Nitish Sengupta
Penguin Books India,
656 pages with 4 pages of illustrations, R650
The confluence of two major river systems, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, created the delta of Bengal—a land known as a centre of trade, learning and the arts from the days of the Mahabharata through the span of ancient dynasties. During the medieval era, Muslim dynasties introduced a unique culture. The 18th-century colonial conquest opened the modern chapter of Bengal’s history. The author traces the formation of Bengali identity through the Bengal Renaissance, the growth of nationalist politics and Partition.