Hinduism in West Bengal

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For Hinduism in East Bengal, see Hinduism in Bangladesh. For ethnic and main group, see Bengali Hindus.

Hindus in West Bengal
Malda.
Languages
Majority: Bengali
Minority: Nepali and Hindi
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Hindu culture
Hinduism and other religions

Hinduism is the largest

Santals, Munda and particularly Adivadis numbering around 9.4 million comprising rest 10.3% of the state population.[4][5][6]

Hinduism had existed in the region of

Rammohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda
.

Culture

The language of the Hindus in West Bengal is

Panchalis
as well as dharmik writings of modern Bengali philosophers and saints have been produced in Bengali for many centuries.

Religion

Majority of Bengali Hindus follow

Vaishnava-Sahajiya, Bauls). Shaktas belong to the upper castes as well as lowest castes and tribes, while the lower middle castes are Vaishnavas.[2]

The main

Umā (the Bengali name for Parvati).[2]

Vishwakarma, Krishna, Rama, Jagannath and Vishnu are the other popular and widely worshipped Hindu deities
in West Bengal.

Vishwakarma Puja, Gajan, Poush Parban
etc.

Festivals

Durga Puja, the biggest festival

Saraswati Puja. The spring festival of Holi is celebrated in the form of Dolyatra. The year ends with Charak Puja and Gajan
.

Temples

Main article: List of Hindu temples in West Bengal

Temple architecture in West Bengal architecture has assumed a unique identity and evolved into the

terra cotta as a medium for temple construction. Terra-cotta exteriors with rich carvings are a unique feature of Bengali temples. The town of Vishnupur
in West Bengal is renowned for this type of architecture. Usually a part of the intended total motif was carved by hand on one side of a brick and then baked. While under construction, these carved bricks were arranged to make up the entire motif.

The Bengali style of temple is not luxurious. Rather, most are modeled on simple thatched-roof earthen huts used as dwellings by commoners. This can be attributed to the popularity of

Mahakal Temple
in Darjeeling is a unique and important Hindu temple since 1782.

Demography

Hindus constituted 78.45% of West Bengal’s population way back in 1951. As per the 2011 census, 70.54% of the state’s population is Hindu. There is sharp decline of 7.91% hindu population in 6 decades.[8][9]

Hindus in West Bengal by district (2011)[10]
# District Total population Hindu population %
1 North 24 Parganas 10,009,781 7,352,769
73.46%
2
Barddhaman
 7,717,563 6,008,472
77.85%
3
South 24 Parganas
 8,161,961 5,155,545
63.17%
4 Paschim Medinipur 5,913,457 5,056,953
85.52%
5 Hooghly 5,519,145 4,574,569
82.89%
6 Purba Medinipur 5,095,875 4,343,972
85.24%
7 Nadia 5,167,600 3,728,482
72.15%
8 Howrah 4,850,029 3,535,844
72.90%
9 Kolkata 4,496,694 3,440,290
76.51%
10 Jalpaiguri 3,872,846 3,156,781
81.51%
11 Bankura 3,596,674 3,033,581
84.34%
12
Puruliya
 2,930,115 2,373,120
80.99%
13 Murshidabad 7,103,807 3,359,061
33.21%
14 Birbhum 3,502,404 2,181,515
62.29%
15 Cooch Behar 2,819,086 2,087,766
74.06%
16
Maldah
 3,988,845 1,914,352
47.99%
17 Uttar Dinajpur 3,007,134 1,482,943
49.31%
18 Darjeeling 1,846,823 1,366,681
74.00%
19 Dakshin Dinajpur 1,676,276 1,232,850
73.55%
West Bengal (Total) 91,276,115 64,385,546
70.54%

Economy and business

Economic participation, work roles and distribution across professions for Bengali Hindus is similar to the wider population in the rural areas, where agriculture and related activities remain the primary occupation. In the urban areas, the largest segment of the Hindu population is engaged mostly as services professionals across sectors.

Historically, since the advent of

Raja Nabakrishna Deb
are now recognized as some of India's earliest business tycoons in the modern era.

This continued to the 20th century when luminaries like Prafulla Chandra Ray established Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Rajendra Nath Mookerjee formed engineering firm Martin Burn and Surendra Mohan Bose created the Duckback brand during the Swadeshi movement, among many others.[11]

In India, after

independence, large number of Bengali Hindus, both from West Bengal have also settled in the rest of India and abroad. The middle and upper middle class populations (who historically had levels of educational attainment) are now well entrenched in numerous professional fields like law, medicine, academics, engineering, journalism, liberal arts, corporates, banking, tax, etc. On the other hand, most of the rural and semi-rural population are now engaged in contractual agriculture, notably in Punjab and Haryana, construction in Kerala and Karnataka
, logistics, manufacturing and small-scale businesses across the country.

Average literacy levels of Bengali Hindus remain higher than other communities in West Bengal. However, the opposite is true for the minority Hindu population in Bangladesh.

Noted West Bengali Hindu industrialists include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Census, India (24 August 2022). "West Bengal Population". IndiaCensus.net.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-02-865735-7
    . p. 826.
  3. ^ Zbonkak, Trevor (14 December 2021). "How many Bengalis are there in West Bengal?". The Flat - Travel Q&A and Tips 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b Datta, Romita (13 November 2020). "The great Hindu vote trick". India Today. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Population of West Bengal-West Bengal Population 2021". India Guide- Festivals, Culture, City Guide, Weddings, Population, Indianonlinepages.com. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Opinion divided on most non-Bengali voters favouring BJP in West Bengal". Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  7. ISBN 81-86908-97-8
    .
  8. ^ "Decline of Hindu population in West Bengal worries RSS". The Times of India. 26 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Bengal election: How BJP and TMC are using old census data to fuel identity-based politics". 29 March 2021.
  10. ^ Population by religious community: West Bengal. 2011 Census of India.
  11. ^ "Duckback-Surendra Mohan Bose who dared to challenge British monopoly of 100 years". getbengal.com. Retrieved 25 August 2020.

Further links

External links

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