CHAPTER IV

RENAISSANCE

RAMMOHUN AND BENGAL

was a fact that

the first half
sound paradoxical but it
It may combination of an age of
was a queer
of the nineteenth century the hand
children of the soil on one
exploitation of the
plunder of and enlightenment on
the
intellectual upswrge
and an efa of
saw the ruin
of prosperous
dawn of the century
other. The new economic policy
policy
village~industries due
to Company's
But at the
followed by
ol many fiourishing villages.
devastation
new cultural resurgence
same time it
heralded the advent of a
many savants
as Bengal
which has afterwards been designated by
to come under British
Renaissance. Bengal was the first province
the new movement saw its light
rule. So it was but natural that
in Bengal. ) to whether it
differ in opinion as
Historians, of course, now
Iadian
Renaissance or merely an impact of the West on
was really
that it is fallacious to compare
culture. A section of them says
16th and 17th centuries. That
it with Renaissance of Italy of the
of Roman thoughts and Christian
great upsurge was a synthesis
in a new regeneration
ideas with Greek culture. It ushered
bias with a secular
and orientation of life and replaced religious
revivalism. It brought about a
outlook. It was by no means a
of Europe as wel1
revolution in all spheres of the life of the people
as in all branches of science, art
and knowledge.
culture and
But in India no such synthesis between the old
traditions of the land and western ideas and culture took place.
There was a *further dificulty because the Muslims claimed that
their culture differed from that of the Hindus. So, they kept
themselves aloof from the movement. The new Indian bourgeoisie
that was growing in Calcutta and its suburbs under British
patronage could not be compared with the bourgeoisie of the West
Wnose socio-economic structure has been built in their own
indigenous lines and who had passed through Luther's baptism of

ure and Calvin's crusade to establish Protestantism. The new

DEngali middle class who earned money, mostly by unjust and
 to the British and
assisted
who went over
generals or merchants
India. Exploitation under a super-imposed
them to dominate

capitalist economic structure developed patriotic feelings and a

sense of discipline among the new Indian middle class". (A. R.
Nationalism).
Desai Social Background of Indian utilita.ianis1mn
The Whig liberal ideas reinforced by rationalism,
Bacon. Bentham,
and humanism, propagated by Milton, Gibbon,
inspired a section of the newly create1 Hindu
Spencer, Mill, etc.
ideas. They "grecdily
middle clas and filled them wish new
and developed
imbibed all the learning and science of Europe
further
some features of the British bourgeoisie. They were
of
electrified by humanism Renaissance, triple message
of
French Revolution as
Equality, Fraternity' and Liberty' of the
All these
well as the lessons of American War of Independence.
outlook on abstract
had a cumulative effect of broadening their
to interpret the Vedas,
liberty and human rights. They began
but could not pro-
the Upanishads, the Gita, etc. in a new light
of eastern and
duce a treatise of equal merit with a synthesis
western culture. They took to reformism
but could not dreanr of

a revolution in any sphere of life. The messages being contra-

dictory to class interests, contradictions prevailed among them
from the outset.
At the beginning of this period, Raja Rammohun Ray, as
Rabindra Nath said afterwards, "inaugurated the Modern Age in
India." He was a self-taught genius, self-made man and real
representative of this new age. In his youth he incurred the
displeasure of his parents and relatives for his independent views
on religion, left home, mastered several languages including
English and read Vedanta and Hindu Scriptures in Benares.
Afterwards he served under Digby, the Collector of Rangpur,
acquired property and zemindary in Maniktolla, Chowringhee,
Simla,Sukea Street and Burdwan district with his share of money
he got from his father as well as his own earnings. In Calcutta
he made
money by specutating in purchase and sale of Company's.
Securities, received the title of Raja' from the puppet Moghul
Emperor of Delhi and went to England to plead before the Court
Ot Directors and Parliament for increase of the
leges of the Badsha. pension and priv
 HISTORY
OF INDI
A
48 Was the leader ofthe
new
for all practical purposes, rising under
under British
The Raja, was
gradually rISing
that
middle class omic and soci
economic s
bourgeois the new
imposition of
patronage
due to
intellect
that he had he col
that he could
With the powerful
order. He applied
assimilate new progressive ideas
and
religious practices, believed
welcome in
rationalism to Hindu
logic and the tenets of the "Vedanta and
the Vedas, accepted
the truth of
reasonable ideas of
Christianity as well as other
had respecet for
against vile attacks, of Christian
religions. He defended Hinduism
missionaries. But he was the
first advocate of synthesis between
which later on manitested itself
the easte:n and western culture,
in Bsahmoism.
consciousness in the life of the
He introduced democratic
of
people. His 'Atmiya Sabha' (1815) settled interpretation
copplicated socio-religious questions of the Hindu scriptures by
decisions dictated
open discussion amongits members and not by
by priesthood from above.He published translations of the
Vedanta with explanations in Bengali language so that people
belonging to lower castes even could read those sacred books by
defying the age-old traditions and the monopoly of the brahmins.
it was an act of extraordinary courage during that period to
venture to use vernacular language as a vehicle for explaining
the Vedanta' but Rammohun did it. He did not hesitate
to
come in open confict with this father and relatives
as well as
other orthodox Hindus to establish his advanced
religious views.
(The inspiring message of the French Revolution made a deep
impression on Raja Rammohun Ray. Humanism and rationalism
had a great appeal for him. He believed in abstract
man and
rights of
developed utopian urge for freedom. For his broad
international outlook he was regarded as
the first citizen of
the world'.) When the news
of liberation of Latin
the clutches of America from
Spain reached Calcutta he
Hall to celebrate the occasion.arranged
a dinner
at the Town party
There the
insensible to the suffering of Raja
What ought I to be said:
creatures wherever they are or my fellow
however unconnected
religion or language ?" by interests,
ButRammohun Ray had such an
liberalism and integrity of the implicit faith in the
British nation that he
firmly
printing press, In Madras also the missiOnaries weere the ploneers

in starting Tamil and Malayalam press and newspapers. The

first attempt at Kannada journalism was also made by
missionaries.
During this period Buckingham's efforts set up a high standard
of journalism and changed the tone of newspapers. He showed
influence felt on
how a journal, if run efficiently, could make its
administrationf as well as the reading public. Raja Rammohun

impressed well-edited newspaper was the best

that a
Ray was
instrument to educate people and to propagate new ideas.
After the publication of Samachar Darpan by Serampore
missionaries the Raja launched Sangbad Kaumudi, a Bengali

weekly in 1821 and Mirat-ul-Akhbar, a Persian weekly, in

paper,
1822 to inspire the people to fight against socio-religious

malpractices, to be acquainted with,the lessons of western culture

their subjects the real
and to inform both the ruling class and
situation" obtaining in the country. He also started Brahmanical
journal, in
Magazine or Brahman Sebadhi, a bi-lingual monthly
Sharma, to resist the
1821, under the pen-name of Sivaprosad
missionaries on Hinduism.
onslaughts made by Christian
but it was
Samachar Darpan was the first Bengali newspaper
Kaumudi was the first
started by British missionaries. (Sangbad
owned by the Bengalees themselves.
Bengali journal, launched and
and public grievances these papers
Besides reports of local events
tirade against superstitious
contained criticisms of administration,
and learned discussions on western
religious customs and beliefs
in Europe. In the words of
culture and political developments
Mukherjee, the editor of Hindoo Patrfot, with the
Harish Chandra
"the war between Brahminism and
publication of these journals
and prejudice, between prescription
Brahmoism, between principle - -

and progress commenced." The

Hindoo Patriot, June 21,

1858) about the actual date of

Thefe is, however, a controversy
Rev. J. Long in his note
publication of "Sangbad Kaumudi'. The
on "The Past Condition and Future Prospects of
the Vernacular
in
Rammohun Ray started the paper
Press in Bengal" stated that
 INDIAN
JOURNALISM
HISTORY OF
A
68
its editor.
1819 with
Bhowani
Charan Bonerjee as

weekly was d,
founded. iAnother
inn1819/
e
that the Bengali
reliable source says edited by Bhowani Charan n Ron
Bonerjee.
Dutta and
by Tarachand
this paper but suhca
The Raja at first
c o t r i b u t e d articles to

Barns recorded that the paper

sequently
Dane was
while Margarita
tcok it over

in December, 1820.
founded

Government
records shoWthat actual date of publicatio.
on
4th December, 1821. ) The Raja's friend
ofKaunudi was
the venture, wrote: "The pleasure with
Buckingham, supporting
the effisions of the native Fess does not
which we regarded
of these productions but as
arise from the intrinsic value
an

earnest of what it may produce when it had attained majority."

But Kaumudi' had not a smooth sailing at the beginning as its

editor, Bhowani Charan Boner jee suddenly left it after thirteen
issues of the paper had been published. From its very first issue
the paper had been supporting the progressive views of Raja
Rammohun Ray in Tespect of socio-religious reforms. The editor
was strongly advocating the need for immediate stoppage of "Sati'
and other superstitious practices. But Bhowani Charan Bonerjee
Soon changed his opinion,; difiered with the Raja and decided to
delend orthodox Hindu rites including the practice of
instead of supporting the progressive views of
Sati
the liberal group.
So, he severed all connections with 'Kaumudi'.
(Rammohun Ray was the guiding spirit behind Kaumudi.
Bhowani Charan Bonerjee had nothing to do with So,
tion of the policy of the the enúncia-
paper. Even the story of his
thirteen issues of the paper had been editing
in 1822
Hurree Hur Dutt, who was also challenged by
associated with Sangbad Kaumudi
and afterwards
published the Persian weekly, Jame-Jenan-Numa.
He statedshat he had also helped in
Kaumudi. Bhowani Charan editing a few issues of the
issues of Kaumudi
Boner jee's claim df
editing thirteen
was "a wicked and
falsehood..... he was no more than the malicious fabrication of ot
real
as such he was
introduced to the notice of Editor's assistant and
whose immediate and the gentlemen under
sole
has been launched." patronage and support the
(Quotad by S. paper
Press in India, p.
60). Natarajan'sHistory of the
It is difficult to
ascertain now whether
Bhowani Charan was
 INDIAN
JOURNALISM
HISTORY OF
A
70
preparing the
owing to the
Kaumudi and similar papers
native
abolition."
mind for the
duel of words, provoked hu
The
Kaumudi-Chandrika
y
both progresat
retorms, placed essive
on socio-religious
controversy
views before the public.
Variety of
of voices
as well as reactionary
encouraged public discussio
ion
through the newspapers and
spoke helped th
of the problem from different angles.
All these the
middle class in developing
its democratic consciousnes
ness
Bengali
and public opinion began to grystallise.
did not encourage denunciation
The British'rulers, however,
social customs. They preferred to
of even the most reactionary
woq the newspapers run by the orthodox reactionary Hindus and
views. Even when
id not like journals advocating progressive
the English paper, Friend of India, run by
the Baptist Missionaries

of Serapmpore "had been unusually outspoken, attempts were

made to induce the Danish Government to suppress the paper
and expel the missionaries." (A Brief History of The

Statesman).
(Rammohun published another paper, Mirat-ul-Akhbar, a

Persian weekly, on the 12th April, 1822, to educate and inform

those readers who did not know Bengali. The Prospectus the
Raja issued explaining the objective of the paper stated : "My
only object is that I may lay before the public such articles of
intelligence as may increase their experience, and tend to their
social improvement;and to that extent of my abilities I may
indicate to the rulers a knowledge of the real situation of their
subjects and make the subjects acquainted with the established
laws and customs of their rulers; that the rulers
may more readily
find an opportunity of granting relief to the
people; and the
people may put in possession of the means of
and redress from the rulers."
obtaining protection
)
Besides dealing with sociál and
administrative evils in the
country, Mirat-ul-Akhbar "critically examined British
in India and in Ireland." The audacity to criticise policy boin
by these Indian newspapers irritated administration
both the British bureaucracy
and European merchants
but it
national outlook among the encouraged the growth ci a
middle class. The Raja's three
papers soon succeeded in bringing
together both the orthodox and
 AEROPAGITICA OF INDIA 71

liberal sections of Hindus to organise a united resistance against

the onslaughts on Hinduism by Christian missionaries which, by
that time, became a 'national' question.
The progressive section, under the Raja's guidance, established
in 1828 the Brahmo Samaj which, at that period of time, organised
a crusade against privileges, conferred by birth and advocated
socio-religious as well as politico-econonic reforms. It thus helped
to develop a consitutional agiation and aimed to democratise
social institutions to fit in with the advancing modern age.
Through the columns of newspapers the struggle against
mediaevalism thus began though it remained confined among the
new middle class in and around Calcutta. But the bureauctacy
faced a dificult problem because the editors of Indian-ownea
papers could not be deported at their will.
sweet

Buckingham's criticisms of arbitrary bureaucratic, actions

infuriated the members of the Governor-General's Council. The
infiuence of the Raja's papers as well as critical writings oi
several Oiher newspapers, annoyed the ruling class. Villiam
Butterwo.th Bayley, Chief Secretary to the Government, made a
catalogue of "objectionable passages" in newspapers and submitted
a lengthy minute on Ot. 10, 1822, in which he concentrated his
main attack on Mirat-ul-Akhbar.' About the Press in India Bayley

frankly confessed: The liberty of the Press however essential

to natives of a free state, is not, in my judgment, consistent with
the character of our institutions in this country and with the

exiraordinary nature of their interests." These remarks make it

clear that British rulers scrutinised the comments of the Press
not for the purpose of purging the administration of its inequities
and drawbacks but with the object cf stifling public opinion so

thattheir autocracy and domination might be stabilised.

(Within a fortnight after Buckingham's departure, Adam, the
acting Governor-General, on Bayley's report, promulgated the
notorious ordinance known as Adam's Gag to control the Press
The Ordinance laid down "Henceforth, no one should publish
a newspaper or a periodical without having obtained a licence
from the Governor-General-in-Council, signed by the Chief
Secretary. The application for a licence should give the names
of the printer and publisher, of the proprietors, their place of
 AEROPAGITICA OF INDIA
73
wh0
Supreme Court,
MacNaughten, Judge of the
of
Sir Francis interpreting the policy
rejJected it "merely
petition,
ard the
h e a r d

in Bengal
and the Court of Directors". His
Government town in the earth
remarked
that there was no city or
referred to
Lordship His Lordship also
"nfore practical liberty".
Indian newspapers
enjoy fast developing.
situation
which was
nother
and there was no law io deport
increasingly published
being
were bein
were Buckingham took advantage
Anglo-Indian editors,
and
Anglo-Indian as his
successor.
Indian appointed an
situation and
of this r e m o v e that
lacuna. His Lordship.
to
Regulations proposed appointed a
These Buckingham has
remarked : As Mr.
therefore,
us he cannot be controlled by the Supreme
who tells
successor that things should
but is superior to it, it is necessary
Authority Justice MacNaughten
said in
level".
to their proper
be brought free constitution, which
we
to have a
conclusion: "If we are So, Adam's
Free Press follow, not precede it".
not-let a
have became law on the 4th April,
Ordinance and Regulations
Rule,
1823. efforts in England
Buckingham, made great
(The Raja's friend, before the Privy
Adam's Ordinance and applied
to abrogate him. The
order of deportation passed on
Council to cancel the
madeit that the Ordinance was
clear
decision of the Privy Council passages in the
vernacular newspapers.OThe
directed against even of rash and
"The inevitable consequences,
judgment stated: daily and other
discussions, in
injudicious, though" well meant,
was the case
and periodical publications, circulated (as
ne wspapers
in the English
at the time the said
Rule was made) not only
of
but in the Persian, Bengali and other native tongues,
language,
adminístration, a civil, religious,
government and
all subjects of
not fail to afford matter of irritation
military and political, could
unsettle the minds of His
to thenative to disquiet and
powers,
to endanger the security of
Majesty's native subjects, and thereby
the British Establishment in India.")
The judgment further related: "It was also argued that the
when it was discovered
Carlierprovision for deportation ceased,
such
that the ostensible conduct and legal responsibility of
of different descrip-
Publications might be transferred to persons
On, natives or others, not liable to the restraints imposed
 74 A HISTORY OF INDIAN JOURNALISM

by law upon the British subjects of His Ma jesty in India".

So, both the petitions were turned down by the Privy

Council.
The rejection of the petition by the Supreme Court could not
demoralise Raja Rammohun. He could realise that the Ordinance
was promulgated to control the vernacular Press. But he refused
to bow down before its humiliating conditions. On the very day
the judgment was pronounced by the Supreme Court he decided
immediately to close down his paper, Mirat-ul-Akkbar, as a
Protest. In giving his reasons for this the Raja declared that it
was dificult for an Indian, who "had no access to the Oficials
as English Editors had, to secure a licence.") Further "to make
an affidavit in open Court in the presence of respectable magis-
trates, is looked upon as very mean and censurable by those who
watoh the conduct of their neighbours and after incurring the
disrepute of soliciting and suffering the dishonour of making
the affidavit, the constant apprehension of the licence being
recalled by Government which would disgrace the person in
the eyes of the world, would create such anxiety as entirely to
destroy one's peace of mind".
(On the last day of the publication of the paper (4th April,
1823) the Raja wrote a memorable ed+torial in which he quoted
a Persian couplet which says:The honour that _has been
purchased at the cost of a hundred drops of blood of the heart,
O Sire, do not sellthat honour to the door-keeper fo: hoping to
get favour"
Buckingham's petition to abrogate the Regulations had been
rejected by the Privy Council. The Raja decided to appeal
before the King of England for redress of wrongs perpetrated on
his Indian
was the
subjects by hisBritish subjects.
"Liberator of Europe" and so he
To him the King
addressed a furtheer
appeal to the King-in-Council against the Press Regulations.
His appeal was rejected but it was a landmark in the history of
the struggle for freedom of the Press in India.
Miss Sophia Collet, the biographer of the Raja, characterised
this appeal as "the Aeropagitica of Indian history" after the
great poet John Milton's pamphlet of that title in which, in 1644,
he denounced the Ordinance passed by the British Parliament,
 AEROPAGITICA OF INDIA 75

restraining unlicensed printing. Milton said: "Give me liberty

to utter and to argue freely according to conscience,
to know,
above
all liberty." )
Chandra Dutt, a President of the Indian National
Ramesh
Congress, described it as "the beginning of that system of
constitutional agitation for political rights which their countrymen
to value so much in the present day."
have learnt
Sincethen the struggle for freedom of the Press continued
her independer ce.) The
with unabased zeal till India achieved
had in later years inspíred the
courage the petitioners displayed
with the motto: 'Nitor in adversum',
iournalists ofthis country
Istruggle against adverse circumstances'. This explairs why
the "indian-owned Indian language newspapers
kept clear of
political topics for seven years following the Press Regulations."
there was no racial
They could realise that though in theory
meant to curb
discrimination in the Regulations they were really
the liberty of the vernacularPress, specially the progressive
The Mirat-ul-Akhbar was, for all practical purposes,
newspapers.
thus a forerunnes of
their victim. Adam's Regulations were

the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.

was revoked and
In 1827, the licence of Calcutta Chronicle
was penalised for its
its publication was stopped. The paper
liberal views.
and various other mischievous
The repressive measures
to
manoeuvres of the bureaucracy not to allow Indian journals
enthusiasm that
function freely could not check the wave of
time had brought about. Newspapers were started in Bombay,
usual Bengal took
Madras and North West Provinces. As
the lead in this matter.
the Gujrati printing press
Fardoonji Murzeban, who started
in 1812 in Bombay, launched after ten years Mumbaina Samachar,
1822 as a commercial venture. The
a weekly Gujrati paper, in
has assumed the title of Bombay
paper still exists as a daily and
that the first Gujrati
Samachar. It is of interest to note here
about 27 years of
newspaper in Gujratproper was started after
the Bombay enterprise.
Besides Mumbaina Samachar there were two English papers
In Bombay, The Daily Gazette and the Courier.