Krishna Mohan Banerjee - Early Life

Early Life

Son of Jibon Krishna Banerjee and Sreemoti Devi, Krishna Mohan was born on 24 May 1813 at Shyampur, Kolkata, Bengal, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, the court-pundit of Santiram Singha of Jorasanko.

In 1819, Krishna Mohan joined the School Society Institution founded by David Hare at Kalitala. Impressed by his talents, Hare took him to his school at Pataldanga, later famous as Hare School in 1822.

The talented and inquisitive Krishna Mohan joined the newly-founded Hindu College (then Hindu College)with a scholarship. He was profoundly influenced by Derozio and that changed the course of his life. He used to live in his maternal grandfather’s house, which he used as a meeting place for the Young Bengal Association members. One day, when he was absent, they consumed hand-made bread and meat prepared by Muslims, an unthinkable act for upper-caste Hindus in those days, threw the leftover bones into neighbours' houses, and started shouting, “Cow-meat! Cow-meat!” In the commotion that followed, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, his maternal grandfather, was forced to turn him out of the house. a perplexed Krishna Mohon found a place for a short while in the house of a Christian friend.

In 1831, the religious-reformer-and-litterateur started publishing The Inquirer. In the same year his play, The Persecuted: or, Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta, was produced. It was monotonically critical of certain prevalent social practices.

While at college he used to attend the lectures of the British Christian missionary, Dr. Alexander Duff, who had come to India in 1830. They also went to the houses of Duff and Dealtry for serious discussions. His father died of cholera in 1828. In spite of his diverse activities and self-support in manual work, he continued to excel in his examinations.