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  • The Bandel Church: Bengal's Portuguese Legacy

    The Bandel Church: Bengal's Portuguese Legacy
    2026/05/28
    In 1599, Portuguese Augustinian friars built a church in the Hooghly river town of Bandel, near modern-day Hugli-Chinsurah. This episode traces the story of that church — from its founding during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, through its destruction by Shah Jahan's forces in 1632, to its rebuilding as a lasting monument. Along the way, Lucas and Luna explore the larger tale of Portuguese presence in Bengal: the early trade in silks and spices, the volatile alliance with the Arakanese, the piracy and slave-raiding that earned the Portuguese a fearsome reputation, and the eventual decline as Mughal power reasserted itself. We also touch on the little-known figure of Father João Cabral, the Jesuit missionary who used the church as a base for journeys into Tibet. Specific names: Bandel, Hooghly, Augustinians, Shah Jahan, Qasim Khan, Arakan, Sundarbans, João Cabral, Tibet. #BandelChurch #PortugueseBengal #Hooghly #Augustinians #ShahJahan #QasimKhan #JoãoCabral #TibetMission #Arakan #MughalEmpire #BengalHistory #SouthAsia #History #FexingoHistory #ColonialTrade #Piracy #Sundarbans #JesuitMissionaries Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • The Forgotten Battle of Giria: Bengal's Last Mughal War

    The Forgotten Battle of Giria: Bengal's Last Mughal War
    2026/05/28
    In 1763, two years after the British victory at Plassey, a massive army of Mughal loyalists, Afghan chieftains, and dispossessed zamindars marched on Calcutta. This is the story of the Battle of Giria — the last serious attempt by the Mughal Empire to reclaim Bengal from the East India Company. We explore the unlikely alliance between Mir Qasim, the displaced Nawab of Bengal, and Shah Alam II, the blind Mughal Emperor, and their march down the Bhagirathi River. We look at the brutal aftermath, including the massacre of British prisoners at Patna, and reflect on what this battle means for understanding early British colonial expansion in India. Names, dates, and a forgotten turning point in South Asian history. #BattleOfGiria #MirQasim #ShahAlamII #MughalEmpire #EastIndiaCompany #BengalHistory #Giria1763 #PatnaMassacre #ShujaUdDaula #NawabOfBengal #BattleOfBuxar #RobertClive #BhagirathiRiver #Murshidabad #BritishEmpire #IndianHistory #ColonialIndia #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The Wandering Fakir: Lalon Shah and the Baul Mystics of Bengal

    The Wandering Fakir: Lalon Shah and the Baul Mystics of Bengal
    2026/05/27
    Episode 63 of The Hidden History of Bengal turns away from battles and empires to explore the inner life of the region through the Baul tradition. Lucas and Luna journey into the world of Lalon Shah, the nineteenth-century mystic poet whose songs of love and equality defied religious orthodoxy. They discuss Lalon's subversive philosophy—rejecting temples, mosques, and caste—and his influence on Rabindranath Tagore. The episode visits the Akhra of Cheuriya, where Lalon lived and taught, and explains how the Bauls' syncretic spirituality blended Hindu Sahajiya Tantra with Sufi concepts of the Beloved. Lucas unpacks key lyrics from Lalon's song 'Shob Loke Koy Lalon Ki Jat' (Everyone Asks: What Is Lalon's Religion?) and reflects on why the British colonial administration saw these wandering minstrels as a threat. The conversation also touches on the role of women in Baul practice and the revival of Lalon's legacy in modern Bangladesh. #LalonShah #Baul #BengalMysticism #Sufi #Sahajiya #RabindranathTagore #LalonSong #AkhraCheuriya #ShobLokeKoy #Bangladesh #BengalSpirituality #Syncretism #Fakir #Tantra #ColonialBengal #Bhakti #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • Chittagong Armoury Raid: Bengal's First Armed Uprising

    Chittagong Armoury Raid: Bengal's First Armed Uprising
    2026/05/27
    In 1930, a group of young revolutionaries led by Masterda Surya Sen orchestrated a daring raid on the police and auxiliary forces armoury in Chittagong, then a district of undivided Bengal. This episode traces the story of the Chittagong Armoury Raid, its leaders, and its aftermath. We discuss the Indian Republican Army, the sixteen-month guerrilla campaign in the jungles of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Jalalabad Hill battle, the capture and execution of Surya Sen, and the legendary jailbreak by Kalpana Datta and others. The episode explores the ideology of armed resistance against British rule, the role of women revolutionaries like Pritilata Waddedar, and the cultural memory of these events in Bangladesh and India. We also examine how the raid was received by mainstream Indian political leaders including Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, and its legacy in the broader independence movement. #ChittagongArmouryRaid #SuryaSen #Masterda #KalpanaDatta #PritilataWaddedar #IndianRepublicanArmy #JalalabadHill #Bengal #IndianIndependenceMovement #ArmedRevolution #ColonialIndia #BritishRaj #ChittagongHillTracts #BengaliRevolutionaries #1930 #History #FexingoHistory #SouthAsianHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The Nawab's Last Stand: Mir Qasim and the Battle of Buxar

    The Nawab's Last Stand: Mir Qasim and the Battle of Buxar
    2026/05/26
    In 1764, three years after Plassey, another battle on the Ganges rewrote Bengal's fate. This episode follows Mir Qasim, the nawab who tried to rebuild Bengal's sovereignty by centralizing revenue, creating his own army, and making a desperate alliance with the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II and the Nawab of Awadh. We walk through the Battle of Buxar — the tactics, the betrayal by a key general, and the aftermath that left the East India Company as the de facto ruler of eastern India. The episode explores Mir Qasim's early reforms, his conflict with the Company over internal trade, the massacre at Patna where he executed British prisoners, and the final allied defeat. We also look at the Treaty of Allahabad that followed, which gave the Company the diwani — the right to collect revenue — and set the stage for British colonial rule. A story of ambition, desperation, and a turning point that shaped modern South Asia. #BattleOfBuxar #MirQasim #EastIndiaCompany #NawabOfBengal #ShahAlamII #NawabOfAwadh #TreatyOfAllahabad #BengalHistory #IndianHistory #BritishColonialism #MughalEmpire #BattleOfPlassey #RobertClive #Diwani #PatnaMassacre #SouthAsianHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 分
  • The Wandering Goddess of Bengal: Kali's Journey from 'Demonic' to Divine

    The Wandering Goddess of Bengal: Kali's Journey from 'Demonic' to Divine
    2026/05/26
    Long before she became the iconic black goddess of Kolkata, Kali was a tribal deity on the fringes of Bengali society — feared, worshipped with animal sacrifice, and associated with bandits and the wild landscape of the Sundarbans. This episode traces her transformation across centuries: how medieval Tantric texts adopted her, how the Mughal court encountered her cult, and how the 18th-century poet Ramprasad Sen reimagined her as a loving mother — a shift that changed the religious landscape of Bengal forever. We also explore the temple economy, the role of the Brahminical establishment in reshaping 'low' goddesses, and the colonial-era debates about Kali worship that influenced British policy and Hindu reform. Featuring the Shakta poet Ramprasad Sen, the Kali temple of Kalighat, the colonial administrator William Ward's horrified descriptions, and the tantric influence of the Nath Yogis. A story of appropriation, devotion, and the making of a mother goddess. #Kali #Bengal #RamprasadSen #Kalighat #Shaktism #Tantra #Hinduism #Sundarbans #NathYogis #WilliamWard #ColonialIndia #MotherGoddess #HistoryOfReligion #Bhakti #SouthAsia #Goddess #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 分
  • The Paik Rebellion: Bengal's Peasant War of 1799

    The Paik Rebellion: Bengal's Peasant War of 1799
    2026/05/25
    In 1799, while the British East India Company was consolidating its hold on Bengal after the battles of Plassey and Buxar, a little-known rebellion erupted in the northern district of Rangpur. The Paik Rebellion, led by the peasant leader Titumir, was a violent uprising against the Company's oppressive land revenue policies and the zamindari system. This episode explores the social and economic conditions that sparked the revolt, the role of the paiks—a traditional class of infantry and local militia—and the brutal suppression that followed. We also examine how the rebellion foreshadowed the larger Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and why it remains a symbol of resistance in Bengali folk memory. Join Lucas and Luna as they uncover this forgotten chapter of Bengal's hidden history. #PaikRebellion #Titumir #Rangpur #Bengal #EastIndiaCompany #PeasantUprising #Zamindari #LandRevenue #1799 #BengalHistory #SepoyMutiny #Resistance #BritishEmpire #SouthAsia #FolkMemory #HiddenHistory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • The Black Hole Tragedy: Myth, Memory, and the British Empire

    The Black Hole Tragedy: Myth, Memory, and the British Empire
    2026/05/25
    In June 1756, the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daulah captured Calcutta from the East India Company. The next morning, British prisoners emerged from a tiny guardroom claiming 123 of their number had died overnight in what became known as the 'Black Hole of Calcutta.' But how many actually died? Was it an atrocity or a fabrication? In this episode of The Hidden History of Bengal, Lucas and Luna dig into the controversy behind one of British imperial history's most famous stories. They examine the sole eyewitness account by John Zephaniah Holwell, the missing contemporary corroboration, and the later debunking by historians. The Black Hole was used to justify the Battle of Plassey and Company expansion — but the evidence suggests the death toll was wildly exaggerated. This episode explores how a colonial myth was born, why it persisted in British textbooks for two centuries, and what it reveals about the politics of memory in Bengal's history. Featuring Siraj-ud-Daulah, John Zephaniah Holwell, Fort William, the East India Company, and the debate over numbers that still divides historians. #BlackHoleOfCalcutta #SirajUdDaulah #Holwell #FortWilliam #BattleOfPlassey #BritishEmpire #ColonialMythology #BengalHistory #Calcutta #EastIndiaCompany #Historiography #MythBusting #ImperialPropaganda #18thCentury #SouthAsia #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分