Dharmatattva

by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Apratim Ray (Translator)

This is a translation from Bengali of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Dharmatattva, regarded by many as one of his more important works. It traces both the development of Bankimchandra's ideas and the impact of Western thought on Hindu religion and philosophy in the nineteenth century.

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (Bengali: বঙ্কিম চন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়) ('Chattopadhyay' in the original Bengali; 'Chatterjee' as spelt by the British) was a Bengali poet, novelist, essayist and journalist, most famous as the author of Vande Mataram or Bande Mataram, that inspired the freedom fighters of India, and was later declared the National Song of India.

Complete works of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (বঙ্কিম রচনাবলী) is now available in this third party website (in Bengali):
https://bankim-rachanabali.nltr.org/

Chatterjee is considered as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India. Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.

Reviews

[Habib Siddiqui · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bankim Chatterjee is regarded by many critics as the father of Hindutva, which is a toxic ideology of Hindu supremacism that has had a serious undertone of fascism. Concerned and worried as he was and may others of the Arya Samaj in the 19th century, with the British Raj in power in India, and the proselytizing power of the Abrahamic faiths to convert caste-ridden Hindus to monotheistic religions, esp. to Islam, Bankim used his writings, government position, literary talents to promote hatred against the 'others' who were non-Hindus. More problematically, he weaponized religion and abused history to divide the fragile Indian society as never before. Sadly, his lead would later be copied by many other bigoted Hindus to polarize not only the Bengali society but also entire India.
Who knows if Pakistan would have come about as a separate state in 1947 if it had not been for the hatred he spread against Muslims! Many of the pogroms faced by Muslims and Christians in the BJP-run India owe such to the trends he had set.
Although the work - Dharmatattva - first appeared as a series of separate articles in Bengali periodical, published from Kolkata, it traces both the development of Bankim's Hindu-centric ideas and the impact of Western thought on Hindu religion and philosophy in the 19th century. This work is set out in the form of a question-and-answer dialogue between a guru or teacher and his student. The ideal of the human being, according to the teacher, is humanism, which is filled with universal love and stands in the greatest possible closeness to God. Interestingly, as his literary works would reveal, instead of spreading universal love, understanding of and tolerance for each other, as required for breeding true humanism, Bankim is guilty of not only adding fuel to the fire but also kindling the fire of xenophobia, hatred and intolerance against Muslims and non-Hindus. He proved to be a chauvinist and not a compassionate soul who understood the true meanings of humanism. Truly, Bankim's literary talent paved the path to lay the very foundation of the monstrous organizations like the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS (and by affiliation today's ruling BJP of India) that killed M.K. Gandhi.
There is an old proverb: when a bird looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Bankim Chatterjee was a bigot who epitomized bigotry and intolerance.
I don't recommend his work, including this one, to anyone for surely his work is no better than Mein Kampf of Hitler. We don't need a world that gives free permit to kill and destroy others for their 'otherness'.