Portal:West Bengal

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The West Bengal Portal

West Bengal is a state in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. To its northeast lie the states of Assam and Sikkim and the country Bhutan, and to its southwest, the state of Orissa. To the west it borders the state of Jharkhand and Bihar, and to the northwest, Nepal.

The region that is now West Bengal was a part of a number of empires and kingdoms during the past two millennia. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the region following the Battle of Plassey in 1757 CE, and the city of Kolkata, then Calcutta, served for many years as the capital of British India. A centre of the Indian independence movement through the early 20th century, Bengal was divided in 1947 into two separate entities, West Bengal - a state of India, and East Pakistan belonging to the new nation of Pakistan.

Following India's independence in 1947, West Bengal's economic and political theatres were dominated for many decades by intellectual Marxism, Naxalite movements and trade unionism. From late 1990s, economic rejuvenation led to a spurt in the state's economic and industrial growth. An agriculture-dependent state, West Bengal occupies only 2.7% of the India's land area, though it supports over 7.8% of Indian population, and is the most densely populated state in India. West Bengal has been ruled by the CPI(M)-led Left Front for three decades, making it the world's longest-running democratically-elected communist government. Many notable poets, writers, artists and performers are native to West Bengal.

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Kazi Nazrul Islam(May 25, 1899– August 29, 1976) was a Bengali poet, writer, musician, revolutionaryand philosopherwho is best known for pioneering works in Bengaliexpressing fierce rebellion against society, tradition, politics, injustice, intolerance and oppression. Popularly known as the Bidrohi Kobi — Rebel Poet — he is officially recognised as the national poetof Bangladeshand commemorated in India.

Born in a poor Muslim family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He later joined the Indian Army and served in World War I. Whilst stationed in Karachi, Nazrul learnt Persian and the art of writing, and was exposed to Hindu religion, music and literature. Working as a journalist, Nazrul assailed the British Raj and emphatically preached revolution with his poetic works the "Vidrohi" ("Rebel") and "Bhangar Gan" ("The Song of Destruction") and his publication the "Dhumketu" ("Comet"). Imprisoned by police, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi" ("Deposition of a Political Prisoner"), intensifying his criticism of imperialism. Nazrul also condemned Muslim religious fundamentalism and explore the lives of downtrodden masses in India. He remained active in political organisations and literary, art and music societies.

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Credit: Gustav Mützel

This illustration of the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) was featured in Brehms Tierleben (Brehm's Life of Animals), a reference book by Alfred Edmund Brehm first published in the 1860s. The drawing was done by Gustav Mützel, a German artist famous for his animal paintings.

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Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay (February 18, 1836–August 16, 1886) was a Hindu religious teacher and an influential figure in the Bengal Renaissance of the Nineteenth century. His teachings emphasized God-realization as the highest goal of life, love and devotion for God, the oneness of existence, and the harmony of religions.

He was appointed as the first priest in the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. He profoundly influenced the Bengal Renaissance and the Indian nationalism. The most notable apostle of Ramakrishna was Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda spread the message of Ramakrishna across the world. He also helped introduce Hinduism to the west. Two organisations based on the teachings of Ramakrishna were started. One was Ramakrishna Mission, which is designed to spread the word of Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna Math was created as a monastic order based on Ramakrishna's teachings.

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Wikipedia in Bengali

There is a Bengali versionof Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Did you know...

...that Russian Indologist Gerasim Lebedev was the founder of the first European-style drama theatre in India and also the first printing house in Europe equipped with Indic scripts of Bengali and Devanagari?

...that Indian author and journalist Peary Chand Mitra played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance in the 19th century and became known as the "Dickens of Bengal" due to his clear Bengali prose?