Concept Note:

Bengal Renaissance witnessed an upsurge of new ideas that created an awakening towards socio-political and cultural changes involving myriad aspects of life. In his seminal work, The Bengal Renaissance: Identity and Creativity from Rammohun Roy to Rabindranath Tagore (2007), Subrata Dasgupta critically explicates the dominant tendencies of the age: “The creative mentality of the Bengal Renaissance was dominated by two related but distinct cognitive features. The first was a capability to think, perceive, and create in a manner that entailed the melding of two traditions which were seemingly unconnected and even contradictory─one being the Indian cultural and philosophical past, the other the Western creative intellectual tradition. I will call this cognitive feature a cross-cultural mentality. The second was a belief in, and perception of, a fundamental unity amidst diversity and differences, even in the seeming differences manifest between certain Western and Indian concepts, percepts, and perspectives. I will call this particular mental construct universalism.” These cognitive tendencies informed the thought process of the perceptive minds who articulated strong desire for productive encounter between the East and the West that informed the cultural milieu of the nineteenth century Bengal.

This conference aims to critically look at the cultural awakening that sought to transform/reform Bengal during nineteenth century, where Bengali intelligentsia left prominant imprints. While significant attention has been invested upon the role of Rabindranath Tagore and Thakurbari (Tagore Household), this conference attempts to extend its scope beyond Jorasanko and include the voices of Rabindranath’s contemporaries to foster a deeper, critical understanding of several currents and cross-currents that shaped the cultural contours of the age.

This international conference aims to include, but not limit its scope to, the following sub themes:

• · Tagore’s place within the Bengal Renaissance and its intellectual currents
• · Literary innovations and new aesthetic forms in nineteenth century Bengal
• · Print culture, journals, and the emergence of a modern public sphere
• · Educational reform and alternative pedagogies proposed by Tagore and his contemporaries
• · Religious reform movements and the shaping of spiritual modernity
• · Women’s education, gender reform, and representations of womanhood
• · The rise of modern Bengali theatre, music, and performance culture
• · Visual arts, early modernism, and the Bengal School’s contributions
• · Science, rationalism, and debates around colonial knowledge systems
• · Nationalism, Swadeshi, and political thought in the Tagorean milieu
• · Translation, multilingual circulation of texts, and cross-cultural exchanges
• · Urban modernity, everyday life, and changing social identities in nineteenth century Bengal

Abstracts not exceeding 250 words should be sent to Email: cts.svu@svu.ac.in

Deadline for sending the abstracts: 02nd January, 2026

Date of Acceptance: 15th January, 2026

Submission of full paper: 20th January, 2026

Conference Dates: 3rd & 4th February, 2026 (Hybrid Mode)

Registration Fee: Rs. 500/- (for online presentation)

                              Rs. 2000/- (for offline presentation)