166-652: Baidya or Vaidya is a Bengali Hindu community located in the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent . A caste ( jāti ) of Ayurvedic physicians, the Baidyas have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas . In the colonial era , the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three upper castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal . The terms Baidya means
332-578: A UNESCO world heritage site . Kumaragupta I was also a worshipper of Kartikeya . Skandagupta , son and successor of Kumaragupta I is generally considered to be the last of the great Gupta emperors. He assumed the titles of Vikramaditya and Kramaditya . He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Kidarites (sometimes described as the Hephthalites or "White Huns", known in India as
498-704: A Hindu-majority province. In late April 1947, the Amrita Bazar Patrika published the results of an opinion poll, in which 98% of the Bengali Hindus favoured the creation of a separate homeland. The proposal for the Partition of Bengal was moved in the Legislative Assembly on 20 June 1947, where the Hindu members voted 58–21 in favour of the Partition with two members abstaining. The Boundary Commission awarded
664-618: A campaign lasting until 409. His main opponent Rudrasimha III was defeated by 395, and he crushed the Bengal chiefdoms. This extended his control from coast to coast, established a second capital at Ujjain and was the high point of the empire. Kuntala inscriptions indicate rule of Chandragupta II in Kuntala country of Karnataka . Hunza inscription also indicate that Chandragupta was able to rule north western Indian subcontinent and proceeded to conquer Balkh , although some scholars have also disputed
830-724: A common bond of unity. The word Bengali is derived from the Bengali word bangali . The English word Bengali denoting the people as well as the language is derived from the English word Bengal denoting the region, which itself is derived ultimately from the Bengali word Vanga which was one of the five historical kingdoms of Eastern India. According to Harivamsa , Bali , the king of the asuras had five sons from his wife Sudeshna through sage Dirghatama. The five sons namely Anga , Vanga , Kalinga , Pundra and Sumha went on to found five kingdoms of
996-525: A dead prince. Kumkum Chatterjee feels that the Baidyas had probably crystallized into a jati long before the Sultanate rule , sometime around these times. In Sultanate, Mughal, and Nawabi Bengal , Baidyas often branched out into fields other than medicine and comprised a significant percentage of the elites. They were reputed for their proficiency in Sanskrit, which they needed to read treatises of medicine. By
1162-520: A descent from the semi-legendary Ambashthas , mostly believed to be of Kshatriya origin in Hindu scriptures, but such connections are tenuous. It is plausible the Baidyas had some link with Vaidyas of South India; inscriptions of the Sena dynasty mention migrations from Karnat and other places. The Talamanchi plates of Vikramaditya I (c. 660 CE) were drafted by one Vajravarman, described as an "illustrious Vaidya"; besides, three South Indian inscriptions of
1328-454: A flurry in the literary activity especially after the emergence of the Bengali press. The first Bengali prose Raja Pratapaditya Charitra was written during this time. The Renaissance saw a rapid development in modern Bengali literature. Most of the epics, poems, novels, short stories and dramas of the modern classical literature were written during this period. The Bengal Literary Society that later came to be known as Bangiya Sahitya Parishad
1494-551: A member of this society, produced voluminous literature to put forward partisan claims on Baidyas descending from Brahmins. Binodlal Sen later published Bharatamallika's genealogies in print. A rivalry with the Kayasthas, who would be considered to be inferior thenceforth, became an integral part of this discourse; matrimonial alliances were discouraged, fomenting the rise of a rigid, endogamous caste group. In 1893, Jnanendramohan Sengupta wrote Baidyajatir Baisista in an attempt to prove
1660-487: A musician and a poet, and calls him the "king of poets". Such claims are corroborated by Samudragupta's gold coins, which depict him playing a veena . Samudragupta appears to have directly controlled a large part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in present-day India, as well as a substantial part of central India. Besides, his empire comprised a number of monarchical and tribal tributary states of northern India, and of
1826-567: A new dimension as young artists like Devajyoti Ray , Sudip Roy and Paresh Maity started gaining international recognition. Devajyoti Ray is known for introducing Pseudorealism , which is one of the most original genres of Indian art today. The Bengali Hindus generally follow the beliefs and practices that fall under the broad umbrella of Hinduism . Majority of them follow either Shaktism (the Kalikula tradition ) or Vaishnavism ( Gaudiya Vaishnavism , Vaishnava-Sahajiya , Bauls ), and some follow
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#17328588092091992-399: A notable section of non-Bengali Hindus also exist, particularly among Marwaris , Biharis , Odias , Gurkhas , Punjabis , Sindhis , Gujaratis and various tribal communities such as Koch Raj bongshi , Santals , Munda and particularly Adivadis numbering around 1.557 crore comprising rest 15% of the state population. Hinduism has been existed in what is now called Bangladesh since
2158-462: A physician in the Bengali and Sanskrit languages. Bengal is the only place where they formed a caste or rather, a jati . The origins of Baidyas remain surrounded by a wide variety of overlapping and sometimes contradictory myths, and are heavily contested. Aside from Upapuranas and two genealogies (Kulajis), premodern Bengali literature does not discuss details of the caste's origins, nor do any old and authentic Smritis . The community claims
2324-460: A result of this jingoist movement, nearly 500,000 Bengali Hindus were forced to flee from Assam to take shelter in neighbouring West Bengal particularly in Jalpaiguri division in seek for safety. In the Bengali dominated Barak Valley region of Assam, violence broke out in 1960 and 1961 between Bengali Hindus and ethnic Assamese police over a state bill which would have made Assamese mandatory in
2490-580: A right of wearing sacred thread for the Baidyas of his own samaj. On facing opposition from other Baidya zamindars , who thought this to be an attempt at gaining trans-samaj acceptance as a Baidya leader, and Brahmin scholars of Vikrampur, who resented the loss of monopoly, Ballabh invited 131 Brahmins from Benaras , Kanauj , Navadwip , and other regions with expertise in Nyaya Shastra . All of them adjudicated in his favour, with ceremonial costs running to five lakhs . Soon, Baidyas sought for equality with
2656-662: A single political entity and expanded it into an empire, conquering a major portion of North India . During this time, the Bengali Hindus excelled in art, literature, philosophy, mathematics, sciences and statecraft. The first scriptures in Bengali Charyapada was composed during the Pala rule . The Pala were followed by the Senas who made far reaching changes in the social structure of Bengali Hindus, introducing 36 new castes and orthodox institutions like Kulinism . The literary progress of
2822-562: A summary of the former text. Bharata claimed a mixed-caste/Vaishya status for the Baidyas whereas Das skipped such discussions. In the Caitanya Caritāmṛta of Baidya Krishnadasa Kaviraja , one Candrasekhara is variably referred to as a Baidya and a Sudra. During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, acrimonious debates about the caste status of Baidyas proliferated. Around 1750, Raja Ballabh wished to have Brahmins officiate at his rituals; he sought Vaishya status and claimed
2988-471: A synthesis of the two. The Shaktas belong to the upper castes as well as lowest castes and tribes, while the lower middle castes are Vaishnavas. The minor traditions include Shaivites . A small minority is atheist who do not follow any rituals. Brahmoism is also found among Bengali Hindus. A part of the parent tradition, the Bengali Hindus usually affiliate themselves to one of the many sects that have come to be established as institutionalised forms of
3154-511: A theological commentary. Sivananda Sena , an immensely wealthy Baidya, organize the annual trip of Caitanya devotees to Puri, and his son wrote several devotional Sanskrit works. As the Caitanya cult shunned doctrines of equality after his death, the associated Baidyas began enjoying a quasi-Brahminic status as Gaudiya Vasihnava gurus . Multiple Baidya authors partook in the Mangalkavya tradition ,
3320-570: A variety of subjects, are also thought to have been committed to written texts around this period. Hinduism was followed by the rulers and the Brahmins flourished in the Gupta empire but the Guptas were tolerant towards people of other faiths as well. The empire eventually died out because of factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories, as well as
3486-451: Is considered as one of the most staple food by both Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. Bengali Hindu society used to be caste-oriented throughout centuries and the professional status of men depended exclusively on the hierarchical caste divisions . In traditional Bengali Hindu society , nearly every occupation is carried on by a ranked hierarchy of specialised caste groups such as weaving, pottery, carpentry and blacksmithing. However, with
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#17328588092093652-566: Is known that from Chinese sources that the Simhala king Meghavarna sent rich presents to the Gupta emperor requesting his permission to build a Buddhist monastery at Bodh Gaya : Samudragupta's panegyrist appears to have described this act of diplomacy as an act of subservience. Samudragupta appears to have been Vaishnavite , as attested by his Eran inscription, and performed several Brahmanical ceremonies. The Gupta records credit him with making generous donations of cows and gold. He performed
3818-461: Is no doubt that Gupta and Ghatotkacha held a lower status and were less powerful than Chandragupta I. Chandragupta I married the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, which may have helped him extend his political power and dominions, enabling him to adopt the prestigious title Maharajadhiraja . According to the dynasty's official records, he was succeeded by his son Samudragupta . However, the discovery of
3984-614: The Aryabhatiya , making significant contributions to mathematics including developing a Place value system , an approximation of π of 4 decimal places, trigonometric functions, and Squared triangular numbers . Varāhamihira wrote the Pancha Siddhanta developing various formulas relating sine and cosine functions. Yativṛṣabha made contributions on units of measurement. Virahanka described Fibonacci numbers . Indian astronomy also saw progress in this era. The names of
4150-489: The 1964 East Pakistan riots many Bengali Hindus have poured into Assam as refugees and the number of Hindu migrants in the state rose to 1,068,455 in 1968 (sharply after 4 years of the riot). The fourth patches numbering around 347,555 have just arrived after Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 as refugees and most of them being Bengali speaking Hindus have decided to stay back in Assam permanently afterwards. Bengali Hindus are now
4316-467: The Ashvamedha ritual (horse sacrifice), which was used by the ancient Indian kings and emperors to prove their imperial sovereignty, and issued gold coins (see Coinage below) to mark this performance. The Allahabad Pillar inscription presents Samudragupta as a wise king and strict administrator, who was also compassionate enough to help the poor and the helpless. It also alludes to the king's talents as
4482-770: The Aulikara King Yashodharman c. 532 CE . A 2019 study by archaeologist Shanker Sharma has concluded that the cause of the Gupta Empire's downfall was a devastating flood which happened around the middle of the 6th century in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . In the heart of the former Gupta Empire, in the Gangetic region, the Guptas were succeeded by the Maukhari dynasty and the Pushyabhuti dynasty . The coinage of
4648-614: The Bangladesh Liberation War , large number of Bengali Hindus were massacred . The Enemy Property Act of the Pakistan regime which is still in force in the new incarnation of Vested Property Act , has been used by successive Bangladeshi governments to seize the properties of the Hindu minorities who left the country during the Partition of India and Bangladesh liberation war. According to Professor Abul Barkat of Dhaka University ,
4814-640: The Brahmins for the worship and teaching purpose in the Pagoda . Then afterwards 1920, most of them start settling to the urban areas and main cities, mainly in Yangon , Mandalay and in urban areas of Rakhine State . In modern times, they have faced persecution which was mainly started after 1962 coup by Ne Win . Both the United States and United Kingdom have large immigrant Bengali Hindu populations, who are mostly from
4980-647: The Chaulukya - Paramara dynasties, who issued so-called Indo-Sasanian coinage , on the model of the coinage of the Sasanian Empire , which had been introduced in India by the Alchon Huns. In contrast to the Mauryan Empire , the Guptas introduced several military innovations to Indian warfare. Chief among these was the use of siege engines , heavy cavalry archers and heavy sword cavalry. The heavy cavalry formed
5146-557: The Damodar River valley near Durgapur. Microliths, potteries, copper fishhooks and iron arrowheads have been found at Pandu Rajar Dhibi . In the ancient times, some of the Bengali Hindus were seafaring people as evident from Vijay Singha's naval conquest of Lanka , the tales of merchants like Chand Sadagar and Dhanapati Saudagor whose ships sailed to far off places for trade and establishment of colonies in South East Asia . By
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5312-591: The Dāyabhāga school of law, as opposed to the Mitākṣarā school of law, which governed the other Hindu ethno-linguistic groups. In India, after the promulgation of the Hindu code bills , the Bengali Hindus along with other Hindus are being governed by a uniform Hindu law . There are two major social subgroups among the Bengali Hindus – the ghotis and the bangals . The Bengali Hindus who emigrated from East Bengal (Bangladesh) at
5478-594: The Gupta era . The period, sometimes described as Pax Gupta , gave rise to achievements in architecture, sculpture, and painting that "set standards of form and taste [that] determined the whole subsequent course of art, not only in India but far beyond her borders". Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre and established the region as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in India and Southeast Asia . The Puranas , earlier long poems on
5644-512: The Hindi speaking population. The Bengali Hindus constitute of numerous endogamous castes , which are sometimes further subdivided into endogamous subgroups. The caste system evolved over centuries and became more and more complex with time. In the medieval period, several castes were boycotted by the ruling classes from time to time and this isolation continued till the 19th century. These social boycotts were somewhat discriminatory in nature. After
5810-583: The Indian Subcontinent at that time. 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 . At the time of the independence of India in 1947,
5976-458: 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. 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
6142-602: The Koch , Dimasa and the Tripuris . The Koches settled in Barak Valley in the 16th century, while the Dimasas settled in the late 16th - early 17th century A.D respectively. Bengali Hindus first came into Assam's Brahmaputra valley during the time of British era of 1826 from neighbouring Bengal region as colonial official workers, bankers, railway employees, bureaucrats and later on during
6308-639: The Maharajadhiraja . A large number of his copper coins also have been found from the Eran - Vidisha region and classified in five distinct types, which include the Garuda , Garudadhvaja , lion and border legend types. The Brahmi legends on these coins are written in the early Gupta style. According to the Gupta records, among his sons, Samudragupta nominated prince Chandragupta II, born of queen Dattadevi , as his successor. Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya (Brave as
6474-502: The Nitish Kumar government had promised to solve this problems and also to raise the status of Bangla as a language in the state. Bengali Hindus constitute a minority ethnic group of the total population in both Bangladesh and India, forming less than 10% of the population in both countries. Hinduism has existed in Bengal before the 16th century BC and by the third century, Buddhism has also gain popularity in Bengal . West Bengal
6640-889: The Pallava kingdom in the south, and defeated Vishnugopa, the Pallava regent of Kanchi . During this southern campaign, Samudragupta most probably passed through the forest tract of central India, reached the eastern coast in present-day Odisha , and then marched south along the coast of the Bay of Bengal . The Allahabad Pillar inscription mentions that rulers of several frontier kingdoms and tribal aristocracies paid Samudragupta tributes, obeyed his orders, and performed obeisance before him. The frontier kingdoms included Samatata , Davaka , Kamarupa , Nepal and Karttripura . The tribal aristocracies and kingdoms included Malavas , Arjunayanas , Yaudheyas , Madrakas , and Abhiras , among others. Finally,
6806-545: The Pandyas (c. late 8th century) note the Vaidya- kula (trans. "Vaidya clan" /"Vaidya family") to be Brahmins , famed for expertise in music and Sastras, and one of them was noted to have served in the dual roles of War-General and Prime Minister. The Upapuranas played a significant role in the history of Bengal: they propagated and established Brahminic ideals in the hitherto-impure fringes of Aryavarta and accommodated elements of
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6972-707: The Parasika , then the Huna and Kamboja tribes located in the west and east Oxus valleys respectively. Thereafter, the king proceeded into the Himalaya mountains to reduce the mountain tribes of the Kinnaras , Kiratas , as well as India proper. In one of his works Kalidasa also credits him with the removal of the Sakas from the country. He wrote 'Wasn't it Vikramaditya who drove the Sakas out from
7138-512: The Renaissance , the rigidity of the caste system ceased to a great extent, so much so that the first celebrated intercaste marriage took place as early as in 1925. The Bengali Hindu families are patriarchal as well as patrilocal and traditionally follow a joint family system. However, due to the Partition and subsequent urbanisation, the joint families have given way to the nuclear families . The Bengali Hindus were traditionally governed by
7304-619: The Shreekrishna Kirtana and the Vaishnava padavalis followed by translation literatures like Ramayana and Srikrishna Vijaya . In the medieval period literary works on the life and teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were composed. This period saw the emergence of Shakta padavalis . The characteristic feature of Bengali Hindu literature in the middle age are the mangalkavyas , that glorify various Hindu gods and goddesses often using folkloristic backgrounds. The early modern period saw
7470-506: The Sweta Huna ), from the northwest. He repelled a Huna attack around 455 CE, but the expense of the wars drained the empire's resources and contributed to its decline. The Bhitari Pillar inscription of Skandagupta , the successor of Chandragupta, recalls the near annihilation of the Gupta Empire following the attacks of the Kidarites . The Kidarites seem to have retained the western part of
7636-618: The smallpox epidemic of the 1840s in Dhaka , Baidyas would refuse to inoculate the masses and relegate such menial tasks to lower-ranked barbers and garland makers. Beginning in 1822, Brahmin and Baidya scholars produced a series of polemical pamphlets against one another and in 1831, the Baidya Samaj (Baidya Society) was formed by Khudiram Bisharad , a teacher at the Native Medical Institution, to defend class interests. Gangadhar Ray ,
7802-565: The 250 member Bengal Legislative Assembly a disproportionate 119 seats were reserved for the Muslims, 17 for Europeans, Anglo-Indians & Indian Christians , 34 for the institutions, and the rest 80 were left as General. The Communal Award further divided the Hindus into Scheduled Caste Hindus and Tribal Hindus. Out of the 80 General seats, 10 were reserved for the Scheduled Castes . In response
7968-560: The 3rd century B.C.E. they were united into a powerful state, known to the Greeks as Gangaridai , whose military prowess demoralised Alexander from further expedition to the east. In the middle of the 8th century, the Bengali Hindu nobility democratically elected Gopala as the ruler of Gauda , ushering in an era of peace and prosperity in Bengal, ending almost a century of chaos and confusion. The Buddhist Pala rulers unified Bengal into
8134-644: The 6th century CE . The Guptas were traditionally a Hindu dynasty. They were patronizers of Brahmanism and allowed followers of Buddhism and Jainism to practice their religions. Sanchi remained an important centre of Buddhism. Kumaragupta I (455 CE ) is said to have founded Nalanda . Modern genetic studies indicate that it was during the Gupta period that Indian caste groups ceased to intermarry (started practising/enforcing endogamy ). Some later rulers however seem to have especially promoted Buddhism . Narasimhagupta Baladitya ( c. 495 –?), according to contemporary writer Paramartha ,
8300-467: The Act has been used to misappropriate 2,100,000 acres (8,500 km ) of land from the Bengali Hindus, roughly equivalent to the 45% of the total landed area owned by them. In Assam's, Assamese dominated Brahmaputra Valley region Bongal Kheda movement (which literally means drive out Bengalis) was happened in the late 1948-80s, where several thousands of Hindu Bengalis was massacred by jingoists Assamese nationalists mob in various parts of Assam and as
8466-431: The Alchons are said to have altered the hierarchy of ruling families and the Indian caste system . For example, the Hunas are often said to have become the precursors of the Rajputs . The succession of the 6th-century Guptas is not entirely clear, but the tail end recognised ruler of the dynasty's main line was King Vishnugupta , reigning from 540 to 550. In addition to the Huna invasion, the factors, which contribute to
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#17328588092098632-511: The Ambasthas had scriptural sanction of being ordained into sannyasa , like Brahmins; Sengupta remained a prolific author for the Baidya cause throughout the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 1901, colonial ethnographer Herbert Hope Risley noted the Baidyas to be above Sudras but below Brahmins. Baidya social historians like Umesh Chandra Gupta and Dinesh Chandra Sen supported Risley's observation of non-Shudra status with measured skepticism and went on to produce illustrious histories of
8798-399: The Ambasthas, deriving from a well-known mythical episode where Brahmins had them ordained to be the highest of Shudras and conferred a monopoly to practice Ayurveda. In contrast, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana (Bv. P.) —notable for a very late Bengali recension (c. 14th/15th centuries)— treats the Baidyas as separate to Ambasthas but notes both to be Satsudras . According to Ryosuke Furui,
8964-503: The Baidyas among Satsudra s, of whom Kayasthas were held to be the highest. The Chandimangal of Mukundaram Chakrabarti (c. mid 16th century CE) placed the Baidyas below Vaisyas but above Kayasthas, again indicating a Sudra status. Works by Raghunandana (c. mid 16th century) also hold Baidyas to be Sudras. In 1653 C.E., Ramakanta Das wrote the oldest available Baidya kulanji — Sadvaidyakulapnjika . A few years later, Bharatamallika would write Chandraprabha (1675 C.E.), and Ratnaprabha ,
9130-460: The Baidyas with the largest share of land per se —even exceeding the Brahmins— pointing to the yet-insignificant roles played by varna. Beginning the 11th century, kinship based organization was increasingly evident across all classes — sects of Brahmins claimed greater authority deriving from the illustriousness of their ancestors and networked among themselves, literate classes entered into practicing endogamy etc. Inscriptions increasingly point to
9296-425: The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, where around at that time, nearly 1,381,649 Bengalis (mostly Hindus) have came into various parts of Tripura to take refugees and most of them have settled here permanently afterwards. Parts of the state were shelled by the Pakistan Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 . Following the war, the Indian government reorganised the North East region to try to improve control of
9462-426: The Barak Valley are eligible for citizenship if the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 becomes a law. Most Bengali Hindus came into Jharkhand during the colonial period, brought up by the British as colonial workers mainly from the western part of Bengal. In Jharkhand , the Bengali Hindu population is over 2.5 million comprising 8.09% but the overall Bengali speaking population are a slight majority there and
9628-475: The Bengali Hindu people, prompting the latter to form the Bengali Tiger Force. Discrimination against refugee Bengali Hindu population is not limited to the North East . In Odisha , in a family of ten individuals, only half of them has been recognised as Indians while the rest were branded as Bangladeshis. The Bengali refugees who had settled in Bihar after the partition of India are denied land owning rights, caste certificates and welfare schemes. However,
9794-480: The Bengali Hindus a territory far less in proportion to their population which was around 46% of the population of the province, awarding the Bengali Hindu majority district of Khulna to Pakistan. However, some Bengali Muslim majority districts such as Murshidabad and Malda were handed to India. After the Partition , the majority of the urban upper class and middle class Bengali Hindu population of East Bengal immigrated to West Bengal. The ones who stayed back were
9960-402: The Bengali Hindus were reduced to minorities. The Bengalis, however, opposed to the Partition tooth and nail, embarked on a political movement of Swadeshi , boycott and revolutionary nationalism. On 28 September 1905, the day of Mahalaya , 50,000 Bengali Hindus resolved before the Mother at Kalighat to boycott foreign goods and stop employing foreigners. The British Raj finally annulled
10126-401: The Bengali New Year's Day or Pohela Boishakh which usually falls on 15 April. Traditional business establishment commence their fiscal year on this day, with the worship of Lakshmi and Ganesha and inauguration of the halkhata (ledger). People dress in ethnic wear and enjoy ethnic food. Poila Baishakh is followed by Rabindra Jayanti , Rath Yatra and Janmashtami before the commencement of
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#173285880920910292-405: The Bengali chiefs along with some Bengali Muslims consolidated themselves into confederacies and resisted the Mughals. After the fall of the confederacies, the Mughals brought a major part of Bengal under their control, and constituted a subah . During the decline of the Mughal Empire , Nawabs of Bengal (who were Muslim) ruled a large part of Bengal. During the reign of Alivardi Khan . a Nawab,
10458-465: The Brahmins and claimed themselves to be "Gauna (secondary) Brahmins", leveraging the recently conferred right to upanayana . Further, Calcutta Sanskrit College barred Shudras from admission, initially allowing only Brahmins and Baidyas to enrol until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar introduced admission for Kayasthas. At the same time, they invested efforts to prevent lower rank caste from infiltrating into their ranks and emphasize on their social purity; in
10624-584: The Brahmins, Baidyas and Kayasthas were common and increasing. Baidyas wield considerable socio-economic power in contemporary Bengal as part of Bhadraloks; though in absence of rigorous data, the precise extent is difficult to determine. Parimal Ghosh notes this Bhadralok hegemony to have effectively disenfranchised the rest of Bengal from staking a claim to social capital. Bengali Hindu Traditional Bengali Hindus ( Bengali : বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু , romanized : Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu ) are an ethnoreligious population who make up
10790-473: The Bv. P. was a group of degraded Brahmins called Vaidya or Pandita, who resided in the Ganjam district of Odisha and may have served as a link between the Vaidyas of South India and the Baidyas of Bengal. Kulajis — a form of literature endemic to Bengal — were essentially immutable genealogical registers but actually, texts in flux, reflecting the needs and anxieties of contemporary society; they primarily served to establish social hierarchy vis à vis others. Of
10956-527: The Gupta Empire. Skandagupta died in 467 and was succeeded by his agnate brother Purugupta . Following Skandagupta's death, the empire was clearly in decline, and the later Gupta coinage indicates their loss of control over much of western India after 467–469. Skandagupta was followed by Purugupta (467–473), Kumaragupta II (473–476), Budhagupta (476–495), Narasimhagupta (495–530), Kumaragupta III (530–540), Vishnugupta (540–550), two lesser known kings namely, Vainyagupta and Bhanugupta . In
11122-460: The Gupta homeland in the present-day Bengal region in Ganges basin, based on the account of the 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing . According to Yijing, king Che-li-ki-to (identified with the dynasty's founder Shri Gupta ) built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no (apparently a transcription of Mriga-shikha-vana ). Yijing states that this temple was located more than 40 yojanas east of Nalanda , which would mean it
11288-404: The Guptas were supportive of thriving Buddhist and Jain cultures as well, and for this reason, there is also a long history of non-Hindu Gupta period art . In particular, Gupta period Buddhist art was to be influential in most of East and Southeast Asia. Many advances were recorded by the Chinese scholar and traveller Faxian in his diary and published afterwards. The court of Chandragupta II
11454-450: The Huns. The Hun invader Toramana was defeated by Bhanugupta in 510. The Huns were defeated and driven out of India in 528 by King Yashodharman from Malwa , and possibly Gupta emperor Narasimhagupta . These invasions, although only spanning a few decades, had long term effects on India, and in a sense brought an end to Classical Indian civilisation . Soon after the invasions, the Gupta Empire, already weakened by these invasions and
11620-428: The Imperial Gupta Army. The best extant information comes from the Sanskrit mahakavya (epic poem) Raghuvaṃśa written by the Classical Sanskrit writer and dramatist Kalidasa . Many modern scholars put forward the view that Kalidasa lived from the reign of Chandragupta II to the reign of Skandagupta and that the campaigns of Raghu – his protagonist in the Raghuvaṃśa – reflect those of Chandragupta II. In Canto IV of
11786-505: The Indian army. In 1766, the British troops were completely routed by the sanyasi s and fakir s or the warrior monks at Dinhata , where the latter resorted guerrilla warfare . Bankim Chandra 's Anandamath is based on the Famine and consequential Sannyasi Rebellion . According to author James Jeremiah Novak, as British rulers took power from Bengal's ruling Muslim class, they strategically catered to Bengali Hindus (a majority in Bengal region at that time). The British rule destroyed
11952-549: The Leftist organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) claimed that there are around 2 million Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam who would become Indian citizens if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is passed. BJP, however claimed that only eight lakh Hindu Bangladeshis will get citizenship. The number of Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh in Barak Valley has varied estimates. According to the Assam government, 1.3 lakh such people residing in
12118-653: The Maharajahs of Tripura much before Indian independence . Since the partition of India, many Bengali Hindus have migrated to Tripura as refugees fleeing religious persecution in Muslim-majority East Pakistan, especially after 1949 and this is primarily attributed by the immigration of 610,000 Bengalis — the figure almost equal to the State's total population in 1951 — from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between 1947 and 1951. Settlement by Hindu Bengalis increased during
12284-570: The Maukharis and Pushyabhutis followed the silver coin type of the Guptas, with portrait of the ruler in profile (although facing in the reverse direction compared to the Guptas, a possible symbol of antagonism) and the peacock on the reverse, the Brahmi legend being kept except for the name of the ruler. In the western regions, they were succeeded by Gurjaradesa , the Gurjara-Pratiharas , and later
12450-580: The Pala and Sena period came to a halt after the Turkish conquest in the early 13th century. Except for Haridas Datta's Manasar Bhasan no significant literary work was composed for about a century after the conquest. Even though the ruling classes resisted the invaders, Gauda, the centre of Bengal polity, fell to the Islamic invaders. During this period hundreds of temples and monasteries were desecrated. The next attack on
12616-466: The Partition in 1911. The Raj, however, carried out some restructuring, and carved out Bengali Hindu majority districts like Manbhum , Singbhum, Santal Pargana and Purnia awarding them to Bihar and others like Cachar that were awarded to Assam , which effectively made the Bengali Hindus a minority in the united province of Bengal. The Britishers also transferred the capital from Calcutta to New Delhi. The revolutionary movement gained momentum after
12782-829: The Partition. Bengali revolutionaries collaborated with the Germans during the War to liberate British India . Later the revolutionaries defeated the British army in the Battle of Jalalabad and liberated Chittagong . During the Quit India Movement , the revolutionaries liberated the Tamluk and Contai subdivision of Midnapore district from British rule and established the Tamralipta National Government. The British, unable to control
12948-646: The Pujas. Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire on the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century CE to mid 6th century CE. It was the seventh ruling dynasty of Magadha . At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent . This period has been considered as the Golden Age of India by historians, although this characterisation has been disputed by some other historians. The ruling dynasty of
13114-778: The Raghuvamsa, Kalidasa relates how the king's forces clash against the powerful, cavalry-centric, forces of the Persians and later the Yavanas (probably Huns) in the North-West. Here he makes special mention of the use horse-archers in the king's army and that the horses needed much rest after the hotly contested battles. The five arms of the Gupta military included infantry, cavalry, chariotry , elephantry and ships . Gunaighar copper plate inscription of Vainya Gupta mentions ships but not chariots. Ships had become integral part of Indian military in
13280-671: The Sun), ruled from 375 until 415. He married a Kadamba princess of Kuntala and of Naga lineage ( Nāgakulotpannnā ), Kuberanaga. His daughter Prabhavatigupta from this Naga queen was married to Rudrasena II , the Vakataka king of Deccan . His son Kumaragupta I was married to a Kadamba princess of the Karnataka region. Chandragupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka Western Kshatrapas of Malwa , Gujarat and Saurashtra in
13446-581: The Vaishya varna. According to historian R. S. Sharma , the Vaishyas – who were traditionally associated with trade – may have become rulers after resisting oppressive taxation by the previous rulers. Critics of the Vaishya-origin theory point out that the suffix Gupta features in the names of several non-Vaishyas before as well as during the Gupta period, and the dynastic name "Gupta" may have simply derived from
13612-632: The Varnasamkara myth and the subsequent ordaining of Samkaras in Brh. P. reflected and reinforced the existing social hierarchy of ancient Bengal — that is, even in pre-Brahminized Bengal, the Baidyas had an eminent position and practiced medicine — while allowing the Brahmin authors to conform an alien society to orthodoxic standards, and establish themselves at the top. According to Sircar, the Baidya community mentioned in
13778-528: The ancient guru-shishya traditions . Major amongst them include the Ramakrishna Mission , Bharat Sevashram Sangha , Bijoy Krishna Goswami , Anukul Thakur , Matua , ISKCON , Gaudiya Mission , Ananda Marga , Ram Thakur etc. The main devis of the Shakta Kalikula tradition are Kali , Chandi , Jagaddhatri , Durga , as well as regional goddesses such as Bishahari and Manasa ,
13944-573: The ancient times. In nature, the Bangladeshi Hinduism closely resembles the ritual and customs of Hinduism practised in the Indian state of West Bengal, with which Bangladesh (at one time known as East Bengal ) was united until the partition of India. While in Bangladesh, Bengali Hindus are the second largest community with a population of 12.8 million out of 149.77 million people constituting (8.5%) of
14110-522: The bases of Bengali Muslim society. Bengali Hindus got favours from the British rulers, and experienced development in education and social mobility. In the 19th century, the elite class of Bengali Hindu people underwent radical social reforms and rapid modernisation; the phenomenon came to be known as the Bengal Renaissance . Public media like press and theatres became vents of nationalist sentiments, apolitical organisations had given way to political platforms, secret revolutionary societies emerged and
14276-508: The coins issued by a Gupta emperor named Kacha have led to some debate on this topic: according to one theory, Kacha was another name for Samudragupta; another possibility is that Kacha was a rival claimant to the throne. Samudragupta succeeded his father around 335 or 350 CE, and ruled until c. 375 CE . The Allahabad Pillar inscription, composed by his courtier Harisena , credits him with extensive conquests. The inscription asserts that Samudragupta uprooted 8 kings of Āryāvarta ,
14442-569: The community, deriving from kulanjis . In the early twentieth century, Gananath Sen , the first dean of the Faculty of Ayurveda at Banaras Hindu University , opened a "Baidya Brahman Samiti" in Calcutta ; now, the Baidyas were not merely equal to Brahmins but identical. It was also suggested all Baidyas change their surnames to Sharma, a Brahmin patronymic. In 1915 and 1916, Kuladakinkara Ray published Vaidyakulapanjika to advocate that Baidyas were not just
14608-509: The consumption of meat is often avoided in diets due to the Hindu principle of ahimsa which prohibits meat consumption. However, Bengali Hindus adore eating meat of goat , chicken , duck and lamb . Most of the Hindus refrain from eating beef. Meat, especially beef is readily consumed in Bangladesh and where it is considered the meal's main course and the Fish curry (or Machher Jhol ) with rice
14774-572: The control of Vishayapati s (district lords ). A Vishayapati administered the Vishaya with the help of the Adhikarana (council of representatives), which comprised four representatives: Nagarasreshesthi , Sarthavaha , Prathamakulika and Prathama Kayastha . A part of the Vishaya was called Vithi . The Gupta also had trading links with the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires. The four-fold varna system
14940-475: The core of the Gupta Army and were supported by the traditional Indian Army elements of war elephants and light infantry . The utilisation of horse archers in the Gupta period is evidenced on the coinage of Chandragupta II , Kumaragupta I and Prakasaditya (postulated to be Purugupta ) that depicts the kings as horse-archers. There is a paucity of contemporary sources detailing the tactical operations of
15106-433: The country as per 2011 year census. But distinct Hindu population also exist among indigenous tribes like Garo , Khasi , Jaintia , Santhal , Bishnupriya Manipuri , Tripuri , Munda , Oraon , Dhanuk etc. In terms of population, Bangladesh is the third largest Hindu populated country in the world after India and Nepal . Out of 21 million population of Dhaka as far estimated by 2020, Bengali Hindus are at present
15272-648: The culture of Dimasa Kacharis. Bhattacharjee describes that the Dimasa kings spoke Bengali and the inscriptions and coins written were in Bengali script. Migrations to Cachar increased after the British annexation of the region. Bengalis in plains of Cachar valley were a significant, and sometimes dominant tribe/group/demographic for at least a period since the reign of Dhanya Manikya in the 15th century who hosted several Bengali Brahmin scholars in his court during his reign/rule. The Bengalis have been living in Barak Valley for at least 1,500 years, settling there much earlier than
15438-560: The decline of the empire include competition from the Vakatakas and the rise of Yashodharman in Malwa . The last known inscription by a Gupta emperor is from the reign of Vishnugupta (the Damudarpur copper-plate inscription), in which he makes a land grant in the area of Kotivarsha ( Bangarh in West Bengal ) in 542/543 CE. This follows the occupation of most of northern and central India by
15604-630: The early Gupta emperors have been discovered. This theory is also supported by the Purana , as argued by the proponents, that mention the territory of the early Gupta emperors as Prayaga , Saketa , and Magadha areas in the Ganges basin. The recently found silver coin of Sri Gupta in Uttar Pradesh further attest the origin of Guptas around Kāśī – Kannauj region and his rule was only limited to Kāśī (present day Varanasi ). Another prominent theory locates
15770-442: The early modern period, and especially after the first paper mill was set up in 1809. During the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century, the Bengali Hindus pioneered the Bengal school of art . It provided the artistic medium of expression to the Hindu nationalist movement . Though the Bengal school later gave way to modernist ideas, it left an enduring legacy. In the post-liberalisation phase of India, modern art acquired
15936-514: The early twentieth century; a majority of "revolutionary terrorists" from Bengal who partook in the Indian independence movement came from this class. In modern Bengal, Baidyas' place in caste-hierarchy follows Brahmins — they wear the sacred thread, and have access to scriptures, but cannot conduct priestly services. Their ritual rank — whether Sudras or not — is debated and claims to Brahmin status persist. However, their socioeconomic status rivals that of Brahmins. As of 1960, inter-marriages between
16102-684: The empire was founded by Gupta and the most notable rulers of the dynasty were Chandragupta I , Samudragupta , Chandragupta II , Kumaragupta I and Skandagupta . The high points of this period are the great cultural developments which took place primarily during the reigns of Samudragupta , Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I . Many Hindu epics and literary sources, such as Mahabharata and Ramayana , were canonised during this period. The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa , Aryabhata , Varahamihira and Vatsyayana , who made great advancements in many academic fields. Science and political administration reached new heights during
16268-556: The empire. The Kidarites as well probably confronted the Gupta Empire towards the end of the rule of Kumaragupta I, as his son Skandagupta mentions in the Bhitari pillar inscription his efforts at reshaping a country in disarray, through reorganisation and military victories over the Pushyamitras and the Hunas . He was the founder of Nalanda University which on 15 July 2016 was declared as
16434-629: The end of sixteenth century, Baidyas were occupying a position of preeminence in the Bengali social hierarchy alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas ; marriages between Baidyas and Kayasthas were commonplace. Around the late fifteenth century, Baidyas became intricately associated with the Caitanya Cult alongside Brahmins. Murari Gupta , a childhood friend of Caitanya, was a famed physician of Navadwip and went on to compose Krsna Caitanya Caritamrta , his oldest extant biography in Sanskrit. Narahari Sarkara , another Baidya devotees, composed Krsna Bhajanamrta ,
16600-478: The foremost being Bijaya Gupta (late 15th c.). Besides, two Chandi Mangalkavyas were penned by Jaynnarayana Sen (c. 1750) and Muktarama Sen (1774), two Manasa Mangalkavyas by Sasthibara Datta (late 17th c.) and one by Dbarik Das. Bharatamallika (fl. 1650), a physician and an instructor of a tol , wrote numerous commentaries on Sanskrit texts like Amarakosha , and produced miscellaneous works on grammar and lexicography. The Vallal Charita of Ānanda Bhaṭṭa classed
16766-417: The genealogical works to be free for anyone who purchased medications above a certain value and Baidya medicine distributors were frequently found to sell revisionist caste histories. Says Mukharji, that elements of colonial modernity—Western notions of physiology and medical instruments—were "braided" with Ayurveda to fashion Baidyas as the modern Brahmins. Notwithstanding these contestations of scriptural rank,
16932-413: The global context, the terms Indian Bengali and Bangladeshi Hindu are respectively used. In India, Bengali generally refers to Bengali Hindus, excluding a significant number of Bengali Muslims who are also ethnically Bengalis . The 'other' is usually identified as 'non-Bengali', a term that generically refers to the Hindu people who are not Bengali speaking, but sometimes specifically used to denote
17098-592: The government to stop the mayhem. Later in the year, the Muslim League government orchestrated the infamous Noakhali genocide . After the failure of the United Bengal plan, it became evident that either all of Bengal would go to Pakistan, or it would be partitioned between India and Pakistan. Direct Action Day and the Noakhali genocide prompted the Bengali Hindu leadership to vote for the Partition of Bengal to create
17264-462: The hereditary nature of a range of professions from merchants to engravers to scribes. In the words of Furui, proto- jatis were forming across these spans which would be legitimized into a Brahminic social order by the Upapuranas etc. The Bhatera Copper Plates mention the aksapaṭalika of King Isandeva (c. 1050) to be of Baidya lineage , on whose advice a parcel of land was granted to the family of
17430-520: The identity of the Gupta emperor. Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076 – 1126 CE) mentions Chandragupta with his title and states: "Why should the glory of the Kings Vikramaditya and Nanda be a hindrance any longer ? He with a loud command abolished that (era), which has the name of Saka, and made that (era) which has the Chalukya counting". Despite the creation of the empire through war,
17596-457: The inscription mentions that several foreign kings tried to please Samudragupta by personal attendance; offered him their daughters in marriage (or according to another interpretation, gifted him maidens ); and sought the use of the Garuda -depicting Gupta seal for administering their own territories. This is an exaggeration: for example, the inscription lists the King of Simhala among these kings. It
17762-479: The international borders – three new states came into existence on 21 January 1972: Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura. Before independence, most of the population was indigenous. In Tripura , now Bengali Hindus form a clear majority due to immigration from neighbouring East Pakistan during 1947 and 1971 and as a result Tripura has become a Bengali dominant state with Bangla as its official language along with Kokborok and English. Bengali Hindus comprise nearly 60% of
17928-402: The introduction of British rule and appearance of urban civilisation, the former rural agrarian and artisan economy gradually crumbled and gave way to modern middle class economy. However, agriculture, land tenure, farming and fishing form the predominant economic activity in most of the rural area till now. The proper Bengali literary history begins with the early Vaishnava literature like
18094-406: The invasion by the Huna peoples ( Kidarites and Alchon Huns ) from Central Asia . After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. The homeland of the Guptas is uncertain. According to one theory, they originated in the present-day lower-Doab region of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh , where most of the inscriptions and coin hoards of
18260-515: The late 490's the Alchon Huns under Toramana and Mihirakula broke through the Gupta defences in the northwest, and much of the empire in the northwest was overrun by the Huns by 500. According to some scholars the empire disintegrated under the attacks of Toramana and his successor Mihirakula . It appears from inscriptions that the Guptas, although their power was much diminished, continued to resist
18426-559: The leading Bengali Hindu landholders , lawyers and professionals signed the Bengal Hindu Manifesto on 23 April 1932 rejecting the justification of reservation of separate electorates for Muslims in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. They joined hands with Sikhs and non-Bengali Hindus in attacking Muslims and ultimately it turned out to be a violent reprisal that resulted in heavy casualties of Muslims, finally forcing
18592-599: The literacy( in vernacular and English respectively) of Bengal's overall male population as per the 1931 census. Baidyas were unquestionably established as among the "upper castes" by the mid-nineteenth century; they would go on to comprise the Bhadralok Samaj —the highest "secular rank" in contemporary Bengal—along with Brahmins and Kayasthas, and serve as the eyes and ears of the British Government. The Bhadraloks were instrumental in demanding democratic reforms during
18758-444: The local levels in bureaucratic affairs. It does not appear that varna played any role in the society — the Brahmins were the only group to be referred to by their caste-identity and were revered but still classed as one among the peasant landholder class. One Gunaighar Inscription, dated to Vainyagupta (507 C.E.), demarcated agricultural tracts that were to be collectively owned by Baidyas. The reference was, in all likelihood, to
18924-485: The lovely city of Ujjain ?'. The Brihatkathamanjari of the Kashmiri writer Kshemendra states, King Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the barbarians like the Sakas, Mlecchas , Kambojas , Greeks , Tusharas , Saka-Greeks , Hunas , and others, by annihilating these sinful Mlecchas completely". Faxian , a Chinese Buddhist monk , was one of the pilgrims who visited India during
19090-471: 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
19256-491: The material dominance of Baidyas continued unabated into colonial rule when they proactively took to Western forms of education and held a disproportionate share of government jobs, elite professions, and landholding. Male as well as female literacy rate of Baidyas were remarkably higher than in the case of all other castes of Bengal, as recorded in the 1881 census—which was the first to record caste-wise literacy data—and ever since. Baidya women, specifically, had two and three times
19422-439: The migration of 4.5 million Hindus to India, according to one estimate. The 1964 East-Pakistan riots caused an estimated 135,000 Hindus to migrate to India. The massacre of East Pakistanis in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 led to exodus of millions of Hindus to India. The Hindus are a religious group, native to the Indian subcontinent , speaking a broad range of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages and adhering to
19588-531: The name of a king mentioned by the 7th century Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing, is believed to be a transcription of " Shri -Gupta" ( IAST : Śrigupta), "Shri" being an honorific prefix. According to Yijing, this king built a temple for Chinese Buddhist pilgrims near "Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no" (believed to be a transcription of Mṛgaśikhāvana ). In the Allahabad Pillar inscription, Gupta and his successor Ghatotkacha are described as Maharaja ("Great King"), while
19754-518: The name of the dynasty's first king Gupta . Some scholars, such as S. R. Goyal , theorise that the Guptas were Brahmins , because they had matrimonial relations with Brahmins, but others reject this evidence as inconclusive. Based on the Pune and Riddhapur inscriptions of the Gupta princess Prabhavatigupta , some scholars believe that the name of her paternal gotra (clan) was "Dharana", but an alternative reading of these inscriptions suggests that Dharana
19920-533: The native belief systems, rooted in the Vedas . The word Hindu is popularly believed to be a Persian exonym for the people native to the Indian subcontinent. The word is derived from Sindhu , the Sanskrit name for the river Indus and it initially referred to the people residing to the east of the river. The Hindus are constituted into various ethno-linguistic subgroups, which in spite of being culturally diverse, share
20086-445: The next king Chandragupta I is called a Maharajadhiraja (" King of Great Kings "). In the later period, the title Maharaja was used by feudatory rulers, which has led to suggestions that Gupta and Ghatotkacha were vassals (possibly of Kushan Empire ). However, there are several instances of paramount sovereigns using the title Maharaja , in both pre-Gupta and post-Gupta periods, so this cannot be said with certainty. That said, there
20252-534: The northern region, including the Nagas . It further claims that he subjugated all the kings of the forest region, which was most probably located in central India. It also credits him with defeating 12 rulers of Dakshinapatha , the southern region: the exact identification of several of these kings is debated among modern scholars, but it is clear that these kings ruled areas located on the eastern coast of India. The inscription suggests that Samudragupta advanced as far as
20418-530: The ones who had significant landed property and believed that they will be able to live peacefully in an Islamic state. However, after the genocide of 1950 , Bengali Hindus fled East Bengal in thousands and settled in West Bengal. In 1964, tens of thousands of Bengali Hindus were massacred in East Pakistan and most of the Bengali Hindu owned businesses and properties of Dhaka were permanently destroyed. During
20584-414: The operating norm in these societies. North-eastern Bengal which saw aggressive encroachment upon tribal tracts via royal settlement of Brahmins witnessed a less egalitarian society; yet, notwithstanding rulers claiming to a Brahmin pedigree etc, the social groups in inscriptions did not have anything to do with varna . With increasing urbanization in Pala territories, stratification became ingrained into
20750-407: The percentage of Bengali speakers ranges from 38%–40%. The non-tribal population of Tripura, the mostly Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims, constitute more than two-thirds of the state's population. The resident and the migrant Bengali population benefitted from the culture and language of the royal house of Tripura thanks to embracement of Hinduism and adoption of Bengali as the state language by
20916-524: The profession of physicians who probably drew people from various varnas including Brahmins. With the rise of sovereign kingships centered around Vanga , Radha, and Pundravardhana , the relatively well-off sections among the landholder class gained eminence and split into several sub-classes depending on economic power. Inscriptions referred to people from these classes alongside the villages they owned and above other professional classes — thus, economic affluence, rather than varna , appears to have been
21082-549: The professional classes and have migrated through education and employment. Former Cricketer Isa Guha and Rhona Mitra are prominent descendants of the Bengali Hindu diaspora . Bengali cuisine is mainly influenced by the diet habits similar to the Hindus and includes a very large variety of sweets and dishes. The Bengali sweets includes desserts made by milk, includes Rasgulla , Sandesh , Cham cham , etc. In Hinduism ,
21248-491: 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. The migration continued in waves through the fifties and sixties, especially as a results of the 1950 East Pakistan riots , which led to
21414-520: The reign is remembered for its very influential style of Hindu art , literature , culture and science , especially during the reign of Chandragupta II. Some excellent works of Hindu art such as the panels at the Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh serve to illustrate the magnificence of Gupta art. Above all, it was the synthesis of elements that gave Gupta art its distinctive flavour. During this period,
21580-436: The reign of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II . He started his journey from China in 399 CE and reached India in 405 CE . During his stay in India up to 411 CE , he went on a pilgrimage to Mathura , Kannauj , Kapilavastu , Kushinagar , Vaishali , Pataliputra , Kashi , and Rajagriha , and made careful observations about the empire's conditions. Faxian was pleased with the mildness of administration. The penal code
21746-492: The revolutionary activities, decided to hinder the Bengali Hindu people through administrative reforms. The Government of India Act 1919 introduced in the 144 member Bengal Legislative Assembly, 46 seats for the Muslims, 59 for the institutions, Europeans & others and left the rest 39 as General, where the Bengali Hindus were to scramble for a representation. The situation worsened with the Communal Award of 1932, where in
21912-675: The rise of local rulers such as Yashodharman , ended as well. Following the invasions, northern India was left in disarray, with numerous smaller Indian powers emerging after the crumbling of the Guptas. The Huna invasions are said to have seriously damaged India's trade with Europe and Central Asia . In particular, Indo-Roman trade relations , which the Gupta Empire had greatly benefited from. The Guptas had been exporting numerous luxury products such as silk , leather goods, fur, iron products, ivory , pearl , and pepper from centres such as Nasik , Paithan , Pataliputra , and Benares . The Huna invasion probably disrupted these trade relations and
22078-636: The rise of the Gupta Empire and by then, cultural contacts with North India were gradually flourishing. Written records predating the Guptas do not survive. Copper Plate Inscriptions from the Gupta Era point to a complex society with different professional classes having little socioeconomic homogeneity. Many of these classes had their own hierarchies corresponding to differential geospatial levels or economic conditions but there exists no evidence of inter-class hierarchy; rather, there were frequent collaborations at
22244-419: The royal land have to pay (a portion of) the gain from it. If they want to go, they go. If they want to stay on, they stay on. The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments. Criminals are simply fined according to circumstances. Even in cases of repeated attempts at wicked rebellion, they only have their right-hand cut off. The king's bodyguards & attendants all have salaries. Throughout
22410-413: The same as Brahmins but the highest of them. In 1922, Basantakumar Sen wrote Baidya Jatir Itihas on the same themes. Pascale Haag notes these efforts to gain mobility would not have partly succeeded without acceptance by Brahmin society. These attempts at attaining mobility were heavily enmeshed with the modernization of Ayurveda, that transpired across the nineneeth century. Binodlal Sen had declared
22576-426: The same name in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. In ancient times Vanga proper consisted of the deltaic region between Bhagirathi , Padma and Madhumati , but later on extended to include the regions which now roughly comprise Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . In India, they tend to identify themselves as Bengalis while in Bangladesh they tend to identify themselves as Hindus . In
22742-534: The second largest community just after Bengali Muslims in Dhaka numbering around at 1,051,167 (5% of population) and are mainly concentrated in Shankhari Bazaar . The Barak Valley comprising the present districts of Cachar , Karimganj and Hailakandi is contiguous to Sylhet (Bengal plains), where the Bengali Hindus, according to historian J.B. Bhattacharjee, had settled well before the colonial period, influencing
22908-555: The secondary education curriculum. On 19 May 1961, eleven Bengali protesters were killed by Assamese police fired on a demonstration at the Silchar railway station . Subsequently, the Assam government allowed Bengali as the medium of education and held it as an official position in Barak Valley. The United Liberation Front of Asom , National Democratic Front of Bodoland , Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam and National Liberation Front of Tripura militants have selectively targeted
23074-568: The semi-independent Bengali Hindu kingdoms outside the pale of Muslim occupied Bengal. In some cases, even when their rulers have been captured or killed, the ordinary people began to carry on the fight. These resistances took the form of Chuar ( Chuar is a derogatory term used by the Britishers and local zamindars to denote the Bhumij peoples ) and Paik Rebellion . These warring people were later listed as criminal tribes and barred from recruitment in
23240-535: The seven days in a week appeared at the start of the Gupta period based on Hindu deities and planets corresponding to the Roman names. Aryabhata made several contributions such as assigning the start of each day to midnight. the earth's rotation on its axis, westward motion of the stars. Aryabhata also mentioned that reflected sunlight is the cause behind the shining of the Moon. In his book, Aryabhata, he suggested that
23406-657: The severe taxation and frequent Maratha raids made the life miserable for the ordinary Bengali Hindus. A section of the Bengali Hindu nobility helped the British East India Company in overthrowing the Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah regime. After obtaining the revenue rights, the East India Company imposed more oppressive taxation. In the famine of 1770, approximately one third of the Bengali population died. The British began to face stiff resistance in conquering
23572-409: The snake goddesses, Shashthi , the protectress of children, Shitala , the smallpox goddess, Annapurna and Umā (the Bengali name for Parvati ). According to a famous Bengali proverb, there are thirteen festivals in twelve months ( Bengali : বারো মাসে তেরো পার্বণ , romanized : Bārō māsē tērō pārbaṇa ). Bengali Hindus celebrate all major Indian festivals. The year begins with
23738-602: The social structure and Brahmins —probably with state patronage— ascended to the top, overshadowing the landed magnates. Pala grants frequently enlist a detailed social hierarchy from the Brahmins to the Chandalas, encompassing many professional classes. In contrast, largely-agrarian societies in the east, ruled by the Chandras, exhibited no such radical developments though rudimentary notions of ranks were under development. The Paschimbhag copperplate inscription of Sri Chandra allotted
23904-415: The society at large became restive. With rising nationalism among Bengalis, the British rulers applied divide and rule policy, and started to make favours to Bengali Muslims. To keep the rising Bengali Hindu aspirations at bay, the British partitioned the province in 1905 and along with some additional restructuring came up with two provinces – Eastern Bengal & Assam and Bengal itself, in each of which
24070-442: The society came from the Islamic missionaries . Local chieftains like Akananda , Dakshin Ray and Mukut Ray, resisted the missionary activities. During the Pathan occupation of Bengal, some regions were held in sway by different Bengali Hindu rulers. Islam religion gradually spread throughout the Bengal region, and many Bengali Hindus converted to Islam. When the Delhi-based Mughals tried to bring Bengal under their direct rule,
24236-439: The south-eastern coastal region of India. Ramagupta is known from a sixth-century play, the Devichandragupta , in which he surrenders his queen to the enemy Sakas and his brother Chandragupta has to sneak into the enemy camp to rescue her and kill the Saka king. The historicity of these events is unclear, but Ramagupta's existence is confirmed by three Jain statues found at Durjanpur , with inscriptions referring to him as
24402-626: The state population which is around 2.2 million whereas native Tripuris are 30% of the state population which is around 1.2 million as of 2011 census. There is also a significant number of Bengali Hindus residing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands , estimated approximately 100,000 comprising 26%–28% of the population. Bengali is also the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, despite it lacking official status. The Bengali Hindus in Myanmar are present from long back historical times, when they were brought from Bengal region to Arakan region by many Arakanese kings , especially
24568-422: The tax revenues that came with them. Furthermore, Indian urban culture was left in decline, and Buddhism , gravely weakened by the destruction of monasteries and the killing of monks by the hand of the vehemently anti-Buddhist Shaivist Huna king Mihirakula , started to collapse. Great centres of learning were destroyed, such as the city of Taxila , bringing cultural regression. During their rule of 60 years,
24734-489: The third largest community in Assam after Assamese people and Bengali Muslims with a population of 6,022,677 (million), comprising (19.3%) of state population as of 2011 census. They are highly concentrated in the Barak Valley region where they a form a slide majority and the population of Bengali Hindus in Barak Valley is 2 million, constituting 55% of the total population of the region. In Assam's Brahmaputra valley region, their numbers are 4 million covering up 14.5% of
24900-409: The three upper castes while the rest belonged to the Shudra and Dalit castes, 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. Around the 8th century, the Bengali language branched off from Magadhi Prakrit , a derivative of Sanskrit that was prevalent in the eastern region of
25066-428: The time Partition of Bengal in 1947. Between the period of first patches (1946–1951), around 274,455 Bengali Hindu refugees have arrived from what is now called Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) in various locations of Assam as permanent settlers and again in second patches between (1952–1958) of the same decade, around 212,545 Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh took shelter in various parts of the state permanently. After
25232-509: The two extant pre-modern Baidya genealogies, Chandraprabha (CP; c. late 17th century) constructs a descent from the semi-legendary Ambasthas whereas the slightly older Sadvaidyakulapnjika (SV) did not. Further, both of them hold Adi Sura and Ballāla Sena to be among their ancestors; this is agreed upon by some Brahmin kulanjis but rejected by Kayastha ones. Sedentary agrarian societies had formed in western regions of Bengal by c. 1000 BCE. The growth of states were roughly simultaneous with
25398-516: The valley population respectively and are mainly concentrated in Hojai District where Bengali are spoken by (53%) of the district population, Goalpara District , Nagaon district , Bongaigaon district , Barpeta District , Kamrup District , Darrang district , Dhubri District , Morigaon district , Tinsukia district , Karbi Anglong , Guwahati , BTAD , Dibrugarh district , Jorhat district , Sonitpur district with percentage ranging 15-25% in all those districts mentioned above. In January 2019,
25564-426: The vernacular culture to gain acceptance among masses. In the process, they became evidence of sociocultural negotiations that transpired in late-medieval Bengal. Brihaddharma Purana (Brh. P.; c. 13th century) was the earliest document to chronicle a hierarchy of castes in Bengal and it became the standard text for popular negotiations of caste status. It mentioned the Baidyas as an occupational caste, equivalent to
25730-799: The wake of the Partition and settled in West Bengal, came to known as the bangals, while the native Bengali Hindus of West Bengal came to known as ghotis. For several decades after partition, these two social subgroups possessed marked difference in their accents and their rivalry was manifested in many spheres of life, most notably in the support for the football clubs of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan respectively. Several such differences have eased with passing years. 20,000-year-old stone weapons including small axes, potteries and charcoal remains have been unearthed from Chandthakurer Danga in Haatpara mouza, 8 km northeast of Sagardighi in Murshidabad . Microliths dating to 10000 BC has been excavated from Birbhanpur, situated in Paschim Bardhaman district on
25896-404: The whole country, the people do not kill any living creature, not drink any intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic." Chandragupta II was succeeded by his second son Kumaragupta I , born of Mahadevi Dhruvasvamini. Kumaragupta I assumed the title, Mahendraditya . He ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the Narmada valley, the Pushyamitras , rose in power to threaten
26062-512: The world through meditation ( Dhyana ). The Chinese monk Xuanzang also noted that Narasimhagupta Baladitya's son, Vajra, who commissioned a sangharama as well, "possessed a heart firm in faith". A study of the epigraphical records of the Gupta Empire shows that there was a hierarchy of administrative divisions from top to bottom. It was divided into 26 provinces, which were called Bhukti , Desha or Rajya . Provinces were also divided into vishayas or pradeshas (districts) and put under
26228-408: Was brought up under the influence of the Mahayanist philosopher, Vasubandhu . He built a sangharama at Nalanda and also a 300 ft (91 m) high vihara with a Buddha statue within which, according to Xuanzang , resembled the "great Vihara built under the Bodhi tree ". According to the Manjushrimulakalpa ( c. 800 CE ), King Narasimhsagupta became a Buddhist monk, and left
26394-450: Was created in 1947 as an act of Bengali Hindu Homeland Movement to save guard the political, economical, cultural, religious, demographic and land owning rights of Bengali Hindus of undivided Bengal region and as a result predominantly Hindu majority West Bengal became a part of Indian union. The vast majority of Hindus in West Bengal are Bengali Hindus numbering around 5.5 crore out of the total estimated state population of 10 crore, but
26560-492: Was founded. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote commentaries on Krishna Charita, Dharmattatva, Bhagavad Gita . The literary development during the Renaissance culminated in Tagore's Nobel prize for literature. In the Post-Partition period, the Bengali Hindus pioneered the Hungry generation , Natun Kabita and the little magazine movements. Of late, some of them have made their mark in contemporary English literature. The Kalighat school of painting flourished in Bengal in
26726-663: Was made even more illustrious by the fact that it was graced by the Navaratna (Nine Jewels), a group of nine who excelled in the literary arts. Among these men was Kālidāsa , whose works dwarfed the works of many other literary geniuses, not only in his own age but in the years to come. Kalidasa was mainly known for his subtle exploitation of the shringara (romantic) element in his verse. The 4th century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa credits Chandragupta Vikramaditya with conquering about twenty-one kingdoms, both in and outside India. After finishing his campaign in East and West India, Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) proceeded northwards, subjugated
26892-426: Was mild, and offences were punished by fines only. From his accounts, the Gupta Empire was a prosperous period. His writings form one of the most important sources for the history of this period. Faxian on reaching Mathura comments–– "The snow and heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The people are numerous and happy. They have not to register their households. Only those who cultivate
27058-428: Was observed under the Gupta period but caste system was fluid. Brahmins followed non-Brahmanical professions as well. Kshatriyas were involved in trade and commerce. The society largely coexisted among themselves. Gupta administration proved to be highly conducive for the rapid growth of urban centers. The Chinese author Faxian described Magadha as a prosperous country with rich towns and large populations. Ayodhya
27224-417: Was regarded as the second capital. Chandragupta Vikramaditya took personal interest in the development of Ujjain as a major cultural center after its conquest. Indian mathematics flourished during the Gupta Empire. The Indian numerals which were the first positional base 10 numeral systems in the world originated from Gupta India. The Surya Siddhanta contains the Sine table. Aryabhata , wrote
27390-412: Was situated somewhere in the modern Bengal region. Another proposal is that the early Gupta kingdom extended from Prayaga in the west to northern Bengal in the east. The Gupta records do not mention the dynasty's varna (social class). Some historians, such as A.S. Altekar , have theorised that they were of Vaishya origin, as certain ancient Indian texts prescribe the name "Gupta" for the members of
27556-502: Was the gotra of her mother Kuberanaga. Gupta ( Gupta script : [REDACTED] [REDACTED] gu-pta , fl. late 3rd century CE) is the earliest known king of the dynasty: different historians variously date the beginning of his reign from mid-to-late 3rd century CE. Gupta founded the Gupta Empire c. 240 -280 CE, and was succeeded by his son, Ghatotkacha , c. 280 -319 CE, followed by Ghatotkacha's son, Chandragupta I , c. 319 -335 CE. "Che-li-ki-to",
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