Satish Chandra Mukherjee
Encyclopedia
Satish Chandra Mukherjee (5 June 1865 - 18 April 1948) was a pioneer in establishing a system of national education
in India
, along with Sri Aurobindo
.
, near Kolkata
(Calcutta). His father, Krishnanath Mukherjee, had been a childhood friend and classmate of Justice Dvarkanath Mitra, who appointed him as a translator
of official documents in the Calcutta High Court
. Mitra was a leading believer in the Religion of Humanity
as founded by the Positivist
Auguste Comte
. Adept of this faith, an atheist
servant of Man and of society, Krishnanath impressed this ideology
on his sons, Tinkori and Satish. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
himself was not only one of the first in India to write on Comte and his philosophy
but, also, he had zealous Positivist friends like Yogendrachandra Ghose and Rajkrishna Mukherjee; in 1874, Bankim published the latter’s article on Positivism in his Bangadarshan
, which began with the sentence, "Among the successfully educated classes of our country, there is a great deal of animation concerning the philosophy of Comte." While writing on psychological purification, Bankim wrote: "He who has been psychologically purified is the best Hindu
, the best Christian
, the best Buddhist
, the best Muslim
, the best Positivist."
In 1884, in the preface
of his novel
Devi Chaudhurani, Bankim quoted from the Catechism of Positive Religion: "The general law of Man’s progress (…) consists in this that Man becomes more and more religious."
of the South Suburban School in Bhowanipore
in Kolkata, Satish Chandra received inspiration from Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
and would have a wide range of acquaintances like Ashvinikumar Datta, Sivanath Sastri
, Bipin Chandra Pal
, Brojendranath Seal, Ashutosh Mukherjee
(his class-friend), Rabindranath Tagore
, Sri Aurobindo, Raja Subodh Mullick. With his classmate Narendra Datta (Swami Vivekananda
) and his friend Kaliprasad Chandra (Swami Abhedananda
), he attended the lectures by Pandit Sashadhar Tarka Chudamani on the shaD-darshana ("six schools of Hindu philosophy") at the Albert Hall, presided over by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. "Alive to the necessity and the usefulness of all other systems, secular or religious, Eastern or Western," Satish Chandra’s intense religious temperament laid emphasis on the study of Hindu life, thought and faith. He joined the Presidency College
to obtained his M.A.
in 1886 and B.L.
in 1890, and enrolled himself as a pleader of the Calcutta High Court. In 1887, he was appointed a Lecturer
in history
and economics
in the Berhampore College. In 1895 he founded the Bhagavat Chatuspathi, a first attempt to an alternate system of higher studies.
Dawn occupied an apartment on the first floor of the present Vidyasagar College
(formerly known as the Metropolitan Institution: its Principal, Nagendranath Ghosh was the President, and Satish its General Secretary). The Dawn Society was "functioning (…) as a training ground of youths and a nursery of patriotism, became in 1905 one of the most active centres for the propagation of Boycott-Swadeshi ideologies..."
In tune with the programme of a new pedagogy
introduced by Sri Aurobindo, the Society’s object was to draw the attention of the students to the needs of the country, to love Mother India, to cultivate their moral character, to inspire original thinking. It had a weekly session for a “general training course”. One of the members, Benoy Kumar Sarkar
, considering having lived significantly thanks to Satish Chandra’s influence, would remember his ardent message of patriotism and philanthropy rousing the youth to dedicated service; he would also write about the method of Pandit Nilakantha Goswami’s explaining the Bhagavad Gita
, impressing on the listeners’ mind the futility of life and death, the insignificance of the body: the sole thing that counts is Duty, the right Action.
Among active members of the "Dawn" were Sister Nivedita
, Bagha Jatin
(Jatin Mukherjee), Rajendra Prasad
(first President of India
), Haran Chakladar, Radhakumud Mukherjee, Kishorimohan Gupta (principal, Daulatpur College), Atulya Chatterjee, Rabindra Narayan Ghosh, Benoykumar Sarkar, all future celebrities. One day, Satish Chandra heard an inner voice uttering firmly: "God exists."
(Benares) for his spiritual pursuit.
By the side of Subodh Chandra Mullick
, in 1906, Satish took a leading part in forming the Council of National Education and became a lecturer in the Bengal National College. In 1907, after Sri Aurobindo’s resignation on 2 August 1907 (fearing "that he might be spirited away to prison at any moment, and his association with the National College might cause great damage to the institution"), Satish Chandra succeeded him as principal, and a contributor to the daily Bande Mataram. Four years after Sri Aurobindo’s retiring to Pondicherry, Satish left for Varanasi in 1914, settled there till his death. Prominent among the regular visitors who consulted him for guidance, there was Malani, Professor of English at the Hindu University, who took profuse notes while listening to Satish Chandra. There were also Madan Mohan Malaviya
, Narendra Deva
, Jadunath Sarkar
.
, introduced him to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who held Satish Chandra so high that whenever Gandhi went to Varanasi, he spent some time with Satish Chandra. At a juncture, it seems Gandhi even approached him for receiving initiation; but Satish Chandra did not feel that Gandhi needed it. Both of them were seekers of God
. Gandhi strove to solve the problem of suffering in man’s daily life and look for the Truth; Satish Chandra sought after spiritual deliverance.
Following Gandhi’s arrest in 1922, he spent two months at the Sabarmati Ashram
helping in the management and publication of Young India
. Those were years when Gandhi had been moving all over India, without caring for his failing health. One day Satish Chandra was asked by his Guru
Bejoykrishna to send Gandhi one hundred rupee
s every month for his personal use. Gratefully Gandhi accepted this gift. In 1924, hospitalized for appendicitis
, whereas Gandhi was flooded with messages of solicitude, he wondered about Satish Chandra’s silence and wanted his son Devdas to enquire. The only reply that came was that Satish Chandra knew that Gandhi was going to recover soon.
with a breath control; happy with that instruction, on 1 February, Gandhi thanked Satish Chandra for "Your lovely letter": on 30 January 1948, Gandhi breathed his last by repeating He Rama.
Satish Chandra died on 18 April 1948.
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, along with Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
.
The positivist background
Satish Chandra was born at Banipur in the Hooghly districtHooghly District
Hooghly district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal in India. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River.The headquarters of the district are at Chinsura...
, near Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
(Calcutta). His father, Krishnanath Mukherjee, had been a childhood friend and classmate of Justice Dvarkanath Mitra, who appointed him as a translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
of official documents in the Calcutta High Court
Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William on 1 July 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court...
. Mitra was a leading believer in the Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity was a secular religion created by Auguste Comte, the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Humanity in France and Brazil.-Origins:...
as founded by the Positivist
Positivism
Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....
Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
. Adept of this faith, an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
servant of Man and of society, Krishnanath impressed this ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
on his sons, Tinkori and Satish. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
himself was not only one of the first in India to write on Comte and his philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
but, also, he had zealous Positivist friends like Yogendrachandra Ghose and Rajkrishna Mukherjee; in 1874, Bankim published the latter’s article on Positivism in his Bangadarshan
Bangadarshan
Bangadarshan was a Bengali literary magazine, founded initially by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1872, and resuscitated in 1901 under the editorship of Rabindranath Tagore...
, which began with the sentence, "Among the successfully educated classes of our country, there is a great deal of animation concerning the philosophy of Comte." While writing on psychological purification, Bankim wrote: "He who has been psychologically purified is the best Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, the best Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, the best Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, the best Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, the best Positivist."
In 1884, in the preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
of his novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Devi Chaudhurani, Bankim quoted from the Catechism of Positive Religion: "The general law of Man’s progress (…) consists in this that Man becomes more and more religious."
Early life
As a studentStudent
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
of the South Suburban School in Bhowanipore
Bhowanipore
Bhowanipore or Bhabanipur is the oldest locality of South Kolkata. It is located just south of the Lower Circular Road . It is the second largest locality in South Kolkata after Ballygunge...
in Kolkata, Satish Chandra received inspiration from Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE , born Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyaya , was an Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance....
and would have a wide range of acquaintances like Ashvinikumar Datta, Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri was a scholar, religious reformer, educator, writer and historian...
, Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal was an Indian nationalist. He was among the triumvirate of Lal Bal Pal.-Early life and background:...
, Brojendranath Seal, Ashutosh Mukherjee
Ashutosh Mukherjee
Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, CIE was a prolific Bengali educator and the first Indian Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta from 1906 to 1924. Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability...
(his class-friend), Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Sri Aurobindo, Raja Subodh Mullick. With his classmate Narendra Datta (Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
) and his friend Kaliprasad Chandra (Swami Abhedananda
Swami Abhedananda
Swami Abhedananda was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who Swami Vivekananda sent to the West to head the Vedanta Society, New York in 1897, and spread the message of Vedanta, a theme on which he authored several books through his life, and subsequently founded the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math,...
), he attended the lectures by Pandit Sashadhar Tarka Chudamani on the shaD-darshana ("six schools of Hindu philosophy") at the Albert Hall, presided over by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. "Alive to the necessity and the usefulness of all other systems, secular or religious, Eastern or Western," Satish Chandra’s intense religious temperament laid emphasis on the study of Hindu life, thought and faith. He joined the Presidency College
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
to obtained his M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1886 and B.L.
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
in 1890, and enrolled himself as a pleader of the Calcutta High Court. In 1887, he was appointed a Lecturer
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in the Berhampore College. In 1895 he founded the Bhagavat Chatuspathi, a first attempt to an alternate system of higher studies.
The Dawn Society
Founder-editor of the Dawn magazine (1897-1913), an organ of Indian Nationalism, in 1902 he organised the "Dawn Society" of culture, to protest against the Report of the Indian Universities Commission, representing the inadequate university education imposed by the Government to fabricate clerks for the merchant offices. "The cry for thorough overhauling of the whole system of University education was in the air."Dawn occupied an apartment on the first floor of the present Vidyasagar College
Vidyasagar College
Vidyasagar College , named after Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, is a government-sponsored day and evening college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta in Kolkata, India.-Notable alumni:*Jatindra Nath Das*Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar...
(formerly known as the Metropolitan Institution: its Principal, Nagendranath Ghosh was the President, and Satish its General Secretary). The Dawn Society was "functioning (…) as a training ground of youths and a nursery of patriotism, became in 1905 one of the most active centres for the propagation of Boycott-Swadeshi ideologies..."
In tune with the programme of a new pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
introduced by Sri Aurobindo, the Society’s object was to draw the attention of the students to the needs of the country, to love Mother India, to cultivate their moral character, to inspire original thinking. It had a weekly session for a “general training course”. One of the members, Benoy Kumar Sarkar
Benoy Kumar Sarkar
Benoy Kumar Sarkar was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist. He founded several institutes in Calcutta, including: the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.Sarkar graduated from the University of...
, considering having lived significantly thanks to Satish Chandra’s influence, would remember his ardent message of patriotism and philanthropy rousing the youth to dedicated service; he would also write about the method of Pandit Nilakantha Goswami’s explaining the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
, impressing on the listeners’ mind the futility of life and death, the insignificance of the body: the sole thing that counts is Duty, the right Action.
Among active members of the "Dawn" were Sister Nivedita
Sister Nivedita
- A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda Sister Nivedita ; ; , born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was a Scots-Irish social worker, author, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta, India in 1898...
, Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
(Jatin Mukherjee), Rajendra Prasad
Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician and educator. He was one of the architects of the Indian Republic, having drafted its first constitution and serving as the first president of independent India...
(first President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
), Haran Chakladar, Radhakumud Mukherjee, Kishorimohan Gupta (principal, Daulatpur College), Atulya Chatterjee, Rabindra Narayan Ghosh, Benoykumar Sarkar, all future celebrities. One day, Satish Chandra heard an inner voice uttering firmly: "God exists."
The National College
The Positivist awaited further light from within. In September, a friend of his, follower of the saint Bejoykrishna Goswami, told him that the Master wanted him to come. After receiving initiation in September 1893, he learnt from the saint that on completing his present activities, Satish was to leave for VaranasiVaranasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
(Benares) for his spiritual pursuit.
By the side of Subodh Chandra Mullick
Subodh Chandra Mullick
Subodh Chandra Mullick, Raja, was a nationalist in Calcutta during the British rule of India. He is notable for the substantial monetary contribution for the cause of education...
, in 1906, Satish took a leading part in forming the Council of National Education and became a lecturer in the Bengal National College. In 1907, after Sri Aurobindo’s resignation on 2 August 1907 (fearing "that he might be spirited away to prison at any moment, and his association with the National College might cause great damage to the institution"), Satish Chandra succeeded him as principal, and a contributor to the daily Bande Mataram. Four years after Sri Aurobindo’s retiring to Pondicherry, Satish left for Varanasi in 1914, settled there till his death. Prominent among the regular visitors who consulted him for guidance, there was Malani, Professor of English at the Hindu University, who took profuse notes while listening to Satish Chandra. There were also Madan Mohan Malaviya
Madan Mohan Malaviya
Madan Mohan Malaviya was an Indian educationist, and freedom fighter notable for his role in the Indian independence movement and his espousal of Hindu nationalism...
, Narendra Deva
Narendra Deva
Acharya Narendra Deva was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the satyagraha as a revolutionary tactic....
, Jadunath Sarkar
Jadunath Sarkar
Sir Jadunath Sarkar was a prominent Indian Bengali aristocrat and historian.-Background:Born in Singra, Natore. He was the son of Rajkumar Sarkar, the Zamindar of Karchamaria in Natore in Bengal.-Education:...
.
Satish Chandra and Gandhi
Another professor of the same university, Jivatram KripalaniJivatram Kripalani
Acharya Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani was an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1947. During the election for the post of the future Prime Minister of India held by the Congress party, he had the second...
, introduced him to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who held Satish Chandra so high that whenever Gandhi went to Varanasi, he spent some time with Satish Chandra. At a juncture, it seems Gandhi even approached him for receiving initiation; but Satish Chandra did not feel that Gandhi needed it. Both of them were seekers of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Gandhi strove to solve the problem of suffering in man’s daily life and look for the Truth; Satish Chandra sought after spiritual deliverance.
Following Gandhi’s arrest in 1922, he spent two months at the Sabarmati Ashram
Sabarmati Ashram
Sabarmati Ashram is located in the Ahmedabad suburb of Sabarmati adjoining to famous Ashram Road, at the bank of River Sabarmati, 4 miles from the town hall. This was one of the residences of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi...
helping in the management and publication of Young India
Young India
Young India was a weekly journal published in English by Mahatma Gandhi from 1919 to 1932. Gandhi wrote various quotations in this journal that inspired many. He used the Young India to spread his unique ideology and thoughts regarding independence....
. Those were years when Gandhi had been moving all over India, without caring for his failing health. One day Satish Chandra was asked by his Guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Bejoykrishna to send Gandhi one hundred rupee
Rupee
The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...
s every month for his personal use. Gratefully Gandhi accepted this gift. In 1924, hospitalized for appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
, whereas Gandhi was flooded with messages of solicitude, he wondered about Satish Chandra’s silence and wanted his son Devdas to enquire. The only reply that came was that Satish Chandra knew that Gandhi was going to recover soon.
The concluding message
In the habit of exchanging letters regularly, the last time Satish Chandra wrote to Gandhi was on 24 January 1947, explaining how to repeat the name of RamaRama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
with a breath control; happy with that instruction, on 1 February, Gandhi thanked Satish Chandra for "Your lovely letter": on 30 January 1948, Gandhi breathed his last by repeating He Rama.
Satish Chandra died on 18 April 1948.