From al-Andalus to the Mughals: How empires become identity
4 HOUR(s)
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In Focus
From artificial intelligence to the artificial state: Is the trajectory inexorable?
7 October 2026
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In Focus
157th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi / Gandhi’s return to Noakhali
6 October 2026
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In Focus
Why does Tagore still trouble Bangladesh’s idea of ‘us’?
5 October 2026
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In Focus
Can Bangladesh make better use of its zakat money?
4 October 2026
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In Focus
Three revolutions that reshaped the world
2 October 2026
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In Focus
Paradise lost and found: Rediscovering early modern Bengal
1 October 2026
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In Focus
Unbound Mother: The making and remaking of Kaali in Bengal
30 September 2026
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In Focus
Do great leaders make history, or does history make them?
29 September 2026
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In Focus
Poison and cremation: A forensic history of colonial Bengal
28 September 2026
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In Focus
Ray and His Political Films
“Films cannot change society. They never have. Show me a film that changed society or brought about any change,” said master director Satyajit Ray in an interview for the American magazine Cineaste more than three decades ago.
9 May 2021
The early history of press freedom in Bengal
In mid-eighteenth century Mughal India, slowly but surely, the old was giving way to the new in complex ways.
2 May 2021
The myth of martial race: Seared into a schoolboy's memory!
The years 1968-1969, were a tumultuous period in the political history of the state of Pakistan. My father a Bengali civil servant from East Pakistan, was an official in the then central government in Islamabad.
18 April 2021
The End of Empire: The meanings of Jallianwala Bagh
It has often been said that Britain lost its empire the day when, one hundred [two] years ago, 55-year old Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, commanding a regiment of 50 Gurkha and Baluchi riflemen,
11 April 2021
Bengali Muslims and their identity: From fusion to confusion
One of the grand paradoxes facing Bangladeshis is expressed in the negotiations and contestations on the simple question about who they are, particularly in the context of the strains caused by the Universalist claims of their religion on the one hand and the particularist demands of their ethnicity and culture on the other.
4 April 2021
The Historian and the Riflemen
On the evening of the 25th of March of 1971, Yahya Khan, third President of Pakistan, was driven from an elegant, storied house at 22,
28 March 2021
The 1971 war, caste, citizenship and a war memorial in Tharparkar
Perhaps the only memorial for the martyrs of the 1971 war in Pakistan stands quietly and forgotten near the village Barach, about 25 kilometers southeast of Mithi, the desert district headquarters of Tharparkar.
27 March 2021
The birth of Bangladesh and nationality question in South Asia
The 1971 birth of Bangladesh transformed South Asian history by replacing religious nationalism with powerful linguistic nationalism.
21 March 2021
No student can be tortured, intimidated
The High Court yesterday observed that no student can be tortured, intimidated and pressurised physically or mentally as per an earlier directive of the court .
14 March 2021
When Gandhi's Salt March Rattled British Colonial Rule
Since the late-1910s, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had been at the forefront of India’s quest to shake off the yoke of British colonial domination, otherwise known as the “Raj.”
14 March 2021
One in three women endure abuse: WHO
One in three women have already suffered physical violence or sexual abuse, the World Health Organization said, warning that the coronavirus pandemic was deepening the problem.
10 March 2021
Why no dedicated rail carriages for women
The High Court, in a rule, yesterday asked the authorities why a special compartment should not be allocated for female passengers and separate reserved seats for children, physically challenged passengers, and senior citizens in every train for ensuring their privacy and security.
10 March 2021
Bhashani’s support for non-cooperation movement
Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani addressed a mass gathering at Paltan Maidan on March 9. In his address, he proclaimed full support to the ongoing non-cooperation movement and called upon the people to continue the struggle unless success was achieved.
8 March 2021
50 years later, the fight goes on
When speaking about our Liberation War of 1971, we often commend our freedom fighters for their sacrifices and bravery and condemn the then Pakistan army for inflicting inhumane torture on our innocent people, especially our women.
7 March 2021
26,695 rape cases filed in last 5 years
A total of 26,695 rape cases have been filed across the country in the past five years, said a short report submitted by the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to the High Court yesterday.
3 March 2021
Rohingya Relocation: Another 3,800 on way to Bhasan Char
The government is going to relocate around 3,800 more Rohingyas to Bhasan Char by tomorrow from different refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
2 March 2021
Louis Kahn's Capital Complexity
The National Capital Complex in Dhaka, designed by Louis Kahn, is an epic work in the annals of modern architecture. Even after sixty years of its conception, Kahn’s complex remains a wondrous phenomenon that is continuously renewing the purposes of architecture.
28 February 2021
Kahn's Journey to the National Assembly Building
What Einstein’s E=mc2 is for physicists, Louis I Kahn’s “Silence and Light” is for architects. Kahn’s lecture on “Silence and Light” in 1969, five years before his death, was the recapitulation of his collective thoughts based on metaphysical reasoning that he considered a key to his point of view, applicable to all works of art, including architecture.
28 February 2021
BENGALI TYPES AND THEIR FOUNDERS
While in London about the year 1770, William Bolts required some types for printing in Bengali. Such types were non-existent, and the type foundry of Joseph Jackson was engaged to prepare a font. In I773 or I774 he suddenly left for India, and the types remained behind.
21 February 2021
Old Bangla prose
The history of Bangla prose is generally described from the beginning of the nineteenth century. But most scholars agree that some examples of Bangla prose can be found from the sixteenth centuries.
20 February 2021