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List of people from West Bengal

This is a list of notable people from West Bengal, India. This list does not include the significant number
of prominent East Bengali refugees from East Bengal who settled in West Bengal after the partition of the
Indian sub-continent in 1947.

Contents
Literature
Major figures
Children's story writers
Medieval Bengal literary scene
Other authors from early modern period
Prominent foreign-language authors from Bengal
Other authors from early/mid-twentieth century and some contemporary authors
Journalists
Language/linguistics, anthropology, history, and other social sciences
Scholars and polymaths
Education
Pioneers
Post-independence
Others
Teachers
Philosophy
Pre-modern period
Modern age
Science
Religious reformation
Pre-modern period
The Brahmo Samaj
Hindu revival movement
Mid-twentieth-century religious figures
Social reformation and social work
Major figures
Derozians
Women's rights
Art
Early modern period
From mid-twentieth century
Film and photography
Music
Composers
Performers (instrumental)
Performers (vocal)
Classical
Songs of Tagore and his contemporaries
Modern
Nazrul geeti
Movies
Directors
Actors
Actresses
Dance
Doctors
Drama/theatre
Politicians and revolutionaries
Pre-modern
Colonial period
Indian freedom fighters
Early figures
Twentieth century
Politicians
Others
Donation and social welfare
Old Calcutta / Bengal legends
Sports
Chess
Cricket
Football
Lawn tennis
Squash
Swimming
Table tennis
Others
Industry/business
Other areas
See also
References

Literature

Major figures
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
Rajshekhar Basu
Shibram Chakraborty
Amiya Chakravarty
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Manik Bandopadhyay
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Pramatha Chaudhuri
Mahasweta Devi
Sudhindranath Dutta
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Annada Shankar Ray
Satyajit Ray
Narayan Sanyal
Rabindranath Tagore
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Children's story writers


Sukumar Ray
Leela Majumdar
Satyajit Ray
Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Premendra Mitra
Moti Nandi
Narayan Gangopadhyay
Samaresh Majumdar
Shibram Chakraborty
Upendra Kishore Roychoudhuri

Medieval Bengal literary scene


Chandidas
Vidyapati
Krittibas Ojha
Govindadas
Kashiram Das
Bharat Chandra
Ramprasad
Krishnadasa Kaviraj

Other authors from early modern period


Madan Mohan Tarkalankar
Iswar Gupta
Anil Kumar Gain
Peary Chand Mitra
Kaliprasanna Sinha
Akshay Kumar Baral
Romesh Chunder Dutt
Jyotirindranath Tagore
Swami Vivekananda
Dwijendralal Ray
Trailokyanath Sanyal

Prominent foreign-language authors from Bengal


Toru Dutt
Sri Aurobindo
Jhumpa Lahiri
Amitav Ghosh
Amit Chaudhuri
Upamanyu Chatterjee
Kaberi Gain
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Other authors from early/mid-twentieth century and some contemporary


authors
Jatindranath Sengupta
Kumud Ranjan Mullick
Jatindramohan Bagchi
Dilipkumar Roy
Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay
Subodh Ghosh
Anil Kumar Gain
Sukanta Bhattacharya
Subhash Mukhopadhyay
Bimal Kar
Shakti Chattopadhyay
Shankha Ghosh
Kaberi Gain
Purnendu Patri
Narendranath Mitra
Arun Mitra
Nirendranath Chakraborty
Alokranjan Dasgupta
Santosh Kumar Ghosh
Mahasweta Devi
Sanjeev Chattopadhyay
Shibram Chakraborty
Narayan Gangopadhyay
Narayan Sanyal
Bimal Mitra
Buddhadeb Guha
Samaresh Majumdar
Shankar
Moti Nandi
Sandipan Chattopadhyay
Samir Roychoudhury
Buddhadev Dasgupta
Salil Choudhury
Prabir Ghosh
Malay Roy Choudhury
Subimal Basak
Baby Halder
Binoy Majumdar
Joy Goswami
Nachiketa Chakraborty
Subodh Sarkar
Mallika Sengupta
Srijato
Tarashankar Bandopadhyay

Journalists
Harish Chandra Burnwal (also Barnwal)
Mrinal Chatterjee
Ramananda Chatterjee
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
Kaberi Gayen
Tushar Kanti Ghosh
Chandan Mitra
Harish Chandra Mukherjee
Moti Nandi
Sukumar Ray
Barun Sengupta
Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan

Language/linguistics, anthropology, history, and other social


sciences
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, first Bengali prose writer
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, creator of Standard Bengali prose (sadhu bhasha)
Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, earliest educationist
Anil Kumar Gain, fellow of the Royal Society
Rajendralal Mitra, first Indian to work with Indologists
Haraprasad Shastri, historian of Bengali language and culture
Dinesh Chandra Sen, historian of Bengali literature and folklorist
Pramatha Chaudhuri, creator of modern Bengali prose (chalit bhasha) along with Tagore
Sir Jadunath Sarkar, historian
Rajsekhar Bose, major contributor for scientific terms in Bengali and lexicographer
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, historian
Ramesh Chandra Dutta, historian
Girindrasekhar Bose, first non-European correspondent of Freud
Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, linguist
Harinath De, linguist
Biraja Sankar Guha, anthropologist
Sukumar Sen, linguist
Susobhan Sarkar, historian
Nirmal Kumar Bose, anthropologist, associate of Gandhi
Niharranjan Ray, historian
Dineshchandra Sircar, epigraphist
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, social philosopher
Surajit Chandra Sinha, anthropologist
Haricharan Bandopadhayaya, lexicographer
Tapan Raychaudhuri, professor of history at Oxford University
Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize awardee in Economics
Ranajit Guha, subaltern theorist
Sumit Sarkar, historian
Kirti Narayan Chaudhuri, historian
Gayatri Spivak, feminist
Vina Mazumdar, women's studies academic
Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri, Indian historian

Scholars and polymaths


Radhakanta Deb, linguist
Aghore Nath Gupta, scholar of Buddhism
Asima Chatterjee, scholar of chemistry
Anil Kumar Gain, scholar, mathematician
Ramendra Sundar Tribedi, scientist
Amlan Datta, economist, Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati
Prithwindra Mukherjee, scholar of Indian history, philosophy, religion and culture
Khudiram Das, Sanskrit scholar, linguist

Education
Pioneers
Girish Chandra Bose
Anil Kumar Gain
Ashutosh Mukherjee
Satish Chandra Mukherjee
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Post-independence
Sudhi Ranjan Das, Chief Justice of India, Vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati

Others
Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya

Teachers
Susobhan Sarkar, History, Presidency College
Katyayanidas Bhattacharya, Philosophy, Presidency College
K. C. Nag, Mathematics, Mitra institution

Philosophy

Pre-modern period
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Achintya Bhedabheda Vedanta)
Madhusudana Saraswati (Advaita Vedanta)
Raghunatha Siromani (Navya Nyaya)

Modern age
Keshub Chunder Sen
Swami Vivekananda
Anukulchandra Chakravarty
Kaberi Gain
Brajendranath Seal
Surendranath Dasgupta
Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya
Bimal Krishna Matilal

Science
Radhanath Sikdar
Satyendra Nath Bose
Upendranath Brahmachari
P.C. Mahalanobis
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri
Ashoke Sen, physics
Jagadish Chandra Bose, polymath- physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist
Somnath Bharadwaj, cosmology
Manilal Bhaumik
Anil Kumar Gain, mathematics
Subhash Mukhopadhyay, physician
Sisir Kumar Mitra
Ashesh Prosad Mitra
Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, economist, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
Ram Brahma Sanyal, zoology
Bikash Sinha, nuclear physics
Partha Ghose
Sankar Ghosh
Neena Gupta (mathematician)

Religious reformation

Pre-modern period
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Nityananda
Six Goswamis of Vrindavana
Ramprasad Sen

The Brahmo Samaj


Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Chandra Vidyabagish
Debendranath Tagore
Keshub Chunder Sen

Hindu revival movement


Ramakrishna
Sarada Devi
Swami Vivekananda
Sri Aurobindo

Mid-twentieth-century religious figures


A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Social reformation and social work

Major figures
Raja Rammohan Roy
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Keshab Chandra Sen
Swami Vivekananda
Protap Chunder Mozoomdar
Anil Kumar Gain
Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee
Umesh Chandra Dutta
Sri Sri Harichand Thakur
Satish Chandra Mukherjee

Derozians
Ramtanu Lahiri
Radhanath Sikdar
Rajnarayan Basu
Sib Chandra Deb
Peary Chand Mitra
Rasik Krishna Mallick
Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee
Ramgopal Ghosh
Madhusudan Dutta

Women's rights
Rani Rashmoni
Kadambini Ganguly
Chandramukhi Basu
Kaberi Gain
Sarala Devi
Charulata Mukherjee
Romola Sinha

Art

Early modern period


Abanindranath Tagore
Gaganendranath Tagore
Nandalal Bose
Kalipada Ghoshal
Mukul Dey
Jamini Roy
Ramkinkar Baij
Binode Bihari Mukherjee
Sailoz Mookherjea

From mid-twentieth century


Anil Karanjai
Bikash Bhattacharjee
Chintamani Kar
Ganesh Pyne
Hemen Majumdar
Jahar Dasgupta
Jogen Chowdhury
Paresh Maity
Paritosh Sen
Samir Mondal
Somenath Hore

Film and photography


Dulal Dutta
Subrata Mitra, cinematographer
Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri, director, photographer, and digital artist

Music

Composers
Dwijendralal Ray
Atulprasad Sen
Rajanikanta Sen
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Dilipkumar Roy
Gouri Prasanna Majumdar.
Anil Biswas
Raichand Boral
Sachin Dev Burman
Kamal Dasgupta
Salil Chowdhury
Hemanta Mukherjee
Sudhin Dasgupta
Nachiketa Ghosh
Manabendra Mukhopadhyay
Kabir Suman

Performers (instrumental)
Nikhil Banerjee, sitar
Sankha Chatterjee, tabla
Buddhadev Dasgupta, sarod
Annapurna Devi, surbahar
Pandit Shankar Ghosh, tabla
Pannalal Ghosh, flute
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, sarod
Pandit Ravi Shankar, sitar
Baba Allauddin Khan, sarod and multi-instrumentalist
Radhika Mohan Maitra, Sarod and Mohanveena
Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Harmonium and tabla
Pandit Manilal Nag, sitar

Performers (vocal)

Classical
Gopeshwar Banerjee
Naina Devi
Ajoy Chakrabarty, vocal
Bishnupur Gharana
Tarapada Chakraborty
Kaushiki Chakraborty

Songs of Tagore and his contemporaries


Dinendranath Tagore
Dilipkumar Roy
Sahana Devi
Amiya Tagore
Renuka Dasgupta
Malati Ghoshal
Santidev Ghosh
Debabrata Biswas
Uma Bose
Subinoy Roy
Kanika Bandyopadhyay
Suchitra Mitra
Nilima Sen
Gita Ghatak
Sarmila Bose
Indrani Sen

Modern
K. C. Dey
Sachin Dev Burman
Pankaj Kumar Mullick
Kanan Devi
Hemanta Mukherjee
Sandhya Mukhopadhyay
Amit Kumar
Abhijeet Bhattacharya
Bappi Lahiri
Babul Supriyo
Indrani Sen
R D Burman
Kishore Kumar
Kumar Sanu
Madhushree
Kabir Suman
Manna Dey
Manabendra Mukherjee
Nachiketa Chakraborty
Ruma Guha Thakurta
Shaan
Silajit Majumder
Shyamal Mitra
Shreya Ghoshal
Antara Chowdhury
Srikanta Acharya
Anjan Dutt
Arijit Singh
Rupam Islam
Anupam Roy

Nazrul geeti
Indrani Sen
Purabi Dutta
Manabendra Mukhopadhyay

Movies
Directors
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Anjan Dutt
Anurag Basu
Aparna Sen
Basu Bhattacharya
Basu Chatterjee
Bimal Roy
Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Chidananda Dasgupta
Debaki Bose
Goutam Ghose
Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Mrinal Sen
Pritish Chakraborty
Raj Chakraborty
Rituparno Ghosh
Ritwik Ghatak
Satyajit Ray
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Shoojit Sircar
Srijit Mukherji
Sujoy Ghosh
Suman Mukhopadhyay
Tapan Sinha
Tarun Majumdar

Actors
Abdur Razzaq
Abhishek Chatterjee
Abir Chatterjee
Ali Fazal
Anil Chatterjee
Anirban Bhattacharya
Ankush Hazra
Apurva Agnihotri
Arun Mukherjee
Asit Sen
Bhanu Bandopadhyay
Biswajit Chakraborty
Chhabi Biswas
Chinmoy Roy
Chiranjeet Chakraborty
Dev
Dhritiman Chatterjee
Harindranath Chattopadhyay
Hiran Chatterjee
Jeet
Jisshu Sengupta
Joy Kumar Mukherjee
Kali Banerjee
Kamal Mitra
Keshto Mukherjee
Lokesh
Mir Afsar Ali
Mithun Chakraborty
Pahari Sanyal
Parambrata Chatterjee
Pradeep Kumar
Pritish Chakraborty
Priyanshu
Prosenjit Chatterjee
Rabi Ghosh
Rahul Roy
Ranjit Mallick
Saswata Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee
Subhendu Chatterjee
Tapas Paul
Tathagata Mukherjee
Tulsi Chakraborty
Utpal Datta
Uttam Kumar
Victor Banerjee

Actresses
Anita Guha
Aparna Sen
Arundhati Devi
Chhaya Devi
Debashree Roy
Devika Rani
Indrani Haldar
June Malia
Kananbala
Kanan Devi
Koel Mullick
Madhabi Mukherjee
Mamata Shankar
Moon Moon Sen
Moushmi Chatterji
Pratyusha Banerjee
Raakhee
Rachna Banerjee
Raima Sen
Reemma Sen
Rimi Sen
Rituparna Sengupta
Riya Sen
Ruma Guha Thakurta
Sabitri Chatterjee
Sharmila Tagore
Srabanti Chatterjee
Subhasree Ganguly
Suchitra Sen
Sumita Sanyal
Supriya Devi
Sushmita Sen
Varsha Ashwathi

Dance
Uday Shankar
Amala Shankar
Mamata Shankar
Sharmila Biswas

Doctors
B.C. Roy
S. K. Burman
Subhash Mukhopadhyay
Nilratan Sircar
Radha Gobinda Kar
Rafiuddin Ahmed (dentist)
Upendranath Brahmachari

Drama/theatre
Girish Chandra Ghosh
Dinabandhu Mitra
P. C. Sorcar, Jr.
Jyotirindranath Tagore
Dwijendralal Ray
Sisir Bhaduri
Bijon Bhattacharya
Shambhu Mitra
Utpal Dutt
Bibhas Chakraborty
Rudraprasad Sengupta
Badal Sarkar
Usha Ganguly
Manoj Mitra
Ajitesh Bandopadhyay
Debshankar Halder

Politicians and revolutionaries

Pre-modern
Shashanka
Gopala
Dharmapala
Devapala
Mahipala
Ballal Sen
Lakshman Sen

Colonial period
Satyendranath Tagore
Romesh Chunder Dutt
Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha
Nripendra Narayan, philanthropist and ruler of Cooch Behar

Indian freedom fighters

Early figures
Surendranath Banerjee
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

Twentieth century
Bipin Chandra Pal
Sri Aurobindo
Barindra Kumar Ghosh
Khudiram Bose
Bagha Jatin
Chittaranjan Das
Rash Behari Bose
Sarat Chandra Bose
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
Jatindra Nath Das
Bina Das
Matangini Hazra
B. C. Roy
Triguna Sen
Panchanan Chakraborty
Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Basanta Kumar Biswas
Ambika Chakrobarty
Bipin Behari Ganguli
Jogesh Chandra Chattopadhyay
Narendra Mohan Sen
Birendranath Sasmal
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Jnananjan Niyogi
Sudhamoy Pramanick
Saroj Mukherjee
Renuka Ray
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Hemchandra Kanungo
Kanailal Bhattacharyya
Kanailal Bhattacharjee

Politicians
Hiran
Soham Chakraborty
Ashok Mitra
Ajit Kumar Panja
Bidhan Chandra Roy
Atulya Ghosh
Prafulla Chandra Sen
Siddhartha Shankar Ray
Abdul Halim
Mamata Banerjee
Dev
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury
Saugata Roy
Bir Singh Mahato
Kamal Guha
Tathagata Roy
Abha Maiti
Pratap Chandra Chunder
Pranab Mukherjee
Jyoti Basu
Somnath Chatterjee
Amit Mitra
Partha Chatterjee
Kanailal Bhattacharyya
Kedarnath Bhattacharya
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
Narahari Mahato
Mriganko Mahato

Others
Abul Barkat

Donation and social welfare

Old Calcutta / Bengal legends


Raja Nabakrishna Deb
Raja Radhakanta Deb, brought out two Sanskrit dictionaries used by Westerners as reference
Gouri Sen
Hari Ghosh
Banamali Sarkar
Gobindram Mitter
Prasanna Coomar Tagore
Ramanath Tagore
Anil Kumar Gain
Mutty Lal Seal
Bijoy Chand Mahtab
Uday Chand Mahtab
Mother Teresa

Sports

Chess
Dibyendu Barua, Grandmaster
Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Grandmaster
Nisha Mohota, first woman Grandmaster of West Bengal
Cricket
Arun Lal
Benu Dasgupta
Jhulan Goswami
Pankaj Roy
Priyanka Roy
Rumeli Dhar
Ambar Roy
Saba Karim
Sourav Ganguly
Ashok Dinda
Manoj Tiwary
Wriddhiman Saha
Shreevats Goswami

Football
Gostho Pal
Krishanu Dey
P. K. Banerjee
Sailen Manna
Subrata Bhattacharya
Chuni Goswami
Samar Banerjee

Lawn tennis
Leander Paes, noted lawn tennis player of India
Jaidip Mukerjea

Squash
Saurav Ghosal, currently highest ranked Indian player
Ritwik Bhattacharya, currently second highest ranked Indian player

Swimming
Arati Saha, first Asian woman to swim English Channel in 1959
Bula Choudhury, first Indian woman to swim the English Channel twice
Mihir Sen, first Indian to swim across the English Channel in 1958
Prasanta Karmakar, para swimmer, 2010 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal
Masudur Rahman Baidya, world's first physically handicapped swimmer to swim across the
Strait of Gibraltar
Table tennis
Subhajit Saha, Commonwealth games gold medalist
Mouma Das, table tennis player
Poulomi Ghatak, table tennis player
Ankita Das, table tennis player, 2012 Summer Olympics; participant in women's singles event,
2014 Commonwealth Games; participant in women's doubles even
Soumyajit Ghosh, table tennis player; as of January 2013, his rank is 1st in India and 68th in
Asia; 2014 Commonwealth Games, Participant in men's doubles event

Others
Chhanda Gain, mountaineering, first Bengali woman to climb Mount Everest
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics, double gold medallist at Bangkok Asiad, 1996
Mohammad Ali Qamar, boxing, Commonwealth games gold medalist
Arjun Atwal, golfer
Anirban Lahiri, Indian golfer
Balaram Bose, philanthropist
Mohammed Ali Qamar, Indian boxer, 2002 Commonwealth Games, gold medal
Sukhen Dey, Indian weightlifter; 2014 Commonwealth Games, gold medal; 2010
Commonwealth Games, gold medal
Dipa Karmakar, Indian artistic gymnast; 2014 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal; 2010
Commonwealth Games participant
Joydeep Karmakar, Indian shooter, 2012 Summer Olympics; qualified to represent India in
men's 50m rifle prone event; 2014 Commonwealth Games participant

Industry/business
Jagat Seth
Dwarakanath Tagore
Diptendu Pramanick
Rajen Mookerjee
Biren Mookerjee
S. K. Burman
Ghanshyam Das Birla
Jugal Kishore Birla
Ram Nath Goenka
Madhav Prasad Birla
Rajat Kumar Gupta
Purnendu Chatterjee
Sadhan Dutt
Subir Raha
Sumantra Ghoshal
Pritish Chakraborty
Alamohan Das
Dilip Shanghvi
Amar Bose
Other areas
Ashis Nandy, author, political psychologist
Subroto Mukerjee
Shankar Roychowdhury
William Tolly
P. C. Sorcar, Jr., magician from Kolkata
Arup Raha

See also
List of people by India state
List of Bengalis

References

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