Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer: A History of the Renaissance in Bengal

by Sivanath Sastri

RAMTANU LAHIRI

BRAHMAN AND REFORMER

 

Sir Roper Lethbridge, K. C. I. E.

 

RAMTANU LAHIRI
BRAHMAN AND REFORMER

 

Ram Tanu Lahiri

[Frontispiece

 

RAMTANU LAHIRI

BRAHMAN AND REFORMER

A HISTORY OF THE RENAISSANCE IN BENGAL

 

FROM THE BENGALI OF
PANDIT SIVANÁTH SÁSTRI, M.A.

 

EDITED BY
Sir ROPER LETHBRIDGE, K.C.I.E.
Late Scholar of Exeter College, Oxford
Formerly Principal of Krishnagar College, Bengal; and Fellow
of the Calcutta University

 

WITH TWENTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS

 

 

LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LIMITED
CALCUTTA: S. K. LAHIRI & CO.
1907

 

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

Until the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century the vernacular literature of Bengal existed only in a more or less debased form. In its earlier phases of development it had struggled to revert to its original Sanskrit elements; in later days, under the influence of the Muhammadan conquest, it had become largely Persianised. The lifetime of Ramtanu Lahiri was synchronous with the renaissance of Bengali literature — the period of awakening in Bengal that saw also the birth and early growth of English education in the country, and of the various schools of reform in religion and morals that have so mightily changed the whole aspect of Bengali life and thought. It was, therefore, fitting that one of the most important of the works that have as yet appeared in pure Bengali should have been a “Life” of this great educationist and reformer, from the pen of Pandit Sivanáth Sástri, M.A., himself one of the most distinguished writers of modern Bengal.

It was also reasonable to expect that the biography of Ramtanu, covering such an eventful period in the social, moral, and religious history of Bengal, would introduce to the reader a large number of interesting and varied characters and scenes grouped around the central personage. The Pandit’s work is quite the most scholarly book of its kind, as well as the most serious and sustained effort to combine, in a biographical work, Oriental and Western modes of thought, that has yet appeared in Bengali.

Viewing this most interesting and characteristic treatise from the point here indicated, I have not deemed it necessary, or even advisable, to make any very rigorous use of the editorial pruning-knife in adapting the Pandit’s biography to the taste of the English reader. The translation, into more or less literal English, is due to the filial piety of my friend, Mr S. K. Lahiri, one of the most eminent of Calcutta publishers, and son of the illustrious subject of this memoir; and in dealing with that translation, as with the general scope of Pandit Sivanath Sastri’s work, I have judged it best to present it to the English reader very largely in its original state. I think that excessive alteration might degenerate into mutilation, might often obscure the sense of the original, and would certainly detract from the presentment of transparent sincerity, and of deep love for the subject of the Memoir, that constitutes one of the greatest charms of the Pandit’s style in the original Bengali “Life.” I have therefore contented myself with a careful verification of the literal accuracy of the English rendering, together with such minor alterations or deletions as seemed to be absolutely required by the occasional divergence of Eastern and Western thought.

Roper Lethbridge.

Sir Roper Lethbridge, K.C.I.E.

{{block center|width=400px| {{c|{{x-larger|CONTENTS.}}}} {{smaller block|{{left|CHAPTER}} {{right|PAGE}}}} {{custom rule|sp|40|d|6|sp|40}} {{TOCstyle|model=CD.P|style=font-variant: small-caps;|leadersym=•|leaderspacing=15px |row1model=r|Page. |{{Chapter|I|r}}[[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_1|THE HOME OF THE LAHIRI FAMILY AT KRISHNAGAR]]|1 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_2|RAMTANU'S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD IN KRISHNAGAR]]|21 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_3|RAMTANU'S SCHOOLDAYS IN CALCUTTA]]|40 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_4|THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH EDUCATION INTO BENGAL; AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HINDU COLLEGE]]|54 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_5|THE BEGINNING OF THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION IN BENGAL]]|71 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_6|LIFE FROM 1835 TO 1845]]|89 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_7|SOME DRAWBACKS IN THE REFORM MOVEMENT]]|108 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_8|RAMTANU'S LIFE IN 1846-1856]]|111 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_9|EDUCATIONAL WORK AND REFORM]]|127 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_10|RETIREMENT IN KRISHNAGAR]]|135 [[Ramtanu_Lahiri,_Brahman_and_Reformer:_A_History_of_the_Renaissance_in_Bengal/Chapter_11|RAMTANU'S LIFE IN CALCUTTA]]|151 |{{ditto|Chapter|Notes}} {{ditto|XXVIII|{{letter position|1=•   •   •|2= |5=15}}|r}}||219 }}}}

APPENDIX I. NOTES BY SOME PUPILS AND FRIENDS . . l6l

APPENDIX II. SKETCHES OF SOME LEADING MEN IN BENGAL . IJO

APPENDIX III. NOTES ON RAMTANU'S ENGLISH FRIENDS . . 221

APPENDIX IV. GENEALOGICAL TABLE 228

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Ramtanu Lahiri ..... Frontispiece Sir Roper Lethbridge, K.C.I.E. . . . To face page vii The late Maharaja of Nadia and Ramtanu Lahiri ,, 1 The Maharaja of Nadia . . . 9 Jadu Nath Rai . . . . II Dr Kalicharan Lahiri . . . . ,, 13 The Maharaja Sir Jotindra Mohan Tajore, K.C.S.I. 21 Raja Pyari Mohan Mukerji, C.S.I. . . ,, 25 Michael Madhusudan Dutt . . ,, 30 Statue of David Hare . . . ,, 40 Kartikera Chandra Rai . . . . ,, 49 Sir John Phear . . . . . 54 Pandit Iswara Chandra Vidyasagara . 57 H. L. V. Derozio . . . 66 Tarachand Chakravartti . . . . ,, 77 The Rev. Krishna Mohan Banerji, C.I.E. . ,, 8 1 Ram Gopal Ghosh . . . ,, 86 Dina Bandhu Mitra . . . ,, 94 Bankim Chandra Chatterji, C.I.E. . . 106 Shib Chandra Deb . . . 108 Kalicharan Ghosh . . . . 119 Raja Digambar Mitra, C.S.I. . . . ,,122 Rajendra Datta . . . . . 125 Sir Charles Cecil Stevens, K.C.S.I. . . ,,132 Kesava Chandra Sen . . . 1 34 Indumati Devi . ,,141 Professor Peary Charan Sircar . . . ,, 143 Gangamati Devi . . . . . ,,147 Raja Rammohan Roy . . . 170