Discovering Daring Derozio: Life of a Nineteenth Century Anglo-Indian Poet of India!

Where would you find the greatest Anglo-Indian poet today.In the old burying ground of Calcutta, on the south side of Park Street,amid obelisks,pyramids,pillars and tombs of various forms, at the western extremity,"next to the monument of Major Maling on the south,"lies the mortal remains of one of the highest gifted and most accomplished,Henry Louis Vivian Derozio,a poet, philosopher and thinker, who passed away at the age of 22. Derozio was an Anglo-Indian(referred to as an Eurasian during his lifetime) poet and teacher who was born in Calcutta on the 10th of April,1809.He was the son of Francis Derozio, a Calcutta merchant.Henry was educated at Drummond's Academy in Dharmtala.He left school at 14 for commercial work, which he gave up after his father died.Derozio joined his Uncle in Indigo planting at Bhaugalpore. At the age of sixteen in the varied work and life of an Indigo-planter at Bhaugulpore, under the hospitable roof of his Uncle Johnson and the kindly eye of his mother's sister, the young Derozio for a time found congenial occupation.. From his Uncle's plantation at Bhaugalpore, Derozio sent to Dr.John Grant of the Indian Gazette those poetical contributions which bear the signature of "Juvenis".The encouragement given by Grant of "The India Gazette" and his appreciation of the poet's merits,induced Derozio to collect his verses and publish them in a separate volume.Below is a stanza from the poem "Happy Meetings" written by Derozio with the pseudonym of "Juvenis". This poem was published in "The India Gazette" of 15th March 1825.

"How keen the pang,how sad the thought,
How oft to quiet remembrance brought,
When friend from friend is forc'd to part
When distance separates the heart"....

In the year 1827, he came to Calcutta and the young man of 17 saw his first production through the press, and almost immediately found himself famous.Indigo-planting and Bhaugalpore became things of the past.Henry Derozio as Assistant editor of "The India Gazette", Editor of "The Calcutta Magazine","The Indian Magazine", "The Bengal Annual" and "The Kaleidoscope". At the age of 18, Derozio published a volume of poems and obtained a teachership at the Hindu College. In March 1828, Derozio was appointed Master of English Literature and History in the second and third classes of the Hindoo College. No teacher ever taught with greater zeal or enthusiasm, at the Hindu College.As Assistant-master in the senior department of the Hindoo College,Derozio adopted teaching as a profession and Literature as a sceptre, to unleash his creativity.He was very successful as a teacher of philosophy, but lost his appointment, though the charges against him, of propagating atheism and encouraging disobedience failed.Still he continued to exercise great influence over his former pupils, many of whom became distinguished men.Derozio contributed to journalism and he established a newspaper, The East Indian". Dr.John Grant,David Hare,Meredith Parker and D.L.Richardson, all men of ability were the close friends of Derozio and admirers of his genius.In 1827 Derozio published several poems,below is a stanza from the poem "Ode-From the Persian of Half 'Queez.

"Without thy dreams, dear opium,
Without a single hope I am,
Spicy scent, delusive joy;
Chillum hither lao, my boy!"

In 1828, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio published his second volume, which was a reprint of the first, with some additions, notably "the Fakir of Jungheera".This book raised the fame of Derozio as a poet to the highest point which his too brief life permitted him to reach. Below is a stanza from the poem"Ode to the Setting Moon" published by Derozio in the Indian Magazine,Number 3, under the pseudonym of "East Indian".

"Flow sweet to gaze,
how sweet to think
That yonder circle's glowing rim,
Where souls are flitting,
is the brink
Of space-a sea of twilight dim."

On Saturday, the 23rd of December 1831, at the age of 22, the great scholar and thinker died of Cholera in Calcutta. Henry Derozio's genius and high natural abilities were accompanied by that tenacity of purpose, that steady application to work and that determination to make one's way, without which genius and ability are merely marsh lights to lure their possessors to uselessness and ruin.Derozio was diligent and active, he was not a youth who could sit down and eat the bread of idleness; nor had he any false fastidiousness, as to the sphere in which he could usefully exert his talents. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is an immortal Anglo-Indian poet, as we still talk about him, write about him and read his brilliant poems, 170 years after his death.All Anglo-Indians and readers worldwide should read Derozio's poems, introduce them to their children,grand-children.

"To India My Native Land" by Henry L.V.Derozio is a poem which is imprinted in my memory for all time, as it was part of my syllabus at school.I had also recited the poem at one of the tributes organized for Derozio, beside his grave in the Park Street cemetary,in Calcutta,India,several years ago.I do hope that this article has done justice to the memory of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a poet and teacher extraordinary, who made a big impact on nineteenth century Indian society.