Friday, June 25, 2010

Henry Vivian Derozio and Young Bengal

Derozio and Young Bengal Movement

Among the Bengali intellectuals a radical trend arose during the late 1820s and the 1830s. This trend was more modern and was known as the Young Bengal movement. Its leader was Henry Vivian Derozio, an Anglo-Indian.
Derozio was born in 1809 and taught at Hindu college from 1826 to 1831. Derozio followed the most radical views of the time drawing his inspiration from the great French revolution. He inspired the students to thinck rationally and freely, to question all authority, to love liberty, equality and freedom and to worship truth. Derozio’s followers were known as the Derozians and Yong Bengal. They were great patrots. Derozio was perhaps the first nationalist poet of modern India.

Derozio was removed from the Hindu college in 1831 because of his radicalism and died of cholera soon after the young age of 22. The Derozians attacked old and decadent customs, rites, and traditions. They were passionate advocates of women’s rights and demanded education for them. They carried on public agitation on public questions such as the revision of the Company’s charter, the freedom of the Press, and trial by jury. However, they did not succeed in creating a movement because social conditions were not yet ripe for their ideas to flourish. Moreover, they forgot to maintain their links with the people.

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