Bengal Renaissance

2026-05-08T21:21:49Z

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{{short description|Cultural period of the 1800s to the 1930s in the Bengal region}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
{{Culture of Bengal}}
{{Bengalis}}
The '''Bengal Renaissance''' ({{langx|bn|বাংলার নবজাগরণ|Baṅlar Nôbôjagôrôṇ}}), also known as the '''Bengali Renaissance''', was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in the [[Bengal region]] of the [[British Raj]], from the late 18th century to the early 20th century.<ref name="Dasgupta2011" /> Historians have traced the beginnings of the movement to the victory of the [[British East India Company]] at the 1757 [[Battle of Plassey]], as well as the works of reformer [[Raja Rammohan Roy]], considered the "Father of the Indian Renaissance," born in 1772.<ref name="Samanta2008">{{cite conference |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33413137.pdf |title=The Bengal Renaissance : a critique |last1=Samanta |first1=Soumyajit |year=2008 |conference=20th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies Manchester (UK), 8th – 11th July 2008 |page=2 |access-date= |archive-date=5 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205162900/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33413137.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nitish Sengupta]] stated that the movement "can be said to have … ended with [[Rabindranath Tagore]]," Asia's first [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureate]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Nitish |title=History of the Bengali-speaking People |year=2001 |publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors |location=New Delhi, Delhi |isbn=978-81-7476-355-6 |page=211}}</ref>

For almost two centuries, the Bengal Renaissance saw the radical transformation of Indian society, and its ideas have been attributed to the rise of Indian anticolonialist and nationalist thought and activity during this period.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Panikkar |first1=K N |title=Three phases of Indian renaissance |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/three-phases-of-indian-renaissance/article9541139.ece |access-date=19 April 2021 |work=Frontline |agency=The Hindu Group |publisher=Publishing Private Limited |date=3 March 2017 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428211440/https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/three-phases-of-indian-renaissance/article9541139.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> The philosophical basis of the movement was its unique version of liberalism and modernity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sartori |first1=Andrew |title=Bengal in Global Concept History |year=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=68}}</ref> According to [[Sumit Sarkar]], the pioneers and works of this period were revered and regarded with nostalgia throughout the 19th and 20th centuries; however, due to a new focus on its colonialist origins, a more critical view emerged in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sarkar |first1=Sumit |title=Writing Social History |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Delhi |page=104}}</ref>

The Bengali Renaissance was predominantly led by [[Bengali Hindus]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naranyan Dhar |first1=Pulak |title=Bengal Renaissance: A Study in Social Contradictions |journal=Social Scientist |date=1987 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=26–45 |doi=10.2307/3517400 |jstor=3517400}}</ref> who at the time were socially and economically more affluent in colonial Bengal, and therefore better placed for higher education as a community. Well-known figures include the social reformer [[Raja Rammohan Roy]], philanthropist [[Rani Rashmoni]], poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]], and the physicist [[Satyendra Nath Bose]].

== Background ==
The Bengal Renaissance was a movement marked by a sociopolitical awakening across the arts, literature, music, philosophy, religion, science, and other spheres of intellectual pursuit.<ref name="Dasgupta2011">{{cite book |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Subrata |author-link=Subrata Dasgupta |title=Awakening: The Story of the Bengal Renaissance |year=2011 |publisher=Random House India |page=2 |isbn=978-81-8400-183-9}}</ref> The movement questioned the existing customs and rituals in Indian society – most notably, the caste system, and the practice of sati, idolatry – as well as the role of religion and colonial governance. In turn, the Bengal Renaissance advocated for societal reform – the kind that adhered to secularist, humanist and modernist ideals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chakraborty |first1=Aishik |last2=Purkayastha |first2=Rahul |date=May 2020 |title=Bengal Renaissance and its Impact on the Common Law System |url=https://thelawbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Aishik-Rahul-IJLDAI.pdf |journal=International Journal of Legal Developments and Allied Issues |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=241 |issn=2454-1273 |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=5 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205162855/https://thelawbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Aishik-Rahul-IJLDAI.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> From [[Rabindranath Tagore]] to [[Satyendra Nath Bose]], the movement saw the emergence of important figures, whose contributions still influence cultural and intellectual works today.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Subrata |author-link=Subrata Dasgupta |title=The Bengal Renaissance: Identity and Creativity from Rammohun Roy to Rabindranath Tagore |url=https://archive.org/details/bengalrenaissanc0000dasg |year=2009 |publisher=Permanent Black |page=1 |isbn=978-81-7824-177-7}}</ref>

Although the Bengal Renaissance was led and dominated by upper caste Hindus, Bengali Muslims played a transformative role in the movement, as well as the shaping of colonial and postcolonial Indian society.<ref name="De1995">{{cite journal |last1=De |first1=Amalendu |date=April–June 1995 |title=The Social Thoughts and Consciousness of the Bengali Muslims in the Colonial Period |journal=Social Scientist |volume=23 |issue=4/6 |pages=16–37 |doi=10.2307/3520213 |jstor=3520213}}</ref> Examples of Bengali Muslim renaissance men and women include [[Kazi Nazrul Islam]], [[Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy]], and [[Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain]].<ref name="De1995" /> When it came to cultural and religious reform, the [[Freedom of Intellect Movement]] was established in 1926 to challenge the social customs and dogmas in Bengali Muslim society.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Khan |first=Shahadat H. |year=1997 |title=The Freedom of Intellect Movement (Buddhir Mukt Andolan) in Bengali Muslim Thought, 1926–1938 |url=https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NQ27977&op=pdf&app=Library |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Toronto}}</ref>

From the mid-eighteenth century, the [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal Province]], and more specifically, its capital city of [[Calcutta]], was the centre of British power in India. The region was the base for British imperial rule until the capital was moved to Delhi in 1911.<ref name="Killingley38">{{cite book |last1=Killingley |first1=Dermot |editor1-last=Brekke |editor1-first=Torkel |title=The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism |year=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=38 |chapter=Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance |isbn=978-0-19-879083-9}}</ref> Prior to Crown control, British power was in the hands of the East India Company, which in course of time, became increasingly profitable and influential, politically, establishing diplomatic relations with local rulers as well as building armies to protect its own interests.<ref name="Killingley38" />

During this time, partly through the 1757 Battle of Plassey against the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, and in part through the fall of the [[Mughal Empire]], the company was able to acquire extensive territory in the Bengal and [[Ganges basin]].<ref name="Killingley38" /> The expense of these wars, however, threatened the company's financial situation, and the [[Regulating Act 1773]] was passed to stabilise the EIC as well as subject it to some parliamentary control.<ref name="Killingley38" /> Further legislation over the next several decades progressively brought about tighter controls over the company, but the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] forced the British parliament to pass the [[Government of India Act 1858]], which saw the liquidation of the EIC and the transfer of power to the British Crown.<ref name="Killingley38" />

==Origins==
[[File:Raja Ram Mohan Roy (রামমোহন রায়) অথবা রাজা রাম মোহন রায়.jpg|thumb|Ram Mohan Roy is considered the Father of the Bengali Renaissance]]
The Bengali Renaissance originated in the [[Bengal Presidency]] of the British Indian Empire, but more specifically, its capital city of [[Kolkata]], then known as Calcutta.<ref name=Sarkar1990>{{cite book |last1=Sarkar |first1=Sumit |author-link=Sumit Sarkar |editor1-last=Chaudhury |editor1-first=Sukanta |title=Calcutta: The Living City, Volume I: The Past |year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Calcutta and the Bengal Renaissance |isbn=978-0-19-563696-3}}</ref> This colonial metropolis was the first non-Western city to use British methods of teaching in their school system.<ref name=Sarkar1990/> In 1817, the urban elite led by [[Raja Ram Mohan Roy]] cofounded the Hindu or Presidency College in Kolkata (now known as the [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency University]]), the only European-style institution of higher learning in Asia at the time.<ref name="SastriLethbridge1972">{{cite book |last1=Sastri |first1=Sivanath |last2=Lethbridge |first2=R |title=A History of the Renaissance in Bengal: Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman and Reformer. |year=1972 |pages=40–52 |edition=Indian |chapter=The Introduction of English Education into Bengal; and the Early History of the Hindu College}}</ref> The city was also home to a public library, the Imperial Library, now the [[National Library of India]], and newspapers and books were being published regularly in both Bengali and English.<ref name="Ghosh2002">{{cite journal |last1=Ghosh |first1=Anindita |title=Revisiting the 'Bengal Renaissance': Literary Bengali and Low-Life Print in Colonial Calcutta. |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=2002 |volume=42 |issue=37 |pages=4329–4338 |jstor=4412747}}</ref> "Print language and literature played a vital role in shaping ideas and identities in colonial Bengal from the 18th century onwards," writes Anindita Ghosh, continuing that "… commercial print cultures that emanated from numerous cheap presses in Calcutta and its suburbs disseminated wide-ranging literary preferences that afforded a space to different sections of the Bengali middle classes to voice their own distinctive concerns."<ref name="Ghosh2002" />

The Bengal Province was the base for [[British East India Company]] rule until the overthrow of the [[Nawab of Bengal]] at the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757, which marked the Crown's consolidation of power in India.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dalrymple |first1=William |title=Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire |year=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London}}</ref> Many postcolonial historians source the origins of the Bengal Renaissance to these events, arguing that the movement was both a reaction to the violence and exploitation by the [[British Raj]], as well as a product of the Empire's promotion of English education in the region as part of its "[[civilising missions]]".<ref name="SastriLethbridge1972" /> For instance, Sivanath Sastri notes that [[Charles Grant (British East India Company)|Charles Grant]], a British politician influential in Indian affairs who also served as Chairman of the East India Company, "moved "that a thorough education be given to the different races inhabiting the country, [and] that the Gospel be preached to them… .""<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sastri |first1=Sivanath |editor-last=Lethbridge |editor-first=Roper |title=A History of the Renaissance in Bengal: Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman and Reformer |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924022941714/page/n99/mode/1up |year=1907 |page=56 |publisher=Swan Sonnenschein & Co.}}</ref> Moreover, Arabinda Poddar contends that the English education of Bengalis was intended to create "mere political slaves," arguing that, "the civilising role of English education, stressed the need of creating a class of Anglophiles who would have a somewhat in-between existence between the rulers and the ruled."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Poddar |first1=Arabinda |title=Renaissance in Bengal: Quests and Confrontations, 1800–1860 |year=1970 |publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study |location=Simla |page=89 |chapter=IV. Education and Social Mobility}}</ref>

Other historians cite the works of Raja Rammohun Roy as the start of the Bengal Renaissance.<ref name="Samanta2008" /> By 1829, Roy co-founded the Brahmo Sabha movement, which was later renamed the [[Brahmo Samaj]] by [[Debendranath Tagore]].<ref name="Kopf2015">{{cite book |last1=Kopf |first1=David |author-link=David Kopf |year=1979 |title=The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=15 |isbn=978-0-691-03125-5}}</ref> It was an influential socioreligious reform movement that made significant contributions to the renaissance, as well as the makings of modern Indian society.

==Education==
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Among the many changes brought about by the Bengal Renaissance in India was the development of education, both in the Bengali language and in English. Colonial provisions at the time consisted mainly of village schools teaching literacy and numeracy, Arabic and Islamic studies being taught to Muslims in [[madrasas]], and tols, where pandits instructed [[Sanskrit]] texts to [[Brahmins]], which were supported by endowments.<ref name="Killingley">{{cite book |surname=Killingley |given=Dermot |chapter=Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance |title=The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism |year=2019 |pages=36–53 |place=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198790839 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198790839.003.0003}}</ref> These institutions were exclusively male, and in the rare cases where girls could get an education, it was in the home.<ref name="Killingley41">{{cite book |last1=Killingley |title=Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance |year=2019 |page=41}}</ref> The work of Christian missions also had more of an influence on Indian students than the initiatives of the government.<ref name="Killingley41" /> While the [[East India Company Act 1813]] (the Charter Act) allotted 100,000 rupees from the government's surplus to be "applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences," it did not lead to any coherent provision of public education.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Laird |first1=M. A. |title=Missionaries and Education in Bengal 1793–1837 |year=1972 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=68}}</ref>

According to Dermot Killingley, the surplus mentioned in this Charter Act was "an aspiration, not a budget item," and even if the money had been provided for, there was uncertainty about how it should be spent.<ref name="Killingley41" /> Recurring questions arose over whether to invest on a few advanced institutions or to promote widespread elementary education, what language to use, and particularly whether to support traditional methods of learning in India, which had declined due to the loss of patronage, or to introduce a new system based on Western education.<ref name="Killingley41" /> Rammohan Roy contributed to this last debate by writing to the Governor-General in 1823 expressing his opposition to the establishment of a Sanskrit College that would foster traditional learning and advocating for Western scientific education; this effort failed without effect.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Banerjee |first1=Lyric |title=Religious Reformation in the Bengal Renaissance: Prelude to Science Museums in India |journal=Marburg Journal of Religion |date=2020 |volume=22 |issue=2 |page=3}}</ref> [[Missionaries]] began teaching young women in 1816, but a systematic education policy was not established until 1854.<ref name="Killingley41" /> However, Sengupta and Purkayastha point out that even during the 1860s and 1870s, "the project of female education was wholly tied to the purpose of enabling women to better discharge their domestic duties."<ref name="Killingley41" />

Despite the East India Company's initial hostility to missionaries, the colonial government later saw the advantages of their contribution to educating and training the local population. This was especially because, as Killingley noted, "in the innovations of the early nineteenth century, government initiative had less impact than the work of Christian missions, and of individuals … who responded to the demand for literacy, numeracy and related skills created by growing commercial and administrative activity."<ref name="Killingley41" /> In 1800, the Baptist Missionary Society established a centre in [[Serampore|Srirampur]], West Bengal, from which it ran a network of schools that taught literacy, mathematics, physics, geography, and other so-called "useful knowledge."<ref name="Killingley41-42">{{cite book |last1=Killingley |title=Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance |year=2019 |pages=41–42}}</ref> Other missionary societies followed soon after, working along similar lines.<ref name="Killingley42">{{cite book |last1=Killingley |title=Rammohun Roy and the Bengal Renaissance |year=2019 |page=42}}</ref> These missionaries, which were largely dependent on local, indigenous teachers and families, and the colonial government, which sometimes supported them with grants, were also cautious about introducing Christian teachings or the Bible.<ref name="Killingley42" />

Education was also believed to be necessary in reversing the apparent moral decline many colonial administrators saw in Bengal society. To give an example, a British judge in Bengal recommended the London Missionary Society's schools, "for the dissemination of morality and general improvement of society among natives of all persuasion without interfering with their religious prejudices."<ref name="Killingley42"/> Missionaries, however, were not the only channels through which education was promoted. For instance, individuals in [[Calcutta]] such as conservative Hindu scholar [[Rammohan Roy]], [[Radhakanta Deb]], atheist philanthropist [[Shib Chandra Sarkar]], [[David Hare (philanthropist)|David Hare]], and other British officials, often collaborated in the [[Calcutta School Book Society]] and the Calcutta School Society.<ref name="Killingley42" /> Some of the other institutions of learning established during this period include the [[Chittagong College]]; [[Indian Statistical Institute]]; the [[Hindu School]], the oldest modern educational institution in Asia; [[Jadavpur University]]; [[Presidency University, Kolkata]]; the [[University of Calcutta]], the [[University of Dhaka]], the oldest university in Bangladesh; and [[Visva-Bharati University]].

==Science==
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| caption1 = [[Jagadish Chandra Bose]] was one of the [[List of people considered father or mother of a scientific field|fathers]] of radio science.
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| caption2 = [[Satyendra Nath Bose]] was one of the pioneers of [[quantum mechanics]].
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| caption3 = [[Prafulla Chandra Ray]] was an eminent Bengali chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist.
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During the Bengal Renaissance, science was integrated into the broader intellectual and educational reforms. Institutions such as [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency University]], [[Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata|Calcutta Medical College]], the [[University of Calcutta]], and the [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science|IACS]] were pivotal in spreading modern scientific thought in British India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presidency University |url=https://www.presiuniv.ac.in/web/introduction.php |access-date=2025-07-15 |website=www.presiuniv.ac.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQZ2ni_Bn5sC&q=Indian+Association+for+the+Cultivation+of+Science&pg=PA85 |title=Science and Society |date=1978 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |language=en}}</ref> Lectures, Bengali-language textbooks, and the establishment of high schools such as the [[Hindu School, Kolkata|Hindu School]], contributed to making science more accessible to urban and upper middle-class families.

Major advancements were made during this time by scientists such as [[Satyendra Nath Bose]], [[Ashutosh Mukherjee]], [[Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis]], [[Anil Kumar Gain]], [[Prafulla Chandra Ray]], [[Debendra Mohan Bose]], [[Jagadish Chandra Bose]], [[Jnan Chandra Ghosh]], [[Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya]], [[Kishori Mohan Bandyopadhyay]], [[Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee]], [[Sisir Kumar Mitra]], [[Upendranath Brahmachari]], and [[Meghnad Saha]], among others.

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was a [[polymath]]: a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and a science fiction writer.<ref>[http://frontlineonnet.com/fl2124/stories/20041203003009100.htm A versatile genius] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203202750/http://frontlineonnet.com/fl2124/stories/20041203003009100.htm |date=3 February 2009 }}, ''[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]'' '''21''' (24), 2004.</ref> He pioneered the investigation of radio and [[microwave]] [[optics]], made very significant contributions to botany, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chatterjee |first1=Santimay |last2=Chatterjee |first2=Enakshi |title=Satyendra Nath Bose |year=1976 |location=New Delhi |publisher=National Book Trust |oclc=3017431 |page=6}}</ref> He is considered one of the fathers of radio science, and is also considered the father of [[Bangla science fiction|Bengali science fiction]]. He also invented the [[crescograph]].

== Arts ==
[[File:Satyajit_Ray_in_New_York.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Satyajit Ray]] was an Indian motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with ''[[Pather Panchali]]''. He was one of the pioneers of [[Parallel Cinema]].]]
{{Main|Bengal School of Art|Music of Bengal}}
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The Bengal School of Art was an [[art movement]] and a style of [[Indian painting]] that originated in Bengal and flourished throughout British India in the early 20th century. Also known as 'Indian style of painting' in its early days, it was associated with [[Indian nationalism]] ([[swadeshi]]) and led by [[Abanindranath Tagore]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-bengal.asp |title=Bengal School |website=National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022113236/http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-bengal.asp |archive-date=2018-10-22 |url-status=live |access-date=2019-02-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.chitralekha.org/articles/mukul-dey/which-way-indian-art |title=Which Way Indian Art? |last=Dey |first=Mukul |website=chitralekha.org |access-date=2019-02-13 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002940/http://www.chitralekha.org/articles/mukul-dey/which-way-indian-art |url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher [[Ernest Binfield Havell]] attempted to reform the teaching methods at the [[Calcutta School of Art]] by encouraging students to imitate [[Mughal painting|Mughal miniatures]]. This caused controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havell was supported by the artist [[Abanindranath Tagore]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/arts/design/20bose.html |title='Rhythms of India' Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Indian Modernism Via an Eclectic, Elusive Artist |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=2008-08-19 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-02-13 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=3 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003160332/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/arts/design/20bose.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Literature==
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| caption1 = [[Rabindranath Tagore]] was a poet and artist. Awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1913
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| caption2 = [[Kazi Nazrul Islam]], the national poet of [[Bangladesh]]
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{{Main|Bengali literature}}
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According to historian [[Romesh Chunder Dutt]]:

{{blockquote|text=The conquest of Bengal by the English was not only a political revolution, but ushered in a greater revolution in thoughts and ideas, in religion and society … From the stories of gods and goddesses, kings and queens, princes and princesses, we have learnt to descend to the humble walks of life, to sympathise with the common citizen or even common peasant … Every revolution is attended with vigour, and the present one is no exception to the rule. Nowhere in the annals of Bengali literature are so many or so bright names found crowded together in the limited space of one century as those of Ram Mohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt, Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, Isvar Chandra Gupta, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Hem Chandra Banerjee, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Dina Bandhu Mitra. Within the three quarters of the present century, prose, blank verse, historical fiction and drama have been introduced for the first time in the Bengali literature.}}

==Sports==
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| caption1 = [[Jatindra Charan Guho]] Or, "Gobor Goho" was a prominent Indian wrestler and world champion of nineteenth century
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| caption2 = [[Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari]] was a prominent Indian football pioneer and [[educationist]] of the nineteenth century
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==Religion and spirituality==
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| caption1 = [[Swami Vivekananda]]
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| caption2 = [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]
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| caption3 = [[Sri Aurobindo]]
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| caption4 = [[Sarada Devi]]
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The Bengali Renaissance also led to religious reform movements. Some notable religious and spiritual leaders associated with these reform movements are [[Rani Rashmoni]], [[Ram Mohan Roy]], [[Debendranath Tagore]], [[Keshab Chandra Sen]], [[Bijoy Krishna Goswami]], [[Ramakrishna]], [[Sarada Devi]], [[Swami Vivekananda]], [[Aurobindo]], [[Bamakhepa]], Lokenath Brahmachari, [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati]], [[Bhaktivinoda Thakur]], [[Paramahansa Yogananda]], [[Lahiri Mahasaya]], [[Nigamananda Paramahansa]], [[Ram Thakur]], [[Sitaramdas Omkarnath]], and [[Anandamayi Ma]].

The religious reform movements and organizations associated with the Bengali Renaissance are:
* [[Brahmoism]] ([[Brahmo Samaj]])<ref name="McDermott">{{cite encyclopedia |surname=McDermott |given=Rachel Fell |title=Bengali religions |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion: 15 Volume Set |editor=Lindsay Jones |edition=2nd |place=Detroit, Mi |publisher=MacMillan Reference USA |year=2005 |volume=2 |pages=828 |isbn=0-02-865735-7}}</ref>
** [[Adi Brahmo Samaj]]
** [[Sadharan Brahmo Samaj]]
* [[Gaudiya Math]]
* [[Mahanam Sampraday]]
* [[Ramakrishna Mission]]
** [[Ramakrishna Math]]
* [[Sri Aurobindo Ashram]]
* [[Yogoda Satsanga Society of India]]
** [[Self-Realization Fellowship]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book |last=Chatterjee |first=Pranab |year=2010 |title=A Story of Ambivalent Modernization in Bangladesh and West Bengal: The Rise and Fall of Bengali Elitism in South Asia |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-4331-0820-4}}
* [[Bashabi Fraser|Fraser, Bashabi]] edited Special Issue on Rabindranath Tagore, ''Literary Compass'', Wiley Publications. Volume 12, Issue 5, May 2015. ''See'' Fraser's [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/lic3.12231/full Introduction] pp. 161–172. {{ISSN|1741-4113}}.
* {{cite book |last=Kabir |first=Abulfazal M. Fazle |year=2011 |title=The Libraries of Bengal, 1700–1947: The Story of Bengali Renaissance |publisher=Promilla & Co. Publishers |isbn=978-8185002071}}
* {{cite book |last=Kopf |first=David |year=1969 |title=British Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance: The Dinamics of Indian Modernization, 1773–1835 |url=https://archive.org/details/britishorientali0000kopf |url-access=registration |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-00665-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Raj |title=Essays on Indian Renaissance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubRkhPM0ETMC |year=2003 |publisher=Discovery Publishing House |isbn=978-81-7141-689-9}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mandal |first=Mahitosh |date=2022 |title=Dalit Resistance during the Bengal Renaissance: Five Anti-Caste Thinkers from Colonial Bengal, India |journal=Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=11–30 |doi=10.26812/caste.v3i1.367 |s2cid=249027627 |url=https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/367/96 |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809123730/https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/367/96 |url-status=live |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last=Marshall |first=P. J. |year=2006 |title=Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740–1828 (The New Cambridge History of India) |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521028226}}
* {{cite book |last=Mittra |first=Sitansu Sekhar |year=2001 |title=Bengal's Renaissance |publisher=Academic Publishers |isbn=978-81-87504-18-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPFeBY9YEAQC |access-date=30 March 2017 |archive-date=28 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228175744/https://books.google.com/books?id=WPFeBY9YEAQC |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pal |first1=Bipin Chandra |last2=Cakrabartī |first2=Jagannātha |year=1977 |title=Studies in the Bengal renaissance |location=the University of California |publisher=National Council of Education, Bengal |edition=2nd |oclc=5945802}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Amit |year=2011 |title=Notes on the Bengal Renaissance |publisher=Nabu Press |isbn=978-1-179-50139-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Travers |first=Robert |year=2007 |title=Ideology and Empire in Eighteenth-Century India: The British in Bengal |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521059688}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bengali renaissance}}
* {{cite book |last=Copf |first=David |year=2012 |chapter=Bengal Renaissance |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bengal_Renaissance |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}

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