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Bengal Renaissance

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The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the region of Bengal in undivided India during the period of British rule. The Bengal renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775-1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), although there have been many stalwarts thereafter embodying particular aspects of the unique intellectual and creative output. [1] Nineteenth century Bengal was a unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists, all merging to form the image of a renaissance, and marked the transistion from the 'medieval' to the 'modern'. [2]

Background

During this period, Bengal witnessed an intellectual awakening that is in some way similar to the Renaissance in Europe during the 16th century, although Europeans of that age were not confronted with the challenge and influence of alien colonialism. This movement questioned existing orthodoxies, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the dowry system, the caste system, and religion. One of the earliest social movements that emerged during this time was the Young Bengal movement, that espoused rationalism and atheism as the common denominators of civil conduct among upper caste educated Hindus.

The parallel socio-religious movement, the Brahmo Samaj, developed during this time period and counted many of the leaders of the Bengal Renaissance among its followers [1]. In the earlier years the Brahmo Samaj, like the rest of sociey, could not however, conceptualise, in that feudal-colonial era, a free India as it was influenced by the European Enlightenment (and its bearers in India, the British Raj) although it traced its intellectual roots to the Upanishads. Their version of Hinduism, or rather Universal Religion (similar to that of Ramakrishna), although devoid of social evils like sati, purdah and polygamy that had crept within Hinduism during the Islamic rule, was ultimately a rigid impersonal monotheistic faith, which actually was quite distinct from the pluralistic and multifaceted nature of the Hindu religion and was intellectually too rich for the masses. Future leaders like Keshub Chunder Sen were as much devotees of Christ, as they were of Brahma, Krishna or Buddha. It has been argued by some scholars that the Brahmo Samaj movement never gained the support of the masses and remained restricted to the elite, although Hindu society has accepted most of the social reform programmes of the Brahmo Samaj. It must also be acknowledged that many of the later Brahmos were leaders of the freedom movement

The renaissance period after the mutiny saw a magnificent outburst of Bengali literature. While Ram Mohan Roy and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar were the pioneers, others like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee widened it and built upon it. [3] The first significant nationalist detour to the Bengal Renaissance was given by the brilliant writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Later, with the advent of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, the great saint of Bengal who realized the truth of all religions, and actually reconciled the conflicting Hindu sects ranging from Shakta tantra, Advaita Vedanta and Vaishnavism, as well as other religions like Christianity and Islam. The Vedanta movement prospered principally through his disciple and sage, Swami Vivekananda who on his return from the highly successful Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1892 and lecture tour in America, became a revered national idol. He urged Indians to break free from the shackles of colonialism, past and present and reaffirmed service to mankind as the highest truth of the Hindu Vedantic religion. "Service to mankind is service to god" was his motto. He was the first Indian to conceptualise an absolutely free, prosperous and strong India, which while appreciative of its rich cultural past would be vibrant enough to walk confidently into the future.[citation needed]Ramakrishna Mission, the great organisation founded by Swami Vivekananda, was totally non-political in nature.

The Tagore family, icluding Rabindranath Tagore were leaders of this period and had a particular interest in educational reform [2]. Their contribution to the Bengal Ranasiassance was multi-faceted. Indeed, Tagore's 1901 Bengali novella, Nastanirh was written as a critique of men who professed to follow the ideals of the Renaissance, but failed to do so within their own families. That is only one example but the contribution of the family is enormous.

Comparison with European renaissance

The word ‘renaissance’ in European history meant ‘rebirth’ and was used in the context of the revival of the Graeco-Roman learning in the 15th and 16th centuries after the long winter of the dark medieval period. A serious comparison was started by the dramatis personae of the Bengal renaissance like Keshub Chandra Sen, Bipin Chandra Pal and M.N.Roy. For about a century Bengal’s conscious awareness and the changing modern world was more developed and ahead of that of rest of India. The role played by Bengal in the modern awakening of India is thus comparable to the position occupied by Italy in the European renaissance. Very much like the Italian renaissance, it was not a mass movement but restricted to the upper classes. Though the Bengal Renaissance was the “culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah, it remained predominantly Hindu and only partially Muslim.” There were isolated examples of Muslim intellectuals like Saiyed Amir Ali and Mosharraf Hussain. [4]

Some scholars in Bangladesh, now hold Bengal Renaissance in a different light. Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan, Department of Islamic History and Culture, Chittagong University, writes, “During nineteenth century A.D., Bengal produced a galaxy of reform movements among the Hindus as well Muslims… the Islamic reform movements such as Faraizi, Tariquah-i-Muhhamadiyah, and Taaiyni and Ahl-i-Hadith, occupied a conspicuous position amongst them. These Islamic movements were revivalist in character… these Islamic movements were born of the circumstances, which had also given birth to the contemporary Hindu reform movements such as Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, which thrived in Bengal side by side with them… Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s movement is generally regarded as ‘Renaissance movement’. It is called by some as ‘Hindu Renaissance’ and by others as ‘Bengali Renaissance’ movement. It should nevertheless be observed that compared with the European ‘Renaissance model’, it was a Renaissance with a difference, especially, deeply inlaid by a revivalist make-up of pristine Hindu or Aryan religious spirit…Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Renaissance aimed at resuscitating the pristine Aryan spirit, ‘Unitarianism of God’, with the help of modern Western rationalist spirit.” [5]

Literature

According to Romesh Chandra 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 descent 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 and 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, Michel 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...” [6]


Notable people

Institutions which contributed to the Bengal Renaissance

References

  1. ^ History of the Bengali-speaking People by Nitish Sengupta, p 211, UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 8174763554.
  2. ^ Calcutta and the Bengal Renaissance by Sumit Sarkar in Calcutta, the Living City edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Vol I, p 95.
  3. ^ History of Bengali-speaking People by Nitish Sengupta, p 253.
  4. ^ History of Bengali-speaking People by Nitish Sengupta, p 210, 212-213.
  5. ^ Islamic Reform Movements of the Nineteenth Century Bengal in Social History of the Muslims of Bangladesh Under British Rule, by Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan, published by the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1992, pp71-72 and 79.
  6. ^ Cultural Heritage of Bengal by R.C.Dutt, quoted by Nitish Sengupta, pp 211-212.

See also

Template:BengalRen Template:Bengali Culture

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