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Bengal is a region in South Asia, politically split between Bangladesh and India. Due to its long history and complicated political divisions, various names have been used to refer to the region and its subsections. The name Bangla is used by both Bangladesh and West Bengal in international contexts. In the Bengali language, the two Bengals each use a different term to refer to the nominally identified nation: Bānglā ( বাংলা ) and Baṅga ( বঙ্গ )
Bangadesh (Bengali: বঙ্গদেশ; lit. Bengali Country) [1] Bongobhumi or Banglabhumi (Bengali: বঙ্গভূমি/ বাংলাভূমি; lit. Bengali Land) [1] Bangarajya or Banglarajya (Bengali: বঙ্গরাজ্য/ বাংলারাজ্য; lit. Bengali Realm) [1] Bangarashtra or Banglarashtra (Bengali: বঙ্গরাষ্ট্র/ বাংলারাষ্ট্র; lit. Bengali State)
East Bengal (Bengali : পূর্ববঙ্গPurbô Bangla) was the name used during two different 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 which made one half East Bengal or Bangladesh.
Historically, it referred to the fertile Bhati region of the Bengal delta, which corresponds to the modern-day Dhaka Division.
North Bengal (Bengali : উত্তরবঙ্গ) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part includes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Generally, it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River and includes the Barind Tract. The West Bengal part denotes the Jalpaiguri Division (Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda). The Bihar parts include the Kishanganj district. It also includes parts of Darjeeling Hills. Traditionally, the Hooghly River divides West Bengal into South and North Bengal, divided again into Terai and Dooars regions.
South Bengal (Bengali : দক্ষিণবঙ্গ) is a term used for the southwestern part of Bangladesh and the southern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part includes the Khulna, Faridpur, and Barisal Divisions. The Bay of Bengal is located at the end of the southern part of Bangladesh. The West Bengal part includes 12 districts in the southern part of West Bengal; Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, East Midnapur, West Midnapur, Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Nadia, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas.[ citation needed ]
West Bengal (Bengali : পশ্চিমবঙ্গ) comprises roughly one-third of the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. When India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The western part went to the Dominion of India (and was named West Bengal).[ further explanation needed ]
Hilly Bengal (Bengali: পার্বত্যবঙ্গ) is a term used for the southeastern parts of Bangladesh and parts of northern Myanmar. The Bangladesh part consists of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban, while the Myanmar part consists of 14 districts in the Northern part of Rakhine (Arakan/Rohang): Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyaukpyu, Ponnagyan, Rathedaung, Sittwe, Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myabon, Ann, Kyaukpyu, Rambree and Munaung.[ citation needed ]
Historical names for Bengal include (in chronological order):
In traditional Bengali culture, as well as in the Bengali Media, the land of Bengal has assumed a number of sobriquets over the centuries, including:
Bengal or endonym Bangla is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. The Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattishgarh and Tripura as well as the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands have a sizeable Bengali population. A large Bengali diaspora exists across the world. Bengali is the sixth-most spoken language in the world.
West Bengal is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2023 is 102,552,787. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.
"Amar Sonar Bangla" is the national anthem of Bangladesh. An ode to Mother Bengal, the lyrics were written by Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore in 1905, while the melody of the hymn was adopted from the Baul singer Gagan Harkara's song "Ami Kothay Pabo Tare" set to Dadra Tala. The modern instrumental rendition was arranged by Bangladeshi musician Samar Das.
Bangal is a term used to refer to the Bengali people of East Bengal, now in Bangladesh. The term is used to describe Bengalis from the east, who are marked by a distinct Bengali accent. It is usually assumed that the Bramhaputra-Padma river system is the demarcation line between the Western and Eastern wings of the Bengal region. The areas to the East of the Bramhaputra-Padma river system are traditionally held to be the homeland of the Bangal people.
Bangabhumi also known as Bir Banga, is a separatist movement to create a Bengali Hindu country for Bangladeshi Hindus in southwestern Bangladesh, envisioned by Banga Sena. Banga Sena is a separatist Hindu organization which advocates formation of a Bangabhumi for Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh. The group is led by Kalidas Baidya.
The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Karimganj district, located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal and dominated by the fertile Ganges delta. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom whose war elephant forces led the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India. Some historians have identified Gangaridai with other parts of India. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers act as a geographic marker of the region, but also connects the region to the broader Indian subcontinent. Bengal, at times, has played an important role in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
East Bengal was a non-contiguous province of the Dominion of Pakistan. Geographically eastern part of the Bengal region, East Bengal existed from 1947 until 1955, when it was renamed East Pakistan. Today, the area is an independent country, Bangladesh. With its coastline on the Bay of Bengal, it bordered India and Burma. It was located close to, but did not share a border with, Nepal, Tibet, the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Kingdom of Sikkim. Its capital was Dacca, now known as Dhaka.
Bengalis, also rendered as endonym Bangalee, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divided between the sovereign country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, Barak Valley, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand and part of Meghalaya and Manipur. Most speak Bengali, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. Sub-section 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution of Bangladesh states, "The people of Bangladesh shall be known as Bengalis as a nation and as Bangladeshis as citizens."
Vaṅga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division within the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent. The kingdom is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region. It was located in southern Bengal, with the core region including the southern part of present-day West Bengal (India) and southwestern Bangladesh. Vanga features prominently in the epics and tales of ancient India as well as in the history of Sri Lanka.
East Bengali Refugees are people who left East Bengal following the Partition of Bengal, which was part of the Independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. An overwhelming majority of these refugees and immigrants were Bengali Hindus. During the Bangladesh liberation war with West Pakistan, an estimated ten million people of East Pakistan fled the country and took refuge in India particularly in the Indian states of West Bengal and Indian North East region, especially Tripura and Assam.
Bengali nationalism is a form of nationalism that focuses on Bengalis as a single ethnicity by rejecting imposition of other languages and cultures while promoting its own in Bengal. Bengalis speak the Bengali language and mostly live across Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Bengali nationalism is one of the four fundamental principles according to the Constitution of Bangladesh and was the main driving force behind the creation of the independent nation state of Bangladesh through the 1971 liberation war. Bengali Muslims make up the majority (90%) of Bangladesh's citizens (Bangladeshis), and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam (29%) and West Bengal (27%), whereas Bengali Hindus make up the majority (60%) of India's citizens (Indians) in Indian state of West Bengal, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam (28%) and Jharkhand (8%) and the independent state of Bangladesh (8%).
Bangladesh's military history is intertwined with the history of a larger region, including present-day India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. The country was historically part of Bengal – a major power in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Gauda, was a territory located in Bengal in ancient and medieval times, as part of the Gauda Kingdom.
Bengali Hindus 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 second-largest ethnic group among Hindus after Hindustani Hindus. Bengali Hindus speak Bengali, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and adhere to Shaktism or Vaishnavism of their native religion Hinduism with some regional deities. There are significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus in different Indian states. 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.
Greater Bangladesh, or Greater Bengal is the irredentist ideology of Bangladesh to inevitably expand its territory to include the Indian states that currently has, or historically had, large populations of ethnic Bengali people. These include West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand to the west, Sikkim to the north, and the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland to the east. Greater Bangladesh would naturally therefore take on the more inclusive title of Greater Bengal, as her people would be united under a common ethnicity and heritage based on language rather than one based on religion.
The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar, colloquially, is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the South Asia. A revised version of the calendar is the national and official calendar in Bangladesh and an earlier version of the calendar is followed in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Unlike the traditional Indian Hindu calendar which starts with the month of Chaitra, the Bengali calendar starts with Boishakh. The first day of the Bengali year is known as Pohela Boishakh which is a public holiday in Bangladesh.
Baṅgamātā, Bangla Maa, Mother Bengal or simply বাংলা/ Bangla, is a personification of Bengal created during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists. In Bangladeshi Bengali and Indian Bengali poetry, literature, cultural and patriotic song, she has become a symbol of Bangladesh and India's West Bengal & Tripura and considered as a personification of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well – protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life.
Bangla may refer to:
The Bengali Language Movement is a campaign to preserve Bengali language and Bengalis culture and to oppose anti-Bengali sentiment in India. The movement was started in Manbhum in 1940, ahead of the Partition of India which allocated eastern Bengal to the new nation of Pakistan and led to the relocation of many Bengali communities. In 1947 British India bifurcated into India and Pakistan. The population of the eastern part of Bengal was majority Muslim, and was incorporated into Pakistan. Bengali Hindus in this eastern region migrated to India, principally settling in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Dandakaranya and Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka. The Movement remains prominent in Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
Muhammad Abdullah al-Baqi was a Bengali Islamic scholar, writer and politician. As a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, he played an active role in the Indian independence movement. He was a prominent leader of the Ahl-i Hadith movement in North Bengal, and played a significant roles in pre-partition Ahl-i Hadith conferences.
Historians believe that Bengal, the area comprising present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, was settled in about 1000 B.C. by Dravidian-speaking peoples who were later known as the Bang. Their homeland bore various titles that reflected earlier tribal names, such as Vanga, Banga, Bangala, Bangal, and Bengal.
In C1020 ... launched Rajendra's great northern escapade ... peoples he defeated have been tentatively identified ... 'Vangala-desa where the rain water never stopped' sounds like a fair description of Bengal in the monsoon.
But the most important development of this period was that the country for the first time received a name, ie Bangalah.
