Lesson 1/34 min
How the Bengali people formed
The Bengalis did not come from a single stock. Many peoples arrived one after another and blended, which is why the Bengali nation is called a ‘mixed’ (shankar) people. The books divide them into two parts: pre-Aryan (non-Aryan) and Aryan.
The four non-Aryan groups
| Group | What to remember |
|---|---|
| Negrito | The oldest primitive group of the region, according to the books |
| Austric | The main part of the Bengali nation comes from this group; the language of the earliest settled people was Austric |
| Dravidian | Original people of south India; came after the Austrics and blended with them |
| Sino-Tibetan (Mongoloid) | Came from the Tibet and Indo-China side; Garo, Tripura, Chakma, Manipuri and others belong to this stream |
The Aryans
- According to the books their original home lay south of the Ural mountains, towards Central Asia; they reached Bengal late, joining the Austric-Dravidian mix
- Their scripture is the Veda; the Veda has 4 parts
- Aryan society had four classes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra
Watch out: Anthropologically the Bengalis are mainly of the Proto-Australoid (Austric) stock, and Banglapedia says the same. But one book prints ‘Dravidian’ as the answer to an old exam question. If ‘Austric’ or ‘Proto-Australoid’ is among the options, choose it.
Did you know?: Banglapedia holds that the Aryans never came to Bengal in large numbers, and early Vedic texts treated the region as lying outside Aryan land. So no fixed year for their arrival is given here.
Check yourself
From which group does the main part of the Bengali nation come?
At a glance
- 1
The Bengali people come from two streams: pre-Aryan (non-Aryan) and Aryan.
- 2
The four non-Aryan groups: Negrito, Austric, Dravidian and Sino-Tibetan (Mongoloid).
- 3
The main part of the Bengali nation comes from the Austric group; the language of the earliest settlements was Austric.
- 4
The Aryans' scripture is the Veda; their society had four classes.
- 5
The Bengali nation is called a ‘mixed’ (shankar) people.