1896 – 1899 The Birth of Cinema

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1896

• Plague in Bombay and Pune; National famine until 1897.

• E. B. Havell, one of the figureheads of the Bengal School of Painting, is appointed Superintendent of the Government School of Art, Calcutta.

• Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Vande Mataram (Hail to the Mother), one of India’s national anthems later appropriated by Hindu chauvinists, is recited for the very first time at the Indian National Congress.

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak inaugurates a festival around the figure of the 17th C. Maratha emperor Shivaji to generate nationalist sentiment.

• B. R. Rajam Aiyer publishes the social reform novel, Kamalampal Charitram, in Tamil.

• The singer Vishnu Digambar Paluskar leaves the Miraj court to popularise classical music. For an article on the history of classical music click here