Панде.Ру

A while ago my daughter Neha Natalya’s lovely young friend Aishwarya forwarded this interesting news story in the Telegraph:

Where have all the Bengali beauties gone? Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Boston have picked them all.

Oh, when will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

We won’t. We learn only about brain drain. Know that the best and brightest have left our shores to make their lives elsewhere. But we learn not about the beauty drain — and are probably not even aware.

Well, except for the sworn birdwatcher. Heterosexual, urban, educated, bourgeois, male. Or, the species that, too, like the bird is a threatened category. Why? Because he’s also the guy who’s left.

One such has just hit town. Sambaran Mitra, a mariner in his early thirties, considers himself a veteran birdwatcher.

On a night out in Park Street, he exclaims: “Where are the babes gone?” If you can’t find them in Park Street, you can’t find them anywhere.

While the author of the article has correctly pointed out the sudden nature of the disappearance of beautiful Bengali ladies, she is incorrect in her supposition that this is a new phenomenon. The disappearance of Bengali women to parts abroad has occured throughout history and has been well documented in Classical as well as Medieval times. I do not wish to sound as if I am directly contradicting Ms. Banerjee, or if I am denying the validity of her research. However, as a man dedicated to learning, I wish to present the scientific facts related to this. It is only the humble effort of a scholar to clear the air and ensure that this article does not lead to hysteria.

It is my good fortune to work with Dr. Debabroto Sircar at the Mehta Vedic Sciences Project. Dr. Sircar has devoted his life to the study of the history of Vanga-desh, and has comprehensively documented the historical incidences when it has faced an exodus of beautiful women. Dr. Sircar has been kind enough to share his research with me, and allowed me to present it to a larger audience. I hope it is found useful.

Vangadeshaprajaasya Pragamyatan

The first mention of emigration from Bengal occurs in the Shilabuddhi Sutra. This ancient treatise dating to the Mauryan Empire was originally passed down orally in the Samastha Brahmin community of Orissa, and was subsequently transcribed in the early 8th century CE on palm-script leaf. This transcription was lost in the following centuries and did not resurface until 1884, when noted Indologist Wilhelm Haunsmann discovered a copy in Varanasi. Haunsmann translated the manuscript and this provides us with our first glimpse into the Vangadeshika emigrations.

In the Shilabuddhi Sutra, the section on the responsibilities of an ideal householder tangentially refer to the migrations in the following shloka: ‘yatha yatha vangadeshaprajaasya pragamyatan, tatha tatha markaandeyakasya amritahalan‘. In a commentary on this verse, the Samastha scholar Snehananda Bhatttacharya explains that the vangadeshprajaasya pragamyatan refers to a 23-yearly cycle in which the land of Vanga faces waves of emigration and immigration. The cycle begins with the exit of rajlakshmi, continues with the exit of rajvivek and rajbuddhi, and ends with the migration of first the male citizens (vangadeshaks) and then the female ones (vangadeshikas). The cycle then turns back on itself and the rajlakshmi, rajvivek and rajbuddhi, and finally the deshaks and deshikas return. The 23 year period of emigration and immigration suggest that the movement was driven by sunspot activity, with two complete solar cycles driving one complete wave of exile and return. From this it is clear that the knowledge of sunspots and solar flares was well known in Vedic times.

The next reference we find to the vangadeshprajaasya pragamyatan appears in the eleventh century Ayoghana-lavanaka-shaastra, the treatise on statecraft that is the equal of Kautilya’s Arthashastra but not as well known. In this compendium of strategies for the kings of Vanga-desh, the rishi Mrkshu explains that the cycle is beneficial, as the exile of the deshaks and deshikas itself drives the return of the rajlakshmi. The Ayoghana-lavanaka-shaastra was adopted enthusiastically not only by the rulers of Vanga-desh, but also by the ancient kingdom of Vaazhappazhaa. In combination with the ancient science of desha-khanda-vaastu, the rulers of Vaazhappazhaa were able to usher in unprecedented political stability and prosperity for their people. It is unfortunate that the ayoghana-lavanaka-shaastra has been neglected for so long by the contemporary rulers of India.

Mrkshu comments on the pragamyatan in a number of chapters, with references such as ‘lakshmina saha rajasya shobha naasti, sheelina saha rajasya shobha naasti, surbhina saha rajasya shobha naasti, sheelsurbhisarvavangasundarikahitina sahaiva asti asti asti‘, or, the welfare of the beautiful, talented and virtuous Vangikaa woman surpasses the ruler’s other preoccupations such as revenue, peace, and law and order. Mrkshu insists that the welfare of the Vangikaa is best achieved when she is encouraged to emigrate, and that the welfare of the state itself is driven through this. This is alluded to in the beautiful epigram ‘Vangadeshe na chalati na chalati, na karati cha‘.

Unfortunately after the Ayogana Lavanaka Shastra, few references to the 23 year cycle of migration can be found in historical sources for many centuries. The Fa Xi Er Li Zhe, a Chinese transalation of a seafaring manual for the traders plying between the Kalinga and Srivijaya, makes tantalising references to the trade goods, and states that ordinary passengers including musicians and dancers would pay for the seaborne  voyage from Vanga to Chozhanadu. The Maanagara Kaathal, a late Chola account of life in the capital city, makes mention of a courtesan and actress named Kamalini from the Vanga desh who used to perform with a court jester named Kamalahasavarman in dramatic enactments of the epic poem Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. A commentary on the Parshurama-sutra written approximately seventy years, or three migration-cycles, after the Maanagara Kaathal, also makes mention of the Vaazhappazhaan  king Jonu who offered an alliance to the kings of the Vanga desh and married the Vangikaa princess Vipashika.

Alas, other than these tangential evidences and references of migration, the period from 1250 to 1750 does not have any further historical proof. The matter is not addressed directly again until the late eighteenth century, where we find the matter taken up in the correspondence between a Munshi named Ranjanpriyo Das and the East India Company. Munshi Das writes to his superiors, explaining that poor indigo production in plantations is due to a shortage of labourers that hits its peak every 23 years, and that this matter was alluded to in the Persian treatise, the Firmaan-e-Abd-ur-Razaq. He states that the treatise assures that first the labourer, and then the Hasina will eventually return to the Bangla Desh, a confirmation of the Shilabuddhi Sutra.

Despite our best efforts, Dr. Sircar and me have not been able to locate any copies of the Firmaan-e-Abd-ur-Razaq. It appears that the Greco-capitalist instincts of the British colonisers led them to ignore the wisdom that was included in the traditional sources and this important knowledge was lost forever until we at the Smirzkoff Centre were able to restore it to the importance it deserved, thanks to the care for scientific research expressed by the Soviet administration. It is our earnest hope that our rediscovery of the ancient cycle of migration will dispel the fears and anxieties harboured by Ms. Banerjee, and indeed by her readers.

(The writer is Hon. Director, Smirzkoff Centre for Historical Speculation in Pune, India and Director, Mehta-Vedic Sciences Project in London. He lives with his wife Valentina Dimitrieva Pandey, and twenty two children in suburban St.Petersberg. He can be contacted at acharya.somuchidononanda@pandey.ru)

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