Is there a difference in culture, language, religion between Bengali in India, and Bengalis in Bangladesh? Furthermore, if they are born in Bangladesh are they classified as Indian or Bengali?
I don’t want to offend anyone by calling them Indian…when they really aren’t.
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6 Comments
March 25th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
There is no difference in religion, but there are crucial differences between the spoken and written forms of the language between Bangladeshi Bengali (with intra-country variations) and Bengali spoken in West Bengal.
Usually one would say they are Bangladeshi Bengali or Indian Bengali.
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March 25th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
A bengali born in Bangladesh is Bangladeshi Bengali while a bengali born in West Bengal in India is Indian Bengali. Bangladeshi are 85% Muslim while Bengalis in west bengal are mostly Hindus. Culture is mostly similar. The accent between Bangladeshi and West Bengalis are different although the language Bengali is same. Bangladesh is an independent country while West bengal is a state in India.
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March 25th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
There are a few finer differences in culture, language and religion between Bengali people living in Bangladesh and Bengali people living in India, West Bengal in particular.
Kolkata, capital of West Bengal of India was the cultural centre of undivided Bengal till 1905 when British divided the Bengal among West Bengal and East Bengal (now Bangladesh). The language spoken by the Indian Bengali (who happens to be mostly follower of Hinduism) people are more by the book and very charming to hear. On the other hand, the Bengali spoken by our kind in Bangladesh has a lot of provincial/district slang, tone, and sometimes impossible for Bengali from other districts to understand.
Therefore, I would say that the language (Bangla) spoken in India is much better and pleasant to hear as well as uniform all over their districts with very slight slant towards their own districts.
The earliest inhabitants of Bangladesh were Austro-Asiatic (shortly Austric) people. Later, the Dravidians from Western India joined them. Gradually people of other races like Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid migrated to this area one after another, who settled here permanently and lived together with its earlier inhabitants. In course of time mixed-marriages occurred among them, which resulted in the creation of a new race known as Bangalee. The language also took a new form which is called Bangla (Bengali). This Bangla (Bengali) is now the national as well as state language of Bangladesh.
Religion: Of the about 150 Million people of Bangladesh 88.3% are Muslims, 10.5% Hindus, 0.6% Buddhists and 0.3% Christians. On the other hand the religious divide in West Bengal may be similar in percentage, but majority are Hindus.
Bangla is the mother tongue of entire people of Bangladesh except the tribals, who are very few in numbers and live mostly in the border areas. They speak their own languages like Chakma, Marma, Manipuri, Garo, Hajong etc. They also speak Bangla in the society with the non-tribals. The educated people of the country can also speak English, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic etc. as and when necessary.
A person is born in Bangladesh to Bengali parents are called Bangladeshi. Similarly, a person born in India out of Indian parents is known as Indians.
Hope above would help.
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April 21st, 2010 at 8:53 pm
I am a Bengali born & raised in Calcutta. But our ancestral land was by the banks of the Sitalalakha in Narsingdi in the Dhaka Division of the then East Bengal. My grandparents moved to Calcutta around the time of partition in 1947.
Having said that, my grandmother could Bengali in no other way but with the dhakayya accent. Of course we the kids,would tease her for it and would derive the greatest fun every time she flared up.
Now years later I realise that the ‘refined’ accent that we prided in, is none other than just another way Bengali is spoken, in this case south of Murshidabad on either side of the Bhagirathi. I guess it was due to Calcutta’s early rise to importance as the capital of British India, that the dialect of it’s original inhabitants came to be accepted as the ‘standard’ Bengali. sadly it is years now that my grandmother is dead. So no making it up to her for branding her a rustic!
We are Bengalis yes, but Indians too. It would be a rare person (if any) who would percieve any conflict in reconciling these two identities. And what ties us to the rest of India? Well commercial ties definitely, historical ties too, but to be more blunt, Hinduism is the greatest of all glues! Other Indian languages and traditions are looked upon as non-competing equals descended from the same common indo-aryan sanskritic roots.
And how do we see Bangladesh? Definitely with a warmth reserved for for only the special, but that brotherhood is very superficial. Deep down the divisions that gave rise to & were confirmed by partition partition, still hold sway in the subconscious mind.
Also sisty years is a long time. The generation that grew up knowing that there was a Bengal accross the border has mostly died out. To the psyche of today’s child growing up in West Bengal, all civilisation lies to the west of the Hooghly. The great big urban conglomerate stretching from the southern limits of calcutta to Barrackpore in the north is the only exception to this rule! Indeed the Hooghly must be crossed if we were to take the train from Howrah to any place of note. That repeated crossing coupled with the abrupt end of Calcutta on its east where the great marshes lie, only strengthens this isolationist outlook.
I have never been to Bangladesh though I must visit it once to see where my ancestors lived from times immemorial. And when I do visit, it would interest me greatly to find out how much my fellow Bengalis there are awake to existence of another Bengal across the border!
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May 30th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
In reply to Vanessa83: You talk shit mate, Indian bengais are Hindus and Bangladeshi bengalis are muslims, its not the same religion. Besides Indians are Indians and Bangladeshis are Bangladeshis these are two different countries. Punjabi is spoken on both sides of the India Pakistan border as well just like Bengali on the eastern side of the Indian border but that doesn’t make Indian punjabis and Pakistani punjabis the same. India is India, learn it accept. We are diverse, but we are Indians. GET USED TO IT!
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July 26th, 2011 at 2:59 am
The Bengalis are one nation divided in two countries. The religion is a different matter which has nothing to do with being Bengali or not. Are we going to look at Tagore as Hindu and Nazrul as Muslim-of course not. Both are great Bengalis. Having travelled across Bangladesh and India, I feel they are basically the same. There is no comparison with punjabis in Pakistan and India-they did not sacrifice millions of life to protect their language. There will be of course sublime difference in accent. Tripura is a Bengali state and Silchar in Assam is also predominantly Bengali and yet, it’s very difficult for Kolkata babus to pick that language.
Having said so, the question of whether Bengalis are Bengalis first and then indian or other way round. This is interesting discussion. Historically, I will say they are as much Bengali as a tamilian in Chrnnai. Bengali is the nation and india is the state.
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