Why Bengal became Muslim Country?

This question is very much eating my head for very long time. I tried finding root cause of this from many angles. As I explore the answer, I may sound a bit prejudiced against the Bengalis. But it is a complex question and not an easy answer to find.

Firstly why this question at all?

India was attacked on the North Western gates and most of those regions became Muslim majority over many centuries. Later most of the Deccan was ruled by Bahamanis, North was ruled by the Mughals, and east by the Nawabs. But still most of India was Hindu Majority due its inherent nature of freedom loving people and fighting spirit of the people for freedom. But Bengal being Far East of India became Muslim Majority. How? Why?

The Punjabis, Pathans, Jats bore the brunt of maximum onslaught of Islam aggressors. Over many decades, many of the provinces on the western front of India lost out. Then while the cunning British left the country, they vivisected the nation on religious lines and left most of the Punjab, North-Western Frontier & Sindh in the hands of the brutes to convert the rest of the people to Islam.

On the Bengal side however, most regions were already converted. There wasn’t so much resistance, mass migration across the divided Bengal as we hear about it on the Punjab side. Why? Did they accept the division without a fuss? It was the Bengal Division in 1905 which gave rise to a great revolution nationwide. It brought entire nation together with such force, that British had to withdraw that division then. But in 1947, the division happened with least resistance. How & Why?

Is there a lack of Devotion in Common Bengali?

Bengal has given great leaders to our nation. Bengal was the hot bed of revolution during the British oppression. Vande Mataram originated from there. Great spiritual leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Pramahamsa came in Bengal. Great political leaders like Arabindo Ghosh, Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bipin Chandra Pal came to the forefront. Literary genius like Bankima Chandra, Eeshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar ignited the minds of the people. They aroused Nationalism amongst many million Indians. Then what happened? Look at today’s leaders they have!!!!

I wonder if the leaders were left with no followers. Is there a lack of following there? Does the common man show indifference when a great leader arises in Bengal? Is there a lack of devotion? Is there a lack of common-conscience of recognizing a good man and following him? Is there inhibition to follow a good man? Is it below self-esteem and dignity to follow anyone?

Two reasons why I ponder on these questions.

One: Mocking Culture: Most Bengali friends I have come across are mockers of the world. They mock at PM, CM, all political leaders, all religious leaders, all religions, all people around them, all rituals, festivals. Few exceptions are there. But generally they take high pride in mocking at the world at large. A commoner doesn’t have any personal following. There is no personal Guru. It is considered retrograde to fall at feet of anyone. When a good-man comes across a common Bengali will be the first to doubt his goodness.

These are absolutely my very personal opinion with some limited exposure to a common Bengali. But reading in great deal of Swami Vivekananda, Arabindo Ghosh & Nethaji, I sincerely wish to be proven wrong in my reading a common Bengali.

Two: Lack of devotion in a common Bengali. Swami Vivekananda started Ramakrishna Mutt in Kolkata. Today we see more of those mutts in Karnataka and Tamilnadu than in Bengal. Why? Is there a lack of following by the common man there? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started Krishna Bhakti movement in Bengal. It has gone on to great heights throughout the world branched by ISKCON. The world is following, but Bengal has lost it. Very few mutts & temples by his followers dot the Bengal now.

Elsewhere:

A similar Bhakti movement based on Bhagavatha philosophy started by Vaishnavaites in Karnataka around the same period. It lead to Haridasa Sahithya, Karnataka Sangeetha, Bharata Natyam etc., There are more than 2 dozen mutts of Vaishnava order which are carrying on those philosophies like Raghavendra Swami Mutt, Udupi Ashta Mutts etc., The followers are common people like us. For example in Bangalore alone there are more than 50 Raghavendra Swami Mutts. Who is building them & sustaining them? What drives these people? When a good Swamiji comes across, we follow with utmost devotion with no inhibition. There are a lot of Lingayat Mutts, Shaiva Mutts dotted all over the Deccan. There is a great following with deep devotion by the common people. Highly educated people with Modern education also follow with deep devotion. Some of us call it blind following, stupidity etc., but that doesn’t deter a follower who sees a great devotion in the righteousness.

When a Sri Sri Ravishankar comes across, there is a great following. Some call him fraud. But the people who follow him are undeterred, just put their head down and involve in great services launched by him towards Lake Rejuvenation, River Cleaning, Heritage revival, Medical & educational services, Philosophical research, Bhakti movement etc.,

So when a good man comes across there is a good “number” of people following to construct the nation under his guidance across India. All anti-social activities like faith conversion, drugs, alcoholism automatically get sidelined.

But that kind of devotion seems to be lacking in Bengal amongst common man. A sense of righteousness is lacking amongst the common people in Bengal. When a good-man comes across, people show indifference in Bengal. So they get Didi kind of leaders “left” with and they happily loathe about them.

How do the converted react in different parts of India?

There is a deeply researched book on the spread of Islam in India by K.S. Lal. He says, the upper caste people who got converted first in the Bengal region in early periods, did more damage by their hegemony. The poor were left with no choice but to adopt Islam. Swami Vivekananda seeing this famously said “A converted Muslim is not just a loss to the Hindu but an enemy to the Hindu”

KS Lal further compares, that in South in many places, the upper caste converts under threat, didn’t enforce further conversions and they suffered in silos. In some cases, they even returned to their parent faith after the aggressor went away.

Unflinching Love of Language of Bengali

One thing that holds them all together is their Language. Their love of the language is unflinching. While we in Karnataka struggle to retain Kannada as a language in schools, Bengalis don’t find it so hard. In fact their Bangladesh independence movement from Pakistan was led by the love of their language itself.

I just wish the great nation of Sonar Bangla returns to its past glory. And the common man develops a great devotion to the right good-man who always comes across every decade in every region.