Krishna Mohan Banerjee কৃষ্ণমোহন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় |
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![]() 1886 lithograph of Krishna Mohan Banerjee |
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Born | Kolkata, Bengal, India |
May 24, 1813
Died | May 11, 1885 Kolkata, Bengal, India |
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | Christian Evangelist, Professor, Litterateur |
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Derozians |
Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee Hara Chandra Ghosh Krishna Mohan Banerjee Peary Chand Mitra Radhanath Sikdar Ramgopal Ghosh Ramtanu Lahiri Rasik Krishna Mallick Sib Chandra Deb |
Krishna Mohan Banerjee (Bengali: কৃষ্ণমোহন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়) (24 May 1813– 11 May 1885) (his surname is also transliterated as 'Banerjea' or as 'Bandyopadhyay') was one of the 19th-century Indian thinkers who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was the first president of the Bengal Christian Association, which was administered and financed by Indians. He was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s (1808–1831) Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.
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Early life
Son of Jibon Krishna Banerjee and Sreemoti Devi, Krishna Mohan was born on 24 May 1813 at Shyampur, Kolkata, Bengal, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, the court-pundit of Santiram Singha of Jorasanko.
In 1819, Krishna Mohan joined the School Society Institution founded by David Hare at Kalitala. Impressed by his talents, Hare took him to his school at Pataldanga, later famous as Hare School in 1822.
The talented and inquisitive Krishna Mohan joined the newly-founded Hindu College (then Hindu College)with a scholarship. He was profoundly influenced by Derozio and that changed the course of his life. He used to live in his maternal grandfather’s house, which he used as a meeting place for the Young Bengal Association members. One day, when he was absent, they consumed hand-made bread and meat prepared by Muslims, an unthinkable act for upper-caste Hindus in those days, threw the leftover bones into neighbours' houses, and started shouting, “Cow-meat! Cow-meat!” In the commotion that followed, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, his maternal grandfather, was forced to turn him out of the house. a perplexed Krishna Mohon found a place for a short while in the house of a Christian friend.
In 1831, the religious-reformer-and-litterateur started publishing The Inquirer. In the same year his play, The Persecuted: or, Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta, was produced. It was monotonically critical of certain prevalent social practices.
While at college he used to attend the lectures of the British Christian missionary, Dr. Alexander Duff, who had come to India in 1830. They also went to the houses of Duff and Dealtry for serious discussions. His father died of cholera in 1828. In spite of his diverse activities and self-support in manual work, he continued to excel in his examinations.
Conversion to Christianity
On completion of his studies in 1829, Krishna Mohan joined Pataldanga School as an assistant teacher. In 1832, he converted to Christianity, most probably under the influence of Alexander Duff. As a result of his conversion, he lost his job in David Hare’s school and his wife, Bindhyobashini Banerjee, was forced to return to her own father's house, only to join him in later life. Nevertheless, he later became the headmaster of Church Missionary Society School.
Krishna Mohan's conversion to Christianity raised a storm in the then-Hindu society. The Kolkata journals of the day became full of angry tirades against the activities of Christian missionaries. He himself was too independent a man to remain silent. He declared his determination to pursue with steadfastness his course of action and endure with patience all opposition. The campaign against Hindu College led to the dismissal of Derozio.
When the missionary society had begun its philanthropic activities in Kolkata, Krishna Mohan became the first Bengali priest. In 1833, he was convicted of forcibly converting a young boy to Christianity. That did not daunt him. He converted his wife, his brother Kali Mohan, and Ganendra Mohan Tagore, the son of Prasanna Coomar Tagore to Christian faith. Subsequently, Ganendra Mohan married his daughter Kamalmani and became the first Indian to qualify as a barrister. He was also instrumental in the conversion of Michael Madhusudan Dutt.
He became a deacon of the Anglican Church in 1836, and was superintendent of the Mirzapur School of Christ Church. He used to preach and deliver sermons in Bengali.
Later life
In 1852, Krishna Mohan was appointed a professor of Oriental Studies at Bishop’s College, Shibpore, Kolkata. He had studied aspects of Christianity as a student of the same college between 1836 and 1839.
In 1864 he was elected to be a member of the Royal Asiatic Society along with Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. In 1876 the University of Calcutta honoured him with a doctorate.
He published a 13-volume English-Bengali encyclopaedia Vidyakalpadrum (1846-1851); and also wrote The Arian Witness (1875), Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy (1861), Upadeshkatha, and The Relation Between Christianity and Hinduism (1881).
Reverend Krishna Mohan Banerjee died on 11 May 1885 in Kolkata, and was buried at Shibpore.
External links
Further reading
- T. V. Philip, Krishna Mohan Banerjea, Christian apologist (1982)
- R. Ghosha, A Biographical Sketch of the Rev. K. M. Banerjea (1980)
- K. Baago, Pioneers of Indigenous Christianity (1969)
- Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj in Bengali by Sivanath Sastri
- Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali edited by Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose
- Tattwabodhini Patrika and the Bengal Renaissance by Amiya Kumar Sen
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