Debashish Banerji, PhD, is Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophies and Cultures and Chairman of the East West Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He is author of Seven Quartets of Becoming: A Transformative Yoga Psychology Based on the Diaries of Sri Aurobindo and also The Alternatate Nation of Abanindranath Tagore, a book about his great grandfather. He edited an anthology about his great uncle, Rabindranath Tagore in the Twenty-First Century. His newest anthology is titled Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures.
Here he points out that the Bengal Renaissance refers to a literary, artistic, spiritual, and political movement in the state of Bengal during the British occupation of India. It included figures like Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of the Brahmo Samaj modernization of traditional Hindu culture. Members of the legendary Tagore family played prominent roles. Also noted is the role played by Swami Vivekananda who was instrumental in bringing yoga thought and culture to the West. This movement created the conditions that eventually led to self-rule in India.
(Recorded on May 23, 2019)
Published on June 10, 2019