Bangla, also known as Bengali, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the seventh most spoken language in the world, with over 230 million native speakers. The language has a rich literary tradition, with notable works from poets like Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Bangla script is an abugida, meaning each character represents a consonant with an inherent vowel sound. It is written from left to right and has a unique set of characters. Bangla is not only a means of communication but also a vital part of the cultural identity of its speakers.