Origin of Bangla Third Part Sundarban

By Dibyendu Chakraborty

Sundarban Forest, presently called ‘Sundarbans National Park’ in India, is a mangrove forest spanning the eastern coastal deltaic areas of West Bengal and the western coastal deltaic areas of Bangladesh. UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site.

 

It is mentioned almost universally that the presence of ‘Sundari’ trees gave rise to the word 'Sundarban'. A small question arises in the mind. If the Sundari tree is at the root of the name, then wouldn't the name have been Sundariban instead of Sundarban? Why had the name been changed to Sundarban?

 

There is no apparent explanation for dropping the very important and gender-sensitive ‘i' from the name. The exclusion of the letter ‘i’ makes the word go from a feminine one to a masculine one. Generally, prehistoric names don’t change their names under the influence of the corrupted pronunciation practices of the commoners. Even if it is done, traces of the original names remain available from one source or the other. Nowhere has it been told that the name of this forest was ‘Sundariban’ in the distant past ever. Always it remained ‘Sundarban’. In that case, there must be a source for this name that is independent of the word ‘Sundari’.

 

Naru, a Bengali by birth, has applied his acquired knowledge to find a logically consistent explanation of the name Sundarban. This book tries to provide the derivation of the name independent of the ‘Sundari’ tree.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9783748755753

Book preview

Chapter 1 - Prelude

Prelude

An annoyance often appears in Naru’s world to register its presence. When asked about the reason for the appearance, it declares that it was Naru, the irritated one, who invited the nettle. The other day, its presence was felt under the leaf of a foliage plant in the garden of Naru after a spell of early morning rain.

Somehow, it had gotten a whiff that Naru was trying to write his thoughts on different aspects of the land known as Bangla. An announcement was heard from that apparition, hanging below a leaf, that only the officially acknowledged experts should venture into such an audacious project and that the required qualification was absent in Naru. It was also advised that Naru should rather concentrate on writing something in its praise. In its opinion, the remaining days of Naru’s life will prove insufficient to write enough about it.

What to do? As it was claiming that it had got the related official qualification and Naru didn’t possess that qualification, he had no other way but to keep quiet and maintain calm. Before that episode, Naru’s writings were going well in the desired direction.  

Things went beyond the tolerable limit when it appeared again recently and occupied a place on the edge of Naru’s writing table. When demanded about the cause of the august presence, giggling as always in an enigmatic way, it declared that a closely guarded secret piece of information had occurred to it about the origin of the name of Bangla. Its acquired official qualification renders it the  access to privileged associations, and from there it has got the coveted scoop. When the prayer was put forward to divulge the greatest of the clues, reluctantly, it was revealed that the name of Bangla had been derived from the name of a son of Vali, the elder brother of Sugriva, a prominent character from the Ramayan. ‘Banga’ was the name of one of the sons of Vali, and therefrom, the name of Bengal, i.e., Banga, originated.

No doubt, that was quite a piece of information. But instantly, that did also cause the occurrence of some questions in mind. The mere existence of a name, though that happens to be strikingly indicative, cannot be sufficient for the establishment of a relationship between the two. It is like drawing a straight line through a single point and establishing the direction of that line. Anyone may change the direction of that line at any time based on changed circumstances to serve a specific purpose. At least two points are needed to establish the direction of a straight line. Though the piece of information was a powerful one, like a cannon, it was like an unfastened loose cannon.

Naru started a lecture on economics by saying that to find the equilibrium point between the forces of demand and supply, it is checked by the economist whether or not at least two conditions are fulfilled. Fulfilment of one condition doesn’t lead one anywhere. The event of the mere meeting of the two lines, demand and supply, cannot be accepted as an equilibrium unless a second condition is fulfilled, that is, their relative slopes at the meeting point. What the relative slopes of the