See also: Bengali literature. This List of Bengali poets includes poets who write in Bengali language who produce Bengali poetry. This list classifies poets into three groups based on geographical location. These are poets from Bangladesh, poets from West Bengal of India and poets from other parts of the world including Bengali Diaspora and non-Bengali people writing poetry in Bengali. However, the list starts with early Bengali poets to be followed by those who are identified not only with Indian sub-continent before partition in 1947, but also as founders of Bengali poetry. The list also contains separate sub-lists of "rhyme composers" and "song writers". Finally, there are two sub-sets of woman poets and poets in exile.[1]
The poets of the Charyāpada (Bengali: চর্যাপদ), known as the Siddhacharyas, lived in eastern India and Nepal. The names of the Siddhacharyas in Sanskrit (or its Tibetan language equivalent), and the raga in which the verse was to be sung, are mentioned prior to each pada (verse). The surviving 50 manuscripts contains the name of 24 Siddhacharyas including Lui Pa, Kukkuri Pa, Birua Pa, Gundari Pa, Chatil Pa, Bhusuku Pa, Kanha Pa, Kambalambar Pa, Dombi Pa, Shanti Pa, Mahitta Pa, Bina Pa, Saraha Pa, Shabar Pa, Aryadeb Pa, Dhendhan Pa, Darik Pa, Bhade Pa, Tadak Pa, Kankan Pa, Ja’anandi Pa, Dham Pa, Tanti Pa and Loridombi Pa. Most of these names were pseudonyms as the poets rejected Vedic Hinduism and profess Sahajayana Buddhism. Lui Pa is considered as the earliest poet of Charyapadas. Kanha Pa's 11 poems survived which is the largest number among these poets.[2]
The poets and their works as mentioned in the text are as follows:
| Poet | Pada (verse) | |
|---|---|---|
| Luipāda | 1,29 | |
| Kukkuripāda | 2, 20, 48 | |
| Virubāpāda | 3 | |
| Gundaripāda | 4 | |
| Chatillapāda | 5 | |
| Bhusukupāda | 6, 21, 23, 27, 30, 41, 43, 49 | |
| Kānhapāda | 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 24, 36, 40, 42, 45 | |
| Kambalāmbarapāda | 8 | |
| Dombipāda | 14 | |
| Shantipāda | 15, 26 | |
| Mahidharapāda | 16 | |
| Vināpāda | 17 | |
| Sarahapāda | 22, 32, 38, 39 | |
| Shabarapāda | 28, 50 | |
| Āryadevapāda | 31 | |
| Dhendhanapāda | 33 | |
| Darikapāda | 34 | |
| Bhādepāda | 35 | |
| Tādakapāda | 37 | |
| Kankanapāda | 44 | |
| Jayanandipāda | 46 | |
| Dhāmapāda | 47 | |
| Tantripāda | 25 |
| Poet | Pen Name | Era | Work | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nur Qutb Alam | 14th century | Nur Qutb Alam wrote poetry in Middle Bengali using the Persian alphabet.[3] | ||
| Chandidas | c. 14th century | Chandidas was the first humanist in Bengali poetry. He asserted "Shobar upor manush shotto tahar upore nai" ("Above all is humanity, none else").[4] | ||
| c. 1381-1461 CE | He translated Indian epic the Valmiki Ramayana into Bengali. | |||
| Shah Muhammad Saghir | c. 14th century | Considered as the earliest Bengali Muslim poet. His best known work is Yusuf-Zulekha. | ||
| Zainuddin | c. 15th century | Composed a fictional tale titled Rasul Bijay, the source of which is said to have been a novelin the Persian language. | ||
| Afzal Ali | c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus, Nasihatnama. | ||
| c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus Laily-Majnu which is a thematic Bengali adaptation ofJami's version of the classic tale. | |||
| Syed Sultan | c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus, the Nabibangsha, which was one of the first translationsof the Qisas Al-Anbiya into the Bengali language. | ||
| Chandravati | c. 16th century | Considered as the first known female poet of Bengali language. Best known for herwomen-centered epic Ramayana. | ||
| Khelaram Chakrabarty | c. 16th century | One of the earliest poet of Dharmamangal kavya tradition. | ||
| Manik Datta | c. 16th century | Earliest poet of the Chandimangal kavya | ||
| Dwija Madhab orMadhabacharya | c. 16th century | One of the most significant contributor to Chandimangal kavya tradition. | ||
| Mukundaram Chakrabarti | Kabikankan (Bracelet of Poets) | c. 16th century | His work, known as the Abhayamangal | |
| Daulat Qazi | 1600-1638 CE | The first Bengali poet to write under the patronage of the Arakan court during the Mrauk-U dynasty. | ||
| Alaol | Pandit Kabi (Pandit of Poets) | 1607-1680 CE | Well known work is Padmavati, which depicts the story of Padmavati, the Sinhalese princess. | |
| Abdul Hakim | 1620-1690 CE | Most notable work was Nur Nama (Story of Light), a depiction of the life of Muhammad. | ||
| Rupram Chakrabarty | c. 17th century | His work, Anadimangal | ||
| Muhammad Muqim | c. 18th century | |||
| 1763–1800 CE | Notable works of her Bengali translation of the Persian Laily Majnu and the poem Payar Chanda. | |||
| Heyat Mahmud | 1693–1760 CE | |||
| Akinchan Chakrabarty | Kavindra (Great Poet) | c. 18th century | ||
| c. 1669-? | ||||
| Ramprasad Sen | c. 1723 – 1775 | His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi | ||
| c. 18th century | ||||
| Bharatchandra Ray | 1712–1760 CE | Mostly known for his poetic work, Annadamangal or Annapurnamangal |
| Poet | Image | Pen Name | Era | Work | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iswarchandra Gupta | 1812-1859 CE | ||||
| Michael Madhusudan Dutta | 1824-1873 CE | ||||
| Nabinchandra Sen | 1847-1909 CE | ||||
| Kazem Ali Quereshi | Kaykobad | 1857-1951 CE | |||
| Akshay Kumar Baral | 1860-1919 CE | ||||
| Rabindranath Tagore | Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi | 1861-1941 CE | He was a Bengali polymath- Poet, Novelist, Playwright or Dramatist, Short-story writer, Music composer, Essayist, Philosopher, Literary critics, Social reformer, Politician, Painter. In 1913 he became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. | ||
| Dwijendralal Ray | 1863-1913 CE | ||||
| Jatindramohan Bagchi | 1878-1948 CE | ||||
| Satyendranath Dutta | 1882-1922 CE | ||||
| Jatindranath Sengupta | 1887-1954 CE | ||||
| Mohitlal Majumdar | 1888-1952 CE | ||||
| Kazi Nazrul Islam | 1899-1976 CE | ||||
| Jibanananda Das | 1899-1954 CE | ||||
| Jasimuddin | 1903-1976 CE |