Girindrashekhar Bose
31 January 1887- 3 June 1953
The Father of Psychoanalysis in India.
An established doctor who later delved into the field of Psychoanalysis, G Bose obtained his Master's degree in psychology in 1917 and was awarded the first doctorate in psychology from an
Indian University in 1921.
His theories and counters to Sigmund Freud's theories had led to Freud being quite impressed by his work which culminated in a twenty year long correspondence between the two.
Whereas the Cartesian "mind-body" divide was the driving force in
Western approaches to psychoanalysis, Dr. Bose approaches it through the Yoga.
Whereas Guilt forms the crux of Freudian psychoanalysis , Dharma Sankata , or self doubt is at the heart of theory that Dr Basu developed, The Concept of Repression being his PhD Thesis.
In this process Bose re read the entire Bhagavada Gita from the perspective of psychology.
Dr Bose also published "A new theory of Mental life" in the periodical Samiksha , in which he marked in detail his differences with Freud.
Dr Bose also published his interpretation
Of the Yoga Sutras.
Most of his work is available in Bangla for those willing and interested in the subject.
It is quite interesting, personal favourite being Svapna, his book on dreams and interpretations thereof.
Acharya Bose laid the foundation of the Indian
Psychoanalytical Society on 26 January 1922, a move lauded By Freud himself where he says, " The most interesting item of news in the psycho-world is the foundation of the local group in Calcutta, led by Dr G Bose , a Professor Extraordinary"
Dr Bose also founded
The General Hospital Psychiatric Unit at what is now the RG Kar Medical College in Calcutta, on 01 May 1933, the first ever OPD for psychiatric patients in India.
Dr Bose came from an illustrious family, the youngest of 9 siblings. The famous author Rajshekhar Basu aka Parashuram was his elder brother.
Regular readers might find it strange that we started discussing about Dr. Bose all of a sudden . This is because our upcoming thread
On #Bengaliwomantravellers, is about Durgaboti Ghose, who was the daughter of Indumati and Acharya Girindrashekhar Bose, the author of Paschimjatriki or The Westward Traveller, where she recounts her meeting with Ruth Brunswick, her friend and also Sigmund Freud's collaborator.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Durgaboti Ghosh was born to Indumati and Girindrashekhar Bose in the year 1905.
Schooled at Brahmo Balika Shikshalaya, Durgaboti was married to Rabindra Chandra Gose in 1921.
The book details her first travel westwards with her husband in the year 1932. This was a leisurely trip , organised by Thomas Cook and Company.
Even though , largely, the author might come across a a typical housewife out exploring the world, Durgabati's observations regardin
the Warwick Castle and it's builder are quite academic which shows the mind of a well educated woman.
Durgabati's father had recommended her meeting with some psychoanalysts of the day, with whom he was corresponding at the time.
Lady Abala Bose was born to Durga Mohan Das and Brahmamoyee Devi on 8th April, 1865.
If ill health and fate hadn't intervened, Lady Bose might just have been the first Bengali woman to become a doctor.
Abala Das married the scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose in the year 1887.
It was with her husband, that she travelled the world over prolifically and writing her travelogues targetted especially for young readers.
Most of her travelogues, written for children were published in
the periodical Mukul.
She says "Children in England and
other countries love to read travelogues. As a result, they develop a sense of adventure so that when they grow up they are ready to lay down their lives in the search for a new land".
She also blended history with other
Rajkumari Bannerjee, is credited with being the first Hindu woman from Bengal to cross the dreaded Kalapani and visit England with her husband Shashipada Bannerjee. If in case, that name sounds familiar, it would be because we have
discussed about him in brief on our second post and would do so again at the end of this thread.
Rajkumari Devi was born in the year 1847 and married to Shashipada Banerjee at the age of 13 in the year 1860. At the time of marriage she was illiterate, but under
Shashipada's tutelage she could read and write within a year of her marriage.
Shashipada had been excommunicated by his own family due to his sympathizing with the Brahmo Samaj and promoting both women's education and widow remarriage. It is mentioned that when the couple
In the previous thread we had done, we discussed the periodical Prabasi and it's founder Ramananda Chattopadhyay.
This thread is dedicated to his daughter, Shanta Chattopadhyay, who had published her travelogue in 14 issues of Prabashi.
Shanta Devi and her sister Sita were both accomplished authors, who had co authored several books.
Richly illustrated articles titled Japan Jatra and Japan Bhraman were published in Prabashi Magazine in 14 issues.
She had travelled there with her husband Kalidas Nag.
The couple had taken the Japanese Ship Anyo Maru from Alexandra dock, Bombay on the 9th of January, 1937.
Her visit lasted 28 days and whilst there she met many popular people such as Hani Motoko, who is considered to be Japan's first female journalist and popular educationist
Before we venture further into the topic, it would be prudent to provide a backdrop to the topic and discuss about the facilitators who gave a platform to these budding writing talents.
The three most influential periodicals which
provided these industrious women with a platform to express themselves would be Bamabodhini Patrika, Bharati Patrika and most importantly Antahpura Patrika which was an all women effort.
Antahpur Patrika (1898-1903)
The first editor of the magazine was Banalata Devi. After her short but eventful life came to an abrupt end in 1900 the mantle was taken over by Hemanta Kumari Devi and later on Kumudini Mitra of Mary Carpenter fame.
( Kindly check the alt text 👇)
A lot has been written on this forum regarding Bengal's fiery women freedom fighters, artistes and academics.
However, taking a slight diversion from our choice of subject, we would like to discuss more about Bengal's contribution in the field of travel culture and travel
writing, as was done by our Women.
In this series, the first woman traveller who we would like to talk about is Hariprobha Takeda.
Hariprobha Takeda is considered by many to be the first Bengali to set foot in Japan. In fact her book Bongomohilar Japanjatra was published
4 years before RN Tagore's Japan Jatri.
Hariprabha was born to Shashibushan Basu Mallik and Nagendrabala in the year 1890. The family was originally from Shantipur in Nadia.
Shashibhushan was the founder of Uddharashram, an orphanage in Dacca, which later came to be known