| Part ofa series on the |
| Culture of Bengal |
|---|
 |
| History |
Mythology andfolklore |
| Cuisine |
Folk genres Devotional Classical genres Modern genres People Instruments Dance Theater Organizations People |
| Part of a series on |
| Bengalis |
|---|
 |
|
TheBengal Renaissance (Bengali:বাংলার নবজাগরণ,romanized: Bāṅlār Nôbôjāgôrôṇ), also known as theBengali Renaissance, was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in theBengal region of theBritish Raj, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century.[1] Historians have traced the beginnings of the movement to the victory of theBritish East India Company at the 1757Battle of Plassey, as well as the works of reformerRaja Rammohan Roy, considered the "Father of the Indian Renaissance," born in 1772.[2]Nitish Sengupta stated that the movement "can be said to have … ended withRabindranath Tagore," Asia's firstNobel laureate.[3]
For almost two centuries, the Bengal renaissance saw the radical transformation ofIndian society, and its ideas have been attributed to the rise ofIndian 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 toSumit 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 byBengali Hindus,[7] who at the time were socially and economically more affluent in colonial Bengal, and therefore better placed for higher education as a community. Well-known figures include the social reformerRaja Rammohan Roy, philanthropistRani Rashmoni, writerRabindranath Tagore, confectionerNobin Chandra Das and the physicistSatyendra Nath Bose.
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.[8] FromRabindranath Tagore toSatyendra Nath Bose, the movement saw the emergence of important figures, whose contributions still influence cultural and intellectual works today.[9]
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.[10] Examples of Bengali Muslim renaissance men and women includeKazi Nazrul Islam,Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy, andRokeya Sakhawat Hussain.[10] When it came to cultural and religious reform, theFreedom of Intellect Movement was established in 1926 to challenge the social customs and dogmas in Bengali Muslim society.[11]
From the mid-eighteenth century, theBengal Province, and more specifically, its capital city ofCalcutta, 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.[12] 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.[12]
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 theMughal Empire, the company was able to acquire extensive territory in the Bengal andGanges basin.[12] The expense of these wars, however, threatened the company's financial situation, and theRegulating Act 1773 was passed to stabilise the EIC as well as subject it to some parliamentary control.[12] Further legislation over the next several decades progressively brought about tighter controls over the company, but theIndian Rebellion of 1857 forced the British parliament to pass theGovernment of India Act 1858, which saw the liquidation of the EIC and the transfer of power to the British Crown.[12]
_%25E0%25A6%2585%25E0%25A6%25A5%25E0%25A6%25AC%25E0%25A6%25BE_%25E0%25A6%25B0%25E0%25A6%25BE%25E0%25A6%259C%25E0%25A6%25BE_%25E0%25A6%25B0%25E0%25A6%25BE%25E0%25A6%25AE_%25E0%25A6%25AE%25E0%25A7%258B%25E0%25A6%25B9%25E0%25A6%25A8_%25E0%25A6%25B0%25E0%25A6%25BE%25E0%25A6%25AF%25E0%25A6%25BC.jpg)
The Bengali Renaissance originated in theBengal Presidency of the British Indian Empire, but more specifically, its capital city ofKolkata, then known as Calcutta.[13] This colonial metropolis was the first non-Western city to use British methods of teaching in their school system.[13] In 1817, the urban elite led byRaja Ram Mohan Roy cofounded the Hindu or Presidency College in Kolkata, now known as thePresidency University, the only European-style institution of higher learning in Asia at the time.[14] The city was also home to a public library, the Imperial Library, now theNational Library of India, and newspapers and books were being published regularly in bothBengali and English.[15] "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."[15]
TheBengal Province was the base forBritish East India Company rule until the overthrow of theNawab of Bengal at theBattle of Plassey in 1757, which marked the Crown's consolidation of power in India.[16] Many postcolonial historians source the origins of the Bengal Renaissance to these events, arguing that the movement was both a reaction to the violence and exploitation by theBritish Raj, as well as a product of the Empire's promotion of English education in the region as part of its "civilising missions".[14] For instance, Sivanath Sastri notes thatCharles 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… .""[17] 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."[18]
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 theBrahmo Samaj byDebendranath Tagore.[19] It was an influential socioreligious reform movement that made significant contributions to the renaissance, as well as the makings of modern Indian society.
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 inmadrasas, and tols, where pandits instructedSanskrit texts toBrahmins, which were supported by endowments.[20] These institutions were exclusively male, and in the rare cases where girls could get an education, it was in the home.[21] The work of Christian missions also had more of an influence on Indian students than the initiatives of the government.[21] While theEast India Company Act 1813 (the Charter Act) 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.[22]
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.[21] Recurring questions arose over whether to invest on a few advanced institutions or to promote widespread elementary education, what language to use, and particularly whether to support traditional methods of learning in India, which had declined due to the loss of patronage, or to introduce a new system based on Western education.[21] Rammohan Roy contributed to this last debate by writing to the Governor-General in 1823 expressing his opposition to the establishment of a Sanskrit College that would foster traditional learning and advocating for Western scientific education; this effort failed without effect.[23]Missionaries began teaching young women in 1816, but a systematic education policy was not established until 1854.[21] 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."[21]
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."[21] In 1800, the Baptist Missionary Society established a centre inSrirampur, West Bengal, from which it ran a network of schools that taught literacy, mathematics, physics, geography, and other so-called "useful knowledge."[24] Other missionary societies followed soon after, working along similar lines.[25] 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.[25]
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."[25] Missionaries, however, were not the only channels through which education was promoted. For instance, individuals inCalcutta such asRammohan Roy, the conservative Hindu scholar,Radhakanta Deb,Shib Chandra Sarkar to the atheist philanthropist,David Hare, and other British officials often collaborated in theCalcutta School Book Society and the Calcutta School Society.[25] Some of the other institutions of learning established during this period include theChittagong College;Indian Statistical Institute; theHindu School, the oldest modern educational institution in Asia;Jadavpur University;Presidency University, Kolkata; theUniversity of Calcutta, theUniversity of Dhaka, the oldest university in Bangladesh; andVisva-Bharati University.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2022) |
During the Bengal Renaissance, science was integrated into the broader intellectual and educational reforms. Institutions such asPresidency University,Calcutta Medical College, theUniversity of Calcutta, and theIACS were pivotal in spreading modern scientific thought in British India.[26][27] Lectures, Bengali-language textbooks, and the establishment of high schools such as theHindu School contributed to making science more accessible to urban and upper middle-class families.
Major advancements were made during this time by scientists such asSatyendra Nath Bose,Ashutosh Mukherjee,Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis,Anil Kumar Gain,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, andMeghnad Saha, among others.
Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was apolymath: aphysicist,biologist,botanist,archaeologist, and writer of science fiction.[28] He pioneered the investigation of radio andmicrowaveoptics, made very significant contributions to botany, and laid the foundations of experimental science in theIndian subcontinent.[29] He is considered one of the fathers of radio science, and is also considered the father ofBengali science fiction. He also invented thecrescograph.
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2022) |
The Bengal School of Art was anart movement and a style ofIndian painting that originated in Bengal and flourished throughoutBritish India in the early 20th century. Also known as 'Indian style of painting' in its early days, it was associated withIndian nationalism (swadeshi) and led byAbanindranath Tagore.[30][31]
Following the influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacherErnest Binfield Havell attempted to reform the teaching methods at theCalcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitateMughal 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 artistAbanindranath Tagore.[32]
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2022) |
According to historianRomesh 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.
The Bengali Renaissance also led to religious reform movements. Some notable religious and spiritual leaders associated with these reform movements areRam Mohan Roy,Rani Rashmoni,Debendranath Tagore,Keshab Chandra Sen,Bijoy Krishna Goswami,Ramakrishna,Sarada Devi,Mathurmohan Biswas,Swami Vivekananda,Aurobindo,Bamakhepa, Lokenath Brahmachari,Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati,Bhaktivinoda Thakur,Paramahansa Yogananda,Lahiri Mahasaya,Nigamananda Paramahansa,Ram Thakur,Sitaramdas Omkarnath, andAnandamayi Ma.
The religious reform movements and organizations associated with the Bengali Renaissance are:
