Mother Bengal

The Mother Bengal (Bengali: বাংলা মা , Bangla Maa), a female personification of Bengal was created during Bengali renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists.^[1] In Bengaldeshi poetry, literature and patriotic song, she has become a symbol of Bangladesh, considered as a personification of the Republic. The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well – protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life. In Amar Sonar Bangla, the national anthem of Bangladesh, Rabindranath Tagore has used the word "Maa" (Mother) numerous times to refer to the motherland i.e. Bengal. Despite her popularity in patriotic songs and poems, her physical representations and images are rare.

History

Partition of Bengal (1905)

During the period of বঙ্গভঙ্গ Bônggôbhônggô (Partition of Bengal (1905)) - when the ruling British empire had the province of Bengal (of undivided India) split into two parts, many bengali intellectuals joined cultural and political movement against the partition. It was during this time the Mother Bengal was a immensely popular theme in Bengali patriotic songs and poems and was mentioned in several of them, such as the song ″Dhana Dhanya Pushpa Bhara″ and ″Banga Amar Janani Amar″ (Our Bengal Our Mother) by Dwijendralal Ray. These songs were meant to rekindle the unified spirit of Bengal, to raise public consciousness against the communal political divide.

Bangladesh Liberation War

Many of Bengali patriotic songs were regularly played on the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the clandestine radio station broadcast to revolutionaries and occupied population during the Bangladesh Liberation War.^[2] some of these patriotic songs, such as “Jonmo Amar Dhonno Holo Maa-go” and “Bangla Moder Bangla Maa Amra Tomar Koti Shontan” have significant representations of “Mother Bengal”. She was an icon of freedom and democracy against all forms of dictatorship. These patriotic songs are still immensely popular in Bangladesh.

See also

• National personification, contains the list of personifications for various nations and territories.
• Bharat Mata, the national personification of India as a mother goddess.
• Columbia, an equivalent symbol for United States of America.

References