 Bengal or Bangla
When Ham, son of Noah with the permission of
his holy father, set himself to colonize the south, he girded up his
loin for accomplishing this, and deputed his sons - the first of
whom was Hind, the second Sind, the third Habash, the fourth
Zanaj, the fifth Barbar, and the sixth Nubah - in all directions
on colonizing expeditions. And the tract that each of them colonized
was called after him. The eldest son, Hind, having come to
the country of Hindustan, it was so named after him. And Sind
in the company of his elder brother, having set himself to colonize
the tract of Sind established Himself there, and that was named
after him. But Hind had four sons, the first was Purab, the
second was Bang, the third was Dakin, and the fourth was Naharwal.
And every tract that was colonized by each, is still called
after him. And Dakin, son of Hind, had three sons, and the country of Dakin was
parcelled between them. Their names were
Marhat, Kanar, and Talang; and Dakhinans are all descended
from him, and up to this time all the three tribes dominate there.
And Naharwal had three sons namely, Babruj, Kanoj and
Malraj. After them cities were also named.
And Purab, who was the eldest son of Hind, had forty-two sons,
and, within a short time their descendants multiplied and colonized
different countries, and when they became numerous, they
raised one of themselves to be the chief and to look after the
management of the realm.
And Bang, the son of Hind, getting children born to him, colonized
the country of Bengal. The name of Bengal was originally
Bang. And the reason why the word al আল was added to it, is this :
al আল in the Bengali language means an 'embankment' or raised ground,
which is placed round a garden or cultivation, so that floods may
not enter it. As in ancient times, the chieftains of Bengal
on lowlands which were situated at the foot of hills, used to raise
mounds about ten cubits high and twenty cubits broad, and
to make homes, cultivations, and buildings within them, people
used to call this place Bangalah.
[ Riyazu-s-salatin, a history of Bengal - By Ghulam Husain Salim, Translated from the original Persian By Maulavi Abdus Salim (1902) ]
Bigha
A measure of land, varying widely; the standard bigha is generally five-eighths of an acre.
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