Culture of Bengal in the context of "Culture of Bangladesh"

Assamese or Asamiya (অসমীয়া [ɔˈxɔmija] ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It has long served as a lingua franca in parts of Northeast India. It has over 15 million native speakers and 8.3 million second language speakers according to Ethnologue.

Nefamese, an Assamese-based pidgin in Arunachal Pradesh, was used as a lingua franca before being replaced by Hindi; and Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language, continues to be widely used in Nagaland. The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur Division of Bangladesh and the Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of India is linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language. In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century.

Lalon (Bengali: লালন চন্দ্র কর; 1772 – 17 October 1890), also known as Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir and Shahji, was a Bengali spiritual leader, philosopher, mystic poet and social reformer. Regarded as an icon of Bengali culture, he inspired and influenced many philosophers, poets and social thinkers including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Allen Ginsberg. Lalon's philosophy of humanity rejects all distinctions of caste, class, and creed and takes a stand against theological conflicts and racism. It denies all worldly affairs in search of the soul and embodied the socially transformative role of sub-continental Bhakti and Sufism.

Lalon founded the institute known as Lalon Akhra in Cheuriya, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Kushtia railway station in southwestern Bangladesh. His disciples dwell mostly in Bangladesh and Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam’s Barak Valley. Every year on the occasion of his death anniversary, thousands of his disciples and followers assemble at Lalon Akhra and pay homage to him through celebration and discussion of his songs and philosophy for three days.

Chittagonian (চাটগাঁইয়া saṭgãia or চিটাইঙ্গা siṭaiṅga) or Chittagonian Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Greater Chittagong in Bangladesh. Chittagonian is not inherently intelligible to other varieties of Bengali, although it is considered by some as a nonstandard Bengali dialect. Chittagonian is also considered to be a separate language by some linguists. While Chittagonian is linguistically distinct, its speakers identify with Bengali culture and the Standard Bengali language. It is broadly mutually intelligible with the Rohingya language and with a lesser extent to Noakhali. It is estimated (2006) that Chittagonian has 13 million speakers, principally in Bangladesh.