Maimansingha Gitika
Encyclopedia
Maimansingha gitika or Môemonshingha gitika is a collection of folk
ballad
s from the region of Mymensingh
, Bangladesh
. They were published in English as Eastern Bengal Ballads. The primary theme of the ballads is love
in its different aspects: pre-nuptial love, marital love and extra-marital love and the resultant family and social conflicts.
Chandra Kumar De and Dinesh Chandra Sen
collected the songs, and Dinesh Chandra Sen was the editor; the collection was published by the University of Calcutta
, along with another similar publication named Purbabanga-gitika.
It is assumed that some of the songs were composed between the late 16th century and early 18th century. In the course of time, the ballads underwent some transformation. The increasing use of Arabic
and Persian
vocabulary in some ballads indicate their periods of composition. Mansur Bayati, the Muslim poet among the composers, is believed to have composed "Dewan Madina" around the 18th century.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s from the region of Mymensingh
Mymensingh
Mymensingh , pronounced moy-mon-shing-haw, is a city of Bangladesh situated on the river Brahmaputra. It is the headquarters of the administrative unit Mymensingh District. Mymensingh is the anglicized pronunciation of the original name Momenshahi, referring to a ruler called Momen Shah. The cadet...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. They were published in English as Eastern Bengal Ballads. The primary theme of the ballads is love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
in its different aspects: pre-nuptial love, marital love and extra-marital love and the resultant family and social conflicts.
Chandra Kumar De and Dinesh Chandra Sen
Dinesh Chandra Sen
Rai Bahadur Dinesh Chandra Sen was an Indian writer in Bengali, educationist and researcher of Bengali folklore...
collected the songs, and Dinesh Chandra Sen was the editor; the collection was published by the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
, along with another similar publication named Purbabanga-gitika.
It is assumed that some of the songs were composed between the late 16th century and early 18th century. In the course of time, the ballads underwent some transformation. The increasing use of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
vocabulary in some ballads indicate their periods of composition. Mansur Bayati, the Muslim poet among the composers, is believed to have composed "Dewan Madina" around the 18th century.