Culture of Bengal
Encyclopedia
The culture of Bengal
encompasses cultures in the Bengal region, which today consists of the independent nation of Bangladesh
(East Bengal
), and the India
n federal republic's constitutive state of West Bengal
. The two geographical entities share many cultural traits which root from their historical association.
, Mangalkavya, Shreekrishna Kirtana
, Maimansingha Gitika
, Thakurmar Jhuli
, and stories related to Gopal Bhar
. Bangla literature in the medieval age was often either religious (e.g. Chandidas
), or adaptations from other languages (e.g. Alaol
). In the nineteenth and twentieth century, Bengali literature
was modernized in the works of authors such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
, Michael Madhusudan Dutt
, Rabindranath Tagore
, Kazi Nazrul Islam
and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
. Bengali culture took a revolutinary turn with the advent of about 30 writers, poets, dramatists and artists in 1960s who were called as the Hungryalists.
tradition is a unique heritage of Bangla folk music, which has also been influenced by regional music traditions. Other folk music forms include Gombhira
, Bhatiali
and Bhawaiya
. Folk music in Bengal is often accompanied by the ektara
, a one-stringed instrument. Other instruments include the dotara
, dhol
, flute
, and tabla
. The region also has an active heritage in North Indian classical music
. Gurusaday Dutt
did a lot for the revival of folk art and folk dances of Bengal in the early twentieth century.
Rabindra Sangeet
, songs by Rabindranath Tagore
, use Indian classical music and traditional folk-music as sources. In Bengali cultural life they have a strong influence. Nazrul Geeti, songs by Kazi Nazrul Islam
, are also of great significance in Bengali culture.
. Bengal's vast repertoire of fish-based dishes includes hilsa
preparations, a favorite among Bengalis.
, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. In urban areas, many women and men wear Western-style attire. Men also wear traditional costumes such as the panjabi
with dhuti
. As time goes by the lungi
, a kind of long skirt has replaced the dhuti
, and now lungi
is widely worn by Bangladeshi men.
s, Eid ul-Fitr
and Eid ul-Azha are the largest festivals in Bangladesh. Durga Puja
in October is the most popular festival in the West Bengal. Pohela Baishakh
(the Bengali New Year), Rathayatra, Dolyatra or Basanta-Utsab, Nobanno
, Poush parbon (festival of Poush
), Kali puja, Laxmi puja are other major festivals.
are also quite popular in West Bengal and Bangladesh. The Bengali film industry is also known for art film
s. Its long tradition of filmmaking has produced acclaimed directors
like Satyajit Ray
, Tanvir Mokammel
, Mrinal Sen
and Ritwik Ghatak. Contemporary directors include Buddhadev Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose, Aparna Sen
, Tarek Masud and Rituparno Ghosh
. Around 200 dailies are published in Bangladesh, along with more than 1800 periodicals. However, regular readership is low, about 15% of the population. West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005, of which 430 were in Bangla. Ananda Bazar Patrika, published from Kolkata with 1,130,167 daily copies, has the largest circulation for a single-edition, regional language newspaper in India.
and football
are popular sports in the Bengal region. Kolkata is one of the major centers for football in India.
Sourav Ganguly is an internationally known cricketer from West Bengal. Local games include sports such as Kho Kho
and Kabaddi
, the latter being the national sport of Bangladesh.
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
encompasses cultures in the Bengal region, which today consists of the independent nation of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
(East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
), and the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n federal republic's constitutive state of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. The two geographical entities share many cultural traits which root from their historical association.
Religion
Ancient Bengal was the seat of Buddhism. During the Mauryan period, Poundravardhana, corresponding northern Bengal, was the seat of culture and political activities; and in the third century B.C. both of Buddhism and Jainism were prevalent in northern Bengal. This Buddhist tradition continued for centuries up to the end of the Pala period.The period was marked by the establishment of some Buddhist colleges and universities, the remains of one of which still can be found at Paharpur. From the twelfth century, under royal patronage of the Sena rulers, there was the revival of Brahmanical Hinduism; and because of the introduction of Kulinism and torture on the Buddhists and Yogis, the path was made ready for the spread of Islam from the thirteenth century onward. With the elapse of time, Shaktism became very prominent in Bengal; and from the end of the fifteenth century, Vaishnavism also grew to be popular under the leadership of Shri Chaitanya.(Ref.Sailen Debnath, 'Essays on Cultural History of North Bengal', ISBN 9788186860427).Centuries after the demise of Chaitanya, Bhakti Vedantaswami Prabhupada made Bengal's Vaishnavism a factor of Krishna consciosuness all over the world. There are many bhajans (devotional prayers to Bhagavan, Supreme Personality of Godheadm Krsna, and his devotees), which are written in Bengali language.Literature
The Bangla language boasts a rich literary heritage, shared with neighboring West Bengal. Bengal has a long tradition in folk literature, evidenced by the CharyapadaCharyapada
The Charyapada is a collection of 8th-12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the tantric tradition in eastern India. Being caryagiti , the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses that expressed a practitioner's...
, Mangalkavya, Shreekrishna Kirtana
Shreekrishna Kirtana
Shreekrishna Kirtana Kabya or Sri Krishna Kirtana Kabya is a pastoral Vaishnava drama in verse composed by Boru Chandidas. It is considered to be the most significant work after Charyapada in the history of Bengali literature...
, Maimansingha Gitika
Maimansingha Gitika
Maimansingha gitika or Môemonshingha gitika is a collection of folk ballads from the region of Mymensingh, Bangladesh. They were published in English as Eastern Bengal Ballads...
, Thakurmar Jhuli
Thakurmar Jhuli
Thakurmar Jhuli is a collection of Bengali folk tales and fairy tales. Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder was the person who first collected some folk-stories of Bengal and published it under the name of Thakurmar Jhuli in 1907 . The Nobel-Laureate, Rabindra Nath Thakur wrote the introduction to the...
, and stories related to Gopal Bhar
Gopal Bhar
Gopal Bhar or Gopal Bhand was a legendary court jester in medieval Bengal. He was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the famous king of Nadia in the 18th century AD. Such was the genius of Gopal that the king considered him as a Navaratna of his court...
. Bangla literature in the medieval age was often either religious (e.g. Chandidas
Chandidas
Chandidas refers to medieval poet of Bengal. Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, , Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also...
), or adaptations from other languages (e.g. Alaol
Alaol
Alaol was a medieval poet in Bengal. He is thought to be born around 1607 in Faridpur in the present-day Bangladesh. His most well known work is Padmavati, which depicts the story of Padmavati, the Sinhala princess and the queen of Chittor. There is an important literary prize named after him in...
). In the nineteenth and twentieth century, Bengali literature
Bengali literature
Bengali literature is literary works written in Bengali language particularly from Bangladesh and the Indian provinces of West Bengal and Tripura. The history of Bengali literature traces back hundreds of years while it is impossible to separate the literary trends of the two Bengals during the...
was modernized in the works of authors such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
, Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Michael Madhusudan Dutta was a popular 19th century Bengali poet and dramatist. He was born in Sagardari , on the bank of Kopotaksho [কপোতাক্ষ] River, a village in Keshobpur Upozila, Jessore District, East Bengal . His father was Rajnarayan Dutt, an eminent lawyer, and...
, Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is one of the most popular Bengali novelists and short story writers of early 20th century.- Background and writing :Sarat Chandra was born into poverty in Debanandapur, Hooghly, India...
. Bengali culture took a revolutinary turn with the advent of about 30 writers, poets, dramatists and artists in 1960s who were called as the Hungryalists.
Music
The BaulBaul
Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...
tradition is a unique heritage of Bangla folk music, which has also been influenced by regional music traditions. Other folk music forms include Gombhira
Gombhira
Gambhira is a type of song . It is performed with a particularly distinctive rhythm and dance with two performers, always personifying a man and his maternal grandfather, discussing a topic to raise social awareness...
, Bhatiali
Bhatiali
Bhatiali or Bhatiyali is a traditional form of folk music in Bengal, Bangladesh and West Bengal. Bhatiyali is a traditional boat song, sung by boatmen while going down streams of the river, as the word Bhatiyali comes from Bhata meaning ebb or downstream It mostly is sung in the Mymensingh District...
and Bhawaiya
Bhawaiya
Bhawaiya is a musical form popular in Northern Bangladesh, especially Rangpur District and in North Bengal specially in Cooch Behar district and Jalpaiguri District. This type of song is sung by the coachman. They sing this song while driving their cow drawn cart...
. Folk music in Bengal is often accompanied by the ektara
Ektara
Ektara is a one-string instrument used in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and Pakistan.thumb||EktaraIn origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger...
, a one-stringed instrument. Other instruments include the dotara
Dotara
The dotara is a two or four or some times five stringed musical instrument resembling more to mandolin than a guitar...
, dhol
Dhol
Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent and nearby regions. Its range of distribution in India and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Bengal, Gujarat,...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, and tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
. The region also has an active heritage in North Indian classical music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
. Gurusaday Dutt
Gurusaday Dutt
Gurusaday Dutt was a civil servant, politician, folklorist, and writer.-Early Life and education:He was the son of the Ramkrishna Dutt Chaudhuri and Anandamayee Debi...
did a lot for the revival of folk art and folk dances of Bengal in the early twentieth century.
Rabindra Sangeet
Rabindra Sangeet
Rabindra Sangeet , also known as Tagore Songs in English, is a form of music composed by Rabindranath Tagore who added a new dimension to the musical concept of India in general and Bengal in specific....
, songs by Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, use Indian classical music and traditional folk-music as sources. In Bengali cultural life they have a strong influence. Nazrul Geeti, songs by Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
, are also of great significance in Bengali culture.
Food
Rice and fish are traditional Bengali staple diet, leading to a saying that in Bengali, machhe y bhate bangali, that translates as "fish and rice make a Bengali". Meat production has increased significantly in recent years. Bengalis make distinctive sweetmeats from milk products, including rôshogolla, chômchôm, kalojam and several kinds of pithaPitha
Pitha , or pithe is a type of cake or bread common in Bangladesh and India, especially the eastern states of Assam, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and the northeastern region. Pithas are typically made of rice flour, although there are some types of pitha made of wheat flour...
. Bengal's vast repertoire of fish-based dishes includes hilsa
Hilsa
Ilish , also spelled Elish, is the most popular fish to Bengalis. Its the national fish of Bangladesh and extremely popular in parts of India such as West Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, Assam as well. Ilish also can be found at India's Assamese-, Bengali- Oriya-speaking regions and in Telugu-speaking...
preparations, a favorite among Bengalis.
Attire
Bengali women commonly wear the shaŗiSari
A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,...
, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. In urban areas, many women and men wear Western-style attire. Men also wear traditional costumes such as the panjabi
Kurta
A kurta is a traditional item of clothing worn in Afghanistan, Pakistan , Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. It is a loose shirt falling either just above or somewhere below the knees of the wearer, and is worn by both men and women...
with dhuti
Dhoti
The dhoti or pancha is the traditional men's garment in the in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A similar garment is worn in some rural areas of Punjab province in Pakistan, but the use is fast declining...
. As time goes by the lungi
Lungi
The Lungi , also known as a sarong , is a traditional garment worn around the waist in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula...
, a kind of long skirt has replaced the dhuti
Dhoti
The dhoti or pancha is the traditional men's garment in the in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A similar garment is worn in some rural areas of Punjab province in Pakistan, but the use is fast declining...
, and now lungi
Lungi
The Lungi , also known as a sarong , is a traditional garment worn around the waist in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula...
is widely worn by Bangladeshi men.
Festival
The two EidMuslim holidays
There are two main holidays in Islam, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. The way that holidays are recognized can vary across cultures, as well as across sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia. Muslim holidays generally follow the lunar calendar, and thus move each year relative to the solar calendar. The...
s, Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
and Eid ul-Azha are the largest festivals in Bangladesh. Durga Puja
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
in October is the most popular festival in the West Bengal. Pohela Baishakh
Pohela Baishakh
Bengali New Year or Poyela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura...
(the Bengali New Year), Rathayatra, Dolyatra or Basanta-Utsab, Nobanno
Nobanno
Nobanno is the festival of harvest in Bengal. The word translates as "New Rice". The festival takes place in the month of Agrohayon or Aghran of the Bangla Calendar. Festivities include making traditional cakes named "pitha"....
, Poush parbon (festival of Poush
Poush
Poush is the 9th month of both the Bangla calendar and the Nepali Calendar. It overlaps December and January of the Gregorian calendar. It is the first month of the winter season....
), Kali puja, Laxmi puja are other major festivals.
- "Bhaiphota": After "Kali puja"
Cinema and media
Bengali cinema/Bangla cinema are made both in Kolkata and Dhaka. Mainstream Hindi films of BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
are also quite popular in West Bengal and Bangladesh. The Bengali film industry is also known for art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
s. Its long tradition of filmmaking has produced acclaimed directors
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
like Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
, Tanvir Mokammel
Tanvir Mokammel
Tanvir Mokammel is a Bangladeshi film director. He earned a Masters degree in English Literature at Dhaka University...
, Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...
and Ritwik Ghatak. Contemporary directors include Buddhadev Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose, Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
, Tarek Masud and Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh is a Bengali film director. He has won 8 National Film Awards in India and several awards at international film festivals abroad.- Early life and background :...
. Around 200 dailies are published in Bangladesh, along with more than 1800 periodicals. However, regular readership is low, about 15% of the population. West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005, of which 430 were in Bangla. Ananda Bazar Patrika, published from Kolkata with 1,130,167 daily copies, has the largest circulation for a single-edition, regional language newspaper in India.
Sports
CricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
are popular sports in the Bengal region. Kolkata is one of the major centers for football in India.
Sourav Ganguly is an internationally known cricketer from West Bengal. Local games include sports such as Kho Kho
Kho Kho
Kho Kho is an Indian and Pakistani sport played by teams of twelve players who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team, only 9 players of the team enter the field...
and Kabaddi
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a South Asian team sport...
, the latter being the national sport of Bangladesh.
See also
- Culture of BangladeshCulture of BangladeshBangladesh has a long history in its culture. The land, the rivers, and the lives of the common people formed a rich heritage with marked differences from neighbouring regions. It has evolved over the centuries and encompasses the cultural diversity of several social groups of Bangladesh...
- Culture of West BengalCulture of West BengalThe culture of West Bengal is an Indian Culture which has its roots in the Bengali literature, music, fine arts, drama and cinema. People of West Bengal share their cultural heritage with the neighbouring Bangladesh . West Bengal has a long tradition of popular literature, music and drama largely...
- Bengali peopleBengali peopleThe Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
- Bangla houseBangla houseBangla house is the name of a type of guest house typically found in South Asia, especially in Bengal.Usually it is a separate detached house with one or two rooms in front a person's home which may have more than four rooms...