing my research, I set the questions in such a way so that I could get

an overall picture about the knowledge of the students of North South University about the

rise of Bangladeshi civilization. For example, my fourth question was “Who were the first to

start civilization on the land of Bangladesh?” From this I found that majority of the students

have none or very little knowledge about their ancestors. Actually the real history of

civilization is not well organized, but surprisingly students know a very little about the

known history too. Then I shifted my view towards the history of the civilization. I found that

students are very careless about the history of this land. They don’t know when or who

actually first bring the total Bengal under one empire. People even don’t know about the

different archeological sites in the country. Almost half of the students never visited any

place with historical importance. My 9th question was about the Alexander’s invasion. I was

really surprised by knowing that more than half of them actually think that Alexander entered

Bengal. Moreover almost one-fourth of the students surveyed think Alexander actually ruled

this land. Where the history tells us he never entered Bengal. In addition, I asked the students

to tell the name of the oldest relic in the country, and only one-third managed to answer

correctly. Hopefully, majority of the students want to have a course in history of their

ancestors or the Bangladeshi civilization.

Bangladeshi Civilization 8
  Implementation of my research:

Findings of my research may help the students of North South University to be

aware of the history of their ancestors, which is, so to say, the actual history of their own

glorious past. It will also give the people, whoever read the research findings, to think about

the importance of this fact that we cannot just forget our past and to become the greatest like

our ancestors, we have to follow their life and learn from their mistakes.

 Hypothesis:

My research hypothesis is NSU students know a very little about the history of

the start of Bangladeshi civilization. The cause can be the carelessness and lack awareness

about the history or the past.

Bangladeshi Civilization 9
  Methodology:

Primary Data:

 Survey through questionnaire.

 Personal Interview.

Secondary Data:

 NSU Library.

 Books.

 Article.

 Online Journal.

 Website.

 Primary Data:

Surveying was the most integral part of my primary research. First I had

conducted a verbal survey. I simply asked 40 to 50 people about how much they think

they know about their culture and history and noted the number. For conducting the

main survey, I made a questionnaire based on my research topic: “Bangladeshi

Civilization: How much a typical NSU student knows about it?” I selected NSU

students as my target group and did a survey on 50 NSU students to get the overall

picture about their knowledge. The questionnaire was distributed among the students

who gave consent for answering the questions. It took a lot of brain storming to come

up with all the suitable questions for the questionnaires.

I also have taken a personal interview of Dr. A. K. M. Shahnawaz, who

is a professor on archaeology in Jahangirnagar University and also a respected faculty

Bangladeshi Civilization 10
in NSU. The data collected from the survey and interview, annualized and presented

later in this paper.

Based on the primary data, I made the data analysis that prove my

hypothesis partially correct.

 Secondary Data:

Secondary data was really helpful for my research paper. The data is

composed mainly from books that I collected from NSU library. I have collected

plenty of data from the books named, “Banglar SanskrityBanglar Sobbhata”, “

World Civilization” , “Historical Geography of Ancient and Early Medieval Bengal”

etc.

Internet has been proven to be exceedingly useful for my research work.

It was the most easiest and efficient source of information for my topic. However, I

tried not to quote directly from anything that I found on websites. Rather, I used the

information to conduct my research more accurately. I skimmed through more than

dozen of websites such as: www.wikipedia.org , www.archeologists.com ,

www.britannica.com , www.merriam-webster.com , www.library.ualberta.ca etc.

Bangladeshi Civilization 11
  Data Presentation:

Topic: Bangladeshi Civilization How much knowledge a typical NSU student

possesses?

Findings of the verbal Survey conducted on 50 NSU students

Question:

Who were our ancestors on this land? (first to establish civilization on this land)
Wrong answer Wrong answer Correct Answer

Answers: Don’t Know (civilization (civilization (With evidence

range: 500A.D. range: 100A.D. or Mythology)

to 1500A.D.) to 500A.D.)
No. of students 20 15 10 5

(Percentage) (40%) (30%) (20%) (10%)

Table: Findings of the verbal survey.

Bangladeshi Civilization 12
Topic: Bangladeshi Civilization: How much knowledge a typical NSU student

possesses?

Total Surveyed: 50. Male: 32 (64%) / Female: 18 (36%).

BBA students surveyed: 28 (56%) ETE / CSE students surveyed: 21 (42%).

Students from other department: 1 (2%).

Findings of the survey conducted on 50 NSU students

Question Answer Answer Answer Answer Answer Answer

No. a. b. c. d. e. f.

(Don’t Know)
1. 8% 12% 74% 6%
2. 64% 12% 22% 2%
3. 60% 40%
4. 28% 12% 32% 2% 2% 24%
5. 42% 4% 16% 8% 8% 22%
6. 22% 24% 16% 0% 4% 34%
7. 8% 18% 48% 26%
8. 30% 24% 14% 6% 26%
9. 8% 6% 24% 40% 22%
10. 60% 20% 16% 44%
11. 16% 22% 62%

The table shows the result of the survey conducted among 50 North south

University students. The choice (f) is for those who did not answer any questions.

 Data Analysis:

As my research is on the knowledge of NSU students on Bangladeshi

civilization, it was very important to consider people’s opinion regarding this issue. So, I

conducted a survey through a questionnaire on a total of 50 NSU students. Among the

respondents64% were male and 36% were female. Their age was between 18 to 25. They

Bangladeshi Civilization 13
were from various department and discipline. Among them 56% are from BBA department,

42% are from ETE or CSE department and rest 2% are from other department. The other

questions that I asked through the survey are discussed below.

What do you think about your knowledge about start of Bangladeshi

civilization?

For this question 74% students said their knowledge is not sufficient and

they want to know more about the history. 12% students think their

knowledge is insufficient but they don’t want to know more about this. 8%

think they have enough knowledge and 6 % students have no idea about

the topic.

What do you think about the archeological sites in Bangladesh?

Among the 50 students surveyed, 64% think those sites are interesting and

educational, 12% think those are boring. Surprisingly 22% of the students

don’t know about those sites and 2% student think there is no point of

visiting those places. So, based on this we can say, students may actually

have interest in history of Bangladesh.

Did you ever personally visit any archeological sites in Bangladesh? (if yes,

mention the name of the place)

Here 60% students have visited at least one archeological site in

Bangladesh. The name they mentioned were; Pharpur, Mahasthangarh,

Bangladeshi Civilization 14
 Sonargaon relics, Mianamati etc. Surprisingly 40% of all students

surveyed, never been to any archeological sites in Bangladesh.

Which one of these is the oldest below?

Hopefully 32% students answered it Mahasthangarh, which is the correct

answer for the question. This number tells that the hypothesis made at the

beginning of the research paper is not entirely correct. 44% students made

an attempt but answered wrong answer. Almost 24 % of all students

surveyed did not know the answer.

Who were the first to star civilization on the land of Bangladesh?

Only 8% of the students answered it Asurs/Austrics, which is the correct

answer. 16% answered it Mauriyans which can also be taken as correct

because we only know the history up to Mauryan period. 42% students

answered Aryans where history tells us, Aryans never entered the land of

Bengal. 22% students did not know the answer and remaining 12%

answered it wrong. So, overall 76% students failed to answer the question

correctly.

When was civilization first started on this land? (approximately)

The correct answer is before 20000 B.C. and only 4% answered it. If we

consider Mauryans as our ancestor, then 1000B.C. to 100 B.C. is also

correct and 22 % students answered it. 40% students answered the

Bangladeshi Civilization 15
 questions incorrectly and 34% students did not answered the question, so

did not know about the topic.

Do you think Bangladeshi civilization is the changed form of Indus

civilization?

Here 48% students said yes, partially from Indus civilization. 26% students

had no idea about it. 18% students said “No, not at all” and remaining 8%

students think Bangladeshi civilization is entirely the changed form of

Indus civilization.

Who was the first to bring the total Bengal under one empire?

Among the 50 students surveyed 30% students answered it correctly as

Chandragupta-1. 44% students answered the question incorrectly and 26%

students did not have any idea about it.

Did Alexander invade or rule Bengal?

In this question 40% students answered it correctly as, “No never entered

Bengal”. 24% students think Alexander ruled a part of Bengal and 22%

students had no idea about the invasion of Alexander. 8% students actually

think Alexander invaded and ruled Bengal and 6% think Alexander

entered Bengal but forced to withdraw.

How much does our educational system deliver us about the root of the

civilization?

Here 60% students think books should contain more history. Surprisingly,

20% students think we don’t’ need to know about the history and 16%

Bangladeshi Civilization 16
 students said, the books contain enough materials. 4% students were

unavailable for any comment.

What do you think about including a mandatory course on Bangladeshi

civilization on your study at NSU?

Among the 50 students, 62% think it is a good idea but not as mandatory

course. 22% students think a mandatory course is a great idea. 16% of all

students surveyed think they don’t need a course like that.

 Limitations:

Collection Of information:

Collection of the information is one of the biggest problem I faced

while writing my research paper. Based on my topic, it was not easy for me to collect the

Bangladeshi Civilization 17
data because the archeological study in Bangladesh is comparatively a new subject and there

is not much information on the website or in the book about the pre-history of our

civilization. I had to go to the library and internet to gather information and after searching

through a lot of books and internet journal, I found the needed information. Truthfully, the

information was scattered and very hard to find out. There is also lack of books in NSU

library. So, I had to go to the public library for my research.

Grouping of information:

I collected the information from various sources like books, article,

journal, online journal and websites. All the information was scattered and random, so I had

to give a lot of time to put them in order for the research paper.

Cheaper time for research:

I completed a questionnaire for my survey, then I had to do the survey

in just 2 days. I also had to finish my library work in a very short period of time. For the

cheaper time for survey and library works, so to say, for the research made it really difficult

to complete the research in time for submission.

Bangladeshi Civilization 18