For us Bangladeshis, 21st February is not just a date. It is the declaration of our nation's self-respect. It is a pledge written in blood.

Our mother tongue is our identity, our consciousness, our existence. The supreme sacrifice of martyrs Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar, and countless unknown youths has firmly established the Bangla language on the world stage, not merely as a medium of culture, but as the cornerstone of the national soul.

The recognition of that sacrifice resonates across the globe today. International Mother Language Day reminds human civilisation that the right to language means the right to paramount human dignity.

Language is never merely a means of communication. Language is the mental architecture of a nation. It is through language that a nation's history, memory, culture, values, and the arrangement of future dreams are built.

When a language is attacked, the soul of the nation is wounded as well. On the other hand, when a language awakens, the national identity manifests as a formidable force.

It is from this realisation that this six-part essay, "From Charyapada to 2024: The unique journey of Bangladeshi nationhood and unified strength", stems.

This essay is not just a history of language; it is an exploration of the evolution of our self-identity, the transformation of cultural strength, and a deep inquiry into statecraft.

In the first part, we will see how language shapes the nation's soul. In the second part, we will explore the continuity of language-centric cultural power from Alaol to Al Mahmud.

In the third part, we will examine 1952 as a historical turning point in the transition from linguistic to national power. In the fourth part, we will analyse the relationship between language, independence, and state-building, and how language transforms from soft power to strategic power.

In the fifth part, we will discuss the global reality of language endangerment and its impact on Bangla. And in the sixth part, we will unveil the horizons of possibilities and the responsibility of cultural sovereignty in the hands of the new generation.

This essay is a tribute to the immortal Ekushey. But more than that, it is our unified commitment to the future. Language is the legacy of our past, the strength of our present, and the strategic asset of our tomorrow.

If we uphold our language, our language will uphold us: in unity, in dignity, and in the strength to stand tall in the global community. Ekushey has taught us that a language earned with blood is never defeated.

Part I: When language is the first architecture of the nation's soul

A state is born on a map, but a nation is born in its language! It thrives by standing tall on the world stage. The history of the Bangla language is not merely a lullaby of grammar, phonetics, or literary evolution; it is the history of constructing the architecture of a nation's consciousness, resistance, and sovereignty.

The Bangla language spans from the secret esoteric language of the Charyapada to the blood of 1952, the Liberation War of 1971, and the struggle of today's Gen Z and digital generation against cultural aggression. The Bangla language has continuously transformed as a fundamental "Element of National Power".

History often creates moments that people of the time might not have comprehended, but future centuries and generations recognise as the genesis of the nation. In the case of the Bangla language, according to many scholars, the name of that moment is the Charyapada.

To the external eye, it may appear to be songs of spiritual pursuit or specimens of the occult, but a deep yet impartial historical analysis reveals that it was the silent sowing of the seeds of Bangla-speaking nationhood.

The Charyapada is considered the oldest document of Bangla literature, composed somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries. These are not merely songs of spiritual devotion; rather, they are a living reflection of the daily life, regional culture, agriculture, rivers, and social relations of the people of that era.

The language used in the Charyapada was early or medieval Bangla, which was born as the language of people's internal experiences and consciousness long before the formation of the state. This literary work shows that, even then, language was the core foundation of people's culture, thought, and self-identity, and played a crucial role in the development of the Bangla nation's cultural and political consciousness in subsequent centuries.

There is no known evidence to suggest that the composers of the Charyapada sat down with the intention of forming a state or controlling territory. They did not raise any flags, yet they spoke in a language that evoked a unified emotion among the people.

This is the first great truth in the history of the Bangla language: "A state does not create a language; language creates the precondition for a state."

Why is language prior to the state?

The state is a political structure; its borders shift, its rulers change. But language resides in the human brain, mind, and consciousness.

The way a person dreams, thinks upon waking, loves, and feels sorrow — that internal world is formulated in their mother tongue.

During the time of the Charyapada, there was no single political entity known as the "Bangla State". There were fragmented settlements, various rulers, and isolated societies.

However, the vocabulary of the Charyapada brings forth: rivers, boats, agricultural life, and rural experiences. These word choices demonstrate that the people of this land shared uniform characteristics in their way of life.

Language thus became the medium of people's internal commonalities, the exchange of ideas, and expression. In other words, language creates a collective experience that eventually transforms into culture and tradition, and later takes on a political form.

Charyapada: Secret devotion and manifested reality

Many generally interpret the Charyapada as a collection of spiritual and mystical songs. Again, according to many, it contains tantra, sahajiya philosophy, and deep spirituality. But the surprising fact is that within this spiritual language, stories of the daily lives of ordinary people have also emerged.

As mentioned earlier, simple elements of human life are evident in the Charyapada: rivers and boats, agriculture and farming, birds, forests, nature, rural metaphors, and so on.

These elements are not merely allegories; they are the living, vivid depictions of the joys and sorrows of the people in the Bangla-speaking lands, not imaginary or literary metaphors but direct reality.

Across the centuries, the Charyapada has shown that spiritual pursuit and daily life can converge in a single language. Therefore, Charya was not a courtly, palatial, or elite language; it had become the "language of the soil and the people."

Language is the map of human identity

National identity begins with a single question: Who are we?

Our language provides the first answer to that question. This is because language teaches us to express how, what, and why the sounds of our laughter, tears, and love will be.

The vocabulary and syntax of the Charyapada are considered the oldest foundational layer of modern Bangla. The roots of this language were embedded in ancient Prakrit and Apabhramsa traditions, with which Sanskrit's phonetic, lexical, and grammatical influences were deeply intertwined.

The language in which the spiritual thoughts of the Buddhist Sahajiya ascetics were expressed was a creative synthesis of regional colloquialisms and Sanskrit-derived vocabulary. In subsequent centuries, the Bangla vocabulary was further enriched through contact with Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages — especially in the realms of administration, philosophy, spirituality, and literature.

Through medieval trade and colonial connections, Portuguese and, later, English and other European languages also added new dimensions to Bangla vocabulary. In this way, the primary language of the Charyapada was an open and receptive foundation that gradually matured and expanded as it assimilated multilingual influences.

The line of thought that was initiated a thousand years ago is still alive in our language today: not just in words, but in the mind as well. We can call it a mental map, where regions, nature, religious beliefs, folkways, and the influence of the outside world are woven together. It is upon this created and initiated map that Bangla literature, cultural heritage, social customs, and ultimately the solid foundation of national consciousness were built in the following centuries.

In other words, the Charyapada is not merely an ancient relic of language; it is the genesis of a multi-stream cultural journey, in the continuity of which today's Bangladeshi nationhood stands.

Non-state language, yet powerful

During the time of the Charya, the language was non-institutional. The Charya had no academy, no project for composing grammar, no grammarians, and no state language policy. Yet, the language was alive. This is because the power of a language comes from usage, experience, and emotion.

The Charyapada proves that the strength of a language does not stem from political recognition; it emerges from human internal needs and the expression of life. History shows that the political power of then-Pakistan also fiercely opposed the state recognition of the Bangla language. The language that people choose to express their deepest thoughts is the one that survives. The Charyapada is the ancient witness to that survival.

Charyapada: The cultural blueprint of future Bengal

The elements found in the language of the Charyapada have repeatedly resurfaced in the cultural currents of both Bengals and, now, Bangladesh: riverine life, an agrarian society, the blending of spirituality and folk reality, and the tradition of speaking in symbols.

Later, these formed the foundation of various streams and substreams of different religions in the Bengal delta, including mangalkavya, vaishnava padavali, folk songs, puthi, hamd, nath literature, and even baul philosophy.

Therefore, the Charyapada is not merely a literary inception; it is the cultural outline of Bangla civilisation and the Bangla language.

Language: The power of invisible unity

In the era of the Charyapada, people might not have considered themselves part of a "one nation". But they were thinking, speaking, singing, and expressing emotions in the same kind of language. This uniform language gradually forged an invisible unity.

Political unity can be forcibly imposed, but linguistic unity develops naturally, making it sustainable. In the centuries that followed, whenever external political pressure arrived, language-based unity repeatedly united the nation.

From Charyapada to consciousness: The beginning of continuity

Viewing the Charyapada simply as ancient poetry underestimates its impact. It is, in fact, the beginning of a long expedition.

To put it very briefly, this expedition can be called the evolutionary trajectory of language-based nationhood: Charyapada → development of folk language → literary tradition → cultural consciousness → language-based nationhood.

The core foundation is laid in the very first step of this continuum. Language creates a uniform emotional and mental world within people.

Concluding words of Part I: Language is the architecture of the nation's soul

Before building a house, a blueprint is created. The same applies to a nation.

Before political independence, state formation, and cultural awakening, a mental framework begins to take shape among people.

The language of the Charyapada is the first form of that framework.

Therefore, the Charyapada can be called the cornerstone of the architecture of the nation's soul. The early language teaches us that a nation's identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it is born from within.

The invisible bridge created in the language of the Charyapada is one of the foundations of today's Bangladesh over the subsequent thousand years.

In a word, the Charyapada is not merely Bangla literature; it is the initial driving force of Bangladesh's linguistic history.

Hence, the Bangla language itself is the first architecture of our nation's soul.

 

Writer: Commodore Syed Misbah Uddin Ahmad, (C), NUP, ndc, afwc, psc, BN (retd), Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development (BIMRAD). Email: misbah28686@gmail.com