Partition of Bengal and swadeshi movement

Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi Movement As a part of Novel 'Home and The World ' 

Name: 

Divya Parmar 

 Paper no:

201

Roll no:

5

Enrollment no:

4069206420210024

Email id:

divyaparmar07012@gmail.com

Batch:

2021-2023 (sem 3)

Submitted to: 

S. B. Gardi Department of English.

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University 

Introduction: 

The Home and the World is a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, set against the political and logistical nightmares of India’s 20th century caste system. Although the story focuses on the dynamic of a marriage, which shifts when a shadowy outsider enters the lives of the couple much of the novel reads like a philosophical treatise. 

There are shifting viewpoints between the characters Bimala, Nikhil, and Sandip, and much of the book comprises their internal and external dialogues as they consider serious issues such as tradition, the roles of men and women in Indian culture, the nature of political change, the occasional need for violence in political activism, and other rhetorical exercises such as the weighing of the public good.  

Author: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads. He was educated at home; and although at seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there. In his mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities, he managed the family estates, a project which brought him into close touch with common humanity and increased his interest in social reforms. 

He also started an experimental school at Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of education. From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement, though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of modern India, was his devoted friend. Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in India.

Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship. For the world he became the voice of India’s spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution. 

About Novel : 

As the novel begins, Bimala is happy with her life. She has married a good, kind man who is educated and generous. She is content to worship him and accept his support in all things. What she does not feel, however, is excitement. When the political firebrand Sandip begins making speeches in their village, she is infatuated by his words, but also stirred by some of his political ideas. She thinks of him constantly. Sandip, who is only interested in pursuing his own desires and climbing the social strata, does nothing to discourage her interest in him. 

Her husband, Nikhil, sees what is happening, but is unwilling to intervene. Nikhil believes that, if one is committed to living morally and thoughtfully, one can accept whatever arises. He is sad that he feels like a burden to Bimala, but is determined to let her make her own choices. 

Bimala’s choices lead her to steal from Nikhil to raise money for Sandip’s cause, money that he keeps for himself. Overcome with shame at how she has allowed a man who now disgusts her to cause such havoc in her life, Bimala must try to save her marriage, support her country, and recommit herself to living by her conscience, not her passions. As village unrest turns to outbursts of violence, the characters are all changed by the decisions they must make. 

Published in 1916, The Home and the World is a critically celebrated work with themes that its author knows intimately. The novel is a striking example of the power of art (and artifice) to edify—or destroy—causes, relationships, and possibly an entire country.  

Partition of Bengal: 

The Partition of Bengal was the most important event in the history of Bengal. The Partition of Bengal was announced in 7 July, 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The work for which Lord Curzon earned an immortal fame was his Partition of Bengal. In January 1905, Lord Curzon was appointed Viceroy of India. Till the time of Curzon, the whole area covering Bengal, Bihar and Orissa remained under one administration. It was too big in size. The area of that province was 189,000 sq miles. Its population was nearly 78 million. Its population was nearly double the population of England. Bengal in those days was the biggest province of India. Lord Curzon thought it unwise to keep such a huge area as one province. 

In 1866, a devastating famine was appeared in Orissa. Millions of people died in that famine. Then British administration formed an inquiry team to find out the reasons behind the famine. According to the report given by the inquiry team, this Bengal province is too big in size. They have to face many administrative difficulties. Administration could not take proper steps in emergency situation due to the vastness and geographical structure of the province. 

In 1867 Sir William Grey and in 1872 Sir John Campbell informed the upper authority in England that it is quite impossible for a governor to rule such a vast province, Bengal. But the authority did not give any response to their report. The government announced the idea for partition in January 1904. The idea was opposed by Henry John Stedman Cotton, Chief Commissioner of Assam (1896-1902). 

Partition, most significantly, is a lesson in abject failure of understanding between two very large communities- Hindus and Muslims. Unbelievable as it may sound now, the Hindus, Muslims, Shikhs, Christians, and other communities lived side by side for hundreds of years, mostly in peace, at times in conflict, but not along the rigid communal divides that British rulers formulated to suit their “divide and rule” policy. It was started with the British desire to know the mix of the population that they were ruling. The 1871 census gave rise to an emerging sense of separate identities among the cultural, ethnic, and religious groups. This census attempted to list every Indian according to language, caste, religion, etc. As it happened, religious identities were attributed to groups when census takers were unsure because of the diverse and extremely intermingled nature of the religious practices that were being recorded. 

So suddenly one became a member of this or the other group or even religion, as labeled by the census official, without being personally aware of his or her transformation. But historically, religious and cultural practices had overlapped and gotten entwined between groups of people and it would be quite common that one village or groups of villages took up certain religious practices of another. On July 20th 1905, the first partition of Bengal along religious lines was approved in London by the Secretary of State of India.  

The decision Partition of Bengal was announced by Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India in July 1905. This partition came into effect in October 1905. Taking the eastern half of Bengal, namely, the Dacca, Chittagong, and Rajshahi division and uniting those with Assam, Lord Curzon Formed a new province, named as ‘Eastern Bengal and Assam.’ Dacca became the capital of the new province. The western half of Bengal with Bihar and Orissa remained as another province. Calcutta remain its capital. The area of the newly formed province was 106,504 sq miles and its population was 31 million and majority was Muslims. Sir Joseph Bampfylde Fuller was appointed as the Governor of this province. A managerial and a revenue board are also formed. But the Judiciary of the newly formed province was kept under the Calcutta High Court. The area of Western Bengal was 141,580 sq miles and its population was nearly 54 million and majority was Hindus. Sir Endro Frezer was appointed as the Governor of that province.  

The Swadeshi movement sprang out of the anti-partition movement, which was established in response to Lord Curzon’s plan to divide Bengal into two provinces. Moderates launched the Anti-Partition Campaign to put pressure on the government to stop the unjust partition of Bengal from taking place. 

The ideas were promoted through journals like Hitabadi, Sanjibani, and Bengalee, which wrote petitions to the government and held public gatherings. The split sparked protests in Bengal when the commitment to boycott foreign goods was made for the first time.

Swadeshi Movement Proclamation

A gigantic meeting was conducted in August 1905 at Calcutta Townhall, when the Swadeshi Movement was formally proclaimed.

1. The notion was spread that items like Manchester textiles and Liverpool salt should be boycotted.

2. The people of Bengal demonstrated strong opposition to the division by chanting Vande Mataram when it was enacted.

3. Amar Sonar Bangla was also written by Rabindranath Tagore.

4. As a symbol of unity, people tied Rakhis in each other’s hands.

Although the movement was confined majorly to Bengal, it spread to a few different parts of India:

In Poona and Bombay under Bal Gangadhar Tilak

 In Punjab under Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh

In Delhi under Syed Haider Raza

In Madras under Chidambaram Pillai.

Economic Aspects of Swadeshi Movement

In terms of economics, swadeshi displays a nationalist-protectionist stance against foreign capital, as well as a desire to promote indigenous goods and encourage customers to use them even if they are more expensive than – or of lower quality than – imported goods.

In other words, the swadeshi sends out a patriotic call to people with cash and enterprise to pioneer indigenous enterprises, even if it means making a small or no profit in the beginning. Swadeshi, on the other hand, is not exhausted by the economic imperative alone.

Swadeshi concepts, which arose during the vibrant Swadeshi era and had their origins in a nationalist protectionist policy, looked beyond it and focused on everything Indian in all directions. Though swadeshi began as an economic movement, it quickly evolved into a comprehensive social, economic, political, and cultural ideology as a result of the interpretations given by such Indian thinkers as Bipin Pal, Aurobindo, Brahmabandhab, Rabindranath, Satis Chandra Mukherjee, and others during the swadeshi movement.

Swadeshi, therefore, evolved into a full-fledged philosophy, representing the political aspirations, economic demands, and cultural traditions of the Indian people in opposition to the British Power’s political dominance and imperialist economic strategy in India. 

Political Aspects of Swadeshi Movement

The Hindu Mela tradition of holding periodic exhibitions of swadeshi products was revived by the Industrial Association from 1893 onwards, and its 1895 exhibition is reported to have attracted 20,000 visitors. Since 1901, such industrial exhibitions became a regular part of the annual Congress sessions. At the height of the swadeshi movement in 1906, Jogeshchandra Chaudhury organized the Congress exhibition at Calcutta, and Lord Minto was invited to 14 inaugurate it.

The nationalists under the leadership of Tilak were trying to radicalize the ideology and programs of Congress at the risk of a hitter encounter with the right-wing elements while the latter was engaged in making use of the industrial exhibition, a part of the Congress session, to find favour with the Viceroy who had used the inaugural function to praise and pat ’honest swadeshi, implying mere promotion of indigenous industries as opposed to political swadeshi based on the boycott movement. 

The Radical Nationalists vehemently opposed the holding of the exhibition under 15 official patronage and they called for its boycott. Lord Minto’s homily on honest swadeshi created a convulsion in the Radical Nationalist press and platform. On the ideological plane, the Minto sermon was attacked by the exponents of the new thought pushing forward the rift and basic differences between the two schools of politics as to the interpretation and application of swadeshi. 

Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, stormy-petrel of the swadeshi movement, In an article on ’Homest swadeshi or the Vice-Roy’s hypocrisy’ published in his evening daily, the “Sandhye” of the 24th December 1906, exposed the concept of honest swadeshi, its ideological meaning, and its mendicant slant. He wrote: ‘’Honest swadeshi was explained by His Excellency as swadeshi dissociated from politics, the swadeshi which buys the cheapest thing in the open market, without discrimination between indigenous and foreign”. He described these words as mere ’’humbuggism and hypocrisy”. 

Word count : 2085

Image: 2 

Work Citation: 

Chowdhury, Partha. “Partition of Bengal of 1905.” Academia.edu, 3 Apr. 2018, https://www.academia.edu/36319161/Partition_of_Bengal_of_1905. 

Phantom, Pantom. “Different Dimensions of Swadeshi Movement.” ScoreBetter, 30 Nov. 2021, https://scorebetter.in/swadeshi-movement/. 

“The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913.” NobelPrize.org, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1913/tagore/biographical/.

Unit 11 Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi Movement I ... - Egyankosh. https://blog.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/19925/1/Unit-11.pdf.