This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2016) |
বাঙালি হিন্দু | |
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Total population | |
c. 85 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
India | 65,700,000–67,200,000[a] |
Bangladesh | 13,130,109 (2022 census)[4] |
Bengali Hindu diaspora | 1,000,000–1,500,000[5] |
Languages | |
Bengali | |
Religion | |
Hinduism (Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Hindu atheism) |
Part of a series on |
Hinduism |
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Part of a series on |
Bengalis |
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Bengali Hindus (Bengali: বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, romanized: Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, and Assam's Barak Valley region. In Bangladesh, they form the largest minority. They are adherents of Hinduism and are native to the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. Comprising about one-third of the global Bengali population, they are the largest ethnic group among Hindus. Bengali Hindus speak Bengali, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and adhere to Shaktism (majority, the Kalikula tradition) or Vaishnavism (minority, Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Vaishnava-Sahajiya) of their native religion Hinduism with some regional deities. [6][7][8] There are significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus in different Indian states.[9][10]
According to the census in 1881, 12.81 per cent of Bengali Hindus belonged to the three upper castes while the rest belonged to the Shudra and Dalit castes,[11] while a 2020 Deccan Herald publication puts the percentage of the upper castes (Brahmins, Kayasthas and Vaidyas) at 15 to 18 per cent of the Hindu population.[12]
Around the 8th century, the Bengali language branched off from Magadhi Prakrit, a derivative of Sanskrit that was prevalent in the eastern region of the Indian Subcontinent at that time.[13] During the Sena period (11th – 12th century) the Bengali culture developed into a distinct culture, within the civilisation. Bengali Hindus were at the forefront of the Bengal Renaissance in the 19th century, the Bengal region was noted for its participation in the struggle for independence from the British rule.[14][15] At the time of the independence of India in 1947, the province of Bengal was partitioned between India and East Pakistan, part of the Muslim-majority state of Pakistan. Millions of Bengali Hindus numbering around 25,19,557 (1941–1951) have migrated from East Bengal (later Bangladesh) and settled in West Bengal and other states of India.[citation needed] The migration continued in waves through the fifties and sixties, especially as a results of the 1950 East Pakistan riots, which led to the migration of 4.5 million Hindus to India, according to one estimate.[16] The 1964 East-Pakistan riots caused an estimated 135,000 Hindus to migrate to India.[17] The massacre of East Pakistanis in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 led to exodus of millions of Hindus to India.
Hindus add up to about 70 million in Bengal's 100 million population, of which around 55 million are Bengalis.
Hence, about 70 lakh Assamese Muslims and 60 lakh Bengali-speaking Hindus face mass evictions and homelessness if the policy is allowed to be passed in the Assembly.
In Bengal, the forward castes – Brahmin, Vaidya and Kyastha – who dominate the big cities comprise only about 15 to 18 per cent of the Hindu population and about 12 to 13 per cent of the total voters.
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