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 edit
Major figures edit
- 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 edit
Medieval Bengal literary scene edit
Other authors from early modern period edit
Prominent foreign-language authors from Bengal edit
Other authors from early/mid-twentieth century and some contemporary authors edit
- Ekram Ali
- Afsar Amed
- Jatindramohan Bagchi
- Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
- Subimal Basak
- Abul Bashar
- Sukanta Bhattacharya
- Nachiketa Chakraborty
- Nirendranath Chakravarty
- Shibram Chakraborty
- Sandipan Chattopadhyay
- Sanjib Chattopadhyay
- Sasthipada Chattopadhyay
- Shakti Chattopadhyay
- Malay Roy Choudhury
- Salil Chowdhury
- Alokeranjan Dasgupta
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta
- Nabaneeta Dev Sen
- 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
- Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay
- Kumud Ranjan Mullick
- Moti Nandi
- Purnendu Pattrea
- Dilipkumar Roy
- Samir Roychoudhury
- Sankar
- Narayan Sanyal
- Subodh Sarkar
- Jatindranath Sengupta
- Moinul Hassan
- Mallika Sengupta
- Anish Deb
Journalists edit
Language/linguistics, anthropology, history, and other social sciences edit
- 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 edit
- Asima Chatterjee, scholar of chemistry
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist
- Amlan Datta, economist, Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati
- Radhakanta Deb, linguist
- Anil Kumar Gain, scholar, mathematician
- Prithwindra Mukherjee, scholar of Indian history, philosophy, religion and culture
- Ramendra Sundar Tribedi, scientist
Education edit
Pioneers edit
- Girish Chandra Bose
- Anil Kumar Gain
- Ashutosh Mukherjee
- Satish Chandra Mukherjee
- Begum Rokeya
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Post-independence edit
- Sudhi Ranjan Das, Chief Justice of India, Vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati
Modern times edit
Others edit
Teachers edit
- 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 edit
Pre-modern period edit
- 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 edit
- Balaram Hari, born in Nadia
- 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
- Abu Sayeed Ayyub, Born in Kolkata.
Early / Mid twenty century edit
- Chandril Bhattacharya, born in Kolkata.
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, born in Kolkata.
- Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari, born in Kolkata.
- Sibnarayan Ray, born in kolkata.
- Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, born in kolkata.
Science edit
- 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 edit
Muslim edit
- 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)
- 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 edit
The Brahmo Samaj edit
Hindu revival movement edit
Mid-twentieth-century religious figures edit
Social reformation and social work edit
Major figures edit
- 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 edit
- 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 edit
Military edit
- 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 edit
Early modern period edit
- Abanindranath Tagore
- Gaganendranath Tagore
- Nandalal Bose
- Kalipada Ghoshal
- Mukul Dey
- Jamini Roy
- Ramkinkar Baij
- Binode Bihari Mukherjee
- Sailoz Mookherjea
From mid-twentieth century edit
- 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 edit
- 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 edit
Composers edit
Performers (instrumental) edit
- 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) edit
Classical edit
- Gopeshwar Banerjee
- Naina Devi
- Ajoy Chakrabarty, vocal
- Bishnupur Gharana
- Tarapada Chakraborty
- Kaushiki Chakraborty
Songs of Tagore and his contemporaries edit
Modern edit
- K. C. Dey
- Manabendra Mukherjee
- Pankaj Kumar Mullick
- Kanan Devi
- Ruma Guha Thakurta
- Hemanta Mukherjee
- Sandhya Mukhopadhyay
- Manna Dey
- Geeta Dutt
- R D Burman
- Sachin Dev Burman
- Kishore Kumar
- Shyamal Mitra
- Amit Kumar
- Indrani Sen
- Antara Chowdhury
- Bappi Lahiri
- Anjan Dutt
- Mohammed Aziz
- Kumar Sanu
- Kabir Suman
- Nachiketa Chakraborty
- Silajit Majumder
- Abhijeet Bhattacharya
- Babul Supriyo
- Madhushree
- Srikanta Acharya
- Shantanu Moitra
- Jeet Ganguly
- Pritam
- Shaan
- Rupam Islam
- Shreya Ghoshal
- Anupam Roy
- Arijit Singh
- Monali Thakur
Nazrul geeti edit
Bengali Folk Song edit
Movies edit
Directors edit
- Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
- Anjan Dutt
- Anurag Basu
- Aparna Sen
- Ayan Mukerji
- Atiul islam
- Basu Bhattacharya
- Basu Chatterjee
- Bimal Roy
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta
- Chidananda Dasgupta
- Debaki Bose
- Goutam Ghose
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee
- Mrinal Sen
- Mujibar Rahaman
- Premankur Atorthy
- 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 edit
- 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
- Dhritiman Chatterjee
- Ferdous Ahmed
- 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 edit
- 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 edit
Editor edit
Screenplay Writer edit
Dance edit
Doctors edit
- Rafiuddin Ahmed
- Upendranath Brahmachari
- Sambhu Nath De
- Kadambini Ganguly
- Madhusudan Gupta
- Radha Gobinda Kar
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay
- Bidhan Chandra Roy
- Nilratan Sircar
- Tabitha Solomon
Modern Days edit
Drama/theatre edit
Magicians edit
Politicians and revolutionaries edit
Pre-modern edit
Colonial period edit
- Titumir
- Alimuddin Ahmad
- Satyendranath Tagore
- Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha
- Nripendra Narayan, philanthropist and ruler of Cooch Behar
- Kalim Sharafi
Indian freedom fighters edit
Early figures edit
- Durjan Singh, leader of Chuar Rebellion
- Rani Shiromani, queen of Karnagarh and leader of Chuar Rebellion
- Surendranath Banerjee
- Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
Twentieth century edit
- 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
- Alimuddin Ahmad
- 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 edit
- Ashok Mitra
- Ajit Kumar Panja
- A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
- Atulya Ghosh
- Amit Mitra
- Abha Maiti
- Muzaffar Ahmad
- 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 edit
Donation and social welfare edit
Old Calcutta / Bengal legends edit
- 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 edit
Chess edit
- Dibyendu Barua, Grandmaster
- Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Grandmaster
- Nisha Mohota, first woman Grandmaster of West Bengal
Cricket edit
- 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 edit
- 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 edit
- Leander Paes, noted lawn tennis player of India
- Jaidip Mukerjea
Squash edit
- Saurav Ghosal, currently highest ranked Indian player
- Ritwik Bhattacharya, currently second highest ranked Indian player
Bodybuilding edit
- Manohar Aich, Mr. Universe, 1952
- Monotosh Roy, Mr. Universe, 1951
- Bishnu Charan Ghosh, Noted bodybuilder and hathayogi
Swimming edit
- 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 edit
- 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.
Weightlifting edit
- Anil Mondal, Indian weightlifter.competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1976 Summer Olympics, the Arjuna Award in the year (1972).
- Sukhen Dey, Indian weightlifter; 2014 Commonwealth Games, gold medal; 2010 Commonwealth Games, gold medal
Others edit
- 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
Industry/business edit
Other areas edit
- 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