Ghoti people

Ghoti (Bengali: ঘটি), also called Paschimbangiya (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গীয়) or Edeshi (Bengali: এদেশী), are a social group native to West Bengal (Paschimbanga), India. Their dialects, folk traditions (Lokachar) and cuisine are distinct from those of the Purbabangiyas or the natives of erstwhile eastern Bengal.

The term came into greater use after many people from Bangladesh (then East Bengal and later East Pakistan) migrated to West Bengal during and after the Partition of Bengal in 1947. Initially there was a cultural and sociological clash between the native population and the refugees.

Ghotis are frequently distinguished by their Bangla accent and use of certain local dialects and figures of speech that Bangals in general would not use. Also, certain sweets, like Sponge Rosogolla, Ledikeni, Langcha, Mihidana, Rasakadamba, Rajbhog, Gopalbhog are known to originate in Western Bengal.

Amongst the Bengali Hindus of India, "Bangal" and "Ghoti" are used as social sub-groups indicating the ancestral origin of a family. Those whose families came from East Bengal are Bangals and those whose families originated in West Bengal are Ghotis. The term 'Bangal' as used here has little relation to actual geography, since most members of these groups all now live in India. The term is used freely and not considered derogatory within this social class.

There are many differences found in the cultural events, food or sports where the Bangals love Ilish and the Ghoti love Ching-ri (Prawns), the Bangals celebrate Lakshmi puja in the fifth day after Durga Puja and the Ghoti perform Lakshmi puja (mostly in home only) on the Kali Puja day.

Etymology

The exact origin of the word Ghoti is unknown. It is presumed that the word was derived from Bandyaghoti. The Bandyaghotis were a section of Rarhi Brahmins who migrated from Bardhaman to eastern Bengal, where they were referred as Ghotis. Gradually, the people of western Bengal became collectively known as Ghotis. Another presumption is that the Bandyaghotis brought the sacred ghat with them along with their Shaligram to the eastern Bengal. For this reason they were known as Ghotis or the people who bring ghat.

Geographical distribution

However, there is a subtle difference between the terms "Ghoti" and "Edeshi"(of this country). "Ghoti" is specifically used to refer to people living in Districts like Hooghly, Howrah, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, etc. i.e. South Bengal west of the Hugli river. The native people of districts like North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Maldah, Uttar Dinajpur,etc. i.e. east of the Hugli river but within West Bengal, can be referred to as "Edeshi" as they are not of refugee Bangal background and are native to West Bengal, yet the culture, cuisine and language of these regions represent a transition between Western and Easternn Bengal.

Surnames

Though most surnames among Bengali Hindus are common to both Bangals and Ghotis, like Roy/Ray, Ghosh, Bose, Das, Chokroborty, Mukherjee, Benarji/Bondopaddhay, Chatterjee/Chottopaddhay, Ganguly/Gonggopaddhay, Kar, Biswas, Sadhu, Shil, Sen, Saha, Sirkar/Sarkar, Das, Mondol, Saha, Majumdar, Dutto/Dutta, Talukder, Lahiri, Mitra/Mitter, Moitro/Maitra,Bagchi Khan etc.

Some surnames are specific only to Ghotis and Edeshis, like Adak, Adhikary, Bagui, Bhaduri,Bor or Bar, Daffadar, Dandapat,Dolui, De, Dey, Gorai, Guin, Chowdhury, Hazra, Hela, Jana, Karan, Karak, Karmakar, Kundu, Laha, Mahapatra, Maity, Middye, Modak, Nag, Nandi, Naskar, Nayak, Neogi, Paik, Pain, Pal, Panja, Patra, Sadhu, Sadhukhan, Samanta, Sardar, Sapui, Sasmal, Sett, She-al, Sinha, Tarafder, Topdar, Mihiracharyaa etc.

Similarly some surnames are particular to Bangals, like Kushari (Rabindranath Tagore is also from Kushari), Pututunda, Ghosh Dastidar, Deb, Deb-nath,Deb-ray, Malakar, Nath, Guha, Guha-Thakurta, Gupto, Dasgupta, Lahiri(y), Sengupta, Nandi, Shorma, Sil, Shil, Sheel, Shilsharma,Dash-Shorma, Deb-Shorma, Dash-Munshi, Munshi, Dewanji, Munshiji, Kannungo/Qannungoh, Mahalanobis, Purakayastha/Purkait, etc. Also, when two surnames are fused into one like RoyChoudhury, Sengupta, Duttagupta (not when a married woman combines her maiden and married surname), usually such surnames belong to only "Bangals".

Kolkata

Though there are many exceptions, often it is considered that among the neighborhoods of Kolkata, North Kolkata is usually dominated by the Bangals (the river ghats of bengal or from ghat side ), whereas South Kolkata is more cosmopolitan with various communities including non-bengalis residing. Thus, places like Shyambazar, Shobhabazar, Bagbazar, Bowbazar, Maniktala, Jorasanko etc. are known to have a "Bangal" majority and are considered to be centres of Bangal culture and cuisine. Whereas the southern neighborhoods, like Ballygunge, Bhowanipore, Alipore, Rashbehari Avenue, Dhakuria, Gariahat, Jadavpur, Hazra Road, Kasba, Tollygunge, and Jodhpur Park does have a Ghoti influence but frequently identified with cosmopolitan Bangals and their culture, cuisine and identity. Usually Elite Ghotis inhabited South Kolkata and is identified as being more modern, liberal and fashionable. This is mainly because South Kolkata is comparatively newer and developed much later than old North Kolkata, but it is also comparably far more clean than its northern counterpart. Hence mostly elite Ghotis and some nouveu riche Bangals settled in these localities. Fashionable and posh localities like Ballygunge and Bhowanipore were chosen by the earliest Bangals (sons of the soil) & a few West Bengal aristocrats and Ghoti middle class professionals as their homes in the 19th century.

Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal

Traditionally Bengali people like football and most of the Ghotis are supporters of Mohun Bagan AC whereas the Bangals are traditionally supporters of East Bengal Club. Though there are several exceptions but in general both these communities share an immense rivalry between them regarding Mohun Bagan - East Bengal football match. Many Bangals in the spirit of the land they have setlled and in nationalistic fervours and have become supporters of the Mohun Bangan club and there is a considerable list of such transitions.

They also cherish a rivalry through claim of supremacy of their respective cuisines and especially river-food delicacies, i. e., Chingri (prawn) for Ghotis and Ilish (hilsa) for Bangals.

Notable People

Jyoti BasuBankim Chandra Chatterjee

Rabindranath Tagore

Satyendranath Dutta

Debendranath Tagore

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Swami Vivekananda

Sri Aurobindo

Chittaranjan Das

Satyendranath Bose

Satyajit Ray

Sukumar Ray

Uttam Kumar

Soumitra Chatterjee

Bidhan Chandra Roy

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Siddhartha Shankar Ray

Pranab Mukherjee

Chhabi Biswas

Sailen Manna

Pradip Kumar Banerjee

Sourav Ganguly

See also

Partition of India
Partition of Bengal (1947)