Christianity in West Bengal
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Bandel Church
, rebuilt in 1660 on the site of an older 1599 church.
Christianity in West Bengal,
Bengali Renaissance under British rule, including Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Anil Kumar Gain, and Gnanendramohan Tagore. Aurobindo Nath Mukherjee was the first Indian to be Anglican Bishop of Calcutta
.
Bengali Christians are considered a
Jesuit Catholics, and the dominant Protestant Church of North India
(CNI), & some Christian Revival Church also serving.
History
Christianity has been present in Bengal since the 16th century. The Portuguese established a settlement in
Bandel Church, perhaps the first church in West Bengal, was built in 1599.[3]
Burnt down during the sacking of Hooghly in 1632, the church was rebuilt in 1660. The followers of Christianity mainly settled in Barddhmann, Bankura, Kolkata and Hooghly district of West Bengal.
Many Bengali Catholics have Portuguese surnames.[citation needed]
British missionary
caste after conversion. In 1818, the first theological college in Bengal, Serampore College
, was founded.
Denominations
Anglican Diocese of Calcutta (1813) of the Church of North India
. The Roman Catholic ecclesiastical province which has its seat in
the Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta
(1834).
Other denominations include:[4]
- Assemblies of God in India
- India Pentecostal Church of God
- Armenian Apostolic Church
- Bethel Apostolic Assemblies(IBAA) India Archived 20 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- Bengal Orissa Bihar Baptist Convention
- Brethren in Christ Church in India
- Church of God (Anderson)
- Council of Baptist Churches in Northern India
- El Shaddai
- New Life Fellowship Association
- United Missionary Church of India
- Christian Revival Church (CRC)
Population
| Year | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 2001[5] | 515,150 |
0.64
|
| 2011[6] | 658,618 |
0.72
|
| # | District | Total population | Christian population | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jalpaiguri | 3,872,846 | 186,279 | 4.81% |
| 2 | Darjiling |
1,846,823 | 141,848 | 7.68% |
| 3 | South 24 Parganas |
8,161,961 | 66,498 | 0.81% |
| 4 | Kolkata | 4,496,694 | 39,758 | 0.88% |
| 5 | Nadia | 5,167,600 | 33,835 | 0.65% |
| 6 | North 24 Parganas | 10,009,781 | 26,933 | 0.27% |
| 7 | Dakshin Dinajpur | 1,676,276 | 24,794 | 1.48% |
| 8 | Paschim Medinipur | 5,913,457 | 23,287 | 0.39% |
| 9 | Barddhaman |
7,717,563 | 21,220 | 0.27% |
| 10 | Murshidabad | 7,103,807 | 18,102 | 0.25% |
| 11 | Uttar Dinajpur | 3,007,134 | 16,702 | 0.56% |
| 12 | Maldah |
3,988,845 | 13,209 | 0.33% |
| 13 | Birbhum | 3,502,404 | 10,906 | 0.31% |
| 14 | Haora |
4,850,029 | 8,666 | 0.18% |
| 15 | Puruliya |
2,930,115 | 8,646 | 0.30% |
| 16 | Hugli |
5,519,145 | 7,300 | 0.13% |
| 17 | Koch Bihar |
2,819,086 | 4,122 | 0.15% |
| 18 | Bankura | 3,596,674 | 3,865 | 0.11% |
| 19 | Purba Medinipur | 5,095,875 | 2,648 | 0.05% |
| West Bengal (Total) | 91,276,115 | 658,618 | 0.72% |
| Census year | % of total population |
|---|---|
| 1951 | 0.70% |
| 1961 | 0.59% |
| 1971 | 0.57% |
| 1981 | 0.59% |
| 1991 | 0.56% |
| 2001 | 0.64% |
| 2011 | 0.72% |
Notable Institutions
La Martinière Calcutta, one of India's most prestigious schools, is run by the Protestant Church of North India
Jesuits
, is one of India's best collegesSchools
- Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy (Armenian Apostolic Church and Orthodox)
- Assembly of God Church School(Pentecostal and Protestant)
- Calcutta Boys School( Thoburn Methodist church)
- Calcutta Girls High School( Thoburn Methodist church)
- Don Bosco High & Technical School, Liluah (Salesian and Catholic)
- Don Bosco School, Park Circus (Salesian and Catholic)
- Don Bosco School, Bandel(Salesian and Catholic)
- La Martiniere Calcutta(Church of North India and Protestant)
- Loreto Schools, Kolkata (Catholic)
- Scottish Church Collegiate School (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. James' School (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata (Jesuit and Catholic)
- St. Teresa’s Secondary School, Kolkata (Roman Catholic)
- St Thomas School, Kolkata (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. Xavier's Collegiate School (Jesuit and Catholic)
- The Frank Anthony Public School, Kolkata (Non-denominational and Protestant)
Colleges and Universities
- Loreto College, Kolkata (Catholic)
- Scottish Church College (Church of North India and Protestant)
- Senate of Serampore College (University) (Non-denominational and Protestant)
- Serampore College (Non-denominational and Protestant)
- South Asia Theological Research Institute (Non-denominational and Protestant)
- St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. Thomas' College of Engineering and Technology (Church of North India and Protestant)
- St. Xavier's College, Kolkata (Jesuit and Catholic)
- Women's Christian College, Kolkata (Non-denominational and Protestant)
Notable people
 | This article's list of people may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (December 2020) |
- Mother Teresa
- Henry Derozio, poet
- Brahmabandhav Upadhyay, theologian
- Badal Sircar, noted Bengali playwright and dramatist.
- Neil O'Brien
- Leander Paes
- Leslie Claudius
- Derek O'Brien
- Michael Madhusudan Dutt
- Toru Dutt
- Kali Charan Banerjee
- Krishna Mohan Banerjee
- Harendra Coomar Mookerjee
- John Sharat Chandra Banerjee
- Sukumari Bhattacharji, Indologist
- General in the Indian Army
- K. P. Aleaz, theologian and retired Professor, Bishop's College[9][10]
- Bonita Aleaz, political scientist[11]
- Enrico Piperno, tennis player(1982 Asian Games), India's former Davis Cup and Fed Cup coach.[12][13][14]
- Joy Govinda Shome, theologian and founder of Calcutta Christo Samaj in 1887.
See also
- List of Christian denominations in North East India
- Christian Revival Church
References
- 2011 Census of India.
- ^ Indian Christians Treat Their Women Better, Sex Ratio Highest
- ISBN 1-904777-00-7, p. 584.
- ^ World Christian Encyclopedia , Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 368-371
- ^ "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
- ^ Population by religious community: West Bengal. 2011 Census of India.
- ^ B.P. Syam Roy (28 September 2015). "Bengal's topsy-turvy population growth". The Statesman.
- ^ Inbuon, Carey Lal Lawmawma. "Life and Contribution of Kalarikkal Poulose Aleaz (K.P. Aleaz) in the Theology of Relions".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "K. P. Aleaz". Open Library. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "BONITA ALEAZ | University of Calcutta - Academia.edu". caluniv.academia.edu. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Enrico Piperno: Indian tennis players in top-50 is nearly impossible: Piperno". The Times of India. 5 February 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Calcutta's South Club: The long-forgotten home of India's tennis history". ESPN. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "ITF Enrico Piperno Overview". www.itftennis.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.