Bengal

92 languages
 Article
 Talk
 Read
 Edit
 View history
Tools



















From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation).

This article contains Bengali text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or
other symbols.
 The Bengal region

Bengal in Asia

The Bengalophone zone.

Areas where it is a majority language.
Areas where it is a minority language.
 The Bay of Bengal
Bengal[a] (Bengali: বঙ্গ, romanized: Bôṅgo, pronounced [ˈbɔŋgo] ⓘ or Bengali: বাংলা, romanized
: Bāṅlā, pronounced [ˈbaŋlaˑ] ⓘ) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural
term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of
the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between modern-
day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. The Indian states
of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattishgarh and Tripura as well as the union
territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands have a sizeable Bengali population. A
large Bengali diaspora exists across the world. Bengali is the sixth-most spoken
language in the world.
The ancient Vanga Kingdom is widely regarded as the namesake of the Bengal
region.[3] The Bengali calendar dates back to the reign of Shashanka in the 7th
century. The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century. The Sena
dynasty and Deva dynasty ruled between the 11th and 13th centuries. By the 14th
century, Bengal was absorbed by Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent. An
independent Bengal Sultanate was formed and became the eastern frontier of
the Islamic world.[4][5][6] During this period, Bengal's rule and influence spread to
Assam, Arakan, Tripura, Bihar, and Orissa.[7][8] Bengal Subah later emerged as a
prosperous part of the Mughal Empire.
The last independent Nawab of Bengal was defeated in 1757 at the Battle of
Plassey by the East India Company. The company's Bengal Presidency grew into
the largest administrative unit of British India with Calcutta as the capital of both
Bengal and India until 1911. As a result of the first partition of Bengal, a short-lived
province called Eastern Bengal and Assam existed between 1905 and 1911 with its
capital in the former Mughal capital Dhaka. Following the Sylhet referendum and
votes by the Bengal Legislative Council and Bengal Legislative Assembly, the region
was again divided along religious lines in 1947.
Bengali culture, particularly its literature, music, art and cinema, are well known in
South Asia and beyond. The region is also notable for its economic and social
scientists, which includes several Nobel laureates. Once home to the city with the
highest per capita income level in British India,[9][10] the region is today a leader in
South Asia in terms of gender parity, the gender pay gap and other indices of human
development.[11][12][13][14][15]
Etymology[edit]
Main article: Names of Bengal
The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga (pronounced
Bôngô),[16][17] the earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in
the first millennium BCE.[17] The reference to 'Vangalam' is present in an inscription in
the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, which is one of the oldest references to
Bengal.[18] The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th-century South
Indian records.[19][20][21] The modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century,
which saw the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal, whose first
ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala.
[22]
The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery.[23]
History[edit]
Main article: History of Bengal
Antiquity[edit]
See also: Vanga Kingdom, Gauda Kingdom, Samatata, Pala Empire,
and Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
 Art of the Pala period from Dinajpur, 11th century. Ancient

Bengal was reputed for its war elephants Punch-marked

coin of the Vanga Kingdom, 400–300 BCE Atisa of Bikrampur

Neolithic sites have been found in several parts of the region.[24] In the second
millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities dotted the region. By the eleventh
century BCE, people in Bengal lived in systematically aligned homes, produced
copper objects, and crafted black and red pottery. Remnants of Copper
Age settlements are located in the region.[25] At the advent of the Iron Age, people in
Bengal adopted iron-based weapons, tools and irrigation equipment.[26] From
600 BCE, the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent as
part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture. Cities
in Mahasthangarh, Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar emerged.
The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for
communication and transportation.[27] Estuaries on the Bay of Bengal allowed
for maritime trade with distant lands in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.[27]
The ancient geopolitical divisions of Bengal
included Varendra, Suhma, Anga, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela. These regions
were often independent or under the rule of larger empires. The
Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription indicates that Bengal was ruled by the Mauryan
Empire in the 3rd century BCE.[28] The inscription was an administrative order
instructing relief for a distressed segment of the population.[28] Punch-marked
coins found in the region indicate that coins were used as currency during the Iron
Age.[29][30] The namesake of Bengal is the ancient Vanga Kingdom which was reputed
as a naval power with overseas colonies. A prince from Bengal
named Vijaya founded the first kingdom in Sri Lanka. The two most prominent pan-
Indian empires of this period included the Mauryans and the Gupta Empire. The
region was a centre of artistic, political, social, spiritual and scientific thinking,
including the invention of chess, Indian numerals, and the concept of zero.[31]
The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai.[32] The
Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its military strength and dominance of
the Ganges delta. The invasion army of Alexander the Great was deterred by the
accounts of Gangaridai's power in 325 BCE, including a cavalry of war elephants.
Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal. 1st century Roman
coins with images of Hercules were found in the region and point to trade links
with Roman Egypt through the Red Sea.[33] The Wari-Bateshwar ruins are believed to
be the emporium (trading centre) of Sounagoura mentioned by Roman
geographer Claudius Ptolemy.[34][35] A Roman amphora was found in Purba Medinipur
district of West Bengal which was made in Aelana (present-day Aqaba, Jordan)
between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.[36]
The first unified Bengali polity can be traced to the reign of Shashanka. The origins
of the Bengali calendar can be traced to his reign. Shashanka founded the Gauda
Kingdom. After Shashanka's death, Bengal experienced a period of civil war known
as Matsyanyayam.[37] The ancient city of Gauda later gave birth to the Pala Empire.
The first Pala emperor Gopala I was chosen by an assembly of chieftains in Gauda.
The Pala kingdom grew into one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent.
The Pala period saw advances in linguistics, sculpture, painting, and education. The
empire achieved its greatest territorial extent under Dharmapala and Devapala. The
Palas vied for control of Kannauj with the rival Gurjara-
Pratihara and Rashtrakuta dynasties. Pala influence also extended
to Tibet and Sumatra due to the travels and preachings of Atisa. The university
of Nalanda was established by the Palas. They also built the Somapura Mahavihara,
which was the largest monastic institution in the subcontinent. The rule of the Palas
eventually disintegrated. The Chandra dynasty ruled southeastern Bengal
and Arakan. The Varman dynasty ruled parts of northeastern Bengal and Assam.
The Sena dynasty emerged as the main successor of the Palas by the 11th century.
The Senas were a resurgent Hindu dynasty which ruled much of Bengal. The
smaller Deva dynasty also ruled parts of the region. Ancient Chinese visitors
like Xuanzang provided elaborate accounts of Bengal's cities and monastic
institutions.[38]
Muslim trade with Bengal flourished after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and
the Arab takeover of Persian trade routes. Much of this trade occurred with
southeastern Bengal in areas east of the Meghna River. Bengal was probably used
as a transit route to China by the earliest Muslims. Abbasid coins have been
discovered in the archaeological ruins of Paharpur and Mainamati.[39] A collection of
Sasanian, Umayyad and Abbasid coins are preserved in the Bangladesh National
Museum.[40]

 Ancient Bengal


Artefact found in Chandraketugarh

Ruins of Paharpur


 Mahasthangarh

Mainamati

Sultanate period[edit]
See also: Bengal Sultanate

Coin featuring a horseman issued by the Delhi

Sultanate celebrating the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti
 Chinese manuscript showing an African giraffe gifted
to China by the Sultan of Bengal on 20 September 1414

The Bengal Sultanate was an empire with

widespread maritime and mercantile links
In 1204, the Ghurid general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji began the Islamic
conquest of Bengal.[41] The fall of Lakhnauti was recounted by historians circa 1243.
Lakhnauti was the capital of the Sena dynasty. According to historical accounts,
Ghurid cavalry swept across the Gangetic plains towards Bengal. They entered the
Bengali capital disguised as horse traders. Once inside the royal compound,
Bakhtiyar and his horsemen swiftly overpowered the guards of the Sena king who
had just sat down to eat a meal. The king then hastily fled to the forest with his
followers.[42] The overthrow of the Sena king has been described as a coup d’état,
which "inaugurated an era, lasting over five centuries, during which most of Bengal
was dominated by rulers professing the Islamic faith. In itself this was not
exceptional, since from about this time until the eighteenth century, Muslim
sovereigns ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent. What was exceptional,
however, was that among India’s interior provinces only in Bengal—a region
approximately the size of England and Scotland combined—did a majority of the
indigenous population adopt the religion of the ruling class, Islam".[42] Bengal became
a province of the Delhi Sultanate. A coin featuring a horseman was issued to
celebrate the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti with inscriptions in Sanskrit and Arabic.
An abortive Islamic invasion of Tibet was also mounted by Bakhtiyar. Bengal was
under the formal rule of the Delhi Sultanate for approximately 150 years. Delhi
struggled to consolidate control over Bengal. Rebel governors often sought to assert
autonomy or independence. Sultan Iltutmish re-established control over Bengal in
1225 after suppressing the rebels. Due to the considerable overland distance, Delhi's
authority in Bengal was relatively weak. It was left to local governors to expand
territory and bring new areas under Muslim rule, such as through the Conquest of
Sylhet in 1303.
In 1338, new rebellions sprung up in Bengal's three main towns. Governors in
Lakhnauti, Satgaon and Sonargaon declared independence from Delhi. This allowed
the ruler of Sonargaon, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah, to annex Chittagong to the
Islamic administration. By 1352, the ruler of Satgaon, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah,
unified the region into an independent state. Ilyas Shah established his capital
in Pandua.[43] The new breakaway state emerged as the Bengal Sultanate, which
developed into a territorial, mercantile and maritime empire. At the time, the Islamic
world stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east.
The initial raids of Ilyas Shah saw the first Muslim army enter Nepal and stretched
from Varanasi in the west to Orissa in the south to Assam in the east.[44] The Delhi
army continued to fend off the new Bengali army. The Bengal-Delhi War ended in
1359 when Delhi recognised the independence of Bengal. Ilyas Shah's son Sikandar
Shah defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the Siege of Ekdala Fort. A
subsequent peace treaty recognised Bengal's independence and Sikandar Shah
was gifted a golden crown by the Sultan of Delhi.[45] The ruler of Arakan sought refuge
in Bengal during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah. Jalaluddin Muhammad
Shah later helped the Arakanese king to regain control of his throne in exchange for
becoming a tributary state of the Bengal Sultanate. Bengali influence in Arakan
persisted for 300 years.[46] Bengal also helped the king of Tripura to regain control of
his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state. The ruler of the Jaunpur
Sultanate also sought refuge in Bengal.[47] The vassal states of Bengal included
Arakan, Tripura, Chandradwip and Pratapgarh. At its peak, the Bengal Sultanate's
territory included parts of Arakan, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, and Tripura.[7] The Bengal
Sultanate experienced its greatest military success under Alauddin Hussain Shah,
who was proclaimed as the conqueror of Assam after his forces led by Shah Ismail
Ghazi overthrew the Khen dynasty and annexed large parts of Assam. In maritime
trade, the Bengal Sultanate benefited from Indian Ocean trade networks and
emerged as a hub of re-exports. A giraffe was brought by African envoys
from Malindi to Bengal's court and was later gifted to Imperial China. Ship-owing
merchants acted as envoys of the Sultan while travelling to different regions in Asia
and Africa. Many rich Bengali merchants lived in Malacca.[48] Bengali ships
transported embassies from Brunei, Aceh and Malacca to China. Bengal and
the Maldives had a vast trade in shell currency.[49] The Sultan of Bengal donated
funds to build schools in the Hejaz region of Arabia.[50]
The five dynastic periods of the Bengal Sultanate spanned from the Ilyas Shahi
dynasty, to a period of rule by Bengali converts, to the Hussain Shahi dynasty, to a
period of rule by Abyssinian usurpers; an interruption by the Suri dynasty; and ended
with the Karrani dynasty. The Battle of Raj Mahal and the capture of Daud Khan
Karrani marked the end of the Bengal Sultanate during the reign of Mughal
Emperor Akbar. In the late 16th-century, a confederation called the Baro-
Bhuyan resisted Mughal invasions in eastern Bengal. The Baro-Bhuyan included
twelve Muslim and Hindu leaders of the Zamindars of Bengal. They were led by Isa
Khan, a former prime minister of the Bengal Sultanate. By the 17th century, the
Mughals were able to fully absorb the region to their empire.

 Sultanate period


Adina Mosque

Mosque in the 15th century Bengal style by Sita Ram

 

Pathrail Mosque

Eklakhi Mausoleum

Mughal period[edit]
See also: Bengal Subah
 Mughal painting showing Emperor Akbar offering

prayers after the conquest of Bengal Art of

the Sundarbans showing a Ghazi riding a Bengal tiger

Art of Murshidabad. An ivory elephant tusk crafted

into a model of the Royal Peacock Barge of the Nawab of Bengal
Mughal Bengal had the richest elite and was the wealthiest region in the
subcontinent. Bengal's trade and wealth impressed the Mughals so much that it was
described as the Paradise of the Nations by the Mughal Emperors.[51] A new
provincial capital was built in Dhaka. Members of the imperial family were appointed
to positions in Mughal Bengal, including the position of governor (subedar). Dhaka
became a centre of palace intrigue and politics. Some of the most prominent
governors included Rajput general Man Singh I, Emperor Shah Jahan's son
Prince Shah Shuja, Emperor Aurangzeb's son and later Mughal emperor Azam
Shah, and the influential aristocrat Shaista Khan. During the tenure of Shaista Khan,
the Portuguese and Arakanese were expelled from the port of Chittagong in 1666.
Bengal became the eastern frontier of the Mughal administration. By the 18th
century, Bengal became home to a semi-independent aristocracy led by the Nawabs
of Bengal.[52] Bengal premier Murshid Quli Khan managed to curtail the influence of
the governor due to his rivalry with Prince Azam Shah. Khan controlled Bengal's
finances since he was in charge of the treasury. He shifted the provincial capital from
Dhaka to Murshidabad.
In 1717, the Mughal court in Delhi recognised the hereditary monarchy of the Nawab
of Bengal. The ruler was officially titled as the "Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa",
as the Nawab ruled over the three regions in the eastern subcontinent. The Nawabs
began issuing their own coins but continued to pledge nominal allegiance to the
Mughal emperor. The wealth of Bengal was vital for the Mughal court because Delhi
received its biggest share of revenue from the Nawab's court. The Nawabs presided
over a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity, including an era of
growing organisation in textiles, banking, a military-industrial complex, the production
of fine quality handicrafts, and other trades. A process of proto-industrialisation was
underway. Under the Nawabs, the streets of Bengali cities were filled with brokers,
workers, peons, naibs, wakils, and ordinary traders.[53] The Nawab's state was a
major exporter of Bengal muslin, silk, gunpowder and saltpetre. The Nawabs also
permitted European trading companies to operate in Bengal, including the British
East India Company, the French East India Company, the Danish East India
Company, the Austrian East India Company, the Ostend Company, and the Dutch
East India Company. The Nawabs were also suspicious of the growing influence of
these companies.
Under Mughal rule, Bengal was a centre of the worldwide muslin and silk trades.
During the Mughal era, the most important centre of cotton production was Bengal,
particularly around its capital city of Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in
distant markets such as Central Asia.[54] Domestically, much of India depended on
Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans
depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks and opium; Bengal
accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example, including more than
50% of textiles and around 80% of silks.[55] From Bengal, saltpetre was also shipped
to Europe, opium was sold in Indonesia, raw silk was exported to Japan and the
Netherlands, cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe, Indonesia, and Japan,
[56]
cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean.[57] Bengal also
had a large shipbuilding industry. In terms of shipbuilding tonnage during the 16th–
18th centuries, economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates the annual output of Bengal
at 223,250 tons, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North
America from 1769 to 1771.[58]
Since the 16th century, European traders traversed the sea routes to Bengal,
following the Portuguese conquests of Malacca and Goa. The Portuguese
established a settlement in Chittagong with permission from the Bengal Sultanate in
1528, but were later expelled by the Mughals in 1666. In the 18th-century, the
Mughal Court rapidly disintegrated due to Nader Shah's invasion and internal
rebellions, allowing European colonial powers to set up trading posts across the
territory. The British East India Company eventually emerged as the foremost
military power in the region; and defeated the last independent Nawab of Bengal at
the Battle of Plassey in 1757.[52]
  Mughal Bengal


Lukachari Gateway

Lalbagh Fort

Ruins of Katra Masjid

 

Nimtali arch

Colonial era (1757–1947)[edit]

Main article: Bengal Presidency

Victoria Memorial in Calcutta

The Battle of Plassey in 1757 ushered British rule

The British East India Company began influencing and controlling the Nawab of
Bengal from 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, thus signalling the start of British
influence in India. British control of Bengal increased between 1757 and 1793 while
the Nawab was reduced to a puppet figure.[59] with the Presidency of Fort
William asserting greater control over the entire province of Bengal and neighbouring
territories. Calcutta was named the capital of British territories in India in 1772. The
presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army, and
had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Between 1833 and 1854, the Governor
of Bengal was concurrently the Governor-General of India for many years.
Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule (notably the Great
Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943).[60][61] Under British rule, Bengal
experienced the deindustrialisation of its pre-colonial economy.[62]
Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry.[63] The
capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the
emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, in industries such as textile
manufacturing.[62][64] Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox
epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which is estimated to have
caused the deaths of between 1 million and 10 million people.[65][66][67][68]
In 1862, the Bengal Legislative Council was set up as the first modern legislature in
India. Elected representation was gradually introduced during the early 20th century,
including with the Morley-Minto reforms and the system of dyarchy. In 1937, the
council became the upper chamber of the Bengali legislature while the Bengal
Legislative Assembly was created. Between 1937 and 1947, the chief executive of
the government was the Prime Minister of Bengal.
The Bengal Presidency was the largest administrative unit in the British Empire. At
its height, it covered large parts of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma,
Malaysia, and Singapore. In 1830, the British Straits Settlements on the coast of
the Malacca Straits was made a residency of Bengal. The area included the
erstwhile Prince of Wales Island, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore.[69] In
1867, Penang, Singapore and Malacca were separated from Bengal into the Straits
Settlements.[69] British Burma became a province of India and a later a Crown
colony in itself. Western areas, including the Ceded and Conquered
Provinces and The Punjab, were further reorganised. Northeastern areas
became Colonial Assam.
In 1876, about 200,000 people were killed in Bengal by the Great Backerganj
Cyclone of 1876 in the Barisal region.[70] About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to
massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920, mostly in
western Bengal.[71]
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to
Dhaka, Chittagong, Jalpaiguri, Sylhet and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North
India. The failure of the rebellion led to the abolition of the Company Rule in
India and establishment of direct rule over India by the British, commonly referred to
as the British Raj. The late 19th and early 20th century Bengal Renaissance had a
great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal and started a great advance
in the literature and science of Bengal. Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt
was made to divide the province of Bengal into two: Bengal proper and the short-
lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam where the All India Muslim League was
founded.[72] In 1911, the Bengali poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore became
Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in
which revolutionary groups were dominant. Armed attempts to overthrow the British
Raj began with the rebellion of Titumir, and reached a climax when Subhas Chandra
Bose led the Indian National Army against the British. Bengal was also central in the
rising political awareness of the Muslim population—the All-India Muslim
League was established in Dhaka in 1906. The Muslim homeland movement pushed
for a sovereign state in eastern India with the Lahore Resolution in 1943. Hindu
nationalism was also strong in Bengal, which was home to groups like the Hindu
Mahasabha. In spite of a last-ditch effort by politicians Huseyn Shaheed
Suhrawardy, Sarat Chandra Bose to form a United Bengal,[73] when India gained
independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines.[74] The western
joined India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as
a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan, giving rise to
Bangladesh in 1971). The circumstances of partition were bloody, with widespread
religious riots in Bengal.[74][75]

 Colonial Bengal


Chittagong circa 1703

Hugli-Chuchura, 1787


 Victoria Memorial and St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata

Dhaka in 1861

Partition of Bengal (1947)[edit]

The Kotwali Gate marks the border between West

Bengal and Bangladesh on the Chapai Nawabganj-Malda side
Main article: Partition of Bengal (1947)
See also: United Bengal, History of Bangladesh, and History of West Bengal
On 27 April 1947, the last Prime Minister of Bengal Huseyn Shaheed
Suhrawardy held a press conference in New Delhi where he outlined his vision for an
independent Bengal. Suhrawardy said "Let us pause for a moment to consider what
Bengal can be if it remains united. It will be a great country, indeed the richest and
the most prosperous in India capable of giving to its people a high standard of living,
where a great people will be able to rise to the fullest height of their stature, a land
that will truly be plentiful. It will be rich in agriculture, rich in industry and commerce
and in course of time it will be one of the powerful and progressive states of the
world. If Bengal remains united this will be no dream, no fantasy".[76] On 2 June
1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee told the US Ambassador to the United
Kingdom that there was a "distinct possibility Bengal might decide against partition
and against joining either Hindustan or Pakistan".[77]
On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India. On 20
June, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide on the partition of Bengal. At
the preliminary joint meeting, it was decided (126 votes to 90) that if the province
remained united, it should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. At a separate
meeting of legislators from West Bengal, it was decided (58 votes to 21) that the
province should be partitioned and West Bengal should join the Constituent
Assembly of India. At another meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was
decided (106 votes to 35) that the province should not be partitioned and (107 votes
to 34) that East Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan if Bengal
was partitioned.[78] On 6 July, the Sylhet district of Assam voted in a referendum to
join East Bengal.
The English barrister Cyril Radcliffe was instructed to draw the borders of Pakistan
and India. The Radcliffe Line created the boundary between the Dominion of
India and the Dominion of Pakistan, which later became the Bangladesh-India
border. The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of
Pakistan, although the historic Bengali capitals of Gaur, Pandua, Murshidabad and
Calcutta fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan. Dhaka's status as a
capital was also restored.
Geography