How Thoreau's Walden Pond Mixed with the Ganges and Yoga Came to America with Swami Vivekananda

Bengali Renaissance
“In 1765 the East India Company took possession of Bengal, Bihar and parts of
Orissa from Shah Alam, the Mughal Emperor. As a result, Bengal and its surrounding
lands became the first regions in India to experience the direct impact
of British rule and the beginnings of modernization. For the remainder of the
eighteenth century and throughout the early decades of the nineteenth century,
the British laid the foundations for civil administration. They established communication
and transportation systems, a modern bureaucracy, an army and police.
They further instituted law courts, and opened schools and colleges. The nineteenth
century became the high point of British-Indian interaction, particularly
within Bengal. Historians refer to this era as the Bengal Renaissance—a period
of intense cultural and technological advancement as well as a time of great social,
cultural, and political change.
The basis of the Bengal Renaissance was East-West contact. With the spread
of European colonial power around the world through the agency of the East Indian
Company and similar organizations, many regions of Asia, including India,
experienced tremendous upheaval to their traditional cultures. Bengal was perhaps
the first region in Asia to have its culture radically transformed through this
interaction with the West. In Bengal five important influences led to the Bengal
Renaissance: the rise of British–Bengali commerce, the introduction of English
education, British Orientalism, Christianity, and perhaps most importantly how
the Bengali intellectuals themselves responded to these influences.”
– Shukavak N. Dasa, Bengal Renaissance, Sanskrit Religions Institute
Related Glossary Terms
Brahmo Samaj, East India Company, Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Mohun Roy, Upanishads
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