The are an
Indo-Aryan ethnic group from
Bengal in
South Asia with a history going back more than two millennia. They speak
Bengali , a language of the eastern branch of the
Indo-Aryan branch of the
Indo-Iranian Languages . They can trace their ancestry to the early
Indo-Aryans , as well as the indigineous
Austro-Asiatic Munda inhabitants of Bengal and
Bihar (descendants of the
Proto-Australoid s), the
Assamese and
Sino-Tibetan inhabitants of
North-East India , and the
Dravidians from
South India . Bengalis are mostly concentrated in
Bangladesh , and in the state of
West Bengal in
India . There are also a number of Bengali communities scattered in
Assam (
India ),
Pakistan ,
Malaysia and the
Middle East .
The Bengalis are known for their artistic and cultural achievements. Noted Bengali authors, playwrights, music composers, painters and film-makers have played a significant role in the evolution and development of modern Indian artistic expression. The Bengali renaissance of the 19th century was brought about by introduction of a Western education and western ideas by the British. The Bengali renaissance contained the seeds of a nascent Political Indian Nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to modern Indian artistic and cultural expression.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay , novelist and essayist is credited for the first Indian Novel. The ultimate flowering of the Bengali genius was
Rabindra Nath Tagore . He was a multi-faceted talent who was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature in 1913 for his collection of spiritual poems
Geetanjali . He was a Poet, playwright, Composer, Painter and educantionist. Both
India and
Bangladesh have adopted National Anthems from his work.
Other prominent Bengali aueturs include film makers
Satyajit Ray and
Ritwik Ghatak , Sitar Maestro Pandit
Ravi Shankar , popular novelist
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay etc.
