The Young Bengal Movement: India's First Radicals and their Legacy
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: History of India and Indian National Movement (The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors/contributions; Socio-religious Reform Movements).
Key Highlights from the News
A significant intellectual movement in 19th-century Calcutta was the Young Bengal Movement.
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a young teacher and poet at Hindu College in Calcutta (appointed in 1826), was its main inspiration.
Derozio's and his followers', the Derozians', main ideas were freedom, rational thought, and questioning existing socio-religious orthodoxy.
They formed a discussion forum called Academic Association to discuss social issues.
In 1843, the Young Bengal group established one of India's first political organizations, the Bengal British India Society, with the aim of ensuring the welfare of all sections of people.
The mathematician Radhanath Sikdar was a prominent member of this movement. He bravely questioned the British administration and later calculated the height of the peak that was named Mount Everest.
Although this movement lasted for a short time, it laid the foundation for the idea of a modern India with tolerance and open thinking.
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