List of people from West Bengal
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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.
Literature
Major figures
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
- Souhardya De
- Anirban Bhattacharyya
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
- 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
- Tamal Bandyopadhyay
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
- Souhardya De, Orientalist and Bal Puraskar recipient 2021
- 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
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) born in Nabadwip of Nadia district to parents who hailed from Sylhet in present day Bangladesh
- Madhusudana Saraswati (Advaita Vedanta), born in Kotalipara, Gopalganj District in present day Bangladesh & studied at Nabadwip in Nadia district
- Raghunatha Siromani (Navya Nyaya) from Nabadwip
Modern age
- Keshab Chandra Sen born in Kolkata
- Swami Vivekananda born in Kolkata
- Anukulchandra Chakravarty born in Pabna district in present day Bangladesh, worked & preached in Kolkata. After the Partition of India in 1947, he relocated to Deoghar
- Surendranath Dasgupta, born in Kusthia of present day Bangladesh which was then a part of Nadia before Partition of India, studied in Kolkata
- Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya born in Serampore in Howrah district
- Bimal Krishna Matilal, born in Jaynagar in South 24 Parganas district
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
- Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, computer scientist
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay, physician
- Sisir Kumar Mitra
- Ashesh Prosad Mitra
- Subrata Roy, plasma physics
- Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, economist, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
- Ram Brahma Sanyal, zoology
- Bikash Sinha, nuclear physics
- Partha Ghose
- Ujjwal Maulik, computer scientist
- Sankar Ghosh
- Neena Gupta (mathematician)
- Meghnad Saha
- Kadambini Ganguly (Physician)
Religious reformation
Pre-modern period
The Brahmo Samaj
Hindu revival movement
Mid-twentieth-century religious figures
Social reformation and social work
Major figures
- Ram Mohan 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
Military
- Subhas Chandra Bose, founder, Indian National Army
- General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian Army Chief during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
- Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Navy Chief between 1966 and 1970.
- Air Commodore Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar (1927–2011), India's first military helicopter pilot
- Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, former Head of Indian Air Force
- Chief of the Air Staff Designate Arup Raha, 24th chief of Indian Air Force.
- Indra Lal Roy, first Indian (pre Independence) flying ace
- General Shankar Roychowdhury, former Indian Army Chief
- Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, recipient of Ashoka Chakra
- Captain Man Bahadur Rai, recipient of Ashoka Chakra
- Air Vice Marshal Madhavendra Banerji, recipient of Maha Vir Chakra
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,
- Satyajit Roy, director, photographer, and digital artist
Music
Composers
Performers (instrumental)
- Nikhil Banerjee, sitar
- Sankha Chatterjee, tabla
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta, sarod
- Annapurna Devi, surbahar
- Shankar Ghosh, tabla
- Pannalal Ghosh, flute
- Ali Akbar Khan, sarod
- Ravi Shankar, sitar
- Allauddin Khan, sarod and multi-instrumentalist
- Radhika Mohan Maitra, Sarod and Mohanveena
- Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Harmonium and tabla
- 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
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
- Monali Thakur
- 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
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
- Mimi Chakraborty
- Nusrat Jahan
- Moon Moon Sen
- Moushmi Chatterji
- Pratyusha Banerjee
- Raakhee
- Rachna Banerjee
- Raima Sen
- Reema Sen
- Rimi Sen
- Rituparna Sengupta
- Riya Sen
- Ruma Guha Thakurta
- Sabitri Chatterjee
- Sharmila Tagore
- Srabanti Chatterjee
- Subhashree Ganguly
- Suchitra Sen
- Sumita Sanyal
- Supriya Devi
- Sushmita Sen
- Varsha Ashwathi
Dance
Doctors
- B.C. Roy
- S. K. Burman
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay
- Nilratan Sircar
- Radha Gobinda Kar
- Rafiuddin Ahmed (dentist)
- Upendranath Brahmachari
- Sambhu Nath De
- Kadambini Ganguly
Drama/theatre
Politicians and revolutionaries
Pre-modern
Colonial period
- Satyendranath Tagore
- Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha
- Nripendra Narayan, philanthropist and ruler of Cooch Behar
Indian freedom fighters
Early figures
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
- Jnananjan Niyogi
- Sudhamoy Pramanick
- Saroj Mukherjee
- Renuka Ray
- Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
- Hemchandra Kanungo
- Kanailal Bhattacharyya
- Kanailal Bhattacharjee
Politicians
- Ashok Mitra
- Ajit Kumar Panja
- Bidhan Chandra Roy
- Atulya Ghosh
- Prafulla Chandra Sen
- Siddhartha Shankar Ray
- Abdul Halim
- Mamata Banerjee
- Mukul Roy
- Dev
- Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
- A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury
- Saugata Roy
- Tathagata Roy
- Bir Singh Mahato
- Kamal Guha
- Tathagata Roy
- Abha Maiti
- Pratap Chandra Chunder
- Pranab Mukherjee
- Dilip Ghosh
- Jyoti Basu
- Somnath Chatterjee
- Babul Supriyo
- Amit Mitra
- Partha Chatterjee
- Kanailal Bhattacharyya
- Kedarnath Bhattacharya
- Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
- Narahari Mahato
- Mriganko Mahato
- Md. Salim
Others
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
- P. K. Banerjee
- Samar Banerjee
- Shibdas Bhaduri
- Subrata Bhattacharya
- Gostho Pal
- Krishanu Dey
- Sailen Manna
- Chuni Goswami
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
- Lakshmi Mittal
- Vijay Mallya
Other areas
- Ashis Nandy, author, political psychologist
- Subroto Mukerjee
- Shankar Roychowdhury
- William Tolly
- P. C. Sorcar, Jr., magician from Kolkata
- Arup Raha