Editing History of India (section)

==== Indian Renaissance ====
{{Main|British Raj|Bengali Renaissance}}
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=140|File:Syed Ahmed Khan.jpg|Sir [[Syed Ahmad Khan]] (1817–1898), the author of ''Causes of the Indian Mutiny'', was the founder of [[Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College]], later the [[Aligarh Muslim University]]
|File:Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati 1858-1922 front-page-portrait.jpg|[[Pandita Ramabai]] (1858–1922) was a [[reform movement|social reformer]], and a pioneer in the education and emancipation of women in India
|File:Rabindranath Tagore unknown location.jpg|[[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1861–1941) was a [[Bengali language]] poet, short-story writer, and playwright, and in addition a music composer and painter, who won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1913
|File:Srinivasa Ramanujan - OPC - 2 (cleaned).jpg|[[Srinivasa Ramanujan]] (1887–1920) was an Indian mathematician who made seminal contributions to [[number theory]]
}}

The Bengali Renaissance refers to a social reform movement, dominated by [[Bengali Hindus]], in the [[Bengal|Bengal region]] of the Indian subcontinent during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of British rule. Historian [[Nitish Sengupta]] describes the renaissance as having started with reformer and humanitarian [[Raja Ram Mohan Roy]] (1775–1833), and ended with Asia's first Nobel laureate [[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1861–1941).<ref>{{cite book|author=Nitish Sengupta|author-link=Nitish Sengupta|year=2001|title=History of the Bengali-speaking People|publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors|pages=210–213|isbn=978-81-7476-355-6|quote=Producing in about three quarters of a century so many creative stalwarts in literature, art, music, social and religious reform and also trading and industry ... The Bengal Renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) ... On the whole, it remained an elitist movement restricted to Hindu ''bhadralok'' (gentry) and ''zamindars''.}}</ref> This flowering of religious and social reformers, scholars, and writers is described by historian [[David Kopf]] as "one of the most creative periods in Indian history."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kopf|first=David|author-link=David Kopf|date=December 1994|title=Amiya P. Sen. Hindu Revivalism in Bengal 1872|type=Book review|journal=American Historical Review|volume=99|issue=5|pages=1741–1742|doi=10.2307/2168519|jstor=2168519}}</ref>

During this period, Bengal witnessed an [[intellectual]] awakening that is in some way similar to the [[Renaissance]]. This movement questioned existing orthodoxies, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the [[dowry]] system, the [[caste system]], and religion. One of the earliest [[social movement]]s that emerged during this time was the [[Young Bengal]] movement, which espoused [[rationalism]] and [[atheism]] as the common denominators of civil conduct among upper caste educated Hindus.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sharma|first=Mayank|title=Essay on 'Derozio and the Young Bengal Movement'|date=January 2012|url=http://www.preservearticles.com/2012010119327/essay-on-derozio-and-the-young-bengal-movement.html|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-date=14 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114224008/http://www.preservearticles.com/2012010119327/essay-on-derozio-and-the-young-bengal-movement.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It played an important role in reawakening Indian minds and intellect across the Indian subcontinent.