Bengali Hindus

Bengali Hindus
বাঙালি হিন্দু
Total population
c. 85 million
Regions with significant populations
 India65,700,000–67,200,000[a]
 Bangladesh13,130,109 (2022 census)[4]
Bengali Hindu diaspora1,000,000–1,500,000[5]
Languages
Bengali
Religion
Hinduism (Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Hindu atheism)

Bengali Hindus (Bengali: বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, romanizedBāṅgālī 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.

Devi Durga Sculpture by Sandalwood. Found in Murshidabad, West Bengal. Now kept in Indian Museum, Kolkata.
  1. ^ Datta, Romita (13 November 2020). "The great Hindu vote trick". India Today. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2022. Hindus add up to about 70 million in Bengal's 100 million population, of which around 55 million are Bengalis.
  2. ^ Ali, Zamser (5 December 2019). "EXCLUSIVE: BJP Govt plans to evict 70 lakh Muslims, 60 lakh Bengali Hindus through its Land Policy (2019) in Assam". Sabrang Communications. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022. 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.
  3. ^ "Bengali speaking voters may prove crucial in the second phase of Assam poll". April 2021. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Census 2022: Number of Muslims increased in the country". Dhaka Tribune. 27 July 2022. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  5. ^ https://poe.com/s/WpKDPLxkR2GlOgIVI9KU
  6. ^ McDermott 2005, p. 826.
  7. ^ Frawley, David (18 October 2018). What Is Hinduism?: A Guide for the Global Mind. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 26. ISBN 978-93-88038-65-2.
  8. ^ Tagore, Rabindranath (1916). The Home and the World ঘরে বাইরে [The Home and the World] (in Bengali). Dover Publications. p. 320. ISBN 9-780-486-82997-5.
  9. ^ B.P. Syam Roy (28 September 2015). "Bengal's topsy-turvy population growth". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  10. ^ Government of India (2012), "Population by religious community: West Bengal", 2011 Census of India, vol. 36, archived from the original on 10 September 2016, retrieved 1 March 2016.
  11. ^ Seal, Anil (1968). The emergence of Indian nationalism: competition and collaboration in the later nineteenth century. London: Cambridge U.P. p. 43. ISBN 9780521096522.
  12. ^ Raychaudhuri, Diptendra (3 September 2020). "BJP brings caste politics to Bengal". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 23 November 2024. 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.
  13. ^ Chakrabarti, Kunal; Chakrabarti, Shubhra (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5.
  14. ^ "Muslim freedom martyrs of India". Two Circles. 2 October 2009. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  15. ^ "Role of Muslims in the Freedom Movement-II". Radiance Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  16. ^ Roy, A. (1980). Genocide of Hindus & Buddhists in East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Delhi: Kranti Prakashan. p. 94. OCLC 13641966.
  17. ^ Brady, Thomas F. (5 April 1964). "Moslem-Hindu Violence Flares Again". The New York Times. New York. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.


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