Dr Prabir Chatterjee wrote
Yes, Dharampal's sources were in government libraries- so references to Serampore would not be frequent. Also Dharampal was studying the state of indigeneous education- so he would not have looked at government schools. He lists his references- so anybody who wants can study the documents and reach their own conclusions. The basic idea was to help the Gandhian movement (Nai Talim in education) to find inspiration in what had disappeared under British influence. The bit about how in Bengal all castes studied in Tolas is interesting. Today neither Sanskrit nor English are studied much in the poorer communities. Whereas the "forward" groups study both. In that sense the pre-British system (which was under the Nawabs of Bengal) was more egalitarian. I expect that there was a gender bias then. Certainly the British opposed conversion in Bengal and they pushed the missionaries out of their territory. This is different from the situation in Tamil Nadu. Prabir Dr Walter Fernandes wrote: Just a correction Cynthia. Carey lived in Serampore not because of British opposition to HIS work but till 1833 when the British Parliament deleted this clause from the agreement, the British East India Company banned missionaries from all East India Company held territories. Bye Walter -- Dr Walter Fernandes Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre 110 Kharghuli Road (1st floor) Guwahati 781004
