Rice in Bengal

Rice has been more than just a staple in West Bengal. If there is one characteristic that defines — and unifies — the people of of the state, it has to be their love for rice. Nowhere is rice more an inspiration than here. The grain has inspired Bengali folklores, poetry, art, songs and literature; the region’s culture, idioms and common phrases. Bengali poets have, since ages, romanticized paddy fields, the wind that flows in waves over the golden ripe crop; its painters have painted it. Rice has been adopted in religious practices, the Goddess Lakshmi’s granary is full of the grain, and quasi-religious ornamental hanging are devised from grain-laden paddy twigs to celebrate the beginning of the harvesting season. Rice has been more than just a staple in West Bengal. If there is one characteristic that defines — and unifies — the people of of the state, it has to be their love for rice. Nowhere is rice more an inspiration than here. The grain has inspired Bengali folklores, poetry, art, songs and literature; the region’s culture, idioms and common phrases. Bengali poets have, since ages, romanticized paddy fields, the wind that flows in waves over the golden ripe crop; its painters have painted it. Rice has been adopted in religious practices, the Goddess Lakshmi’s granary is full of the grain, and quasi-religious ornamental hanging are devised from grain-laden paddy twigs to celebrate the beginning of the harvesting season.