Ahona Panda

Ahona Panda is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago.

Radio, ghazals, and “Islami gaan”: What Nazrul’s shift to music said about his syncretism

The adoption of the ghazal by Nazrul, with renewed fervour in the late ’20s and ’30s, signaled an understanding that his earlier literary and linguistic world was an impermanent one, as was a politics in which the unity of Hindus and Muslims was achieved through an appeal to a shared culture and language.

3y ago

In memory of Prof Anisuzzaman, a scholar of Bengals past and present

I arrived in Dhaka, some years ago, as an outsider twice removed. First, I had grown up in Kolkata; second, I was a graduate student in Chicago.

4y ago
September 2, 2021
September 2, 2021

Radio, ghazals, and “Islami gaan”: What Nazrul’s shift to music said about his syncretism

The adoption of the ghazal by Nazrul, with renewed fervour in the late ’20s and ’30s, signaled an understanding that his earlier literary and linguistic world was an impermanent one, as was a politics in which the unity of Hindus and Muslims was achieved through an appeal to a shared culture and language.

May 22, 2020
May 22, 2020

In memory of Prof Anisuzzaman, a scholar of Bengals past and present

I arrived in Dhaka, some years ago, as an outsider twice removed. First, I had grown up in Kolkata; second, I was a graduate student in Chicago.