Culture of Bengal
The culture of Bengal defines the cultural heritage of the Bengali people native to eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly what is today Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, where they form the dominant ethnolinguistic group and the Bengali language is the official and primary language.
The Bengal region has been a historical melting point, blending indigenous traditions with cosmopolitan influences from pan-Indian subcontinental empires.
Bengali theater traces its roots to Indian classical drama under the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE.
Rickshaw Painting adorns colorful hoods featuring intricate designs like minarets and floral patterns with the word "Allah" and other islamic motifs,[5] are recognized as UNESCO-listed intangible heritage.
The architecture of the Bengal Sultanate saw a distinct style of domed mosques with complex niche pillars that had no minarets.
After the reopening of European trade with medieval India, Mughal Bengal became the world's foremost muslin exporter in the 17th century.
Mughal Bengal's most celebrated artistic tradition was the weaving of Jamdani motifs on fine muslin, which is now classified by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.
[11] Modern Bangladesh is one of the world's largest textile producers, with a large cotton based ready made garments industry.
World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by a Bengali-American, Nazma Khan in 2013, taking place on 1 February each year.
Traditionally urban Bengali men wore the jama, though costumes such as the panjabi[12] with selwar or pyjama have become more popular within the past three centuries.
At Jorashanko (Rabindranath Tagore's home in Kolkata) different drapes of sari were improvised on so that women could step out of the andarmahal (inner house) where they were relegated.
[13] Chitra Deb, in her book 'Thakurbarir Andarmahal', describes the entire process of how the Parsi sari was adapted into Bengali culture.
There are several variations of Shari (Bengali Sari) such as Jamdani, Tant, Muslin, Tangail, Kantha, Rajshahi Silk, Dhakai reshom, Baluchari etc.
Bengal has produced several of South Asia's leading fashion designers, including Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Bibi Russell, Rukhsana Esrar Runi and Rina Latif.
Side Dishes or (Torkari) are commonly eaten with meals in Bengal which are cooked with special Bengali spices.
Bengali sweets like Chomchom, Rasmalai, Mishti Doi, Curd of Bogra, Muktagachhar monda, Sandesh, Roshogolla, Chhanamukhi and Pithas are even popular outside of Bangladesh.
Shutki maach is made using the age-old method of preservation where the food item is dried in the sun and air, thus removing the water content.
The region was renowned for shipbuilding in the medieval period, when its shipyards catered to major powers in Eurasia, including the Mughals and Ottomans.
The types of timber used in boat making are from local woods Jarul (dipterocarpus turbinatus), sal (shorea robusta), sundari (heritiera fomes) and Burma teak (tectons grandis).
Major organisations responsible for funding and promoting Bengali culture are: Both Bangladesh and West Bengal have many festivals and fairs throughout the year.
The Zamindars of Bengal would hire lathials (trained stick-fighters) as a form of security and a means to forcefully collect tax from tenants.
[19] Nationwide lathi khela competitions used to take place annually in Kushtia up until 1989, though its practice is now diminishing and being restricted to certain festivals and celebrations.
[24] The Nouka Baich is a Bengali boat racing competition which takes place during and after the rainy season when much of the land goes under water.
The long canoes were referred to as khel nao (meaning playing boats) and the use of cymbals to accompany the singing was common.
Mohun Bagan's first major victory was in 1911, when the team defeated an English club known as the Yorkshire Regiment to win the IFA Shield.
The rivalry also portrayed the societal problems at that time as many of the Mohun Bagan fans were Ghotis who hated the East Bengali immigrants, though Hindu.
Rani Hamid is one of the most successful chess players in the world, winning championships in Asia and Europe multiple times.
Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das from Bangladesh and Pankaj Roy, Sourav Ganguly, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammed Shami from West Bengal are internationally known cricketers .
It is followed by Ananda Bazar Patrika, which has the largest circulation for a single-edition, regional language newspaper in India.
A descent of ancient Sanskrit and Magadhi Prakrit, the Bengali language evolved circa 1000–1200 CE under the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty.
