Social Scientist

Bengal Renaissance: A Study in Social Contradictions

Author(s): Pulak Naranyan Dhar
Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 26-45
Published by: Social Scientist
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3517400 .
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 PULAK NARANYAN DHAR*

Bengal Renaissance-A Study in Social Contradictions

THE CONCEPT of the Renaissance in Bengal posited in the context of

British colonial rule is based on the fundamental premise that the western
education and political infrastructure disseminated a sense of rule of law
and justice and fostered "an intellectual development of the people on an
entirely new line".1 And historians of differing ideological persuasions
have accepted the concept of renaissance as some kind of awakening of the
people especially in the cultural realm. But, as has been elaborately
discussed in his article on Indian renaissance by Barun De2, a model
based on the European experience is unsuitable in the Indian context.
Unfortunately, Marxist thinking about renaissance in India, more
precisely in Bengal has been coloured by the articles of Marx on India and
the interpretation of Indian history by Rajani Palme Dutt in his famous
book "India To-day". Based on a somewhat muddled interpretation of
Marx's writings, the approach of the Indian Marxists to the study of the
Bengal renaissance has been somewhat more ambivalent.3
Infact, it has become an axiom that English education "helped more
than others in bringing about the great transformation in India in the
nineteenth century"4. M.N. Roy, once a radical communist, also expounded
the idea that "the English system of education had brought into existence
a small set of modern intellectuals who could be looked upon as the
forerunners of the national movements of the subsequent epoch"5.
Such an assessment of the Bengal Renaissance could tend to ignore
the fact that India was a colonial country, with the consequcnt social
contradictions. This could result in a misleading interpretation.

Contradictions
UnderColonialism
The principal contradiction of colonial India was between colonialism
and the masses of the people (including the feudal forces). The contradic-
tion between feudalism and the people and other contradictions were
temporarily relegated to the secondary position. The internal contradictions
often became sharper when the masses of the people rose in revolt, though
sporadically, against feudal exploitation allied with colonialism. Numerous
peasant revolts during the nineteenth century bear testimony to this fact
which the intellectuals perfunctorily dismissed as unimportant. The crude
University,Calcutta.
*Jadavpur

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 27

plunder of Indian resources by the British caused the famine of 1770. The
peasant revolt of Rangupr (1783), the rising in Bishnupur (1789), the
Chuar revolt (1795-1799) and innumerable spontaneous peasant move-
ments in the countryside were obvious protests against colonial exploita-
tion. The most notable revolt was the Sannyasi Rebellion. It was a
protracted fight against the British which lasted through the period from
1770 to 1790. The discontent of the peasantry provided an excellent
breeding ground for bourgeois democratic ideas in the colonial set up.
These ideas could become material forces only when they were grasped by
the people and the people could grasp ideas only when they were linked
with their struggle for survival.
This very important aspect of the study of renaissance is ignored by
most of our scholars. They remain content only with some superfluous
changes on the epidermis of an elite society, which they identify as a
Renaissance. M.N. Roy's observation with regard to Indian society under
British rule is noteworthy: "Feudalism as the basis of social economics
received the first death blow in the earlier years of British possession in the
middle of the 18th century when political power passed into the hands of
the representatives of a foreign commercial bourgeoisie .......the
last vestiges of feudal power were shattered by the failure of the revolution
of 1857."6 Thus the early communists of India based their theory
of revolution on the fallacious premise that India was "not under the
feudal system". Roy also said that feudalism had been undermined by a
"peaceful and gradual process".7
Indian society prior to the arrival of the British has been described
by Karl Marx as an "Asiatic" society. In this view, artificial irrigation by
canals and waterworks formed the basis of Oriental agriculture.8 Though
Marx's paradigm of the Asiatic mode of production is being intensely
debated in recent times his basic observations about the nature of the Indian
society and the rise of an intellectual class tied to land must not be missed.
Marx found among the Indian natives "reluctantly and sparingly educated
at Calcutta, under English superintendence" a fresh class "endowed with
the requirement for government".9
Here we find a difference between Marx and Marxists like M.N. Roy,
in their attitudes towards the English educated intellectuals of British
India. About the impact of British rule in India, Marx said : England has to
fulfil a double mission in India : one destructive, the other regenerating
.... the annihilation of Asiatic society, and the laying of the material
foundations of western society in Asia"10
Too much stress has been given to Marx's concept of the "regenera-
ting role" of the British in India and some wrong notions have followed
from it. The share of Rajani Palme Dutt, an Indo-British Marxist
ideologue in disseminating this notion is no less than that of our Indian
Marxist scholars. By the "regenerating" role referred to by Marx, R.P.
Dutt meant an "objectively progressive role" played by British colonialism

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28 SOCIAL
SCIENTIST

in early and mid-nineteenthcenturyIndia.""

RegnerativeRole
Marx found the genesisof "regeneration"in aspectssuch as "private
propertyin land, the political unity, the creation of the new army,the
introduction of the free press, regulur and rapid communicationwith
Europeand the newly creatededucatedclass in Bengali." It is a matter of
debatewhetherthe concept of"objectively progressive" is the same as the
conceptof "regeneration". Marx in his article said: "The Indianswill
not reap the fruits of the new elementsof society scatteredamong them by
the British bourgeoisie, till .... the Hindoos themselves shall have grown
strong enough to throw off the English yoke altogether".'2 Here it is
clear that Marx foresaw the possibility of the birth of a new society and
not its inevitability-a concept different from that of "objective pro-
gress". The social revolution which the British had performedas "the
unconscioustool of history" despite the crimes they had perpetratedwas
the primary condition of creating a regenerated society by the Hindoos.
The Britishintroduceda system for its own economic ends and got under
its wings the educatedclass of its own creation.
Total release of the social forces towards the dissolution of the
"principal contradiction" of colonial India could see the fruitionof the
materialconditionslaid down by the British. In Marx's later writingson
India (1857-58), the role of Britain has not been describedas "regenera-
ting". It has been rightly pointed out by Barun De that renaissancein
India "as a product of British rule, stopped being on Marx'scards after
the grim experienceof the Britishrepression of the IndianRevolt of 1857-
58"13. The experience of the 19th century intellectual of British rule
was a happy one underthe patronageof the new master. This new social
group becamethe interpreter of the new world shaped by the Company's
Raj. Bengali intellectuals belonging to the upper caste Hindu society
weretied to the landed-interestscreatedby the PermanentSettlementAct
of 1793. It created,in the words of Bentink "a vast body of rich landed
proprietors deeply interested in the continuance of the British Doman-
ion and havingcompletecommandover the mass of the people"14.

Inpact of BritishLand Policy

The British land policy made the countrydependenton agriculture
and kept it backward. The first and most immediateobjectiveof British
economicpolicy was to retard the indigenous evolution of a modern
capitalisteconomy. The British colonialists created a "non-competitive
structureof society"15and augmentedthe intensity of exploitationof the
landlessand small peasants. In the wordsof N.K. Sinha: "Therewas
almost full employment and practically no landlessproletariat. British
attemptsto establish a class of revenue farmers who would be helpful
associatesin extractingwealth from land failed completely. The zamindars

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 29

continuedto maintaintheir hold on land. There was some sub-infeudation

but not on a very extensivescale. The relationof a ryot to zamindarwas
neitherthat of a proprietornor of a vassal but a compoundof both."16
However, with the system of permanent land settlement (1793),
Cornwallis tried to introduce some changes in the revenue system
which establisheda new landlordclass as the social basis of Britishrule.
It ensureda permanently fixed paymentto the Government. Cornwallis
createeda new class of zamindarsconsistingof the Company's regular
revenuefarmers, its banyans and the inferior zamindars. These people
were differentfrom the descendentsof the ancient families. The Permanent
SettlementAct also promoted subinfeudation to a large extent. It gave
birth to severalmiddlemen. This growthof subinfeudationwas recognised
by a Regulationof 1819 which tried to securethe interestof patnidars,or
holdersof undertenuresof a proprietary nature. Tracingthe originand
developmentof the Indian middle class B.B. Mitra has said :
"The middleclass landedinterest ..... grew both from the disinte-
grationand partition of ancient estates as well as from the increaseof
patni tenure. But in any case the greatbulk of purchaserswere either
townsmenor had some sort of urban connexion. The generaltendency
was towardsabsenteelandlordism".17
In a word, a sytem of total and absolute propetyin land was created
whichwas something new in Bengal. The objective of Lord Cornwallis
was evincedin a letter of 6 March, 1793. He wrote" ...... the large
capitalspossessedby many of the Natives, which they will have no means
of employing when the public debt is discharged, will be appliedto the
purchases of landed property as soon as the tenure is declaredto be
secure"'1. Thus land becamethe principalfield of 'native capital'invest-
ment. "A formidablerival to Britishcapital investmentin India was thus
removed"'9. The old feudal aristocracy was ruined and replacedby a
more "dehumanisednew feudal aristocracy"20.They were more oriented
to monetarygains and became the parasites of their colonial masterto
servecolonial ends.

The New UrbanMilieu

The deliberateendeavourby the Britishto prevent the growthof an
enterprenualstrataamong the Indiansforced the 'new elite' to concentrate
on land business. Finding themselves unable to put up any fight against
Britishrule they diverted their energy and power to culturaland social
reforms. The anti-obscurantistideology preachedby the social reformers
of the 19th centurywas congenialfor the development and consolidation
of political interests. The western legal and social ideology within the
colonial set up was necessary for the smooth working of the colonial
economy and to changeold "consumptionpatterns"andlife styles. Middle
class intellectuals had to remain satisfiedwith a virtualmonopoly of the
severalclericaljobs and other professions.And the landedgentryof Bengal

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30 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

becamea class of rent receivers, and absentee landlordism became the

cardinal feature of the social structure. The perpetuation of feudal
exploitationin the villages kept the supply line of luxuries for the city
dwellingabsentee landlords intact. It created a class of 'banias' in the
cities who flourshed as a 'comprador'class having its economic interests
"bound up with the stabilty of English trade and the company's Govern-
ment.''21 S.B. Chaudhuri has enumerated three factors such as the
Permanent Settlement, the English education, and business involvement,
which "operated in quite a methodical way to bring into existence the new
urban milieu, definitely pro-British in character."22
The intellectuals of the 19th century Bengal emanating from this
class of people had a long cherished goal of life to become the junior par-
taker of British administrative system. Rammohun Roy the "father of the
Indian renaissance" was overwhelmed by the British sense of justice and
law. He was pained to have seen Hindustan "for several centuries subject
to Muhammadan Rule, and the civil and religious rights of its original
inhabitants being constantly trampled upon.23 Rammohun was shocked
to see the want of "vigour of body" of the inhabitants of Bengal and
regretted their aversion to "active exertion" against the Muslim plunders"24.
He greeted the King's Most Excellent Majesty with the following
words: "Divine Providence at last, in its abundant mercy, stirred up the
English nation to break the yoke of those tyrants, and to receive the
oppressed Natives of Bengal under its protection."25 He further pleaded
on behalf of the class he represented: "your dutiful subjects have not
viewed the English as a body of conquerors, but rather as deliverers, and
look up to your Majesty not only as a Ruler, but also as a father and
protector."26

Spirit of Subservience
This spirit of subservience also permeated the entire reform move-
within the colonial set up. Raja Rammohun Roy and his close associate
Prince Dwarka Nath Tagore who championed the case of European settle-
ment in India took an independent stance on many occasions in regard to
the role of the Company rulers, to wrest some advantages throughbargain-
ing, without jettisioning their pro-British attitudes. Even the leading
young radical of the nineteenth century Henry Louis Derozio (1809-31)
also looked upon British rule, especially in the Mofussil areas, as being
"generally very well disposed towards their native subjects."27 Writing
on the colonization of India by Europeans "The Kaleidoscope" of Derozio
pleaded for the interference by the British legislature in Indian affairs and
asked the British sovereign to materially alter the "present system of
Indian policy, by admitting natives and Indo-Britons to a participation of
Privileges, on a similar footing, as far as practicable and expedient, with
the Europeans."28 Derozio was concerned with the establishment of the
"arts and sciences" for the benefit both of the governors and governed.

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 31

He visualisedthat "It is only by such a measure that discontentcan be

prevented from brooding into rebellion."29 RammohunRoy also while
pleadingfor the freedomof press had this fear in mind that denial of
freedomwould lead to rebellionby the natives. Nobody, either liberal or
radicalcould think of changing the society in its productionrelationsor
from beneath. They were concernedwith the superstructureand its evils.
It was the limit of the reformmovementsof the nineteenthcentury.
Objectivelyit was not possible for this strata of people to conceive
of anythingthat could even slightlyresemble the renaissance of Europe,
which saw the turmoil of change in the relations of production.
Rammohunpleaded for the liberal government. He said of the Indians
and the Europeansliving in India that "so long as they are treated
liberally,and governed in an enlightenedmanner,will feel no disposition
to cut off its connectionwith England. ..30 Thus Rammohun expressed
the temperament of the intellectuals of his time. The Englisheducation
system and the so-called"filtration"theory had been mooted to bringthe
new intellectualscloser to the Britishto make them act "as an agencyof
imperialist economy and administration".31Economic factors"blunted
the political sentiments"of the zamindarsof Bengal who "threwwhole
weight in strengtheningthe hands of the Governmentwheneverany tension
came on the surface."32 The stakes of the intellectualsin the agrarian
system gave them a strong pro-Britishcharacter. It was one expectation
of Cornwallisthat the policy of the PermanentSettlement would contri-
bute to social stability. The class which emerged as a result of the
Permanent Settlementwas expectedto act as a strong stablisingforce in
society. The questionwhether it could play the role assignedto it may
be a subjectof debate. But the beneficiariesof the systemtried to amass
their fortune underthe British tutelage. The permanentproprietorsof
the lands "should be attached to us from motives of self-interest",
Cornwallisrealisedit. For, "a landholder who is securedin the quiet
enjoymentof a profitable estate could have no motive for wishingfor a
change."33
It would be wrongto think as some have done that Rammohun
and otherscould have played the role of revolutionariesor at least could
have supportedthe peasant uprisings during their time if the movements
were objectively poised for favour. It is argued that they never had any
"aims at a goal outsidethe boundsof realisability".34 Struggle against
colonialismto throw it off was a remoteidea they argue. Hence to think
about liberation would amount to courtingutopia in that context. But
their aversionto peasant revolts was due to the social and class privileges
they enjoyedby the graceof the Britishruler and not due to their realisa-
tion that successof the revolt was "outside the boundsof realisability".
For the ambitiousBengali "Bhadrolok" it was really outsidethe bounds
of their class intereststo harbourany anti-British idea. Its outlook was
inhibitedby the conservatismof the middleclass, dependenton land,"with

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32 SOCIALSCIENTIST

stakes in the agrarian system the intelligentia had a tendencyto support

the raj. ."3.
These people who found in the British raj the opportunityto esta-
blish their supremacy over their Muslim counterparts, could not be
expected to struggleagainstcolonialism. It is true that our 18th century
was "culturally a stagnantbackwater"and viewedin that context the
cultural development of the 19th century cannot be contemptuously
rejectedas a whole. But 'renaissance'is too sweepinga word to designate
the whole thing which was not a concertedmovementof any consequence
pertainingto the people. The middleclass, thrivingundera semi-stagnant
agricultural economy,could not imbibe any idea that transcendedthe
political and social limits set by the new raj. Its approach to issues or
problemswas individualisticand the emancipationof the people-that is
renaissancewas a far cry. Even its limited endeavourwas halted, as seen
in case of Rammohun who dislikedcaste rules but would not denounce
them publicly"for fear of cuttinghimself adriftfrom the main currentof
his times.36

Rammohun's Career
Rammohunstarted his career at Rs. 100 per month at Benaresin
1803. Laterhe workedas Dewan underWoodforde AssistantCollector
of Dacca Jelalpore,and again as Dewan under John Digby. Rammohun
thus associated himself with the work of assessment of lands which
followed the permanentsettlement of 1793. He did brisk businessby
lending money to the civil servantsat a high rate. The motive behind
lending money has been described by himself: "Natives not having any
hope of attaining direct consideration from the government by their
meritsor exertions,are sometimesinducedto accomodatethe civil servants
with money, by the hope of securingtheir patronagefor their friendsand
relatives,the judges and others havingmany situationsdirectlyor indirect-
ly in their gift; sometimes by the hope of benefitingby their friendly
disposition, when the natives have estate under their jurisdiction, and
sometimes to avoid incurring the hostility of the judge.. ."37 After
accumulatingsome money RammohunpurchasedGovindpurin Jahanabad
Parganafrom some GangadharGhose at Rs. 3100 and Rameeswarpurin
Chandrakonafrom RamtonuRoy at Rs. 1250 only. He bought Lagulpura
in 1803-4and Srirampurand Krishnagarin 1809-1038.
RammohunRoy, an ardent advocate of the policy of European
colonisation of India urged the governmentto remove the ban upon the
Europeansto acquireextensive stretchesof land in the country. The ban
was lifted in 1833. The BritishIndigo plantersorganisedthe Commercial
and Patriotic Association for commercialisationof agriculture. In
February, 1828 Rammohun was elected to its working committeeas its
Joint Treasurer. The spirit of co-operation with the foreignersset forth
by Rammohunwas faithfullycarriedforwardby his discipleDevendranath

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 33

Tagore who brought about the merger of the Bengal British India Society
with the Landholders' Society. It came to be known as British India
Association.9
Rammohun's journey to England is treated generally as a courageous
revolt against the taboo forbidding any voyage by a Hindu. But this was
not wholly devoid of mundane consideration for fortune and wealth. For
the mission in England on behalf of the Mughal emperor of Delhi,
Rammohun received a jagir worth of 3 to 4 thousand pounds annual
income. The honourable title of 'Raja' was also conferred upon him by
the emperor in August 1829. At the beginning Rammohun was not inte-
rested in the Act abolishing suttee. It was not his mission to advocate in
favour of the Suttee Act in England. Rammohun got a shock from the
Government when it refused to acknowledge his new title of 'Raja' as well
as his mission on behalf of the Mughal emperor of Delhi.
After this experience Rammohun became a supporter of the Suttee
Act (4th December, 1829). He also wrote to Bentinck that he would not
appear there as the Envoy of the Emperor but "as a private individual".
His desire was sanctioned by the government. But in England he was cons-
picuous by his absence at the Privy Council throughout its Suttee proceed-
ings.40Rammohun's success in persuading the Home Government to increase
the amount of the stipend for the Mughal Emperor encouraged many other
feudal lords to solicit active support in presenting their grievances to the
Home government, which he, however could not take up due to his sudden
death in England. Moreover "a religious Benthamite" Raja Rammohun
Roy who established the Brahma Sabha (20 August 1828) never broke away
from Hinduism and strictly observed caste regulations. The disparity bet-
ween word and deed, public performance and private behaviour "simply
reflected the struggle to avoid sinking into the quicksand of impending
modernization"41 The young radicals of the 19th century condemned
Rammohun and his associates an opportunists. In their opinion they were
guided by the motive to acquire wealth. They were in their eyes "half
liberals" who always behaved according to their convenience "in order
to secure the patronage and influence of the high folks of Calcutta"42

The Brahmo Samaj

The compromise which the reformers of the 19th century tried to
make was between their personal pecuniary position and liberal western
ideas. That resulted in a contradiction between thought and action.
Prasannakumar Tagore another reformer also showed a marked difference
between word and deed. He publicly denounced idolatry, but used to
perform the Durga Puja at his residence. This brought him under sharp
criticism of Derozio. Prasannakumar Tagore, as one of his friends ex-
plained, had to observe that obligation as a 'condition' for the preservation
of the property he inherited from his ancestors.4 The most significant
phenomenon of the 19th century was the Brahmo movement. It was an

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34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

anti-idolatrous religious reform movement. The movement was in the

main a call to trim Hindu religiousthoughtthough it was not anti-Hindu
in character. But the movementwanedafter the departureof Rammohun
Roy to England. It would have died a natural death if Debendranath
Tagore did not take special interestin revivingit. He initiatedhimselfinto
Rammohun'sfaith on the 7th of Poush (December1843). In his hand, it
assumeda purely Hindu characterbased on the belief of the infallibilityof
the Vedas and the Upanisads. Later, underthe intellectual persuasionof
AkshayKumarDutta, Debendranath discarded the dogma of the infalli-
bility of the Vedas. The movement acquireda theisticcharacter, In this
regard Iswarchandra Vidya Sagar appears to have played a role in
influencing the young humanists within the Brahmo sect, though thereis
"no evidenceto prove it"44. As Debendranath'smind aas conservativein
nature45 he was appalled to see the extent to which the young Brahmos
were preparedto go in advocating some social reforms such as intercaste
marriage,and discardingsome Braminicaltraditions. They challengedthe
righteousness of the Brahmo preachers who used to wear the Brahmin
symbol the sacredthread. The young KesbabChandraSen was the leader
of those young rebels.

Two Trends
A schismin the BrahmoSamaj was evident. The breakresultedin
the establishment of the BrahmoSamajof India (November1866). The
Samajmade a new compilationfrom differentreligiousscripturesand Islam
for publicworship. The radical Brahmos wereput to severetest. Many
of them were deprived of paternal property for the belief they held.
Physicaltorturewas inflictedupon them by orthodoxvillagerswherethey
lived or went to preachthe Brahmospirit. But most of them stood up and
set an exampleby defying the privationsfor the sake of their mission. The
reform endeavour which gripped KeshabChandraSen createda stir. A
Civil MarriageAct was achievedto the great alarmof the orthodoxsection
of the Brahmointellectuals. But in the long run it gave birth to a more
radical group of Brahmos who went muchahead of their leadershipin
thinking. They becamemore and more critical of Keshab'sleadershipfor
his alleged paternalisticrule in the Samaj. They also attackedthe mystic
sentimentgrowingup in his mind, and the idea of doublestandardswith
regard to the educationof men and women. The crisiscame to a head
when Keshabgave his daughter in marriage to the chief of Coochbehar
underthe old rites defying the new marriageconventionswhichgrew in the
churchat his own instance. He pleadedthat it was a specialcase46. This
incident caused the break of the young Brahmoswith Keshab. In 1878
the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was set up by the young rebel group.
The new Samaj preached universal liberationof all people, democratic
republicanismand the cause of the welfare of labour. The organ of
the group, "Brahmo Public Opinion", reflectedthe politicalagitationof

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCON RADICTIONS 35

the period to good extent. The young Brahmos rallied against the case of
dismissal of Surendranath Banerjee from the service. They considered it
an example of imperial bureaucratic excess. Ananda Mohan Bose was the
inspiration behind this movement. He was the "brain" and Sivnath Sastri
was the "right hand" of the new samaj47. When Anand Mohan Bose was
in England (1870-1874) he came in contact with liberal thinkers and some
well wishers of India. He became interested in politics. After coming
back to the country he along with Surendranath Banerjee realised the need
to form a middle class political association. Their middle class desire gave
birth to the Indian Association (Bharat Shava) in 1876 of which Ananda
Mohan became the first secretary. Thus Ananda Mohan Bose introduced
a political element into the Brahmo movement which intoxicated the
young followers. They became critical of the British policy of exploitation
of Indian labourers in the tea gardens and other places. A young Brahmo
Dwarakanath Ganguly (1845-1898) was a strong advocate of liberal edu-
cation for women and wrote articles in his "Abolabandhab" (1869) edited
from a far off village of Dacca. It created a stir among the young
Brahmos. When he came to Calcutta (1870) he became immensely inte-
rested in politics and became the Assistant Secretary of the Bharat Shava
(Indian Association). Dwarkanath Ganguly wrote in Bengalee (29,
September 1886) about the conditions of the coolies in the tea gardens of
Assam: "The position of the labourers in many tea gardens is almost as
bad, if not worse, than the condition of the American negro slaves before
their emancipation."47 Ramkumar Vidyaratna also wrote about the con-
ditions of the tea gardens' labourers in his 'Satyasrabar Assam Bhraman'
(1879), and "Kuli Kahini" (1888). Sibnath Sastri another leading young
Brahmo wrote a poem "Sramajibi" in "Bharat Sramajeebi" 1874 Vol. 1
edited by Sasipada Bandopadhya through which he gave a call to the
workers to rise and emancipate themselves from the bondage of exploita-
tion. It may be recalled that Muzaffar Ahmed one of the founders of the
Communist Party of India recognised Sivnath Sastri as one of the first
enlightened persons who welcomed the need to form an organisation for
the working class48. This politically oriented trend in the Brahmo move-
ment should not necessarily lead us to believe that the emancipation of the
working class came to be possible as a result of some articles or poems.
These young people could not transcend the frontier of their own class nor
could they bring any subjugated worker to realise the gravity of the politi-
cal and social situation of the time. The restlessness of the new Brahmos
was the reflection of the social unrest and the political fluidity of the
period. It was a middle class humanitarian urge to do something good on
behalf of the exploited people and to become their leaders. It did not
usher in the forces of awakening. The objectives of religious or social re-
form could not form the basis for the emancipation of the exploited. The
economic interests of the working class could not be linked with the reform
movement and it failed to cause the total awakening of the people. The

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36 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

activities of the young Brahmos were restricted to their class arena

and they could not exploit the historicalpossibilitieswith much ability.

Limits to Radicalism
The journeyof the Brahmomovementfrom Rammohunto Ananda-
mohan is long and chequered, marked by differentclass interestsin diffe-
rent periods. The early feudal interestsof Rammohunand Debendranath
Tagore acted as a fetter upon them and explaintheir compromisewith
tradition. That resultedin a trend which young BrahmoKeshabChandra
could not avert totally. The young radicalswere mostly from the middle
or lower middleclass families. Some were steepedin the westernconstitu-
tional legal lore which shapedtheir agitational attitudes. Theiragitations
were very much within the bounds of the constitutionand as such inoffen-
sive. They also failed to integrate with the people in the main. Their
attitudeto the working class problemswere humanitarian. They wanted
to abjure any class conflict and relied on the crystalisationof class
collaboration.
In EnglandSasipadaBanerjeeopened a night school for the working
class people and was allegedlyaccusedof "setting class againstclass". But
he said : "I have been trying to teach them that labour is honourable,not
to bringdisorder and confusion amongst us, but to bringclass with class
in sympathywith each other" (September23, 1871)49. Sasipada formed
the workingmen's club (1870) which according to David Kopf "might
well have become the nucleus of a socialist cell or trade union".5
About the club Sasipda's son wrote later : "The club exerciseda healthy
influence on the workers with a view to ending the use of the strike
weapon .... Banerjee urged them to practice thrift, selfhelp with the
resultthat severalof them were able to put all their savingsto carryon a
small business in cloths (dhotis), several of them weaving cloths on
Sundays".51
The Brahmosocial welfareinstitution "Das Ashram"whichfounded
charitableassociations, small hospitals in the rural areas and performed
many other social activites was based on a philanthropicoutlook. The
Brahmossounded radical in social life but their revolts wereconfiedto
constitutional and legal limits. Even at the time of the Swadeshimove-
ment (1905) they did not allow themselves to be carried away by it.
Immediatesocial revolution or radicalchange was not their dream. But
with all the limitationsthe radicalyoung Brahmosmarkeda step forward
at least in socio-politicalthinkingthough its impact was not as all encom-
passingas a popularrevolt or 'reawakening'should have.
Another important institution "Hindu Mela" which was set up by
the Brahmoson April 12, 1867 workedfor the promotion of the national
sentimentand the love for indigenousthings. It was organisedby Rajnaray-
an Bose and Nabogopal Mitra. With that objectivein view Hindu Mela
resolvedto establishmodel schools for instructionsin Hindu music,Hindu

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONRADICTIONS 37

medicine and to publicize and patronize ancient Sanskrit literature evoking

a Hindu cultural ethos. All this was to fight back the tide of Anglicism
which was ripping our society.52 The religiosity of the 19th century
'progressive movement' divided the upper echelon of the society into two
artificial camps-Hindu Orthodox and Hindu Progressive-instead of
bringing about a new awakening on a massive scale. From the very
beginning Rammohun Roy disliked secular or areligious rationalism
preached by Henry Louis Derozio, the leader of the young Bengal move-
ment. It was Rammohun's strong bias for religion that goaded him to
give material support to Alexzander Duff the Scottish missionary who
arrived at Calcutta in 1830, with a mission to dispel the 'Godless' educa-
tion disseminated by Derozio. The young Bengal movement, however,
was negative in tone and ended in a fiasco after the premature death of
Derozio, with many of his followers going over to the camp of calvinism of
the missionary Duff.
The young Bengal movement signifies the emergence of an intelle-
ctual class with a modern outlook, which due to their social isolation from
the masses and because of middle class impetuosity became extreme and
wreckless in behaviour. This radical trend also bears the stamp of the
material changes that the society was undergoing as a result of foreign
rule. The main trend, however, being anti-religious could not touch the
people. Religious attitude worked as a bottleneck to the social progress.

Attitude-to Christianity
Both the Hindu orthodox intellectuals and the Brahmos raised a hue
and cry about the intrusion of Christianity into our paternalistic society.
But they simply differed in attitude regarding the emphasis to be given to
this protest. While the orthodox emphasised the need to retain the social
and religious practices to put up a bulwark against foreign attack, the
progressives wanted to change the society from within and generate a
built-in mechanism to thwart the Christian onslaught. But both sections
disliked the areligious atheism of Derozio, who had been expelled from the
Hindu College in 1831 on charge of contaminating the morale of the
students. Rammohun himself established his Anglo-Hindu school at the
time when the Hindu school had already completed five years (1822). He
persuaded his friend Dwarakanath Tagore to send his son Debendranath
to that school in 182753. Debendranath Tagore and Radhakanta Deb
later formed a common platform with the Hindu and Brahmo intellectuals
to stop the spread of Christianity. They went door to door from dawn to
dusk to persuade Hindu parents not to send their wards to the missionary
schools and collected subscriptions to establish a new school for Hindu
students. They convened a conference on 25th May, 1845 and a new
school named 'Hindu Hitarthi' emerged as a result. Radhakanta Deb became
the president and Bhudeb Mukhopadhaya the first teacher of the school.
Thus the antagonism and the squabbles between the Brahmo Sabha

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38 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

and the Dharma Sabha were healed.54 Both the Hindu orthodoxesand
the Brahmo intellectuals tried to raise a bulwark against the alien senti-
ment which threatened to overwhelm the Hindu way of life and vision.
Actually they faced a crisis of identity. Their obsessionwith a 'glorious
past', was a res It of their strong desire to share the glory of the
ruling power. But their social and economic position vis-a-vis the
British did not allow them to drift away from or revolt against the
master. They thrived on the politics of negotiation, which through
history has been the political method of the middle class. This largely
explains the rise and development of the moderate politicians of the
later period who found a congenial atmospherefor persuing a mendicant
policy, within the Congress party establishedby Allan OctavianHume
in 1885.
Susobhan Sarkar speaks about the renaissance hertage in the
followingwords: "The educated communityof the 19th centuryfailed to
understandthe exploiting character of the alien British rule in India,
looking mainly at its immediatebenefits;the protagonistsof our "awaken-
ing" had little contact with or understandingof the toiling masses who
lived in a world apart;the obsessionwith Hindutraditions and life kept at
a distancethe communityof our Muslim fellow citizens. Such aspectsof
our renaissance heritage have seriouslyhandicapped the democraticpro-
gress of the country."55 The new class of intellectuals which emerged and
was accredited as a result of the British rule cultivated an ideology of
"Professionalism". That new class did not like to be guidedby mere
motivesof commercial venality but also by some kind of moral and
intellectualsuperiority. That class made a bid for prestige within establi-
shed society. In every society "the deepest structurein the cultureand
ideology of intellectuals is their pride in their own autonomy,which they
understand as based on their own reflection,and their abilityto decide
their coursein the light of this reflection"56. This observationabout the
middle or upper middle class intellectuals made by Gouldneris true of
the 19th centuryBengaliintellectuals.
The BengaliMuslim
The Hindu intellectuals ignored both the Hindu and the Muslim
masses. In the agrarian sphere this separation from the massescreated
a very disturbingsituation to the zamindarswho were mostly Hindus. The
socio-economicinterests of the peasantslater came to acquirea somewhat
religioustone, with the emergenceof the Faraiziand Wahabimovements.
The Faraizimovementstartedin 1818. The objectivesof these movements
were to keep Islam in Bengal beyond the pale of un-Islamic influence.
The politico-religious movement of the Faraizi-Wahabileaders were the
'reactions, not remedies, to the situation the existing."57
The Muslim population was in general anti-British. They took a
adversarialattitude to the new rulerand refrained from acceptingthe

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONRADICTIONS 39

western education. But with the ebbing away of the tempo of the anti-
British rcligious reform movements by the end of the 19th century the
Muslim leaders realised the futility of their policy of noncoperation with
the British. They tried to explore the possibility of cooperation. Abdul
Luteefthe main spokesman of the Bengali Muslims made an effort to
persuade the Muslims to learn English to combat backwardness. But
Abdul Luteef was concerned at the same time to retain the identity of the
Muslims and considered the Calcutta Madrassa as the main fountain of
Muslim consciousness. Thus the conservative character of the Muslim
texture of mind was not the target of Abdul Luteef's educational policy.
The main purpose of Abdul Luteef was to bridge the gap between the
Muslim community and the British so that material benefits which the
Hindus had derived should also accrue to the Muslims.58 In his bid to
remove the anti-British attiude from Muslim minds Abdul Luteef succeed-
ed in getting the support of Karamat Ali, a famous religious leader after
the decline of the Faraizi-Wahabi movements. Karamat Ali even declared
that British India was "Dar-ul-lslam" not "Dar-ul-Harb", that is the
country of Islam and not the country of war.
The idea that the Muslims should adopt English education and
recognise the British Raj as a fait accompli dawned upon the educated
section of the Muslim community. In the effort to drive this notion into
the mind of the community, Abdul Luteef was supported by Syed Ameer
Hossin and Justice Syed AnmeerAli. Ameer Ali took initiative in establi-
shing the Central National Mahomedan Association of Calcutta in 1877.
This Association was "founded essentially upon the principle of
strict and loyal adherence to the British Crown" and the government was
"pleased to consult the views of the Association on any legislative adminis-
trative and educational questions."59 The British Government also
responded to the feeling of the Muslims and gave some facilities to the
Muslim students to make English education available at a lower fee. As a
result the well to do Muslims could come closer to the British and availed
themselves of the English education. It created an educated Muslim class
which remained loyal to the British and widened the gulf between the
common Muslim folk and the leaders. The Muslim leaders made an
attempt to organise the Muslim intelligentsia against the Congress. The
Central National Mohammedan Association called a conference of
Muslims in India in 1887. This was ostensibly designed to gather the
"cultivated Moslems" from all over India to lay the foundation stone of
future good of the Muslims without showing any rivalry to the Hindu
compatriots. Throughout the year 1887 the Aligarh group carried on
propaganda against the Congress, and the Muslims were discouraged from
joining the Congress. They were not very different from their Congress
counterparts in seeking the blessings of the ruling power and their appeal
along religious line percolated slowly into the minds of the people of their
community.

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40 SOCIALSCIENTIST

The middle class Muslim leaders led the masses into the alley of
constitutionalism. The tensions generated by the grievances of the masses
were successfully muffled by these leaders in the interest of their own
class consolidation with the help of the new Raj. The Muslim leaders were
very conscious about their backwardness compared with the position of
the Hindus and zealously vied with them to get the patronage of the ruling
power. Their feelings were reflected in presentations before the Hunter
Commission of 1882-1883 and Aitchison Commission of 1886-87. The
Muslim leaders were deeply worried baout the proposals of the Hindus
regarding the changes in the rules of entrance to the Indian Civil Service.

CommunalTension
The Hindu Renaissance leaders did not bother about the problems of
the peasants (mostly Muslim) and failed to bring the Muslim comunity
under the umbrella of their influence. In fact the pioneers of the 19th
Century Bengal were disturbed by the Faraizi and Wahabi movements
though they were quite aware of the miserable conditions in the rural
Bengal. Further, it was mainly the Hindus who occupied not only the
jobs in G~vernment department, but also dominated the important posi-
tion under local Government. That contributed a lot to the separatism
between the two communities. The question of local-self Government be-
came the focal point of communal tension in the rural areas. Provisions
of the Local Self Government Act (1815-87) confined the elections
of the members of the Local and District Boards among the zamindars,
pleaders and government servants. That gave a decisive political advantage
to the Hindus whose social prestige increased sky high. The hatred against
the Muslims was so intense that even medical aid from the Muhammadan
hospital assistants in some places was refused by the Hindus.60 The newly
educated and rich Muslim persons took the full advantage of this social
antagonism to entrench themselves as the spokesmen of their poor commu-
nity. Neither the educated Hindus nor the Muslims did like to see their
separate identities, being obliterated for obvious political reasons. The
masses of both the communities were the worst victims of this sordid
policy. The political background and social outlook of the pioneers of the
19th century set limits to the awakening of a strong unified national
movement; the full advantage of which was availed of by the British
Government at crucial junctures of the national movement during the later
periods. The 19th century intellectuals could not exploit the socio-economic
grievances of the people and ignored the masses as an insignificant factor
in history.
In Bengal there was an admixture of Hindu Muslim cultures that evok-
ed 'syncretist cults' like satyapir and communities like that of Bauls, the
sufi tradition. Despite religious cleavage, there was an under current of
unity among the masses of both the communities which our leaders ignored
and provided the British somewhat unconsciously the opportunity to poison

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 A STUDY IN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 41

the minds of the people both of the communitiesby applyingits divideand

rule policy. The contradiction beweenthe two communitieswas made to
acquirean antagonisticcharacterand the two nation theory was no longer
"an historicalabsurdity"61.
The Muslimreligious consciousness was gradually drilled into the
minds of the lower classesof the Muslim community,as the Muslim
reformleaderswere successful in encompassing a large numberof poor
masses by connecting their call for reform, with economicmovements.
It has been noted that the Muslimswere not happy with the Britishruler
and the Hindus were happy with the replacementof the Muslimrulerby
the British. The mutuallycontradictory attitudesof the two communities
towardsthe British and the mundanecalculations of their fortune pre-
vented the formation of any unified and single streamof national move-
ment. The attitudeof the Bengaliintellectualsto the sepoy mutiny(1857)
was negativepartlydue to the unfounded apprehensionthat Muslimrule
mightbe restored if the mutiny succeeded. Iswar ChandraGupta, for
example,reacted sharplyagainstthe mutinyand condemnedthe Muslims
for their lack of loyalty to the crown62. One of the greatestintellectuals
of the 19th century Bengal Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was an
apostle of Hindu religiousdoctrine which he preachedvigourouslywith all
his classical and western learning. When the Christiansas well as the
Brahamos were posing a challenge to Hinduismand Hindu rituals and
customs were subjectsof unmercifulbanter, Bankim Chandra took up
the cudgel to answerit on a intellectual plane. He made an untiringeffort
to prove that Hinduism was the best religion. It is an irony of the 19th
century intellectual movement that it stimulatedthe forces of counter-
reformation,which includedthe pioneerof modernBengaliprose, Bankim
ChandraChattopadhyay.The basic weaknessof the movement of rationa-
lism in Bengal was that it was from the very beginninggroundedon
religiosity. And in the processof competitionand clash betweenreligious
cults, Hindu revivalism or neo-Hinduism triumphedin the long run. It
also absorbed the trend of emerging nationalism within its fold. The
slogan of "Bandemataram"coined by BankimChandra,conjuringup the
image of the mother Goddess provided sustenance to the nationalists
especiallythe Swadeshis in later period. Aurobindo Ghose the chief
exponentof the revolutionary "terrorist"movementin Bengalbased his
theses on the teachingsof BankimChandrato emboldenthe youths on the
Hindu religious line. Swami Vivekananda'smystic socialism based on
religious idealism provided a theoretical frame work to the patriotic
mindedyouths. His great disciple and devotee-sister Nivedita worked
out the politicalimplicationof her Guru'steachingand advocated"aggres-
sive Hinduism". Nationalism and Hinduism becametwin brothers and
Brahmoismceasedto be the controllingpassion of the youths. Then Indian
nationalismwas largelyframed within the mould of religiousbelief. This
has been preceded by the spirit of so called Renaissanceusheredin by

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42 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Rammohunand others.
The most notable secular thinker and social reformer of the nine-
teenth century Bengal was Iswar ChandraVidyasagar,a Sanskritscholar
and author. IswarChandraVid3asagar scrupulouslyavoidedthe path of
religionand stuck to the work of social reform. He perhapsrealisedthe
futility of the religious crusade against Christianityor Brahmoism. He,
therefore,did not enter into an interminablereligiousdebate, except when
he had to press into service some religious texts to carryforwardthe
mission of widow remarriage. In this sense Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar
was the true follower of secularism. But IswarChandrawas a lone voice
and this attitudecould not influenceour futurepoliticiansvery much and
religiosityhas becomean indispensiblefeature of politics in India. Iswar
Chandraor his admirerAkshoy KumarDatta seems to have been flushed
away by the virulentstream of religioussocial movement. Thereis, how-
ever, a tendency to paint Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar as 'anti-peasant'
among the neo-leftist intellectuals.63 The common argument is that
Vidyasagar did not oppose or say a single word about the Permanent
SettlementAct and workedonly for the uplift of the people of his own
(middle) class. This analysis ignores the actual purposeof Vidyasagar's
missionand the positive role which humanitarian preceptscould play in
shaping progressive thinking. Vidyasagar was not estrangedfrom the
peasantsnor did he amass his fortune from the land. In this regardhe
was a notable exception among the 19th centurysocial reformers. Vidya-
sagar crusadedagainst all sorts of social prejudices and oppressionand
demonstrated the characteristicsof a progressive mind-reasonableness,
uprightness, courage, self-respect and above all secularism. It is a pity
that there were not many followersof the path of Vidyasagar. Contempt
for his own class inducedhim to discard an urbane existence and live
among the poor peasantsduring the last years of his life. There was a
possibilityof the emergence of a streakof progressiveforce if the middle
class could whole heartedlyaccept the ideals Vidyasagarstood for. It was
objectivelyordainedto be otherwise. But the fault was not of
nor was he transformedinto a 'class enemy' of the peasants.Vidyasagar
It is true
that Vidyasagar could not spreadhis work beyond the limit of his class
but he hit his own class and harboureddeep respectfor the poor massesof
the country. This was not very common among the people of his class
at that time.
Thus the 'Renaissance'leaders were largely concerned with their
individual emancipation and fought the enemy withouttaking the people
with them. They had no faith in the commonpeople and chose to remain
isolatedfrom them acquiring the appellation of"Bhadrolok". Susobhan
Sarkarwhile appreciatingthe "new life" in Bengal recognisesits "obvious
weakness": "It did more on the axis of the upperstratumalone of society,
the 'Bhadraloks', it could not draw in the Muslim communityand the
massesof the backward Hindus; it failed to strike a consistentanti-impe-

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 A STUDYIN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 43

rialist note"64. The entire nature of and the conflict within our 'Renais-
sance' stimulated a tendency of compromise among the leaders. They
eschewed the path of long struggle with authority and resorted to consti-
tutional exercises from time to time. They preferred the path of the
'bhadroloks' and avoided one which could open the gate for the subalterns
in their struggle against any authority. This set the style of functioning
of the leaders of our national movement in future to a great extent.
Since its inception the National Congress followed a 'mendicant'
policy. It was a very safe line of protest against what the leaders consi-
dered unjust. Their "moderate' line of politics provided a relief not only
to the British after their nightmarish experience of the Sepoy Mutiny of
1857 but also provided a bridge between the ruler and the ruled creating
ample scope for mutual adjustment of interests through compromise. The
'moderate' leaders abjured the hard line and excessively relied on the
politics of petition. This created great disillusionment among many in the
Congress and paved the way for the emergence of 'extremism' in Indian
politics. Again, though tht rise of Gandhi and his politics of non-violence
and Satyagraha added a new dimension to the national movement, it was
also considered to eliminate colonialism by the revolutionary nationalists
and the communists. But no revolutionary activity or communist move-
ment could stamp out Gandhi and his influence on national movement.
Gandhism remained the cardinal trend of Nationalism... which has
taught us to fight and compromise and to stop at the point of revolu-
tionary outbreak. This has a bearing on our 'Renaissance' culture and
tradition... set by the "father of Indian nationalism" Rammohun
Roy65.

1. British Paramountcyand IndianRenaissancePart II Vol X (Calcutta)

2. A HistorigraphicalCritique of Renaissance, Analogues for nineteenthcentury
India Perspectivein Social Sciences-HistoricalDimensions, Oxford University,
1977 p. 189.
3. Sarkar, Sumit, 'Rammohun Roy and the Break with the Past' quoted by Barun
De ibid.
4. British Paramountcyand Indian Renaissance-Part II p. 31.
5. Roy, M.N., India in Transition,Nachiketa Publication (1971)
6. Roy, M.N., ibid p. 20.
7. Roy, M.N., ibid p. 20.
8. Marx, Karl-Selected Works Vol. I (Moscow) 1962, The Future Results of
British Rule in India, p. 353.
9. Marx, Karl, ibid p. 353.
10. Marx, Karl, ibid p. 353.
11. Dutt, R.P.. India Today,PPH (1947) p. 80.
12. Marx, Karl, ibid p. 356.
13. De, Barun, ibid p. 203.
14. Speech on November 8, 1829, quoted in R.P. Dutt's India Today
15. Bagchi, Amiya, "Foreign capital and Economic Development in India-A

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
44 SOCIALSCIENTIST

schematic view" ; FrontierVol. Nos. 24-26 Sep. 25, 1971.

16. Sinha, N.K. "Economic Background of the Century Studies in Bengal
Renaissance"NCEB (Cal) Second Ed. 1977, p.
17. Misra, B B., TheIndianMiddle Class- TheirGrowth in ModernTimes.,Oxford
University Press (1978 reprint) p. 152.
18. B. B. Misra, ibid p. 129.
19. B.B. Misra, ibid.
20. Ghose, Benoy,-Social Change in 'Renaissance Bengal' (1817-57), Asiatic
Society 1972 p. 9.
21. ChaudhuriS.B., The Political Frame Work in 'RenaissanceBengal' (1917-57)
p. 1S
22. Chaudhuri, S.B. ibid p. 9.
23. Roy, Rammohun, Selected Works, Haraf Prakasani, 'To the Kings Most,
Excellent Majesty"p. 508.
24. Roy, Rammohun, ibid.
25. Roy, Rammohun, ibid.
26. Roy, Rammohun, ibid.
27. Remarks on the condition of East Indians, The Kaledioscope(1829-30) No. 5,
December 1829 (Ed. Gantam Chatterjee). Research India Publication,
Calcutta 1978.
28. On the Colonization of India by Europeans, August 1829 No. 2 Sept, 1829
ibid p. 34.
29. ibid.
30. Roy, Rammohun, Selected Works,London, July 14, 1832 Select Committee of
the House of Commons.
31. Chaudhuri,S.B. ibid p. 9.
32. Chaudhuri,S.B. ibid p. 9.
33. Bengal Land Revenue Commission (Floud Commission) Report Calcutta 1940
Vol. II p. 222 quoted by A.C. Banerjee in The Agrarian System of Bengal
Vol. I 1582-1793K.P. Bagchi & Company, Calcutta, 1980.
34. Rudra, Asoke, 'Reassessmentof the Nineteenth Century,' Frontier23, 1981
Vol. 13 :No. 39.
35. Sen, Sunil Kumar, 'Economic Transition in Bengal-Renaissance Bengal
(1917-1857)The Asiatic Society 1972 p. 24.
36. Sarkar,Susobhan, On the Bengal Renaissance (Cal) 1979 p. 71.
37. Dhar, Niranjan, Vedantaand Bengal Renaissance(Minerva, Calcutta)p. 52.
38. Dhar, Niranjan-ibidp. 56.
39. Mazumder, B.B., Indian Political Association and Reform of Legislature
(1818-1917)pp. 34-35.
40. Dhar, Niranjan, ibid p. 60.
41. Kopf, David, British Orientalism and Bengal Renaissance. The dynamics of
IndianModernization1773-1835,Firma K.L. Cal-1939., p. 9.
42. Englishman, 25 May 1836 quouted by AF. Salahuddin Ahmed in Social
Ideas and Social Changesin Bengal 1818-1835p. 49.
43. Salahudding Ahmed, A.F., Social Ideas and Social Changesin Bengal (1818-
1835), Leiden 1965-57.
44. Kopf, David, The Brahmo Samajand the Shaping of the ModernIndianMind,
PrincetonUniversity Press, 1979, p. 58.
45. Kopf, David, ibid p. 134.
46. Sastri, Sibnath, Ramtanu Lahiri 0 Tothkal in Banga SamajNew Age Publi-

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 A STUDYIN SOCIALCONTRADICTIONS 45

cation, Calcutta, 1957, p. 228.

47. Chatterjee,Manju, Society and Politics in Bengal 1857-85 UnphublishedPh. D.
thesis (University of Calcutta).
48. Gana-Bani,Calcutta 13th Sept. 1926 Editorial.
49. Kopf, David, ibid p. 121.
50. Kopf, David, ibfd p. 122.
51. Kopf. David, ibid p. 122.
52. Bagal, Jogesh Chandra,Hindu Melar Itibritty 1968 Appendix p. 99.
53. Tagore, Devendra Nath, Atmajibani, Visva Bharati (1962) p. 18.
54. Tagore, Devendra Nath, ibid p. 64.
55. Sarkar, Susobhan, 'Derozio and Young Bengal' On the BengalRenaissance,
Calcutta.
56. Gouldner, W. Alvin, The Future of Intellectualsand the Rise of the New Class,
Macmillan (1979) p. 34.
57. Nizami, K.A. 'Socio-Religious Movements in Indian Islam (1763-1898)'
(Ed. St. Lokhandwalla) pp. 107-108 quoted by Amalendu De., Roots of
Separationin NineteenthcenturyBengal, Calcutta, 1974 p. 20.
58. De, Amalendu, Roots of Separation in Nineteenth Century Bengal, Calcutta.
p. 21.
59. De, Amalendu, ibid p. 35.
60. De, Amalendu, ibid p. 78.
61. Sarkar,Sumit, The SwadeshiMovement in Bengal (1903-1908), Calcutta, 1973
p. 408.
62. Haldar, M.K. Renaissance andReaction in the Nineteenth Century Bengal,
BankimChandraChattopadhyay,1977, p. 130.
63. Omar, Badruddin,Iswar ChandraVidyasagar0 Unish SatakerBongaleeSamaj,
ChirayataPrakason, p. 86.
64. Sarkar, Susobhan, ibid p. 69.
65. Dutt, R.P., India Today.

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