Bengalis are the natives of the
West Bengal. They are renowned for their culture, literature, music and theater. Bengalis enjoy river fish recipes and rice. They are also very fond of music, dance, theater and art. They were the first to learn English and to occupy government jobs in the country. Bengalis were also the first to demand civil rights.
Bangla or
Bengali is their primary language. Bangla is also the fourth largest major language group in the world, after Chinese,
Hindi and English.
Prominent Bengalis include nationalist leaders such as
Swami Vivekanand and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose; Nobel Laureates
Rabindranath Tagore and Amartya Sen; musicians Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan; film-maker Satyajit Ray; playback singer Kishore Kumar; and popular actresses Jaya Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
