Raja Ram Mohan Roy: 'The father of

Indian Renaissance'

Why is Raja Ram Mohan Roy called

the father of Bengali Renaissance?
Cont.
 Cont.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, 'the father of Indian
renaissance', the founder of 'Brahmo Samaj'
and the man who tirelessly fought against the
social evils prevailing in the Indian society. The
country is paying tribute to this great social
reformer educationalist who also worked as
the messenger for modern education in India
during the British period.
 Cont.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was popularly
known as the Father of Indian
Renaissance. With his fight against
social prejudice and concern for
humanity, he inaugurated a new
lease of life for Indians.
 Early Life:

Raja Ram Mohan was born on 22nd May 1772 in

a Brahmin family in the village of Radhanagar
near Krislinanagar in Bengal.
With his gifted brain, he learnt many languages
and studied several scriptures of different
religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,
Sufism, Budhism etc. He was influenced by the
western culture and spread the message of
unity of religions and rationality.
 Cont.
He was against the practice of idol worship, blind
faith and religious rituals. In 1803, his first book
‘Tuhfat-ul- Muwahhidin’ was published, where he
argued for Monotheism Me founded the Atmiya
Sabha in 1815 and on 20th. August 1828, the
Brahmo Samaj was established. Through these
institutions, he fought against orthodox Hindus and
the fanatic Christian missionaries who challenged
his ideas. Instead of establishing a separate
religion, Rammohan wanted to reform Hinduism.
He died on 27th September 1833 in England.
 Reforms:
(а) Religious:

As a Hindu, Rammohan was well aware of the weak

points from which Hinduism was suffering. On the basis
of the Vedas and Upanishads, he provided a new life to
Indian society. He interpreted religion with reason and
opposed idol-worship and ritualism. He believed that
every religion possesses the same truth. He criticized the
ritualism of Christianity and refused to accept Christ as
the incarnation(অবতার) of God. He wanted to simplify
and to modernize the Hindu religion being influenced by
the western concept of reason and scientific thought.
Sati Burning
 (b) Social Reforms

Raja Rammohan and his Brahmo Samaj attacked all

the evil practices from which the society was
suffering. He led a crusade against the practice of
‘Sati’, polygamy, child marriage, caste-system,
untouchability, purdah system and use of
intoxicants. He supported inter-caste marriages,
women education, widow remarriages etc. His
ideas, preaching’s and also the practical steps taken
for this purpose had created a general awakening in
Bengal.
Cont. Sati-2
 Cont. (c) Educational Reforms

The Brahmo Samaj adopted practical steps to

propagate its religious and social ideas. It
established various learned societies and
educational institutions. Rammohan
championed the cause of English language
and western system of education and
supported the move of Lord Macaulay. He
started the English school, the Hindu College
and the Vedanta College at Calcutta.
Cont. Durga Puja
 Cont.
Rammohan started publishing newspapers and
magazines for which he was called the “Father
of Indian Journalism”. He edited the Bengali
newspaper, “Sambad Kaumudi”, and the
Persian newspaper “Mirat-Ul-Akbar”. As a
champion of the liberty of Press, he also
opposed all sorts of restrictions imposed on it.
 Cont. (d) Economic Reforms

Though he himself belonged to a Zamindar

background, yet he wanted the liberation of
the poor tenants who were exploited by the
Zamindars and their agents. Rammohan
wanted the revenue to be fixed with the
cultivators in Bengal. He opposed the heavy
export duties imposed on Indian goods.
Cont. Oppression Indians
 (e) Political Reforms

With the glorification of ancient Indian culture, the

Brahmo Samaj as an institution helped in
developing confidence among Indians in their
own religion. This confidence helped in the
resurgence of Indian nationalism. Rammohan also
believed in the freedom of man and opposed the
racial superiority of Europeans. Though he did not
demand independence for India, yet he fought for
the civil liberties of the people.
Cont. Ma-ki-Pakar
 Cont.
Raja Rammohan Roy is called as the Father of
Indian Renaissance due to his mass awakening and
rational thinking. The Brahmo Samaj worked as a
pioneer in revitalizing the Hindu society. Of course,
the focus of the activities of the Brahmo Samaj was
confined to Bengal. But it had a number of branches
established in distant provinces like Punjab, Madras,
Uttar Pradesh etc. He paved the way on which other
Hindu social and religious reformers could tread.
 Cont.
Through his crusade against evil socio-religious
practices, Rammohan envisaged a new social
order. After his death, Dwaraka Nath Tagore
took up the charge of the Brahmo Samaj.
Subsequently it faced a division and declined.
 Cont.
For his unparallel contribution he has been
described as the father of Indian Nationalism.
When India was passing in a critical time,
Rammohan appeared in the scene who
gathered in himself all the significant trends of
his time.
Rammohan has a gifted brain with a
remarkable knowledge of India’s cultural
traditions.
 Cont.
He read the Upanishads in Sanskrit and translated
them into Bengali. His theological treatises show his
depth in Koran as well as in the commentaries of
Sankara. He realized the importance of English as
the gateway to modern knowledge. He acquired
enough knowledge in English while working under
the company administration. Besides he studied
Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. He understood the
inner meaning of Hinduism and Islam. Coming in
contact with the
 Cont.
Christian Missonaries, he also learnt the real
meaning of Christianity. For his vast
knowledge, he tried to bring the Indian society
into order; thus became a rebel against many
evils of the society. In a powerful way, he
started writing on Indian religions, Indian
economy and Indian education. In course of
time, he started organized reform movement.
 Cont.
Rammohan stood against idol worship, beliefs
in many Gods and Goddesses, meaningless
ceremonies and unnecessary rituals. He
Vehemently criticised the Hindu orthodox
practices and religious dogmas present in his
contemporary Indian society. He said that
Hinduism as the most ancient religion on
earth should rest on its inner spiritual vitality.
 Cont.
The Hindu Vedanta and Upanishad had
described clearly about birth, life and death.
According to him, there is the Creator who
creates and describes everything on earth. He
is the Supreme Being without any beginning
and end without description or shape.
Rammohan pointed out the value of those
beliefs and wanted religion to rest on purity,
virtues and ethics.
 Cont.
He openly declared, “My constant reflections; on the
inconvenient, or rather injurious rites, introduced by
the peculiar practice of Hindu idolatry, which more than
any other pagan worship destroys the texture of society
together with compassion for, any countrymen, have
compelled one to use every possible effort to awaken
them from their dream of error and by moving them
acquainted with their scriptures, enable them to
contemplate with true devotion, the unity and
omnipresence of nature’s God.”
 Cont.
With these ideas he wanted to transform the
Indian Hindu society with a new light. In 1928
Rammohan founded the Brahmo Sabha which
was renamed as Brahmo Samaj in 1830.
Brahmo Samaj became one of the most
important agents of religious and social
change in the nineteenth century India.
 Cont.
The main aim of the Samaj was to foster the
idea of brotherhood of men since all men are
the creation of the eternal Being. It advocated
for the promotion of charity, morality, piety,
benevolence, virtue and the strengthening of
the bonds of union between man of all
religious beliefs.
 Cont.
The immobile structure of the Indian society,
with blind beliefs like Sati system, polygamy,
caste excesses, untouchability and the
oppression of women divided the Indian
society and kept them from acting together as
a united nation. Rammohan started
Champaign against these wrong doings of the
Hindu society.
 Cont.
Rammohan Roy openly said that Sati system was
more than murders according to all Shastra as well
as to the common science of every nation. He
protested against the Sati system inside and outside
his home. Consequent upon this the orthodox
community rose up in protest and social boycott
was organized against him. His life was threatened.
On the support of Rammohan Roy, Lord Bentinck
finally decided to abolish Sati system in 1929.
 Cont.
In the field of education, Rammohan was one of the first
thinkers in India to realise the value of Western Science,
and thought. He created major opinion in favour of the
English education that could generate a sense of unity
among the Indian educated youths. Rammohan’s idea of
western education helped the Government of Lord
William Bentinck to introduce European learning in India.
Bentinck could ignore the group of orientalists of India
who were pleading in favour of oriental languages to be
used as medium of instructions in schools and colleges.
 Cont.
Rammohan also tried his best for the poetical
awakening among Indians. He first realized the
value of free press and free opinion. He first
published a weekly to ventilate the views of
the people on social, political, economic
problems both national and international.
Through the publication of a comparative
study of national problem with international
issues, Indians could understand their defects.
 Cont.
With the result they tried to work for the
motherland jointly. Rammohan became the
pioneer of Indian nationalism by preaching the
sensitive value of unity among men. The aim
of his reform movement was to liberate the
individual from social tyranny and from
mental ignorance.
 Cont.
Breaking the orthodox belief to cross the sea
and to lose the caste, Rammohan Roy was the
first Indian to go to England crossing sea in
1830. Fighting in favour of the abolition of Saji,
the introduction of Western Education in India
and to introduce measures to put an end to
the false beliefs among Indians, he died there
is 1833.
 Cont.
After the death of Rammohan Roy, the Brahmo
movement continued to carry its mission
under the leadership of Keshab Chandra Sen,
Maharishi Debendranath Tagore and Akshaya
Kumar Dutta etc. Thus in the growth of Indian
renaissance the Brahmo movement played a
very significant role in India.