A search for history beneath the surface of folk rhymes/ লৌকিক ছড়ার অন্তরালে ইতিহাসের অনুসন্ধান

Abstract

Rhymes are identified as a mirror of social history. Rhymes often portray the history of common people, which is absent from mainstream historical narratives. Hidden within the rhythm and words of these rhymes lie the history of Bengali wedding processions, the Mall kings of Bishnupur, the Dom Sena of the feudal kings of Rajnagar, the history of buying and selling girls for money in various regions of India, the story of Mughal emperor Jahangir sending his general Man Singh to defeat Pratapaditya, one of Bengal’s twelve landlords, the Maratha invasions during the rule of Nawab Alivardi Khan, the Battle of Plassey, the arrival of the British, floods and droughts in Bengal, the Santal Rebellion, indigo cultivation, and ancient temples— each of which carries significant sociological and historical value.