Raja Ram Mohan Roy:

Father of Indian Renaissance

naisha nusrath- BA (pep) 20421130038- writeup

Early Life:

He was born on 22 May 1772 in a Hindu Brahmin family in Radhanagar village in

West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, Bengal. He studied Persian and Arabic along
with Sanskrit, which influenced his thinking about God. He read Upanishads,
Vedas and the Quran and translated a lot of the scriptures into English. Gopal
Krishna Gokhale called him the ‘Father of Modern India’ Several historians
consider him as one of the pioneers of the Indian Renaissance. He was bestowed
with the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor.

Social Reforms and Ideologies: He opposed superstitious practices, customs such

as Sati, polygamy, child marriage, the rigidity of the caste system and its excesses,
and sought property inheritance rights for women. He was in favour of inter-caste
marriages, women’s education and widow remarriages. In 1814, he
formed Atmiya Sabha (Friendly Society). Atmiya Sabha tried to initiate social
and religious reforms in the society. In 1828,he set up the Brahmo Samaj, a
reformist movement of the Hindu religion that aimed at fighting social evils that
were prevalent in society.

Brahmo Samaj :

 Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which was later renamed
as Brahmo Samaj.
 Its chief aim was the worship of the eternal God. It was against priesthood, rituals
and sacrifices.
 It focused on prayers, meditation and reading of the scriptures. It believed in
the unity of all religions.
  It was the first intellectual reform movement in modern India. 
 It  led to the emergence of rationalism and enlightenment in India which indirectly
contributed to the nationalist movement.
 It was the forerunner of all social, religious and political movements of modern
India.
 It split into two in 1866, namely Brahmo Samaj of India led by Keshub
Chandra Sen and Adi Brahmo Samaj led by Debendranath Tagore.
 Prominent Leaders: Debendranath Tagore, Keshub Chandra Sen, Pt. Sivnath
Shastri, and Rabindranath Tagore
 He actively opposed the Sati system .

Educational Reform:

He advocated the study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology. He

established a number of schools to popularise a modern education system in India. He also
helped establish the Scottish Church College in 1830.

Economic and Political Reforms:

Raja Ram Roy was impressed and admired the British system of constitutional government
for the civil liberties it gave to the people. He wanted to extend the benefits of that system
of government to Indian people. He supported the movement for free press in India.

Writings:

He published   his first book Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to Monotheism) in 1803. He

started the first Bengali language weekly newspaper and the first newspaper in an Indian
language, called Sambad Kaumudi, in 1821. The weekly newspaper advocated reading
habits, the importance of discussion as well as the need for education for all. He  published
an English weekly called the Bengal Gazette and a Persian newspaper called Miratul-
Akbar.

Taxation Reforms:

He condemned oppressive practices of Bengali zamindars and demanded fixation of

minimum rents. He also demanded the abolition of taxes on tax-free lands.He called for
a reduction of export duties on Indian goods abroad and the abolition of the East India
Company’s trading rights.

Death: He died of Meningitis in Stapleton near Bristol on September 27, 1833 while he was
on his visit to Britain. The British government named a street in Bristol as ‘Raja Ram
mohan Way’ in the memory of Roy.