Canons of Character from Shambhu Chandra Vidyaratna’s Vidyasagar Jeevan-Charit O Bhramaniras (This is part II of a 2-part article on one of the leading figures of the 19th-century Bengal renaissance- the scholar, educationist, humanitarian and social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. (Read Part I ) The translations presented here, and possible future installments are episodic excerpts extracted from the biographical text[Read More...]
Canons of Character from Shambhu Chandra Vidyaratna’s Vidyasagar Jeevan-Charit O Bhramaniras Part I [Translator’s commentary: There were two central pillars at the front end of the nineteenth century Bengal Renaissance and the social reformation movement, a cultural re-awakening considered a direct consequence of the English colonial establishment then on the rise in Bengal and gradually elsewhere in India. On the[Read More...]
In early September, circles from the Bengali academia and Left political spectrum, strongly vocalized their seemingly disgruntled voices against the trolling of Professor Maroona Murmu, Assistant Professor from the Department of History at Jadavpur University. At the same time, many of them also claimed to be “astonished” at something of this nature happening in Bengal. Soon after my arrival in[Read More...]
Part-I Curtain on era of patronage of Arabic and Sanskrit learning The role of Lord William Bentinck (14 September 1774 – 17 June 1839) for restructuring the socio-cultural foundation of the Hindus “debased by three thousand years of despotism and priestcraft” [1] can rarely be exaggerated. His bold move to ban and abolish the cruel practice of suttee, which implied burning[Read More...]
