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Journal - Volume 5, Issue 1, June 2019
Bangla Monosyllables: A Sonority based Study
Mina Dan
| Abstract | Monosyllables offer the test-field for identifying legal combinations of segments in a language and, at the same time, for framing a set of laws for rejecting illegal partners in that same linguistic customs. The former is accomplished by devising a template that functions as a syllable-detector while the latter by discovering pertinent constraints or template conditions that reflect the phonotactics of the language. Tools like template and template conditions have their foundation chiefly on the four aspects of sonority, viz. sonority value, sonority scale, sonority hierarchy and sonority sequencing generalization, as is depicted in the phonological tradition. The present paper treats the monosyllables in Bangla, an Eastern Indic language, in terms of the (i) canonical patterns (ii) internal structures (iii) correlation between the phonetic peak and phonological nucleus (iv) template (v) template conditions and (vi) phonotactic implications of them. In the course of analysis the paper exploits the sonority factor to its fullest extent and also points out the limitations of the sonority scale as proposed in the literature as a universal yardstick. |
| Keywords | Monosyllables, Syllables, Sonority value, Sonority Sequencing Principle, Metrical Phonology, Template |
রাজনীতি নির্ভর সংস্কৃত নাটক ও বাংলায় তার উত্তরাধিকার
অরুন্ধতী দাস
| Abstract | সংস্কৃত সাহিত্যের ইতিহাসে একমাত্র রাজনৈতিক নাটক ‘মুদ্রারাক্ষস’। নাটকটির ঐতিহাসিক ও সাহিত্যিক বিশেষত্বগুলি তুলে ধরার সঙ্গে সঙ্গে তুলনামূলকভাবে এই নিবন্ধে দেখান হয়েছে প্রাচীন এই নাট্যকীর্তির পদাঙ্ক অনুসরণে পরবর্তীকালে ভারতের বিভিন্ন ভাষাতে বিশেষতঃ বাংলায় রাজনীতির ইতিহাসকে উপজীব্য ক’রে কিভাবে নাট্যসাহিত্য গড়ে উঠেছে। বিংশ শতকের প্রথম দশকের নাটকগুলি এক্ষেত্রে বেশিরভাগই রচিত হয় পরাধীন ও বিচ্ছিন্নপ্রায় জাতিকে ঐক্যবদ্ধ করার প্রয়াস রূপে। তবে জাতীয়তাবাদকে অধিক গুরুত্ব দিতে গিয়ে ঐতিহাসিক সত্য বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই প্রচ্ছন্ন বা বিকৃত। রবীন্দ্রোত্তর যুগেও রাজনৈতিক ইতিহাসকে কেন্দ্র ক’রে অনেক নাটক রচিত হয়েছে। সব ক্ষেত্রেই মূল উপজীব্য ইতিহাস থেকে সাহিত্যে উন্নীত। তবে মুদ্রারাক্ষসে আমরা কূটনীতি ও কল্পনার যে যুক্তিগ্রাহ্যতা লক্ষ্য করি তার অন্তরালে কোন রোমান্টিসিজম নেই, যদিও তা পরবর্তীকালের নাটকে যথার্থ যুগোপযোগী সাহিত্যকীর্তি রচনার পথ প্রদর্শক। |
| Keywords | রাজনৈতিক নাটক, ঐতিহাসিক নাট্যসাহিত্য, ভারতের রাজনৈতিক ইতিহাস, সাহিত্যকীর্তি, জাতির প্রতিফলন। |
শহরাঞ্চলে অংসগঠিত মহিলা শ্রমিক হিসেবে গৃহসেবিকাদের ভূমিকা
গৌতম জাতুয়া & ডঃ দেবাশীষ কুমার মন্ডল
| Abstract | ভারতবর্ষ তথা পশ্চিমবঙ্গের অর্থনীতিতে অসংগঠিত শ্রমিক হিসেবে শহরাঞ্চলেগৃহসেবিকাদের একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অবদান রয়েছে। বর্তমানে এদের আর্থ-সামাজিক পরিস্থিতি সম্পর্কে অবগত হওয়ার জন্য কলকাতার অন্তগর্ত ১০৯ নং ওয়ার্ডের ৩০০ জন গৃহসেবিকাদের উপর একটি সমীক্ষা করা হয়েছে। সেখানে গৃহসেবিকাদের এই পেশায় আসার কারণ, সম্প্রদায়গত, শ্রেণীগত ও জাতিগত বিভাজন, কাজের ধরন, মাসিক উপার্জন সংক্রান্ত তথ্য সংগৃহীত করা হয়েছে। এবং এই তথ্যগুলি বিশ্লেষণ করে তাদের সামাজিক ও অর্থনৈতিক চিত্র তুলে ধরা হয়েছে এই প্রবন্ধে। |
| Keywords | গৃহসেবিকা, অসংগঠিত, মানবসম্পদ, আর্থ-সামাজিক। |
Bamboo Craft and Associated Knowledge System of Lepcha Community of North Sikkim: An Endangered Cultural Heritage
Worrel Kumar Bain
| Abstract | Bamboo, one of the precious plant resources of the earth, plays a cardinal role in influencing the pattern of civilized life in Southern and Eastern Asian countries, where they found in abundance. It has a long history in people’s life as a cultural material. Since ancient times the extensive use of bamboo is evidenced in hunting–gathering, fishing, agricultural activities, warfare, and transportation etc. India is the second richest country in the bamboo generic resources after China. In India, bamboo is one of the most important forest species and having wide distribution throughout the country and has major contribution to the rural economy. In this country bamboo is specific as far as their properties and uses are concerned. North – Eastern portion of India is considered to be the potential area in the country as far as bamboo resources are concerned. The states of this region are inhabited by over sixty major tribal populations belonging to different territorial groups. In this region, bamboo forms one of the important subsistence resources of tribal folk to a greater extent. Tribal communities of this area are masters in the skillful tradition of bamboo craft. Lepcha community of North – Eastern state of Sikkim has rich cultural heritage of art and crafts. From the time immemorial Sikkim is inhabited by Lepcha community. For long Dzongu Reserve area of North Sikkim District has been the homeland of them. Bamboo is an indispensable part of their livelihood mostly in form of food, shelter, household item, medicine, furniture and other various ethno-religious purpose. Various bamboo craft traditions of the community get the most creative expression through craftsmanship. Out of different type of bamboo they make basketry, musical instruments (Po- potek, Pun- tang), fishing net (Wookdu), traditional Lepcha cap (Sumok- thyak), hunting cap (Papri), strainer (Tuk- sheor) etc. The spectacular variety and diverse range of the bamboo craft clearly exhibits the skill as well as the traditional knowledge of the craftsmen. This knowledge is essentially community specific and restricted within the community and is accumulated through long interaction with the environment. Such knowledge system is preserved, maintained and transmitted over generations. It forms the cultural heritage of the Lepcha. The present study had been carried out among the Lepcha community in the Dzongu Reserve of North Sikkim. Four villages of different altitudes have been selected for the present study. During study standard anthropological methods have been used. The paper is based on the empirical findings of the author and it probes into their cultural heritage of bamboo craft which are governed by traditional knowledge and skills through empiricism. |
| Keywords | Bamboo, Sikkim, Lepcha Community, Bamboo craft, Myth and Legends, Craftsmen, Knowledge system, Cultural Heritage |
Heritage Management for Sustainable Tourism
Asmita Basu
| Abstract | Most conventional tourism plans are dominated by the growth requirements of the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism plans are based on a wider, more holistic, regional analysis. In the present scenario sustainable development has become an important challenge to deal with particularly in the age of modernization. Heritage in fact is regarded as one of the most valuable and fastest growing components of tourism. Conservation of heritage sites is considered to be a vital component of their management since they are irreplaceable resources for the tourism industry. The present study aims to highlight the factors to be considered for developing sustainable tourism specifically in the heritage sites through a case study of the culturally rich and significant temple town of Birbhum district in West Bengal. This paper discusses the reasons for writing these strategies, their main features, and how they can best be implemented. |
| Keywords | Heritage sites, Sustainability, Management |
Traditional Vegetable Dyes: An Insight into a Neglected and Endangered Facet of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Patuas of Naya, Paschim Medinipur
Kuntal Narayan Chaudhuri & Shreyashi Chaudhuri
| Abstract | The Patua (or Chitrakar) communities of the Rarh region of Eastern India are folk painters-singers whose traditionally livelihood is centred around their intangible cultural heritage of publicly performing Hindu or Muslim legends or tribal folklore by chanting or singing them with the help of the frames of brightly-coloured painted narrative scrolls called patachitras. Unfortunately, competition from other contemporary media is significantly eroding this traditional way of life. In response to this cultural crisis, and as a novel means of supplementing their family incomes, a group of women of Naya, a small Patua community in the Pingla block of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, have formed a rural craft-hub for marketing their traditional products across India and even abroad. Thus, the Patuas of Naya are significantly contributing to the conservation of their multi-faceted intangible cultural heritage. Preparing the paints is perhaps the most important precursor to the creation of a patachitra painting. Although readily-available synthetic chemicals are becoming increasingly popular, however some of these Patuas are still holding on to their age-old traditional knowledge and skills in sustainably using their local natural resource bases for obtaining the raw materials that are used to make their indigenous paints. Like many other folk art traditions of Bengal, the bright hues used in this art form are largely vegetable (occasionally mineral) dyes that are extracted from the local plant resources, using diverse plants and their parts such as bark, wood, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. This article documents the local dye-yielding plants and the traditional process of preparing the natural dyes that are used in the patachitra paintings of Naya, Paschim Medinipur. This study also shows how these natural colours as an integral part of the patachitra paintings expresses the artisans' innate union with nature. |
| Keywords | Intangible Cultural Heritage, Naya, Patachitra, Patuas, Vegetable Dyes |
A Study of Findings of Prehistoric Remains from Dighi Area of Dumka in Jharkhand
Soumyajit Das and Debasis Kumar Mondal
| Abstract | Though several archaeological explorations had been carried out in the district of Dumka in the area of Jharkhand under the division of Santhal Parganas, the area around the town of Dumka remained unexplored. During a recent exploration, some remains of prehistoric culture are found from the campus area of Sido Kanho Murmu University in the vicinity of Dumka town. The focus of the present paper is to analyse these findings with reference to stratigraphy, the geological depositions as well as geomorphological features of the area, vegetation and soil types. |
| Keywords | Prehistory, Dumka, artefacts, palaeoenvironment |
Child Birth and Child Care Experiences among the Sherpas of Srikhola and Gurdum areas of District-Darjeeling, West Bengal
Chumu Sherpa and Pinak Tarafdar
| Abstract | Birth is a significant socio-cultural event that differs in several ways around the world as it is the symbol of the beginning of life. In every society we find certain amount of knowledge about the birth of a child; and the rituals are the conspicuous phenomena to understand the important construction of the society and its values. In anthropological point of view the process of birth and its related rituals form a great part of the whole process of socialization, which the new ones later get accustomed with. It is an observable fact that every society since time immemorial has been practicing some rituals and methods that help in taking special care of both mother and baby. This paper mainly focuses on the child birth experiences and its associated rituals among the Sherpa community of Srikhola and Gurdum areas of Darjeeling district in West Bengal. |
| Keywords | Birth, Sherpa, Rituals, Experiences, Mother, Child |
Kerala Floods 2018 and the changing dynamics of India’s foreign aid dependence
Urmi Mehra
| Abstract | In August 2018, the south-western state of Kerala was hit by massive floods, which caused immense damage to life, property and infrastructure. India has traditionally been one of the largest foreign aid recipient states in the world, both for development purposes as well as disaster relief. However, in the 21st century, the government of India is reluctant to rely on foreign aid, particularly to address natural disaster, which was clearly evident in the decision of the central government to refuse acceptance of disaster relief aid from foreign sources during the devastating flood in Kerala in August 2018. The entire debate surrounding aid refusal mirrored a shift in India’s foreign aid policy in favour of reduced dependence on aid receipt. Such refusal is indicative of the higher goal that India wants to achieve, as much as it is a reflection of the problems that the country has to face as a result of aid acceptance. The present article, taking cue from the Kerala aid refusal, attempts to highlight the changing contours of India’s tryst with aid dependence in the 21st Century. In the process, it will also discuss what kind of initiative India has taken to reduce aid dependence. |
| Keywords | foreign aid, aid dependence, aid refusal, disaster aid, foreign policy |
Police corruption in Bangladesh: An empirical study
Md. Shakhawat Hossain , Mohammed Azizur Rahman and Subrata Banarjee
| Abstract | In Bangladesh, corruption is rampant in different sectors, be they public or private, and has become a national malady. The Bangladesh Police has by now got disrepute as one of the most corrupt institutions. This paper mainly explores the types and techniques of police corruption in Bangladesh based on a small sample survey from Paikgacha Upazila (sub-district) of Khulna District. The study finds that bribery, gratuities, kickbacks, shakedowns, and falsifying evidence are the major forms of police corruption in the study area. Majority of the respondents reported bribery as the most common type of corruption committed by police members. The police commit corruption by using several techniques, such as threat fear, physical torture, mental torture, excessive force, abusive word and political party pressure. Showing fear was mentioned by more than half of the respondents. The implications of the study findings are enormous for further research and policy reforms including the police reform program and the anti-corruption initiatives as well as awareness rising in the community. |
| Keywords | Police, Corruption, Bangladesh, Perception, Experience |
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