Ideas of India | The Rediscovery of India

Starting in the early nineteenth century, ambitious Indians began flocking to newly-founded schools and colleges offering instruction in modern languages and sciences. Among the habits they acquired was reverence for contemporary British periodicals such as Athenaeum, The Quarterly Review, The Saturday Review, The Contemporary Review, The Fortnightly Review, The National Review, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, and Nineteenth Century. Not unreasonably, they came to view these periodicals as exemplars of public debate and deliberation. As the century progressed, these increasingly urbane Indians ached to discuss subjects closer to home. They answered this need by founding local counterparts to these British periodicals. A vibrant public sphere now took shape as legions of newly-minted graduates contributed and subscribed to these English-language periodicals. The most notable of these periodicals included Bengal Magazine, Haris Chandra’s Magazine, Mookerjee’s Magazine, The Indian Magazin

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• Malhar Manek