This article provides lists of famous and notable Bengali people in the South Asia, people with Bengali ancestry, and people who speak Bengali as their primary or basic language.
Monarchs
Pala Dynasty (750-1161)
Chandra Dynasty (370-1050) Traillokyachandra (900–930) Srichandra (930–975) Kalyanachandra (975–1000) Ladahachandra (1000–1020) Govindachandra (1020–1050)
Sena Dynasty (1070-1230) Hemanta Sena, founder of Sena dynasty (1070-1096) Vijaya Sena (1096-1159) Ballala Sena (1159-1179) Lakshmana Sena, last united Bengal ruler of Sena dynasty (1179-1206) Vishvarupa Sena (1206-1225) Keshava Sena (1225-1230)
Deva Dynasty Dasharathadeva (1281) Pratapaditya, Maharaja of Jessore (1561–1611) Kirtinarayan Basu, Raja of Chandradwip (from 1668), converted to Islam
Ilyas Shahi dynasty (1352–1414)
Name Reign Notes Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah 1352–1358 Became the first sole ruler of whole Bengal comprising Sonargaon, Satgaon and Lakhnauti. Sikandar Shah 1358–1390 Killed in battle with his son and successor, Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah 1390–1411 Patron of the first recorded Bengali poet Shah Muhammad Saghir Saifuddin Hamza Shah 1411–1412 Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah 1435–1459 Rukunuddin Barbak Shah 1459–1474 Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah 1474–1481 Patron of Bengali poet Zainuddin Nuruddin Sikandar Shah 1481 Jalaluddin Fateh Shah 1481–1487
House of Ganesha Raja Ganesha Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah (1419–1436)
Hussain Shahi dynasty (1494–1538)
Name Reign Notes Alauddin Hussain Shah 1494–1518 His witnessed a remarkable development of Bengali literature. Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah 1518–1533 Alauddin Firuz Shah 1533 Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah 1533–1538
Other
Bir Hambir, 16th-century king of Mallabhum kingdom who accompanied Mughal emperor Akbar against Afghan forces of North Orissa. Raja Kangsa Narayan,a prominent 16th-century landlord (Zamindar) of the Taherpur dynasty in Rajshahi,Bangladesh.He first organised Durga puja in Bengal. Paragal Khan, 16th-century governor of Chittagong Chhuti Khan, 16th-century governor of Chittagong Shahzada Danyal, son of Alauddin Husain Shah Syeda Momena Khatun, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah Isa Khan (1529–1599), one of the most prominent leader of the Baro-Bhuiyan chieftains of Bengal Musa Khan (d. 1623), leader of the Baro-Bhuiyan chieftains of Bengal Dilal Khan (1585–1666), final independent ruler of Sandwip Kedar Ray ( 1561–1616), last independent Raja of Bikrampur, one of the prominent Baro-Bhuyan Mohanlal (Dewan), Dewan,serving under Siraj-ud-Daulah,known for his historic resistance in Battle of Plassey. Maharaja Nandakumar, a tax collector under East India Company,executed in 1775. Pratapaditya Guha (1561–1611), last independent Raja of Jessore, fought against the Mughal Empire One of the most prominent leader of Baro-Bhuiyan Kirtinarayan Basu (r. 1668–?), fifth Raja of Chandradwip and founder of the Muslim Baklai family Maharani Bhavashankari (1570–1616), Rani of Bhurishrestha and prominent member of the Baro-Bhuyan Sitaram Ray (1658–1714), Raja of Bhati and rebelled against the Mughal Empire Chowdhury Abu Torab Khan (d. 1767), zamindar of Sandwip and leader of Bengal's first anti-colonial uprising Titumir (1782–1831), anti-colonial rebel and self-proclaimed Badshah Rahimullah (d. 1861), Chief of Baraikhali and leader of the Sundarbans Indigo Revolt Golam Ali Chowdhury (1824–1888), zamindar of Haturia and philanthropist
Nobel laureates
Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize in Literature, First Nobel Prize winner of Asia, 1913 Amartya Sen, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1998 Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, 2006 Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic science, 2019
Academics
Pranab Bardhan, Indian economist who has taught and worked in the United States since 1979. Radhakamal Mukerjee, Indian social scientist who was Professor of Economics and Sociology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lucknow. Momtazuddin Ahmed, philosopher and educationist Abu Sayeed Ayyub, Indian philosopher, teacher, literary critic. Dewan Mohammad Azraf, National Professor of Bangladesh Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, first women Director of Indian Statistical Institute, India Chandramukhi Basu, computer scientist and first female graduate in India, and the British Empire Kaushik Basu, Indian economist who was Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016 and Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 2009 to 2012. Sekhar Basu was an Indian nuclear scientist who served as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to the Government of India Nurunnahar Fatema Begum, head of paediatric cardiology at the Combined Medical Hospital (Dhaka) Anudvaipayan Bhattacharya, university lecturer martyred in the Bangladesh Liberation War Jatindramohan Bhattacharya, academic and literary researcher Padmanath Bhattacharya, academic and literary researcher Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian Sanskrit scholar during Bengal Renaissance,served as the principal of the Sanskrit College from 1876 to 1895. Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, littérateur and historian of Bangla literature Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath with interests in biology, physics, botany and writing science fiction. Raj Chandra Bose was an Indian American mathematician and statistician best known for his work in design theory Satyendra Nath Bose was an Indian mathematician and physicist specializing in theoretical physics. Sugata Bose, Indian historian and he is the Gardiner Chair of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Indian historian,and leading scholar of postcolonial theory and subaltern studies,recipient of the 2014 Toynbee Prize. Sudhir Chakraborty, researcher of Bengal's folk culture 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 Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice-chancellor of University of Asia Pacific, adviser to Caretaker Government of Bangladesh Sadruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, physicist and vice-chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology and Sylhet International University R. C. Majumdar, Indian historian,belonging to the nationalist school of Indian historiography. Khudiram Das, literary scholar, educationist, linguist. Satish Ranjan Das, founder of The Doon School, Dehradun Shomie Das, Indian educationist, former headmaster of The Doon School Tarak Chandra Das, anthropologist, author, former teacher in anthropology, University of Calcutta Bhupendranath Datta, revolutionary, author, anthropologist Barun De, chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission Soumitra Dutta, Dean Elect of Saïd Business School at University of Oxford and former Founding Dean of Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University Anil Kumar Gain, mathematician from University of Cambridge, Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society Kaberi Gain, prominent academic, author, and social activist Saroj Ghose, science populariser and museum maker, won an award for Best Effort in Science Popularisation Amongst Children Jayati Ghosh, an Indian development economist and the Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Subir Kumar Ghosh, planetary scientist and a winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology Dipak Giri, writer, editor and academic Ranajit Guha, Indian historian and founder of the Subaltern Studies Collective. Aminul Hoque MBE, lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, writer K M Baharul Islam, dean of the Indian Institute of Management Kashipur Syed Manzoorul Islam, critic, writer, former professor of Dhaka University Mohammad Ataul Karim, provost and executive vice chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Ataur Rahman Khan Khadim, physician martyred during the Bangladesh Liberation War Salman Khan, American educator, founder of Khan Academy Nazia Khanum, Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Deputy Lieutenant (DL) Shahla Khatun, obstetrician and gynecologist Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, statistician, founder of Indian Statistical Institute R. C. Majumdar, Indian historian,belonging to the nationalist school of Indian historiography. Brigadier Abdul Malik, founder of National Heart Foundation Ujjwal Maulik, computer scientist and former Head, Computer Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University Vina Mazumdar, academic, activist and feminist Asoke Nath Mitra, awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 1969 for his fundamental contributions in obtaining the exact solution of the nucleon three-body problem Rajendralal Mitra, first modern Indologist of Indian origin Sisir Kumar Mitra, Indian physicist and president of The Asiatic Society from 1951 to 1953 Nurul Momen, professor of law, Dhaka University Proctor, Dean Satish Chandra Mukherjee, educationist Abdul Muktadir, academic martyred in the Bangladesh Liberation War Ashutosh Mukherjee, Indian mathematician, lawyer, jurist, judge, educator, and institution builder. A unique figure in Indian history, he made major contributions in the fields of mathematics, law, and higher education.He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh at the age of 22, and was a Fellow or Member of various learned bodies in Europe and the United States. Nurul Islam Nahid, former Education Minister of Bangladesh Ashis Nandy, political psychologist Sankar Kumar Pal, pioneer in Machine Intelligence Research, and President and former Director of Indian Statistical Institute, India M. A. Rashid, first Vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Satyajit Ray, first Indian to win a Lifetime Achievement Oscar due to his significant contributions to world cinema Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation. Abul Kashem Sandwip, educationist and a founder of Bangladesh Betar Sir Jadunath Sarkar, prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Maqbular Rahman Sarkar, tenth vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, economist, led the Sarkar Committee which recommended establishing Indian Institutes of Technology along the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sumit Sarkar, historian Pranab K. Sen, statistician, Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Pritha Sen, food historian and former journalist Sukumar Sen, Indian linguist Muhammad Shahidullah, educationist, writer, philologist, linguist, and theorist Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq, historian, epigraphist, researcher, professor and author Badruddin Umar (born 1931), Marxist–Leninist theorist and political activist Bimal Krishna Matilal, Indian philosopher Abu Nasr Waheed, Islamic scholar, author, politician and educationist Nafees Bin Zafar, Academy Scientific and Technical Award, the first Bangladeshi to receive an Academy Scientific and Technical Award.
Actors and entertainers
Mimi Chakraborty, Tollywood actress Laboni Sarkar, Tollywood actress Siam Ahmed, Bangladeshi actor and model Amala Akkineni, Bollywood actress Alamgir, Bengali film actor and TV host Jaya Ahsan, Bangladeshi film actress, model, producer Niloy Alamgir, model and actor Ruhul Amin (Bangladeshi film director) Afshan Azad, actress best known for the role of Padma Patil in Harry Potter Azim, actor best known for the role of Rahim Badshah in Rupban Jaya Bachchan, Bollywood and Bengali film actress Abhishek Bachchan, Bollywood actor; son of Jaya Bachchan Bidita Bag, Bollywood and Bengali film actress Ajitesh Bandopadhyay, stage and film actor Ankush Hazra, Bengali film actor, producer, dancer and TV personality