Bengal Renaissance

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The Bengal Renaissance (

Raja Rammohan Roy, considered the "Father of the Bengal Renaissance," born in 1772.[2] Nitish Sengupta stated that the movement "can be said to have … ended with Rabindranath Tagore," Asia's first Nobel laureate.[3]

For almost two centuries, the Bengal renaissance saw the radical transformation of

Indian society, and its ideas have been attributed to the rise of Indian anticolonialist and nationalist thought and activity during this period.[4] The philosophical basis of the movement was its unique version of liberalism and modernity.[5] According to Sumit Sarkar, the pioneers and works of this period were revered and regarded with nostalgia throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, however, due to a new focus on its colonialist origins, a more critical view emerged in the 1970s.[6]

The Bengali renaissance was predominantly led by

Background

The Bengal Renaissance was a movement characterised by a sociopolitical awakening in the arts, literature, music, philosophy, religion, science, and other fields of intellectual inquiry.[1] The movement questioned the existing customs and rituals in Indian society – most notably, the caste system, and the practice of sati, idolatry – as well as the role of religion and colonial governance. In turn, the Bengal Renaissance advocated for societal reform – the kind that adhered to secularist, humanist and modernist ideals.[9] From Rabindranath Tagore to Satyendra Nath Bose, the movement saw the emergence of important figures, whose contributions still influence cultural and intellectual works today.[10]

Although the Bengal Renaissance was led and dominated by upper caste Hindus, Bengali Muslims played a transformative role in the movement, as well as the shaping of colonial and postcolonial Indian society.

Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain.[8] Some Muslim figures significantly influenced the development of the various national identities across the Indian subcontinent, and in particular, post-partition and post-independence, Bangladesh.[11] When it came to cultural and religious reform, the Freedom of Intellect Movement was established in 1926 to challenge the social customs and dogmas in Bengali Muslim society.[12]

From the mid-eighteenth century, the

Calcutta, was the centre of British power in India. The region was the base for British imperial rule until the capital was moved to Delhi in 1911.[13] Prior to Crown control, British power was in the hands of the East India Company, which in course of time, became increasingly profitable and influential, politically, establishing diplomatic relations with local rulers as well as building armies to protect its own interests.[13]

During this time, partly through the 1757 Battle of Plassey against the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, and in part through the fall of the Mughal Empire, the company was able to acquire extensive territory in the Bengal and Ganges basin.[13] The expense of these wars, however, threatened the company's financial situation, and the Regulating Act 1773 was passed to stabilise the EIC as well as subject it to some parliamentary control.[13] Further legislation over the next several decades progressively brought about tighter controls over the company, but the Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced the British parliament to pass the Government of India Act 1858, which saw the liquidation of the EIC and the transfer of power to the British Crown.[13]

Origins

Ram Mohan Roy is considered the Father of the Bengali Renaissance

The Bengali Renaissance originated in the Bengal Presidency of the British Indian Empire, but more specifically, its capital city of Kolkata, then known as Calcutta.[14] This colonial metropolis was the first non-Western city to use British methods of teaching in their school system.[14] In 1817, the urban elite led by Raja Ram Mohan Roy cofounded the Hindu or Presidency College in Kolkata, now known as the Presidency University, the only European-style institution of higher learning in Asia at the time.[15] The city was also home to a public library, the Imperial Library, now the National Library of India, and newspapers and books were being published regularly in both Bengali and English.[16] "Print language and literature played a vital role in shaping ideas and identities in colonial Bengal from the 18th century onwards," writes Anindita Ghosh, continuing that "… commercial print cultures that emanated from numerous cheap presses in Calcutta and its suburbs disseminated wide-ranging literary preferences that afforded a space to different sections of the Bengali middle classes to voice their own distinctive concerns."[16]

The

civilising missions".[15] For instance, Sivanath Sastri notes that Charles Grant, a British politician influential in Indian affairs who also served as Chairman of the East India Company, "moved "that a thorough education be given to the different races inhabiting the country, [and] that the Gospel be preached to them… .""[18] Moreover, Arabinda Poddar contends that the English education of Bengalis was intended to create "mere political slaves," arguing that, "the civilising role of English education, stressed the need of creating a class of Anglophiles who would have a somewhat in-between existence between the rulers and the ruled."[19]

Other historians cite the works of "Father of the Bengal Renaissance," Raja Rammohun Roy, as the start of the Bengal Renaissance.[2] Roy, by 1829, co-founded the Brahmo Sabha movement, which was later renamed the Brahmo Samaj by Debendranath Tagore.[20] It was an influential socioreligious reform movement that made significant contributions to the renaissance, as well as the makings of modern Indian society.

Education

social reformer
of the nineteenth century

Among the many changes brought about by the Bengal Renaissance in India was the development of education, both in the Bengali language and in English. Colonial provisions at the time consisted mainly of village schools teaching literacy and numeracy, Arabic and Islamic studies being taught to Muslims in

Brahmins, which were supported by endowments.[21] These institutions were exclusively male, and in the rare cases where girls could get an education, it was in the home.[22] The work of Christian missions also had more of an influence on Indian students than the initiatives of the government.[22] While the East India Company Act of 1813 allotted 100,000 rupees from the government's surplus to be "applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences," it did not lead to any coherent provision of public education.[23]

According to Dermot Killingley, the surplus mentioned in this Charter Act was "an aspiration, not a budget item," and even if the money had been provided for, there was uncertainty about how it should be spent.

Missionaries began teaching young women in 1816, but a systematic education policy was not established until 1854.[22] However, Sengupta and Purkayastha point out that even during the 1860s and 1870s, "the project of female education was wholly tied to the purpose of enabling women to better discharge their domestic duties."[22]

Despite the East India Company's initial hostility to missionaries, the colonial government later saw the advantages of their contribution to educating and training the local population. This was especially because, as Killingley noted, "in the innovations of the early nineteenth century, government initiative had less impact than the work of Christian missions, and of individuals … who responded to the demand for literacy, numeracy and related skills created by growing commercial and administrative activity."[22] In 1800, the Baptist Missionary Society established a centre in Srirampur, West Bengal, from which it ran a network of schools that taught literacy, mathematics, physics, geography and other so-called "useful knowledge."[25] Other missionary societies followed soon after, working along similar lines.[26] These missionaries, which were largely dependent on local, indigenous teachers and families, and the colonial government, which sometimes supported them with grants, were also cautious about introducing Christian teachings or the Bible.[26]

Education was also believed to be necessary in reversing the apparent moral decline many colonial administrators saw in Bengal society. To give an example, a British judge in Bengal recommended the London Missionary Society's schools, "for the dissemination of morality and general improvement of society among natives of all persuasion without interfering with their religious prejudices."

Hindu School, the oldest modern educational institution in Asia; Jadavpur University; Presidency University, Kolkata; the University of Calcutta, the University of Dhaka, the oldest university in Bangladesh; and Visva-Bharati University
.

Science

Jagadish Chandra Bose was one of the fathers of radio science.
Satyendra Nath Bose was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics.
Prafulla Chandra Ray was an eminent Bengali chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist.

During the Bengal Renaissance science was also advanced by several Bengali scientists such as Satyendra Nath Bose, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Anil Kumar Gain, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Prafulla Chandra Ray, Debendra Mohan Bose, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Jnan Chandra Ghosh, Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya, Kishori Mohan Bandyopadhyay, Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee, Sisir Kumar Mitra, Upendranath Brahmachari and Meghnad Saha.

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was a

Bengali science fiction. He also invented the crescograph
.

Arts

Parallel Cinema
.

The Bengal School of Art was an

swadeshi) and led by Abanindranath Tagore.[29][30]

Following the influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the

Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitate Mughal miniatures. This caused controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havell was supported by the artist Abanindranath Tagore.[31]

Literature

Rabindranath Tagore was a poet and artist. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913
Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was the first successful novelist in the history of Bengali Literature

According to historian Romesh Chunder Dutt:

The conquest of Bengal by the English was not only a political revolution, but ushered in a greater revolution in thoughts and ideas, in religion and society ... From the stories of gods and goddesses, kings and queens, princes and princesses, we have learnt to descend to the humble walks of life, to sympathise with the common citizen or even common peasant … Every revolution is attended with vigour, and the present one is no exception to the rule. Nowhere in the annals of Bengali literature are so many or so bright names found crowded together in the limited space of one century as those of Ram Mohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt, Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, Isvar Chandra Gupta, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Hem Chandra Banerjee, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Dina Bandhu Mitra. Within the three quarters of the present century, prose, blank verse, historical fiction and drama have been introduced for the first time in the Bengali literature.

Religion and spirituality

The Bengali Renaissance also led to religious reform movements. Some notable religious and spiritual leaders associated with these reform movements are

.

The religious reform movements and organizations associated with the Bengali Renaissance are:

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b Samanta, Soumyajit (2008). The Bengal Renaissance : a critique (PDF). 20th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies Manchester (UK), 8th – 11th July 2008. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2022.
  3. .
  4. ^ Panikkar, K N (3 March 2017). "Three phases of Indian renaissance". Frontline. Publishing Private Limited. The Hindu Group. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  5. ^ Sartori, Andrew (2009). Bengal in Global Concept History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 68.
  6. ^ Sarkar, Sumit (1997). Writing Social History. Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 104.
  7. JSTOR 3517400
    .
  8. ^ .
  9. (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  10. .
  11. ^ Bardhan, Protik (29 May 2014). "Kazi Nazrul Islam: Voice of Bengali Muslims and Secular Nationhood". Prothom Alo (Opinion). Matiur Rahman. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  12. ^ Khan, Shahadat H (2007). The Freedom of Intellect Movement (Buddhir Mukt Andolan) in Bengali Muslim Thought, 1926–1938. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press Ltd.
  13. ^ .
  14. ^ .
  15. ^ a b Sastri, Sivanath; Lethbridge, R (1972). "The Introduction of English Education into Bengal; and the Early History of the Hindu College". A History of the Renaissance in Bengal: Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman and Reformer (Indian ed.). pp. 40–52.
  16. ^
    JSTOR 4412747
    .
  17. ^ Dalrymple, William (2019). Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
  18. ^ Sastri, Sivanath (1907). Lethbridge, Roper (ed.). A History of the Renaissance in Bengal: Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman and Reformer. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. p. 56.
  19. ^ Poddar, Arabinda (1970). "IV. Education and Social Mobility". Renaissance in Bengal: Quests and Confrontations, 1800–1860. Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study. p. 89.
  20. .
  21. .
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Killingley (2019). Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance. p. 41.
  23. ^ Laird, M. A. (1972). Missionaries and Education in Bengal 1793–1837. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 68.
  24. ^ Banerjee, Lyric (2020). "Religious Reformation in the Bengal Renaissance: Prelude to Science Museums in India". Marburg Journal of Religion. 22 (2): 3.
  25. ^ Killingley (2019). Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance. pp. 41–42.
  26. ^ a b c d Killingley (2019). Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance. p. 42.
  27. ^ A versatile genius Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Frontline 21 (24), 2004.
  28. ^ "Bengal School". National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  29. ^ Dey, Mukul. "Which Way Indian Art?". chitralekha.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  30. from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  31. .

Further reading

External links