Bengali poetry is a rich tradition of poetry in the Bengali language and has many different forms. Originating in Bengal, the history of Bengali poetry underwent three successive stages of development: poetry of the early age, the Medieval period and the age of modern poetry. All ages have seen different forms of poetry and poetical tradition. It reached the pinnacle during the Bengali Renaissance period although it has a rich tradition and has grown independent of the movement. Major Bengali Poets throughout the ages are Chandidas, Alaol, Ramprasad Sen, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Nabinchandra Sen, Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralal Ray, Satyendranath Dutta, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das, Jasimuddin, Sukanta Battacharya, Al Mahmud.
The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955, it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh, Dhaka, within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah EP was a Bangladeshi poet noted for his revolutionary and romantic poetry. He is considered one of the leading Bengali poets of the 1970s. He received Munir Chaudhury Memorial Award in 1980 and Ekushey Padak in 2024
Malay Roy Choudhury was an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s.
The Charyapada is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism from the tantric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
Bengali literature denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali has developed over the course of roughly 1,300 years. If the emergence of the Bengali literature supposes to date back to roughly 650 AD, the development of Bengali literature claims to be 1600 years old. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs in Old Bengali dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The timeline of Bengali literature is divided into three periods: ancient (650–1200), medieval (1200–1800) and modern. Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Hindu religious scriptures, Islamic epics, Vaishnava texts, translations of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit texts, and secular texts by Muslim poets. Novels were introduced in the mid-19th century. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. Kazi Nazrul Islam, notable for his activism and anti-British literature, was described as the Rebel Poet and is now recognised as the National poet of Bangladesh.
Abdul Gaffar Choudhury was a Bangladeshi-born British writer, journalist, columnist, political analyst and poet. He wrote the lyrics to "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano", a widely celebrated song commemorating the Bengali Language Movement. He was awarded Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1967, Ekushey Padak in 1983, and Independence Day Award in 2009.
Abdul Mannan Syed was a Bangladeshi poet, and critic. He is known for his considerable research works on Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das, Farrukh Ahmad, Syed Waliullah, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Bishnu De, Samar Sen, Roquiah Sakhawat Hossain, Abdul Ghani Hazari, Muhammad Wajed Ali, Prabodh Chandra Sen. From 2002 to 2004, he held the position of Executive Director of Nazrul Institute.
Bengali novels occupy a major part of Bengali literature. Despite the evidence of Bengali literary traditions dating back to the 7th century, the format of novel or prose writing did not fully emerge until the early nineteenth century. The development of Bengali novel was fueled by colonial encounter, booming print culture, growth of urban centers, and increased middle-class readership Upanyas, the Bangla word for novel, is derived from the words upanay and upanyasta.
Kānhapā, Kanha or Kanhapada or Krishnacharya was one of the main poets of Charyapada, the earliest known example of Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Odia literature. He was a tantric Buddhist and a disciplle of Jalandhar. Kanhapada is also a prominent siddhacharya to Nath Sampradaya after Matsyendranatha and Gorakhnath. His poems in Charjyapad are written in a code, whereby every poem has a descriptive or narrative surface meaning but also encodes tantric Buddhist teachings. Some experts believe this was to conceal sacred knowledge from the uninitiated, while others hold that it was to avoid religious persecution.
M Harunur Rashid is a professor, educational administrator, editor, and translator. He is a noted writer of Sufism and Sufi literature and a commentator of social, political, and literary texts.
Adamjee Literary Award, also known as Adamjee Prize, is a literary award bestowed by the government of Pakistan. It is presented by the president. The award seeks to recognize those people who have made "meritorious contribution" to the literature of Pakistan. It was first introduced by Pakistan Writers' Guild in 1959. Muhammad Shahidullah served as the permanent chairman of the award.
Dhakaiya Urdu, sometimes unofficially and mythically concocted referred to as Sobbasi Language or Khosbasi Language, is a distinct Bengalinized dialect of Urdu that is native to Old Dhaka beside Dhakaiya Kutti a dialect of Bangla, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is being spoken by the city's Sobbas community, Khusbas community, Nawab Family, other native communities such as Shia community and aristocratic families. Sobbasi / Khosbasi is not the name of any language but the adjective and identifies some communities as referred by Hakim Habibur Rahman in Dhaka Pachas Baras Pahle. The usage of this language is gradually declining due to negative perceptions following it being forced upon the people of erstwhile East Bengal. However, at present, with the patronage and sole efforts of the cultural and social activists of the Dhakaiya Urdu language group, Dhakaiya Urdu is rapidly blossoming and expanding again.Today, Dhakaiya Urdu is one of the two dialects of Urdu spoken in Bangladesh; the other one being the Urdu spoken by the Biharis and Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh.
