Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer: A History of the Renaissance in Bengal/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII
SOME DRAWBACKS IN THE REFORM MOVEMENT
In this world there is often a mixture of good and evil. A drop of honey may hide a sting; a cup of nectar may contain a drop of poison. This may be said of Derozio’s influence on the minds of the young generation of his time. We have seen how liberal they became in their views, and how the noble principles of their natures were developed, and how, on the other hand, they imbibed the evil habit of drinking, which was wrongly regarded by them as one of the signs of civilisation. This habit in time became so general, and so overleaped the bounds of moderation, that English education progressed hand-in-hand with a morbid love for the bottle. Even students in their teens were known to be tipplers. According to them. Bacchanalian meetings in broad daylight, attended with feasting on meat cooked in Muhammadan shops, was thought to be the unmistakable sign of moral courage; and one’s credit as a reformer depended on the degree in which one could indulge in these revelries. But you cannot safely play with a venomous reptile; and alcohol, which had as a reptile crept into the Bengali community, soon showed itself in its destructive character. The bodies and minds of many became injured, while the angel of death untimely cut short the career of some.
But Derozio is not solely to be blamed for the Bengalis’ hostile attitude towards Hindu conservatism, or their predilection for everything English, including the vice of drinking. Another influence was at work — that of Captain 
Shib Chandra Deb.
Richardson. He took his pupils through the works of Shakespeare in a way to enrapture them. They admired the Captain, and the race to which he belonged, and tried to imitate him; and as it is easier for human nature to copy vices rather than virtues, our students made very poor attempts at the imitation of the Englishman’s manliness, while they quickly adopted his vices — especially the vice of drinking.
Happily, the character of young Bengal was being moulded differently by circumstances of a different nature. Doctor Duff, to whose evangelistic work we referred in Chapter V., by his preaching created an ever-growing sensation. Several young men, respectably connected and well educated, embraced Christianity, greatly to the horror of the orthodox Hindus. We have spoken of the conversion to Christianity of Mahes Chandra Ghosh and Krishna Mohan Banerji. Subsequently Gyanendra Mohan Tagore, only son of Prasanna Kumar Tagore, became a follower of Christ; and he was followed by Guru Das Maitra, and several others, all of whom were of respectable birth. Christianity went on spreading, and the Church in Bengal was being gradually strengthened, in spite of great persecution. In 1845 one Umesh Chandra Sirkar, whose father was the Dewan of the Tagore family, left his paternal roof with his wife, and went to Dr Duff with the intention of being baptised. His father coming to know this tried by force to snatch them from the missionary’s hands, but the latter was too strong and careful for such hindrance to his work. It was now that the members of the Brahmo Samaj, commenced a war with Christianity. With the assistance of the well-to-do Hindus of Calcutta they founded a Hindu Mission School, which, having worked for some years, came to an end owing to the bankruptcy of its trustees. The Tatwabodhini Patrika violently attacked Christianity; and the missionaries made bold retorts. They attempted to show that Brahmism had no reasonable basis, and that it was but an endeavour to effect a compromise between Hinduism and Christianity; while the editor of the Patrika said that the religion the cause of which he advocated was founded on the infallible teachings of the Vedas. This caused great discord among the members of the Samaj; for Akhai Kumar Dutta, who had left off editing the Tatwabodhini, and his party did not believe in the Vedas as the word of God, and protested therefore against the position taken up by that journal; while the new school of thinkers, led by Ram Gopal Ghosh, was not backward in throwing taunts at the Brahmos as time-serving hypocrites.
In the midst of these agitations the Krishnagar College was opened, in the beginning of 1846, and Ramtanu was appointed second master of the Collegiate School. Before he left Calcutta his friends, Krishna Mohan Banerji and others, had a valedictory meeting, and presented him with a watch, which he kept till the end of his life, as a precious memento of their love for him.
