Bartaman Bharat

Bartaman Bharat (translated as "Modern India" or "Present Day India") is an essay written in Bengali by the Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda. It first appeared in the March 1899 issue of Udbodhan, the Bengali-language magazine of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, which Vivekananda had launched in January of that year after returning from the West in 1897 and touring many Indian states. It was published as a book in 1905, with a preface by Swami Saradananda, and later included in the fourth volume of his Complete Works.

The essay briefly surveys Indian history, from the period when Vedic priests held sway over society to the British occupation of the country. Its main focus, however, is contemporary India. Vivekananda describes a cyclical succession of dominant groups: first the Brahmins, then the warrior rulers, then the Vaishyas, and he predicts that the Vaishyas too will lose their supremacy, giving way to the rise of the Shudras, the lowest class of society, who would come to rule. This prediction is accompanied by deep concern for India's poor and distressed people.

The essay urges Indians to treat one another as brothers regardless of caste or financial condition, to remember the ideals of Indian womanhood embodied in figures such as Sita, Savitri and Damayanti, and to regard the soil of India as their own homeland. It also warns against foolishly imitating the West, which, in his view, leads people to judge right and wrong by what white men approve rather than by reason or the scriptures.

The work is remembered for its call for social regeneration in India and for its insistence that education should serve the good of humanity as well as the individual. Its conclusion has since become a standard text in Indian schools and colleges.