The history of Bangladesh is in my view an extraordinary epic of a great civilisation. The general emphasis in this article is on the structural pattern of Bangladeshi history and on the chronology of events. The ancient and medieval periods of Bangladeshi history, which are often neglected in many historical books are emphasised in this article. The modern day portrayal of Bangladesh is often one of images of cyclones, deprivation, famine, etc. These perceptions, as much as they may be correct at any single point in time, can be misleading, leaving out a past and a present history which is both rich and vibrant.

Ancient Bangla Desh
My chronology begins in the year 2500 BC, in what is now known as modern day Bangladesh. The inhabitants at the time were of Mongoloid, Austric or Dravidian descent and had developed arts, agricultural wealth and trade. According to some records these people were at least as advanced as concurrent civilisations in the West and the Orient.

The great Aryan invasions to the Indian subcontinent that occurred between 2000-1500 BC brought to the region a language called Sanskrit, a religion called Vedic Hinduism and a social organisation structure called the caste system. The caste system has influenced Bangladesh ever since with eighty percent of modern day Bangladeshi’s claiming descent from the untouchables caste or Namasudras, while only a few belong to the caste of the Aryan invaders. By 600 BC, Bangladesh was a inbred part of the Hindu Aryan culture. It is likely that many previous beliefs were incorporated into the conquering religion.

Later in 327 BC, Greek and Roman authors reported that the Nandas [the then kings of Bengal] had their capital in Pataliputra which was located in the western part of Bengal. This was at the time when Alexander the Great conquered North-western India. The reports indicate that the Nandas had a powerful standing army of 200,000 infantrymen, 20,000 horsemen, 2,000 chariots drawn by four horses each, and 3,000 elephants, which interestingly is the first recorded large-scale use of elephants in warfare. It is noted that the huge Nandas army prevented Alexander the Great’s further advancement on the banks of the Beas River.

In spite of the very short period of Nandas rule, they must be credited with having paved the way for their more well known successors, the Mauryas.

The Buddhist Era
The Buddha’s influence on Bangladesh is very significant. It is believed that he visited Mahasthan [also called Pundranagar] and Gaud. Both Mahasthan and Gaud are situated in northern Bangladesh, near Bogra, not far from the Buddha’s birthplace, just a few hundred miles northwest of Mahasthan. Pundranagar remained wealthy and renowned until relatively modern times.

A similar culture thrived in Gaud, fifty miles away. Gaud was much older than Pundranagar and once stretched more than ten miles along a branch of the Ganges. At one point, the city was a centre of silk sericulture, cotton weaving, sugar and other agricultural products. Both cities were abandoned when the Ganges and Karatoa changed course. During the Buddhist period, Bangladeshi culture became what can only be described as its most fruitful in its known history. By this I mean that most Bengali’s did not like the Brahman’s alien caste system, but found the Buddha’s peaceful philosophy congenial to their way of life. The Buddhist legacy is evident in Bangladeshi culture even today, in their belief in brotherhood, in their treatment of women - widows and outcasts, and in their gentleness and charity to other people.

It is evident that Buddha’s teachings had basic conflicts with the beliefs and practices of the caste-conscious, polytheistic, fair-skinned Vedic Hindus, who lived nearby and were responsible for subjugating the far more numerous darker-skinned natives. This fact helps to explain Buddhism’s swift and powerful ascension in this region. Buddhism both absorbed the native groups as equals as well as attracting many Brahman converts.

Maurya Empire
In 320 BC, Chandragupta Maurya became the king of Magadha, supreme power of East India. His Imperial capital was Pataliputra. Knowledge about Pataliputra was greatly enhanced by the reports of Megasthenes (an ambassador at the time) who described the imperial capital Pataliputra as ‘fortified with palisades’. This fortification was shaped like a parallelogram measuring 9 miles in length and 1.5 miles in breadth. It had 570 towers and 64 gates. In comparison to the City of Rome, then ruled by Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Pataliputra was actually twice as large. In fact it is generally agreed that Pataliputra was the largest city of the ancient world.

Megasthenes’ description of the structure of the empire seems to be equally accurate. He mentioned that in ‘Chandragupta’s empire all land belongs to the king and no private person is permitted to own land. In addition to this general rent, they must give one quarter of their produce to the state...” No enemy could do harm to an agriculturist cultivating his fields. They were exempt from service in the army.

He also mentioned that the philosophers, the herdsmen who lived outside the villages, the traders, the soldiers, war horses and war elephants, the inspectors and spies who reported everything to the emperor, the advisors and officers of the king who looked after the administration and the law courts of the empire, all got their food from the royal storage. According to Megasthenes’ description these were the seven states of society which he observed in Pataliputra.

The political system of the empire was called ‘Arthashastra’, which is attributed to the cunning philosopher Kautalya. Kautalya was Prime Minister and chief of Chandragupta’s empire. He believed that political power was a direct function of economic prosperity, hence he provided detailed information on the improvement of the economy by state intervention in all activities such as agriculture, mining, trade and crafts. To improve political power, Chandragupta therefore embarked on a series of programmes which included the strengthening of his fortifications, extending facilities for irrigation, encouraging trade, cultivating wasteland and opening up mines.

Chandragupta’s reign indicates a very efficient administrative structure and a very well administered centralised state. This can be seen through the salary structure whereby a royal high priest was likely to receive a salary of 48,000 paysa with a petty inspector receiving only 60 paysa.

The main aim of the Arthashastra was to instruct the king on how to improve the qualities of power factors and weaken those of his enemy even before an open confrontation took place. For this purpose the King sent spies and secret agents into his enemy’s kingdom.