Read this thread am going to write now to know why Eastern Bengal (Bangladaesh as its known today) succumbed to turushka, while the Western part remained largely Hindu.
The source of this thread is Jadunath Sarkar's book on History of Bengal Volume 2. Here it goes (1)
The source of this thread is Jadunath Sarkar's book on History of Bengal Volume 2. Here it goes (1)
"In these regions the people up to the foot holds of the hills were Mongoloid by race, spirit-worshippers by religion, and speakers of many local dialects which had no written literature and were foreign to the literary Bengali of Gaud, Varendri and Raarh.. (2)
.. By the inexorable force of geography, the people of
west Bengal, especially in the Gangetic valley were more largely
and more deeply subject to the Aryan or Aryo-Dravidian influence
that filtrated through Anga (Bhagalpur) than the natives of East
Bengal... (3)
west Bengal, especially in the Gangetic valley were more largely
and more deeply subject to the Aryan or Aryo-Dravidian influence
that filtrated through Anga (Bhagalpur) than the natives of East
Bengal... (3)
.. In an earlier age Buddhism had dominated the country from Kamrup to Chittagong, and evidence of it is still to be found in literary references and antiquarian remains. But at the time of the Muslim conquest. (1230 A.D.) and for some centuries before
it.. (4)
it.. (4)
... the religion of the masses in Bengal and indeed of many
of the gentry too was Taantrik Hinduism, which could be hardly
distinguished from the spirit worship and magic of later Buddhism, as
still found in Tibet. In the Hindu period, Sanskrit scholars, Hindu
physicians... (5)
of the gentry too was Taantrik Hinduism, which could be hardly
distinguished from the spirit worship and magic of later Buddhism, as
still found in Tibet. In the Hindu period, Sanskrit scholars, Hindu
physicians... (5)
.. and eminent Brahman priests from the west freely crossed the river barrier and settled in East Bengal; and, in the opposite direction, pilgrims from East Bengal used to visit the Courts and famous shrines of West Bengal... (6)
.. But on the fall of Nadia and Gaur to the Muslims even this little interchange of cultures ceased. For some time after, the mass of the people east of the Teesta river and the Brahmaputra remained Hindus, but their religion was not akin to that of the Hindus of Gaur.. (7)
... They had no learned Brahman priesthood, no Sanskrit scriptures, no Vedic ritual. Their worship was almost everywhere conducted by illiterate animistic priests or more properly witch-doctors... (8)
...with no resident Brahman clergy to look after their religious instruction or conduct their rites properly, the Hindu masses of East Bengal remained as shop without a spiritual shepherd, just like their
Mongoloid Buddhistic brethren of Kamrup and Arakan... (9)
Mongoloid Buddhistic brethren of Kamrup and Arakan... (9)
.. Hence, when Shah Jalal (of Sylhet) and other missionaries of the Crescent arrived to preach Islam to them, no worthy priests of Hinduism came forth to accept the challenge, and the masses of East Bengal were easily converted to Islam en masse from spirit-worship.. (10)
In other words, lack of sizeable Brahmin population to perform priestly duties in Eastern Bengal led to the easy conversion of natives from a simple form of Hinduism to turushka.
/end
/end
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