Bengal (76,643), one of the three Indian presidencies, but more particularly a province lying in the plain of the Lower Ganges and the delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, with the Himalayas on the N. At the base of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles. The climate is hot and humid, drier at Behar, and passing through every gradation up to the snow-line. The people are engaged in agriculture, raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c. Coal, iron, and copper mines are worked in Burdwân. The manufactures are of cotton and jute. The population is mixed in blood and speech, but Hindus speaking Bengali predominate. Education is further advanced than elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, and many other scholastic institutions. The capital, Calcutta, is the capital of India; the next town in size is Patna (165).

Ben*gal" (&?;), n. 1. A province in India, giving its name to various stuffs, animals, etc.

2. A thin stuff, made of silk and hair, originally brought from Bengal.

3. Striped gingham, originally brought from Bengal; Bengal stripes.

Bengal light, a firework containing niter, sulphur, and antimony, and producing a sustained and vivid colored light, used in making signals and in pyrotechnics; -- called also blue light. -- Bengal stripes, a kind of cotton cloth woven with colored stripes. See Bengal, 3. -- Bengal tiger. (Zoöl.). See Tiger.