Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

Displaying 1 - 10 of 10
Amiya P. Sen
Over a hundred years back, intellectuals in India were debating the same issues we are now—what comprises ‘Hindu food’? Does it include meat or not? And does the controlled suppression of one’s natural instincts through abstinence lead to spiritual progress? We explore this controversial subject…
in Article
Amiya P. Sen
Iswarchandra Vidyasagar was one of the greatest reformers from Bengal whose works are integral to Indian modernity. Primarily known for his contribution towards creating a Bengali primer, Borno Parichay, and for his serious and sustained efforts at improving the status of the Hindu woman and wife,…
in Article
Amiya P. Sen
Unknown to many, novelist Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay also devoted considerable attention to popularise science through a number of essays. Interestingly, he felt that it was European science that had ultimately conquered India for the British. We look at Chattopadhyay’s scientific philosophy. (…
in Article
Amiya P. Sen
Akshay Kumar Dutta (1820−86) was a progressive thinker from renascent Bengal who reinterpreted the West for Bengal and contributed to the evolution of Bengali prose. Today, his legacy and works seem to have been forgotten. [i] (Photo Courtesy: [Public domain]) Akshay Kumar Dutta (1820−86) remains…
in Article
Prof. Amiya P. Sen
Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay was not only a literary pioneer in Bengali, but an activist whose words and work are seminal for meaningfully interpreting the West for India and India for the West. We look at how his ideas on contemporary Hindu society and culture reveal a curious mix of liberality and…
in Article
Prof. Basu talks about the social understanding of caste as an agency and institution of social divisions in the colonial times as well as in the post-colonial state.
in Interview
Anirban Bandyopadhyay
  The caste question in West Bengal (and Bengal before 1947) is unique. It resonates with the conventional perspectives on caste in history and politics in India since the nineteenth century as much as it diverges from them. While there are many important perspectives on caste in Indian history and…
in Article
Neha Chatterjee
  In 1879, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the leading public intellectual of the day, published an essay titled ‘Samya’, meaning ‘equality’ in Bengali. There he stated that of all the artificial and unnatural differences that men created between men, the institution of caste hierarchy in India was,…
in Article
Rajarshi Chunder
Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas about caste have received the least attention from historians. Even though Tagore’s oeuvre has been lauded mainly for its literary value, it may be said that in his writings he was definitely vocal about social and political issues, caste being one of them. Tagore…
in Overview
Rajarshi Chunder
This module explores how the institution of caste has been used to understand Indian society since the mid-19th century. The overview article is on Rabindranath Tagore's ideas and opinions about caste; allied articles focus on perceptions of caste by the literati of 19th-century Bengal and on the …
in Module