Session Name: Structure and Agency in the Indian Ocean during 1500-1900 I
2 - Understanding the self and the other: Travels in Indonesia by Bengali intellectuals in 20th century
Monday, July 29, 2024
14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)
Presentation Abstract Ideas of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism in Bengali literary journals during 1870s-1940s, expressed themselves in different-often contradictory-ways through introspection, understanding of the self as well as through an attempt to transcend oneself for self-improvement. New economics, new professions and new knowledge had brought in the need for travel and for this generation of Indians, Asia and the world became a focus of discussion. This cosmopolitanism was less a political project or practice but more a philosophy or world view, an attitude or disposition- a cosmopolitan outlook which brought a consciousness of being a part of a larger entity Asia, much before the ideas of Greater India was conceptualised and in fact before nationalistic fervour dimmed all other sensibilities in most individuals. But even later in the heyday of fervent nationalism, doubts about its excesses in the brilliant minds of many Asian intellectuals remained as a silver lining of sanity and need to be reiterated today as the only means to a better future. Travelling by sea in the early 20th century to Java (Indonesia today) became a pilgrimage for many Bengali intellectuals like Rabindranath Tagore who further cemented Asian connections by imbibing them in various ways in the World University he set up at Santiniketan. In this paper I would like to explore some of the writing of these intellectuals about their experiences in South East Asia and their exploration of strong networks of the Asian countries, connected by cultural ties and a common historical past.
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