| Part ofa series on the |
| Culture of Bangladesh |
|---|
.svg) |
|
Monuments |
ABengali Kissa (Bengali:বাংলা কিসসা/কিচ্ছা,romanized: Bangla Kissa/Kiccha), also known as Keccha (Bengali:কেচ্ছা),[1] is a genre ofBengali poetry and prose as well as a tradition in theBengali language of oral story-telling. It started flourishing in Bengal with the fusion of local Bengali folklore and stories from theArab andTurco-Persian immigrants.[2] The art form remains popular amongst the rural Muslim communities ofBangladesh.
WhereKissa reflect anIslamic and/orPersian heritage of transmitting popular tales of love, valour, honour and moral integrity amongstMuslims, they matured out of the bounds of religion into a more secular form when it reached Bengal and added the existing pre-IslamicBengali culture andfolklore to its entity.
The wordKissa originates from theArabic wordQissa (قصه) meaning ‘epic legend’ or ‘folk tale’. It has influenced many languages of theIndian subcontinent and occurs as a regularcommon noun inIndo-Aryan languages likeBengali,Gujarati,Urdu andHindi. If used informally, the word means an ‘interesting tale’ or ‘fable’.
Kissa is said to have gained immense popularity inBengal from the 15th century onward.Bengali Muslim writers would mix Perso-Arab themes of love, war, religion and valour into their Kissas. TheDobhashi dialect of Bengali was a popular standard for writing. It was heavily influenced in vocabulary byPersian, the official language ofMughal Bengal and theBengal Sultanate (which preceded British colonial Bengal). The nineteenth century hosted the establishment of many Kissa publishing companies acrossBengal, in particular the printing presses atBattala. Literary societies were being founded such as theMussalmani Kissa Sahitya inHowrah.[3] Towards the start of the twentieth century however, Kissa had lost its popularity. It is considered to have lost popularity alongside the Dobhashi dialect as the Standard variant of Bengali (Shadhu-bhasha), which was highlySanskritised, became more institutionalised. This is evident in later Kissas such asMir Mosharraf Hossain'sBishad Shindhu, based on the traditional Bengali kissa about theBattle of Karbala, which he wrote in the late 19th century in SanskritisedShadhu-bhasha instead of PersianisedDobhashi.[4]
Written Bengalikissas became household items inBengali Muslim families. Shah Muhammad Sagir'sYusuf-Zulekha from the 15th century was considered to be the greatest work of medieval Bengali literature.[5]Bahram Khan of Chittagong made his own version ofLaila and Majnun which he called "Laily-Majnu". In nearbySatkania, the poet Nawazish Khan, son of Muhammad Yar Khandakar, wrote Gule Bakawali which was also about love and included creatures such asfairies. Many different versions of the stories mentioned were written by the poets of Bengal. Other famous Kissas include Amir Hamza, Madhumalati,Farhad and Shirin, Tutinama,Hatemtai, Sakhi Sona,Jangnama, Alif-Laila wa Laila and Gule Tarmuz. Notable writers, other than those listed above, included Syed Hamza, Naser Ali, Roushan Ali and Fakir Shah Garibullah.[2]
