Bengali Hindu
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 85 millions worldwide | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 India
|
68,000,000 |
 Bangladesh
|
15,726,800 |
 Burma
|
56,808 |
 United Kingdom
|
30,000 |
 United States
|
47,600 |
 Nepal
|
23,600 |
 Canada
|
12,130 |
 Australia
|
3,000 |
 Malaysia
|
2,500 |
 Thailand
|
1,584 |
 Sweden
|
1,500 |
| Languages | |
| Bengali | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Hindus, Bengalis, Bengali Brahmin Bangladeshis | |
Bengali Hindus (Bengali: বাঙালি হিন্দু) are ethnic Bengali adherents of Hinduism, and native to the Bengal region of the Indian Subcontinent. Bengali Hindus speak Bengali, which is classified as a part of the Indo-Aryan language family and adhere to the Shakta and Vaishnava traditions of their native religion, Hinduism. Bengali Hindus form the majority of population in the Indian city of Kolkata numbering around 2,475,250 making up 55% of Kolkata population as of 2011 census report , but the city is also home to a sizeable number of other ethnic minorities such as Marwaris 12.3%, Biharis 7%, Odias 1.4%, Muslims 20.1% and others communities 4.2%. Before Independence of India, the city of Dhaka used to have a significant number of Bengali Hindus but their number have considerably dwindled throughout the following decades and they have been overwhelmingly outnumbered by Bengali Muslims. The Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh capital Dhaka is the second largest community after Muslim's. According to 2011 census report the population of Bengali Hindus in Dhaka is 1,476,000 which makes up 8.2% of the total Dhaka city population. Around the 8th century, Bengali branched off from Magadhi Prakrit, a derivative from Sanskrit that was prevalent in the eastern region of the Indian Subcontinent at that time. During the Sena period (11th – 12th century) the Bengali culture developed into a distinct culture within the Hindu civilization. With the spread of Islam in the region in subsequent centuries, Islamic characteristics grew among Bengalis who converted to that religion, although Bengali Hindus and Muslims continued to have significant similarities. Bengali Hindus were at the forefront of the Bengal Renaissance in the 19th century. The Bengal region was noted for its participation in struggle for the independence from the British rule. At the time of independence of India in 1947, the province of Bengal was partitioned between Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims into West Bengal and East Bengal, parts of India and Pakistan, respectively. Millions of Bengali Hindus migrated from East Bengal (later Bangladesh) and settled in West Bengal and other states of India. The migration continued in waves through the fifties and sixties, especially during the violence of 1950 and 1964. In 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War, an estimated 2.4 million Bengali Hindus were massacred by the Pakistani army. Estimats for the total number of people killed by Pakistan Army range from 300,000 to 3,000,000.
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Wikipedia