Bengali people

When people refer to Bengal whose native language is Bengali and living in the region of Bengal, or come from there. The Bengali self-image is superimposed from the United Nations membership (India, Bangladesh), and religion ( Hinduism, Islam) is, however, firmly embedded in the Indian cultural tradition. Bengali is an understanding of the continuum to the neighboring Indo-Aryan languages ​​of northern India. Also corresponds to the ethnic Bengali population. Northern India, is merely a dark skin tone slightly more often and you meet Tibeto - Burmese isolated on trains Outside the region of Bengal live larger groups of Bengal in various Indian cities, especially New Delhi, in other countries such as Pakistan, the UK and the USA. Many workers in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are Muslim Bengal.

History

Antiquity

The evidence of civilization in the mouth level of the Ganges ( Padma ) date back over 4000 years. For the period immediately prior to the Indo-Aryan expansion a population is assumed that used Dravidian and Munda languages ​​. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown. One possible interpretation would be the derivation of the dravidischsprachigen tribe Bang, the BC lived in this area in 1000. After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed in and around Bengal around. They were first named in 1000 BC in the Atharvaveda. Since the 6th century BC, Magadha expanded and claimed large parts of the regions of present-day Bihar and Bengal for themselves. Magadha was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of the historical Buddha. Furthermore, it was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas. Under the Mauryatischen empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya, the magadhische parts of the empire of Persia and Afghanistan, spread over almost the whole of South Asia, involving. The highest proportions obtain the kingdom under the Buddhist emperor Ashoka the Great, v. 300 AD The first European reference to Bengal was the mention of the country Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC It is speculated that the word Gangaridai of the word passage Hard ( country with the Ganges in the heart ) was derived with an allusion to an area in Bengal. Later, during the 3rd century to the 6th century, the Kingdom of Magadhda served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.

Middle Ages

The first Named king of Bengal was Shashanka who ruled the country for the beginning of the 7th century. After a period of anarchy, Gopala came 750 through democratic elections to power. He founded the Bengali Buddhist Pala Empire which ruled the region for almost 400 years and over large parts of South Asia, from Assam in the northeast, to Kabul extended in the west, as well as to Andhra Pradesh in the south. After the end of the Pala dynasty the Hindu Sena dynasty, the much shorter remained in power, however, ruled. In the 12th century, was introduced by Sufi missionaries of Islam in Bengal. Subsequent muslische conquests helped spread Islam in the region. Bakhtiar Khilji, an Afghan general of the Slave dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, defeated Lakshman Sen the Bengali ruler of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by several hundred -year dynasty of sultans and feudal lords under the direction of the Delhi Sultanate. In the 16th century, the Mughal general Islam Khan conquered Bengal. Thereupon the court of the Mughal Empire gave the area limited independence and self-government under the leadership of the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who had, however, recognize the supremacy of the Mughal emperor in Delhi.

Renaissance

The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement in the 19th century and early 20th century in the region of Bengal in undivided India during the period of British rule. The Bengal Renaissance started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775-1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), although there were many faithful followers, which embodied certain aspects of the unique intellectual and creative achievements, was Bengal in the 19th century unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists. They all mingled together and formed an image of the Renaissance, which was the change from the medieval to the modern.

Indian independence movement

In the Indian independence movement and Bengal played a decisive role. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle, and subsequent leaders in movement were Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Banerjea, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Khudiram Bose and Bose Rashbehari. Some of these leaders, such as Netaji did not approve of the fact that peaceful civil disobedience was the best way to gain the independence of India. They, however, were cooperating in armed resistance against the British. Netaji was the co-founder and leader of the Indian National Army (no part of the British Indian Army ) who fought against the British forces in some parts of India. He was also head of state of a parallel regime, the Arzi Hukumat -e- Azad Hind, which acted as a supporter of the Axis powers.

Among the Muslims were AK Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the prominent Bengali leader of the British Indian independence movement.

As a citizen of Bangladesh

The secession of Bangladesh in 1971 by Pakistan in bloody struggles for independence had no Bengali nationalist motives. The reasons were mainly political in addition to social, as the Pakistani government prevented enforce federal principles attempts. This included the election of a President of Bengal for the government of Pakistan and the full recognition of the Bengali language as equal official language. The fights were supported by India. If today Bengal to highlight their culture, such as the Bengali poet Tagore then because they understand it as an important part and roots of Indian culture.