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The Bengalis (বাঙালি Bangali), also rendered as the Bengali people, Bangalis and Bangalees,^[19] are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the region of Bengal in South Asia, which is presently-divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. They speak the Bengali language, the most easterly branch of the Indo-Europeanlanguage family.

Bengalis are the third largest ethnic group in the world after Han Chinese and Arabs.^[20] Apart from Bangladesh and West Bengal, Bengali-majority populations also reside in India's Tripura state, the Barak Valley in Assam state, and the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The global Bengali diaspora has well-established communities in Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Middle East, Japan, Singapore, and Italy.

They have four major religious subgroups, including Bengali Muslims, Bengali Hindus, Bengali Christians and Bengali Buddhists.

History

Ancient history

Anga in 600 BCE

Magadha from 6th-4th centuries BCE

Gangaridai in 323 BCE

Archaeologists have discovered remnants of a 4,000 years old Chalcolithic civilisation in the greater Bengal region and believe the finds are one of the earliest signs of settlement in the region.^[21] However, evidence of much older Palaeolithic human habitations were found in the form of a stone implement and a hand axe in Rangamati and Fenidistricts of Bangladesh. ^[22] The origin of the word Bangla ~ Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from a tribe called Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE.^[23]

Kingdoms of Pundra and Vanga were formed in Bengal and were first described in the Atharvaveda around 1000 BCE as well as in Hindu epic Mahabharata. Anga and later Magadha expanded to include most of the Bihar and Bengalregions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya, Magadha extended over nearly all of South Asia, including parts of Balochistan and Afghanistan, reaching its greatest extent under the Buddhist emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE.

One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridaiby 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.^[24] Later from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.

Middle Ages

The Pala Empire circa 800

Art of the Sena Empire, 11th century

Gateway of Lakhnauti

Realm of Mughal Bengal

One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around the early 7th century.^[25] After a period of anarchy, Gopala came to power in 750. He founded the Bengali Buddhist Pala Empire which ruled the region for four hundred years, and expanded across much of Southern Asia: from Assam in the northeast, to Kabul in the west, and to Andhra Pradesh in the south. Atisha was a renowned Bengali Buddhist teacher who was instrumental in the revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramshila university. Tilopa was also from Bengal region.

The Pala dynasty was later followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena Empire. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Sufi missionaries. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region.^[26] Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkic general of the Slave dynasty of Delhi Sultanate, 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. Islam was introduced to the Sylhet region by the Muslim saint Shah Jalal in the early 14th century. 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. Later, in the early 17th century, Islam Khan conquered all of Bengal. However, administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empiregave way to semi-independence of the area under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who nominally respected the sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. After the weakening of the Mughal Empire with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by the Nawabs until 1757, when the region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey.

Bengal Renaissance

Bengal Renaissance refers to a socio-religious reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the city of Kolkata by caste Hindus under the patronage of the British Raj and it created a reformed religion called Brahmo dharma. The Bengal renaissance can be said to have 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), although there have been many stalwarts thereafter embodying particular aspects of the unique intellectual and creative output.^[27] Nineteenth century Bengal was a unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists, all merging to form the image of a renaissance, and marked the transition from 'medieval' to 'modern'.^[28]

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^[29] and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a world religion during the 1800s.^[30] Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Bengali polymath: a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and writer of science fiction^[31] 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.^[32] He is considered one of the fathers of radio science,^[33] and is also considered the father of Bengali science fiction. Satyendra Nath Bose was a Bengali physicist, specializing 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.

Independence movement

Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samitiand Jugantar were dominant. Many of the early proponents of the independence struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das, Khwaja Salimullah, Surendranath Banerjea, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Titumir (Sayyid Mir Nisar Ali), Prafulla Chaki, A. K. Fazlul Huq, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Binoy-Badal-Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose, and Sachindranath Sanyal.

Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, who was born, raised and educated at Cuttack in Odisha 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 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.

The legacy of partition has left lasting differences between the two sides of Bengal, most notably in linguistic accent and cuisine.

Bangladesh Liberation War

The rise of self-determination and Bengali nationalism movements in East Bengal which was then East Pakistan led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, culminated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against the Pakistani military junta. 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 Pakistani refugees to take shelter in India's Bengali state West Bengal, with Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal province, 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.

Culture

Cuisine

Bengali cuisine is the culinary style originating in Bengal, a region of South Asia 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

Bengali New Year

The Bengalis celebrate many holidays and festivals. The Bengali proverb "Baro Mase Tero Parbon" ("Thirteen festivals in twelve months") indicates the abundance of festivity in the state. Durga Puja is solemnized as perhaps the most significant of all religious celebrations in West Bengal whereas in Bangladesh Eid-ul-Azha is the most significant religious festival.

Some major festivals celebrated are Durga Puja, Eid ul Fitr, Eid ul Azha, 21 February - Bengali language Day, Bengali New Year, Independence Day Of Bangladesh, Birthday of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Pohela Falgun, Birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, Death Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore etc.

Language

Bengali or Bangla 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 written using the Bengali script. With about 250 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages, ranked seventh in the world.^[34]^[35] The National Anthem of Bangladesh, National Anthem of India, National Anthem of Sri Lanka and the national song of India were first composed in the Bengali language.

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.

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 C.E. 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 dated 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 text books 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. According to 2014 US Department of State estimates, 89.9% of the population of Bangladesh follow Islam while 8.3% follow Hinduism. In West Bengal, Hindus are the majority with 70.54% of the population while Muslims comprise 27.01%. Other religious groups include Buddhists (compromising around 1% of the population in Bangladesh) and Christians.^[18

Indigenous Communities of Bangladesh

Bengalis
বাঙালি
Total population
	c. 300 million
Regions with significant populations
	Bengal
Bangladesh	163,187,000
India	83,369,769
Pakistan	2,000,000
Saudi Arabia	1,300,000
United Arab Emirates	1,089,917
United States	800,000
United Kingdom	451,000
Canada	59,370
Languages
	Bengali and Bengali dialects
Religion
	Islam – Bangladesh 89.8%, West Bengal 27.01%; Hinduism – West Bengal 70.54%, Bangladesh 8.3%; Buddhism, Bahá'í Faith, Christianity, Atheism and others – 1%
Related ethnic groups
	Indo-Aryan peoples

"Indigenous peoples in independent countries (are those) whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations."

There are about 35 smaller groups of Indigenous communities in Bangladesh covering about two percent of the total population have been living in different pockets of the hilly zones and some plain lands of the country (www. Banlaembassy.com.). On the other hand according to the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, there are 45 ethnic groups with approximately 2.5 million living side by side with the Bengali majority people. According to the government statistics the total number of Adivasi is 12,05,978 which is only 1.03 percent of the total population. However enough doubts remain about this number of Adivasis.

For centuries Bangladesh is enriched with the culture of different Adivasi ethnic communities. A good number of Adivasi live here. The word 'Adivasi' is derived from the Sanskrit. 'Adi' meaning original and 'Basi' means inhabitant. The Adivasi may also mean 'indigenous people'. Most of the Indigenous communities in Bangladesh draw their income from regular agriculture. The Indigenous communities of Bangladesh have their distinctive ways of living. But the Indigenous communities living in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) are more distinctive than the other to their own living culture, and they live more closely to the natural contact for their livelihood and housing than the other communities in Bangladesh.

Tribal community means such a group of people who are more or less organized in a region having a cultural unity and whose members feel that they are included in the same cultural unit. The convention No. 169 and Article No. 1 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) accepted in 1989 goes thus (Allen 1905 )

"Indigenous peoples in independent countries (are those) whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations:"

Indigenous Communities of Bangladesh - BIZUU.

According to some social scientists and anthropologists opined that the Adivasi 'means such a group of people whose economy is characterized by food gathering and rearing of animals for their livelihood.' More recently many countries of the world used a synonym word of 'Adivasi' is – 'forest dwellers' (Andre et.al. 1965). Some characteristics of course, are found in ascertaining the description of Adivasis (Costa1847).

The Adivasis live in such an area which is almost fixed. After the conclusion of procuring food they return generally to a fixed area or go to a new place to start living there.
The Adivasis own the unchanging cultural tradition. The proof of cultural unity is found such a group of people.
Their food procurement system and production skill are of the same kind form generation to generation.
There prevails a sense of unity among the members of the Adivasi- their sense of solidarity is very forceful.

According to Proshanto Tripura, an anthropologist of Bangladesh, (Garos 1885) "To call a particular group of people Adivasis means they are the descendant of an ancient minority group of people of that particular area. It is clear that the whole thing is a relative matter. In what context we call them indigenous or minority group of people is dependent on how the boundary of place and tine are ascertained."

However, at present there is no way to identity separately the Adivasi villages except in some areas mainly in Chittagong Hill Tracts. As now in most of the villages they are living side by side with the Bangali.

But in most cases the Indigenous community lives in a characteristically different hamlet although it is in the same village and their way of life is also remarkably different from those of the Hindus and Muslims Bangali community of the Village (Dube 1977).

There are about 35 smaller groups of Indigenous communities in Bangladesh covering about two percent of the total population have been living in different pockets of the hilly zones and some plain lands of the country (www. Banlaembassy.com.). On the other hand according to the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, there are 35 ethnic groups with approximately 2.5 million living side by side with the Bengali majority people. According to the government statistics the total number of Adivasi is 12,05,978 which is only 1.03 percent of the total population. However enough doubts remain about this number of Adivasis.

The indigenous communities along with the localities they live are mentioned here; Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Khyang, Khumi, Lushai, Marma, Mro. Pangkhoa, Rakhain, Tanchanga, Tripura in Chttagong Hill Tracts regions; Bhuimale, Lahra, Mahali, Monda, Noonia, Oraro, Pahan, Palia, Rabidas, Raybansi, Ranjoarh, Rana KIarmaker, Santal, in the North Bengal Region and Been, Bhumig, Boraj, Barman, Dalu, Garo, Hajongn, Halem, Kharia, Khari, Koch, Konda, Kurmi, Manipuri, Nayek, Pangan, Patra, Shabar in the Mymensingh and Sylhet region. (Cultural Survey of Bangladesh, Series- 5)

Tribal Communities of CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS.

The Hill Tract Indigenous communities are ethnically different from the settled populaces in Bangladesh. They have closer links with Indigenous of the vast region that extends from Tibet to Indo-China. They are short in stature, have black hair, prominent check-bones and narrow eyes, features that are generally known as typical to the mongoloid type.

One of largest concentration of the ‘ethnic tribal/Adivasis groups of the country is the Chittagong Hill Tracts. About one third of the tribal peoples live here. The different ethnicities of Chittagong Hill Tracts have their own traditional social system, practices, customs, language, literature, heritage, religious practices, costumes, food habit and festivals.

The indigenous people live in CHT are: Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Khyang, Khumi, Lushai Marma, Mro, Pangkhoa, Tanchangya, Rakhaine and Tripura (Chakma 2007). Bangladesh Statistical Year Book 2002:33 also support this number.