Prehistoric period 20,000-year-old stone weapons including small axes,
potteries and
charcoal remains have been unearthed from Chandthakurer Danga in Haatpara mouza, 8 km northeast of
Sagardighi in
Murshidabad. Microliths dating to 10000 BC has been excavated from Birbhanpur, situated in
Paschim Bardhaman district on the
Damodar River valley near Durgapur. Microliths, potteries, copper fishhooks and iron arrowheads have been found at
Pandu Rajar Dhibi.
Ancient period sculpture from
North Bengal, 11th century CE,
Asian Art Museum of Berlin (
Dahlem). In the ancient times, some of the Bengali Hindus were
seafaring people as evident from the tales of merchants like
Chand Sadagar and
Dhanapati Saudagor whose ships sailed to far off places for trade and establishment of colonies in
South East Asia. By the 3rd century B.C.E. they were united into a powerful state, known to the
Greeks as
Gangaridai, whose military prowess demoralised
Alexander from further expedition to the east.
Medieval period , the founder of
Gaudiya Vaishnavism In the middle of the 8th century, the Bengali Hindu nobility democratically elected
Gopala as the ruler of
Gauda, ushering in an era of peace and prosperity in Bengal, ending almost a century of chaos and confusion. The Buddhist
Pala rulers unified Bengal into a single political entity and expanded it into an empire, conquering a major portion of
North India. During this time, the Bengali Hindus excelled in art, literature, philosophy, mathematics, sciences and statecraft. The first scriptures in Bengali
Charyapada was composed during the
Pala rule. The Pala were followed by the Senas who made far reaching changes in the social structure of Bengali Hindus, introducing 36 new
castes and orthodox institutions like
Kulinism. with her husband
Jaratkaru and son
Astik flanked by Nagas, 11th century
Pala period statue from
Bengal The literary progress of the Pala and Sena period came to a halt after the Turkish conquest in the early 13th century. Except for
Haridas Datta's Manasar Bhasan no significant literary work was composed for about a century after the conquest. Even though the ruling classes resisted the invaders, Gauda, the centre of Bengal polity, fell to the Islamic invaders. During this period hundreds of temples and monasteries were desecrated. The next attack on the society came from the Islamic
missionaries. Local chieftains like
Akananda, Dakshin Ray and Mukut Ray, resisted the missionary activities. During the
Pathan occupation of Bengal, some regions were held in sway by different Bengali Hindu rulers. Islam religion gradually spread throughout the Bengal region, and many Bengali Hindus converted to Islam. When the Delhi-based
Mughals tried to bring Bengal under their direct rule, the Bengali chiefs along with some Bengali Muslims consolidated themselves into confederacies and resisted the Mughals. After the fall of the confederacies, the Mughals brought a major part of Bengal under their control, and constituted a
subah.
Early modern period During the decline of the
Mughal Empire,
Nawabs of Bengal (who were Muslim) ruled a large part of Bengal. During the reign of
Alivardi Khan. a Nawab, the severe taxation and frequent
Maratha raids made the life miserable for the ordinary Bengali Hindus. A section of the Bengali Hindu nobility helped the
British East India Company in overthrowing the Nawab
Siraj ud-Daulah regime. After obtaining the revenue rights, the
East India Company imposed more oppressive taxation. In the famine of 1770, approximately one third of the Bengali population died. The
British began to face stiff resistance in conquering the semi-independent Bengali Hindu kingdoms outside the pale of Muslim occupied Bengal. In some cases, even when their rulers have been captured or killed, the ordinary people began to carry on the fight. These resistances took the form of
Chuar (
Chuar is a derogatory term used by the Britishers and local zamindars to denote the
Bhumij peoples) and
Paik Rebellion. These warring people were later listed as
criminal tribes and barred from recruitment in the Indian army. In 1766, the British troops were completely routed by the
sanyasis and
fakirs or the warrior monks at
Dinhata, where the latter resorted
guerrilla warfare.
Bankim Chandra's
Anandamath is based on the
Famine and consequential
Sannyasi Rebellion.
British rule According to author James Jeremiah Novak, as British rulers took power from Bengal's ruling Muslim class, they strategically catered to Bengali Hindus (a majority in Bengal region at that time). The British rule destroyed the bases of Bengali Muslim society. The
British Raj finally annulled the Partition in 1911. The Raj, however, carried out some restructuring, and carved out Bengali Hindu majority districts like
Manbhum, Singbhum, Santal Pargana and
Purnia awarding them to
Bihar and others like
Cachar that were awarded to
Assam, which effectively made the Bengali Hindus a minority in the united province of Bengal. The Britishers also transferred the capital from
Calcutta to New Delhi. The revolutionary movement gained momentum after the Partition. Bengali revolutionaries
collaborated with the Germans during the
War to liberate
British India. Later the revolutionaries defeated the British army in the Battle of Jalalabad and liberated
Chittagong. During the
Quit India Movement, the revolutionaries liberated the
Tamluk and
Contai subdivision of
Midnapore district from British rule and established the Tamralipta National Government. The British, unable to control the revolutionary activities, decided to hinder the Bengali Hindu people through administrative reforms. The
Government of India Act 1919 introduced in the 144 member Bengal Legislative Assembly, 46 seats for the Muslims, 59 for the institutions, Europeans and others and left the rest 39 as General, where the Bengali Hindus were to scramble for a representation. The situation worsened with the
Communal Award of 1932, where in the 250 member Bengal Legislative Assembly a disproportionate 119 seats were reserved for the Muslims, 17 for Europeans,
Anglo-Indians and
Indian Christians, 34 for the institutions, and the rest 80 were left as General. The Communal Award further divided the Hindus into Scheduled Caste Hindus and Tribal Hindus. In response the leading Bengali Hindu
landholders, lawyers and professionals signed the Bengal Hindu Manifesto on 23 April 1932 rejecting the justification of reservation of separate electorates for Muslims in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. They joined hands with Sikhs and non-Bengali Hindus in attacking Muslims and ultimately it turned out to be a violent
reprisal that resulted in heavy casualties of Muslims, finally forcing the government to stop the mayhem. Later in the year, the Muslim League government orchestrated the infamous
Noakhali genocide. After the failure of the
United Bengal plan, it became evident that either all of Bengal would go to Pakistan, or it would be partitioned between India and Pakistan. Direct Action Day and the Noakhali genocide prompted the Bengali Hindu leadership to vote for the
Partition of Bengal to create a Hindu-majority province. In late April 1947, the
Amrita Bazar Patrika published the results of an opinion poll, in which 98% of the Bengali Hindus favoured the creation of a separate homeland. The proposal for the Partition of Bengal was moved in the Legislative Assembly on 20 June 1947, where the Hindu members voted 58–21 in favour of the Partition with two members abstaining. The Boundary Commission implementing the
Radcliffe Line announced that the
Khulna District (with a marginal Hindu majority of 51%) would be given to East Pakistan in lieu of the
Murshidabad district (with a 70% Muslim majority) to be went to India.
Post-partition period After the
Partition, the majority of the urban upper class and middle class Bengali Hindu population of East Bengal immigrated to West Bengal. The ones who stayed back were the ones who had significant landed property and believed that they will be able to live peacefully in an Islamic state. However, after the
genocide of 1950, Bengali Hindus fled East Bengal in thousands and settled in West Bengal. In 1964, tens of thousands of
Bengali Hindus were massacred in East Pakistan and most of the Bengali Hindu owned businesses and properties of
Dhaka were permanently destroyed. During the
Bangladesh Liberation War, large number of Bengali Hindus were
massacred. The
Enemy Property Act of the
Pakistan regime which is still in force in the new incarnation of
Vested Property Act, has been used by successive Bangladeshi governments to seize the properties of the Hindu minorities who left the country during the
Partition of India and Bangladesh liberation war. According to Professor Abul Barkat of
Dhaka University, the Act has been used to misappropriate of land from the Bengali Hindus, roughly equivalent to the 45% of the total landed area owned by them. In Assam's, Assamese dominated
Brahmaputra Valley region
Bongal Kheda movement (which literally means drive out Bengalis) was happened in the late 1948-80s, where several thousands of Hindu Bengalis was massacred by jingoists Assamese nationalists mob in various parts of Assam and as a result of this jingoist movement, nearly 500,000 Bengali Hindus were forced to flee from Assam to take shelter in neighbouring West Bengal particularly in
Jalpaiguri division in seek for safety. In the Bengali dominated
Barak Valley region of Assam, violence broke out in 1960 and 1961 between Bengali Hindus and ethnic Assamese police over a state bill which would have made
Assamese mandatory in the secondary education curriculum. On 19 May 1961, eleven Bengali protesters were killed by Assamese police fired on a demonstration at the
Silchar railway station. Subsequently, the Assam government allowed Bengali as the medium of education and held it as an official position in Barak Valley. Discrimination against refugee Bengali Hindu population is not limited to the
North East. In
Odisha, in a family of ten individuals, only half of them has been recognised as Indians while the rest were branded as Bangladeshis. The Bengali refugees who had settled in
Bihar after the
partition of India are denied land owning rights, caste certificates and welfare schemes. However, the
Nitish Kumar government had promised to solve this problems and also to raise the status of Bangla as a language in the state. == Geographic distribution ==