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Hyder Ali

A figure from the books

#HyderAli

Hyder Ali · c. 1720 – 1782

In the books · 1 chapter

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Who this is

Religious and social reform, journalism, scholarship — founder of the Brahmo Sabha, leader of the campaign that outlawed widow-burning.

“The man who ended widow-burning was not a conqueror or a saint but a Bengali scholar who read seven languages, learned two of them purely to win arguments, and was, for most of his life, the most hated man in respectable Calcutta.”
— The Great Indians, Ch. 165

The big idea, in the book's words:

“India could argue its way into the modern world on its own terms — beating orthodox pandits with the śāstras, missionaries with the Bible, and the Company with English law, all in the opponent's own language.”
— The Great Indians, Ch. 165

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