Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ Quite often he picked up unknown writers and helped them to give their best to his own great mission of making Bengali a medium for great thoughts and ideals. The purpose of literature,' he once wrote, 'is to help toward ultimate perfection in the culture of beauty, and to instill purity into the mind of man by creative thoughts.'
In the realisation of this ideal, as well as in the general development of literature in Bengal, Chatterji's Bengali magazine, Bangadarshan, played an important role. This magazine, by the way, was later edited by Rabindranath Tagore. ”

“ Chatterji was unalterably opposed to British cultural imposition on India. Yet, at the same time, he was a profound student of the great heritage of western culture and a devoted admirer of the best in western civilisation. He regarded the culture of the west and the culture of the east as mutually complementary, and he did his utmost to use the essence of western culture to fertilise the cultural life of the new India. ”

“ Bengali literature has made such wonderful progress because it cut through all the artificial barriers which would have shut it off from communion with world literature, and because it has regulated its growth in such a way as to be able to make its own, naturally and with ease, the science and ideals of the West... ”

“ OUR POLICY — INDIA FOR INDIANS. Instantly achieving an all-India circulation, this militant newspaper gave a definite direction to India's thought, focusing men's minds on Chatterji's dream of national independence. In the year 1907 the fighting editor issued his Manifesto on Indian Nationalism, declaring: 'Truth is with us. Justice is with us. Nature is with us. ”

“ It united India, and the great nationalist movement was born in Bengal in that same year. Chatterji's novel became the inspiration of this revolutionary movement. Not only in Bengal but all over India men dedicated themselves to the task of making Chatterji's dream come true. ”

“ The law of God, which is higher than human law, justifies our action.' In the following year (1908) Aurobindo Ghose was arrested for revolutionary activities.
Ghose's lawyer, at the time of his arrest, was C.R. Das, who soon became a national figure and was subsequently elected President of the Indian National Congress. ”