Tuesday, September 6, 2011

History of Press and literature

Some of the leading Indian Papers and journals which voiced Indian public opinion were the Hindu Patriot, Indian Mirror, Amrita Bazar Patrika and The Bengalee in Bengal, The voice of India, India Prakash, Mahratta and Kesari in Mahratta, the Hindu and Swadeshamitramin Madras, the Advocate in Lucknow, and the Tribune in Lahore, Also literatures like Bankim Chandra Chaattopadyay, author of the famous Anandamath, and Composer of 'Bande Mataram' ; Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, Dinabandhu Mitra Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay, and Rabindranath Tagore -- mention only a few -- in Bengali, Bharatendu Harishchandra in Hindi, Subramania Bharati in Tamil, and G.H.Deshmukh, Visnushastri Chiplunkar, and S,M,Paranjpe in Marathi, immensely contributed to the nationlism.
The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones (1746–1794) on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatick Society". In 1825, the antique k was dropped without any formal resolution and the Society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal." Finally, on July 1, 1951 the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.
Between 1869 and 1873, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a native of Gujarat, made his first attempt at reform in his native India. This attempt took the form of the establishment of "Vedic Schools" which put an emphasis on Vedic values, culture and religion to its students. The first was established at Farrukhabad in 1869, with 50 students enrolled in its first year. This initial success led to the founding of four additional schools in rapid succession at Mirzapur (1870), Kasganj (1870), Chhalesar (1870) and Varanasi (1873).
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has (as of 2011) several successors. Theosophy is an active philosophical school today, and through a process of schism has also given rise to other mystical, philosophical and religious beliefs and organizations