The element of history is that which can establish a general historical truth on the basis of evidence. Today we will discuss about two elements of the history of Bengal.
Enrolled features:
Features written in historiography include literature, foreign accounts, documents, etc. Such as- Arthashastra of Kautilya, Rajatarangini of Kalhan, Aitarey Aranyak of Mahidas, Akbarnama of Abul Fazl, Riaz As Salatin of Golam Hossain Salim etc. The word 'Banga' is first mentioned in Aitareya Aranyaka. Akbar's courtier Abul Fazl had written a huge history book in 3 volumes called 'Akbarnama'. The name of the third volume of Akbarnama is Ain-i-Akbari. Abul Fazl used the Bengali word in Ain-i-Akbari.
Some information is available in the literary works of different countries at that time. For example, the book 'History of the First Century BC' by Sima Qian, the father of Chinese history, is an invaluable resource in Indian history. Minhaj-us-Siraj's Taqbat-i-Nasiri, written in french language , is one of the books on the history of the establishment of Muslim rule in Bengal.
Unwritten element:
The unwritten elements from which we get various information about the special time, place or person of Bengal is known as unwritten element of Bengal. Such as coins, inscriptions, pillars, copperplates, buildings etc. The history of Bengal written on copper plate is known as copper-inscription; In ancient time, kings used to engrave on copper leaf and give various announcements or instructions. Six such copperplates from the period of independent Bengal had been found.
So that's all for today. I have been studying about the history of Bengal. In my next articles, I would like to highlight about many more unknown history of Bengal, I hope you will stay with me.
Good work keep it up