#Bengali Localization

[laclasseworld-blog]

Break Language Barriers with Bengali Translation Services

Reach Bengali-speaking audiences with expert Bengali Translation Services. We offer accurate, fast, and culturally relevant translations by native speakers for documents, websites, and more. Perfect for business, legal, or personal needs. https://www.laclasse.in/

[papenathys]

Somebody come collect @prince-myshkin from my dms please. this is calculated psychological terror inducement.

[kumpenny-solutions]

Top 10 Most Demanded Indian Languages for Business Translation 🌏🇮🇳

💬 Did you know that India's booming business scene runs on more than just English and Hindi?

We explored the top 10 Indian languages businesses are prioritizing for translation in 2024 — and the list is more diverse than you'd think.

🗣️ From Hindi and Bengali to Tamil, Kannada, and even Odia, brands are tapping into regional power to truly connect with customers.

🔍 Want to know which languages are making the biggest impact?

👉 Read the full blog here

Speak local. Think global. 🌍

[indrosphere]

Thor, the banana stem, is central to Bengali cooking, transforming into dishes like Thor Ghonto and Thor er Bora. It symbolizes cultural traditions and sustainability, emphasizing the importance of utilizing every part of the harvest.

[hemi-online]

Recipes: Farmers Market Recipes (NYC Health)

PDF on nyc.gov | PDF on archive.org

41 pages Published 2023 | Accessed 2025

Suggested recipes for fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers market, along with selection, storage, and preparation tips. Includes suggested cooking helper activities for kids like tearing leaves, sorting beans, or mashing tomatoes. Most recipes are vegan (some include honey).

More languages: Spanish (archive.org) | Russian (archive.org) | Chinese (simplified) (archive.org) | Chinese (traditional) (archive.org) | Haitian Creole (archive.org) | Korean (archive.org) | Bengali (archive.org) | Italian (archive.org) | Polish (archive.org) | Arabic (archive.org) | French (archive.org) | Urdu (archive.org) | Yiddish (archive.org)

[townpostin]

"Enigma" Four-Day Exhibition Begins at Bengal Club

Women-led Kolkata group showcases pre-Puja collection in Jamshedpur A four-day pre-Puja exhibition organized by Kolkata’s women-run "Enigma" group opened at Sakchi Bengal Club. JAMSHEDPUR – A four-day pre-Puja exhibition by Kolkata’s renowned women-led organization "Enigma" commenced on the first floor of Sakchi Bengal Club in Jamshedpur. The exhibition will run from 10 AM to 9 PM daily. Social…

[bhashabharatia]

All About The Significance Of Bengali Translation Services | Bhasha Bharati Arts

It is no news that language always has been a powerful tool. However, with the advent of the internet age, language services have emerged to be a necessary tool that brands all over the world use to achieve their respective corporate goals.

This article in the following sections will shine a light on Bengali translation services instead of covering translation services as a whole. The article will also explore why Bengali translation services have gained so much popularity all over the world in recent years.

Here goes.

Why Bengali translation services are getting more popular by the day?

Well, there are several reasons for this. Some of the reasons that stand out the most are as follows.

Using Bengali localization services allows one to preserve their cultural heritage

Bengali translation services can be used to preserve the rich Bengali traditions, art and literature all the while promoting a brand or marketing the offerings of a business.

Furthermore, translation services designed for the Bengali language and its dialects also allow one to make sure that Bengali literary works such as poems written by revered Bengali poets, Bengali historical texts, and Bengali folklore reach the farthest corners of the world so that the language achieves the popularity it deserves.

Bengali translation can make high quality learning materials readily accessible

Professional Bengali translation services can help educational institutions in India and Bangladesh to make high quality learning materials originating from the US, the UK and other European nations accessible to students and professionals who are not adept at English or other European languages. In this way, the people who speak Bengali will be able to hone skills that would allow them to secure impressive jobs or pursue highly rewarding careers.

It is best to run marketing campaigns using Bengali as the target language

A significant portion of the world speaks Bengali. Hence, it makes sense to target this language when one is promoting their business or marketing the offerings of their venture. Doesn’t it!?

Why you should hire professionals for Bengali translation projects?

Professional providers of English to Bengali translation services are experienced, certified and resourceful enough to ensure that you get services that are worth your money and time. Impressive accuracy will be maintained all across the project. Furthermore, you will be able to rely on the agency as they would also make sure that the project they are working on takes into account the Bengali dialects that are prominent in the target locations where the localized content will be used.

On top of this, veteran providers of Bengali translation services make sure that the project at hand is worked on by linguists who are either retired professionals who used to belong to the sector your brand is associated with or have significant knowledge about the same.

Additionally, when you use Bengali language translation services, remember that your project will be subjected to rigorous bespoke quality assurance processes alongside quality-assured proofreading as well as editing services so that you can use the content directly without worrying about silly linguistic or contextual mistakes.

Bhasha Bharati Arts and its Bengali translation services entail the highest ROIs!

One must remember that investing in Bengali translation services is a wise decision as it allows one to translate all the marketing material they use to promote their brand. In simple words, both established and new businesses can use Bengali localization services to expand their market share, boost their image and polish their reputation in the market segments they have targeted. Furthermore, the Bengali-speaking population percentage of the world is quite huge. Hence, to make sure that one is tapping into this lucrative market segment; one has to avail Bengali translation services. To learn more, contact a language service provider specializing in Bengali localization services today.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Free or Cheap General Language Resources Because idk I Just Wanna Help

All resources either have a free tier or have a low ($10 USD/month or less) subscription fee or a one time purchase option below $100 USD. All prices I give are in USD because I live in the US and this list was already hard to put together okay I'm not also doing conversions

Find language specific lists here.

I have given the links in text format because tumblr has a link limit. Copy and paste into your browser to look at them.

These are generalized. Not for your specific language.

LinQ, a website for reading: https://www.lingq.com/en/

You can click on words you don't know and get a definition and save a flashcard. They provide readings for all levels from beginner to advanced and you can upload your own texts and podcast or video transcripts and there's stuff uploaded by other users to browse through. The website also has some texts with audio included. You can also purchase books through the website. This is all included in the free tier. The paid tier allows you to save an unlimited number of flashcards and includes some forum and tutoring options. It's either $15 a month or $120 for a full year.

Languages available in full: Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian

Languages partially supported or with incomplete beginner courses: Afrikaans, Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Catalan, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Georgian, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Khmer, Macedonian, Malay, Persian, Punjabi, Serbian, Slovenian, Swahili, Tagalog, Turkish, Vietnamese

Migaku, a web extension and app: https://migaku.com/

Paid service at $10 a month. It has beginner courses and allows for dual language subtitles on things like netflix or youtube. It also allows users to save flashcards from subtitles or articles and sync flashcards between devices

Supported languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese

Storylearning Books: https://storylearning.com/books

These are short story, dialogue, or history books by Olly Richards written for beginner to intermediate learners that in my experience at least are written to not be boring for adults. Each chapter of a book includes a key vocabulary list and comprehension questions. Storylearning also has online courses available but they're too expensive for what you get in my opinion. The books are way cheaper, though depending on the language you may have more or less books to buy. The books are usually in the $15-$20 range new but they're often available at used bookstores both online and irl for much cheaper.

Books available in: Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Arabic (MSA), Brazillian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish, Irish

Mango Languages, a pretty standard language app: https://mangolanguages.com/

This is actually a pretty pricey one at like $20 a month but the reason I bring it up is that a lot of people can get it free through their local library and it has a large selection of languages.

Languages supported: Armenian, Azerbaijani, Egyptian Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Levantine Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Bengali, Cantonese, chaldean Aramaic. Cherokee, Mandarin, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Dzongkha, English, Tagalog, Finnish, French (European and Canadian), German, Greek (modern, ancient, and kione), Hatian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew (modern and biblical), Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Malay, Malayalam, Norwegian, Farsi, Polish, Potawatomi, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Shanghainese, Slovak, Spanish (castillian and latin american), Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Tuvan, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Yiddish

Comprehensible Input Wiki, a website for finding language specific comprehensible input resources: https://comprehensibleinputwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

Comprehensible input is input in a language you understand the message of, not necessarily input you understand every word of. It's good for you to get a lot of it from day one. This website gathers resources like podcasts, kid's shows, youtube channels, books, etc. that are perfect for this sort of thing.

Languages currently on the website as I am writing this: American Sign Language, Arabic (MSA), Armenian, Basque, Biblical Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian creole, Hakka, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Occitan, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Sanskrit, Sardinian, Serbo-Croatian, Sicilian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Toki Pona, Tunisian Arabic, Turkish, Ukranian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yoruba, Zulu

Drops, a vocab app: https://languagedrops.com/

Drops teaches vocab through pictures and matching and spelling games, though you can also customize your settings to show translations and different alphabets or not. The free tier has ads and a daily time limit. The lifetime subscription is technically against my personal rule for this post because it's $160 but it often goes on sale for half off or $80. There's also a monthly or yearly payment option. At the paid tier you can practice for an unlimited time without ads and choose which types of vocabulary words you want to learn.

Supported Languages: Ainu, English (American and British), Arabic (MSA), Bosnian, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Cantonese, Spanish, (Castilian and Mexican), Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galacian, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Maori, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Sanskrit for yoga, Serbian, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Yoruba

Anki, a general flashcard app: https://apps.ankiweb.net/

You can make your own flashcards on Anki or download flashcard packs that other users have made. It also allows for importing of audio and visual aids. It has a spaced repetition system that a lot of people swear by. Some companies like Refold also sell premade flashcard packs specifically for Anki. Free on desktop, I believe about a $20 one time purchase on iOS.

Muzzy In GondoLand (1986): https://archive.org/details/muzzy-in-gondoland-level-i-1986

No, really! The old Muzzy movies from the 80s made to teach kids foreign languages are fairly easy to find for free on archive.org or on youtube. The new Muzzy with workbooks and an app and whatnot requires a paid subscription to the BBC but the older ones are much easier to find. They're available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Korean, Esperanto, and Welsh.

Easy Languages, a connected group of Youtube channels: https://www.easy-languages.org/

Easy Language channels are channels where people interview speakers of the language on the street about everyday topics like dating, tourism, and shopping for example. They have dual language subtitles in their videos in the target language and English. Many of them also have series about useful phrases for beginners and intermediate podcasts. Most also have bonus worksheets and other learning materials on their patreons but the free content available is already a lot.

Current active channels: Arabic, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish

wordreference.com

A website that lets you look up words in another language. It's better than google translate. It has pronunciation in multiple dialects and in depth explanations that some other websites don't have.

Supported Languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic

edX, a website for taking college courses, often for free: https://www.edx.org/learn/language

I can't tell you precisely what's available because it changes year to year but they usually offer a wide variety of courses. You can also often get real college credit through these if that's something you're interested in. Programming languages are often mixed in with spoken or signed languages though so you may have to do some digging through the lists to fins what you want.

[banglakhobor]

অদ্ভুত দেখতে হলেও স্বাদে দারুণ! নজরকাড়া পুষ্টিগুণ, এই ফলের নাম জানেন?

তুফানগঞ্জ: দেখতে যেমন সুন্দর, খেতেও তেমনই সুস্বাদু এই ফলের নাম ‘রামবুটান’। রামবুটান ফলের বৈজ্ঞানিক নাম ‘Nephelium lappaceum’। তবে ফল হিসেবেই এটি সর্বাধিক পরিচিত রয়েছে সর্বত্র। লিচু, লঙ্গান ইত্যাদি গ্রীষ্ম মণ্ডলীয় ফলের সঙ্গে এই ফলের বেশ মিল রয়েছে। এটি মিষ্টি স্বাদের একটি ফল। কোচবিহারের বুকে সম্ভবত এই প্রথম এই ফল ফলিয়েছেন কোনও ব্যক্তি। আর এই কারণেই বর্তমানে বহু উৎসুক মানুষ এই অদ্ভুত দর্শন ফল…

[hey-ranjhaan]

She has not just been raped and murdered, she was very much tortured and brutalized like Nirbhaya. It is all over the Bengali news. I don't understand why no one is talking about this.

A 2nd year Respiratory Medicine in a well known government medical college in Kolkata, West Bengal, India is found in a semi-naked state and the college/ hospital called it a suicide.

I'm a MBBS student in second year. After reading about her, what crossed my mind is the amount of times she would have felt this fear, before this worst fear of hers eventually materialized.

"A young resident doctor was found dead in the seminar room of her medical college in Kolkata. Initial autopsy report suggests possible rape and murder."

As all are saying,

She wasn't walking the street at odd hours. She wasn't wearing clothes that were provocative. She wasn't loitering in dangerous neighbourhoods.

She was a resident doctor, looking for a place to rest in her own hospital.

She had been on duty and had gone to rest in the early hours of Friday.

The one place which was supposed to guarantee her safety failed her, miserably.

Someone comes, rapes a female pg who is merely resting in a seminar hall because there is no proper place for her to rest, brutalized her and kills her. How did NO one know? The college and police initially call it a suicide. Excuse me? It is also being said that under pressure from local politicians, the Principal and Dean attempted to alter the post-mortem report. Autopsy confirms sexual assault.

What are the actions taken? One man arrested because his behavior seemed "shady". This is clearly not an act of one man. And this was a very well aware of and a well executed criminal act.

Also, all this happening in WB right when the situation of bangladesh is in turmoil and news of Bangladeshi Hindus being killed and tortured, seems wrong, VERY WRONG. Happening right before NEET-PG, as 24 lakh doctors prepare to write an exam on Sunday to be resident doctors, this news has wrapped us all in agony and rage,

What are they working so hard for? Why should they aspire to be in a system that ignores their basic needs? The minimum requirement of a workplace is safety. That should be non-negotiable.

This profession demands extereme hardwork, a lot of mental strength and Physical Assaults, harassment, low paying jobs with odd working hours with intense humiliation. Now its the worst of all seeing a bright mind losing her life in the most disrespectful state of all. This should never happen to any woman.

I'd also like to question why isn't any big media house covering this news, where are all the international news channels all this time.

What are the students in other medical colleges doing? This talks about their own safety and lives. What are the medical students across the world doing? It's time for us to stand for the most basic Human right, safety.

Yesterday when my roommate, an MBBS final year intern was heading for her night posting, I feared and prayed for her to come back safely. Thinking about it, in a few years I will also have night posting, I'll also return from my hospital duties late at night. I'll also have to go through the same fear, and I'll also have to keep praying that my worst fears don't turn into reality. So many female doctors, nursing staffs, other Healthcare workers, other working women, non-working women go through the same fear, probably multiple times a day.

It is a shame to be born in such a disgusting world and society, it is shame to witness such a brutal crime, and it is a shame to live in this fear daily.

Those RAPISTS need to be hunged infront of the whole natio...if needed burned alive. People should fear the idea of raping, more than getting raped.

[laclasseworld-blog]

Break Language Barriers with Bengali Translation Services

Reach Bengali-speaking audiences with expert Bengali Translation Services. We offer accurate, fast, and culturally relevant translations by native speakers for documents, websites, and more. Perfect for business, legal, or personal needs. https://www.laclasse.in/

[najia-cooks]

[ID: A dish of greens garnished with red onion and red chili, with a flatbread in the background. End ID]

Uttar Pradesh mix saag with wild greens

The Hindi "साग," "sāg" (Urdu: "ساگ") is a word meaning "potherb, vegetable, greens." It is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit "शाक" ("śāka"), which also has reflexes in the Bengali "শাক" ("śak") and the Punjabi "ਸਾਗ" ("sāg"), among others.

Saag dishes are made from fried or boiled green herbs and vegetables, flavoured with aromatics, spices, and chili peppers. They are typically named for the type of greens used: for example, सरसों का साग ("sarsõ kā sāg") is made with sarson, or mustard greens; बिच्छू बूटी का साग ("bicchū būṭī kā sāg") is made with the greens of stinging nettles.

This recipe is for an Uttar-Pradesh-style "mix saag," which is of course made with a mixture of different greens. Most commonly included are spinach (पालक, palak), mustard greens (sarson or राई, rāī), lamb's quarters (बथुआ, bathua), fenugreek leaves (मेथी, methi), and chickpea leaves (चने के पत्ते, channa ke patte). Chilis, ginger, garlic, and coriander power make this dish complex, light, and fresh, while gur (jaggery) adds sweetness; corn flour, ghee, and mustard oil add richness of texture. Mix saag is often eaten with makka ki roti, a corn (maize) flatbread.

The greens for this recipe can be found at a south Asian grocery store, or you can use any mildly flavored greens. I used locally foraged lamb's quarters, garlic mustard, plantain, chickweed, common sowthistle, prickly sowthistle, and dwarf mallow.

Recipe under the cut!

Patreon | Paypal | Venmo

Ingredients

200g greens

1 red onion, diced

1 chunk (10g) ginger, minced

2-3 cloves (10g) garlic, minced

1 Tbsp vegetarian ghee, or non-dairy margarine

1 Tbsp mustard oil

2 dried red chilis, or 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

2 fresh green chilis, sliced

1 tsp coriander powder (optional)

40g (small handful) maize flour, to thicken

1-2 tsp jaggery, to taste

Salt to taste

Sliced red onion, to garnish

Instructions

Wash and chop greens. Boil in salted water for about 10 minutes, until tender. Drain. (This liquid can be used to make soup later, if it's not too bitter.)

Heat ghee and mustard oil in a pot on medium high. Add onion and cook for 5-8 minutes, until translucent.

Add garlic, ginger, and dried and fresh chilis and cook for about a minute, until fragrant.

Add coriander powder and chili powder and fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant.

Add jaggery and heat for a minute, until the sugar melts.

Add greens and mix to combine. Cook until wilted. Add water to cover and bring to a simmer.

Add corn flour and salt and mix until combined. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes to allow flavors to meld, or until desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust salt.

Garnish with sliced red onion and serve hot with roti.

[depressedraisin]

here's how armand can still be bengali

why do i think so? no other good reason than i am bengali myself and i want armand to be. (also assad zaman's family is from bangladesh. bengali solidarity!!!)

bengal: the region in south asia comprising present-day bangladesh and the indian states of west bengal, odisha, assam and parts of bihar.

armand said in the season one finale, that takes place in 2022, he is a 514 year old vampire. is it 514 years including or excluding his human years? let's go with including. that means armand would have been born in 1508.

now what was going on in india and bengal in 1508? well, the mughals hadn't come to india yet; it's still about two decades before babur makes his way here. delhi was under the rule of the lodi dynasty, the delhi sultanate was in its dying days. most of north india, mainly uttar pradesh and bihar was under the jaunpur sultanate. bengal was still it's own independent kingdom, called the bengal sultanate. alauddin hussain shah had just seized power and become the sultan of bengal in 1494, beginning the hussain shahi dynasty (they ruled in bengal till 1538 when the mughals captured the region).

india as a country did not exist yet. even it's conception would be a few centuries away still. the subcontinent was a collection of big and small kingdoms and sultanates, constantly warring amongst themselves, some ruled by hindu rulers others by muslims, each with their own distinct histories and cultures. bengal was one of the most prosperous and thriving among them. the bangla language and bengali culture was just beginning to develop.

vasco da gama had arrived in india in 1498, landing at kozhikode on the malabar coast. this began the arrival of the portugese in india, and soon other european colonialists followed. they soon set up their capital in goa, built forts all along the western coast and established trade through obtaining licenses and exclusive permits from local rulers. they first made their way to the bay of bengal region around 1516, with the first portugese representative- a guy called joao coelho- coming to chittagong (present day bangladesh). the first factory was set up in chittagong the next year.

the portugese traded in spices and cotton and fruits and muslin and also slaves. the european indian ocean slave trade began with the coming of the portugese in the early 16th century. slavery in south asian societies had obviously existed long before, and it was a deeply complex and diverse system of dependency and regimes of slavery. slavery of youth and children was also pretty prevalent: it would not be uncommon for poor, farming families to sell away themselves or their children to zamindars (landlords) and colonial overlords in desperation. there were many, many cases of young children being forced to get onboard ships where they'd be held agains their will and taken to europe, the americas or south-east asia. goa and lisbon were the two cities that linked the movement of goods and people between the indian and atlantic oceans, but goa wasn't the only place where enslaved children were traded in portugese india nor lisbon the only european they were taken to.

one of those kids might as well have been arun.

i know the brief glimpse at the talamasca files showed armand's origin to be in delhi but in this particular scene he clearly says that he was sent *to* delhi, thinking he was going to work on a merchant boat.

this is just a theory i have btw. armand could've been from maharastra or the deccan as well idk. anyway.

armand is a monster, a vicious, villanious creature of unfathomable powers and ferocity. but he is also so deeply tragic. he had been forcibly torn away from his people and his land. he has no memory of his family or his humanity. he has lived for over half a millenium. the india he might've known hasn't existed for centuries, and he never got to know the one that exists today. the bangla he might've spoken no one remembers anymore. he has nothing left of the human he was except that name.

further readings (STRONGLY SUGGESTED!!!):

[hemi-online]

Palm Card: Wound Care Self-Management for People Who Use Drugs (NYC Health)

PDF on nyc.gov | PDF on archive.org

8 by 4 inches Published 2023 | Accessed 2025

Information about how to clean and care for a wound, as well as signs to seek further medical attention.

More languages: Spanish (archive.org) | Russian (archive.org) | Chinese (simplified) (archive.org) | Chinese (traditional) (archive.org) | Korean (archive.org) | Bengali (archive.org) | Italian (archive.org) | Polish (archive.org) | Arabic (archive.org) | Yiddish (archive.org) | French (archive.org) | Haitian Creole (archive.org) | Urdu (archive.org)

[thebisexualwreckoning]

Armand's backstory and how I, your local bengali vampire fucker and armand's 24/7 defence lawyer, am going to make him bengali and muslim while still keeping it showcannon accurate

(Note: this is not meant to be taken seriously and is very much just written because I was bored and had time on my hands and if i have gotten anything wrong please correct me)

One thing that always annoyed me about IWTV showcannon is the fact that armand pre-marius days were either left majorly unexplored or made absolutely no sense to the time period. Which, I find pretty surprising considering the care and sensitivity Louis' new backstory was handled with by the same creators and show writers.

We know 3 things about Armand and who he is as a character in regards to his ethnicity:

His birth is Arun

He is Muslim

And that he was taken from Delhi somewhere around the early 15th century

For the purposes of this essay, we are going to assume all of this is true and not something Armand made up to get sympathy from both Louis and the audience.

Armand's birth name being Arun, while incredibly lazy, does make his identity as a bengali man much easier to confirm. My own full blooded formerly bangladeshi grandfather has the name Arun and Arun continues to be an incredibly popular bengali name for boys to this day. The problem arises when it comes to his religion.

The thing about the name Arun is that it's an incredibly *Hindu* first name, given that it is quite literally one of the names for the Hindu god of the sun (Source: I'm Hindu and confirmed with my mom who is sitting beside me scrolling on facebook). While muslim people can have the name Arun, given that Bengal was still an independent kingdom around the time which Armand would have been born in, his parents being hindu would have been likely.

However, around a similar time, the Mughals were setting up shop in, you guessed it, delhi and the surrounding region. Now, my proposal is as such: During the same time period, many parents sold their children to zamindars (land owners) for money or food or land. Young Arun's parents did the same thing. Now, this zamindar either sells armand to someone else immediately after who takes him delhi or takes young arun to delhi himself where he either sets up shop with him or once again sells arun to someone else.

Seperated from his parents and newly immigrated indenture (because yes, mughal era punjab and bengal were different kingdoms and as such this would count as immigration) to a kingdom which had just gone through a major political upheaval and had a new ruler forcibly converting people to islam, arun, who has no ties to hinduism given that a. he is a child and b. his hindu parents very much just sold him into slavery, converts to islam as well as a safety tactic.

Thus child arun grows into teen arun and he has never known anything of his life before delhi but those first few years that he spent in bengal and has definitely had no contact with hinduism and has been a devout muslim for the vast majority of his life. Here is where things get a bit iffy. There are two ways how the rest of this can now go.

Route no. 1, armand's indenture is sold to the portuguese, the portuguese take him to europe, marius buys him, everything proceeds as it must.

Route no. 2, the overly complicated, book and show canon accurate version which requires some significant suspension of disbelief and handwaving to accomplish but i like it so i'm still writing down this crack theory. Also we're doing this in dot points now because i'm getting tired:

We know armand speaks crimean because daniel mentions it after he catches fake rashid praying

crimea was part of the ottoman empire during this time period.

the ottoman empire had relatively friendly relations with the mughals because they were afraid of babur.

crimean ottoman merchants buy armand's indenture

armand ends up in crimea

crimea and kievan rus, book armand's original homeland's complex relation means armand ends up in kievan rus.

Things proceed as they did in the books for how armand goes from kievan rus to under marius's hold

and that's all i have, this has been your local crack theorist on tonight's armand show. see you next time.