Social Reformist Strategies in The Literary Movements: Bhartendu Harischandra and Balkrishna Bhatt

SOCIAL REFORMIST STRATEGIES IN THE LITERARY
MOVEMENTS: BHARTENDU HARISCHANDRA AND

BALKRISHNA BHATT
(THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG THE

INTELLECTUALS OF BHARTENDU YUGA WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
BALKRISHNA BHATT IN COMPARISON TO BHARTENDU HARISCHANDRA)
Submitted By:
KUNDAN KUMAR
M.A./MOD/CHS/SSS
2004-2006
Submitted To
CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
NEW DELHI - 110067
2006
1
Apart from discussing in the arena of social reform, the various efforts and strategies
made by the literature of Balkrishna Bhatt vis-à-vis the literature of the Bhartendu “yuga”
with special reference to Bhartendu Harischandra and apart from inquiring and analyzing
the different and diverse aspects of his (Bhatt’s) perception of all manner of issues and
problems faced by his times, the present seminar paper will also study, after looking in to
all the prevalent notions of the traditional societal set-up, the characteristic unresolved
tensions, ambiguities, ambivalences, divergences and contradictions in the intellectual
thoughts, ideas, actins, beliefs, attitudes and approaches of the latter half of the 19th
century towards the contemporary society, religion, culture and politics.
Trying to keep into account as many views as it can from all the relevant available and
accessible sources to the best of my knowledge, ability, wisdom and sanity, this
presentation will mainly focus on the way Bhatt is located in his literature, the
contemporary social issues, problems, questions, and realities in the process of
reconstructing and refiguring the past and the future for the betterment, upliftment or
reformative of the present with all its existing and prevailing conditions which make him
so distinguishable and eminent among all the scholars of the Bhartendu Yuga.
Besides all these, this paper will also have in its discretion a right to go in to all the
details of addressing and elaborating the following questions and themes respectively
Ø How and in what ways, Bhatt perceived the issues of varied nature in the
playground of society, religion, culture, economy, politics, etc which make him different
from other scholars of his time?
Ø What were the basic differences and similarities between him and other literary
scholars of the Bhartendu Yuga specially Bhartendu Harischandra in the way they
responded and reacted to the contemporary social realities of diversified nature?
Ø What are the ambivalences and incongruities in his literary observation and
comment on the above mentioned issues? Where are these contradictions in thought more
frequent – in the literature of Bhatt or Bhartendu?
2
Ø Comparing Bhatt and Harischandra in their approach and attitude towards social-
reforms and, comparing the attempts of whatever nature made by them for the
‘modernization’ of the Hindu-society.
Ø How does Bhatt stand in the line of social-reformers? Was he a social-reformer
like Rammohun Roy or Dayanand Saraswati, if not why?
Ø Why has Bhatt so neglected in the Hindi literature unlike Bhartendu
Harischandra, Pratapnarayan Mishra, Radhacharan Goswami etc. despite of being their
contemporary and despite of his contribution to the Indian literature and society in no less
significant manner than his peers?
Ø Why the literature of Balkrishna Bhatt an appropriate subject of serious research
and what is the relevance of this research in the field of history?
This study in its course will cover the entire period of Bhartendu Yuga and concentrate
on Balkrishna Bhatt and his literature in relation to Bhartendu Harischandra in
comparative terms. The Indian social reform movement produced a multifaceted
intellectual expression of the social and cultural transformations which took place under
the impact of British rule. “No other coherent body of thought so sensitively and
profoundly exposed the mental processes of Indians as they formulated the ideas
underlying the structure of their modern society as did the literature on social reform”1.
The making of modern India, indeed, is recorded in that literature, with a richness of
context and the reliable reflection of subjective truth that are nowhere else available.
Bhartendu Yuga: An Introductory Background

After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate and by
this time, the British got an opportunity from the disunity among the Indian states and
Muslim Kings and gained prominence over the Indian political arena. In matter of time,
they had the country under their rule. As the advanced science, technology and industries
of Europe in the form of ‘Industrial Revolution’ contributed to the world, a new culture,
the Indians also got introduced to this modern culture. The English education, scientific
1
Heimsath, Charles H., “Indian Nationalism And Hindu Social Reform”, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey, 1964, Pg 3.
3
discoveries, industrial revolution, press, journalism – all played a part in raising a new
consciousness among the educated Indians. After the 1857 revolt, the power of
administrative governance of India shifted to the hands of the British government from
the East India Company and by the time when Bhartendu Harischandra surfaced on the
scene of Hindi literature, the whole country was engulfed with various kinds of atrocities
by the British. Apart from the political situation, there were adverse conditions in the
social and cultural arena. In social life, the people were completely overcome by existing
prevailing customs, rituals, rudimentary conceptions, etc. Due to the ensuing struggle
between the East and the West, the ancient and the modern, the whole nation was
struggling with casteism, religious and cultural superstitions, abecedarian conceptions,
communal sentiments and overall a certain kind of vestigial mind-set.
Due to the influence of the western education systems, culture and civilization, the
intellectual consciousness of the people was changing and now in this new light of new
education, they began to realize their own drawbacks. The social, political, economic,
and religious condition was very critical in Bhartendu Yuga and due to the suppressive
and repressive nature of the colonial state, fear of the police and administration; Arms
Act; Vernacular Press Act; social deterioration; spread of Christianity; cultural, moral and
civilizational inertia; intellectual degradation; and finally retrogression in every sphere of
the society, it was a very accurate time to curb and eliminate all of them. The restrictions
on the freedom of expression put forward by the government, prompted the literary
figures and intellectuals of that contemporary time who couldn’t express their views
directly, to adopt another way of expressing their ideas, views, emotions, feelings,
beliefs, sentiments and opinions in the form of uniting journalism and press, undoubtedly
the best viable medium to express oneself and to communicate with the masses. Here the
term ‘masses’ constitute both the literate and illiterate masses, which I will discuss later.
Bhartendu Yuga: An Introduction

This new reawakening period in India began with the rise of consciousness among the
newly educated intellectuals, lead by Raja Rammohun Roy by the beginning of the 19th
century and went on for its heights by the middle and late 19th century in the form of a
4
new all-India renaissance in Hindi literature which had a great bearing of 1857 revolt.
“Bhartendu Yuga through its vigour and vitality, influenced and affected the whole
Indian society by eliminating the harmful rudimentary conceptions and replacing them
with new thoughts, and these seeds of new consciousness made India rise to that level on
which the society had some advantages on social, religious, political, economic and
cultural fronts. In every area of life, there were some revolutionary changes and now the
Indian society came to a reawakening position to recognize the great and glorious past of
India with all its strength”2.
The introductory period of the ‘modern era’ in the Hindi literature is called or addressed
as the ‘Bhartendu Yuga’, since in the views of its critics and historians, the literary
activities of this period, having an impressive impact of Bhartendu’s refined literary
interests and inner awakening, created a certain new kind of consciousness among the
people living in those difficult contemporary times and circumstances. Despite
controversies over the issue of nomenclature and the time-period of this Yuga, most of
the literary critics and historians agree with the name as the Bhartendu Yuga and its time
period as between 1868 and 1910. First of all the Mishra brothers named this specific
period of modern Hindi literature as the ‘transformation period’ and the ‘modern Hindi’
period and according to them, the time-period was from 1832 to 1900. Acharya
Ramchandra Shukla termed it as the ‘Harischandra Kaal’ and according to him, its time-
period is 1868 to 1893. In his view, Bhartendu had a great impact on both the areas of
language and literature.
According to Dr Kesharinarayan Shukla and Dr Laxmisagar Varshney, the time-period of

the Bhartendu Yuga is 1868 –1910 and 1850-1900 respectively. But before fixing the
time-period, we should take into account all the necessary measuring and defining factors
and elements like, Bhartendu’s own period (1850-1885), the period of his literary
‘mandala’ up to Devakinandan Khatri (1861-1913) and finally the period of all the
literary activities influenced by him. On the basis of the various literary activities of the
2
Gautam, Dr Anand Prakash, “Hindi Ke Vyangya Nibandh”, Girnar Prakashan, Mahesana, North
Gujarat, 1990, Pg 23.
5
Bhartendu Yuga, without limiting the period of this Yuga to the life-period of Bhartendu
Harischandra, only we can clearly say that it exists between 1850-1920.
The ancient Vaishnavism prevailed in the name of religion and faith in the Bhartendu
Yuga. Bhartendu himself got educated and preached in the Vallabh community. His
associate poets, Radhacharan Goswami, Ambikadutt Vyas, Radhakrishna Das etc. were
the supporters of this traditional and rudimentary religious thinking. But the character of
this 'religiosity' in the Bhartendu Yuga was quite different from the 'traditionality' in the
sense that it was related only with thoughts and was not practical in day to day life. By
the time of Bhartendu Yuga, the tendencies governed by the religion and religious
institution had become free on many levels like governance. Life-style, business,
education, thoughtfulness etc. Many factors were responsible for this. For instance, the
contemporary political scenario in which the 1857 revolution had its share, the society
and religion in which many reform movements kike Brahmo Samaj (1828), Arya
Samaj(1875), Ramakrishna Mission (1898), Theosophical Society (1883) etc. played
important roles with other components as ‘Muslim Consciousness;, Christianity, the
economic condition including the development of railways, post-office, telegraph etc., the
observations and views of the British or the Indian culture and, of course the new
education system.
The socio-religious reform movements played the most important part in the above-
mentioned developments. In the recent past, Rammohun Roy had launched the Brahmo
Samaj against the – fundamentalism, religious superstitions, rudimentary socio-religious
norms, polytheism – as a whole against the traditional social set-up. Bhartendu was
greatly influenced by this (as shown in his 'Vanyatra'), which we will discuss later. Like
this, the Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj also affected the synchronous society
very much. After the Arya Samaj, the religious movement became of two types –
Sanatanists and Reformists. “Most of the parts in the Hindi-belt were – in between these
movements”3.
3
Varshney, Laxmi Sagar, “Hindi Sahitya Ka Vrihat Itihaas”, Prayag Prakashan, Prayag, 1954, Pg 81.
6
The new education system based on the ‘Western Educational System’ and the society
influenced by the ‘Western Religious Conceptions’ also played significant roles in
generating the new consciousness and also its emergence which helped in creating new
values in the society in terms of new culture, morality, life-style etc. This produced many
tendencies among the Indians as of patriotism, unity or the level of culture and
spirituality, equality and of course nationalism. The consequences of those various social
reactions and responses proved to be very far-reaching in the long run and for the purpose
of Making these new social tendencies very wide in range and very effective in nature,
the two mediums of writing literature – prose and poetry were being adopted. “Bhartendu
Yuga was the most lively and conscious period in the Hindi literature”4.
This discussion will concentrate on the later nineteenth century, when, following the
colonial encounter, the dominant structure of social consciousness crystallized on part of
the general shaping of modern Indian society. “This structure neither pre-supposed nor
affected an undifferentiated social conciousness that characterized all the dominant
sections within Indian society. It consisted rather, in an arrangement of the constitution—
elements of this consciousness. The relative value of the constitutive elements fluctuated
and produced varying manifestations in terms of individual responses to a whole range of
issues”5.
Right from the 1830s, the institution like the ‘Dharma Sabhas’ as a defensive the cause
of the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ as a defensive measure against the proposed legislation to make
some changes in the Indian society. When the practice of Sati was banned in 1831 and
there were the Christian Missionaries arising in new parts of the country like
Maharashtra, the ‘Dharma Sabha’ was founded in Calcutta in 1831. “The Dharma
Sabhas’ were no novel institutions, they had always mediated between the percepts of the
‘Dharmashastras’ and actual contingency”6. In the nineteenth century, these institutions
4
Sarma, Ramvilas, “Bhartendu Yuga Aur Hindi Bhasha Ki Vikas Parampara”, Rajkamal Prakashan,
Delhi, 1942, revised edition 1975, Pg 9.
5
Chandra, Sudhir, “The Oppressive Present: Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial India”,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1992, Pg 1.
6
Dalmia, Vasudha, “The Nationalisation of Hindu Traditions: Bhartendu Harischandra and Nineteenth
Century Banaras”, OUP, Delhi, 1997, Pg 1.
7
were not only composed of the learned Brahmans, but also of the Western educated urban
intelligentsia, which made these institutions follow the British model of organization and
now having presidents and executive boards and secretaries, it functions in strict
accordance with British parliamentary procedure. Despite of the notion of ‘Sanatana
Dharma’ being stationary for a long time, its renewed propagation in the light of some
new movements forwarding the cause of Hinduism with new socio-political dimensions
gravitated to congregate around these ‘Sabhas’. Only conserving the inherited practice
was not the goal of these institutions but they also tried “to sanction change, however
minimal it might have appeared at first sight”7.
There is no doubt that a new kind of consciousness was emerging among the educated
intelligentsia, which, apart from the characteristic distinction between the educated and
the uneducated and between the modern and ancient thoughts in the Bhartendu Yuga, had
two divisions in itself – one who completely neglected and ignored the merit of Indian
culture and civilization and blindly followed the Western culture; and the one who
followed only the positive aspects of the Western culture and civilization. The latter were
the people who, after studying the Indian culture, education, arts and science, applied
their knowledge in revamping the socio-economic circumstances of the country. All the
great literary personalities of the Bhartendu Yuga belong to this group. They attempted to
awaken the national consciousness through their literature and there is not even a
slightest doubt that the contribution of the 'Bhartendu Yuga' in awakening the masses
through literature is matchless in the history of Indian literature.
Going through the wide range of Hindi literature in the 19th century, one can find that in
the process of defending tradition and emphasizing the ‘sanatanata’ (the importance of
the Sanatan Dharma), the constancy of the ‘Arya Dharma’ (as authorized by the Vedas
and Puranas), etc. in the very name of tradition and orthodoxy, the educated people,
acting on behalf of the people as their spokesman, were actually accommodating and
articulating wide reaching changes. All these efforts of defending tradition, the Sanatan
Dharma, Dharma Sabhas, Arya Dharma etc., which had certain common features, were
7
Ibid., Pg 2.
8
accelerated by the more radical reform movements such as the Brahmo Samaj, Arya
Samaj etc. These latter movements are generally classified under the category “neo-
Hinduism”8 and have been taken to represent the “modernization of the Hinduism”9.
“The common trait which binds these otherwise heterogeneous movements is the
predominantly western orientation of their intellectual formations”10.
Social reform was one of the most important concerns of the 19th century and the
reformist tendencies were common to almost all these movements. The difference was
only in selection and the degree of emphasis. For instance, the movements like the
‘Brahmo Samaj’ and the Arya Samaj were more radical in their approach and propagated
more sweeping reforms than the formation like the ‘Dharma Sabhas’. The revolt of 1857
had affected the approach and attitude of the Indian society in terms of socio-political
consciousness and after this revolt the reformist tendencies of the thirties (1830s) had
acquired strong and undisguisedly racist tones.
Bhartendu Yuga had two responsibilities to fulfill simultaneously. On one hand, it was
contending with a medieval ‘darbari’ culture and on the other hand, it was facing the
responsibility of creating a new atmosphere among the people for a socio-religious and
political movement. The literature had not only to express a wider dissatisfaction growing
in the country but also to fight with the socio-cultural problems. The latter was a difficult
task because it was in a sense, like a challenge to the prevailing traditional norms and
perceptions in society, religion and culture.
The literature, which has the unique quality of transcending every human and natural
barrier id necessary for humanity to lead a better and more productive like. The literature
was being considered as the most suitable medium in the Bhartendu Yuga to convey the
message to the society to generate a consciousness on all the religious, cultural and
political levels and this was the most important reason of writing so much literature on
these themes by the scholars of this period of the Hindi literature. Actually, the change in
8
Ibid., Pg 3.
9
Ibid.,
10
Ibid., Pg 6.
9
the literary attitude of the later half of the 19th century had in its roots, the mental
tendencies of the educated people, produced by the contemporary consciousness. There is
also an “assumption in modern historiography that the myth of an ancient Indian
millennium was the creation of later nineteenth century socio-religious reform
movements like the ‘Arya Samaj’ – which are described as revivalistic – is not strictly
true”11 (as I have already mentioned before).
PART I. BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION
SECTION I: LIFE AND TIMES OF HARISCHANDRA

Bhartendu Harischandra and His Literature
Bhartendu Harischandra was the pioneer of the modern Hindi literature which, for the
first time in the history of Indian literature, felt the broad contemporary responsibilities
free from all old, dogmatic, imperious, rudimentary and traditional narrow mind-set
prevailing in the literary world and turned towards a new, refined, cultivated way of
writing literature. In 1868, Bhartendu started the publication of ‘Kavivachansudha’. It
gave birth to journalism and also to a new writing style in Hindi literature in the form of
essays, articles, reviews etc. followed by many other journals such as 'Bhartendu', 'Hindi-
Pradip', 'Brahman' etc. “In 1868 itself, Bhartendu translated a drama ‘Vidyasundar’ and
published it in Hindi”12, which opened the way for the birth of theatre as the 'Banaras
Theatre’ (1868) in which the first played drama was ‘Bhramjaal’ (Hindi translation of
‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare, by Ratanchandra).
Born in a rich and ancient Bania family of Banaras in 1850, Bhartendu Harischandra was
a man of varied interests and restless energy. Without altogether breaking away from the
received literary conventions with regard to themes, forms, diction, syntax and
orthography, Bhartendu Harischandra self-consciously, created new forms in Hindi
11
Chandra, Sudhir, “The Oppressive Present : Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial
India”,OUP, Delhi, 1992, Pg 58.
12
Varshney, Laxmi Sagar, “Hindi Sahitya Ka Vrihat Itihaas”, Prayag Prakashan, Prayag, 1954.
10
literature and inspired a nucleus of writers, known as ‘Bhartendu mandala’, who carried
on the development of the Hindi language, as well as of literature and journalism, along
the lines indicated by Bhartendu.
As a devout Vaishnava and a rich aesthete, Harischandra wrote some devotional, erotic
and epideictic, poetry which was conventional in form and design, but most of his work
like that of his contemporaries, was imbued with a socially inspired patriotism.
Sometimes, his devotional poetry carried a political message. ‘Kavivachansudha’ was the
first attempt in the history of Indian literature to honour the modern consciousness on a
wide scale and the publication of this magazine was a landmark event which opened the
door of new opportunities. Thus from the point of view of all the abovementioned views,
one thing is clear that all the prerequisites for a consciousness were readily present in the
'Bhartendu Yuga'. This modernity, produced by new, scientific, technological and
industrial developments and free from all rudimentary conceptions is a way of seeing life
which engaged more with the humanitarianism in religion than the practice of rituals.
Bhartendu Harischandra characterized the definition of a new type of spokesman for

tradition because it was no longer to be left to the Brahmans alone to speak alone to
speak in the name of orthodoxy. Bhartendu “used the power of his knowledge of the new
as well as of the old to coin the new traditionalist idiom, and could effectually wield the
modern print media to initiate and direct change”13. Bhartendu had a tremendous
influence on a vast regime comprising almost the whole North-west provinces because he
spoke and wrote everything with the authority of the holy city of Kashi, with the
traditional repute of learning to support him and finally because he propagated and made
Hindi the literary language of national status. He is known primarily as the father of
modern Hindi literature because of his works occupying the most space in the literary
histories. As a publicist, who was aware of the political potential of public opinion,
Bhartendu coined and shaped views on a wide variety of issues, which were inextricably
bound to the question of political and national identity.
13
Dalmia, Vasudha, “The Nationalisation of Hindu Traditions: Bhartendu Harischandra and Nineteenth
Century Banaras”, OUP, Delhi, 1997(1999), Pg 10.
11
While Bhartendu was deeply rooted in the devotional tradition of the Vallabha
community or sampradaya, patronized and composed traditional music and poetry, and
participated enthusiastically in the representational public arenas of the city, Kashi, he
had some English education and had come into contact with newer institutions and ideas.
Recounting the career and connection of Bhartendu Harischandra, “will be to
demonstrate not only how far he maintained and profited from the connections to newer
and older social formations, but how far he distanced himself from them and created new
spheres of authority”14.
Harischandra wrote literature on various themes in his own journals and other magazines
and papers. He wrote dramas, poems, reviews, articles, essays, stories, novels, which only
showed his literary command and the comprehensive understanding of his times. The
prevailing social. Cultural and political condition in the contemporary times prompted
him to write literature to awaken the masses and he, without any self-interest, did not
only do that but also inspired some of the conscious people like him – full of knowledge,
wisdom and insight to impart a new hope and belief in the society, literature and culture
through their respective ways of expressing themselves in their literature. In this way,
Bhartendu created a ‘mandal’ or ‘circle’ of his own consisting of different personalities
for whom the unity of an ideal was not in the root of selfishness but in that of selfless
sacrifices. The prominent members of Bhartendu’s mandala were Balkrishna Bhatt,
Pratapnarayan Mishra, Radhacharan Goswami, Ambikadutt Vyas, Premghan, etc.
The most important and crucial evidence of the social commitment of Harischandra and
his contemporaries is that almost all of them practicing journalists, i.e., they either
published magazine and journals or associated with it. For example, some of them like
Balkrishna Bhatt wrote essays and articles in his own ‘Hindi-Pradip’, Pratapnarayan
Mishra in his ‘Brahman’, Premghan in his ‘Anand Kadambari’ and ‘Nagri-Nirad’ etc;
and all of them courted risks and losses by carrying on their own methods of expression
14
Ibid., Pg 118.
12
at a time when serious journalism was a mission rather than a business. Perhaps for them
“the excellent journalism was literature and the excellent literature was journalism”15.
Bhartendu published journals like ‘Kavivachansudha’, ‘Harischandra Magazine’ and
‘Bala-Bodhini’ apart from writing in other journals. The publication of
‘Kavivachansudha’ started in 1868 as a fortnightly magazine and closed in 1886 as a
weekly magazine. It was edited by Bhartendu himself from 1868 to 1876, after which it
passed to other hands with some major changes in its nature. Actually, there is a
controversy on whether it started as monthly or fortnightly magazine, but from records it
is clear that at its end it was a weekly magazine. After 1876, when the government
stopped taking at least 100 copies of this magazine which they used to, it went into the
hands of Ramashankar Vyas who tried his beat to change the character of this journal
which was the most vibrant and purely literary journal in Bhartendu’s time. After one
year of Bhartendu’s death, it closed in 1886. Bhartendu started publishing of
‘Harishchandra’s Magazine’ in 1873 from Kashi with its following English title –
“A monthly journal published in connection with the Kavivachansudha

containing articles on literary, scientific, political and religious subjects,
antiquities, reviews, dramas, history, novels, political selections, gossip,
humour and wit”16.
Its name was later on changed as ‘Harishchandrachandrika’ and was taken over by
Mohanlal Vishnulal Pandya of Udaipur in 1880 who started publishing at as
‘Mohanchandrika’, but in 1884 again Bhartendu started its publication as ‘Navodita-
Harishchandra-Chandrika’. Due to the unfortunate demise of its mentor Bhartendu, this
magazine ended with a tragic note. Bhartendu also started a women’s magazine focusing
on their education, ‘Bala-Bodhini’ in 1873 but it also did not run for long.
In his lifetime, Harischandra talked about various social-reforms which, in his view, were
necessary for the progress of the contemporary society, like the promotion of widow
marriage, the abolition of child marriage, denial of matching horoscopes when selecting a
15
Pandey, Dr Ramsajan, ed., “Sahityik Nibandh”, Monu Publications, New Delhi, 1999, Pg 198.
16
13
spouse, removal of the ban on sea voyages, the encouragement of foreign traveling, the
promotion of female education, the elimination of both Kulinism and ordinary polygamy.
“Wide ranging as they were, these reforms were proposed as part of an integrated view of
national progress that involved changes in all walks of life, racial and religious as well as
political and economic”17.
Despite of his belief that religion was the basis of all reforms , Harischandra began to
realize in his later life that in a country like India, the religion and social institutions were
inextricably linked. But “however difficult the exercise, these needed to be perceived as
seperate from social reform. Unless this happened, corrupt social institutions would be
perpetuated in the name of religion”18. As Bhartendu Harischandra supported the idea of
revival of customs and practices that lay buried in the Dharma Shastras for making a
change in the society “was hardly in keeping with rationale behind the distinction
between religion and social institutions”19. I will discuss this characteristic dichotomy in
his literature later. In the nineteenth century, as all the social concerns eventually got
interlinked with the question of subjection and freedom, Bhartendu turned again and
again in his writings and speeches to the current discussion on the problems of taxation,
tariffs, famine, drain, swadeshi, representation, employment in the upper echelons of the
administration, radicalism, etc.
Literature of Bhartendu Yuga : An Overview

The first and the most important responsibility of ht scholars of the 'BhartenduYuga' was
to make the society aware about the contemporary questions and problems. The advent of
the print technology, the growing dissatisfaction among the people towards the British,
the continuous degradation in the society on all the levels – social, political, cultural,
moral, spiritual, religious, political etc, the idea of making ‘Hinduism’ with its language
‘Hindi’ as equal and even above the ‘Muslim’ culture with its language ‘Urdu’, and
finally the zeal and enthusiasm to do something noble for the society – all these together
17
18
Ibid., (quoted from ‘Bhartendu Granthawali’-III, ed. By Brajratnadas, Nagripracharini Sabha, Banaras,
1954, Pg 900).
19
Ibid.,
14
encouraged these scholars of Bhartendu yuga to go for writing ‘literature’ as the best
medium to express themselves on the behalf of the people and also on the behalf their
intuition and understanding. In the literature itself with its two mediums – prose and
poetry, prose was given much more attention and importance. Almost the entire period
was full of novels, stories, essays, articles, reviews, dramas etc,. which shows a great
kind of development in the prose literature. Due to this reason, many scholars of the
Hindi literature call this Yuga as the ‘Gadya Yuga’ or ‘Gadya Kal’. Actually, the
Bhartendu Yuga was one of the most celebrated period where the serious writing of press
literature started with its emphasis on ‘Khari-Boli’. In prose literature, much focus was
given to essay-writing. If one will go through the literature of this period, one will find
almost more than twenty thousand essays, articles and reviews an various themes which
was not an insignificant achievement at that time given the constraints, challenges and
hardships the writers faced. So, we can say that the best medium of prose like drama,
novels and stories, because of their precise theme, rational and sound logic and coherent
nature.
In the classification of literature, one should always keep in mind that , in literature, “the
truth value and practical relevance of what is said is considered important to the overall
effect”20. But even if treating discourse ‘non-pragmatically’ is part of whole is meant by
‘literature’, then it follows from this definition that literature cannot in fact be objectively
defined. It leaves the definition of literature up to how somebody decides to read, not to
the nature of what is written. Before going further, we have to understand the history of
essay-writing within Indian and non-Indian contexts. The origin and development of
writing essays, articles and reviews in the history of Indian literature specially in the
Hindi literature in the Bhartendu Yuga was to an extent influenced by English and other
literature. For example, ‘Natak’, a book written by Bhartendu Harischandra attempted to
combine the theories of Indian and European drama and this treatise opened a way for the
critical reviews in Hindi to be accommodating, adapting and flexible. Babu Jagannathdas
‘Ratnakar’ translated the English version of ‘An Essay On Criticism’ written by
20
Engleton, Terry, “Literary Theory : An Introduction”, Basil Blackwell, 1983, UK, Pg
8.
15
Alexander pope and emphasizes the important role of the English literature in Hindi. In
fact, the writing of modern critical reviews in the Hindi literature was highly influenced
by English literature. Bangla and Marathi literature was the first to receive the impact of
English literature, and only then it was followed by Hindi – which contributed a lot in
expressing the modern consciousness.
On the whole, the origin and development of the essay writing in the Hindi literature is
the foremost contribution made by the Bhartendu Yuga. Essay writing, as the most
suitable and convenient form of communication was used by the intellectuals of this
period to convey their message to the society with the views of personal and common
ideals. Since all the scholars of the Bhartendu Yuga were editors or practicing journalists
writing in many magazines at a time, so they focused mainly on contemporary issues in
their literature. The writers discussed various themes and subjects in their essays, such as,
religion, culture, politics, administration, literature, society, morality, individuals,
traveling accounts, biographies and reviews. Through the essays the writers tried to
express their feelings and thoughts which were due to the contemporary circumstances,
and established a connection with the society. Harischandra and his generation handled
traditional was well as modern themes effortlessly because they were born in a world of
which these themes and forms were the normal constituents. As far as the dichotomies
and ambivalences in the literature of this yuga is concerned, we will discuss it at the right
time. Bhartendu and his associates like Balkrishna Bhatt, Pandit Pratapnarayan Mishra,
Radhacharan Goswami, Pandit Badrinarayan Chaudhari ‘Premghan’ etc. wrote thousands
of essays and articles in various papers, magazines and journals, taking inspiration from
doing something noble and in the interest of the society, to educate people with the
existing conditions and realities of the nation, state and society. It is true to say that “the
world of later 19th century Hindi literature, with Bhartendu Harischandra as its presiding
genius, reflected, mutates-mutandis, the reality in the rest of the country”21.
21
Chandra, Sudhir, “The Oppressive Present : Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial India”,
OUP, Delhi, 1992, Pg 14.
16
During this period, apart from some of the most important magazines and journals like
‘Kavivachansudha’. ‘Harishchandra Magazine’, ‘Bala-Bodhini’, Hindi-Pradip’, ‘Anand-
Kadambini’, ‘Brahman’, ‘Nagri-Nirad’etc. The number of published magazines and
journals between the period 1873-1900 was almost more than 350 .
Drawing a wholesome inspiration from Bhartendu Harischandra, almost all the active
literary groups and personalities came together under the umbrella of the Bhartendu
Yuga. The main reason for all the reading and writing groups coming together in this
period was that all of them had the same questions before them, so the reactions and
responses to these problems were bound to be of somewhat similar nature. ‘Bhartendu
Manual’ shows us how the most eminent literary figures of the latter half of the 19th
century blended their ideas in spite of some differences between their opinions and views
just to fight for the cause of the contemporary society, religion and culture. This untiring
zeal and determination to do something for the literature and society, that they came
together.
Some of the questions regarding Bhartendu Harischandra will have to be answered. How
progressive was Harischandra? What was his relationship to tradition? How much and
what kind of change did he subscribe to in the interest of a modernization? Was there
ambivalence in his attitude in the area of social reforms? I will discuss these questions
later with a comparative study with Balkrishna Bhatt.
Apart from the above, mentioned magazines and journals, there are also some other
journals like 'Bhartendu' by Radhacharan Goswami; 'Mitravilas' of Lahori; 'Marwari
Gazette' of Ajmer; 'Gwalior-Gazette' of Gwalior; 'Prayag Samachar' of Prayag edited by
Pandit Devkinandan Tiwari; 'Kashi-Patrika' of Kashi edited by Baleshwar Prasad;
'Bharat-Jivan' of Ramkrishna Verma (in 1884); 'Arya-Mitra', ‘Saraswati-Vilas’, ‘Timir-
Nashak’ (all published from Kashi); 'Premvilasini' by Kartikaprasad Khatri, 'Hindi-
Bangwasi', 'Uchit-Vakta' (all published from Calcutta); 'Rasik-Panch', 'Dinakar-Prakash',
'Bharat-Bhanu' (all published from Lucknow). These journals played an important role in
the emergence of a kind of literary and social-consciousness in the 19th century. In fact
17
the modernity of the Bhartendu Yuga was something related with the emergence of
socio-political consciousness which affected the prose literature very much. In this
period, prose was the more extensively used medium of expression than poetry due to the
difference in their basic character and ability of manifestation. There is no doubt that
Bhartendu and his associates tried their best through their literary activity to awaken and
educate the masses to fight against colonialism along with other evils of the society.
They, actually, tried to introduce a new consciousness in the people to recognize the
deplorable condition of the nation and lack of self-esteem.
As far as the literature particularly ‘essay-writing’ in Bhartendu Yuga is concerned, there

is a clear debate as to who is the first essay- writer in the Hindi literature because in the
literature of Bhartendu Yuga, one will find a number of essay-writers who expressed their
views, opinions, ideas and thoughts through this foremost and the most important
medium of the contemporary Hindi literature – ‘essay’ (‘Nibandh’). But most of the
literary critics and historians agree on the name of Balkrishna Bhatt, as the first serious
essayist in Hindi literature, who continuously wrote essays and articles till his death with
an uncompromising determination and devotion which shows his unshakeable and
unbreakable character, and mental caliber of essay writing. I think Bhartendu
Harischandra with the Bhartendu Yuga as a whole was the first announcer of all the
above-mentioned literary movements, then Balkrishna Bhatt was the greatest promoter
of all these activities, who inspired his future generations by demonstrating his brilliance
in terms of great and extraordinary understanding in the socio-political arena of his
turbulent times.
It seems that this presentation has come to a point when we should discuss this ‘behind
the screen man’ whose literature perceived a number of socio-political issues and after
critically evaluating them gave a kind of message which could only benefit the society.
18
SECTION II
Balkrishna Bhatt : His life and Times
Balkrishna Bhatt was one of the most prominent members of the ‘Bhartendu mandala’
which was then the only representative of the new and reawakened sentiments and
feelings to further the cause of Hindi literature in terms of consciousness on all the levels
– social, political, cultural, religious, economic, moral, intellectual and spiritual, and
Bhatt, no doubt, was the most effective spokesman and the greatest promoter of the merit
based evolutionary changes in the contemporary Indian society which was completely
encapsulated by darkness on all the above levels, finally proving himself to be one of the
greatest intellectual social thinkers of the Bhartendu Yuga.
Holding his feet firm on the ground and taking into account all the existing and available
views about all the aspects of the real and authentic nature of those times and
circumstances, Balkrishna Bhatt championed the causes of the Indian people and in his
entire life span always tried his best to raise the voice of the common people against the
British state in a very fearless, coherent, logical and consistent manner through his
literature whatever the situation might be, which shows his intellectual acumenship,
personal ability and mental caliber making him deserve a thorough research on him
without creating any literary nuisance to his credibility as a very sound and reasonable
socio-literary figure worth discussing about.
“The ancestors of Balkrishna Bhatt earlier* belonged to the Malwa region but later on
they moved to Kalpi region in a valley on the bank of the river, Betwa. They lived in the
village ‘Jitkari’ in the Kalpi region. Pandit Shyamji Bhatt, the great grandfather of
Balkrishna Bhatt was a learned man who had five sons among whom Biharilal was the
youngest. Biharilal inherited all the paternal property due to his father’s special affection
to him. Biharilal, then moved from Jitkari village to Prayag. He had two sons –
Veniprasad and Jankiprasad. Balkrishna Bhatt was the eldest son of Veniprasad.
Balmukund Bhatt was the only brother of Balkrishna Bhatt”22. “Balkrishna Bhatt was
22
Pandey, Dr Padmakar, ed., “Rashtriya Patrakar Aur Ananya Sahityakar : Balkrishna Bhatt”,
Nagaripracharini Sabha, Varanasi, 1995, Pg 9, 13.
19
born on June 3, 1843 in Prayag”23. In spite of the pressure from the paternal side of his
family to make business his career, Balkrishna Bhatt, under the scholarly guidance of his
learned mother, got his primary education in Sanskrit till 15 years of his age but after the
1857 Revolt, due to the increasing importance of the English language under the state
pressure, he got himself admitted in a mission school again taking encouragement from
his mother and he passed the entrance examination there only to become a teacher in the
same school. His uncompromising faith and undisguised belief in the Hindu religion; and
his rigid critical views of the Christianity and of the British state, made him leave that
school, and after that he again started studying Sanskrit, this time very seriously. As far
as his missionary experiences are concerned there is not enough material through which I
can trace any kind of his missionary encounter or understanding. But on the basis of
materials through which I have gone through, one thing is clear that he was neither a
vehement critic of the Christianity nor a great supporter of it. Wherever Bhatt mentions
or talks about the Christianity in his literature, he did it just for two purposes – one for
taking some positive aspects of Christianity .without any kind of appreciation and the
other for applying these positive aspects in the Hindu society and religion to make it
suited to the needs of the contemporary society. At other places, he discussed Christianity
either to make the Hindus know about the deplorable condition of their religion and
society, or to make them feel happy about their superiority over other races of the world
without any kind of hard criticism of Christianity. I will discuss all this in the section of
his views on Hindu religion and society.
In between he got married, and only to earn for his family hw went to Calcutta but soon
came back and used his time in the service of Sanskrit and Hindi literature, and started
writing essays and articles in various weekly and monthly magazines and journals. Bhatt
began his career as a teacher in C.A.B. School in 1868 and then became a teacher in the
‘Kayastha Pathshala Inter College’ of Prayag. He had a great friendship with Babu
Ramanand Chattopadhyay, a famous journalist of English and editor of a monthly
magazine, ‘Modern Review’ published from Calcutta. Pandit Purshottamdas Tandon and
23
Ibid., Pg 11.
*Period not available.
20
Pandit Sunderlal were among his disciples. In his childhood days, Bhatt had the
command over every word of ‘Amar-Kosha’ and ‘Siddhanta-Kaumudi’ which proves his
sharp memory. He had a very good relationship also with Pandit Gadadhar Malviya,
uncle of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, and his love for Sanskrit was only due to Pandit
Gadadhar Malviya. Going one step back again, I think something more needs to be
elaborated. The father and uncle of Bhatt were big businessmen and were staunch critics
of education, and getting and acquiring knowledge was simply a wastage of time for
them. They forced Balkrishna Bhatt to do business but he couldn’t bear separation from
studies and went to his maternal home due to which his younger brother Balmukund
Bhatt was made in charge of the business affairs and in a very short time, he became a
very successful businessman. Now, Bhatt used to be made feel humiliated and dejected.
He used to earn 20 to 25 Rupees from his teaching profession and used to collect those
money himself. He did not think of giving money to his father and uncle only because
they are very rich. But he bought a small house and gave it to them but this couldn’t
fulfill their satisfaction. Being a man of independent nature and broad outlook nobody
liked his open views on society and religion. He was even addressed as ‘Kiristan’. Slowly
all of his relatives and friends turned foe to him and tried to create troubles for him and
his family of a wife and three children. Finally, he left home with his family. Somehow
he managed to run his family. He and his wife had to eat only one time a day due to
economic problems but they tried their best and left no stone unturned in nourishing and
educating their children. This shows the contradicting lifestyles of his family and his
relatives. He had a economic crisis in his entire life and he never possessed more than
200 Rupees at a time. There is no similarity and relationship between literary love and
business but he couldn’t understand this in his youth age. The person whose mind and
heart were completely gripped with literary pleasure has no tension of saving and storing
money. But after returning unsuccessfully from Calcutta, he went on to realize this fact
and vowed to spend his entire life as a true Brahman.
Pandit Shivrakhan Shukla was the founder of the ‘Shivrakhan School’ in Prayag and was
a well-wisher of Bhatt and it was his request that prompted Bhatt to join his school as
‘Head Pandit’. After many years of working there, he joined ‘Kayastha Pathshala
21
College’ as a lecturer of Sanskrit and Bhatt served this job for almost 20 years. But
finally his involvement in the ‘Swadeshi Movement’ compelled him to leave this job. He
started writing articles in magazines like ‘Kavivachansudha’, ‘Kashi-Patrika’, Bihar-
Bandhu’, etc., and was greatly influenced by Bhartendu Harischandra. In this course, at
the same time when he was doing his job in ‘Kayastha Pathshala’, some of the learned
intellectuals of Prayag founded an assembly called ‘Hindi-Pravardhini Sabha’ to further
the cause of Hindi and for this they thought of publishing a magazine for at least one year
after collecting 5 Rupees from each member of this Sabha and thus ‘Hindi-Pradip’ was
born and Bhatt became its editor, encouraged by Harischandra who was then in Prayag
for some personal reasons. The publication of this magazine started in September 1877,
but due to the Vernacular Press Act, almost all the well-wishers of this magazine broke
the relationship with it and it was Balkrishna Bhatt who consistently published it because
of his unbreakable faith in the mother tongue. The Press Act posed serious problems
because of the magazine’s anti-British character which provoked the members of the
Sabha to separate themselves from the affairs of this magazine and finally it was decided
to shut it down. Bhatt had always a desire and dream to own a magazine through which
he could earn literary pleasure and get mental satisfaction. So, he took the reigns and
responsibilities of this magazine on his shoulders and started writing articles on various
themes and topics at a very fast pace.
Bhatt used to express his thoughts and views against the state in form of articles and
essays in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’ making its political nature intact which made the British
angry and ultimately Bhatt was forced to make this magazine a completely socio-literary
journal. The continuous publication of this magazine made Bhatt face severe economic
crisis but proving his tough and uncompromising character, he published it continuously
for 33 years till 1910. In between, ‘Hindi Sahitya Sammelan’ was initiated under the
presidentship of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya. According to Press Act, a penalty of
3000 Rupees was imposed on ‘Hindi-Pradip’, and Bhatt dumped its publication.
Economic crisis forced him to join the ‘Samrat’ weekly published from the ‘Kalankakar’
state, as editor and hardly three months had passed that he went to Kashmir to work on
the ‘Kosh’ managed by the ‘Kashi Nagri Pracharini Sabha’ on the request of Babu
22
Shyamsundar Das. This he did, was again only due to economic problem. He was a true
well-wisher and an excellent writer of Hindi and being a very truthful gentleman and
cheerful person he was a very rational and critical follower of ‘Hinduism’.
Once during an occasion of ‘Ramlila’ and ‘Muharram’, he wrote an article – ‘Na Neecho
Yavanatparah’ and the Muslims went to the court but the then Lt. Governor Sir Alfred
Loyal didn’t permit this case to go on. Somehow he managed to escape out of this
problem after 10 months. Some persons tried to disturb him and create troubles for him
after getting angry and annoyed with his articles. But Bhatt never shook from his position
and continued to express his thoughts in his articles without any change in its nature.
After 13 years of publication and facing difficulties of diversified nature, finally he was
forced to make the ‘Hindi-Pradip’ a literary magazine dealing with social issues. After
turning into a literary socio-cultural journal, many useful, beautiful and relevant articles
were published. Especially, it was brilliant and extraordinary in writing the critical
biographies of ancient scholars. During 33 years of its publication, the ‘Hindi-Pradip’
was closed down sometimes due to economic problems. Bhatt faced many hardships of
his life because of the successful continuous publication of this journal.
He had a supreme, authoritative and masterly command over the Vedas, Puranas,
Vedangas, Philosophy, Literature etc. His articles do not show the religion or community
of which he belonged to, but an inspiring message for the progress of the society and the
country which was his only ‘Dharma’. He was both a critic and supporter of both the
‘Arya Samaj’ and the ‘Sanatan dharma’, which we will discuss later. He had sympathy
only for the works of social-reform and not for the religious propaganda of the ‘Arya
Samaj’, and this was the reason he was denied to be the editor of the ‘Bharat-Mitra’, a
journal published from Calcutta by an Arya-Samajist. Bhatt was an independent thinker.
For example, once in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’ in an article, he criticized the ‘Vallabhkul
community’ which was the largest subscriber base of the ‘Hindi-Pradip’. In fact
Balkrishna Bhatt thought himself as the follower of wisdom and conscience and not of
any particular religious group. He was a staunch critic of child-marriage, and in almost all
the issues of ‘Hindi-Pradip’, he wrote articles on this subject. He was strongly against
23
widow remarriage and he thought this was an evil consequence of the child marriage. He
advised to cut the population by not producing more and supported the idea that the
child-birth should be stopped for some time. He was a great supporter of co-dining with
different religious castes, communities, and Varnas. The similarity among his literary,
social and political thoughts was that they were very liberal in nature. He used to attend
every session of the Indian National Congress on behalf of Madan Mohan Malviya.
Balkrishna Bhatt was only 14 years at the time of the 1857 mutiny. It was the time of
complete darkness, disruption, destruction, disturbances, difficulties and deprivation. It
was the time of Urdu and not of Hindi. It was the time when feelings like,
fundamentalism; communalism; opposition to child-marriage, co-dining, new thoughts
and views; religious exploitation; political, moral and intellectual inertia; casteism;
untouchability etc., prevailed in the society at its highest level. It was the time when there
was lack of self-esteem, confidence, and patriotism among the Indian people. It was the
time when the national money was flowing abroad and the system of local education and
small-scale industries were shut down. When Balkrishna Bhatt along with other
intellectuals and associates founded the ‘Hindi-Vardhini Sabha’( society for the
advancement of Hindi ) in Prayag in June 1877, he invited his friend Bhartendu
Harischandra who, then, was in Prayag itself, to address the assembly and Harischandra
not only agreed to grace the occasion but also delivered his speech in the following verse
which became the motto of the ‘Hindi-Pradip’ during its 33 years of publication –
“Subh saras desh sanch purit pragat hawanhi anand bhare
vachi dusah durjan vayu so mani-deep sam thir nahi tare
sujhein vivek vichar unnati kumati sab ya mai jare
‘Hindi-Pradip’ prakash murkhatadi bharat tam hare”24
Balkrishna Bhatt wrote almost more than thousand essays which are available in
magazines and journals spread here and there. ‘Bhatt Nibandhmala’, ‘Bhatt Nibandhwali’
and ‘Sahitya Suman’ are some of his collection of essays. He also wrote novels as ‘Nutan
Brahmachari’ and ‘Sau Ajan Ek Sajan’, which firstly published serially in the ‘Hindi-
Pradip. Some of his novels are ‘Rahashyakatha’, ‘Gupta Vairi’, and ‘Dakshina’. These
novels are found unfinished and uncompleted in the issues of the ‘Hindi-Pradip’.
24
Ibid., Pg 16.
24
In spite of his versatile writing in every literary style, Bhatt was basically an essayist. His
first essay ‘Kaliraj Ki Sabha’ was published in the magazine ‘Kavivachansudha’. Apart
from writing in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’, his essays were published also in ‘Kashi-Patrika’ and
‘Bihar-Bandhu’. He wrote on contemporary issues of literature, society, culture, manner,
language, politics, administration, social-reform, casteism, nationalism and nationality,
discipline, women, travelogues, social welfare, education, religion, imagination…., the
list is endless. The titles of his essays were also of different nature – some in English,
some in Urdu, some in Hindi, some in the form of proverbs some on the serious themes
and some on the abstract emotions. For instance some of ther titles of his essays are
‘Rasabhaas’, ‘Acharan’, ‘Manavi-Sampati’, ‘Jaat-Paat’, ‘Mata Ka Sach’, ‘Kalpana’,
‘Hakim Aur Unki Himmat’, ‘Saralya Sattmo Marg’, ‘Honesty’, ‘National Character’,
‘Are the Nation and Individuals Two Things’, Sabse Bhale Hain Mudh’, ‘Jinhe Na Vyape
Jagat-Gati’, ‘Kalatikraman’, etc.
Bhatt was neither a sanskritist nor a pure Hindi writer but he was a man of that thinking
philosophy who wanted to convey his message to maximum number of people and for
this very reason, he used those words in his literature, which were very familiar to the
people in everyday life. Apart from being a journalist, essayist, novelist and dramatist, he
was a very renowned critic who wrote reviews on different subjects with a very broad
and independent outlook. Whatever kind of literature he wrote, whether it is review,
article or an essay, he expressed his progressive, liberal and independent thoughts. “He
had very liberal views regarding language and in his view, language was of transforming
nature. According to him, Hindi and Urdu were not two separate languages but Urdu was
only a writing-style of Hindi”25.
He also wrote introductory biographical reviews of many Sanskrit scholars like
Bhavabhuti, Kalidasa, Sriharsha, Kshemendra, Anandvardhan, Rajshekhar, Vagabhatt,
Vilhana, Jayadev, etc. He also wrote some comparative biographical reviews. For
25
Varshney, Laxmi Sagar, “Hindi Sahitya Ka Vrihat Itihaas”, Prayag Prakashan, Prayag, 1954, Pg 291.
25
example, in the June-July 1899 issue of the ‘Hindi-Pradip’, he compared ‘Kalidasa’ with
‘Bhavabhuti’ and said that –
“Bhavabhuti can be treated more significant than Kalidasa in the sense that Kalidasa, in
spite of trying hard, couldn’t write beyond the ‘Sringaar Rasa’ but Bhavabhuti wrote on
the other rasas apart from ‘Veer Rasa’ though it is a different matter that Bhavabhuti
wrote in a time when the poetry was on its heights”26.
Bhatt also had the credit of reviewing some of the books, which published in the various
issues of the ‘Hindi-Pradip’. For example, he reviewed ‘Nila-Devi’ (‘Hindi-Pradip’,
February 1882), ‘Pratiksha’ (‘Hindi-Pradip’, December 1882), and ‘Samyogita-
Swayamvar’ (‘Hindi-Pradip’, April 1886). Depicting a kind of distinguished literary
merit, socio-political understanding and broad outlook, these reviews show his great
critical faculty of mind and also an amazing combination of the Indian and western ideas.
‘Samyogita-Swayamvara’ written by Lala Srinivas was earlier reviewed by
Badhrinarayan Chaudhari ‘Premghan’, which paved a way for the critical reviews in the
Hindi literature.
The essays of Balkrishna Bhatt exhibits, at one side, the attack on the prevailing
rudimentary traditions of the society and on the other side, a certain feeling and impulse
of making the people aware about the character of the British state. “He also wrote essays
in ‘Maryada’, ‘Karmyogi’, and ‘Abhyudaya’”27. His essays can be divided into three
parts on the basis of subjects he discussed – political, social, and literary. Through his
political essays, he always showed his dissent with the various atrocities made by the
British state and with the suppressive policy adopted by them. He criticized their biased
and double-standard behavior with the Hindus and Muslims, condemned their attitude of
favouring Muslims and the Urdu, expressed his anguish over the deplorable condition of
the agriculture, and spoke out against corruption in the administrative sphere. In his
political essays, he discussed the theme of patriotism, the state, world politics, law etc.
He vehemently criticized the British administration in his essays to the best of his
26
“Kalidasa aur Bhavabhuti”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1899.
27 Chaturvedi, Dr Rajeshwar Prasad, “Sahityik Nibandh”, Prakashan Kendra, Lucknow,(date of
publication not available)Pg 154.
26
capacity. Discussing the world politics, he wrote in one of his essays in the ‘Hindi-
Pradip’ that “Ireland is a horse that cannot be tamed by England”28 which shows Bhatt’s
knowledge and understanding of the international political affairs. In his political articles,
he also discussed the classical side of the politics or law.
In his social essays, he attacked the rudimentary conceptions prevailing in the Indian
society, gave a message for new consciousness and expressed his voice against the
dogmatic notions. Since he belonged to a combined family and bore many troubles of the
joint family system, he was very much against this system. Elaborating the various\s
demerits of the system, he wrote – “All the things in a joint family are absolutely related
with the food and for this only, one day all the family members fight with each other and
separate from each other. This system cannot run for too many days”29. Despite of having
a great religious attitude in his heart, he always attacked the bad aspects of the Hindu
religion through his social essays.
Showing his literary style in his literary essays, in one of his essays expressing a brilliant
style of expressing imagination he wrote – “ The moon which gives us cool feeling is
looking like a lotus blossoming in a large pond like sky and its pots were like the flower
insects hovering over it”30.
He always focused on social-welfare and patriotism, talked about the complete

abolishment of child marriage, joint family system. Showing his knowledge and
understanding of something of everything, Bhatt wrote all descriptive, narrative,
reflective and emotional essays and articles on various subjects as literature, geography,
history, culture, society, politics, economics, religion, philosophy, agriculture and
commerce, justice, law, education, science, astrology, spirituality, manners, discipline,
morality, administration, governance, women, caste, Muslims, language, literature.
Biographical accounts, imagination, traveling accounts etc which shows nothing but his
versatility. He applied a distinct kind of sarcasm in his essays which can be seen in his
28
‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1886, Pg 8.
29
Ibid., July 1891, Pg 16.
30
“Chandrodaya”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, October 1889, Pg 29.
27
‘Par Updesh Kushal Bahutere’, ‘Khatka’ and ‘Ishwar Bhi Kya Thathol Hai’. In fact, all
his literature shows us that he tried to fulfill his responsibility on many fronts
simultaneously like other scholars of the ‘Bhartendu Yuga’. For example, making the
feeling of patriotism very strong among the people facing the suppressive practices of the
British Raj.
In spite of being turned into a completely socio-literary magazine from a political

magazine, ‘Hindi-Pradip’ had all the message and writings of political nature. For
example, in an essay “Ansoon”31, Bhatt indirectly refers to the problems of the
contemporary society. This depicts that how good an essay writer he was. In comparison
to Bhartendu who was basically a dramatist, novelist and poet but also wrote some of the
first essays in Hindi literature, “Balkrishna Bhatt was the first essay writer of Hindi”32.
Like Bhartendu Harischandra, Bhatt also wrote some folk literature to convey his
message to those sections of the contemporary society which had not the privilege and
fortune of being educated. Once during a famine, he wrote poems the sentences of which
show a brilliant example of folk literature apart from depicting the contemporary reality
full of grief, pain, and difficulties and these poems also show how the writer expressed
his underlying message of new consciousness. He saw a great influence of the villages on
the national language, literature, and culture.
‘Hindi-Pradip’ had the credit of publishing more essays and articles on socio-cultural
and political themes and religious issues than any other contemporary magazine or
journal. Its continuous publication itself for 33 years (1877-1910) or 32 years (1877-
1909) was a landmark event in the history of Hindi literature. It has also the credit of
seriously presenting a comparative study of the Indian and European literature in its
essays. The main attraction of this magazine were the articles Bhatt wrote himself. The
pages of this magazine ‘Hindi-Pradip’ are like the halls or compartments of a very rich
museum preserving the political, social, and religious circumstances of that time in the
31
‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878, Pg 3.
32
Chaturvedi, Dr Rajeshwar Prasad, “Sahityik Nibandh”, Prakashan Kendra, Lucknow,(date of
publication not available)Pg 163(quoted from ‘Adhunik Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas’, by Dr Sri Krishna Lal,
Pg 348).
28
same forms as it were. “Balkrishna Bhatt was the first person who started a kind of
positive criticism in Hindi literature after examining and evaluating the religion and
philosophy on the basis of its relevance to the social development”33.
Now we will discuss his view points on various issues of society, politics, culture,
religion, etc. from his articles, essays, novels, dramas, etc, published in various
magazines and journals including his own ‘Hindi-Pradip’.
PART II: SOCIO-REFORMIST STRATEGIES OF BHATT IN

COMPARISION TO BHARTENDU
SECTION I: IDENTITY FORMATION OF HINDUS

Women, Widow – (re)marriage, Child marriage
In an article “Methods for the Improvement of the Hindus”34, Bhatt displayed a kind of
sardonic and sarcastic aggression against the orthodoxy. Vehemently criticizing the
question of the ‘Kali Purana’ where there were some prescriptions which say that a
person should wed his daughter on the fifth day of her birth otherwise she will stay
unmarried until her pubescence and that will spell the end of Dharma and the twenty one
generations of the person’s forbearers will be kept waiting in hell. Sarcastically
commenting on this, Bhatt urged the people to lock themselves in the innermost
chambers of their psychological homes or confined limits to maintain or to bring glory
and name because stepping out means taking big risks – like losing caste; contracting the
air of the civilized, foreign people; knowing and acknowledging the real and strong
meaning of ‘Purushartha’ which is the very purpose of human existence; starting to see
the real unseen world. He beautifully comments at one point, “one who sleeps never
falls”35. So he requested the people not to take the burden of indolence off their shoulders
33
34
“Hinduon Ke Vikas Ke Upay”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878, Pg 3-11.
35
India”,OUP, Delhi, 1992, Pg 89(quoted from ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878, from an article“Hinduon Ke
Vikas Ke Upay”).
29
because that would make them see and realize the reality in its true sense. Bhatt criticized
the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ for tabooing the marriage of girls at the age of 15 or 16 and for
sexual relations and marriage across the varnas. A great champion of women’s causes
with a very great fervour, he wrote in an article in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’, “Jaisa Kam Vaisa
Parinaam”36 where he passionately describes his support of women’s education. But
showing the characteristic tensions of the contemporary social consciousness in the
'Bhartendu Yuga', he was not consistent in his criticism. In an article “Naya Abhidan
Oudh Punch Ke Dhang Par”37, Bhatt defines the women’s freedom by saying that “the
quintessence of the English civilization is the increase in licentiousness”38. Bhatt in his
article titled as “Striyan”39, advocates the idea of equality between men and women.
Citing the example of America and England, the civilized western nations where women
are barristers and army officers, he says that in our country, no one is going to worry
about the present conditions of women. He comments that the without mother, a mine of
all the pleasures, and without a devout wife, a person should leave his home because that
home is not home but is like a forest. In this essay, he also discusses about the merits and
demerits of women in certain specified contradictory and opposite conditions. He
emphatically argues that women are far superior than men in all the areas provided they
have been given the chance equal to men. In this essay, he says that there is no doubt that
women are full of love and affection and matchless in terms of the ‘Dharma’ and
kindness. They are the ones who have taken the reigns of the ‘Hindu Dharma’ to make it
stable and to maintain its genuine nature and character. Patience, courage, perseverance,
tolerance, kindness etc., are some of the virtues, the God has imparted to the women only.
Bhatt further argues that they are even superior than men in those fields also which are
conceptualized as exclusively for men in the sense that men only can excel in those
fields, but Ahilyabai, Chand Sultana, Baijabai and Jhansi Ki Rani, Laxmibai have proved
this figmental conception totally wrong. Bhatt supports the idea of giving more
importance to the kind and innocent women than to the cruel men. He also compares the
Indian women to the European women to show that the Indian women are great in their
36
‘Hindi-Pradip’, October-November 1878.
37
Ibid., December 1878.
38
“Vyabhichar Ki Vridhi, Angrejon Ki Sabhyata Ka Saar”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’,December 1878.
39
‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1891.
30
sacrificing nature in a very selfless way to maintain the dignity and prestige of their
family, which the European cannot think even in their dreams. In Bhatt’s view, the Indian
women are the ideal examples to the whole world because of their natural gentleness,
simplicity and tolerance. This character is far more pure and holy than men. He declares
that the women are an amazing combination of beauty, fortune, courage, toughness,
softness, gentleness etc. which finally make them the most important creation the God
has ever created. He explains that the women are the pillars of prestige, mines of
shamefulness, statues of reverence, kindness and peace, whole asset and wealth of home,
and finally the jewels and torchbearers of the common people in this critical and
deplorable condition of the nation. So, he requests to the people to give due honour,
importance and respect to these women. In his perception, one of the various important
reasons of this deteriorated condition of the country is the negligence of the women by
men. The first step on the path of development, as Bhatt thinks, is changing the existing
condition of the women and without this the issue of social-reform is baseless and
meaningless.
In an another essay titled “Women and Their Education”40, Balkrishna Bhatt tries to
convey the message that the people of India should look to the common women of the
society and not only some influential, literate and educated women. He utters that we
should pay our attention to those majority of women whom we see every day and face
many times a day i.e., the women in our families, societies and surroundings. In this
article, he questions the entire society especially the men, who are responsible for the
ignorance, illiteracy and inequality among the women. In his view, this is the
responsibility of all the men to make the women self-reliant, knowledgeable and literate.
He logically says that people have only showed their being inspired to make the women
understand their real worth but they never do something concrete to achieve this. The
people only know to condemn and criticize the atrocities inflicted upon women by the
nation and society outside but inside their own homes they never think about this. Bhatt
shows his anger that people outside their homes condemn the ‘Purdah-culture’, but never
follow it. He also requested all the women to realize their negative points, drawbacks and
40
Ibid., February 1885.
31
lacks to be as equal to the men. He wants all the men to encourage women to realize their
potential and worth to make their outlook broad and to break their traditional mindset.
Due to the conventional mindset of resisting any change, the condition of women is same
as it was before. In “Hamari Lalnaon Ki Sochniya Dasha”41, Bhatt says that our condition
has changed, e.g., our life-style, views and thoughts, wearing patterns etc., due to the
heavy influence of the ‘British Raj’ but the condition of the women is same as before. In
spite of facing so many troubles and difficulties due to the mean condition of women,
Bhatt says that we never think about it. Without changing the condition of women, Bhatt
declares that, nothing is possible, which will give us some hope for the all-round progress
in our society. In “Mata Ka Sneh”42, Bhatt compares the love and affection of a mother to
her family for which she sacrifices so many things in her precious life. Here his argument
is that since the women are fulfilling all the responsibilities in the domestic arena to the
best of their ability, they can also show their excellence outside if they have been given
the equal chance. In this very article Bhatt argues that no one can write or explain the
extent of love a mother bestows to her family and children. In fact, Balkrishna Bhatt, in
his articles, questions the patriarchal society with men as its so-called torch bearers and
urged them to think seriously about this problem. Bhatt thinks that since it is a patriarchal
society, so the men should take charge of the development of the women because women
can only fulfill and realize the dreams of nation and society. To him, neglecting and
ignoring women will be neglecting and ignoring good fortune of the humanity, nation and
society.
On the issue of widow remarriage, he was not as alert and active as compared to other
literary personalities and social reformers of that time like, Pratapnarayan Mishra,
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Bhartendu Harischandra etc. This question did not trouble
him too ,much. He has not written a single essay or article on this issue and this shows
that he was not an encouraged supporter of this. Whatever he wrote on this theme proves
his ignoring attitude and different thought patterns in the arena of social reforms. He
denied to publish some of the essays on this issue in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’. He remarked that
41
Ibid., June 1894.
42
Ibid., May 1906.
32
“these days, the intellectual and civilized lot of people talks only about the issue of
widow remarriage and women’s freedom and are in great support of these two things
because of their being inspired from the British. He emphasizes that people should not
copy only this thing from the British but they should also take up the issue of women’s
education and child-marriage from the Europeans”43. He argues that the former two
issues can easily be copied from the British because they are very common in their
society but the latter two issues have no importance in the British state as the Europeans
have completely habituated with these questions and these questions are futile and useless
in their society. But at the last, Bhatt says that, the truth is something else just opposite to
the above-mentioned fact. In his view, majority of the people who were educated and
conscious are ready to remove the bad social norms and customs of child-marriage and
negligence to the women’s education.
Balkrishna Bhatt was a staunch critic of child-marriage, and in every issue of the ‘Hindi-
Pradip’, he has written something related to this issue. He, in his literature, treats child
marriage as not a Dharma (according to any Dharmashastras) but as an ‘injustice’ and
‘adharma’. He thinks that a girl child should be married only when she fulfills the
eligibility of being married and the son’s marriage is not the Dharma of his father, so he
should be left on his own to marry or not after imparting him enough qualities and
education in the society. Bhatt deals with the question of child-marriage very seriously
and thinks that this is the root cause of all the prevailing evils of the society. He links it
with widow-marriage and says that without eliminating or rooting out the punishing tree
of child-marriage, widow-marriage cannot be set aside because the latter is only an
outcome of the former. In his conception, the feeling of the lack of self-confidence, self-
reliance and self-dependence was only due to the child-marriage. It seems to me that
before this question, the other questions became very less important to him. Bhatt himself
was married at an early age due to which he had to face many hardships. In one of his
articles, he expresses his deep feelings and thoughts that people are going for women’s
education, widow-marriage, co-dining, foreign education but they are not understanding
thr root cause of all these problems which is child-marriage. He even gives credit for the
43
Ibid., editorial, October 1880.
33
progress and development of England and America only to the absence of the system of
child-marriage in these societies. In his view, the eradication of the child-marriage system
is the most important thing and the sole formula or mantra for success of any kind.
As far as Bhartendu’s ideas on women are concerned, he expressed his views on women
through literature in many of the magazines and journals of his own and of other scholars
of his times. ‘Kavivachansudha’ carried on its mast a verse which clearly shows his ideas
on women. This verse was “Nari Nar Sama Honhi”44 i.e., may women be like men. In
1874, he started a magazine ‘Bala-Bodhini’, a monthly devoted to the upliftment of
women which also carried some couplets that summarise the desired character and status
of women in the contemporary times. These couplets as the logos of ‘Bala-Bodhini’ are
following –
“ Jo hari soi radhika jo shiva soi shakti,
jo nari soi purush yamein kachhu na vibhakti,
sita anusuya sati arundhati anuhari,
sheel laj viyaadi guna lahau sakal jag nari,
pitu pati sut karatal kamal laht lalana log,
padhein gunain seekhein sumain naasein sab jog sog,
veer prasavini budh badhu hoi heenata khoy,
nari nar ardhanga ki saanckhi swamini hoy”45
But slowly going away from this kind of radicalism in the context of late 19th century
India as the assertion of equality of women and men, “Bala-Bodhini holds as the ideals
satis like Sita, Anusuya and Arundhati”46 accepting which, can only help the Indian
women in getting sense of superiority and charge of their own lives. In preface to ‘Nil-
Devi’, a play written by Bhartendu Harischandra in 1881, he described very colourfully
dressed and slender waisted English ladies in artificial jewelry and wigs, moving freely
with their husbands. This description shows a kind of sense of freedom but Harischandra
did not want the Indian women to set aside their sense of shame and freely roam with
their husbands but he wanted the Indian women to resemble Englishwomen i.e., to “be
vigilant, educated, proficient in domestic management, capable of bringing up their
44
45
Ibid., Pg 174.
46
Ibid., Pg 87.
34
children, aware of their duties towards their country and able to discharge these”47.
Actually he wanted them “to be conscious of their own existence as human beings, and
nit waste away their lives as domestic slaves”48. In fact in this play, Harischandra aims to
eliminate the degenerate customs and practices and revive the genuine and ideal character
of Indian womanhood by placing it in the Aryan past, because he believed that the
prevailing miserable condition of women in India has not always been thr same. In a
play, ‘Vaidahi Himsa Himsa Na Bhavati’, Harischandra condemned the Brahmos by
putting a character in this play, in whose view even remarriage is powerless to prevent
the widow indulging in their lascivious urges. By this character in his play, Harischandra
argues that marriage does nothing to curb their lascivious propensities. In this play, it is
shown that as far as the immoral sexual gratification is concerned, women who desire it
have it even they are married. From all the above-mentioned analysis it is clear that
Harischandra himself diluted the radicalism of his assertion about the equality of women
with men without being looked like a totally anti-reformist view. “This kind of writing
reflects a mentality that felt, at the same time, repelled from and drawn towards social
reform”49. But in spite of all these incongruities in his perception towards the social
reforms , he displayed his hard reformist views on women in articles like, ‘Bharat Ki
Mahamanya Mandali’, ‘Aur Pradhan Pradhan Purushon Ke Nikat Vinaypurvak
Nivedan’and ‘Stri’ (both published in the ‘Kavivachansudha’) and ‘Bhruna Hatya’
(published in the ‘Harischandrachandrika’). The central theme of this seminar paper does
not allow me to elaborate further the views of Harischandra in these articles which shows
how Harischandra urged the people of the society to think for the women in the same way
they think for themselves. In ‘Bhruna Hatya’, he even requested the British government
to interfere in the matter and to stop this completely inhuman practice.
Caste
As far as the Balkrishna view on ‘caste’ is concerned he did not say much in his articles
and essays. In an already mentioned article ‘Naya Abhidan Oudh Panch Ke Dhang Par’,
he described caste as an instrument to keep the Indians confined to a dark room. He links
47
Ibid., Pg 88.
48
Ibid.,
49
Ibid.,
35
the abolishment of the caste system to thr progress of the society and country as a whole.
In this article he also talks about the marriages across the varnas and supports it. In an
another essay “Jaat Paat”50, Bhatt sarcastically attacked on the caste system. He says that
this system is so powerful in the mental structure of the society that in spite of all the
voices against it time and again and in spite of so many changes made by Islam,
Christianity, Buddhism from one part to the other part of the country, this system had not
been rooted out. In this article , he says that among all the evils of the society, ‘caste
consciousness’ is the most disintegrating notion of society. He compared the caste system
with the other societies of the world and argued that in other societies, a man can be
accommodated and understood of a high status due to his attained rich status, but in our
society, a person of lower caste, how much rich he became cannot be understood in any
case as equal to the upper caste. In his view, without abolishing this system we cannot
progress at any rate. He treats caste as something curbing the freedom of the people and
feels shame that he is born in a society that grappled with this caste system showing a
very detesting, narrow mindset of the people. In an essay “Kaulinya Aur Sadavrita”51
also, Bhatt criticizes the caste system comparing the echelons of the society. In this
article, he condemned this wholesale practice of this system under which shade, people
indulge in so many wrong doings and justify for their mistakes. In his essays, Bhatt
shows a flexible mentality when at one place he criticizes this system but at another place
he supports this. Besides this characteristic ambivalence, he is also not clear in his views
towards the caste system.
Taking into his account, the decay that had set within the Hindu society in which the
imposition of superior and inferior social categories led to the proliferation of castes,
Bhartendu Harischandra felt that this unfortunate development forced divisions and
deprived people of the possibilities of love and understanding, and it also brought with it
the idea of untouchability making the social divisions more deeper. In his view, the
multiplicity of caste loyalty only rejected the idea of social unity. Because Harischandra
believed in the glorious past and attributed its loss chiefly to the institutionalization of
50
‘Hindi-Pradip’, April 1886.
51
Ibid., August 1905.
36
social inequality through caste, by his logic the elimination of such inequality was not a
deviation from, but rather a re-assertion of tradition. During the later 19th century, a
number of intermediate and lower castes made continuous efforts “to acquire a superior
ascriptive status”52, which made Harischandra very upset and disturbed, and he
“disapproved of these attempts to disturb the existing social and moral order”53. For
example, in his ‘Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja’, ‘Sabai Jati Gopal Ki’ (1873) and ‘Jnati
Vivekani Sabha’ (1876), he displayed his dissatisfaction on this question. In fact, he was
scandalized by the fact that the lower castes wanted to aspire to a higher ascriptive status.
He sarcastically directed his criticism against those Brahmins which lent shastric
credibility to lower caste pretensions just for money. Here again an ambivalence in his
attitude can be seen when at one time he talks about the ill consequence of the caste
discrimination and at another time, he uses expressions like ‘mean’ and ‘lowly’ for the
lower castes. All his literature, basically the articles published in his own magazines,
show the same kind of approach towards the caste. His ‘Khatriyon Ki Utpatti’ (1878) also
displayed this. This comparative analysis of Bhatt’s and Harischandra’s views clears the
fact that Bhatt was far more aggressive in his criticism against this system than Bhartendu
who had a very biased and contradictory approach to this system.
Bhatt’s Ideas on Emerging Hindu Consciousness With Its Socio-Political

Dimensions
On Hindu Civilisation Bhatt once remarked in the ‘Hindi-Pradip’ that “we, the Hindus,
are following the culture and civilization of other societies which are running away from
us and we are chasing them just to ask a simple question what is civilization?”54 Bhatt
said this only to show the Hindus the right path because Hindu civilization has
completely deteriorated now and without reforming it we are trying to be equal to those
civilizations which are more progressive and already reformed in a positive sense. Bhatt
strongly forwarded the plea for such social changes which would bring India at par with
Europe, which then occupied the apex of civilization. He wrote that “the ‘Hindu
52
53
Ibid.,
54
‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1885, Pg 16.
37
Dharma’, customs and practices had become detestable because they had lost their
novelty”55. Vehemently criticizing the Brahmins of his times, addressing then as
undoubtedly selfish and avaricious and accusing them of misinterpreting the old sacred
texts in the form of new digests, commentaries and modern puranas, he complained that
they lacked the intelligence to realize that the existing Hindu customs were too detestable
to attract the civilized people. This was the, reason in his view, that the true and patriotic
principles enunciated by Swami Dayanand were not permitted to gain ground. Bhatt
charged them with cunning on the grounds that they passed off as ‘sanatana’ anything
that happened to interest people. Discussing the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ which, in his view,
was “filled with all the evil and vulgarity of the world”56, he expresses – “it seems to us
that India cannot progress so long as that foundation of vanity and hypocrisy, the
‘Sanatana Dharma’ survives and any of its votaries remain”57. As far as his views on
‘Sanatana Dharma’ are concerned, they are full of criticism. In as article “Updeshon Ki
Alag-Alag Banagi”58, Bhatt treats the preachings of ‘sanatana Dharma’ as something very
harmful and retrogressive to the progress of the nation and society and he even says that
following and accepting all the codes of this dharma is a sin. So, he requested the people
to stay away from this dharma which is dangerous in nations’s interest. He urged the
people that any literate, educated and concious person should not follow this dharma only
because of that their ancestors have followed this. He says that “everything that will help
us progress is opposed to this sanatana”59. He observed, “inter-dining, marriage of girls
when they are of 15 or 16 years of age, sexual relations (yonik sambandha), and
marriages across the varnas, foreign travel, and all those measures that are beneficial for
us have been tabooed by the ‘Sanatana Dharma’. We are not permitted the slightest
movement away from its tight control. Why, then, should we wish its welfare?”60. But in
course of his writings, showing an inherent contradiction of reformist strategies he also
55
Ibid., September 1896.
56
57
‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1896.
58
Ibid., April 1886, Pg 9.
59
60
38
took the side of the orthodox. For example, in “Kaliraj Ki Sabha”61 (1873-74) published
serially in ‘Harischandra’s Magazine’ he “writes with unmistakable relish against those
whom he describes in his Hindi text as the ‘educated’ and ‘enlightened’”62. He reminds
his readers that they live in the 19th century when the people are now changing their
customs and practices in day to day life and following the British customs which are alien
to the Indian society. He sarcastically argues that people should learn some things from
the western civilization because they can prove handy in their hour of need. He said that
the first thing for this is just to loosen the hold of their mind of the restrictions that relate
to the commensality. He satirically advised the people – “don’t think of the hookah at all.
A cigar, according to the new fashion, is the essence of civilization”63. This is full of
sarcasm in terms of caricaturing his expressions, reflections and images of his mental
thought. All these things together define an attitude of Bhatt towards social reform.
Balkrishna Bhatt had portrays an imaginary painting of that atmosphere in which the
Vedas were written. He rejected the Vedic gods and treated them as the symbols of
natural power as modern scholars think. He also discussed the difference which placed
the Vedas separate from Kanad, Kapil, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti etc. In an article, “Sahitya
Jan Samuh Ke Hriday Ka Vikas Hai”64, he mentioned the above-mentioned feelings and
emotions. In an article, “Mahabharata Ke Samay Ka Bharat”65, he criticized Yudhisthira
of Mahabharata when he said that Yudhisthira was an incarnation of God and the most
truthful but he failed to apply these things when it was necessary to apply. He compares
the period of Kalidasa and Vikramaditya with the ‘Augustan period’. In his view the
Puranic culture and literature had a very bad impact on the society. In one of his essays
he wrote that all the deplorable conditions in the society was only due to the Puranic
impact on the people. “He was the first person in the history of the modern Hindi
literature who tried to understand the non-Aryan and non-Vedic form and character of the
Hindu religion”66. Comparing the Vedas and the Puranas, he wrote that Purana’s
61
‘Harischandra’s Magazine’, 15 November 1873.
62
63
‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878.
64
Ibid., July 1881.
65
66
39
literature and culture tried to abolish all the shameful and detrimental customs and rituals
from the society but they themselves, in this process, created some new practices which
are even more shameful and detrimental than of the Vedas. Having a kind of liberal
attitude and independent outlook, the common features of the ‘Bhartendu Yuga’, Bhatt
neither imagined a Vedic heaven unlike Dayanand Saraswati accepting the simplicity and
naturalness of the Vedas, nor did he completely reject the Puranas on the basis of its
being deemed irrelevant. Criticizing the Aryans and Brahmos, he wrote that “the
elimination of the ‘Idol Worship’ cannot be compared to the wholesome progress of the
nation”67. Bhatt wrote continuously for 4 months against Dayanand and refuted his Vedic
conceptions. He also rejected his notion that Aryans originated here in India itself and
had not come from outside. He also disagreed with him for giving more importance to the
Vedas than to thr Upanishads and Brahmans. Once he wrote that, “the main and real
purpose of Dayanand by treating the Vedas as created by the God is that he wants people
to follow him but he doesn’t know that in this age of scientific development, people are
not fools and they understand his plan of deceiving them”68. He accepted that the ‘Arya
Samaj’ and the ‘Brahmo Samaj’ were completely different from other Sabhas as ‘Hari
Sabha’ and ‘Dharma Sabha’ as the latter were completely false organizations cheating
and deceiving people as much as they could. Bhatt depicted the ‘Arya Samaj’ and
‘Brahmo Samaj’ as the enemies of the ‘Hinduism’ . he thought that Arya Samaj had been
made completely a degraded institution and wanted to remove the ‘sanatana parampara’.
In his view, ‘Brahmo Samaj’ wanted to eliminate the ‘Hinduism’ from this country.
Addressing all the movements of these institutions as irrelevant to the contemporary
colonial situation, Bhatt thinks that only those institutions which participate in socio-
political debates and discussions, like the ‘Poona Sarvajanik Sabha’, can do something in
the nation’s interest. Bhatt criticized all the rudimentary institutions of the Hindu society
like idol or image worship; polytheism; origin of the Vedas and their authenticity; and the
Upanishads. In his “Jaatiyon Ka Anuthapan (National Character)”69, he writes that in our
country religion and morality are not seen as separate and distinct from each other. He
argues that in our language there is no appropriate word for ‘morality’ because of which
67
‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1881.
68
Ibid., editorial, December 1879.
69
Ibid., January 1887.
40
it is understood with the ‘community’. “understanding religion as separate from morality
and the evolution of religious values on the basis of morality were the features of western
education which were adopted by the 19th century intellectuals”70. Making a distinction
between ‘secularism’ and ‘religiosity’, Bhatt writes that today the religion has permeated
into every sphere of life and society, and the result of this has come in to the fact that now
the people have become politically inert. But Bhatt , in an article, “Dharma Ka
Mahatva”71 also supports the Indian tradition of understanding ‘religion’ in terms of
‘morality’. He writes that without fear of religion and the netherworld, one cannot talk
about the morality. In an article, “Darshan Aur Unke Sambhandh Me Mat”72. He says
that while the European texts have a distinct type of theoretical mobility due to the
progressive advancements day by day, the Hindu shastras have no mobility and are quite
static in nature acting only on the arguments. In his view, the European texts are based on
the innovation of truth but in the case of the Hindu shastras, this possibility is negligible
because they are completely base on the perception of what have been said , heard or
written. His article, “Hamare Dharma Sambhandi Kharch”73 discusses about the
community consciousness. It says that to change the India for its progress, the decrease of
community spirit is very necessary. Due to this spirit, Bhatt writes, people make
donations to build the temples, rest-houses and spend money on the pilgrimage. But they
should spend money on education and on schools. He also criticizes the religious fairs in
which so much money is spent. In an another article “Kartika Snan”74, he criticized it
because in his view, this was an occasion when the people, who treat themselves as
educated, forward and religious, used to stare the ladies semi-nude during taking bath. In
“Jatiata Ke Guna”75, Bhatt writes that the different religions and communities only
disintegrate the varna system on the Vedas and now there are many sectarian affiliations
which shows our disunity. In his article “Veda Kya Hai?”76, he declares that the Vedas
are the basis of nationalism.
70
Talwar, Vir Bharat, “Rassakassi”, Saransh Publication, Delhi, 2002, Pg 189.
71
‘Hindi-Pradip’, June 1894.
72
Ibid., August 1886.
73
Ibid., March 1909.
74
Ibid., August 1894.
75
76
Ibid., January 1910.
41
Balkrishna Bhatt criticised the British state over the Muslim issues. He expresses his
views in one of his articles that “the government always wants to favour the Muslims
setting aside the question of justice and the interests of Hindus”77. Once Syed Amir Ali, a
lawyer by profession and the secretary of the ‘National Mohammedan Association’ wrote
an article in ‘A Cry from the Indian Mohammedans’, a journal published from London, in
which he tried to attract the attention of the British to the deplorable conditions of the
Bengali Muslims and warned the British that if the grievances of these Muslims were not
addressed then they might become dangerous for the government. Bhatt, in reaction to
this, wrote “we ask how can a few number of Muslims produce danger for this powerful
government”78 and also says that “the government is always doing justice to both the
Hindus and the Muslims”79. This shows the kind of suspicion and antipathy towards the
Muslims, Bhatt had in his mind. In 1882, he advised the government by saying – “helping
the Muslims is like ‘nourishing a snake close to the heart’”80 (astin me saap palne jaisa).
He responded to Lord Ripon that it would be a great injustice to the Hindus if the British
government would favour the Muslims who had ruined us to this level. In his view, the
Muslims’ interests were completely against the Hindus’ interests. He wrote, “Muslims
are free and thus they are progressive and united but the Hindus have so many constraints
in day to day life that it is impossible for them to be even think of being united”81.
Further he says, “Muslims, whether they belong to Madras or Punjab, are cooperative and
familiar with each other but among the Hindus this is not present whatever the reason
be”82. Stressing the need of unity among the Hindus, he explains in his editorial that “in
spite of their dining and clothing habits, the Hindus have so many common features
between them like – they belong to the same Arya jati, the same religion, and have same
respect for the cow, Brahmans and the Rishis”83. Once on the question of appointment of
a judge in the Allahabad High Court, Bhatt wrote – “a person with all the required
eligibilities should be appointed. The appointment of a Hindu only can make us proud
77
Ibid., editorial, July 1881.
78
Ibid., editorial, September 1882.
79
Ibid.,
80
Ibid., editorial, March 1882.
81
Ibid.,
82
Ibid., editorial, November 1882.
83
Ibid.,
42
and we do not have anything to do when a Muslim or Bengali will be appointed”84. But
after the appointment of a Muslim on this coveted post, he remarked – “the person
holding this post now does not belong to the Hindu community, so the sympathy of the
Hindus cannot be with him”85. In 1887, commenting on the Kayasthas who focused on
learning Urdu and Persian because of the prominence of these languages in the
government department for getting job, Bhatt called them ‘cheaters’ to the Hindu society,
culture and religion. He expresses his anger by saying that “the society of the Kayasthas
has become degraded because of their learning of Urdu and Persian for petty material
interests”86. He sees a great link between Hindi and Hindu which one can see in his
“editorial”87 remarks. Balkrishna Bhatt feels great pain by the favouring of Muslims and
their language Urdu when he comments “a book of geography written by the same author
is sold to the Muslims for two annas but to the Hindus for five, as if a penalty of three
annas were imposed on the Hindu students because of their learning Hindi”88. He also
comments on the popularity of Urdu in the government’s offices and as Hindi being
neglected there, that “Hindi should be used in the offices as the working language”89.
Treating Hindi as the bases of ‘Hinduness’, he reacted to those Hindus having no

affection for Hindi, by commenting “it is regretful that we are called Hindus and we don’t
love Hindi. I have a great doubt in these persons being Hindus”90. In an article titled
“Nagari Aur Farsi Ke Guna-Dosh”91, Bhatt declares that Hindi is the most important
source for creating unity among Hindus and in this he criticized the Persian language by
saying that it will be a merit less language. But he also sarcastically remarks that due to
the British’s patronage of the Urdu and Persian, these languages have many advantages
which Hindi does not. He requested and advised the government to accept “Hindi as the
national language”92. He wanted the government to give mass education in Hindi if they
84
“Native Judge”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, March 1882.
85
‘Hindi-Pradip’, editorial, May 1882.
86
Ibid., August 1887.
87
Ibid., August 1887 and June 1882.
88
Ibid., April 1882.
89
Ibid., October 1883.
90
Ibid., June 1880.
91
‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1880.
92
Ibid., editorial, August 1882.
43
want to rule India for long. But somewhere he also reflects the characteristic
contradictions in his approach. Once he wrote that “Hindus, subjugated by the Muslims
for a thousand years after Prithviraj’s defeat, and the Muslims, the erstwhile proud rulers,
were now bound together by ties of mutual sympathy in accordance with the principles of
politics. There no longer exists any difference between the Muslim victors and the Hindu
vanquished”93. “He also emphasized the absence, during this period, of discrimination
between Hindus and Muslims with regard to employment”94. Promoting the cause of
‘Swadeshi Movement’, he wrote that “due to the use of the foreign objects we have
deprived ourselves completely and have become poor”95. Showing the relevance of the
ideas and views of Shankaracharya and Guru Nanak Dev in his article “Sri
Shankaracharya and his Guru Nanak Dev”96, Bhatt focuses on to what an extent these
ideas have been followed because they are very important in this proper colonial context.
SECTION II
British State And Muslim Anarchy
More intrepidly critical of the British rule than inmost of the scholars of the Bhartendu
Yuga, Balkrishna Bhatt was the writer who devoted himself to the service of the country.
the difficulties that came his way in the course of a long life of struggle were not of
ordinary kind. His outspoken writing in the ‘Hindi-Pradip antagonized both the
authorities and his contemporaries. Once* he made a very critical speech to condemn
Tilak’s deportation, and, rather than apologize or submit to a token disciplinary action by
his college authorities, he chose unemployment, which shows his undeterred faith in
himself. In the inaugural issue of ‘Hindi-Pradip’, in his editorial remarks, he warned the
British that “the mood of the monthly is not going to please the government, because I
have been driven by the faith in the goodwill of my countrymen, and in my own capacity
93
‘Hindi-Pradip’, February 1878.
94
95
‘Hindi-Pradip’, editorial, April 1908.
96
Mishra, Satyaprakash, ed., “Balkrishna Bhatt Ke Shreshtha Nibandh”, Lokbharati Prakashan,
Allahabad, 1998, Pg 136-139.
*period not available.
44
for hard and sustained effort”97. Bhatt never compromised with his rough and harsh tone,
and displeased and disturbed all those in power and even those Englishmen who were
treated as friendly to India. In ‘Hindi-Pradip’, in his editorial remarks, he once confronted
John Bright who said that the British administration had reduced the Indians in their own
country into mute creatures. Bhatt wrote that “if the self-same Mr. Bright were to come
hear as thr Governor General he would lose this kind of understanding and no more be
able to see such things”98. “This distrust arose from his conviction that, however well-
intentioned they might be, individual Englishmen could not be more powerful than the
exploitative system of which they were a part”99. In this very issue of ‘Hindi-Pradip’, in
his editorial remarks, he asked the British “what India has gained apart from the loss of
honour by surrendering everything it possesses and lying at the mercy of England?”100 In
his view, it was at India’s expense that England had developed so much. He says that “the
British have deprived the Indians of all dignity, courage and self-reliance and has
transformed the Indians as those for whom, to be the patient butt of white men’s shoes
has become the habit, and contempt and dishonour have become their badges”101. “ From
economic exploitation to racial humour, the picture of alien presence was clear in Bhatt’s
mind”102. In a shocked way, of dialogues between the ‘Queen of England’
(Englandeshwari) and ‘Bharat-Janani’, Bhatt painted the reality of colonial India with a
somber vividness that neither Bhartendu Harischandra nor Pratapnarayan Mishra ever
achieved. This play depicts the real contemporary situation of colonial India with a very
great sense of humour and understanding. In this play, at the last after all the debates
between ‘Englandeshwari’ and ‘Bharat-Janani’ the latter says “what else my son’s can do
because speaking out does not help and so we should see how long this tyranny lasts”103.
Recalling the words of Manu that ‘there is no pain like the pain of slavery’, Bhatt once
wrote that he did not know or have any idea whether a death holds greater relief in its
97
‘Hindi-Pradip’, editorial, September 1877.
98
99
100
‘Hindi-Pradip’, editorial, February 1878.
101
Ibid.,
102
103
“Engledeshwari aur Bharat-Janani ke beech Samvad”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, March, 1878.
45
store than a life made up of taxation and brutal police atrocities. He addressed the Indians
“as persons who have rotted in slavery for centuries for their circumspection and blind
reliance on God, which has made them so inert and lazy that they couldn’t even think of
doing anything against the British”104. In 1875, in his editorial comments in the ‘Hindi-
Pradip’, he argued “whenever a weak nation has fought against a powerful nation to
achieve any kind of independence, it has very often met with defeat, but the defeat has
without doubt proved a means of great benefit later on”105. Bhatt expresses his view that
the British rule couldn’t benefit India because “it was divinely willed”106. In his novel
‘Nutan Brahmachari’ published in 1886, he described the state of anarchy that had
prevailed in the country until the British returned the law and order. His views in this
novel, again shows the characteristic contradictory approach of the intelligentsia. Here,
Bhatt treated the British more safe than the Muslims and the Marathas who unnecessarily
caused turbulences and disturbances among the Indian society. It can also be seen in his
editorial remarks of ‘Hindi-Pradip’, answering to the proposed division of India made by
John Bright, when he said – “we pray to God that this may never happen because it’s
impossible not to be the subjects of a kind and just government like the present one”107.
Bhatt also advocated the idea of keeping pressure on the government for the redressal of
numerous grievances because in his view there were sincere well-wishers in England who
would ensure that Indians were not denied justice indefinitely. In the “editorials”108 of
‘Hindi-Pradip’, he also proudly reminded the British of steadfast loyalty that many
Indians have shown during the mutiny of 1857. Bhatt also thinks that people should
speak out against the British for keeping pressure on them for addressal of their
grievances. Once he wrote – “if you speak out, your just government will listen to you.
Even a mother does not offer milk to her child until it cries”109. In one of his essays in the
‘Hindi-Pradip’, Bhatt comments on the British that “they are like snakes who bite and
also want to cure but however good and kind they look, they are actually full of cunning
104
‘Hindi-Pradip’, editorial, August 1878.
105
106
107
108
Ibid., September and December 1878.
109
46
and falsehood”110. Opposing the imposition of various taxes on Indians by the British,
Bhatt wrote that “they applied and imposed tax on everything like salt, paper, rice, wheat,
cloths, farming areas etc. and if they can, they can put taxes on everything else to make
money without considering that people are dying everyday”111. Bhatt criticized the
British due to their suppressive policies and atrocities on Indians. He also criticized them
for their approach towards the Muslims and their language Urdu, besides speaking out
against the deplorable condition of agriculture made by the British, corruption in
administration etc. in a fearless manner.
Alongside Harischandra’s consistently expressed loyalty was a critique of British rule, as

is clear from ‘Kavivachansudha’ (1868) and ‘Harischandra’s Magazine’ (1873-74) in
which the British rule was criticized with respect to isolated grievances. In two of his
patriotically political plays, ‘Bharat-Durdasha’ (1880) and ‘Bharat-Janani’ (1877), he
dwelt upon both the destructive consequences and also the regenerative possibilities in
British rule in India. The drain of Indian resources to Britain is the most discussed idea in
his works. In his ‘Bharat-Durdasha’, he described the flow of wealth to a foreign land as
the worst sorrow caused by the ‘Angrej-Raj’. He links the drain of wealth to the rising
prices, the recurring famine, and disease with ever-growing taxation. In ‘Nil-Devi’ (1881)
also he discussed the foreign extraction of wealth. Though the links with the mental
habits of the ruled seemed real, it is intriguing that Harischandra missed another powerful
connection between the material interests of the certain sections of India, and imperial
rule. Harischandra’s views about the British show great ambivalences. Once, in
‘Harischandra’s Magazine’, he published an advertisement saying that his own firm “M/s
Harischandra and brothers have received various fresh goods direct from England per
steamer Cathay, consisting of new and choicest novelties of the season that were not
available in the Indian markets”112. Harischandra’s critique of the British developed
around its exploitative economic aspects. His ‘Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja’, exposed the
reality of corruption, exploitation and capricious lawlessness, under the British rule. In
110
‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1880, Pg 3.
111
Ibid., June 1886, Pg 7.
112
‘Harischandra’s Magazine’, 15 January 1874.
47
this play, Harischandra described how the English ‘sahib’ could digest the whole of
‘Hind’ in order to fill the coffers of Britain.
Thus from the above mentioned facts it is clear that if Harischandra’s views can be
understood or comprehended as the norm for the expression of appreciation and criticism
of foreign rule (due to the dichotomies in his views), in Balkrishna Bhatt’s views, the
tendency was reversed which shows his nationalist fervor eclipsed his sense of loyalty.
In spite of wishing away the possibility of real change in terms of political appliance in
the contemporary times on the basis of something infusing and progressive from the
ancient texts, considered as repositories of traditional wisdom and the source of social
reforms, there persisted a belief in the desirability and possibility of change. The
literature of ‘Bhartendu Yuga’ was filled with a very complex attitude characterized by
ambiguities, contradictions, incongruities, ambivalences and unresolved tensions. There
was a kind of “a subtle resolution of the tension between accepting the need for change
and the attachment to tradition”113. These ambvilances are more frequent in the attitude
and approach of Bhartendu Harischandra towards social reforms than Balkrishna Bhatt.
In February 15, 1874 issue of Harischandra’s Magazine , Harischandra wrote a
bilingually titled essay – ‘A Wonderful Dream – Ek Adbhut Apurva Swapna’, in which
he , as a devout Vaishnava bhakta, unequivocally expressed his opposition to social
reform by showing his dissent with those attacking the idol-worship and favouring widow
marriage and the marriage of middle aged women; with those who were unhappy about
the varna system and about the custom of eating within the ritually purified space of the
‘chowka’; and finally with those following no restrictions on inter-dining and the practice
of matching horoscopes before arranging marriages. “This delightfully written essay
seeks within the orbit of its condemnation, men, like its own author Harischandra who
promoted most of the reforms assailed in the essay”114. Apart from this understanding of
Harischandra’s apparent and explicit contradiction between the insistence on the social
reform and going away from it, generally speaking, the credit must go to a saviour
113
114
Ibid., Pg 86.
48
patriotic text like ‘Bharat-Durdasha’ or to a public statement like his most famous ‘Ballia
Lecture’ which advocate the social reforms as the primary requirement for national
progress. Despite his moral earnestness and social commitment, Harischandra permeated
himself the luxury of not feeling wholly bound by the demands that followed from his
recognition of a correlation between social reform and national regeneration.
On the whole, we can say that if in social matters Harischandra appears to have been
more a non-conformist who remained deeply attached to his society as it was, Balkrishna
Bhatt was in comparison more an orthodox Brahman who felt a strong urge to reform
some of the institutions that cast their powerful spell on him.
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A. PRIMARY SOURCES:
49
1. “Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1899.
2. “Angrezi Chaal”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1886, Pg 8.
3. “Sanyukta Parivar Ke Guna-Dosh”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1891, Pg 16.
4. “Chandrodaya”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, October 1889, Pg 29.
5. “Ansoon”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878, Pg 3.
6. “Hinduon Ke Vikas Ke Upay”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878, Pg 4-11.
7. “Jaisa Kaam Vaisa Parinaam”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, October-November 1878.
8. “Naya Abhidan Oudh Punch Ke Dhang Par”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, December 1878.
9. “Vyabhichar Ki Vridhi, Angrezon Ki Sabhyata Ka Saar”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’,
December 1878.
10. “Streeyan Aur Unki Shiksha”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, February 1885.
11. “Hamari Lalnaon Ki Sochaniya Dasha” ,‘Hindi-Pradip’, June 1894.
12. “Mata Ka Sneh”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1906.
13. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), October 1880.
14. “Jaatpaat”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, April 1886.
15. “Kaulinya aur Sadavrita”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1905.
16. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), September 1877.
17. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), February 1878.
18. “Engledeshwari Aur Bharat-Janani Ke Beech Samvad”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, March
1878.
19. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), August 1878.
21. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), December 1877.
23. “Angrezon Ka Charitra”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1880, Pg 3.
24. “Videshi Raj”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, June 1886, Pg 7.
25. “Hindu Sabhyata”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1885, Pg 16.
26. “Hindu Dharma”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1896.
27. “Sanatan Dharma Ka Prabhav”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1896.
28. “Updeshon Ki Alag-Alag Banagi”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, April 1886, Pg 9.
50
29. “Kaliraj Ki Sabha”, ‘Harischandra’s Magazine’, November 1873-February 1874.
30. ‘Harischandra’s Magazine’, January 15, 1874.
31. “Angrezi Fashion”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, May 1878.
32. “Sahitya Jansamuh Ke Hriday Ka Vikas Hai”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, July 1881.
33. “Mahabharata Ke Samay Ka Bharat”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, February 1908.
34. “Vedon Ka Itihaas”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1881.
36. “Jaatiyon Ka Anuthapan”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, January 1887.
37. “Dharma Ka Mahatvya”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, June 1894.
38. “Darshan Aur Unke Sambandh Me Mat”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1886.
39. “Hamare Dharma Sambhandhi Kharch”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, March 1909.
40. “Kartik Snan”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, August 1894.
41. “Jaatiyata Ke Gun”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, February 1897.
42. “Ved Kya Hai”,‘Hindi-Pradip’, January 1910.
43. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), July 1881.
45. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), March 1882.
46. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), November 1882.
47. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), May 1882.
49. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), June 1882.
50. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), April 1882.
51. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), October 1883.
52. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), June 1880.
53. “Native Judge”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, March 1882.
54. “Nagri Aur Farsi Ke Guna-Dosh”, ‘Hindi-Pradip’, September 1880.
56. ‘Hindi-Pradip’, (editorial), April 1908.
B. SECONDARY SOURCES
51
1. Chandra, Sudhir, “The Oppressive Present: Literature And Social Consciousness In
Colonial India”, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1992.
2. Dalmia, Vasudha, “The Nationalization Of Hindu Traditions: Bhartendu Harischandra
And Nineteenth Century Banaras”, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997.
3. Das, Sisir Kumar, “A History Of Indian Literature: 1800-1910”, Sahitya Akademi,
Delhi, 1991.
4. Sangari, Kumkum, and Sudesh Vaid, eds., “Recasting Women: essays In Colonial
History”, Kali For Women, Delhi, 1989.
5. Sarma, Ramvilas, “Bhartendu Yuga Aur Hindi Bhasa Ki Vikas Parampara”, Revised
Edition, Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi, 1975.
6. Talwar, Vir Bharat, “Rassakassi”, Saransh Prakashan, Delhi, 2002.
7. Mishra, Satya Prakash and Namwar Singh, “Balkrishna Bhatt: Pratinidhi Sankalan”,
National Book Trust, Delhi, 1996.
8. Mishra, Satya Prakash, “Balkrishna Bhatt Ke Shrestha Nibandh”, Lokbharati
Prakashan, Allahabad, 1998.
9. Pandey, Padmakar, “Balkrishna Bhatt”, Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Varanasi, 1995.
10. Chandra, Sudhir, “ Ambivalence Of Social Consciousness: Inter Community
Relations In Modern India” (article), EPW, February 4, 2006.
11. Pandey Ramsajan, ed., “Sahityik Nibandh”, Monu Publications, New Delhi, 1997.
12. Gautam, Anand Prakash, ed., “Hindi Ke Vyangya Nibandh”, Girnar Prakashan,
Mehsana, Gujarat, 1990.
13. Engleton, Terry, “Literary Theory: An Introduction”, Basic Blackwell, UK, 1983.
14. Mishra, Durgashankar, “Sahityik Nibandh”, Prakashan Kendra, Lucknow (date not
available)
15. ‘Saral’, Dhananjay Bhatt, “Bhatt Natakawali” , Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Kashi, 1947.
16. Shrivastava, Parmanand, ed., “Bhartendu Harischandra Krit Andher Nagari”,
Lokbharati Prakashan, Allahabad, 2002.
17. Sarraf, Ramkali, “Bhartendu Harischandra Krit Bharat Durdasha”, Vishwavidyalaya
Prakashan, Varanasi, 2002.
18. Sarma, Ramvilas, “Bhartendu Harischandra Aur Hindi Navjagran Ki Samsyayein”,
Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi, Revised Edition, 1984.
52
19. Rai, Amrit, “A House Divided: The Origin And Development Of Hindi/Hindavi”,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1984.
20. Pannikar, K.N., “Culture, Ideology, Hegemony: Intellectuals And Social
Consciousness In Colonial India”, Tulika Publications, New Delhi, 1995.
21. Jones, Kenneth W., “Socio-Religious Reform Movements In British India”,
Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 1989.
22. Jones, Kenneth W., “Arya Dharma: Hindu Consciousness In 19th Century Punjab”,
University Of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 1976.
23. Heimsath, Charles H., “Indian Nationalism And Hindu Social Reform”, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1964.
APPENDIX – I
Some of the magazines, journals and newspapers published in the period of Bhartendu
Yuga:
1. ‘Kavivachansudha’(1868-1886) – edited by Bhartendu Harischandra,
Kashi.
2. ‘Harischandra’s Magazine’ (1873) – edited by Bhartendu Harischandra,
Kashi.
3. ‘Bala-Bodhini’ (1873) – edited by Bhartendu Harischandra, Kashi.
4. ‘Almora Samachar’ (1870) – Almora, first weekly then trimonthly.
5. ‘Hindi-Deepti’ (1871) – Calcutta, edited by Babu Kartikaprasad Khatri.
6. ‘Bihar-Bandhu’ (1871) – Patna.
7. ‘Sadadarsh’ (1874) – edited by Srinivas Das, Delhi, merged with
‘Kavivachansudha’ in 1876.
8. ‘Natak Prakash’ (1874), a drama journal, and ‘Kashi Patrika’ (1874) –
Kashi.
9. ‘Bharat-Bandhu’ (1876-1894) – ed. by Babu Totaram, Aligarh.
10. ‘Hindi-Pradip’ (1877-1910) – ed. by Balkrishna Bhatt, Prayag.
11. ‘Bharat-Mitra’ (1877) – Calcutta, ed. by Chandanlal Mishra and Pandit
Durgaprasad Mishra (afterwards ed. by Balmukund Gupta), closed in 1934-35, Calcutta.
53
12. ‘Uchit-Vakta’ (1878) – ed. by Pandit Durgaprasad Mishra.
13. ‘Sarsudhanidhi’ (1878) – ed. by Pandit Sadanand Mishra.
14. ‘Sajjan-Kirti-Sudhakar’ (1879) – ed. by Pandit Vansidhar Vajpayee,
Udaipur.
15. ‘Jaipur-Gazette’ ( 1879) – Jaipur.
16. ‘Kshatriya Patrika’ (1880) – ed. by Babu Ramdev, Bankipur.
17. ‘Anand-Kadambini’ (1881) – ed. by Badrinarayan Chaudhuri ‘Premghan’,
Prayag.
18. ‘Vaishnav-Patrika’(1888) – ed. by Ambikadutt Vyas, name changed later
on as ‘Piyush-Prawah’.
19. ‘Brahman’(1883) – ed. by Pandit Pratapnarayan Mishra.
20. ‘Samachar-Sudhavarshan’ (1854) – first daily newspaper.
21. ‘Hindustan’ (1883) – ed. by Raja Rampal Singh, monthly in Hindi,
English, Urdu; England.
22. ‘Bhartodaya’ (1885-86) – Kanpur.
23. ‘Bharat-Mitra’ (1884) – ed. by Ramkrishna Verma, Kashi.
24. ‘Rajputana-Gazette’ (1884) – Ajmer.
25. ‘Bharat-Sudasha-Pravartak’ (1878).
26. ‘Arya Darpan’ (1880).
27. ‘Kavyamrit-Varshini’ (1885-88) – ed. by Pandit Shivdutt.
28. ‘Aryavart’ (1887) – Calcutta.
29. ‘Bharat-Bhrata’ (1887-1900) – Reeva.
30. ‘Rajasthan Samachar’ (1889) – ed. by Sri Samarthdan, Ajmer, weekly,
became daily in 1906.
31. ‘Sarvahit’ (1890-1904) – ed. by Pandit Lajjaram, Bundi.
32. ‘Hindi-Bangwasi’ (1890) – ed. by Babu Krishnachandra.
33. ‘Nagri-Nirad’ (1893) – ed. by Premghan, Mirzapur.
34. ‘Bhashamusan’ (1896) – Bombay.
35. ‘Sri-Vekateshwara Samachar’ (1896) – Bombay.
36. ‘Rajput’ (1897) – Jaipur.
37. ‘Sugrahini’ – ed. by Hemant Kumari Devi, Lahore.
54
38. ‘Bharat-Bhagini’ – ed. by Sri Haridevi, Prayag.
39. ‘Saraswati’ (1900) – ed. by Babu Jagannath Das Ratnakar and Babu
Shyam Sunder Das, later on by Pandit Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Prayag.
40. ‘Banaras Akhbar’ and ‘Sudhakar’ – newspapers from Kashi.
APPENDIX – II
‘Hindi-Vardhini Sabha’ was not the only association in the Bhartendu Yuga, but there are
also other associations which played an important part in the emergence of socio-literary
consciousness. Some of the important associations were:
1. ‘Kavi-Kul-Kaumudi-Sabha’ (1932) – by Radhacharan Goswami.
2. ‘Hindi-Vicharini-Sabha’ (1884).
3. ‘Sampadak Samaj’ – Prayag.
4. ‘Kavita-Vardhini-Sabha’ (1870) – by Bhartendu, Prayag.
5. ‘Penny Reading Club’ (1873).
6. ‘Tadiya Samaj’ – by Bhartendu, Prayag.
7. ‘Anath Rakshini Sabha’ (1875) – Prayag.
8. ‘Youngmen’s Association’ – Prayag.
9. ‘Brahmamrit Varshini Sabha’ – Prayag.
10. ‘Vigyan Pracharini Sabha’- by Sudhakar Dwivedi , Kashi.
11. ‘Tulsimarak Sabha’ - by Sudhakar Dwivedi , Kashi.
12. ‘Mitra Samaj’ – by Kartikaprasad Khatri, Shillong.
13. ‘Kavi Samaj’ – Patna.
14. ‘Bhasha Samvardhini Sabha’ – by Totaram, Aligarh.
15. ‘Matri Bhasha Pracharini Sabha’ – Ranchi.
16. ‘Kashi Nagari Pracharni Sabha’ – Kashi.
APPENDIX – III
Some of the Plays written by Balkrishna Bhatt:

1. Padmavati.
55
2. Chandrasen.
3. Kiratarjuniya.
4. Prithucharita or Venusamhar.
5. Shishupal Vadh.
6. Nal Damyanti or Damyanti Swayamvar.
7. Shiksha Dan.
8. Achar Vidamban.
9. Nai Roshni Ka Vish.
10. Brahannala.
11. Sita Vanvas.
12. Patit Pancham.
13. Meghnath Vadh.
APPENDIX - IV
Some of the issues of ‘Hindi-Pradip’ displaying the views and ideas of Balkrishna Bhatt
on language and literature.
1. ‘Bhashaon Ka Parivartan’ – June, 1885, Pg 2-7.

2. ‘Gramin Bhasha’ – July 1885, Pg 1-5.
3. ‘Bhasha Kaisi Honi Chahiye’ – July 1885.
4. ‘Hindi Aur Nagari’ – February, 1885, Pg 18.
5. ‘Hindi Ki Vartman Dasha’ – January 1892, Pg 21.
6. ‘Shabd Parichay’ – May 1896.
7. ‘Hamari Matri Bhasha’ – February-March 1892.
56

Social Reformist Strategies in The Literary Movements: Bhartendu Harischandra and Balkrishna Bhatt

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Social Reformist Strategies in The Literary Movements: Bhartendu Harischandra and Balkrishna Bhatt

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SOCIAL REFORMIST STRATEGIES IN THE LITERARY

MOVEMENTS: BHARTENDU HARISCHANDRA AND

(THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG THE

Bhartendu Yuga: An Introductory Background

Bhartendu Yuga: An Introduction

According to Dr Kesharinarayan Shukla and Dr Laxmisagar Varshney, the time-period of

PART I. BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

SECTION I: LIFE AND TIMES OF HARISCHANDRA

Bhartendu Harischandra characterized the definition of a new type of spokesman for

“A monthly journal published in connection with the Kavivachansudha

Literature of Bhartendu Yuga : An Overview

As far as the literature particularly ‘essay-writing’ in Bhartendu Yuga is concerned, there

He always focused on social-welfare and patriotism, talked about the complete

In spite of being turned into a completely socio-literary magazine from a political

PART II: SOCIO-REFORMIST STRATEGIES OF BHATT IN

SECTION I: IDENTITY FORMATION OF HINDUS

Bhatt’s Ideas on Emerging Hindu Consciousness With Its Socio-Political

Treating Hindi as the bases of ‘Hinduness’, he reacted to those Hindus having no

Alongside Harischandra’s consistently expressed loyalty was a critique of British rule, as

Some of the Plays written by Balkrishna Bhatt:

1. ‘Bhashaon Ka Parivartan’ – June, 1885, Pg 2-7.

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