Krishna Mohan Banerjee
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| Krishna Mohan Banerjee কৃষ্ণমোহন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় |
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 1886 lithograph of Krishna Mohan Banerjee |
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| Born | May 28, 1813 Kolkata, Bengal, India |
| Died | 1885 Kolkata, Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Christian Evangelist |
Krishna Mohan Banerjee (Bengali: কৃষ্ণমোহন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়) (1813–1885) (his surname is also transliterated as Banerjea or as Bandopadhyay) was one of the 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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[edit] Early life
Son of Jibon Krishna Banerjee, he was born on 28 May 1813 at Shyampur, Kolkata, Bengal, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, court-pundit of Santiram Singha of Jorasanko. Around 1819 Krishna Mohan joined the School Society institution opened by David Hare at Kalitala. Impressed by his talents, Hare took him to his school at Pataldanga, later famous as Hare School in 1822.
He joined the newly founded 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 Derozians. 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. He found a place for a short while in the house of a Christian friend.
In 1831, he started publishing the Inquirer. In the same year his The Persecuted was published. 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.
[edit] Conversion to Christianity
On completion of his studies in 1829 he joined the Pataldanga school as an assistant teacher. In 1832 he converted to Christianity, under the influence of Alexander Duff. As a result of his conversion, he lost his job in David Hare’s school.
His conversion to Christianity raised a storm in Hindu society. The journals of the day became full of angry tirades against the activities of the 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 was later established, he 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 the 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.
[edit] Later life
In 1852 he was made a professor of Bishop’s College at Shibpore, Kolkata.
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; and also wrote The Aryan Witness, Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy (1861), Upadeshkatha, and The Relation Between Christianity and Hinduism (1881).
He died on 11 May 1885.
[edit] External links
[edit] 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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