The Sceptic’s Spectre: Henry Derozio
The Sceptic’s Spectre: Henry Derozio The Sceptic’s Spectre: Henry Derozio Posted on 11th September, 2024 (GMT 16:10 hrs) AKHAR BANDYOPADHYAY ⤡ (The above black-and-white portrait is a Lithographic Miniature of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio by J. Bennet before 1843.) ABSTRACT The narrative “The Sceptic’s Spectre: Henry Derozio” provides a detailed examination of radical humanist and cosmopolitan thinker Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s ideas through the lens of contemporaneity. It discusses his role as an uncompromising educator and poet, focusing on his advocacy for free thought, anti-establishment rationalism, and his challenge to orthodox Hindu beliefs. Derozio’s influence on his students, known as the Young Bengal group, and his progressive ideas, which contributed to the shaping of modern Indian intellectualism, are central themes with special reference to the recent degeneration of this argumentative spirit in the context of plutocratic, theocratic Saffron Fascism. The article...