Past Imperfect Episode 21: Rosinka Chaudhuri on Young Bengal’s Fearless Radicalism

Past Imperfect Episode 21 features SPJIMR Prof. Dinyar Patel in conversation with Rosinka Chaudhuri, Professor in Cultural Studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) and the author of India’s First Radicals: Young Bengal and the British Empire. In the early 1830s, a cohort of graduates from Calcutta’s Hindu College began transforming Indian society. Later dubbed Young Bengal, this generation embraced a range of radical and heterodox ideas, questioning everything about the world around them. Their parents were outraged by their abandonment of orthodox Hinduism. Commentators around India either thrilled at their advocacy of equality and liberty or condemned them as drunkards and beef eaters. Amidst these sparks, Young Bengal set out an agenda for fearlessly defending principles like freedom of speech, equality, liberty, and secularism. Its members condemned British colonial rule and even took a British administrator to court. Chaudhuri explains how Young Bengal upturned colonial India—often at great personal cost, but with far-reaching implications which resonate today.