Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was one of the great novelists of nineteenth century Bengal. He was a literary pioneer and nationalist who had an exceptional ability to communicate with and arouse the masses.
Bankim Chandra was born on 26th June 1838 in the village of Kathalpara, near Naihati, District 24 Parganas, West Bengal. He belonged to a distinguished family. Bankim was the yongest of three sons of Jadabchandra Chatterjee and Durgadebi. His father was a Deputy Collector.

Even as a child Bankim showed great courage and virtuosity and never had any fear of the 'gora sahebs'- [the British]. He was always brilliant in his studies and started writing poetry at a young age. Bankim studied law from the Presidency College in Calcutta and was one of the first two graduates of the Calcutta University in 1858. He was immediately appointed- Deputy Magistrate by the British colonial government - a job he grudgingly held for three decades.

A Literary Scholar

However, Bankim continued his literary pursuits. He chose fiction as his theme and the first novel by him to appear in print was Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English. His first Bengali novel wasDurgeshnandini, and was published in 1865. The next novel Kapalkundala[1866] is one of the best romances written by Chatterjee.
However Bankim Chandra wanted to stimulate the intellect of the Bengali speaking people through his works and bringing about a cultural revival. With this end in view he brought out and edited the monthlyBangadarshan in 1872.


Bamkim was also a nationalist to the core. His goal was the revival of national pride in protest against British rule. In 1882, Anandamath was published. Anandamath became his most famous as well as his most political novel and a source of inspiration for the patriots fighting for the freedom of our country from the British rule. The chant of "Vande Mataram", was coined in this novel and it soon became a patriotic hymn that aroused the entire nation to fight for their freedom. Vande Mataram was later adopted by the Indian government as the nation's National Song.


Throughout his life, Bankim wrote on social and political issues facing the society and the country at that time like widow remarriage, education, lack of intellectual development and freedom. He believed that by communicating with the masses he could unite them against the British.
The British Government honoured him with the title "Ray Bahadur" in 1892. Bankim Chandra passed away on 8th April 1894.

Bankim Chandra -Author of Vande Mataram

National Song of India


Composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in Sanskrit, the song Vande Mataram was primarily conceived to serve as a motivation to the people in their freedom struggle. Though it was penned down in 1876, the first publication emerged in the year 1882 in 'Anandamatha' amidst doubts of a ban by the British Raj. Sharing an equal status with Jana-gana-mana [National Anthem of India], the song was first sung in the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. Vande Mataram served as a voice against British rule during the freedom struggle. Initially, people with patriotic fervor flocked the streets of Calcutta and other metropolis, shouting the slogan 'Vande Mataram' or 'Hail to the Mother [land]!' 


Terrified by the impending danger, British banned the expression of song and imprisoned freedom fighters, who disobeyed the command. Vande Mataram initially served as the National Anthem of India, but later Jana-gana-mana was adopted as the anthem of independent India. This was because the Muslim sect in India felt that the song was biased, as it depicted the nation as 'Ma Durga', a Hindu Goddess. Though Vande Mataram aptly illustrated the pre-independence national zeal and passion, it was espoused as the National Song of India. In the following lines, the wordings are provided for the National Song of India and its English translation.


National Song Of India

Vande maataraM
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM
SasyashyaamalaaM maataram ||

Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM
pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM ||

Koti koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaale
koti koti bhujai.rdhR^itakharakaravaale
abalaa keno maa eto bale
bahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiM
ripudalavaariNiiM maataraM ||

Tumi vidyaa tumi dharma
tumi hR^idi tumi marma
tvaM hi praaNaaH shariire

Baahute tumi maa shakti
hR^idaye tumi maa bhakti
tomaara i pratimaa gaDi
mandire mandire ||

TvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNii
kamalaa kamaladala vihaariNii
vaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM

Namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM
SujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM ||

ShyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM
DharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM |"

English Translation

Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.

Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!
Though who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Though art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her
swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair

In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Lovilest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free!
*********************

Poet,Novelist,Essayist,Journalist

Trivia

• Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, playing on the meaning of Bankim [Bent A Little], asked him what it was that had bent him. Chatterjee jokingly replied that it was the kick from the Englishman's shoe.
• After the Vishabriksha [The Poison Tree] was published in 1873,The Times of London observed:

“

Have you read the Poison Tree Of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee?

”

• When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906, he named it Bande Mataram, after Chatterjee's song..Lala Lajpat Rai also published a journal of the same name.
• Bibliography
  Fiction
  • Durgeshnandini [March 1865]
  • Kapalkundala [1866]
  • Mrinalini [1869]
  • Vishabriksha [The Poison Tree, 1873]
  • Indira [1873, revised 1893]
  • Jugalanguriya [1874]
  • Radharani [1876, enlarged 189])
  • Chandrasekhar [1877]
  • Kamalakanter Daptar [From the Desk of Kamlakanta, 1875]
  • Rajani[1877]
  • Krishnakanter Uil [Krishnakanta's Will, 1878]
  • Rajsimha [1882]
  • Devi Chaudhurani [1884]
  • Kamalakanta [1885]
  • Sitaram [March 188])
  • Muchiram Gurer Jivancharita [The Life of Muchiram Gur]
  
  
  and 
  #Anandamath  is a Bengali novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee  and published in 1882. Set in the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion  in the late 18th century, it is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Bengali and Indian literature. Its importance is heightened by the fact that it became synonymous with the struggle for Indian independence from the British Empire.  The novel was banned by the British. The ban was lifted later by the Government of India after independence.
  The national song of India, Vande Mataram  was originally published in this novel.
  However, the value of the novel is in its patriotic nature, and being a significant voice amidst the oppression that inspired struggle for independence in the generations to come. Many of the lines of the novel became immortal and have been quoted by scores of authors, even in present times.
  Film Adaptation
  This was later adapted into a film, Anand Math, in 1952, directed by Hemen Gupta, starring Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar and Geeta Bali.  Musi was by Hemant Kumar, who gave a version of the Vande Mataram, which became a cult success.
  
  

  

  Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

  Some of the Religious Commentaries are:
  • Krishna Charitra [Life of Krishna, 1886]
  • Dharmatattva [Principles of Religion, 1888]
  • Devatattva [Principles of Divinity, Published Posthumously]
  • Srimadvagavat Gita, a Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita [1902 - Published Posthumously]
  Poetry Collections : Lalita O Manas [1858]
  ******************
  More about Bankim Chandra Chatterjee:
• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wanted to bring about a cultural revival of Bengal by stimulating the intellect of the Bengali speaking people through literary campaign. With this end in view he brought out monthly magazine called Bangadarshan in 1872.
• Bankim Chatterjee wasalso a superb story-teller, and a master of romance. No Bengali writer before or since has enjoyed such spontaneous and universal popularity as Chatterjee. His novels have been translated in almost all the major languages of India

Homi Jehangir Bhabha

Born: October 30, 1909
Died: January 24, 1966

Achievements


Founded  The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Was the first chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission; Was chairman of the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva in 1955.


*****************

Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha

Homi Bhabha, whose full name was Homi Jehangir Bhabha, was a famous Indian atomic scientist. In Independent India, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, with the support of Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation of a scientific establishment and was responsible for the creation of two premier institutions, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Homi Bhabha was the first chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha was born on October 30, 1909, in Bombay in a rich Parsi family. After graduating from Elphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science in Bombay, he went to Cambridge University. He received his doctorate in 1934. During this period he worked with Niels Bohr on the studies that led to quantum theory. Homi Jehnagir Bhabha also worked with Walter Heitler on the cascade theory of electron showers, which was of great importance for the understanding of cosmic radiation. He did significant work in identifying the meson.

Due to outbreak of Second World War, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, returned to India in 1939. He set up the Cosmic Ray Research Unit at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore under C. V. Raman in 1939. With the help of J.R.D. Tata, he established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Mumbai. In 1945, he became director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. 

Apart from being a great scientist, Homi Bhabha, was also a skilled administrator. After independence he received the blessings of Jawaharlal Nehru for peaceful development of atomic energy. He established the Atomic Energy Commission of India in 1948. Under his guidance Indian scientists worked on the development of atomic energy, and the first atomic reactor in Asia went into operation at Trombay, near Bombay, in 1956.

Dr.Homi Bhabha with Nehruji-1952

[Excellent rapport: Dr. Homi Bhabha with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during the inauguration of the Rare Earths factory in Mumbai on December 12, 1952. Indira Gandhi and her two children are also seen in the picture]


Homi Bhabha was chairman of the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva in 1955. He advocated international control of nuclear energy and the outlawing of atomic bombs by all countries. He wanted nuclear energy to be used for alleviating poverty and misery of people. 

Homi Bhabha received many honorary degrees from Indian and foreign universities and was a member of numerous scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. He also authored many articles on quantum theory and cosmic rays. Homi Bhabha died in an aeroplane crash in Switzerland on January 24, 1966.  


Death and Legacy  


He died when Air India Flight 101 crashed near Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966.  Many possible theories have been advanced for the aircrash, including a conspiracy theory in which CIA is involved in order to paralyze Indian Nuclear Weapon Programme.  

Dr. Homi J Bhabha addressing a meeting at the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay on the death of late Lal Bahadur Shashtri].

The Atomic Energy Centre in Trombay was renamed as the "Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour.  In addition to being a famous scientist, Bhabha was also a painter and a classical music and opera enthusiast, besides being an amateur botanist.  


After his death, the Atomic Energy Establishment was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. Bhabha also encouraged research in Electronics,  Space, Science, Radio, Astronomy and Microbiology.  The famed radio telescope in Ooty, India, was his initiative, and it became a reality in 1970.  Bhabha has since become known as the "Father of India's Atomic Energy Programme".  The Homi Bhabha Fellowship Council has been giving the Homi Bhabha Fellowships since 1967.  Other noted institutions in his name are the Homi Bhabha National Institute, an Indian deemed University and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, India.  

Remembering Homi Bhabha:

“In the very recent past there lived a person amongst many of us here, who in all moments of time available to him, thought of science on ideas which revealed the structure of matter, its grand form and beauty, and last but not the least, how he could make India which had just then become free from foreign control, a powerful country which derived its strength from the knowledge of science”

— Prof. Devendra Lal [excerpt from "Remembering Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, F. R. S"] 

Homi Bhabha inaugurates the 1st atomic reactor-1956

For further Reading:

• 1.  http://www.tifr.res.in/~hbbccc/download/yisc.pdf

• 2.  A Masterful Spirit—Homi Bhabha by Indira Chowdhury and Ananya Dasgupta; Published by Penguin - Pages 240/- [Price Rs 1299/-]

The above Book  is profusely illustrated with rare photographs of Bhabha, his family, his great acquaintances, his sketches of eminent scientists, his paintings and correspondence. Also there are delightful doodles by him.


Homi Bhabha's Leadership

An Eminent Scientist

Dr. Bhabha's leadership of the atomic energy programme spanned 22 years. It began in 1944 with a letter he wrote to the Sir Dorabji Trust proposing the establishment of an institute devoted to fundamental research. He continued his work with passion and commitment right till his untimely death in an air accident in 1966.

Since the setting up of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in December 1945, India has come a long way. This has been possible because of the strong foundations laid by Dr Bhabha during his lifetime.


In August 1955, Dr. Homi Bhabha said "For the full industrialization of the under-developed countries, for the continuation of our civilization and its further development, atomic energy is not merely an aid, it is an absolute necessity. The acquisition by man of the knowledge of how to release and use atomic energy must be recognized as the third epoch of human history."

TIFR: A brief history

JRD Tata

Institutions of higher learning in a society are distinct indicators of its intellectual traditions. With strong traditions of learning, seats of higher education have played a crucial role in the history of India. Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha conceived an institute devoted to basic science, one that would provide the atmosphere for fundamental research to flourish while contributing to the nascent project of nation building. Dr. Bhabha described his vision in a letter to Shri J. R. D. Tata in 1943, and then, with the latter's encouragement, made a formal proposal to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. The soundness and the need for such a centre of excellence was immediately perceived by the Industry and the Government. Support came from the Trust and from the Government of Bombay Province. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [TIFR] started functioning on June 1, 1945. Dr. Bhabha was also encouraged by the University of Bombay which recognised the Institute for awarding Master and Doctoral degrees.

TIFR Endowment Fund [TEF]

To promote flexible funding of new initiatives at the Institute in research activities at the forefront of Science, Technology and Mathematics, there is a pressing need to create a substantial corpus.  The TIFR Council of Management approved the establishment of a general purpose Endowment Fund for this purpose in 1997.  Such a Fund could serve to promote extended visits of young and distinguished scientists in different institutions in the country and abroad for collaborative research.  The Endowment fund collected will also be able to strengthen the other activities of promoting academic excellence at the Institute which includes financial support in the form of augmented research scholarships and additional funding to exceptionally talented and highly motivated young students and scientists who would wish to join the Institute for their doctoral and post doctoral research.

Sir Dorarbji Tata Trust made a firm beginning towards the creation of Endowment Fund by donating rupees one crore towards Chair Professorships and Archives, during the Golden Jubilee celebrations [1995-96] of the Institute.

Dr. Homi Bhabha spent his whole life in pursuit of this grand vision. He inspired a generation of scientists with his bold dreams and ambitions for the nation and his selfless service. He was indeed a great scientific pioneer and a great builder of modern India. 

Science management

Bhabha will also be remembered for his innovations in science management. He modified the administrative practices of a colonial form of government, in which most of the power rested with the officialdom. He utilised the help of retired ICS officers, and borrowed officers of the IAS cadre to help him deal with the government. But the final say was his. There are several instances of how he overruled suggestions and markings of those from the pure administrative service.

Dr Homi Bhabha -Scientist, Social Reformer& Diplomat

The  Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education is another example of how basic scientists could expand their creative talent to areas of social concern. This part of the social responsibility was unique in Bhabha. In this respect he was not only a scientific administrator but also a social reformer and a diplomat

About Dr. Homi Bhabha

• Click here for Memories of Dr. Homi Bhabha.
• Click here for some of the Scientific Contributions by Dr. Homi Bhabha.
• Click here for some more photographs of Dr. Homi Bhabha.