Striving for a Contractual Harmony: The Bengal Pact of Chittaranjan Das
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11210%2F25%3A10504700" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11210/25:10504700 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
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DOI - Digital Object Identifier
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Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Striving for a Contractual Harmony: The Bengal Pact of Chittaranjan Das
Original language description
The Bengal Pact of 1923, alternatively termed the Hindu-Muslim Pact, was a short-lived and ultimately failed attempt at establishing a harmonious coexistence between the two religious communities on a contractual basis. As a political strategy, it presented a middle ground between idealistic notions of Indian communal unity and a resentment towards such notions from both sides. The Pact was rejected by the INC as well as by the Bengali Hindu middle classes, which in turn lead to alienation of the Muslim leaders who largely perceived the Pact as a practical solution to communal problems. A member of the radical Anushilan Samiti, an advocate of Aurobindo Ghosh when the latter was accused of terrorism in the Alipore bomb case, and a political mentor of Subhas Chandra Bose, Chittaranjan Das spearheaded a distinct stream of radical nationalist policies in Bengal. This paper will focus on the development of the idea that a social contract, rather than bonds of affection towards one's community or towards an abstract motherland, should be the basis of an independent India. This idea had been close to Bengali nationalism and focused more on the fragments than on the whole, which contributed to its rejection by the mainstream Indian nationalist politics. By close reading of Chittaranjan's speeches, this paper seeks to draw a history of striving for a contractual harmony for Bengal and for India.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
C - Chapter in a specialist book
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60500 - Other Humanities and the Arts
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Book/collection name
Striving for Harmony in Indian Culture and Society
ISBN
978-83-8017-607-2
Number of pages of the result
19
Pages from-to
223-241
Number of pages of the book
294
Publisher name
ELIPSA
Place of publication
WARSZAWA
UT code for WoS chapter
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