Prabuddha Bharata

Prabuddha Bharata or Awakened India is an English-language monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order, in publication since July 1896.[1] It carries articles and translations by monks, scholars, and other writers on humanities and social sciences including religious, psychological, historical, and cultural themes. It has a section of book reviews where important publications from university presses from around the world are reviewed. It is edited from Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Uttarakhand, and published and printed in Kolkata. Prabuddha Bharata is India's longest running English journal.[2]

Prabuddha Bharata
DisciplineHumanities, Social Sciences, Indian Studies, Vedanta, Spirituality, Religion, Culture
LanguageEnglish
Edited bySwami Vireshananda
Publication details
HistoryJuly 1896 – present
Publisher
FrequencyMonthly
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Prabuddha Bharata
Indexing
ISSN0032-6178
LCCNca30000793
OCLC no.781901638
Links

History
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, a branch of the Ramakrishna Math, where 'Prabuddha Bharata's publication moved in 1899, with Swami Swarupananda as its editor

Prabuddha Bharata was founded in 1896 by P. Aiyasami, B. R. Rajam Iyer, G. G. Narasimhacharya, and B. V. Kamesvara Iyer, in Madras (now Chennai), at the behest of Swami Vivekananda, with whom the founders had been closely associated before the swami went to America in 1893. The swami suggested the journal's name, and gave encouragement to the founders through his letters to them. The editor, B. R. Rajam Iyer, was only twenty-four years old. The journal saw two full years of publication from Madras, from July 1896 to June 1898. The death of the editor on 13 May 1898 from Bright’s disease brought the journal's publication to an unexpected pause and the July 1898 number could not be published. As Sister Nivedita recalled the period in her memoirs, 22 June – 15 July 1898: "The Swami (Vivekananda) had always had a special love for this paper, as the beautiful name he had given it indicated. He had always been eager too for the establishment of organs of his own. The value of the journal in the education of modern India was perfectly evident to him, and he felt that his master's message and mode of thought required to be spread by this means as well as by preaching and by work."[3]

By that time, Swami Vivekananda had returned to India and was visiting Almora. He asked Captain J. H. Sevier, one of his English disciples who was accompanying him, to take up the management of the journal; Sevier agreed and offered to meet the preliminary costs associated with reviving it, which included purchasing and bringing up a hand-press, types, papers, ink and other materials required for the purpose from Kolkata.[4] The Prabuddha Bharata resumed publication in August 1898 from Almora. Swami Swarupananda, one of Vivekananda’s monastic disciples, became the new editor.

Swami Vivekananda wrote a poem titled To The Awakened India addressed to Prabuddha Bharata or Awakened India in August 1898, when the journal was not published for one month owing to the untimely death of its first editor B. R. Rajam Iyer and was transferred from Madras (Chennai) to Almora Himalayas.[5] The press was shifted to the newly founded Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, in March 1899. Swami Swarupananda died in Nainital in 1906. Swami Virajananda, who in 1938 would become the president of the Ramakrishna Order, succeeded him as editor. Among later editors were Swamis Yatiswarananda (1922–24), Ashokananda (1927–30), Gambhirananda (1942–44), and Vandanananda (1950–54). The printing of the journal was shifted from Mayavati to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1924. In 2010, Advaita Ashrama released a DVD archive of the first 114 years of Prabuddha Bharata, covering the years 1896 to 2009. 'Some of the greatest minds of India and the world have spoken their minds through writings on Indian culture, spirituality, philosophy, history and psychology.'[6] 'At one time, Mahatma Gandhi used to eagerly wait for every issue of the Journal.'[7] The 'famous Psychologist Carl Jung's thesis on yoga and meditation was serialised and first published in Prabuddha Bharata.'[8][9] 'Dr S Radhakrishnan used to read every issue of this Journal with great interest.'[10]

Policies of the Journal

Publishes papers that are vetted by its internal team of referees. The rejection rate is around 80%. Most of the papers published are invited by the editor. Uninvited papers could have a turnaround time of about one year or more.[11]

Editors of Prabuddha Bharata
The March 1897 Publication

The journal has assigned different titles to its editor over the course of its history. After being shifted to the Advaita Ashrama, the first three editors were also presidents of the ashrama. Thereafter, the editor and president were different persons. From 1959, the president was also called the editor, and the actual editor called the joint editor. From September 1993, the ashrama president has been called the managing editor, and the editor has again been called the editor.

Editors of Prabuddha Bharata
×PeriodEditor
1 July 1896 to June 1898B. R. Rajam Iyer
2 August 1898 to July 1906Swami Swarupananda
3 August 1906 to December 1913Swami Virajananda
4 January 1914 to May 1918Swami Prajnananda
5 June 1918 to December 1921Swami Raghavananda
6 January 1922 to December 1924Swami Yatiswarananda
7 January 1925 to December 1926Swami Vividishananda
8 January 1927 to December 1930Swami Ashokananda
9 January 1931 to December 1934Swami Pavitrananda
10 January 1935 to December 1937Swami Maithilyananda
11 January 1938 to December 1939Swami Tejasananda
12 January 1940 to December 1941Swami Vipulananda
13 January 1942 to December 1944Swami Gambhirananda
14 January 1945 to December 1947Swami Yogeswarananda
15 January 1948 to December 1949Swami Brahmamayananda
16 January 1950 to December 1954Swami Vandanananda
17 January 1955 to December 1956Swami Satswarupananda
18 January 1957 to December 1958Swami Nihsreyasananda
19 January 1959 to December 1961Swami Ananyananda
20 January 1962 to December 1963Swami Chidatmananda
21 January 1964 to December 1965Swami Kirtidananda
22 January 1966 to July 1968Swami Adiswarananda
23 August 1968 to December 1968Swami Budhananda
24 January 1969 to December 1970Swami Rasajnananda
25 January 1971 to December 1976Swami Tadrupananda
26 January 1977 to February 1979Swami Balaramananda
27 March 1979 to December 1986Swami Bhajanananda
28 January 1987 to December 1989Swami Jitatmananda
29 January 1990 to December 1993Swami Muktirupananda
30 January 1994 to December 1996Swami Atmaramananda
31 January 1997 to December 1998Swami Satyapriyananda
32 January 1999 to December 2001Swami Sunirmalananda
33 January 2002 to December 2004Swami Yuktatmananda
34 January 2005 to October 2010Swami Satyaswarupananda
35 November 2010 to July 2014Swami Satyamayananda
36 August 2014 to July 2020Swami Narasimhananda
37 August 2020 to PresentSwami Vireshananda

See also

Further reading
  • Prabuddha Bharata, Vol. 100 No.1 (January 1995).
  • The Story of Ramakrishna Mission (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2006), 798–811
  • The Charm of Mayavati Ashrama (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2009)

References
  1. The saga of a journal The Hindu, 4 January 2009.
  2. "Indias longest-running English magazine Prabuddha Bharat plans to go online".
  3. Excerpts from Sister Nivedita's Book/VII Life At Srinagar The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 9/Excerpts from Sister Nivedita's Book, Wikisource. 1898.
  4. The Life of the Swami Vivekananda, by His Eastern and Western Disciples, the Advaita Ashrama, Himalayas, by Advaita Ashrama, Published by the Swami Virajananda from the Prabuddha Bharata Office, Advaita Ashrama, 1947. 256.
  5. Vivekananda, Swami. "The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" – via Wikisource.
  6. The saga of a journal The Hindu, 4 January 2009.
  7. 'Prabuddha Bharata' turns longest-running monthly English magazine in India The New Indian Express, 24 January 2018.
  8. A look back at Prabuddha Bharata Millennium Post, 23 January 2018.
  9. Jung, Carl Gustav (2014). Psychology and Religion Volume 11: West and East (2014 ed.). London: Routledge. p. vii. ISBN 9781317534198. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  10. 'Prabuddha Bharata' turns longest-running monthly English mag Business Standard, 23 January 2018.
  11. "Advaita Ashrama: A Publication Centre of Ramakrishna Math & Mission". advaitaashrama.org.
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