Bhupendranath Datta: Difference between revisions

{{EngvarB|date=July 2013}}

'''Bhupendranath Datta''' (4 September 1880 – 25 December 1961)<ref name="Badrinath2006">{{cite book|author=Chaturvedi, Badrinath|title=Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKKZo3fbby4C&pg=PT444|date=2006|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-507-7|page=444}}</ref> was an Indian [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionary]] and later a noted [[sociologist]] and [[anthropologist]]. He associated [[Sri Aurobindo|Rishi Aurobindo]] in his political works. In his youth, he was closely associated with the [[Jugantar]] movement, serving as the editor of ''[[Jugantar Patrika]]'' till his arrest and imprisonment in 1907. In his later revolutionary career, he was privy to the [[Indo-German Conspiracy]]. His elder brother was [[Swami Vivekananda]]. The [[Asiatic Society]] today holds the ''Dr. Bhupendranath Datta memorial lecture'' in his honour.

[[File:Swami Vivekananda July 1895 Thousand Island Park.jpg|thumb|170px|Datta was younger brother of [[Swami Vivekananda]]. Datta wrote a book ''Swami Vivekananda, Patriot-prophet'' in which he discussed Vivekananda's socialist view.<ref name="Sil1997">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pTDPlJPyV_MC&pg=PA73|title=Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment|author=Narasingha Prosad Sil|publisher=Susquehanna University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-945636-97-7|page=73|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref>]]

Datta was born on 4 September 1880 in the town of [[Calcutta]], the capital of [[Bengal Presidency]], the largest province of British India at that time. His parents were [[Vishwanath Datta]] and Bhuvaneshwari Datta. He had two elder brothers, Narendranath Datta (later known as [[Swami Vivekananda]]) and Mahendranath Datta. [[Vishwanath Datta]] was an attorney of Calcutta High Court and Bhuvaneshwari Devi was a housewife.<ref name="Bhuyan2003">{{cite book|author=P. R. Bhuyan|title=Swami Vivekananda: Messiah of Resurgent India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLmFDRortS0C&pg=PA4|date=2003|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-269-0234-7|pages=4–6}}</ref> Datta was enrolled in [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]]'s Metropolitan Institution from where he passed entrance examination. In his youth, he joined [[Brahmo Samaj]] led by [[Keshub Chandra Sen]] and [[Debendranath Tagore]]. Here he met [[Sivanath Sastri]] who deeply influenced him. Datta's religious and social beliefs were shaped by Brahmo Samaj which included belief in a caste-less society, in a single God and revolts against superstitions.<ref name="Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan">{{cite book|title=Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan Volume I|publisher=Balgla Sangsad}}</ref>

Datta decided to join Indian independence movement, and joined Bengal Revolutionary Society formed by Pramathanath Mitra in 1902. In 1906, he became the editor of the newspaper ''[[Jugantar Patrika]]''. This newspaper was the mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Party of Bengal. In this period he became a close associate of [[Sri Aurobindo]] and [[Barindra Ghosh]].<ref name="SissonWolpert1988">{{cite book|author1=Richard Sisson|author2=Stanley A. Wolpert|title=Congress and Indian nationalism: the pre-independence phase ; [rev. versions of papers presented at an international conference, held in March 1984 at the University of California, Los Angeles]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfOSxFVQa8IC&pg=PA64|date=1988|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-06041-8|page=64}}</ref>

Datta joined [[Ghadar Party]] of California and there he studied about socialism and communism.<ref name="Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan" /> During [[World War I]], he went to Germany and started revolutionary and political activities there. In 1916, he became the secretary of [[Indian Independence Committee]] in Berlin.<ref name=IndHist /> He remained the secretary of this organisation till 1918. He took memberships of German Anthropological Society in 1920 and German Asiatic Society in 1924.<ref name="Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan" />

In 1921 Datta went to Moscow to join [[Comintern]]. [[Manabendra Nath Roy]] and Birendranath Dasgupta also attended this year's Comintern. During the Datta presented [[Vladimir Lenin]] a research paper on political condition of contemporary India. He obtained a doctorate degree in [[Anthropology]] from the [[University of Hamburg]] in 1923.<ref name="Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan" />

Then he returned to India and decided to join [[Indian National Congress]].<ref name=IndHist /> He became members of Bengal Regional Congress in 1927—28 and All India Congress Committee in 1929. In the annual conference of Indian National Congress organised in Karachi in 1930, he proposed a fundamental right for Indian farmers and had it accepted by the Congress Committee led by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. He chaired two All India Trade Union Congress' annual conference. He was arrested for his political activities.<ref name="Sangsad Bangla Charitabhidhan" />