The New Knowledge System Regarding the Idea of Community and Power-Structures of Society: The Bengali Narrative Ballads of Maimansingha Gitika

Abstract

Circulation and reception of various national literatures, particularly significant texts and literary traditions in minority languages such as Bengali, are often neglected by the scholarly community and literary institutions. This creates an incomplete view of world literature, which should encompass the wholeness or totality of literature from different geographical locations. In an effort to minimize this gap, this research article explores the popular collection of Bengali narrative ballads, Maimansingha Gitika, compiled by Dineshchandra Sen. Most of the collected narrative ballads were composed between the 16th and early 18th century, yet this prime text is largely unavailable to readers and unobtainable to experts in politico-cultural and historical contexts. Using the concept of community and new historicism, this article analyzes two narrative ballads from Maimansingha Gitika, offering critical insights into the power structures of society and the new knowledge systems surrounding the concept of community. Through this analysis, the article highlights the importance of including prime texts in different national languages to inform the scholarly community about the rich literary traditions and relationality of knowledge extracted from minority languages to contemporary Euro-American knowledge structures.