The Young Bengal was a group of Bengali

free thinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other meth ...

emerging from Hindu College,

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

. They were also known as Derozians, after their firebrand teacher at Hindu College,

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning a ...

. The Young Bengal Movement peripherally included Christians such as Reverend Alexander Duff (1809–1878), who founded the General Assembly's Institution, and his students like

Lal Behari Dey Reverend Lal Behari Day (also Dey, 18 December 1824 – 28 October 1892) was an Indian writer and journalist, who converted to Christianity, and became a Christian missionary himself. Biography Lal Behari Dey was born on 18 December 1824 to a ...

(1824–1892), who went on to renounce Hinduism. Latter-day inheritors of the legacy of the Young Bengal Movement include scholars like Brajendra Nath Seal (1864–1938), who went on to be one of the leading theologians and thinkers of the Brahmo Samaj. The Derozians however failed to have a long term impact. Derozio was removed from the Hindu college in 1831 because of radicalism. The main reason for their limited success was social conditions prevailing at that time which were not ripe for adoption of radical ideas. Further, they did not link masses through peasant causes. Young Bengal followed classical economics and was composed of free traders who took inspiration from

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

, Adam Smith, and

David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist. He was one of the most influential of the classical economists along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith and James Mill. Ricardo was also a politician, and a ...

: :"With respect to the questions relating to Political Economy, they all belong to the school of Adam Smith. They are clearly of opinion that the system of monopoly, the restraints upon trade, and the international laws of many countries, do nothing by paralyse the efforts of industry, impede the progress of agriculture and manufacture, and prevent commerce from flowing in its natural course."

Organisations

Derozio and the Young Bengal group set two establishments and published journals that played a role in the

Bengal Renaissance Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. These are noted below:

Academic Association

Derozio joined Hindu College in 1826 and within a short period attracted students. The Academic Association was established in 1828 under the guidance of Derozio and settled down in Maniktala. Derozio was its president. One of his students, Uma Charan Basu, was its secretary. The principal speakers in the association were: Rasik Krishna Mallick,

Krishna Mohan Banerjee Krishna Mohan Banerjee (24 May 1813 – 11 May 1885) was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was t ...

Ramgopal Ghosh Ramgopal Ghosh (January 15, 1815 - 25 January 1868) was a leader of the Young Bengal Group, a successful businessman, orator and social reformer. He is called the 'Demosthenes of India'.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/ ...

, Radhanath Sikdar, Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, and Hara Chandra Ghosh. Amongst its organisers were Ramtanu Lahiri, Sib Chandra Deb and

Peary Chand Mitra Peary Chand Mitra (22 July 1814 – 23 November 1883) was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudonym was Tek Chand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role ...

Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge

The Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge was established on 20 February 1838. It had 200 members in 1843.

Prominent members

(1813–1885) Christian convert *Tarachand Chakraborti (1805–1855), prominent in the Brahmo Sabha and Young Bengal *Sib Chandra Deb (1811–1890), a prominent

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...

leader of Konnagar * Hara Chandra Ghosh (1808–1868), judge of the Small Causes Court *

(1815–1868), businessman and public speaker * Ramtanu Lahiri (1813–1898), teacher who publicly removed his

sacred thread ''Upanayana'' ( sa, उपनयनम्, lit=initiation, translit=Upanāyanam) is a Hindu educational sacrament, one of the traditional saṃskāras or rites of passage that marked the acceptance of a student by a preceptor, such as a ''guru'' ...

in 1851 * Rasik Krishna Mallick (1810–1858), refused to swear by the holy Ganges water and ran away from his orthodox home *

(1814–1883), founded the ''Monthly Magazine'' in Bengali and helped establish the Calcutta Public Library in 1831 *Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee (1818–1887), donated the site for the Bethune College for women * Radhanath Sikdar (1813–1870), surveyor, mathematician, diarist, writer, public speaker and the calculator of the height of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

.Sengupta, Nitish K. (2001) ''History of the Bengali-speaking people,'' pp227-228, New Delhi: UBS Publishers' Distributors.

References

External links