HENRY LOUIS VIVIAN DEROZIO

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was a great product of the renaissance in Bengal. He was born in Portuguese Indian family in Calcutta(Kolkata) on April 18, 1809. Francis Derozio was his father. Henry's mother died when he was only seven. His original family name was 'De Rozario'. He was a brilliant student. He was admitted at school in 1815 at the age of six. He also studied at Drummond's Dharmatola Academy. Young Derozio  was greatly influenced by David Drummond. At the age 14, Derozio left school for work. Henry joined Hindu College in 1826 as a teacher only at age of fifteen. He taught English and European History. He was very popular with his students most of whom were senior to him. Henry was a friend, philosopher and guide to a band of students. These students were later known as 'Young Bengal'. He gave them a new outlook and inspired to fight against superstitions in the contemporary Bengali as well Indian society. Later he took a job of the Chief Accountant in an English Company and for a few days served in an Indigo farm. Derozio was also a poet with the lyrical feelings and some traits of high imagination. In 1827, when Derizio was eighteen, the editor John Grant took notice of Derozio's poetry, offering to publish a book of his work and inviting him to return Kolkata. He soon became an assistant editor for Grant, as well as publishing in several other periodicals and founding his own newspaper, the Calcutta Gazette. In 1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy established the 'Brahmo Samaj', which kept Hindu ideals but denied idolatry. This result in a backlash within orthodox Hindu Society. within a short period, Derozio drew around him a group of intelligent boys in college. He continuously encouraged them to think freely, to question and not to accept anything blindly. His teaching inspired the development of the spirit of liberty, freedom and equality. Due to backlash from conservative parents who disliked his wide-ranging and open discussion of religious issues, Derozio was dismissed from his post in April 1831, shortly before his death. This great genius died of cholera at a very young age of twenty-three on 26th December,1831.