World Sylhet Convention বিশ্ব সিলেট সম্মেলন | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Cultural festival |
Country | worldwide |
Inaugurated | 2014 |
Most recent | 2020 |
Organized by | Jalalabad Association |
The World Sylhet Convention (Bishsho Silet Shommelon) is an annual cultural convection by the Sylhetis residing in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, India, Bangladesh and other places. [1] The conference is a symposium of the culture of Sylhet, focusing on the region's food, traditions, language, dance, music, talent and success stories. [2] The contribution of Sylhet to the development of Bangladesh is also presented. [3] The main theme of this convention is to unite Sylhetis from all over the world and connecting them generation to generation. [4] The main program is classified into many events such as traditional Dhamail dance, Manipuri dance, drama, semenner on different topics and so on. [5] Besides cultural events and semenner, the cuisine of Sylhet and various items of clothing including traditional Manipuri weaving in Sylhet is also featured. [6]
The Sylheti people had been organizing a social development program and conference called 'Sylhet Convention’' until the partition of India-Pakistan in 1947 to preserve the heritage and culture. [7] Following its roote, the South Kolkata Sylhet Association started a program called Sylhet Festival in the 2010s in Kolkata. Jalalabad Association, Dhaka organized the first International Sylhet Festival in 2014 to strengthen the relations between the residents of Sylhet region living in different countries of the world. [8] International Sylhet Festival was held in Dhaka and Sylhet on a grand stage organized by the Jalalabad Association Dhaka in 2017. [9] [10] In continuation, the World Sylhet Convention was held in New York City next year by the Jalalabad Association of America. A three-day World Sylhet Festival was held in Kolkata in 2019 in the continuation of New York and Toronto convention. [6]
The World Sylhet Conference is a forum for Sylheti speakers without boundaries. [2]
Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by an estimated 11 million people, primarily in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, Barak Valley of Assam, and northern parts of Tripura in India. Besides, there are substantial numbers of Sylheti speakers in the Indian states of Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland as well as diaspora communities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the Middle East.
Sylhet Division is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of Chittagong to the southwest and Dhaka and Mymensingh to the west. Prior to the Partition in 1947, it included Karimganj subdivision. However, Karimganj was inexplicably severed from Sylhet by the Radcliffe Boundary Commission. According to Niharranjan Ray, it was partly due to a plea from a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.
Sylhet is a metropolitan city located in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. It is the administrative center of Sylhet Division. It is situated on the banks of the Surma River. The city has a population of approximately 700,000 people, making it the fifth-largest city in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi cuisine has been shaped by the region's history and river-line geography. Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate. The staple of Bangladesh is rice and fish. The majority of Bangladeshi people are ethnic Bengali, accustomed to Bengali cuisine, with a minority of non-Bengalis, many used to cuisines from different traditions and regions. Bangladeshi cooking features more meat dishes than the cuisine of neighbouring West Bengal, India.
Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nāgarī, known in classical manuscripts as Sylhet Nagri as well as by many other names, is an Indic script of the Brahmic family. The script was historically used in areas of Bengal and Assam that were east of the Padma, primarily in the eastern part of the Sylhet region, to document Muslim religious poetry known as puthis; having no presence in formal documentations. In the course of the 20th century, it has lost much ground to the standardised Eastern Nagari script. Printing presses for Sylheti Nagri existed as late as into the 1970s, and in the 2000s, a Unicode font was created for the script.
Companiganj is an upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Sylhet Sadar is an upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh.
The national language and official language of Bangladesh is Bangla according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Almost 99% of Bangladeshis speak Bengali as their first language. Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 made it mandatory to use Bengali in all government affairs except in the cases of foreign relations. According to a 2022 census, Bengali is predominantly spoken by 99% of the country's population and it also serves as the national language of the nation. The indigenous people of northern and southeastern Bangladesh speak a variety of native languages. According to the Ethnologue, there are 36 indigenous living languages, which include 17 Tibeto-Burman, 10 Indo-Aryan, 7 Austroasiatic and 2 Dravidian languages in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has 44 indigenous languages according to Professor Shameem Reza.
Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University is a government-financed public university of Bangladesh. It is also known as JKKNIU or Nazrul University. It is located at Namapara-Battala, Trishal which is a suburb of Mymensingh, some 22 kilometres from Mymensingh urban center.The university was established in 2006. At present more than eight thousand students are studying in the university.
British Bangladeshis are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom, through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term can also refer to their descendants. Bengali Muslims have prominently been migrating to the UK since the 1940s. Migration reached its peak during the 1970s, with most originating from the Sylhet Division. The largest concentration live in east London boroughs, such as Tower Hamlets. This large diaspora in London leads people in Sylhet to refer to British Bangladeshis as Londoni.
The Sylheti or Sylhetis are an Indo-Aryan ethnocultural group that are associated with the Sylhet region. There are strong diasporic communities in Barak Valley of Assam, India, North Tripura, as well as in rest of Bangladesh and northeast India. They speak Sylheti, an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that is considered "a distinct language by many and a dialect of Bengali by some others".
The economy of Sylhet is the 5th largest in the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. It has a gross state product of $16 billion in nominal terms, and $40 billion in terms of purchasing power parity, making it the third largest behind Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi. Since the formation of Bangladesh, Sylhet has been regarded as the spiritual and cultural center of the country, and often termed as the agricultural capital of Bangladesh. Due to vast natural resources and emerging metropolitan, Sylhet is a major economic hub of the country alongside Dhaka and Chittagong. In recent years, Sylhet is experiencing major infrastructural developments, and projected to be the forefront of Bangladesh's economic growth. Sylhet is known for its tea plantations. About 80% of the country's agar processing factories are located in Barlekha Upazila.
Syed Abdul Majid, CIE, also known by his nickname Kaptan Miah, was a politician, lawyer and entrepreneur. He is notable for pioneering the development in the agricultural and tea industry in British India as well as his contributions to both secular and Islamic education in Sylhet.
Mohammad Asaddor Ali, was a Bangladeshi writer, researcher and historian. His research primarily focused on the history of Sylhet. Due to his achievements, he was awarded the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2004. His research discovered unknown information about Sylheti folk literature, and he wrote 19 books relating to it.
A. N. M. Yusuf was a Bangladesh Muslim League politician, poet, writer and the former Member of Parliament of Moulvibazar-2.
Beef Hatkhora or Internationally known as Sylheti Beef; is a part of Bengali cuisine consisting of rice, satkara citrus, and beef curry. Whilst having its origins in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, the dish has now gained popularity across the country and among the British Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom. At the time of Eid-ul-Adha, it is a famous dish. The presence of a citrus fruit makes the dish unique among Bangladeshi curries in terms of taste and aroma. A soupy variant of the dish is made with the bones of cow feet, and in other variants, the beef is sometimes replaced with fish or other meats.
The Laleng, also known as the Patra are a small indigenous ethnolinguistic group primarily living deep in the forests of Sylhet District and Moulvibazar District in Bangladesh. They speak the endangered Laiunghtor language. There are diaspora communities in the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya. Most people living in Sylhet are even unaware of the existence of this minority community, although their presence dates back centuries, as they choose to stay hidden in the deep forests.
Zobeda Khanom Chowdhury, also known as Zobeda Rahim Chowdhury, was one among the leading woman who partook in the Bengali language movement from Sylhet and a pioneering women in Bangladeshi politics.
The Manipuri Language Festival, also known as the Meitei Language Festival or the Manipuri Bhasha Utsav, is an annual language festival dedicated to the promotion and the development of the Manipuri Meitei language, Meitei script, and Meitei culture in Bangladesh. The event is organised by the Bangladesh Manipuri Literary Society.
The Meitei language, or Manipuri language, is a minority language in Bangladesh. It is spoken by around 15,000 ethnic Manipuris, mainly concentrated in the Sylhet Division. The Meitei language is also a second language for Bishnupriyas in Bangladesh.