King Shashanka was the first independent and sovereign ruler of the Gaud Empire in the 7th century and a unified state in the Bengal region. King Shashanka was the sole ruler of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa up to Bhubaneswar. Many historians also call him Gaudradhipati. He started Bangabda based on the solar calendar to commemorate the coronation of King Shashanka 1400 years ago today. On the first day of Bangabda, the first independent king of Bengal, Shashank, used to celebrate this day with his subjects through various festivals and arrangements around this coronation. That is why the twelve months of Bengali New Year are named after the stars. Visakha Nakshatra to Baisakh, Jayistha to Jayishta, Shar to Ashadha, Sravani to Shravan, Bhadrapad to Bhadra, Ashvaini to Ashwin, Kartika to Kartika, Agrahayana to Agrahayana, Pausya to Pausya, Falguni to Falgun and Chitra Nakshatra to Chaitra, so on. The month is named.
In the evolution of time, that revolution became history. Mughal rule began in India in the 16th century. The "Tarikh-e-Elahi" Hijri calendar was introduced by calculating the Arabic months based on the lunar calendar in the Mughal era. The names of the twelve months of "Tarikh-i-Elahir" were Qarbadin, Ardi, Bisua, Kordad, Thir, Amardad, Shahriar, Aban, Azur, Baham and Iskandar Miz. These words for the month are actually derived from Arabic and Persian words. But the Mughals and the subjects had problems in collecting taxes. During the administration of the Mughals, the Lunar year or Hijri year was followed for the collection of land and agricultural taxes in India at that time. Farmers cultivated on the basis of the solar year and the Mughal administration collected land and agricultural taxes on the basis of the lunar year. By following the lunar calendar, taxes could not be collected from the farmers at the time of collection because the common people would have lacked money at the beginning of the Hijri year. But the farmers are not hindered from paying the fair tax in cases where they have a supply of money at the beginning of the Bengal year after bringing home the crops in Navanna. Fatehullah Siraji, a famous astronomer of the Mughal Empire, was invited to the court of Emperor Akbar to solve this problem. He was asked to solve this problem by the order of the emperor. Fatehullah Siraji then created the rules of the Bengali year by combining the solar year (Bangabda) and the Hijri year. This year was named Fasli year for harvest and tax collection. Later it was changed to Bangla year from Bangabda. On the first day of Bengali year i.e. Pahela Boisakh, people used to come to the royal court to pay taxes. Sweets were distributed to them by Emperor Akbar and cultural programs were organized for the entertainment of the subjects.
This day of Mughal emperor Akbar's collection of subjects was transformed into the first day of the Bengali calendar as "Pahela Boisakh" as a symbol of the tradition and nobility of Bengali civilization. This festival is awakened in Bengali culture absolutely. This festival of Bengali New Year is celebrated irrespective of caste and religion. Although we still notice some differences regarding the observance of Pahela Boisakh. Pahela Boishakh is celebrated in West Bengal on 15th April according to the Hindu calendar. And in Bangladesh, Pahela Boisakh is celebrated on 14th April according to the Gregorian calendar according to the guidelines of Bangla Academy.
Pahela Boisakh Origin: Associated with the ancient Hindu New Year festival that corresponds to the Vikram calendar of Sanatan Dharma. Many historians believe that King Vikramaditya invented the Bengali calendar around 57 BC. However, many historians disagree about the emergence of Vikramaditya's Bengali calendar.
Since ancient times, Bengali New Year celebrations have been observed among different castes and religions in different parts of India. In the Indian state of Assam, Assamese people celebrate "Rangali Bihu" on this day, the beginning of the New Year. Bihu is a festival of rejoicing of the Assamese after harvesting the harvest which is similar to the Bengali New Year. Similarly, the Sikhs of India also celebrate a festival called "Boishakhi" on the first day of Boisakh. Similarly in Thailand, Varsh Baran is celebrated as "Festival of Water" or Pani Utsav which is called Sangkran in Thai language. We see the picture of celebrating the beginning of the year with a water festival among some of the ancient tribal communities of our country.
The modern Pahela Boisakh started in 1917 by worshiping the British for victory in the First World War. In the 21st century, we see a commercial trend in New Year celebrations. This age-old festival has no personality as before. Under the pressure of corporate culture and capitalism, Pahela Boishakh is nothing more than a means of business gain. Irrespective of caste, religion, caste, let the new day and the New Year begin with a happy passion by celebrating Pahela Boishakh together.