আবার আসিব ফিরে ধানসিড়িটির তীরে — এই বাংলায়
হয়তো মানুষ নয়, — হয়তো বা শঙ্খচিল শালিখের বেশে;
— জীবনানন্দ দাশ (Jibanananda Das)
The Poetic Land has a new courtyard. বাংলা সাহিত্যের আঙিনা, the Bengali Sanctuary, is a home for Bengali writing from both Bengals: from Bangladesh and West Bengal, from Tripura, the Barak Valley and Lower Assam, and from wherever in the world Bengali is spoken.
A river, and a new page every day
The Sanctuary opens in deep teal around a framed, illustrated river scene. Just below it, a row that changes every day: a proverb of the day, a line from a classic poet, today’s date in the Bengali calendar by both the Bangladesh and the Indian reckoning, side by side, and a writer remembered on this day.
কবিতা, গল্প, প্রবন্ধ, হার্টলাইনস
Poems, stories, essays and Heartlines each have a section of their own, with the newest pieces in a row you can swipe. Among the first stories written for The Poetic Land:
- ঠোঙায় লেখা নাম: on the night launch from Sadarghat to Barishal, a young teacher helps a peanut-seller boy learn to write his own name, so that he can answer his sister’s letter.
- কানভাঙা ঘোড়া: a little girl who broke the ear of her grandmother’s terracotta horse travels with her father to Panchmura, where the horse was made, and learns that even a crack can carry meaning.
- কুয়াশার গান: in thick fog on the way from the Dhubri ghat to a school on the char, an old boatman stops his engine and sings, and children’s voices answer from the far bank.
In the essays, ব্রহ্মপুত্রের পাড়ে বাংলার স্বর: নিম্ন অসমের না-বলা কথা tells the story of the Bengali-speaking people along the Brahmaputra, from Dhubri to Barpeta: their history, their songs, their life on the river and their hope for the dignity of their language.
Classics, folk tales and the seekers
কালজয়ী লেখক brings together fifteen classic writers, among them Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kamini Roy, Sukumar Ray, Jibanananda Das and Sukanta Bhattacharya, each with original texts, a portrait and a life story. রূপকথা opens Thakurmar Jhuli and other folk tales in their original words: Lalkamal-Neelkamal, Sukhu-Dukhu, Shial Pandit. সাধক ও লোককবি introduces the Baul, Sufi, Vaishnav and Shakta seekers and folk poets. And বাংলার সংস্কৃতি gathers both Bengals in one place: Ekushey February and Unishe May, Pohela Boishakh, Durga Puja and Eid, Baul songs, Jamdani and Nakshi Kantha, the Sundarbans and the terracotta temples of Bishnupur.
মানচিত্রে বাংলা
Choose a region on the map, Bangladesh’s divisions, West Bengal, Tripura, the Barak Valley or Lower Assam, and a panel opens with its literature and art (সাহিত্য ও শিল্প), its culture and its heritage.
সরঞ্জাম: small tools for every day
- বাংলা পঞ্জিকা: the Bengali calendar, with the Bangladesh and Indian reckonings side by side.
- ইংরেজি–বাংলা অভিধান: look a word up in either direction.
- বাংলার রান্নাঘর: a recipe book to leaf through, from ilish and pitha to biryani and mishti.
- প্রবাদের ভাণ্ডার: proverbs and Khanar Bachan, with their meanings and sources.
A tiger, a kite and a flute
Bengal moves quietly across the page. A Royal Bengal tiger walks along the bottom of the screen, a ঘুড়ি (kite) hovers at the edge, কাশফুল and কৃষ্ণচূড়া petals drift down, a red-and-white gamchha flutters past, and an ইলিশ leaps from the river in the hero. For readers who ask their devices for less motion, the page stays still.
Tap the বাঁশি (flute) button at the bottom left for a soft flute melody; it plays only when you ask. The recording is “Bhairav alap” (Bansuri sample E bass) by Prithoo, shared on Wikimedia Commons in the public domain.
The Sanctuary also has its own slide in the homepage banner now: The Bengali Sanctuary, বাংলা সাহিত্যের এক নতুন দিগন্ত, with a single button: প্রবেশ করুন.
বাংলায় লিখুন, পৃথিবী পড়ুক
Write in Bengali, and let the world read. Send us your poem, story or essay from the foot of the Sanctuary page, where our editors read every piece before it is published, or begin with a Bengali Heartline of two to four lines.