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The Bengali people are the ethnic community from Bengal (divided between India and Bangladesh) in South Asia with a history going back more than two millennia. They speak Bengali, a language of the eastern branch of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian languages. They can trace their ancestry to the early Indo-Aryans, as well as the indigenous Austro-Asiatic Munda inhabitants of Bengal and Bihar (descendants of the Proto-Australoids), the Assamese and Sino-Tibetan inhabitants of North-East India, and the Dravidians from South India. Bengalis are mostly concentrated in Bangladesh, and in the state of West Bengal in India. There are also a number of Bengali communities scattered in several states of India, such as Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, as well as in other countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, the Middle East, UK and USA.
Culture
The Bengalis are known for their artistic and cultural achievements. Noted Bengali authors, playwrights, music composers, painters and film-makers have played a significant role in the evolution and development of modern Indian artistic expression. The Bengal renaissance of the 19th century was brought about when the British introduced Western education and ideas. Among the various Indian cultures, the Bengalis were relatively quick to adapt to the British rule and actually use its principles (such as the judiciary and the legislature) in the subsequent political struggle for independence. The Bengali renaissance contained the seeds of a nascent Political Indian Nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to modern Indian artistic and cultural expression.
Independence Movement
Bengalis also played a notable part in the independence movement. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle were educated Bengalis such as Chittranjan Das and S.N.Bannerjee; subsequently others such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Khudiram Bose and Rashbehari Bose were part of the more militant "extremists".
People
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - Hindu monk and social reformer
- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa - Hindu saint
- Swami Vivekananda - Hindu monk and social reformer
- Dhan Gopal Mukerji - author
- Rabindranath Tagore - poet, playwright, composer, Nobel laureate
- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay - novelist and essayist, credited for the first Indian novel
- Subhas Chandra Bose, co-founder Indian National Army, Head of State and Prime Minister, Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind
- Satyajit Ray - filmmaker
- Mrinal Sen - filmmaker
- Ritwik Ghatak - filmmaker
- Vilayat Khan - sitar maestro
- Ravi Shankar - sitar maestro, Grammy awardee
- Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay - novelist
- Paramahansa Yogananda, monk and exponent of Kriya Yoga
- A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - founder of ISKCON
- Kazi Nazrul Islam - poet
- Subhas Mukhopadhyay - poet
- Nirad C. Chaudhuri - Victorian scholar, Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - first Prime Minister of Bangladesh
- Ziaur Rahman - Bangladeshi freedom fighter
- Muhammad Yunus - economist, founder Grameen Bank
- Amartya Sen - economist, Nobel Laureate
- Shamsur Rahman - poet
- Mahasweta Devi author, social activist
- Sunil Gangopadhyay - poet, novelist
- Manna Dey - Bollywood singer
- Mithun Chakraborty - Bollywood action film hero
- Jhumpa Lahiri - writer
- Sushmita Sen - former Miss Universe, actress
- Amar Bose - founder of Bose Corporation
See also
Bengali people | Ethnic groups in Bangladesh | Indo-Aryan peoples | Ethnic groups in India
"Bengali people"