Bengalis

Bengalis ( ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia The population is divided between the independent country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley. Most of them speak Bengali, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family.
Bengalis are the third-largest ethnic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and Arabs. Thus, they are the largest ethnic group within the Indo-Europeans. Apart from Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam's Barak Valley, Bengali-majority populations also reside in India's union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with significant populations in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand as well as Nepal's Province No. 1. The global Bengali diaspora (Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) have well-established communities in the Middle East, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Italy, Singapore, Maldives, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Along with national grouping, Bengalis can also be divided into four major religious subgroups in descending order: Bengali Muslims, Bengali Hindus, Bengali Buddhists, and Bengali Christians.
Name.
The term Bengali is generally used to refer to the someone whose linguistic, cultural or ancestral origins are from Bengal. The Indo-Aryan Bengalis are ethnically differentiated from the non-Indo-Aryan people of Bengal. Their ethnonym, "Bangali", is derived from the Persian word for the region, "Bangalah" which is also the source of the modern Bengali name of the region and language, "Bangla". Prior to Muslim expansion, there was no unitary territory by the name of Bengal and the region was instead divided into numerous geopolitical divisions. The most prominent of these were Vanga (from which "Bangalah" is thought to ultimately derive from) in the south, Rarh in the west, Pundravardhana and Varendra in the north, and Samatata and Harikela in the east. In ancient times, the people of this region were identified with respect to these divisions. Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata makes mention of the Pundra people.
Vanga ("bôngô" in Bengali) is considered by both Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions to have originated from a man who settled in the area. Abrahamic genealogists suggest that the area was first colonised by Bang, a son of Hind who was the son of Ham (son of Noah). In contrast, the Mahabharata, Puranas and the Harivamsha state that Vanga was the founder of the Vanga Kingdom and one of the adopted sons of King Vali. Vanga later came to be known as Vangala ("Bôngal") and its earliest reference is in the Nesari plates (805 CE) of Rashtrakuta Govinda III which speak of Emperor Dharmapala as its king. The records of Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty, who invaded Bengal in the 11th century, speak of Govindachandra as the ruler of Vangaladesa (a Sanskrit cognate to the word Bangladesh, which was historically a synonymous endonym of Bengal). 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his "Ain-i-Akbari" that the addition of the suffix "al" came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 in breadth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin.
In 1352 CE, a Muslim nobleman by the name of Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united the region into a single political entity known as the Bengal Sultanate. Proclaiming himself as "Shāh-i-Bangālīyān", it was in this period that the Bengali language also gained state patronage and corroborated literary development. Thus, Ilyas Shah had effectively formalised the socio-linguistic identity of the region's inhabitants as "Bengali", by state, culture and language.
History.
Ancient history.
Archaeologists have discovered remnants of a 4,000-year-old Chalcolithic civilisation in the greater Bengal region, and believe the finds are one of the earliest signs of settlement in the region. However, evidence of much older Palaeolithic human habitations were found in the form of a stone implement and a hand axe in Rangamati and Feni districts of Bangladesh.
Artefacts suggest that the Wari-Bateshwar civilisation, which flourished in present-day Narsingdi, date as far back as 2000 BC. Not far from the rivers, the port city was believed to have been engaged in foreign trade with Ancient Rome, Southeast Asia and other regions. The people of this civilisation live in bricked homes, walked on wide roads, used silver coins and iron weaponry among many other things. It is thought to be the oldest city in Bengal and in the eastern part of the subcontinent as a whole.
It is thought that a man named Vanga settled in the area around 1000 BCE founding the Vanga Kingdom in southern Bengal. The "Atharvaveda" and the Hindu epic Mahabharata mentions this kingdom, along with the Pundra Kingdom in northern Bengal. The spread of Mauryan territory and promotion of Buddhism by its emperor Ashoka cultivated a growing Buddhist society among the people of present-day Bengal from the 2nd century BCE, mentioning the people of this region as supporters of Buddhism at the Great Stupa of Sanchi. The Buddhists of Bengal built and utilised dozens of monasteries, and were recognised for their religious commitments as far as Nagarjunakonda in South India.
One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BCE. The word is speculated to have come from "Gangahrd" ('Land with the Ganges in its heart') in reference to an area in Bengal. Later from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.
Middle Ages.
One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around the early 7th century. After a period of anarchy, Gopala I came to power in 750. He founded the Buddhist Pala Empire. Atiśa, a renowned Buddhist teacher from eastern Bengal, was instrumental in the revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramashila monastery in Bihar.
The Pala Empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire, the Tibetan Empire, and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate. Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East. The people of Samatata, in southeastern Bengal, during the 10th-century were of various religious backgrounds. Tilopa was a prominent Hindu priest from modern-day Chittagong, though Samatata was ruled by the Buddhist Chandra dynasty. During this time, the Arab geographer Al-Masudi and author of The Meadows of Gold, travelled to the region where he noticed a Muslim community of inhabitants residing in the region. In addition to trade, Islam was also being introduced to the people of Bengal through the migration of Sufi missionaries prior to conquest. The earliest known Sufi missionaries were Syed Shah Surkhul Antia and his students, most notably Shah Sultan Rumi, in the 11th century. Rumi settled in present-day Netrokona, Mymensingh where he influenced the local ruler and population to embrace Islam.
The Pala dynasty was later followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena Empire. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiyar Khalji, a Turkic general, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Bengal Sultanate for the next few hundred years. Many of the people of Bengal began accepting Islam through the influx of missionaries following the initial conquest. Sultan Balkhi and Shah Makhdum Rupos settled in the present-day Rajshahi Division in northern Bengal, preaching to the communities there. A community of 13 Muslim families headed by Burhanuddin also existed in the northeastern Hindu city of Srihatta (Sylhet), claiming their descendants to have arrived from Chittagong. By 1303, hundreds of Sufi preachers led by Shah Jalal aided the Muslim rulers in Bengal to conquer Sylhet, turning the town into Jalal's headquarters for religious activities. Following the conquest, Jalal disseminated his followers across different parts of Bengal to spread Islam, and became a household name among Bengali Muslims.
The establishment of a single united Bengal Sultanate in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah finally gave rise to a "Bengali" socio-linguistic identity. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty acknowledged Muslim scholarship, and this transcended ethnic background. Usman Serajuddin, also known as "Akhi Siraj Bengali", was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign. Alongside Persian and Arabic, the sovereign Sunni Muslim nation-state also enabled the language of the Bengali people to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favoured Sanskrit, Pali and Persian. The born-Hindu Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funded the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Mecca and Madina in the Middle East. The people of Arabia came to know these institutions as al-Madaris al-Bangaliyyah ("Bengali madrasas").
Mughal era.
The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the 16th century, ending the independent Sultanate of Bengal and defeating Bengal's rebellion Baro-Bhuiyan chieftains. Mughal general Man Singh conquered parts of Bengal including Dhaka during the time of Emperor Akbar. A few Rajput tribes from his army permanently settled around Dhaka and surrounding lands, integrating into Bengali society. By the early 17th century, Islam Khan I had conquered all of Bengal. Bengal was integrated into a province of the Empire, known as the Bengal Subah. It was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire encompassing much of the Bengal region, which includes modern Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, between the 16th and 18th centuries. The state was established following the dissolution of the Bengal Sultanate, a major trading nation in the world, when the region was absorbed into one of the gunpowder empires. Bengal was the wealthiest region in the Indian subcontinent, and its proto-industrial economy showed signs of driving an Industrial revolution. Described by some as the "Paradise of Nations" and the "Golden Age of Bengal", Bengalis enjoyed some of the highest living standards and real wages in the world at the time. Singlehandedly accounting for 40% of Dutch imports outside the European continent, eastern Bengal was globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding, and was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter, and agricultural and industrial produce in the world.
By the 18th century, Mughal Bengal eventually became a quasi-independent monarchy state ruled by the Nawabs of Bengal. Already observing the proto-industrialization, it made direct significant contribution to the first Industrial Revolution (substantially textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution).
Bengal became the basis of the Anglo-Mughal War. After the weakening of the Mughal Empire with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by three dynasties of Nawabs until 1757, when the region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey.
British colonisation.
In Bengal, effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around 1757–65.
Company rule in India began under the Bengal Presidency. Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772. The presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army, and had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule, notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943, each killing millions of Bengalis.
Under British rule, Bengal experienced deindustrialisation. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to Dhaka, Chittagong, Jalpaiguri, Sylhet and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North India. The failure of the rebellion led to the abolishment of the Mughal Court and direct rule by the British Raj.
Many Bengali laborers were taken as coolies to the British colonies in the Caribbean during the 1830s. Workers from Bengal were chosen because they could easily assimilate to the climate of British Guyana, which was similar to that of Bengal.
Bengali Renaissance.
The Bengali Renaissance refers to a socio-religious reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, centered around the city of Calcutta and predominantly led by upper caste Bengali Hindus under the patronage of the British Raj who created a reformed religion called Brahmo dharma. Historian Nitish Sengupta describes the Bengal renaissance as having started with reformer and humanitarian Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833), considered the "Father of the Bengal renaissance", and ended with Asia's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).
Other figures have been considered to be part of the renaissance. Swami Vivekananda is considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a world religion during the 1800s. Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Bengali polymath: a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and writer of science fiction who pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent. He is considered one of the fathers of radio science, and is also considered the father of Bengali science fiction. Satyendra Nath Bose was a Bengali physicist, specialising in mathematical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. He is honoured as the namesake of the boson.
According to Nitish Sengupta, though the Bengal renaissance was the "culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah, it remained predominantly Hindu and only partially Muslim." There were, nevertheless, examples of Muslim intellectuals such as Syed Ameer Ali, Mosharraf Hussain, Sake Dean Mahomed, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain. The Freedom of Intellect Movement sought to challenge religious and social dogma in Bengali Muslim society.
Independence movement.
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Many of the early proponents of the independence struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Surendranath Banerjea, Dudu Miyan, Titumir, Prafulla Chaki, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Binoy-Badal-Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose, and Sachindranath Sanyal.
Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve Indian Independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against the British force. Netaji was the co-founder and leader of the Japanese-aligned Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind. Bengal was also the fostering ground for several prominent revolutionary organisations, the most notable of which was Anushilan Samiti. A number of Bengalis died during the independence movement and many were imprisoned in Cellular Jail, the notorious prison in Andaman.
Partitions of Bengal.
The first partition in 1905 divided the Bengal region in British India into two provinces for administrative and development purposes. However, the partition stoked Hindu nationalism. This in turn led to the formation of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906 to represent the growing aspirations of the Muslim population. The partition was annulled in 1912 after protests by the Indian National Congress and Hindu Mahasabha.
The breakdown of Hindu-Muslim unity in India drove the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution in 1943, calling the creation of "independent states" in eastern and northwestern British India. The resolution paved the way for the Partition of British India based on the Radcliffe Line in 1947, despite attempts to form a United Bengal state that was opposed by many people.
Bangladesh Liberation War.
The rise of self-determination and Bengali nationalism movements in East Bengal, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, culminated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against the Pakistani military junta. Upwards of an estimated 3 million (3,000,000) people died in the conflict, particularly as a result of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. The war caused millions of East Bengali refugees to take shelter in neighboring India, especially the Indian state of West Bengal, with Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, becoming the capital-in-exile of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh. The Mukti Bahini guerrilla forces waged a nine-month war against the Pakistani military. The conflict ended after the Indian Armed Forces intervened on the side of Bangladeshi forces in the final two weeks of the war, which ended with the Surrender of Pakistan and the liberation of Dhaka on 16 December 1971. Thus the newly independent People's Republic of Bangladesh was born from what was previously the East Pakistan province of Pakistan.
Diaspora.
From the earliest times, Bengali people have left Bengal to settle in other parts of the world. Bengali ethnic descent and emigrant communities are found primarily in other parts of the subcontinent, the Middle East and the Western World. Substantial populations descended from Bengali immigrants exist in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Kingdom where they form established communities of over 1 million people. Majority of the Bengali diaspora belong to the Muslim faith as the act of seafaring was traditionally prohibited in Hinduism; a taboo known as kala pani (black/dirty water).
The introduction of Islam to the Bengali people has generated a connection to the Arabian Peninsula, as Muslims are required to visit the land once in their lifetime to complete the Hajj pilgrimage. Several Bengali sultans funded Islamic institutions in the Hejaz, which popularly became known by the Arabs as Bangali Madaris. It is unknown when Bengalis began settling in Arab lands though an early example is that of Haji Shariatullah's teacher "Mawlana Murad", who was permanently residing in the city of Mecca in the early 1800s. Notable people of Bengali-origin that live in the Middle East include Zohurul Hoque, a translator of the Qur'an who lives in Oman, as well as the family of Princess Sarvath al-Hassan, who is the wife of Jordanian prince Hassan bin Talal.
Earliest records of Bengalis in the European continent date back to the reign of King George III of England during the 16th-century. One such example is I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim cleric from Nadia in western Bengal, who arrived to Europe in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim as a diplomat for the Mughal Empire. Another example during this period is of James Achilles Kirkpatrick's "hookah-bardar" (hookah servant/preparer) who was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the "Prince of Sylhet". The man, presumably from Sylhet in eastern Bengal, was waited upon by the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King. Today, the British Bangladeshis are a naturalised community in the United Kingdom, running 90% of all South Asian cuisine restaurants and having established numerous ethnic enclaves across the country – most prominent of which is Banglatown in East London. 
Culture.
Cuisine.
Bengali cuisine is the culinary style originating in Bengal, a region of the Indian subcontinent which is now located in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Some Indian regions like Tripura, Shillong and the Barak Valley region of
Assam (in India) also have large native Bengali populations and share this cuisine. With an emphasis on fish, vegetables, and milk served with rice as a staple diet, Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle flavours, and its huge spread of confectioneries and desserts. It also has the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from the Indian subcontinent that is analogous in structure
to the modern service à la russe style of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once.
Festivals.
Bengalis celebrate festivals like Pahela Baishakh, Shakrain, Nabanna and Pahela Falgun regardless of their faith. Otherwise they celebrate the major holidays of the Hindu and Muslims faiths. For Muslims, the festivals include Eid-ul-Azha, Eid-ul-Fitr, and Muharram. Although Bengali Hindus observe Holi, known as Dol-Yatra in Bengal, Diwali, and other important religious festivals, Durga Puja is the biggest and most important to them. Dedicated to the goddess Durga, who is a manifestation of Shakti, the festivities last for five days. Months before the festival, special clay idols of Durga and her children are made with the central supporting skeleton as a "Kathamo" from Bamboo. Mahalaya is celebrates days before the main festival. It is a lyrical chant of poems from the life of Maa Durga and her dominion and victory over the "asur"(s), in the voice of Sri Birendra Krishna Bhadra, played as a record in AIR. The festivities start on Panchami with the Bodhon. The five day-long festival consists of Maha-Shashti, Maha-Shoptomi, Maha-Oshtomi, Maha-Nobomi and Bijoya-Doshomi. These show The Durga mounted on a lion and killing the evil demon Mahishasur. Along with her, arrives her Four children, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Kartikeya and Saraswati. These lavishly painted and decorated idols are displayed and worshipped on each day of the festival in the pandals and at homes. Sondhi pujo is celebrated on the merge of Maha-Oshtomi and Maha-Nobomi. Kumari Pujo, introduced by Swami Vivekananda (who worshipped a Muslim girl on this day) is the worshipping of a girl-child as the Durga. On the tenth day, the idols are decorated with flowers and carried through the streets in processions. The procession makes its way to a river (mostly, The Ganga) or other body of water, where the image of Durga is immersed in the water.
Language.
Bengali is the language native to the region of Bengal, which comprises present-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and southern Assam. It is generally written using the Bengali script. With about 226 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages, ranked sixth in the world. The National Anthem of Bangladesh, National Anthem of India is composed in the Bengali language by nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and the National Song of India is composed by Sahityasamrat Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Bengali evolved circa 1000–1200 CE from eastern Middle Indo-Aryan dialects such as the Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, which developed from a dialect or group of dialects that were close, but not identical to, Vedic and Classical Sanskrit.
Bengali people may be broadly classified into sub-groups predominantly based on language but also other aspects of culture:
Literature.
The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the "Charyapada", a collection of Buddhist mystic songs dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. Thereafter, the timeline of Bengali literature is divided into two periods: medieval (1360–1800) and modern (1800–present). Bengali literature is one of the most enriched bodies of literature in Modern India and Bangladesh.
The first works in Bengali, written in new Bengali, appeared between 10th and 12th centuries CE It is generally known as the "Charyapada". These are mystic songs composed by various Buddhist seer-poets: Luipada, Kanhapada, Kukkuripada, Chatilpada, Bhusukupada, Kamlipada, Dhendhanpada, Shantipada, Shabarapada, etc. The famous Bengali linguist Haraprasad Shastri discovered the palm-leaf "Charyapada" manuscript in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907.
The Middle Bengali Literature is a period in the history of Bengali literature dating from 15th to 18th centuries. Following the Mughal invasion of Bengal in the 13th century, literature in vernacular Bengali began to take shape. The oldest example of Middle Bengali literature is believed to be "Shreekrishna Kirtana" by Boru Chandidas.
In the mid-19th century, Bengali literature gained momentum. During this period, the Bengali Pandits of Fort William College did the tedious work of translating textbooks in Bengali to help teach the British local languages including Bengali. This work played a role in the background in the evolution of Bengali prose.
Religion.
The largest religions practiced in Bengal are Islam and Hinduism. Among all Bengalis, more than two thirds are Muslims. The Bengali Muslims form a 90.4% majority in Bangladesh, and a 30% minority among the Bengalis in eastern India. Just less than a third of all Bengalis are Hindus, and they form a 70.5% majority in West Bengal and a 8.4% minority in Bangladesh.
Other religious groups include Buddhists (comprising around 1% of the population in Bangladesh) and Bengali Christians.
Performing arts.
Bengali theatre traces its roots to Sanskrit drama under the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE. It includes narrative forms, song and dance forms, supra-personae forms, performance with scroll paintings, puppet theatre and the processional forms like the Jatra.
Bengal has an extremely rich heritage of dancing dating back to antiquity. It includes classical, folk and martial dance traditions.
Arts and science.
The Bengali contributions to modern science is path breaking in the world's context. Renowned Indian physicist Satyendranath Bose made first calculations to initiate Statistical Mechanics. He first hypothesised a "physically tangible" idea of photon.
Meghnad Saha contributed to the theorisation of Thermal ionization.
Jagadish Chandra Bose first practicalised the wireless radio transmission. But Marconi got recognition for European proximity.
He also described for the first time, "Plants can respond", by demonstrating with his crescograph, recording the impulse caused by bromination of plant tissue.
Political culture.
Bengalis are very active in politics of their region. In Bangladesh, the Prime Minister of the nation is Sheikh Hasina, belonging to the Awami League party. In West Bengal, India, the chief minister of state is Mamata Banerjee from the party All India Trinamool Congress.