Hinduism in West Bengal

Durga Puja, the biggest festival

Kali Puja, the second major festival

Bengali Hindus in West Bengal observe a number of festivals, hence the Bengali proverb Baro Mase Tero Parbon (Bengali: বারো মাসে তেরো পার্বণ, "thirteen festivals in twelve months").Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore which is celebrated as one of the major festivals of the state, Rathyatra and Janmashtami before the commencement of the autumnal festival season which starts with Vishwakarma Puja on the last day of Bengali month of Bhadra. The annual five-day Durga Puja is the biggest and most widely celebrated Hindu festival in West Bengal. Durga Puja is followed by Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, Kali Puja, Bhai Phonta, Jagaddhatri Puja and Kartik Puja. On 1 January Kalpataru Day is observed as an auspicious day associated with Ramakrishna Paramhansa. The winter solstice is celebrated a Paush Sankranti in mid January, followed by Netaji Jayanti or the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Saraswati Puja. The spring festival of Holi is celebrated in the form of Dolyatra. The year ends with Charak Puja and Gajan.

Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata

Kalighat Temple

Hangseshwari and Vasudev temple at Hooghly district

The temple at Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace in Mayapur, Nadia established by Bhaktivinoda Thakur in 1880s.

Temple of Taraknath with Dudhpukur tank in the foreground

Krishna-Gouranga (Jor Bangla) Temple at Bishnupur, Bankura

The Temple of Tarapith at Birbhum

Sri Ramakrishna Temple, Belur Math.

Kapil Muni Ashram at Gangasagar

Kapil muni temple

Temple architecture in West Bengal architecture has assumed a unique identity and evolved into the Bengali terra cotta temple architecture which is also a very common style of Hindu temples in Bangladesh. Due to lack of suitable stone in the alluvial Gangetic delta, the temple makers had to resort to other materials instead of stone. This gave rise to using 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 bhakti cults which taught people to view gods as close to themselves. Thus, various styles like do-chala, jor-bangla, char-chala, and aat-chala sprang up. However, there is also a popular style of building known as Navaratna (nine-towered) or Pancharatna (five-towered) in Bengal which is more luxurious than the Chala buildings. A typical example of Navaratna style is the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. The Shiva temples of rural Bengal has significantly impacted on the architectural style of Kalighat Temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples of India. The famous Birla Temple of Kolkata, built in 1996, has a unique blend of temple architecture of Odisha with Rajasthani temple arts. The Mahakal Temple in Darjeeling is a unique and important Hindu temple since 1782.

After partition of Bengal, a large section of upper and middle class Bengali Hindus, numbering 25,19,557, from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) during (1941-1951) have migrated to neighbouring Kolkata and various towns and rural areas of West Bengal particularly in Nadia, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, West Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri etc. Again In 1971 during Bangladesh liberation war against Pakistan, a large group of refugees numbering around 10 million have arrived from Bangladesh to India's West Bengal and North East India, Out of which nearly 80% of them are Bengali Hindus and after Independence of Bangladesh, nearly 15,21,913 people belonging to Bengali Hindu refugees have decided to stay back in India particularly in West Bengal. The Hindu population in Western part of Bengal i.e West Bengal during first census of 1951 was around 19,462,706 and in 2011 census it had increased to 64,385,546. But the percentage of Hindu population in the state decreased from 78.45% in 1951 to 70.54% in 2011. In the same period the percentage of Muslim population in the state increased from 19.85% in 1951 to 27.01% in 2011 due to having higher birth rate than majority.

The Bengali Hindus of West Bengal have their mainstay in trade and business. This ethnic minority has been home to major industrialists worldwide. Large number of West Bengali Hindus have settled outside India. However, the largest section of urban middle and upper-middle class Hindus are employed in the service sector and numerous professional fields like law, medicine, academics, engineering, journalism, liberal arts, corporate job, banking etc. On the other hand, most of the rural and semi-rural people are engaged in agriculture, cottage industry and small-scale businesses.

The literacy level of Bengali Hindus in Bengal and other parts of the world is very high. The higher literacy level combined with economic prosperity and flexible outlook have given Bengali Hindus in West Bengal a clear edge over other communities, especially Muslims .

Noted West Bengali Hindu industrialists include:

• Raja Nabakrishna Deb of Shovabazar
• Gouri Sen
• Gourmohan Dutta of GD Pharmaceuticals-manufacturers
• Hari Ghosh
• Banamali Sarkar
• Gobindram Mitter
• Prasanna Coomar Tagore
• Ramanath Tagore
• Prince Dwarkanath Tagore
• Rajen Mookerjee
• Sir Biren Mookerjee
• Rajat Kumar Gupta
• Purnendu Chatterjee of The Chatterjee Group & Haldia Petrochemicals
• Prashant Mukherjee
• Sadhan Dutt
• Amar Gopal Bose of Bose Corporation
• Aveek Sarkar

• Hinduism in India
• Hinduism in Bangladesh