Para is a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
word () which means a neighbourhood or locality, usually characterised by a strong sense of community. The names of several localities in cities and villages of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
end with the suffix ''para''. Historically, ''para''s often consisted of people of similar livelihood; for example, ''muchipara'' means a ''para'' where most of the people are ''
Muchis'' (cobblers). Again, some ''para''s were based on
caste; for example, ''Bamunpara'' means a ''para'' where
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
s live. However, with the decline of caste-based segregation in India, this form of ''para'' has lost much of its significance.
In cities, a person may refer to his neighbourhood as his ''para''.
References
Bengali words and phrases
Bengali culture
Bangladeshi culture
Culture of Kolkata
Culture of West Bengal
{{India-culture-stub