SCHOOL LIFE AT DHURRUMTOLLAH ACADEMY

MR. DAVID DRUMMOND AND HIS TEACHING: HIS INFLUENCE ON LITTLE DEROZIO

 Now it’s time to know about a great talent of educational field, who became the respected & honored teacher of Henry Derozio! He was Mr. David Drummond, the Schoolmaster of Dhurrumtollah Academy, to whom we all are grateful for making such a great student! He was the pre-indication of Derozio’s revolutionary teaching, or I should say that Derozio became a winning replica of Drummond, with the addition of some other virtues, on later days! We must know Drummond if we want to know his dearest disciple Derozio.    

Mr. Drummond, a Scotchman who was well known as ‘a successful teacher of youth’, had a unique personality in that era. He was not only an expert of Literature, Science & Philosophy but also was a man of high culture who loved & arranged songs & dramas in his house besides profound & analytic discussions on various topics. All the wise & literature-lover Englishmen of that time knew him very well & read his articles & poems with an earnest interest. Mr. Sandford Arnard became so pleased with Drummond’s love for Philosophy that he gifted the French Grammar written by himself, to Mr. Drummond.

Drummond used to write articles mainly on Literature & Philosophy, & some of his English poems were also published. The expert journalist Drummond was the editor of “The Weekly Examiner”-A journal of politics, news and literature.

But these are not the sufficient information about this efficient man. He was, above all, “A successful teacher of youth”, this is the best definition of him. He could pour all his thoughts & opinions into his student’s mind. His students became so overwhelmed with his lectures that they forgot everything around them during the class!

Drummond’s ideals of life were very clear to himself, though he could not be understood by most of the people of that day, & even it’s heard that he had to leave his motherland only for those ideals which made him an infidel to common people! How were his ideals?

He was doubtful about everything, & never accepted anything without reasoning. He didn’t want to worship God neglecting the thoughts of mankind! He strongly believed in the theory of personal freedom of men. Binoy Ghosh has written about this mentality of Drummond, “If men don’t deform the culture of society & humanity, he has the rights of expressing himself. If there is anybody named ‘God’ only they may search for that God who has enough time in their lives, but only human being is the real God in this mortal life, & also the only master! Thinking for mankind itself is the thinking for God!”

We wonder, how this great person could think so generously in that orthodox era, & how he could believe that thinking for human welfare is the only way to worship God! How true is this! The so-called worshippers of God who marked Drummond as non-believer, how many of them could serve mankind taking it equal to worshipping God? How many of them could realize what does God prefer between worshipping with an orthodox mind and loving His dear creatures? Mr. Drummond was absolutely correct in this concept, I believe so. And I also believe (I will discuss this later) that neither Drummond nor his student Derozio was an atheist. Who loves human being he automatically loves God. How can he be called an atheist? 

Little Derozio entered into this teacher’s care at the age of six. I try to imagine that glorious day on which Drummond first met little Henry! Could he imagine this boy would be his appropriate inheritor?  Could he predict this boy would give him more fame as a teacher than he ever earned?  

Baby Henry imbibed all of Drummond’s lessons & accepted all his ideals with full respect. We have already told that Drummond was a teacher of very rare kind who could easily influence his pupils. Henry was also influenced, & impact of Drummond was most effective on him! There is no doubt that he was Drummond who sowed the seeds of free thinking, truthfulness & reasoning in little Henry’s heart which resulted a golden crop on later days & became very auspicious for nineteenth century’s Bengal! Mr. Thomas Edwards, the first proper biographer of Derozio, has narrated this beautifully, “Drummond seems to have had the power of imparting in an unusual degree, and on none of his pupils did he more distinctly impress his own individuality than on the young Derozio.”

Thus, little Henry was becoming a promising inheritor of his master day by day. He respected Drummond with all of his heart, & Drummond too, loved this brilliant boy. He had the capacity of recognizing human nature; surely he could understand that Henry would be successful to spread his lessons everywhere. For this reason, I think, Drummond kept his eager eyes fixed on Henry continuously from the very first day of his admission as a boy of six to his day of leaving School at the age of fourteen! And we will see later, this expectation of Drummond was neither wrong nor went in vain.

We have seen earlier that Henry had an in-born capacity of attracting people. In this School-life too, he easily became a favorite friend of most of his classmates. I would like to narrate a little incident in this regard. Once he was absent in School for a few days. One day, when Drummond was teaching in his class, Henry returned to School after that absence. All the students lost their attention in studies, & rushed to meet him! Drummond became astonished enough at first, he could not think how his pupils could leave his class to meet someone! Basically, he was a quite strict teacher regarding the rules inside the School ground. Pupils never disobeyed him as well as his rules. So what has happened today?

Drummond came outside of the class & found that little Henry has returned to School, & all the students are around him, asking him about his health etc. The strict teacher became totally moved seeing this boy who was so beloved of all his friends! His heart became melted after watching this unbound love; he didn’t punish any student for this disobeying!

This single incident tells us how an endearing boy Derozio was! Nobody could suppress feelings of love towards him! How blessed that lovable boy was!

THE BLOSSOMMING TALENT OF YOUNG DEROZIO: AWAKENING OF HIS GENTLE HEART WITH GENTLE TOUCH OF DRUMMOND 

Within Drummond’s School, the bud of Henry’s world-enchanting talent started to bloom! Besides being a meritorious student he also played winning roles in various extracurricular activities with an ease. Drummond established a little theater in the School, though he had no intention to built his pupils as professional actors, he just wanted to awake their power of thoughts as well as their hidden talents. Every year, the glorious personalities of literature, Philosophy & many wise men of educational & cultural field were earnestly invited as honorable guests to watch the annual examination of School. On that day, students got a golden chance to express themselves in front of those judicious personalities & they used to present their power of recitation, drama, reading etc on that theater. Brilliant Derozio participated in this occasion every year with a great interest, & the honorable guests became overwhelmed with his talent again & again!

This ‘boy of wonder’ started to show his magic at the age of eight only! On 25^th December, 1817, the Calcutta Gazette wrote on his credit, “Henry Derozio-First in Recitation, Reading, Geography and general extraordinary acquirements at 8 years of age. A Gold Medal.”  

On the very next year, 31^st December of 1818, the Government Gazette wrote again on his brilliant result & award, “Henry Derozio-First Reader in the School, and remarkable powers in recitation, etc. (9 years of age)- Walkar’s Elocution.”  Calcutta Journal of 1821 also says, “Henry Derozio and Hurry Doss Bose: the first for his pre-eminence among the rest of his school-fellows---”

So we can easily notice how the little boy became the pride of Dhurrumtollah Academy! His School started to become brighter for his brightness. Whenever the newspapers published the annual results of his School, it contained description of his merits! Whenever they published the internal news of his School, it contained praise of his talents! The magic boy started to ride on the peak of fame at a very early age. Being the headlines of newspapers was his natural routine! No other students of that era earned so much respect in their student life! Even before starting his working life, he became highlighted in the eyes of most of the renowned personalities.

Besides this extraordinary intelligence & merit, Henry was flourished with a capacity of free thinking & a liberal attitude towards mankind from this institution. This is, I think, the most important credit of David Drummond to be able to make his pupil with such a humanitarian virtue which was, unfortunately, very rare at that time. And this credit goes to him only as we can see, all the children irrespective of race or class were learning here together! He never made a single distinguish between Indian, Eurasian & European students! This uniqueness of Drummond’s School was hugely praised by scholars of that time again & again. We surprise how Mr. Drummond could make this thing possible in those days, when caste system was so brutally followed!

There is no doubt that little Henry had inherited this nature from his teacher Mr. Drummond. His inherent generous character woke up in Drummond’s contact. Henry was a child having a very sensitive mind. Soon he was able to capture these honest lessons. As his knowledge increased, his heart became flourished with ethics & beauty. Falling on the field of his inborn loving nature, this seed of noble mentality produced golden crop, which could make him a pioneer of nineteenth century Renaissance in future! We are indebted to Henry, but he is also indebted to Mr. Drummond! If there was no a soul like Drummond, where could we find our Guru? Let’s heartily greet Mr. David Drummond, the maker of a pioneer, the master of our master!         

Dear reader! We are watching only child Derozio from the beginning of our discussions, but in this way we will not be able to know him properly. His biography is never complete without narration of the educational & social condition of that era which became too worst to bear with! The noble person who fought to change those miserable conditions can never be separated from them! So, let’s leave baby Derozio for a little while, in order to know that educational field of Bengal which was going parallel with this great teacher’s life. Let’s keep our eyes on the history of that excellent institution which is going to be the kingdom of our presently little hero just after a few years!  

BIRTH AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DEROZIO FAMILY 

The Derozio family was actually descended from a respectable Portuguese family DeRozario, but they lived in India since many years & so far we came to know that at least four generations of them had lived in Calcutta before Henry’s birth. Their residence was a big (stood on at least six bigah land) & well-decorated house at the Lower Circular Road, near Entally (presently 155 Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road). In this house the Master of Young Bengal was born, lived & died. This historical house recently has been listed as one of the prospective city buildings to be given the status of a heritage building, on Derozio’s 200^th birth anniversary.                              .

Mr. Michael Derozio, the grandfather of Henry Derozio, was a well-known Portuguese merchant at that time & was referred as “A native Christian” in the Church records. The most important fact that can be known about him is, he was a Protestant, while the Portuguese community in India was almost entirely Roman Catholic. Michael & his three sons were converted to Protestantism on 6^th October, 1776. From the Church records we can also find proofs regarding a good relation of Michael with the Serampore Baptist missionaries, Carey, Marshman & Ward. Perhaps he was converted to Protestantism due to their direct influence. He had no orthodoxy regarding religion but a deep faith on God, while his second son Francis Derozio (the proud father of Henry) was neutral enough about any subject regarding religion & God. Even it is known that Francis was absent from the Serampore mission in 1807 when Michael’s initiation was going on. Perhaps he liked to keep a distance from religion & so we will see, he would not hesitate to send his son to so-called atheist David Drummond’s School.                 

Francis was not a trader or merchant, but a salaried employee. He was chief accountant in the Messrs James Scot & Co., a respectable firm at that time. He had sufficient earnings to run his family, & used to spend a respectable life among the East Indian community.

In 1806, Francis married an English woman named Sophia Johnson. Sophia means, ‘Divine wisdom’! How appropriate her name was! Only divine wisdom can give birth to such a genius!

 

APPEARANCE OF THE PRECEPTOR: PRE-SCHOOL CHILDHOOD

The initiator of nineteenth century Renaissance was born as the second child of Francis & Sophia Derozio on 18^th April, 1809. He was lovingly named ‘Henry’.

Francis & Sophia had five children; elder son Frank, then Henry Louis Vivian, youngest son Claudius Gilbert & also two daughters, Sophia & Amelia.

Our hero’s life is full of tragedy from the very beginning. When he just opened his little eyes first to have a sense of this mortal world, the world hurt him severely. He lost his mother! Leaving behind husband & five babies, Sophia Derozio passed away on the year 1815. Henry was then merely a boy of six!

             The unfortunate infant received this agony of separation as the first gift of world, & could never forget it. One can easily point out a deep sense of death in Derozio’s poetry mostly written within the years 1825-1826. At the tender age of 16-17 what can be the source of such painful feelings? Why would a young poet think about death’s darkness instead of bright & colorful dreams? It seems that he was very much moved with his mother’s untimely death which was reflected in his poetry.

Father Francis married again. He had no other option. All the children were too little to be looked after by a single father who was extremely busy with his office works. The youngest daughter Amelia was just two years old! Circumstances need a mother for them.

          A well-educated English lady named Anna Maria Rivers came as their step mother. She had no children of her own, & she started to love her five step children as a real mother does. Her behavior towards Francis’s children really demands unbound praise. She became able to fill the loss of mother in the family. The children too never treated her as a step mother. On later days, Henry Derozio once wrote in a letter, in protest against the charge that he taught his pupils to disobey parents, “…but my mother can testify how utterly inconsistent it is with my conduct,” This line proofs how Henry loved & respected Anna Maria. Even in his last will written in death-bed, Henry took great care for Anna Maria’s future, & tried to provide her an economically stable life. The noble mother deserved this love from her children. She was intelligent & amiable. Even Francis used to depend on her to take any decision in family matters.   

Little Henry was the eye-pupil of his family. He had an in-born attractive nature which made him a darling to everyone! He too, from his side, was an obedient son & loving brother. He loved all his siblings but the youngest sister Amelia was dearest to him. Amelia became an inseparable companion & best friend of Henry. The bond between this brother & sister was too heavenly to watch!

At an early age Henry was sent to Dhurrumtollah Academy, the most well known School of those days, neglecting all the rumors about Mr. David Drummond, the rationalist teacher of the School who was marked as an infidel by most of the Englishmen of Calcutta. Those parents used to think that their children might be a non-believer in Drummond’s touch. From here we can guess about Mr. Francis Derozio’s nature, he didn’t fear to send his son to that School which was almost neglected & rejected by the then English parents of Calcutta, & besides Henry, he arranged the best education that was available in Calcutta for his other children too. This indicates us a courageous mind of the father which might has influenced little Henry even before he met Mr. Drummond.

BEGINNING

“AS GOODNESS PURE, AS GLORY BRIGHT” *

­"ভেঙেছ দুয়ার, এসেছ জ্যোতির্ময়, তোমারি হউক জয়।

তিমিরবিদার উদার অভ্যুদয়, তোমারি হউক জয়।।'

[O auspicious light! You have broken the barrier of adversities! Hail to thee!

Thy dazzling appearance has removed all darkness, O noble one! Hail to thee!] **

                                                                                    -Rabindranath Tagore

On the eighteenth & early nineteenth century, when Bengal as well as India was under numerous sufferings named illiteracy, caste problem & cruel customs, when lots of blind superstitions chained our country in the false name of religion, heartless activities frequently took place on the sore breast of India; a dazzling sunbeam appeared suddenly within that utter darkness, appeared on deprived mother-India’s lap, in order to remove her sorrow. That blessed boy himself had arrived to this earth as a holy light, he spread his light to everyone whoever came to his contact. That light was the unique to recover all the worst situations, to remove all kind of darkness, & it is EDUCATION!

Yes, education, true education, the backbone of every nation, which does not mean merely a degree or a mark sheet, which can make a true human being, without which people can never be civilized! Without which people can never understand whether they are right or wrong! This education is the light which can kill all darkness! Taking the form of a teacher, that noble boy radiated this light for welfare of mankind.

Dear reader! Can you recognize who this glorious teacher is?

He was the young Preceptor of youth who initiated a new era for his countrymen! He was the fearless teacher who appeared within darkness, & guided his students towards the path of truth with the light of his own breast’s fire! He was Mr. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, the fiery boy of Bengal, the heroic child of distressed India, having the golden heart where India’s pain strike so much that it bled into first national poetry of our country!

He is my Guru. How can I introduce him? If you have a problem to make an idea about him, just try to think of a suitable combination of rigidness of steel in own beliefs, purity of burn gold in fearless love for truth, light of Heaven in human welfare, & sweet fragrance of flower in childish loving nature! Is it so easy to think of such a combination? Certainly not! But he was exactly this! Rigid against all inhumane things & soft towards all beauties of earth!       

  Who will not be interested to learn about such a noble life! But his loving pupils, who could tell his story most properly & most respectfully, are no more with us! Many researchers had already published his biography & his works, still being his follower; I am trying to narrate his life in front of this modern era once again. Though I am nothing compared to his famous disciples, I will feel blessed if I can play their role in this era by spreading their master’s name & lessons everywhere.

Offering my earnest respect & salute to the feet of this great teacher, & seeking his blessings, I am starting his biography.

WHY SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT HENRY DEROZIO’S LIFE?

“The teacher who chiefly influenced the young men was Mr. Derozio, who though branded by the clergy as an infidel and as a devil of the Thomas Paine School, was worshipped by his pupils as the incarnation of goodness and kindness."  

                                                   -Max Muller  

 I am feeling honored to start drawing a brief sketch of the life of this great personality of India, & in spite of being too little to realize his idealism, I gather courage to write on him only with the believe that the kind & loving teacher will affectionately forgive all my faults!

Who was he? It’s impossible to answer in one word. He was such a wise that he could remove the darkness of ignorance from his student’s minds with the light of his own knowledge! He had such a loving & attractive personality that his students could never forget his lessons in their entire life! He was such a truthful person that never allowed his pupils to agree with anything without true judgment! He was that free thinker who initiated the renaissance of nineteenth century, in spite of being a man of mixed Portuguese descendant; he was the very first voice who could address India as “My country!” with an ardent patriotism! He was that philanthropist poet who cried for the distress not only of his country & countrymen but of all unhappy & chained mankind! He was that true man who never feared to say the truth, never feared to protest against injustice! Above all, he was a young boy who have taught us how powerful youth is!

He was a true patriot; & one of the freedom-fighters of nineteenth century India when the East India Company was ruling our country. One may argue with the fact that in that era of East India Company’s rule, there was no freedom movement in India. But this is not the fact. Yes, it’s very true that direct battles never took place between Indians & Europeans at that time, but how can we forget that internal but seriously strong battle of liberals against orthodoxy? How can we neglect that new enlightenment which is called ‘Renaissance’? No, we can’t! Those pioneers of Renaissance fought for freedom of thoughts, freedom of activities, which only can raise humanity. This freedom of human mind was urgently essential in that situation in order to make the way of national freedom afterwards. Social freedom is always, the primary step of national freedom. Derozio realized it, & dedicated himself for his country’s welfare. All activities performed by him were tied in a single thread, & that was patriotism! In his fight for freedom of society, he used the most genuine & unique weapon which can never be defeated! It is EDUCATION! The sword of wisdom unsheathed by Derozio emerged demolishing the heart of utter darkness. In that era when knowledge was used only for finding a job of good salary, he connected education with life & changed its definition. He was the first teacher in modern India who could make ideal human beings instead of mere money-making machines. 

Derozio made Hindu College (the present Presidency University, glory of Bengal!) the centre of Renaissance. Here he burned the fire of thought-radicalism, with whose touch the orthodox Hindu society became shocked from their top to bottom. They forcefully expelled him from the College to which he gave a new life. But his eligible representatives, his beloved students, could not be separated from their ideals. Derozio’s theoretical lessons of human welfare found its practical form within his follower’s activities.

Unfortunately, present generation of India has forgotten this versatile genius & huge personality! I wonder how it becomes possible! But it’s entirely our fault that we fail to follow his lessons which can still show us the right way of life.

I think, & I believe, if we can obey Mr. Derozio as our Guru, & can absorb even only one side of this multi-faceted personality, we will be blessed! He saw India’s chain, & wanted heartily his country’s freedom. Though India is now free from foreign rulers, she is still suffering lots of bondages from many aspects. A major part of India’s society is still under darkness of meaningless superstitions, ignorance & illiteracy. The educational field is also suffering with the lack of free knowledge & free thinking; education is merely the way of earning money now, not more than this! We can’t even imagine how hurting Derozio’s immortal soul is watching this present condition of India! If we can be influenced with his patriotism, perhaps we will be able to make our country flourished in all fields! If we can revive his process of teaching, it may enlighten us with a true knowledge with which student will be an honest & perfect human being, who is something more that a degree-holder! And last but not the least, if we read his life we can see how leading & efficient youth is! He did all these things within the age twenty-two only!

So, we should read his life & should apply his lessons in our lives. I am here to narrate him once again, so that he can influence the present generation too. My intention of writing Mr. Derozio’s biography will be fulfilled if I can proudly say him in his very own words,

                                      “Nations unborn shall venerate thy name”!

Well then, dear reader, let’s enter into that noble life!

*This line is quoted from a poetry written by Derozio himself named as “Lines on the Unfortunate Death of Henry Neele, Esq.”

** My translation. All the Bengali quotes in the whole Blog are translated by me except otherwise mentioned.