News: Rosinka Chaudhuri in India’s First Radicals: Young Bengal and the British Empire (India Viking) describes about the Young Bengal Movement of 19th century.
About Young Bengal Movement
- Origin and Leadership
- The Young Bengal Movement was an intellectual and social reform movement in Bengal during the early 19th century (1820s-1830s).
- Leader: It was led by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, an Anglo-Indian teacher at Hindu College, Kolkata.
- Members: The members of the movement were known as Derozians and were mostly young, radical thinkers inspired by European Enlightenment and liberal ideas.
- Objectives and Philosophy
- The movement championed rationalism, free thought, and scientific inquiry.
- It sought to challenge orthodox Hindu religious and social practices, such as caste discrimination, child marriage, polygamy, and restrictions on widow remarriage.
- It advocated individual liberty, freedom of expression, and social reforms.
- It promoted critical thinking and modern education based on reason rather than traditional dogma.
- It advocated the protection of peasants (ryots) from oppressive zamindars.
- Initiatives started
- In 1828, Derozio founded with his students the ‘Academic Association’, which organised debates on various subjects.
- Another organisation of the Young Bengal was the ‘Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge’ founded in 1838.
- Journals: The Young Bengal published quite a few journals between 1828 and 1843 to give wider publicity to their views and principles.
- Among these were the Parthenon, Hesperus, Jnanannesan, Enquirer, Hindu Pioneer, Quill and the Bengal Spectator.
- They established the Calcutta Public Library in 1835, which later became the National Library of India.
- They supported freedom of the press and demanded judicial reforms, such as impartial jury trials.
