Sir Gooroodass Banerjee (1844-1918) Life and Ideas

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Sir Gooroodass Banerjee (1844-1918) today is almost a forgotten name, though we can not deny the relevance of his thoughts and works at present. He was one of the most important personalities of the Bengal renaissance of the nineteenth century. He was born in a poor devoted Brahmin family on January 26, 1844, at Narikeldanga in Calcutta. He was an ideal teacher, the first Indian Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, the judge in Calcutta High Court and at the same time an important personality responsible for the rise of the Indian nationalism. He played an important role to lead the society to an ideal path during the crisis in national life. He was the first to propose that education should be imparted through Bengali language. He was intimately involved with several nationalist institutions like National Council of Education, Bangiya Sahitya Parisat etc. from their beginning. But his life and activities has remained unexplored. It is true that Sir Gooroodass' contributions to the culture of Bengal and the growth of nationalism in the nineteenth century was immense. So, his philosophy of life, his great works, his idea of nationalism, educational and social reform and justice all have been taken up for in-depth study. This work would particularly focus on Sir Gooroodass' thoughts on education, problems of education, religious and moral education, legal issues etc. At the same time, his contributions to national education, his eagerness to introduce education through mother tongue without ignoring English education and his interest to spread education based on national lines and exclusively under national control has also been discussed. His various philosophical thoughts, the objectives of acquisition of knowledge, his liberal opinions in spite of being a devoted Hindu has been discussed in this book. Sir Gooroodass was an ardent supporter of women education and he opposed child marriage. Besides social reform, his progressive activities as a lawyer and judge and his contributions to education particularly between 1890 and 1892 as a Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta has been focused in this work. Sir Gooroodass had great regard to the indigenous culture and education of the country. He wanted overall development of his countrymen by synthesizing eastern and western knowledge. 'A Few Thoughts on Education, Inan o karma' and "The Education problem in India' are remarkable among the several books, authored by him, on education. Gooroodass was not only an educational reformer and philosopher, his opinion on social reform was also very significant. His ideas about Hindu Law, various institutions and forms of marriage, rights of women and different descriptions of 'Stridhan' etc. has been focused also. He considered caste system as a hindrance to the development of lower castes. Sir Gooroodass Banerjee's contribution to the development of nationalist consciousness has not yet been given proper attention. In the context of 'Partition of Bengal' initiated by Curzon, 'National Council of Education' (1906) was set up and Sir Gooroodass was involved in the process of its establishment. Bengal Technical Institute' (1906) was established later on. Undoubtedly, he had great love for his nation and national culture. Therefore, the main thrust area of this work is Sir Gooroodass' ideas of social and educational reform, nationalism, his sense of justice and above all his overall philosophy of life and his endeavour for the development of his countrymen. In his works Gooroodass focused on the classical texts and articulated his thoughts or opinion, which has been considered as the chief characteristic of any renaissance personality. Bengal Renaissance has been a subject matter of great interest of the historians and social scientists. There are many controversies among the historians about the meaning and chief characteristic of 'renaissance'. The Oxford Dictionary defines the word 'Renaissance 'as, firstly, the great revival of art and letters, under the influence of classical models, which began in Italy in the fourteenth century and secondly, any Revival, or period of marked improvement and new life, in art, literature etc. Giorgio Vasari in his book 'Lives of Italian Painters, Sculptors and Architects, first mentioned the term 'Renaissance to mean the 'rebirth of fine arts.' During the Italian Renaissance, from fourteenth to sixteenth century, most participants and observers focused on the revival of classical antiquity and the rejection of medieval culture as the key features of the renaissance. In the eighteenth century, when Enlightenment emerged, the philosopher, with their rejection of the medieval and Christian past saw the Renaissance as the essential first step towards a modern, rational and secular culture. In 1860, Jacob Burckhardt explained the concepts of Renaissance in his book 'The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. He said that after the collapse of classical Civilization a period of darkness and barbarism had set in, dominated by the church and the rural life. Eventually, however, a revival of commerce and urban life laid the foundations for a secular vision of life. He emphasised on development of the individualism and its social setting.

Sir Gooroodass Banerjee's life, works and Ideas are the subject matter of this book. He was one of the most important personalities of the Bengal renaissance of the nineteenth century. He was an ideal teacher, the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta and the Judge in Calcutta High Court. He played an important role in promoting national education. He had a great love for his nation and national culture. After becoming the Vice-Chancellor he made necessary arrangement for education through Bengali language. But he never proposed to reject western education. It is true that Sir Gooroodass's contributions to the culture of Bengal and the growth of nationalism in the nineteenth century was immense. So, his philosophy of life, great works, idea of nationalism, his educational reform and justice all have emphasised in this book.

Dr. Manas Das was a bright student of Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Kolkata and passed B.A. in History Hons. with Ist Class. Then he passed M.A. in Modern History from University of Calcutta and also obtained B.Ed. degree. He was awarded M.Phil Degree from University of Calcutta and got Ph.D degree from Raiganj University. He received many prizes and awards for his academic excellency. Dr. Das taught History at Fakir Chand College, Diamond Harbour and Behala College (PG Section), Kolkata. Now he is engaged as a College Teacher in the Department of History, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya, Kakdwip. Several scholarly articles have been published by him in various prestigious Journals, like 'The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies', 'Itihas Anusandhan', Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, 'Eshana', Bangiya Itihas Samiti, 'Itihas O Sanskriti' etc. Dr. Das is interested in and now working on the Regional history and Socio-Cultural history of Modern India. His research work on Sir Gooroodass Banerjee is unique and very authentic.