SSC
The 'Young Bengal' movement of radical students in Calcutta in the late 1820s was inspired by the teacher:
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Answer: Option D — Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
Detailed Solution
The "Young Bengal" movement was inspired by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a young Anglo-Indian teacher at a college in Calcutta, in the late 1820s.
About Derozio:
- He was born on 18 April 1809 in Calcutta, in an Anglo-Portuguese (Eurasian) family.
- He was a poet, journalist and teacher.
- He became a teacher of English literature and history at the age of 17 (1826).
- He was a brilliant and inspiring teacher, who encouraged his students to think freely and rationally, to question tradition, and to seek the truth.
- He was influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution and the European Enlightenment.
- He is regarded as one of the first Indian nationalist poets in English; his poem "To India - My Native Land" is famous.
About the Young Bengal movement:
- His students, called the "Derozians" or "Young Bengal", attacked old traditions, superstitions and customs, such as idol worship, caste and the subordination of women.
- They supported women's rights, education and freedom of thought.
- Some of them openly defied religious customs, which shocked orthodox society.
- His students included Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Ramtanu Lahiri, Ram Gopal Ghosh, Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee and Peary Chand Mitra.
His dismissal and death:
- The orthodox members of the college management were alarmed by his influence on the students, and accused him of spreading atheism and immorality.
- He was dismissed from his post in April 1831.
- He then edited the daily newspaper "East Indian".
- He died of cholera on 26 December 1831, at the age of 22.
Significance:
- The Young Bengal movement did not last long, but it spread new ideas of freedom, reason and reform.
- Many of his students later became leaders of social and political life in Bengal.
Why not the other options?
- ✗David Hare, Alexander Duff and William Carey were other educationists and missionaries in Bengal.
Quick tip
Remember: Young Bengal = Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (teacher in Calcutta from 1826; dismissed 1831; died at 22; poem "To India - My Native Land"; newspaper "East Indian").
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Socio-Religious Reform Movements — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Socio-Religious Reform Movements, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
In the 19th century, reformers worked to remove social evils and revive Indian society. This topic covers organisations such as the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Theosophical Society, Satyashodhak Samaj and the Aligarh Movement, along with their founders and the social reforms they achieved. Questions usually ask who founded an organisation and when, or which reformer is linked to a reform. For example, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj and campaigned against sati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar championed widow remarriage, and Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj. A table of organisation, founder, year and place covers most questions. Practise the socio-religious reform movements questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.