Among Bangladesh’s ancient and marginalised communities, the Bede occupy a significant place. Their distinctive way of life, culture, and language have shaped a unique identity. Yet it can be said that little to no research has been conducted on the Bede language using linguistic methods. This is despite the fact that the language of the nearly extinct Bede community holds considerable historical and linguistic significance.

Researchers have offered various interpretations of the term “Bede”. Some of these explanations are derogatory, while others are appreciative. Samarendranath Mollick states: “…they are non-Aryan. Through contact with various communities, certain influences of Aryan religion and culture have affected them. Yet in terms of nature worship, attire, and behaviour, they still remain at a primitive, wild stage. They speak their own language, perform snake charming, and sell the roots of various medicinal plants…”. Before the establishment of Vedic civilisation, those who had taken initiation from Vedic practitioners were ostracised by local orthodox groups and labelled as ‘Bede’.

Rabi Chakrabarty and Kalim Khan argue that “through the establishment of the Daksha Yajna, the Vedic practitioners founded Vedic civilisation in India. But long before that, those who had abandoned the primitive communal society dispersed to various places while preserving their own language and culture.” According to this view, the Bede are essentially recognised as members of the ancient indigenous or primitive communal society. The early Vedic period is generally considered to span from 1800 BCE to 1000 BCE. By that measure, the history of the Bede’s nomadic life in Bengal dates back approximately three and a half to four thousand years.

Settlements of the Bede Community

As Bangladesh is a riverine country, the presence of the Bede can be observed almost everywhere. They generally live on boats or set up temporary tents on government-owned land. In some places, they are seen living in small huts known as toila. Typically, their settlements are located along riverbanks or near marketplaces. Large numbers of Bede live across regions such as Dhaka, Manikganj, Sunamganj, Munshiganj, Chandpur, Madaripur, Barishal, Netrokona, Jashore, Khulna, and Natore.

Anthropological and linguistic identity

From an anthropological perspective, the Bede community belongs to the Proto-Australoid group. They identify themselves as Manta. For this reason, some researchers believe that the Manta indigenous people who arrived in Bangladesh with the Arakanese king in 1632 were the ancestors of the Bede. However, historical anthropological research has proven this claim to be incorrect. The group that came with the king were primarily the Magh or Marma community. There is no physical or linguistic similarity between this Mongoloid group and the Bede. The Bede are broadly divided into three main clans: Mal Manta, Shandar Manta, and Bajikar Manta. They typically have dark skin, broad head shapes, very curly and coarse hair, thick noses, medium height, heavy or thick lips, and strong, well-built bodies.

Dr Atul Sur, citing ancient Sanskrit literature, describes them as ‘non-Aryan’ and characterises their customs, behaviour, and language as ‘strange’. The name of this ‘strange’ language is Thar. In regional Bangla, thar means ‘hint’ or ‘gesture’, but in Bede terminology it refers to the name of their language. From a linguistic standpoint, Thar is a distinct language. Just as Bangla, Teth, Ashek, Santali, or Mandi are separate languages, Thar too is the mother tongue of the Bede. However, due to the absence of a written form, it is difficult to distinguish clearly between standard Thar and spoken Thar.

Although elderly members of the Bede community speak their mother tongue among themselves, they mostly use Bangla for occupational reasons. As a result, their mother tongue has reached a critical stage.

Some researchers claim that Thar belongs to the Sak–Luish branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but no concrete evidence has yet been found to support this claim. Limited analysis instead suggests that Thar shares considerable similarities with Bangla and Assamese, both of which belong to the Indo-European language family. As the Bede have long lived in close contact with Bengali communities, Bangla has had a strong influence on their language. Field studies show that they have adopted many Bangla words into their own language through adaptation. Conversely, Bangla itself has absorbed some Thar words, such as noko, which appears in regional Bangla as nok or lok, and khomor, which is used to mean khoma, or mouth.

Notable similarities can also be observed between Thar and Bangla in sentence structure and word order. Like Bangla, Thar generally follows a subject–object–verb pattern, with the verb placed at the end of the sentence. For example:

আমি ভাত খাই ➝ ঝামি বতন টাগি (Jhami baton tagi) ➝ I eat rice
সে কাজ করছে➝ তান কাম করাপাইছে (Tan kam korpaiche) ➝ He is working

The language spoken by the Bede is not uniform across Bangladesh. Just as there are three main clans, there are also many sub-clans. Occupational and regional factors have created variations in their language, complicating the identification of linguistic features. Possibly for this reason, researchers Najmun Nahar Laiju and Dr Asitbaran Pal have classified the Bede language as a coded language.

Coded languages are often mistakenly associated with the criminal world. Yet not all coded languages are criminal languages. Criminal argots tend to change rapidly once the police learn the meanings of certain words. Such changes are not observed in the Bede language. The stigma attached to their language dates back to the British colonial period, when the Bede were listed as a ‘criminal tribe’. In reality, secret or coded languages are also used among journalists and spies. Dr Sen has noted that Charyapada also employed cryptic words, known as sandhya bhasha. However, the Bede language does not use cryptic expressions in the manner of criminal argot.

Although elderly members of the Bede community speak their mother tongue among themselves, they mostly use Bangla for occupational reasons. As a result, their mother tongue has reached a critical stage. The International Mother Language Institute has published a Thar–Bangla dictionary of the Bede language. Although the number of entries in this dictionary is very limited, analysis suggests that Thar was once a fully developed language with a rich vocabulary. Speakers of Thar have moved from that glorious past into a lifeless present. Due to the absence of a written form, this language of a once linguistically rich community in Bangladesh is now on the path to extinction. For various reasons, interest among the younger generation in learning and using the language is steadily declining. As a result, there is little doubt that this intriguing and diverse language is heading towards extinction in the near future.

Conclusion

The Thar language of the Bede is not merely a means of communication; it is a bearer of their history, culture, and social existence. Although long coexistence has forged a deep relationship with the Bangla language, Thar has retained its distinctiveness to this day. Yet the lack of a written form, social change, and linguistic intrusion have rendered the language endangered. It is therefore urgent to undertake initiatives for the preservation and study of this language. Otherwise, the loss of this ancient language of the Bede community will mark yet another step backwards in the linguistic diversity of human civilisation.
 

Ranjana Biswas is a folklore researcher and the author of several books on the Bede community, their language, and culture. The article has been translated by Samia Huda.

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