During Muslim rule, Krittibasa translated the Ramayana into Bengali and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu danced through towns and villages, celebrating ecstatic devotion to Radha and Krishna. For a long time, Bengal was a fluid world of Brahmin landlords, Muslim rulers, and Muslim peasants. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was born in 1838 into a Rarhi Brahmin family of western Bengal. Rarhi Brahmins were ritually secure, high caste Brahmins. Folk histories speak of Pandit Benimadhav Ray, a Rarhi Brahmin ancestor figure remembered as Pandit Dakat, who combined Sanskrit learning, Kali worship, and armed resistance against Afghan rulers.

Source: Indian Express January 04, 2026 17:29 UTC