Origin 3

What is Pre-
History?
•Prehistory is a term used to describe the period
before written history. The term "prehistory" can be
used to refer to all time since the beginning of the
universe.
•Although the term is more often used to describe
periods when there was life on Earth and even more
commonly, to the time when human-like beings
appear on Earth.
•Human prehistory differs from history not only in
terms of its chronology but in the way it deals with
the activities of archaeological cultures rather than
named nations or individuals.
Prehistory is often subdivided by a three-age
system:
The Stone Ages:
• Paleolithic-- Old Stone Age.
• Mesolithic-- Middle Stone Age.
• Neolithic-- Late Stone Age, usually referring to the
beginnings of agriculture.
• Bronze Age-- use of copper and/or bronze tools.
• Iron Age – Use of Iron and Iron tools . The Iron Age
began around 2200 BC.
The line of demarcation between prehistoric
and historical times is crossed when people
cease to live only in the present, and become
consciously interested both in their past and in
their future.
History begins with the handing down of

tradition; and tradition means the carrying of
the habits and lessons of the past into the
future. Records of the past begin to be kept for
the benefit of future generations.
Early Settlement in Bengal
The land elevation pattern of Bengal acted as an important
factor in the initial stage of settlement development in the
area, since the greater part of the riverine, wet, and low-lying
plains must originally have consisted of forest and marsh and
were infested with killer animals throughout the prehistoric
period. Even in the historical past, a major part of the area
was initially unsuitable for human occupation.
The first reference to the country is in early Vedic literature.
Before the entry of the Aryans into the northwestern part of
this subcontinent (about 1000 BC), a number of population
groups were living in the Bengal Basin, including the areas
now forming Bangladesh.
Origin of Peoples
and Culture of
Bangladesh
Negritos The Negritos from
Africa were the earliest
people to inhabit India.
They are survived in their

original habitat in the
Andaman and Nicobar
Islands.
Some hill tribes like Irulas,

Kodars, Paniyans and
Kurumbas are found only in
patches among the hills of
south India on the mainland.
Pro-Australoids or Austrics: This group was
the next to come to India after the Negritos.
They represent a race of people, with wavy

hair plentifully distributed over their brown
bodies, long heads with low foreheads and
prominent eye ridges, noses with low and
broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and
teeth and small chins.
Austrics tribes, which are spread over the

whole of India, Myanmar and the islands of
South East Asia, are said to "form the
bedrock of the people".
The Austrics were the main builders of the

Indus Valley Civilisation. They cultivated rice
and vegetables and made sugar from
sugarcane.
Their language has survived in the Kol or

Munda (Mundari) in Eastern and Central
India.
Mongoloids: These people
have features that are common
to those of the people of
Mongolia, China and Tibet.
These tribal groups are located

in the Northeastern part of
India in states like Assam,
Nagaland and Meghalya and
also in Ladakh and Sikkim.
Generally, they are people of

yellow complexion, oblique
eyes, high cheekbones, sparse
hair and medium height.
Mediterranean or Dravidian: This group
came to India from the Southwest .
They are reputed to have built up the city

civilization of the Indus Valley, whose remains
have been found at Mohenjodaro and
Harappa and other Indus cities.
The Dravidians must have spread to the

whole of India, supplanting Austrics and
Negritos alike.
Dravidians comprise all the three sub-types,

Paleo-Mediterranean, the true
Mediterranean and Oriental Mediterranean.
This group constitutes the bulk of the
scheduled castes in the North India.
This group has a sub-type called Oriental

group.
Nordics: Nordics or Indo-Aryans are the last
immigrants into India.
Nordic Aryans were a branch of Indo-

Iranians, who had originally left their homes
in Central Asia, some 5000 years ago, and
had settled in Mesopotamia for some
centuries.
The Aryans must have come into India

between 2000 and 1500 B.C. Their first
home in India was western and northern
Punjab, from where they spread to the
Valley of the Ganga and beyond.
These tribes are now mainly found in the

Northwest and the Northwest Frontier
Province (NWFP). Many of these tribes
belong to the "upper castes".
The Kol or The Munda people are
an Adivasi ethnic group who
originated in the Chota Nagpur
Plateau region of north-east India.
They originally spoke the Mundari

language, which belongs to the
Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic
languages.
The Munda are found across

Jharkhand and in adjacent parts of
Assam, Odisha, West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh, Bihar and portions
of Bangladesh. The group is one of
India's largest tribes.
Origin of Bangla
Language
Bengali Language or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan
language spoken mostly in the East Indian
subcontinent. It has evolved from the Magadhi
Prakrit and Sanskrit languages and is the second
most spoken language in India.
Currently, the language belt of Bengali ranges

from Bangladesh to the Indian state of West
Bengal, Assam and Tripura. With about 230
million speakers spread all over the world, the
Bangla Language is also one of the most spoken
languages in the world
Bangla Language next to Assamese, Bangla (Bamla) is the easternmost of the
languages belonging to the Indo-European language family. This new Indo-Aryan
(NIA) language is historically related to Irish, english, French, Greek, Russian, persian
etc.
It takes its birth from a form of Prakrit or Middle Indo-Aryan to finally emerge from
the Apabhramsa in the tenth century.
The Bengali script has been derived from the Brahmi alphabet of the Ashokan
inscriptions (273 to 232BC).
History of Bengali language has been divided into three eras Old Bengali (950-1350),
Middle Bengali (1350-1800) and Modern Bengali (1800 to the present day). Old
Bengali is survived only through a collection of forty-eight poems (1050-1200) known
as the charva songs. These were composed by the siddhacharyas (enlightened ones)
who were mainly Buddhist.
Charyapada
It was written in an Abahatta that was the common ancestor of
Bengali, Assamese, Odia and Maithili between the 8th and 12th
centuries and it is said to be the oldest collection of verses
written in those languages.
A palm-leaf manuscript of the Charyapada was rediscovered in

the early 20th century by Haraprasad Shastri at the Nepal Royal
Court Library.
The language of Charyapada is rather symbolic in nature. So in

many cases the literal meaning of a word does not make any
sense. As a result, every poem has a descriptive or narrative
surface meaning but also encodes tantric Buddhist teachings.
Some experts believe this was to conceal sacred knowledge from

the uninitiated, while others hold that it was to avoid religious
persecution. An attempt was made to decipher the secret tantric
inheritance of Charyapada.

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What is Pre-

• Bronze Age-- use of copper and/or bronze tools.

History begins with the handing down of

They are survived in their

Some hill tribes like Irulas,

They represent a race of people, with wavy

Austrics tribes, which are spread over the

The Austrics were the main builders of the

Their language has survived in the Kol or

These tribal groups are located

Generally, they are people of

They are reputed to have built up the city

The Dravidians must have spread to the

Dravidians comprise all the three sub-types,

This group has a sub-type called Oriental

Nordic Aryans were a branch of Indo-

The Aryans must have come into India

These tribes are now mainly found in the

They originally spoke the Mundari

The Munda are found across

Currently, the language belt of Bengali ranges

A palm-leaf manuscript of the Charyapada was rediscovered in

The language of Charyapada is rather symbolic in nature. So in

Some experts believe this was to conceal sacred knowledge from

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