Arts of West Bengal

The tradition & historical record

The Indian state of West Bengal has a rich religious, cultural and traditional heritage. Arts and crafts in West Bengal underwent many changes over time giving an artistic diversity today in the forms of traditional handicrafts, terracotta, painting and carving, dances and music. ¹

The music of West Bengal includes multiple indigenous musical genres such as Baul, Bishnupuri Classical, Kirtan, Shyama Sangeet, Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Geeti, Atulprasadi, Dwijendrageeti, Paramartha Sangeet, Probhati Sangeet, Kantageeti, Ganasangeet, Adhunik Gaan, Bengali rock etc. West Bengal has a rich culture with the classical and folk songs. The Bishnupur Gharana is the sole Classical (Drupad) gharana of Bengal. It originated in Bishnupur, Bankura with the court musicians of the Malla Kings. The bauls are a mystic group of singers and musicals, immensely popular in the countryside. They perform using a khamak, ektara and dotara. Rabindra Sangeet, also known as Tagore songs, are songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. They have distinctive characteristics in the music of Bengal, popular in India and Bangladesh. Rabindra Sangeet has been an integral part of Bengal culture for over a century. Shyama Sangeet is a genre of Bengali devotional songs dedicated to the Hindu goddess Shyama or Kali which is a form of supreme universal mother-goddess Durga or parvati. It is also known as Shaktagiti or Durgastuti. Kirtan is also a true song which describe the mythological epic. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu starts the Hare Krishna movement from Nabadwip. Other songs like Hapu song, Bhadu song, Gombhira, Tusu song, Bhatiyali song, Patua Sangeet, Bolan Song etc. are all Bengali folk songs. Generally all music dedicated to goddess Mother Kali is called 'Shyama Sangeet' in Bengali. Two famous singers of this Bengali Shyama Sangeet are Pannalal Bhattacharya and Dhananjay Bhattacharya. Pannalal Bhattacharya's elder brother Prafulla Bhattacharya and middle brother Dhananjay Bhattacharya were the first music teachers of saint artist Pannalal Bhattacharya. ¹

Songs and dances are connected with each other. The rich cultural heritage and creative minds of the people of Bengal are best reflected in their traditional folk dances like the martial dance or the harvest dance. In modern West Bengal rural Bengal takes the lead in keeping the old customs and the associated song and dance. The folk dances of West Bengal deal with a variety of themes such as religion, prayers, festivals and rituals; others talk about society. ¹

Gaudiya Nritya (Bengali: গৌড়ীয় নৃত্য) or Gauriya Nritya, is a Bengali classical dance tradition. It originates from Gauda, also known as Gaur, in Bengal. It has been reconstructed by Mahua Mukherjee. It is not recognised as an Indian classical dance by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, but study of it is eligible for scholarships from the Ministry of Culture of India. Scholarly reception of the reconstruction ranges from caution to scepticism. ¹

As a cultural tradition there are many Bengali folk dances describing the mythological wars. These martial or war dances are Purulia Chhau dance, Raibenshe dance, Stick dance or Laghur Nritya, Ranapa Dance, Dhali and Paika Nritya, Kukri Nritya etc. ¹

The cultural folk dance is mostly related with seasons, sowing of seeds, rains, harvesting in West Bengal. It is celebrated with much ardor by village folks, especially the farming community. Gombhira dance of Malda district is associated with mythology. Tushu dance, Nabanna dance, Nnoila broto etc. are also related with farming. Some tribal dance like Santhali dance, Rabha dance, Mundari dance, Rajbanshi dance etc. performed to the accompaniment of a number of musical instrument and are quite elaborate in nature. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Arts of West Bengal”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Arts of West Bengal is Cultural heritage of West Bengal, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²