Reforms of Brahmo Samaj and Raja Rammohan Roy

Bharat Ek Khoj | Episode-41 | The Bengal Renaissance and Raja Rammohun…

Rammohun…

Raja Rammohan Roy was the first Indian person in the 19th century, who first
launched a reform movement against the evils prevailing in the society for the
renaissance of Indians. Therefore, he is called the father of modern India, the father
of Indian nationalism, the new morning star, the harbinger of renaissance, the
"promoter of reform movements" and the "bridge between the past and the future".

Introduction -

Raja Rammohan Roy was born in 1774 in a Brahmin family in a village called
Radhanagar in Hoogly district of Bengal. His father's name was Ramakant Rai. His
father was a zamindar. His father, his grandfather and his paternal grandfather, the
first holder of the title of 'Rai Rayan', had all served under the Nawabs of Bengal. He
was given the title of 'Rai' by the Nawab of Bengal. In 1830, the Mughal Emperor
Akbar II sent Rammohan Roy, with the title of 'Raja', to the court of Emperor William
IV of England as his representative to plead with the emperor about the insufficient
pension given to the Mughal emperor.

Raja Rammohan Roy was the first Indian who broke the myth that traveling by sea
was a sin. He lived in England for three years and died on September 27, 1833 at a
place called Bristol in England.
Education -

Correct information is not available about the early life of Rammohan Roy. It is quite
possible that he was educated first at home and then at the local school, where he
learned Sanskrit, Persian and Bengali. He went to Patna and Banaras to learn
Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit. When he was about 16 years old, he left home in
search of knowledge and wandered in North India and the Himalayas. It is possible
that he also studied Buddhist and Lama doctrines during these travels. He got the
knowledge of Tantra from his Sanskrit teacher of Radhanagar and Islam religion
Sufi sect from his Arabic and Persian teachers. He had a good comparative
knowledge of these religions. But it seems that the study of Islam had a profound
effect on his mind. He took much help in his debates from the logic of the Arabs
which he considered superior to all other logics. He used to be influenced by the
philosophy of Muta-Jila. He repeat Rumi's poetry with great enthusiasm.

Beginning of social life

On the death of his father in 1803 he entered the Company's service, and two years
later he became Diwan of Digby, a position he held till 1814. Digby became his
friend and he taught English to Ram Mohan Roy. During the 10 years he spent with
Digby, he made a serious study of Western thought and literature, and developed a
writing style that Bentham admired, saying that "with this style, the name of a Hindu
would not be associated, we would consider it to have come from the pen of a very
highly educated Englishman." In fact, his style was superior to that of James Mill.
On Digby's return to England in 1814, he came to settle in Calcutta. Here, He started
his illustrious life of public service and social reform. He had formed his thoughts
regarding the great problems of religion, society and ethics and he immediately
went to the field and waged a war against darkness and stupidity.

Comparative study of religions

In Calcutta he came in contact with the missionaries of Shrirampur. He agreed with

the criticisms of Hinduism by the clergy in so far as it went against prevailing
beliefs and customs. Now he turned to the study of Christianity. He read Greek,
Latin and Hebrew and studied the works of Christian theologians. He became an
admirer of the teachings of Jesus Christ, but he rejected the dogma and
supernaturalism of the Bible.
Not satisfied with a mere defense of Hinduism, he attacked the Christian belief in
miracles, the triune nature of God, and the sacred or divine conception. He forced
his clerical opponents to give an explanation for such irrational statements. His
point was that Hinduism was not inferior to Christianity, as is known from his letter
to the editor of 'Bengal Harkaru'-

“If we are indebted to Christians for the ray of reason, as Christians say, by which
they mean that we are indebted to them for useful mechanical arts, then I agree and
I am grateful. So far as science, literature or religion is concerned, I do not believe
that we are in any way indebted to them because it can be proved from history that
the world was indebted to our Ancestor for the first knowledge that arose earlier.
Thanks to the goddess of knowledge, we still have such a philosophical and
powerful language, which gives us distinction from other races and which is
capable of scientific and abstract and subtle thinking, without borrowing from the
language of foreigners. "

Major works

In 1809 he wrote a book called Tohfat-ul-Muwahideen ( A Gift to Monotheists). He

wrote this first work of his in Persian language, in which he opposed idol worship
and said that the one God was the root of all religions.

In 1820, influenced by the ideas of Christianity, wrote a book called "The Precepts of
Jesus", which was published in London in 1823 with the efforts of John Digby. In
this book he tried to separate the moral and philosophical message of the New
Testament from its miracle stories and praised only the moral elements of the New
Testament.

Institutions

In 1814, he established 'Atmiya Sabha' in Calcutta and condemned idol worship and
caste system.

In 1817, with the help of David Hare, he established the "Hindu College" in Calcutta.

In 1817 itself, an English school was also opened in Calcutta, in which philosophy of
famous philosopher Dante, Rousseau, Voltaire was taught.
In 1821, he established the "Uritarian (Ekeshwar) Mission" in Calcutta, whose
purpose was to gather at one place and contemplate on subjects.

In 1821, a Bengali magazine named "Samvad Kaumudi" and in 1822 published

'Miratul-Akhbar' in Persian language and also published 'Brahmanical Magazine' in
English language.

In 1825, he established the Vedanta College, where information about Indian

studies and western science was given. To enrich the Bengali language, he created
Bangla grammar. He had very good knowledge in different languages and he edited
many newspapers and magazines in Bengali, English, Hindi, Persian.

Brahmo Samaj

On August 20, 1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the "Brahmo Samaj", in the trust
deed written in 1830, stated that the purpose of this society is the worship of the
eternal, universal, unchanging God who is the creator and protector of the whole
universe. A new building was also given to the Board of Trustees, in which idol
worship and sacrifice were not allowed. The meaning of his teachings was also to
strengthen the bond of mutual unity among all religions. Raja Sahib himself was a
Hindu. But due to his premature death in England in 1833, there was no guidance of
the society and gradually it became loose.The objectives of which were as follows-

1. Opposition to polytheism, idolatry and denial of incarnationism.

2. Opposition to polygamy, child marriage and sati system and support for widow
marriage.

3. Propagation of Western education and Bangla language

4. Opposition to casteism, untouchability and equality of all religions and worship of

Nirgun Brahma.

5. Rajaram Mohan Roy opposed the practice of Sati and said that "according to any
scripture it is murder."

Brahmo Samaj emphasized on equality of all religions and adopted the principle of
monotheism.
The aim of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was not to establish any new religion. But his aim
was to reform the Hindu society.

Brahmo Samaj after Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Devendra Nath Tagore

After Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to England, the Brahmo Samaj was run by
Dwarkanath Tagore and 'Rai's disciple Pt. Ramchandra Vidyavagish for ten years.
Thereafter, Devendra Nath Tagore, the elder son of Dwarka Nath Tagore, took over
the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj in 1843. Even before assuming the leadership,
he had established "Tatvbodhini Sabha" in 1839. Whose main objective was to
discover the real essence of religion and develop it and spread the knowledge of
Upanishads. At that time people like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Akshay Dutt,
Rajendra Lal Mishra etc. were the members of this meeting. Tatvabodhini School
was established in 1840 and a magazine with the same name was also published.

On December 21, 1843, Tagore formally joined the Brahmo Samaj and continued the
reforms of Ram Mohan Roy. In 1856, he left the organization and went to the hills of
Shimla for solitude and the leadership of Brahmo Samaj was now in the hands of
Keshav Chand Sen.

Maharishi Devendra Nath Tagore (1818-1905) was credited with infusing new life
into this institution and taking it forward as a theistic movement. He joined this
movement in 1842 and he stopped the followers of Brahma Dharma from idol
worship, pilgrimage, rituals and atonement etc. In his view, how can wooden and
stone idols be considered as God. It is okay to worship God in whatever form you
want, that is, if someone wants to worship in Gayatri Mantra or in some other
simple way. He appointed Keshav Chandra Sen as the Acharya of Brahmo Samaj
Dharma. Under his influence the best beliefs and moral practices of Hinduism were
maintained.

Keshav Chandra Sen and the Brahmo Samaj

Keshav Chandra Sen joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 and soon under his
leadership, the Brahmo Samaj became full of progressive ideology and its
supporters. Keshav Chandra Sen's eloquence, rationality and liberal ideas made
Brahmo Samaj very popular and its branches now opened in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Bengal, Bombay, Madras and Punjab. But soon there was a difference of
opinion between Devendra Nath Tagore and 'Sen', the reason was that Sen started
teaching all religions, inter-caste marriage and reciting books of all religions in his
gatherings. So Tagore removed Keshav Chandra Sen from the post of Acharya in
1865, so Keshav Sen's followers formed their own Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866,
while Debendranath's followers tried to retain their identity under the name of Adi
(original) Brahmo-Samaj . He emphasized on social reforms and women's liberation,
alcohol prohibition.

In 1872, the 'Brahma Marriage Act' was passed due to Sen's efforts. In which
marriage rites related to Brahma system were recognized. In 1878, Keshav Chandra
Sen married his 13-year-old minor daughter to the Raja of 'Cooch' Bihar (Assam),
which was strongly opposed by his colleagues and many people under the
leadership of Shivnath Shastri and Anand Mohan Bose separated from Sen's
Brahmo Samaj, established 'Ordinary Brahmo Samaj' in 1878 and after that Keshav
Chandra Sen disappeared into the darkness of history.

Ordinary Brahmo Samaj did many welfare works and to educate and aware the
masses, they published magazines named 'Tatva Kaumudi', Sanjivani, and bharat
sandesh - Keshav Chandra Sen founded India's first English daily 'Indian Mirror' was
published in 1861.

Keshav Chandra Sen was the first missionary who traveled for religious
propaganda. Brahmo Samaj was the first modern missionary movement in India.
From the point of view of social reform, Brahmo Samaj abolished many social
superstitions and evils and promoted women's education, equality, untouchability in
the society. It was instrumental in eradicating evils like Purdah system, polygamy
system, child marriage, widow remarriage etc.

Reform efforts of Ram Mohan Roy

His heart had set on a synthesis of the best elements of the East and the West
which he wanted to set in contemporary Indian conditions. He is rightly
remembered as the doer of India's modernization because of his social and
religious reforms, spread of Western education system, support of civil rights,
support of freedom of newspapers, support of constitutional movements in India, a
liberal and modern ideology was initiated.

1. Religious Reformation
In the matter of religion, his views were utilitarian. People used to call him Religious
Benthamite. The fundamental problem before them was how the objective scientific
and rationalist thought of the 18th century Western thought could be reconciled
with the insightful, personal, direct experience-obtained and higher-conceived
knowledge of the East.

With the positivism of the West came Hume's skepticism and scientific objectivism,
which cut off the claim of solid credible power. According to this, knowledge was
limited to sense perception and individual.

On the contrary, medieval Indian philosophy forced the mind to take refuge in an
objective idealism by nullifying it. This mysticism was based on pure negation,
leading to separation and negation of the individual. From this solution of the
problem, there were certain important ends which were important for social
organization and education.

In his Persian treatise 'Tuhfat-uh-Muwahideen', which was published in 1803-04, he

wrote - "It is necessary in every case to take recourse to reason with the help of the
principles of knowledge in differentiating between good and evil, Because the boon
of knowledge given to us by the Most Merciful God cannot be considered in vain.

Referring to the duality of tradition and reason in the introduction to the translation
of the Kena Upanishad, he said, "Perhaps the best way is not to resort solely to one,
but to make a proper use of the light that comes from both." Let us try to upgrade
our intellectual and moral powers.

2. Social Reforms

He was the morning star in the field of social reform. Their main aim was to achieve
better treatment towards women. The efforts he made to end the inhuman practice
of Sati are world famous. He was far ahead of his contemporaries. While he sought
the right of remarriage for women, he also sought to change the rights of
succession in their favour. He wanted to stop child marriage and polygamy
marriages. More than this, he was in favor of their education because without it,
there could be no thought of getting a good position in their society.
He also made a direct attack on casteism. According to him, Indian society had
become rigid due to caste system and this hindered the unity and closeness of the
people. Due to these innumerable divisions, the feeling of patriotism does not arise
at all. Raja Sahib suggested that Shaiva matrimonial system should be adopted to
remove the shackles of caste.

3. Educational Reforms

In the field of education, he was in favor of English education. According to him,

only a liberal western education can lift us out of the darkness of ignorance and
make Indians participate in the administration of the country. Inspired by this
sentiment, he wrote a letter to Lord Amherst in December 1823, “If it is the desire of
the English Parliament that India should remain in darkness, nothing can be better
than Sanskrit education. Therefore, the government should spread a liberal
education which should include mathematics, general philosophy, chemistry,
anatomy and other useful sciences etc. and recruit some scholars from abroad with
a certain amount of money and open colleges here."

4. Political Reforms

In the political sphere, he was of the view that the British Empire was a reality and
that it would act as a regenerating force in the development of India. In fact, he was
the forerunner of the liberal thinkers of the nineteenth century. According to him,
India will need the English state for many years so that during the days when it is
striving for its political independence, the country does not suffer excessive loss,
that is, according to them, India can get civil and political freedoms only under the
British and in the civilized world can get his place.

He did not demand responsible government but stressed the need for many reforms
in administration such as a better judiciary, separation of the executive from the
judiciary, recruitment of Indians into the services and freedom of newspapers, etc.

5. Thoughts on Internationalism

Rammohan Roy's politics was not narrow. In his eyes the human race was one
family and the happiness or unhappiness of one race was the happiness or
unhappiness of the rest of the world. For example, when the Austrians ended the
independence of the city of Naples, he was so upset that he did not go to a party a
friend had given him. When he heard of the establishment of constitutional rule in
Spain, he gave a public banquet in the town hall. He was so excited by the news of
the French Revolution of 1830 that, despite suffering from severe pain, he insisted
that I go and see the French frigates (vessels) decorated with the tricolor, which
were then in the bay. When the debate on the Parliamentary Reform Bill was going
on in full swing in England and his fate was hanging in the balance, he took a vow
that if the Bill fell, he would break his ties with Britain. In a letter to the French
Foreign Minister, he wrote – The whole human race is one great family, the different
castes and clans of which are only branches.

Critics have said that the success of his social and religious work was limited.
Professor Hiren Mookerjee has said that the comparison between the Indian
Renaissance of the 19th century and the European Renaissance of the 16th century
is fundamentally wrong because that Renaissance changed the face of the world.
Ram Mohan did try to bring coordination between East and West, but this
coordination has to be accepted at a low level, that as it happens in the case of
great men of every era, they are much bigger than their successes. Looking at the
limitations of contemporary circumstances, we can say that Raja Ram Mohan Roy
was indeed a man of great vision and was far above and beyond his
contemporaries.