The followers/Students of Derozio were known by the name Young Bengal. Radhanath Sikdar, Pyaricharan Mitra, etc. were important members of the Young Bengal.
Derozio or Henry Louis Vivian Derozic was born in Calcutta(1809) in a Portuguese-Indian family. These ideas of his deeply touched the minds of his student Derozio. After completing his studies Derozio joined the Hindu College as a teacher. In spite of his being an Indo-European Derozio looked upon India as his own motherland. His poem Fakir of Jhungeera was full of high patriotic feeling. From various poems composed by him it is possible to know about the ideals Derozio stood for. Besides deep sense of patriotism, Derozio was a freethinker and a rationalist. He refused to believe or accept anything simply because it had the sanction of the tradition.
The students of Derozio, collectively known as the 'Young Bengal' or the Derozians, ridiculed all kinds of old tradition and demanded freedom of thought and expression.
