Question- Give a brief life sketch of Henry Derozio.

Answer - 

Derozio (1809-1831), the first Indian English poet, is paradoxically remembered today as a Forgotten Anglo-Indian Poet' (which is the subtitle of the only available collection of his works, Poems of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio published by Oxford University Press). Derozio's brief but brilliant career is a fascinating subject of study. He achieved great renown during his short stint as a teacher at Hindu College. Hardly twenty himself, he was remarkably influential, bringing several new, largely European ideas, to his upper caste Hindu pupils. Considered too dangerous by his opponents, many of whom were the Managers of the College, he was forced to resign from his post. Clearly, the Hindu orthodoxy was alarmed that rationalism and free thinking might upset their young wards and lead them to question several decadent Hindu traditions. A conspiracy was thus hatched to effect his removal. Among other things, he was accused of inciting the students to atheism, disobedience and incest. No charges were formally leveled against him, nor was he given an opportunity to defend himself. His correspondence with H.H. Wilson on the subject of his removal is both moving and revealing. It shows a colonial culture in the making as the real impact of British rule is beginning to be felt.

Racially, Derozio was an Anglo-Indian, born of an Indo-Portugese father and English mother. He received English education at David Drummond's Academy until the age of 14. Afterwards, he worked for two years as an accountant in a mercantile firm before he was sent by his father to his uncle's house in Bhagalpur. This uncle, who had married his mother's "sister, worked as a manager in an Indigo plantation. There, Derozio gathered the experiences which went into The Faqueer of Jungheera (1828), his long narrative poem about the rescue of a would-be Sati, among other things. At the age of sixteen, Derozio was already contributing to the Indian Gazette. As the age of eighteen in 1827, his first collection, poems, was published. This made him famous in the small literary circle of Calcutta. He began to work as the Assistant Editor of the Indian Gazette, also contributing regularly to the Bengal Annual, the Calcutta Magazine, the Kaleidoscope, and the Indian Magazine. A few months later at the age of twenty, he started his own paper, the Calcutta Gazette, of which he was both the editor and the chief contributor.

That is when, the offer of Assistant Mastership at the Hindu College came up. Founded in 1817, this was in a sense, the first modern institution of higher learning. While teaching at the college, Derozio founded the Academic Association, which was probably India's first intellectual club, a forum in which ideas and issues could be discussed freely. Frequented by the educated upper crust of Indian society, it was the predecessor of, many such associations to come. Derozio's growing influence made him controversial. No wonder his removal from Hindu College was discussed prominently in every major newspaper of the time.

After leaving Hindu College, Derozio reverted to journalism. He founded The East Indian, the first newspaper devoted to the cause of the Anglo-Indian community. Derozio was throughout his career a champion of liberal causes. Derozio died soon after, on 26th December 1831.

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