Lores Genres Institutions Awards Folk genres Devotional Classical genres Modern genres People Instruments Dance Theater Organizations People Bengal studies (Bengali: বঙ্গবিদ্যা; Bangabidya) is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the Bengali people, culture, language, literature, and history.
The focus of this field, which qualifies as area studies and cultural studies, is on Indic Bengalis who follow an indigenous system of faith and refer to themselves as Bengalis.
The work of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is often considered[by whom?]
to be a forerunner of Bengali studies after the Mughal period, while Ishwar Chandra Gupta pioneered the study of Bengali poets through a critically annotated collection of the diverse oral poetic traditions of Bengal.
Twentieth-century Bengali historians like Ramesh Chandra Majumdar and Niharranjan Ray were among the prominent researchers of the history and culture of the Bengali people.