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{{short description|Hindu caste originating from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Bengali Brahmins
| image = Bengali Brahmin.jpg
| caption = A Bengali Brahmin priest
| languages = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| religions = [[Hinduism]]
| population =
| region1 =
| populated_states = [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| publisher =
| date =
| accessdate =
| related = [[Maithil Brahmin]], [[Utkala Brahmin]], [[Kanyakubja Brahmin]]
}}
'''Bengali Brahmins''' are the community of Hindu [[Brahmin]]s, who traditionally reside in the [[Bengal]] region of the [[Indian subcontinent]], currently comprising the [[India]]n state of [[West Bengal]] and the country of [[Bangladesh]].

The Bengali Brahmins, along with [[Baidya]]s and [[Bengali Kayastha|Kayasthas]], are regarded among the three traditional higher castes of Bengal.<ref name="CasteCulture&Hegemony">{{cite book|first=Sekhar |last=Bandyopadhyay|title=Caste, Culture, and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPqHAwAAQBAJ&q=kayastha|year=2004|publisher=Sage Publications | isbn=81-7829-316-1 | page=20}}</ref> In the colonial era, the [[Bhadralok]]s of Bengal were primarily, but not exclusively, drawn from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.<ref name="Sekhar2004">{{cite book|first=Sekhar |last=Bandyopadhyay|title=Caste, Culture, and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2SVIflbyHQC&pg=PA25|year=2004|publisher=Sage Publications | isbn=978-0-761-99849-5 | page=25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chakrabarti|first=Sumit|date=2017|title=Space of Deprivation: The 19th Century Bengali Kerani in the Bhadrolok Milieu of Calcutta|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44508277|journal=Asian Journal of Social Science|volume=45|issue=1/2|pages=56|doi=10.1163/15685314-04501003|jstor=44508277|issn=1568-4849}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ghosh|first=Parimal|title=What Happened to the Bhadralok?|publisher=Primus Books|year=2016|isbn=9789384082994|location=Delhi}}</ref>

==History==
Multiple land-grants to Brahmins, from since the [[Gupta Period|Gupta Era]] have been observed.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Griffiths|first=Arlo|date=2018|title=Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01954015|journal=Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology|volume=New Series|issue=9|pages=15–57}}</ref> The Dhanaidaha copper-plate inscription, dated to 433 CE, is the earliest of them and records a grantee Brahmin named Varahasvamin.<ref name=":0" /> The 7th-century [[Nidhanpur copperplate inscription]] mentions that a marshy land tract adjacent to an existing settlement was given to more than 208 Vaidika Brahmins (Brahmins versed in the Vedas) belonging to 56 gotras and different Vedic schools.<ref>Shin, Jae-Eun (1 January 2018). Region Formed and Imagined: Reconsidering Temporal, Spatial and Social Context of Kāmarūpa, in Lipokmar Dzuvichu and Manjeet Baruah (eds), Modern Practices in North East India: History, Culture, Representation, London and New York: Routledge, 2018, pp.23-55</ref>

It is traditionally believed that much later, in the 11th century CE, after the decline of the [[Pala Empire|Pala dynasty]], a Hindu king, Adisura brought in five Brahmins from [[Kanauj]], his purpose being to provide education for the Brahmins already in the area whom he thought to be ignorant, and revive traditional orthodox Brahminical Hinduism. As per tradition, these five immigrant Brahmins and their descendants went on to become the [[Kulin Brahmins]].<ref name=Hopkins1989pp35-36>{{cite book |title=Krishna consciousness in the West |editor1-first=David G. |editor1-last=Bromley |editor2-first=Larry D. |editor2-last=Shinn |first=Thomas J. |last=Hopkins |chapter=The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West |publisher=Bucknell University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8387-5144-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-EuD3M2QYoC&pg=PA35 |pages=35–36 |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref> According to Sengupta, multiple accounts of this legend exist, and historians generally consider this to be nothing more than myth or folklore lacking historical authenticity.<ref name=NKSenguptap25>{{cite book |last=Sengupta|first=Nitish K. |title=History of the Bengali-Speaking People |publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors |year=2001 |isbn=81-7476-355-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6eYsAAAAMAAJ |page=25}}</ref> Identical stories of migration of [[Utkala Brahmin|Orissan Brahmins]] exist under the legendary king of [[Yayati Kesari]].{{sfn|Witzel|1993|p=267}} According to Sayantani Pal, [[Dineshchandra Sircar|D.C Sircar]] opines that, the desideration of Bengali Brahmins to gain more prestige by connecting themselves with the Brahmins from the west, 'could have contributed' to the establishment of the system of '[[kulinism]]'.<ref>{{Citation|last=Pal|first=Sayantani|title=Sena Empire|date=2016|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe043|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Empire|pages=1–2|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe043|isbn=978-1-118-45507-4|access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref>

Referring to the linkages between class and caste in Bengal, Bandyopadhyay mentions that the Brahmins, along with the other two upper castes, refrained from physical labour but controlled land, and as such represented "the three traditional higher castes of Bengal".<ref name="CasteCulture&Hegemony" />

==Clans==
Apart from the common classification as Kulina, Srotriya and Vamsaja, Bengali Brahmins are divided into the following clans or divisions:<ref name="Saha1998">{{cite book|first=Sanghamitra |last=Saha|title=A Handbook of West Bengal, Volume 1|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=92EwAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics | isbn=81-8569-224-6 |pages=53–54}}</ref>
*Radhi
*Varendra
*Vaidika
*Saptasati
*Madhyasreni
*Sakadwipi

==Post Partition of India==
When the British left India in 1947, [[Partition of India|carving out separate nations]], many Brahmins, whose original homes were in the newly created [[Pakistan|Islamic Republic of Pakistan]], migrated en masse to be within the borders of the newly defined [[Republic of India]], and continued to migrate for several decades thereafter to escape Islamist persecution.<ref> "Pakistan: The Ravaging of Golden Bengal". Time. 2 August 1971.</ref><ref>Das, S. (1990). Communal Violence in Twentieth Century Colonial Bengal: An Analytical Framework. Social Scientist, 18(6/7), 21. doi:10.2307/3517477 </ref>

== Notable people ==


* [[Raja Ganesha]], founder of the [[Ganesha dynasty]] of Bengal
* [[Krishnachandra Roy|Raja Krishnachandra Roy]], Raja of [[Nadia Raj]]
* [[Rudranarayan]], Maharaja of [[Bhurishrestha]]<ref>Bhattacharya, "Raybaghini o Bhurishrestha Rajkahini"</ref>
* [[Bhavashankari]], Queen of Bhurishrestha<ref>Bhattacharya, "Raybaghini o Bhurishrestha Rajkahini"</ref>
* [[Rani Bhabani]], Queen of Natore, kingdom of Rajshahi
* [[Abhijit Banerjee]] (born 1961), winner of the 2019 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]]
* [[Surendranath Banerjee]] (1848–1925), founder of the [[Indian National Association]], first Indian to pass the Indian civil service examination<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dutt |first1=Ajanta |title=Book review 'A Nation in Making': Banerjea's nation-A man and his history |url=https://www.asianage.com/books/book-review-nation-making-banerjea-s-nation-man-and-his-history-005 |access-date=12 September 2020 |work=The Asian Age |date=6 July 2016}}</ref>
*[[Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya]] (1836–1906), [[Sanskrit]] scholar
*[[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]] (1838-1894), Indian [[Bengali language|Bengali]] novelist, poet and journalist <ref>{{cite news |last1=Khan |first1=Fatima |title=Bankim Chandra — the man who wrote Vande Mataram, capturing colonial India's imagination |url=https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/bankim-chandra-the-man-who-wrote-vande-mataram-capturing-colonial-indias-imagination/217506/ |access-date=13 January 2021 |work=The Print |date=8 April 2019}}</ref>
*[[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] (1890–1977), linguist
* [[Sourav Ganguly]] (born 1972), President of [[Board of Control for Cricket in India|BCCI]] and former captain of Indian National Cricket Team.
* [[Bagha Jatin]] (1879–1915), leader of the [[Jugantar]] party of revolutionary freedom fighters in Bengal
* [[Ashok Kumar]] (1911–2001), Indian film actor<ref name=":3" />
* [[Kishore Kumar]] (1929–1987), Indian playback singer, actor, music director, lyricist, writer, director, producer and screenwriter<ref name=":3">{{cite news |title=Kishore Kumar birthday: His favourite songs |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/celebrities/story/kishore-kumar-songs-138753-2011-08-04 |access-date=25 February 2020 |work=India Today |date=4 August 2011 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Uttam Kumar]] (1926–1980), Indian [[Bengali language|Bengali]] actor
* [[Ashutosh Mukherjee]] (1864–1924), educator and barrister
* [[Pranab Mukherjee]] (1935–2020), [[President of India|13th President of India]] and a veteran leader of the [[Indian National Congress]]<ref>{{cite news|date=11 October 2011|title=Protocol to keep President Pranab off Puja customs|work=Hindustan Times|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/protocol-to-keep-president-pranab-off-puja-customs/article1-943150.aspx|access-date=12 July 2012|archive-date=31 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831133141/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/protocol-to-keep-president-pranab-off-puja-customs/story-85VNL9oUY0er5Vj1TxLPyH.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]] (1901–1953), politician, barrister
* [[Hara Prasad Shastri]] (1853–1931), founder of the [[Charyapada]].
* [[Dwarkanath Tagore]] (1794–1846), one of the first Indian industrialists to form an enterprise with British partners<ref>{{cite book |last1=Littrup |first1=Lisbeth |title=Identity In Asian Literature |date=28 October 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-10426-8 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I94rBgAAQBAJ&dq=Dwarkanath+Tagore+brahmin&pg=PA94 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1861–1941), poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
*[[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]] (1820–1891), educator and social reformer
*[[M. N. Roy]] (1887–1954), Indian revolutionary, formed Communist party in India and Mexico
*[[Ram Mohan Roy]] (1772–1833), social reformer



==See also==
* [[Kulin Brahmin]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, by Damodar Dharmanand Kosāmbi, Popular Prakasan,35c Tadeo Road, Popular Press Building, Bombay-400034, First Edition: 1956, Revised Second Edition: 1975.
*Atul Sur, Banglar Samajik Itihas (Bengali), Calcutta, 1976
*NN Bhattacharyya, Bharatiya Jati Varna Pratha (Bengali), Calcutta, 1987
*RC Majumdar, Vangiya Kulashastra (Bengali), 2nd ed, Calcutta, 1989.
*Bhattacharya, Jogendra Nath (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects: An Exposition of the Origin of the Hindu Caste System and the Bearing of the Sects toward Each Other and toward Other Religious Systems. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink. p. iii.
* {{Citation |surname1 = Dutta
|given1 = K
|surname2 = Robinson
|given2 = A
|year = 1995
|title = Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man
|publisher = St. Martin's Press
|isbn = 0-312-14030-4
|url-access = registration
|url = https://archive.org/details/rabindranathtago00dutt_0
}}
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAUBCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205–1494)|last=Siddiq|first=Mohammad Yusuf|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317587460}}
*{{cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=Toward a History of the Brahmins|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=113|year=1993|issue=2 |pages=264–268|doi=10.2307/603031 |jstor=603031|issn=0003-0279}}

{{Bengali Hindu people}}

[[Category:Bengali Brahmins| ]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindu castes]]
[[Category:Social groups of West Bengal]]
[[Category:Brahmin communities by language]]

Bengali Brahmin - Revision history

CleanupBot at 06:12, 24 July 2023