Finely nuanced

 I marvelled as I read the book, at the massive effort put into the descriptive chapters based on almost every individual, happening and institution that severally contribute to the Awakening and  also to what turned out to be the Bengal Renaissance.

Renaissance or “rebirth” is loosely applied these days to a historic period in Europe  between the 14th and 17th centuries but in real life it brought about an awakening in Europe to the reality of a world outside that continent. It started in Italy and over those centuries spread desultorily over Europe resulting in a re-look at their own thinking, values and interests.

However, the most visible changes happened in the field of art and  Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo in particular made that era notable. The difference in the Indian context was that the Renaissance in Europe was self-induced whereas the Bengal version was influenced from outside by the British presence in Bengal. Further this Renaissance which began in the waning years of the 18th century and flourished through the 19th manifested itself in socio-economic matters such as caste, dowry, women, education, religion and so on. It is worth remembering that these issues are still occupying our attention  today. They continue to figure regularly in legislative proceedings when mental blocks are even today painfully revealed and time seems to have stood still for some sections of society. 

The arrival of Warren Hastings in India as a young lad to work as a ‘writer’ in East India Company and his eventual rise to Governor General gave him a great insight into Indian minds. In Dasgupta’s words  Warren Hastings, the target of  the historic  impeachment  for misdemeanour and corruption, “secured a place in India’s cultural and intellectual history as the unlikely begetter of what came to be called the Bengal Renaissance”. He created an “Indo-western mind” locally which was to play a huge part in influencing local thinking. The other expatriate performers on the Renaissance stage included the following.

William Jones was a judge, Orientalist and linguist with mastery over 28 languages. He was the driving force behind the setting up of the now famous Asiatic Society that eventually brought together Indian and foreign scholars. Halhead was a linguist, well-versed in Persian and Bengali. He translated the Hindu Code from Persian to English and then wrote “A Grammar of the Bengali Language” in Bengali. Colebrook was a Sanskrit scholar who studied Indian scriptures and quoted from them against the practice of Sati.

He also researched Indian mathematics and challenged Jones who ridiculed the antiquity of this subject. William Carey was a shoemaker turned Baptist minister who failed in his mission to convert “Indian heathens” to Christianity but absorbed so much of the local culture that he joined the faculty of the College of Fort William.

The Indian component of this great awakening is a long list of individuals who acquired name and fame from their own lives spent in righting perceived wrongs, changing what they believed to be hollow beliefs and fighting traditions  which divided society into classes. Contributing to the Renaissance were Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, scholar, feminist, social reformer, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee of Vande Mataram fame , Rassundari Devi, a poor illiterate girl who grew to educate herself and fight for women’s rights and against child marriage. Jagadish Chandra Bose was one of our earliest scientists, Swami Vivekananda and, of course, Rabindranath Tagore were among others who influenced new thinking.

As for the institutions that had a role in this golden period there were many. To mention two, the College of Fort William was set up by Warren Hastings to introduce the British functionaries of East India Company to the local language and culture. Naturally, local expertise had to be enlisted and this brought two cultures together to mutual benefit. The Hindu College founded by David Hare to  bring western thinking closer to the Bhadralok — the Bangali elite — later on became the famous Presidency College. The Eurasian Henry Derozio, a controversial but scintillating personality, taught English Literature and History in Hindu College at the age of 18 and overwhelmed pupils with his mastery of the language and the passion of his thinking.

Reading Awakening has been an experience. I unhesitatingly recommend the book to serious readers but it must be read in  small doses at a time. The reader is really transported into that golden era when cultures mingled, barriers broke and benefits flowed both ways. The question I am left with now is “Do eras in history produce luminaries or are luminaries born to create an era ?”

Awakening
Subrata Dasgupta
Random House , 2010, pp 416,
499