List of people from West Bengal
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| Motto: Jai Hind |
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
- Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
- Manik Bandopadhyay
- Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
- Rajshekhar Basu
- Shibram Chakraborty
- Amiya Chakravarty
- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
- Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
- Pramatha Chaudhuri
- Mahasweta Devi
- Humayun Kabir
- Michael Madhusudan Dutt
- Sudhindranath Dutta
- Kazi Nazrul Islam
- Annada Shankar Ray
- Satyajit Ray
- Narayan Sanyal
- Rabindranath Tagore
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
- Ekram Ali
- Jatindramohan Bagchi
- Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
- Subimal Basak
- Abul Bashar
- Sukanta Bhattacharya
- Nachiketa Chakraborty
- Nirendranath Chakravarty
- Shibram Chakraborty
- Sandipan Chattopadhyay
- Sanjib Chattopadhyay
- Shakti Chattopadhyay
- Malay Roy Choudhury
- Salil Chowdhury
- Alokeranjan Dasgupta
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta
- Mahasweta Devi
- Anil Kumar Gain
- Kaberi Gayen
- Narayan Gangopadhyay
- Joy Goswami
- Prabir Ghosh
- Santosh Kumar Ghosh
- Shankha Ghosh
- Subodh Ghosh
- Buddhadeb Guha
- Baby Halder
- Syed Kawsar Jamal
- Bimal Kar
- Binoy Majumdar
- Samaresh Majumdar
- Arun Mitra
- Bimal Mitra
- Narendranath Mitra
- Mimi Mondal
- Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay
- Kumud Ranjan Mullick
- Moti Nandi
- Purnendu Pattrea
- Dilipkumar Roy
- Samir Roychoudhury
- Narayan Sanyal
- Subodh Sarkar
- Jatindranath Sengupta
- Mallika Sengupta
- Shankar
Journalists
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
- Maniklal Sinha, novelist, historian and archaeologist of west Rarh
- Gayatri Spivak, feminist
- Vina Mazumdar, women's studies academic
- Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri, Indian historian
Scholars and polymaths
- Radhakanta Deb, linguist
- 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
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist
Education
Pioneers
- Girish Chandra Bose
- Anil Kumar Gain
- Ashutosh Mukherjee
- Satish Chandra Mukherjee
- Begum Rokeya
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Post-independence
- Sudhi Ranjan Das, Chief Justice of India, Vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati
Others
Teachers
- Katyayanidas Bhattacharya, philosophy, Presidency College
- Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, philosophy, University of Calcutta
- Barun De, history, Presidency College
- K. C. Nag, mathematics, Mitra institution
- Susobhan Sarkar, history, Presidency College
- Babar Ali, the world's youngest headmaster, Headmaster & Founder of Ananda Siksha Niketan
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
- Chandril Bhattacharya, born in Kolkata
- Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya born in Serampore in Howrah district
- 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
- Bimal Krishna Matilal, born in Jaynagar Majilpur in South 24 Parganas district
- Amartya Sen, born in Shantiniketan in Birbhum District
- Keshab Chandra Sen born in Kolkata
- Rabindranath Tagore born in Kolkata
- Swami Vivekananda born in Kolkata
- Sri Aurobindo
Science
- Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, computer scientist
- Somnath Bharadwaj, cosmology
- Avik Bhattacharya, remote sensing
- Santanu Bhattacharya, chemistry
- Manilal Bhaumik
- Satyendra Nath Bose
- Upendranath Brahmachari
- Bidyut Baran Chaudhuri, Computer scientist
- Anil Kumar Gain, mathematics
- Partha Ghose
- Sankar Ghosh
- P.C. Mahalanobis
- Dwijesh Dutta Majumdar, Computer scientist
- Ujjwal Maulik, computer scientist
- Ashesh Prosad Mitra
- Sisir Kumar Mitra
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay, physician
- Sankar Kumar Pal, Computer scientist
- Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri
- Anjali Roy, mycologist
- Subrata Roy, plasma physics
- Ram Brahma Sanyal, zoology
- Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, economist, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
- Ashoke Sen, physics
- Radhanath Sikdar
Religious scholars
Muslim
- Jalaluddin Tabrizi (13th-century)
- Gazi Pir (13th-century)
- Pir Gorachand (13th-century)
- Usman Serajuddin (1258–1357)
- Alaul Haq (1301–1384)
- Nur Qutb Alam (d. 1416)
- Ghulam Mustafa Burdwani (fl. 1780s)
- Shah Mehr Ali (1808–1868)
- Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy (1832–1885)
- Azangachhi Shaheb (1828–1932)
- Mohammad Abu Bakr Siddique (1865–1943)
- Abdullah al-Baqi (1886–1952)
- Abbas Siddiqui (born 1987)
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
- Sri Sri Harichand Thakur
- Satish Chandra Mukherjee
- Dwarkanath Ganguly
Derozians
- Ramtanu Lahiri
- Radhanath Sikdar
- Rajnarayan Basu
- Peary Chand Mitra
- Rasik Krishna Mallick
- Krishna Mohan Banerjee
- Madhusudan Dutta
- Hara Chandra Ghosh
- Ramgopal Ghosh
- Kishori Chand Mitra
Women's rights
- Rani Rashmoni
- Kadambini Ganguly
- Chandramukhi Basu
- Kaberi Gain
- Sarala Devi
- Begum Rokeya
- 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
- Rabin Mondal
- Samir Mondal
- Somenath Hore
Film and photography
- Dulal Dutta
- Subrata Mitra, cinematographer
- Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri
- Ajoy Kar, cinematographer, filmmaker, screenwriter
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee,Indian film director, editor and writer.
- Satyajit Roy, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, illustrator and music composer
- Mrinal Sen, filmmaker, screenwriter, autho
- Rituparno Ghosh, filmmaker
- Tarun Majumdar, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, illustrator
- Goutam Ghose, filmmaker, cinematographer, and music composer
- Suman Ghosh (director), filmmaker, documentary filmmaker
- Atiul islam, filmmaker, screenwriter.
Music
Composers
Performers (instrumental)
- Allauddin Khan, sarod and multi-instrumentalist
- Ali Akbar Khan, sarod
- Annapurna Devi, surbahar
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta, sarod
- Manilal Nag, sitar
- Nikhil Banerjee, sitar
- Ravi Shankar, sitar
- Radhika Mohan Maitra, Sarod and Mohanveena
- Sankha Chatterjee, tabla
- Shankar Ghosh, tabla
- Pannalal Ghosh, flute
- Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Harmonium and tabla
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
- Geeta Dutt
- Indrani Sen
- R D Burman
- Kishore Kumar
- Kumar Sanu
- Madhushree
- Kabir Suman
- Manna Dey
- Manabendra Mukherjee
- Mohammed Aziz
- Monali Thakur
- Nachiketa Chakraborty
- Ruma Guha Thakurta
- Shaan
- Silajit Majumder
- Shyamal Mitra
- Shreya Ghoshal
- Antara Chowdhury
- Srikanta Acharya
- Anjan Dutt
- Pritam
- Arijit Singh
- Rupam Islam
- Anupam Roy
Nazrul geeti
Movies
Directors
- Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
- Anjan Dutt
- Anurag Basu
- Aparna Sen
- Atiul islam
- Basu Bhattacharya
- Basu Chatterjee
- Bimal Roy
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta
- Chidananda Dasgupta
- Debaki Bose
- Goutam Ghose
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee
- Mrinal Sen
- Mujibar Rahaman
- Pritish Chakraborty
- Prem Prakash Modi
- Raj Chakraborty
- Mohammad Mohsin
- Rituparno Ghosh
- Ritwik Ghatak
- Satyajit Ray
- Shiboprosad Mukherjee
- Shoojit Sircar
- Srijit Mukherji
- Sujit Mondal
- Sujoy Ghosh
- Supriyo Sen
- Suman Mukhopadhyay
- Tapan Sinha
- Tarun Majumdar
Actors
- Abhishek Chatterjee
- Abir Chatterjee
- Anil Chatterjee
- Anirban Bhattacharya
- Ankush Hazra
- Apurva Agnihotri
- Arun Mukherjee
- Asit Sen
- Bhanu Bandopadhyay
- Biswajit Chakraborty
- Chhabi Biswas
- Chinmoy Roy
- Chiranjeet Chakraborty
- Dev
- Debasish Mondal (actor)
- Dhritiman Chatterjee
- Harindranath Chattopadhyay
- Hiran Chatterjee
- Jeet
- Jisshu Sengupta
- Joy Kumar Mukherjee
- Jayant Kripalani
- 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
- Joya Ahsan
- June Malia
- Kananbala
- Kanan Devi
- Koel Mullick
- Madhabi Mukherjee
- Mala Sinha
- Mamata Shankar
- Mimi Chakraborty
- Nusrat Jahan
- Moon Moon Sen
- Moushmi Chatterji
- Pratyusha Banerjee
- Prema Narayan
- 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
Cinematographer
Editor
Screenplay Writer
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
- Tabitha Solomon
- Madhusudan Gupta
Drama/theatre
Magicians
- Ganapati Chakraborty
- Amin Suhrawardy
- P. C. Sorcar
- P. C. Sorcar Jr.
- P. C. Sorcar, Young
- Maneka Sorcar
Politicians and revolutionaries
Pre-modern
Colonial period
- Titumir
- Satyendranath Tagore
- Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha
- Nripendra Narayan, philanthropist and ruler of Cooch Behar
Indian freedom fighters
Early figures
- Durjan Singh, leader of Chuar Rebellion
- Rani Shiromani, queen of Karnagarh and leader of Chuar Rebellion
- Surendranath Banerjee
- Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
Twentieth century
- Bipin Chandra Pal
- Sri Aurobindo
- Syed Badrudduja
- 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
- Sudhamoy Pramanick
- Saroj Mukherjee
- Renuka Ray
- Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
- Hemchandra Kanungo
- Kanailal Bhattacharyya
- Kanailal Bhattacharjee
Politicians
- Ashok Mitra
- Ajit Kumar Panja
- A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
- Atulya Ghosh
- Amit Mitra
- Abha Maiti
- Bidhan Chandra Roy
- Bimal Gurung
- Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
- Bir Singh Mahato
- Babul Supriyo
- Derek O'Brien
- Dev
- Firhad Hakim
- Hashim Abdul Halim
- Jyoti Basu
- Kamal Guha
- Kanailal Bhattacharyya
- Kedarnath Bhattacharya
- Mamata Banerjee
- Mukul Roy
- Mriganko Mahato
- Mohammed Salim
- Narahari Mahato
- Partha Chatterjee
- Pratap Chandra Chunder
- Prafulla Chandra Sen
- Pranab Mukherjee
- Siddhartha Shankar Ray
- Subrata Mukherjee
- Sultan Ahmed (Indian politician)
- Saugata Roy
- Somnath Chatterjee
- Sabina Yeasmin
- Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
- Tathagata Roy
- Tanmoy Bhattacharya
Others
Donation and social welfare
Old Calcutta / Bengal legends
- Raja Nabakrishna Deb
- Raja Radhakanta Deb, published two Sanskrit dictionaries used by Westerners
- Gobindram Mitter
- Anil Kumar Gain
- Mutty Lal Seal
- Bijoy Chand Mahtab
- Uday Chand Mahtab
- Mother Teresa
- Manindra Chandra Nandy, Maharaja of Cossimbazar
Sports
Chess
- Dibyendu Barua, Grandmaster
- Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Grandmaster
- Nisha Mohota, first woman Grandmaster of West Bengal
Cricket
- Arun Lal
- Benu Dasgupta
- Deep Dasgupta
- Gopal Bose
- Jhulan Goswami
- Pankaj Roy
- Priyanka Roy
- Probir Sen
- Rumeli Dhar
- Ambar Roy
- Saba Karim
- Sourav Ganguly
- Subrata Guha
- Saradindu Mukherjee
- Ashok Dinda
- Montu Banerjee
- Manoj Tiwary
- Nirode Chowdhury
- Wriddhiman Saha
- Shreevats Goswami
- Shute Banerjee
- Subroto Banerjee
- Utpal Chatterjee
Football
- P. K. Banerjee
- Samar Banerjee
- Shibdas Bhaduri
- Subrata Bhattacharya
- Gostho Pal
- Krishanu Dey
- Sailen Manna
- Chuni Goswami
- Gautam Sarkar
- Arnab Mondal
- Abhijit Mondal
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
Bodybuilding
- Manohar Aich, Mr. Universe, 1952
- Monotosh Roy, Mr. Universe, 1951
- Bishnu Charan Ghosh, Noted bodybuilder and hathayogi
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
- Anil Mondal, Indian weightlifter.
- Arjun Atwal, golfer
- Anirban Lahiri, Indian golfer
- Balaram Bose, philanthropist
- Chhanda Gain, mountaineering, first Bengali woman to climb Mount Everest
- Dipa Karmakar, Indian artistic gymnast; 2014 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal; 2010 Commonwealth Games participant
- Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics, double gold medallist at Bangkok Asiad, 1996
- Joydeep Karmakar, Indian shooter, 2012 Summer Olympics; qualified to represent India in men's 50m rifle prone event; 2014 Commonwealth Games participant
- Mohammad Ali Qamar, boxing, Commonwealth games gold medalist
- Mohammed Ali Qamar, Indian boxer, 2002 Commonwealth Games, gold medal
- Sukhen Dey, Indian weightlifter; 2014 Commonwealth Games, gold medal; 2010 Commonwealth Games, gold medal
Industry/business
- Jagat Seth
- Dwarakanath Tagore
- Diptendu Pramanick
- Rajen 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
Other areas
- Ashis Nandy, author, political psychologist
- Subroto Mukerjee
- Shankar Roychowdhury
- William Tolly
- P. C. Sorcar, Jr., magician from Kolkata
- Arup Raha
- Narayan Debnath
- Joyita Mondal, Social Worker