List of Bengalis

This article provides lists of famous and notable Bengali people, from West Bengal, India or Bangladesh, or people with Bengali ancestry or people who speak Bengali as their primary language/mother tongue.

Academics

Mir Masoom Ali, statistician
Khandkar Manwar Hossain, statistician
Salman Khan (educator), American educator, founder of Khan Academy
Kaushik Basu, economist
Andre Béteille, sociologist
Sugata Bose, historian
Satyendranath Bose, physicist
Dipesh Chakrabarty, historian
Swapan Kumar Chakravorty, literary scholar and writer
Partha Chatterjee, political scientist
Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, linguist, educationist, litterateur
Sukanta Chaudhuri, literary scholar, writer, translator
Supriya Chaudhuri, literary scholar, writer, translator
Abdus Suttar Khan, chemist
Vina Mazumdar, Women's studies
Nurul Momen, professor of Law, Dhaka University Proctor, Dean
Ashis Nandy, political psychologist
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, theoretical physicist
Sumit Sarkar, historian
Ashoke Sen, physicist
Sukumar Sen, Linguist
Muhammad Shahidullah, educationist, writer, philologist and linguist
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, literary critic and theorist
Amit Chakma, professor of chemical engineering and current president, University of Western Ontario, Canada

Economists

Amartya Sen, Economist & Philosopher, Lamont Professor at Harvard University, awarded Bharat Ratna, Nobel Laureate
Bibek Debroy, Economist and linguist, author of Sanskrit titbits blog
Muhammad Yunus, Economist, Nobel Laureate (Nobel Peace Prize for 2006), micro-credit pioneer, founder Grameen Bank
Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pranab Bardhan, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
Kaushik Basu, World Bank, Chief Economist; C. Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics, Cornell University
Debapriya Bhattchariya, Bangladesh's permanent representative in Geneva for UN
Amitava Bose, Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, founder, Indian Statistical Institute
Debraj Ray, Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
Rehman Sobhan, Economist, Chairman of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
Nurul Islam, Economist, former Chairman, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Science & technology

Jagadish Chandra Bose Physicist, radio and wireless transmission pioneer, invented the radio before Marconi. Also did substantial work on botany.
Satyendra Nath Bose, Physicist, founded Bose–Einstein statistics, which helped to produce Bose-Einstein condensate (2001 Nobel Prize in Physics was given for this discovery); the boson, an elementary particle named after him.
Fazlur Rahman Khan, Structural engineer and architect, Father of tubular designs for high-rises, Willis Tower(AKA Sears Tower), John Hancock Center
Megh Nad Saha, Physicist, produced the "Thermo-Ionization Equation" or Saha Equation
Mazharul Islam, Pioneer modernist architect of Bangladesh.
Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya -was a Bengali entomologist and naturalist known for his pioneering work on social insects and the role of bacteria in metamorphosis.
Prafulla Chandra Roy, Pioneer in the field of pharmaceutical and chemical works (discovered mercurous nitrite)
Sharmila Bhattacharya, head of the Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center
Upendranath Brahmachari, Biologist: synthesized Urea Stibamine (carbostibamide) and used it in the treatment of Kala-azar (leishmaniasis), was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Mani Lal Bhaumik, Physicist: helped develop the first excimer laser at the University of California
Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya, As an academic he has played a prominent role in raising the status of engineering and manufacturing in UK. He was appointed CBE in 1997 and knighted in 2003, Padma Bhushan awardee.
Asima Chatterjee, noted for her work in the fields of organic chemistry and phytomedicine. Her most notable work includes those on vinca alkaloids, and the development of anti-epileptic and anti-malarial drugs.
Sandip Chakrabarti, leading Indian astrophysicist
Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda, scientist and educator.
Subir Chowdhury, Quality Expert. Author of several international bestselling business books.
Anirvan Ghosh, Neuroscientist.
Qazi Motahar Hossain, mathematician and statistician.
Abul Hussam, Chemist, inventor of Sono arsenic filter and the gold winner of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability
Jamal Nazrul Islam, famous physicist and mathematician
Rafiq Azam, leading Bangladeshi architect, artist
Abdus Suttar Khan, Chemist, inventor of alloys for use in commercial jets, U.S. fighter planes, gas turbines, train engines, and space shuttles
Dilip Mahalanabis, Biologist: under his leadership International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh medical centre, discovered Oral rehydration therapy, which saved more than 40 millions lives from Diarrhoea
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Statistician: Inventor of Mahalanobis Distance and founder of Indian Statistical Institute
Sisir Kumar Mitra, Physicist, pioneer in the investigations of ionosphere. The Mitra crater on the Moon is named after him
Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Physicist: became the first physician in India and second in the world to perform the In vitro fertilization
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, Physicist: known for his contributions to relativistic cosmology including Raychaudhuri's equation
Somnath Bharadwaj, Physicist: know for his contributions in Cosmology
Bikash Sinha, former director of SINP and Padmabhusan
Srikumar Banerjee, director of BARC and AEC
Ashoke Sen, Physicist: known for his contributions to string theory and co-discovered S-duality
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Physicist, scientist and writer; author of the book: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction 2011, also won PEN Literary E.O. Wilson Prize 2011, Gabrielle Angel's Leukemia Foundation Award/Grant 2010.
Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty most notable for his work in directed evolution and his role in developing a genetically engineered organism using plasmid transfer while working at GE.
Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India

Artists

Actors

Aparna Sen, Bengali film actress
Ashok Kumar, Bollywood actor
Bipasha Basu
Biswajit Chatterjee, Bengali and Bollywood actor
Subrata Routh, Bengali-American actor
Bobita, Bangladeshi film actress
Chhabi Biswas, Bengali actor
Debashree Roy, Bollywood actress
Devika Rani, Bollywood and Bengali actress
Dhritiman Chatterjee, Bollywood and Bengali actor
Humayun Faridi, Bangladeshi film actor
Imran Khan, Bollywood actor - Father Hindu Bengali
Jaya Bachchan, Bollywood actress
Joy Mukherjee, Bollywood actor
K.C. Dey, Bengali actor
Kajol Mukherjee
Kamalini Mukherjee, Bollywood & Tollywood actress
Khan Ataur Rahman A Bengali actor, director, producer, screenplay writer, music composer and singer.
Kishore Kumar, Bollywood singer, actor, music composer
Koena Mitra, Former channel V VJ and Bollywood actress
Konkona Sen Sharma, Bollywood Actress
Konnie Huq, British television presenter
Koyel Mullick, Bengali actress. Daughter of Ranjit Mullick, renowned Bengali veteran actor.
Lisa Ray, actress and model
Madhabi Mukherjee, actress notable works include charulata, mahanagar
Mamata Shankar, Bollywood and Bengali actress
Mouli Ganguly, actress
Mithun Chakraborty, Bollywood and Bengali film actor
Monikangana Dutta, model and actress
Moushumi Chatterjee, Bollywood actress
Nandana Sen, Bollywood actress, daughter of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
Paoli Dam, actress
Pradeep Kumar, Bollywood actor
Preeti Ganguly, actress
Priyanshu Chatterjee, Bollywood actor
Raakhee, Bollywood actress
Rabi Ghosh, Bengali actor
Rahul Bose, Bengali and Bollywood actor and rugby player
Raima Sen, Bengali Film and Bollywood actress
Rani Mukerji, Bollywood and Kollywood actress
Reema Sen, Bollywood and Kollywood actress
Reena Roy, Bollywood actress
Reshmi Ghosh, Actress, Miss India Earth 2002
Rhona Mitra, Half-Bengali actress in Britain
Richa Gangopadhyay, actress and Miss India USA 2007
Rimi Sen, Bollywood actress
Rituparna Sengupta, Bollywood and Bengali actress
Riya Sen, Bollywood actress
Rohit Roy, TV and Bollywood actor
Ronit Roy, Bollywood and TV actor
Ruma Guha Thakurta, actress notable works include Ganashatru, Abhijan, Palatak; wife of Kishore Kumar
Rupa Ganguly, Bengali and Bollywood actress
Rupali Ganguly, Actress
Sabitri Chatterjee, Bengali actor
Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Bollywood and Bengali actor
Sameer Bhattacharya, Bollywood actor
Samit Bhanja, Bollywood and Bengali actor
Sangeeta Ghosh, actress, model
Seema Biswas, Bollywood actress
Shabnam, actress in Bangladeshi and Pakistani films
Shahana Goswami, Bollywood actress
Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi actor
Sharmila Tagore, Bollywood and Bengali film actress
Shefali Chowdhury, Hollywood actor, seen in Harry Potter movies as Parvati Patil
Shonal Rawat, Model, Miss India Asia Pacific in 2003
Shraddha Das, Bollywood and tollywood actress
Soumitra Chatterjee, Bengali actor
Suchitra Sen, Bollywood and Bengali film actress
Sumita Devi, Bangladeshi film and television actress
Sushmita Sen
Tanisha Mukherjee, Bollywood actress
Tannishtha Chatterjee, Bollywood and Bengali actress
Tanushree Dutta, Former Miss India and actress
Udita Goswami, Bollywood actress
Utpal Dutt, Bengali actor
Ushoshi Sengupta, Model Former I Am She – Miss Universe India in 2010
Uttam Kumar, Bollywood and Bengali film actor
Victor Banerjee, Bengali and Bollywood actor

Filmmakers

Musicians

Aarti Mukherji, Bollywood playback singer
Abbas Uddin, folk singer
Abdul Alim
Abdul Jabbar
Abhijeet, Bollywood playback singer
Ali Akbar Khan, sarod performer, composer, musicologist, founder of the Ali Akbar College of Music in California, USA.
Allauddin Khan, multi-instrumentalist musician
Amit Kumar, playback singer, performer and son of Kishore Kumar
Amit Paul, Bollywood playback singer
Amit Sana, Bollywood playback singer and Indian idol runner-up
Anil Chatterjee, eminent Bengali actor
Anil Biswas, Bollywood Music Composer
Anjan Chattopadhyay, Sitar player
Anjan Dutt, singer, filmmaker, actor
Annapurna Devi, surbahar performer
Anoushka Shankar, sitar player and composer
Antara Mitra, Bollywood playback singer
Anup Ghoshal, Bollywoodplayback singer
Anwesha Datta Gupta, Bollywood playback singer, Tamil movie singer, winner of Amul Star Voice of India, Chhote Ustaad
Arnab Chakrabarty, Indian Classical musician, sarod player
Babul Supriyo, Bollywood playback singer
Bappi Lahiri, Bollywood Music Composer
Bickram Ghosh table master, composer, actor, fusion musician
Chandrani Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
Chitra Singh, Hindi/Urdu Ghazal Singer and wife of Jagjit singh
Debabrata Biswas Rabindrasangeet performer
Dhananjay Bhattacharya Shyama Sangeet singer
Firoza Begum, eminent exponent of Nazrul Geeti
Gautam Chattopadhyay, composer, filmmaker, founder of the group Mohiner Ghoraguli
Geeta Dutt, Bollywood playback singer
Hason Raja
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, singer of multiple genres—film, Rabindrasangeet, folk—Hindi and Bengali, and composer
Indrani Sen Rabindrasangeet and Nazrulgeeti performer, also modern and folk songs
James, Bangladeshi Rock Star, Bollywood playback singer
Jeet Ganguly, Tollywood music Composer
Jolly Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
Kanika Banerjee Rabindrasangeet performer
Khaled 'Bassbaba' Sumon, lead vocalist and bassist of rock band Aurthohin
Kishore Kumar, Bollywood playback singer, songwriter, composer, actor, comedian
Kumar Bose tabla performer and composer
Kumar Sanu, Bollywood playback singer
Lalon, mystic devotional composer and singer
Madhushree, Bollywood playback singer
Manas Mukherjee, Bollywood music composer, Father of Shaan
Manna Dey, Bollywood playback singer
Mohammed Aziz, Bollywood playback singer
Momtaz Begum, Bangladeshi folk singer, world record holder
Monali Thakur, Bollywood playback singer
Mumzy Stranger, British-Bangladeshi MC, singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer
Naina Devi (1917-1993), Indian classical singer¹
Nikhil Banerjee, sitar performer
Palash Sen, singer and lead vocalist of Indian band euphoria
Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Tabla master, composer and Musician
Pankaj Mullick, singer, composer, music director
Pannalal Bhattacharya, singer
Pannalal Ghosh, pioneering master of the Indian classical flute, composer, musicologist
Parul Ghosh, Bollywood playback singer
Pritam, Bollywood music composer
R.D.Burman, composer, singer, son of S.D.Burman
Raichand Boral, Bollywood music composer
Rajesh Roshan, music composer
Debojyoti Mishra, music composer
Ravi Shankar, sitar virtuoso, composer, musicologist three-time Grammy award-winner
Robin Ghosh, music composer
Ruma Guha Thakurta, founder and lead singer of Calcutta Youth Choir and playback singer
Runa Laila, folk, ghazal, and pop fusion singer
Rupam Islam, Frontman of Bengali hard rock band Fossils, Bollywood Singer, National Award Winner
S.D.Burman,singer,composer
Sabina Yasmin, popular Bangladeshi playback singer
Salil Chowdhury, Bollywood Music Composer
Sameer Bhattacharya, Lead Guitarist of the American alternative rock band Flyleaf
Sandhya Mukhopadhyay singer of multiple genres, one of the greatest female voclaists of Bengal and India.
Sanjaya Malakar, American born Bengali and Italian singer
Sapna Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
Shaan, Hindi and Bengali playback and pop singer singer
Shah Abdul Karim
Shahadat Hossain Khan, Sarod virtuoso, composer, musicologist, international master, renowned Sarod player of Bangladesh, Ekushey Padak award-winner
Shankar Ghosh Tabla master and singer
Shantanu Moitra, Bollywood Music composer
Shreya Ghoshal, Bollywood playback singer
Sohail Sen, composer and singer
Srabani Sen Rabindrasangeet performer, also modern and folk songs
Suchitra Mitra, Rabindrasangeet performer, also playback singer and composer
Suman Kalyanpur, Bollywood playback singer
Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta classical and rabindrasangeet exponent performer, also folk modern and devotional music
Tanim Sufyani, singer, songwriter, composer, author, columnist
Tanmoy Bose, table master, composer, actor, fusion musician
Vilayat Khan, sitar performer

Business leaders

Iqbal Ahmed CMD Seamark Group
Subroto Bagchi Co-founder MindTree
Siddhartha Basu CMD BIG Synergy
Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya Director Warwick Manufacturing Group
Amar Bose, founder, Bose Corporation
Anjan Chatterjee, Founder, Speciality Group of Restaurants
Purnendu Chatterjee, founder, TCG Group
Pratip Chaudhuri CMD SBI
Bikram Choudhury
Alamohan Das, founder, India Machinery Company
Sadhan Dutt, Founder of Development Consultants of Kuljian Group
Rono Dutta, Former President, United Airlines
Ashok Sekhar Ganguly former chairman Hindustan Unilever
Shuman Ghosemajumder, co-founder, TeachAIDS, former click fraud czar, Google
Asim Ghosh former CMD Hutch
Jawed Karim, co-founder, YouTube, lead architect of PayPal
Pradeep Kar, founder Microland
Sabur Khan, a notable Bangladeshi businessman and president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).
Sake Dean Mahomed
Anukul Maity founder ICore E Service conglomerate of companies
Sir Rajendra Nath Mukherjee, co-founder, Martin Burn Ltd.,IISCO
Sir Birendra Nath Mukherjee, IISCO
Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India
Diptendu Pramanick, founder, Secretary of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA)
Subir Raha, former head, ONGC
Neeraj Roy founder Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
Prannoy Roy, founder, NDTV
Raman Roy, father of BPO industry in India, founder, Quatrro
Subroto Roy Sahara, founder and chairman, Sahara India Pariwar
Mutty Lal Seal
Bibi Russell, founder, Bibi Productions
Aveek Sarkar editor Ananda Bazaar Patrika
Roy Sagnik director TXYCO LTD
Pritish Nandy founder Pritish Nandy Communications
Barun Sengupta founded Bartaman
Keya Seth founder of Keya Seth Aromatheraphy
Dwarkanath Tagore, known for partnership with the British East India Company
Pritish Nandy founder Pritish Nandy Communications

Military

M. A. G. Osmani, the Supreme Commander of Bangladesh Forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War
Subhas Chandra Bose, Founder, Indian National Army
General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian Army Chief during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, Former Head of Indian Air Force
General Shankar Roychowdhury, Former Indian Army Chief
Indra Lal Roy, First Indian (pre Independence) flying ace.

Police officers

Ranjit Kumar Gupta, police chief, West Bengal
Prasun Mukherjee, Commissioner of police
Surajit Kar purakayasta, Commissioner of police, Bengal

Politicians

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh,he headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh
Ziaur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, President of Bangladesh from 1977 until 1981; first to propose the creation of SAARC, sector commander and liberation war hero in Bangladesh.
Tajuddin Ahmed,he served as the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in 1971–1972
Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; 1991–1996, 2001–2006
Sheikh Hasina Wazed;Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996–2001, 2009–present
Subhas Chandra Bose, Former President of Indian National Congress, Head of State of India's first free Provisional Government of Azad Hind and Co-Founder Indian National Army
Bidhan Chandra Roy, physician, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bharat Ratna.
Chittaranjan Das, prominent person in the Indian independence movement also known as Deshabandhu.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh
Rash Behari Bose, Revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army.
Jogendra Nath Mandal who serves the first law & labour minister of pakishthan.
Pranab Mukherjee, President Of India 2012, Minister for External Affairs, Government of India, Senior leader of Indian National Congress
Jyoti Basu, former communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, former Politburo Member of the Communist Party of India(Marxist).
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Former communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, Politburo Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after 19th Party Congress.
Mamata Banerjee,- Chief Minister of West Bengal (from 2011,) Ex-minister for Railways, Government of India, Chairman All India Trinamool Congress
Muhammad Ali Bogra, – Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955
Somnath Chatterjee, Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), Expelled member of CPI(M), senior parliamentarian, prominent barrister.
A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, Senior leader of Indian National Congress
Hussain Mohammed Ershad, Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) & later President, 1982–1990
A. K. Fazlul Huq, presented the Lahore Resolution
Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura, Politburo member.
Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan
Santosh Mohan Dev, Former Union Cabinet Minister. Elected to the Lok Sabha in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2004., Senior leader of Indian National Congress
Khawaja Nazimuddin, second Governor-General of Pakistan, and the second Prime Minister of Pakistan
Bipin Chandra Pal, freedom fighter for Indian independence movement
Siddhartha Shankar Ray, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal, former ambassador of India to United States
Khwaja Salimullah, founder of Muslim League
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, President, 1975–1975
Ashoke Kumar Sen, Former Law Minister, barrister, and parliamentarian
Rabi Ray, speaker of lok sabha
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 until 1957; founder of Awami League
Ronen Sen, former Indian ambassador in USA
Ashok Bhattacharya, Minister
Mrinal Banerjee, former Minister
Sarojini Naidu, freedom fighter and poet
Sucheta Kriplani, freedom fighter and politician
Aruna Asaf Ali, Indian independence activist
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, first president of Indian national congress
Batukeshwar Dutt, freedom fighter

Religion and spirituality

Swami Vivekananda– the photo was taken in Bushnell Studio in San Francisco, 1900.²

Sri Anandamoyi Ma—mystic, spiritual teacher and Tantrik Guru
Thakur Anukulchandra, Saint, mystic and preacher
Atisha, or Srjnana Atisa Dipanakara—Buddhist scholar, missionary and teacher, inventor of bodhichitta
Sri Aurobindo, yogi, nationalist, philosopher, author, poet, visionary
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari, Yogi and philosopher
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, vaishnava mystic, missionary, monk and social reformer
Nityananda, great sahajiya mystic, social reformer, chief associate of Chaitanya and a primary figure within the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Bengal
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Gadadhar Chattopadhaya) -- mystic, preacher
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Abhay Charan Dey) -- Vaishnava missionary and theologian, founder of ISKCON
Debendranath Tagore, social thinker and reformer, founder of the Brahmo Religion or Brahmoism, the youngest religion of India
Tibbetibaba, Saint and mystic
Tilopa, tantrik master and mahasiddha,Buddhist scholar and teacher, founder of the Kagyu lineage and progressor of Mahamudra method
Paramahansa Yogananda, monk, philosopher, preacher, author and exponent of Kriya Yoga
Bamakhepa tantrik guru and mystic
Ramprasad Sen tantrik master, mystic and famous as the composer of mystic, devotional songs to Goddess Kali.
Lahiri Mahasaya or Shyama Charan Lahiri—Yogi, philosopher, the propagator of Kriya Yoga.
Mahavatar Babaji yogi and tantrik master
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar or Sri Anandamurti, polymathic personality, author, philosopher, socio-political thinker, educationist, revolutionary, poet, composer, linguist, self-development and human welfare theorist, the founder of Ananda Marga, a socio-spiritual movement.
Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta) monk, missionary and social reformer, founder of the Ramakrishna math and Mission
Swami Abhedananda(Kaliprasad Chandra) monk, author, philosopher, occultist, reformer the founder of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math
Yukteswar Giri (Priyanath Karar) yogi, educationaist, astronomer & astrologer
Swami Satyananda Giri (Manamohan Mazumder) monk, preacher and yogi
Gopinath Kaviraj—yogi, philosopher, spiritual master, tantrik scholar and author
Nolini Kanta Gupta—revolutionary, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, philosopher and mystic, was the most senior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples; author of many books.
Nigamananda Saraswati—tantrik guru, vedantic scholar, author, yogi, mystic, philosopher, disciple of Bamakhepa, founder of several institutions.
Kamalakanta Bhattacharya—Tantrik/ Shakta saint and master, composer of Shakta devotional songs.
Lalon fakir—sahajiya saint philosopher, humanist, poet and composer of baul/ sahajiya mystic songs.
Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj founder Bharat Sevashram Sangha
Swami Swarupananda Paramhansadeva founder Ayachak Ashram

Social reformers & leaders

Bagha Jatin, Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher against British rule
Manabendra Nath Roy, pioneer Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher. Founder of Mexican Communist Party and Indian Communist Party.
Shri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru
Ram Mohan Roy, founder of the Brahmo Samaj
Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, prolific writer, important Women's right activist and social worker, early feminist science fiction writer
Debendranath Tagore, active Brahmo, and was against sati, idol worship
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, responsible for introducing major reforms in the educational system and was Women's right activist
Keshub Chunder Sen, intellectual and a noted religious reformer
Surya Sen, also known as Masterda Surya Sen, was an Indian freedom fighter and was the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal
Sivanath Sastri, important intellectual
Sudhamoy Pramanick, advocate, Indian independence activist
Nasreen Pervin Huq, prominent Women's Rights Activist
Muhammad Shahidullah, famous educationist, writer, polyglot, philologist and linguist
Pritilata Waddedar, Anti-British, pro-India revolutionary
Rani Rashmoni, Nineteenth century philanthropist and anti-British activist
Sarojini Naidu, (Sarojini Chattopadhyaya) Freedom fighter
Syed Ameer Ali, Law reformer
Irene Khan, Former Secretary General, Amnesty International; first woman, first Asian, and first Muslim to hold the position
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder & Chairperson of the worlds largest international development NGO, BRAC.

Sports

Brojen Das was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel

Brojen Das, swimmer, first Asian to swim across the English Channel and the first person to cross it four times
Niaz Morshed chess player from Bangladesh, the first Chess Grandmaster to emerge from South Asia.
Mohammad Rafique, cricketer
Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
Abdullah Al Rakib, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
Sourav Ganguly, Former Indian cricket team captain, Padma Shri awardee.
Aminul Islam, Bangladeshi cricketer
Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi cricketer
Subroto Banerjee, Former Test and ODI player for India, Fast bowler.
Krishna Das, former Indian archer
Pradip Kumar Banerjee, footballer: named Indian Footballer of the 20th Century by FIFA
Saif Ahmad
Dibyendu Barua, Indian chess grandmaster
Ritwik Bhattacharya, squash player
Gopal Bose, Former ODI Player for India
Utpal Chatterjee, Former India Cricketer.
Nirode Chowdhury, Former Test Cricketer for India/ Pace bowler.
Bula Choudhury, swimmer
Mouma Das, Table Tennis player
Deepak Kumar Mondal, football player.
Deep Dasgupta, Former Indian National Cricket Team Wicket-Keeper, played 8 Tests with a Century against England
Rumeli Dhar, The cricketer of Indian woman Cricket Team
Ashok Dinda, Indian cricket team player
Chuni Goswami, Former Great India Footballer, Padma Shri awardee.
Poulomi Ghatak, Table Tennis player
Jhulan Goswami, ICC Women's Cricketer of the year 2007
Aftab Ahmed Chowdhuryআফতা আহমেদ চৌধুরী
Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladeshi cricketer, youngest centurion in test cricket.
Isa Guha, English Women Cricketer
Subrata Guha, Former Indian Test Cricketer.
Rani Hamid, chess player: was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1985 and won British Women's
Saradindu Mukherjee, Former India Cricketer
Enamul Hossain, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
Shailen Manna, Footballer
Gostho Pal, footballer. Member of the 1st Indian Team(MohunBagan)those who won the IFA shield against a British team in the pre independence period.
Pankaj Roy, Former Indian Cricket Captain, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together with Vinoo Mankad, against New Zealand at Chennai, Padma Shri awardee.
Pranab Roy, Former Test Cricketer for India Championship (1983, 1985, 1989)
Priyanka Roy, The cricketer of Indian woman cricket team.
Reefat Bin-Sattar, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Former ODI player for India.
Wriddhiman Saha, Player for KKR and Bengal
Mihir Sen, Swimmer
Arati Saha, Swimmer
Probir Sen, Former Indian Test Cricketer/Wicket-Keeper.
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics: Double gold-medallist in track at Asian games, was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and Padma Shri award
Jayanta Talukdar, archer
Dipu Ghosh, former badminton player
Raman Ghosh, former badminton player
Manoj Tiwary, Player for KKR and Bengal
Poulomi Ghatak, table tennis player
Jaideep Mukherjea, former Indian tennis player
Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Indian grandmaster
Subrata Paul, Footballer playing for the Indian team
Saurav Ghosal, Indian squash player
Dola Banerjee, Indian female archer
Hari Shankar Roy, Indian track field athlete
Rahul Banerjee, Indian archer
Mohammed Ali Qamar, Indian boxer
Subhajit Saha, Indian table tennis player
Sachin Nag, former swimming champion
Subhash Bhowmick, former football player
Saraswati Saha, Indian sprint athlete
Soma Biswas, Indian hepathlete
Alok Kapali, Bangladeshi cricketer
Tapash Baisya, Bangladeshi cricketer
Somdev Devvarman, Indian tennis player
Anirban Lahiri, Indian Golfer
Manohar Aich, bodybuilder

Writers

Further information: List of Bengali language authors and Bengali Writers : An Alphabetical List

Rabindranath Tagore is the first Asian Nobel laureate

Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, author, Gorokho Bijoy
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) – poet, novelist, essayist, nobel laureate
Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) – poet
Abul Bashar (born 1951) – novelist, essayist
Al Mahmud– poet, novelist
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876–1938) – novelist
Pramatha Chaudhuri, editor of Sbuj patra, wrote in the era of Rabindranath Tagore.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, philosopher, educator, writer, translator, publisher, and reformer of the Bengal Renaissance period.
Nurul Momen, (1908–1990), playwright of Nemesis (Nurul Momen play), recognized as the pioneer of modern Bengali drama, referred to as the "Father of Bangladeshi theatre"
Sukanta Bhattacharya
Banaphool, writer of short stories
Chandan Chowdhury (born 1975) – poet, novelist, short story writer
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1894–1950) – novelist
Manik Bandopadhyay (1908–1956) – novelist, short story writer
Tarashankar Bandopadhyay (1898–1971) – novelist
Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) – Oscar winning Film Director and writer
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838–1894) – novelist, essayist, penned the Indian National Song of integrity Vande Mataram
Krittibas Ojha, medieval Bengali poet
Chandidas
Buddhadeb Bose (1908–1974) – poet, essayist
Kumud Ranjan Mullick, poes of the Tagore era
Swarnakumari Devi, first among the women writers in Bengali to gain prominence.
Nirendranath Chakravarty (born 1924) – poet
Haraprasad Shastri, known as the inventor of Charyapada
Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897–1999) – scholar, essayist
Sandipan Chattopadhyay (1933–2005) – novelist
Shakti Chattopadhyay, poet
Shahabuddin Nagari, Bangladeshi poet and juvenile writer
Jibanananda Das (1899–1954) – poet
Amit Chaudhuri, Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award winner
Jhumpa Lahiri, novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer prize winner
Ashapurna Devi (1909–1995) – novelist, short story writer
Mahasweta Devi (born 1926) – novelist, short story writer
Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873) – poet, dramatist
Romesh Chunder Dutt
Sudhindranath Dutta (1901–1960) – poet
Sunil Gangopadhyay (born 1934) – poet, novelist
Amitav Ghosh, novelist, essayist
Shankha Ghosh (born 1932) – poet, essayist
Vidyapati, medieval poet and Sanskrit writer.
Joy Goswami (born 1954) – poet
Ramprasad Sen, Shakta poet of eighteenth century Bengal
Toru Dutt, wrote in English and French
Ekram Ali (born 1950) – poet
Buddhadeb Guha (born 1936) – novelist
Mir Mosharraf Hossain (1847–1912) – novelist
Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, science fiction writer
Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib, (born on 15 January, 1948) - Islamic scholar, writer, academic, essayist.
Bharatchandra Ray, poet and song composer known for his Mangalkavya.
Arun Mitra (1909–2000) – poet
Premendra Mitra (1904–1988)- poet, short story writer
Dhan Gopal Mukerji – author
Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (born 1935) – novelist
Subimal Basak, fiction writer
Subhas Mukhopadhyay (1919–2003) – poet
Ghulam Murshid, writer, essayist and cultual historian
Narayan Gangopadhyay, author, creator of character Tenida
Samaresh Majumdar, writer, creator of the Animesh Trilogy
Taslima Nasrin (born 1962) – novelist
Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006) – poet
Dwijendralal Ray (1863–1913) – playwright, poet
Annadashankar Roy (1905–2002) – novelist, essayist, poet
Arundhati Roy — novelist, essayist
Samir Roychoudhury (1933-) — poet, novelist, short story writer and philosopher
Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta (1882–1964) – novelist, legal scholar.
Jasim Uddin (1903–1976) – poet, novelist, essayist
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (born Chitralekha Banerjee) – author, poet
Subhash Mukhopadhyay (poet), Bengali poet
Bharati Mukherjee, author, educator
Mallika Sengupta, Bengali poet, feminist, and reader of Sociology from Kolkata
Humayun Ahmed (born 1948) – novelist
Alaol (1607–1680) – poet of medieval era
Monica Ali, (born 1954) – novelist
Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904–1974) – novelist, essayist
Upamanyu Chatterjee, Author and administrator
Subodh Sarkar, poet
Narayan Sanyal, writer of modern Bengali literature
Sasthi Brata, Fiction writer, based in UK
Sanjeev Chattopadhyay, Bengali fiction writer
Aroup Chatterjee, physician and author
Rimi B. Chatterjee, novelist, short story writer, winner of the 2007 SHARP deLong Prize
Binoy Majumdar, poet, Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005,
Srijato, won Ananda Puroskar in 2004
Tanika Gupta, playwright, appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2008
Sake Dean Mahomed, first Indian to write a book in the English language
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, novelist
Syed Mustafa Siraj, poet, novelist, short story writer, Sahitya Akademi awardee
Sayed Hasmat Jalal, Poet, writer, won the Paschim Banga Bangla Academy Award in 2002
Malay Roy Choudhury, Bengali poet and novelist who founded the "Hungryalist Movement" in the 1960s
Arun Mitra, poet
Prabir Ghosh, head of the Science and Rationalists’ Association of India,author.
Moti Nandi, novelist
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist, educator
Shoaib Gibran, poet, writer, academician
Kamal Kumar Majumdar, novelist, short story writer

Journalists

Fareena Alam, named Media Professional of the Year by Islamic Relief and was named Media Professional of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards
Mihir Bose, the BBC's head sports editor.
Reeta Chakrabarti, political correspondent for the BBC Television's Breakfast programme shown on BBC One and the BBC News Channel.
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, journalist
Swapan Dasgupta, journalist
Mo Dutta, TV presenter for BBC Radio 2, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio Kent.
Bobby Ghosh, (Aparisim Ghosh) Journalist, TIME Magazine World Editor
Pallab Ghosh, BBC News science reporter
Shiulie Ghosh, Television journalist
Sagarika Ghose, editor in CNN-IBN
Mainul Hosein, chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Ittefaq
Nina Hossain, British television news broadcaster
Faisal Islam, won Wincott Award and Broadcast News Journalism Award; was named Young Journalist of the Year, Channel4 News(UK).
Chandan Mitra, editor and managing director of The Pioneer newspaper
Harish Chandra Mukherjee, pioneer of nationalistic Hindu journalism
Udayan Mukherjee, editor and anchor in cnbc India
Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd
Ayan Panja, expert on Knowitalls, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Mahmudur Rahman, editor of the Daily Amar Desh newspaper
Reihan Salam
Samar Sen, journalist
Barun Sengupta, political critic, the founder-editor of Bartaman newspaper
Vishnu Som, news anchor and journalist
Prannoy Roy, Founder and President of NDTV, One of India's largest Television and Media Production house
Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan, Scholar, editor and publisher of the weekly Bengali newspaper Somprakash

References

^ "A Tale Of Two Women: In search of their own songs". The Telegraph. March 11 , 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
^ "Swami Vivekananda Known Photos America 1899 – 1900". http://www.vivekananda.net. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

[tele12-1] "A Tale Of Two Women: In search of their own songs". The Telegraph. March 11 , 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2013.

[Vivekananda_Photos_vivekananda.net-2] "Swami Vivekananda Known Photos America 1899 – 1900". http://www.vivekananda.net. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

1

2