Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
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Raja
Ram Mohan Roy portrait
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Born
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Died
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Cause of death
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Meningitis
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Resting place
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Other names
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Rammohun, Rammohan, or Ram Mohan
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Ethnicity
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Occupation
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Social reformer
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Known for
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Height
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1.75 mts
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Weight
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56 kg
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Successor
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Religion
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Spouse(s)
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Uma Devi
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Parents
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Ramakanta Roy (father)
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Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ram Mohun also spelled Rammohun, Rammohan,
or Ram Mohan (Bengali:
রাজা রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833),
was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged
traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society
under British rule. He is called the "Maker of Modern India" and also
as "Father of Modern India". He is also regarded as the "Father of the Bengal
Renaissance". He, along with Dwarkanath Tagore and other Bengalis,
founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement
during the Bengal Renaissance. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics,
public
administration, and education,
as well as religion. He is known for his efforts to abolish sati,
the Hindu
funeral practice in which the widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre, and child marriage.
Biography
Early
life and education (1772–1792)
Roy was born in a Bengali Hindu family in Visnagar,
Hooghly, Bengal (now West Bengal),May 22, 1772, into the Rarhi Brahmin caste of Sandilya Gotra (family name Bandyopadhyay). His family background displayed unusual religious
diversity; his father Ramkanto Roy was a Vaishnavite, while his mother Tarinidevi was from a Shaivite
family. This was unusual for Vaishanavites did not commonly marry Shaivites at
that time. Thus, one parent wanted him to be a scholar, a sastrin, while
the other wanted him to have a career dedicated to the laukik, which was
secular
public administration. He wandered around the Himalayas
and went to Tibet.
Early
political and religious career (1792–1820)
Raja Rammohan Roy's impact on modern
Indian history concerned a revival of the ethics principles of the Vedanta
school of philosophy as found in the Upanishads. He preached about the unity of God, made early
translations of Vedic scriptures into English,
co-founded the Calcutta Unitarian Society, founded the Brahmo Samaj, and
campaigned against sati. He sought to integrate Western culture with features
of his own country's traditions. He established schools to modernise a system
of education in India.
During these overlapping periods[when?], Ram
Mohan Roy acted as a political agitator
and agent, while being employed by the East India Company and simultaneously pursuing his vocation as a Pandit.
In 1792, the British Baptist
shoemaker William
Carey published his missionary tract An
Enquiry of the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of
Heathens. In the following year, William Carey landed in India to settle.
His objective was to translate, publish and distribute the Bible in Indian
languages and propagate Christianity to the Indian peoples. He believed the "mobile" (i.e. service classes)
Brahmins and Pundits were most able to help him in this endeavour, and he began
gathering them. He learned the Buddhist
and Jain
religious works as a means to improve his argument in promotion for
Christianity in the cultural context. In 1795, Carey made contact with a
Sanskrit scholar, the Tantric Hariharananda Vidyabagish, who later introduced him to Ram Mohan Roy; Roy wished to
learn English.
In 1799, Carey was joined by
missionary Joshua Marshman and the printer William
Ward at the Danish
settlement of Serampore.
From 1803 to 1815, Rammohan served
the East India Company's "Writing Service", commencing as private
clerk "munshi" to Thomas Woodforde, Registrar of the Appellate Court at Murshidabad, whose distant nephew, also a Magistrate, later made a living off the spurious Maha Nirvana
Tantra under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon. In 1815, Raja Ram Mohan Roy formed "Atmiya
Sabhan", and spent many years[when?]
at Rangpur and elsewhere with Digby, where he renewed his contacts
with Hariharananda. William Carey had, by this time, settled at Serampore
and the trio renewed their association with one another. William Carey was also
aligned with the English Company, then headquartered at Fort William, and his religious and political ambitions were
increasingly intertwined.
The East India Company was taking money from India at a rate of three million
pounds a year in 1838. Ram Mohan Roy estimated how much money was being driven
out of India and where it was headed towards. He predicted that around half of
the total revenue collected in India was sent out to England, leaving India to
fill taxes with the remaining money.
Middle
"Brahmo" period (1820–1830)
Commenting on his published works, Sivanath Sastri wrote that Roy was part of a second appeal to the Christian
Public. Brahmanical Magazine Parts I, II and III, with Bengali translation and a new Bengali newspaper called Sambad Kaumudi, was processed in 1821. In 1822, A Persian paper called Mirat-ul-Akbar contained a tract entitled "Brief Remarks on Ancient
Female Rights"; a book in Bengali called Answers to Four Questions was
released the same year. The third and final appeal to the Christian public took
place in 1823. Roy wrote a letter to Rev. H. Ware on the "Prospects of
Christianity in India" and an "Appeal for Famine-Smitten Natives in
Southern India" in 1824. A Bengali tract on the qualifications of a
God-loving householder, a tract in Bengali on a controversy with a Kayastha,
and a Grammar
of the Bengali language in English were written in 1826. A Sanskrit tract on
"Divine Worship by Gayatri" with an English translation, the edition
of a Sanskrit treatise against caste, and the previously noticed tract called
"Answer of a Hindu to the Question" was released in 1827. A form of
divine worship and a collection of hymns were
composed by Roy and his friends in 1828. In 1829, "Religious Instructions
founded on Sacred
Authorities" was published in English and Sanskrit;
a Bengali tract called "Anusthan" was also published that year. A
petition against Suttee also took place in 1829. In 1830, Roy was in charge of
a Bengali tract, a Bengali book concerning the Bengali language, the trust deed
of the Brahmo Samaj, an address to Lord William
Bentinck congratulating him for the
abolition of Sati, a document in English of the arguments regarding the burning
of widows, and a tract in English on the disposal of ancestral property by
Hindus.
One of the controversial issues that
embittered the Bengali community was his stand on European settlement. He and
his followers joined the European mercantile community to push for abolition of
restrictions on land holdings by the Europeans in the mufassal. Even officials
of East India Company in addition to a large section of the Bengali community
opposed that. At the end this motion was not approved.
Life
in England and death (1830–1833)
In 1830, Ram Mohan Roy travelled to England
from the Khejuri Port, then the sea port of Bengal and is currently in East Midnapore, West Bengal. He was the first educated Indian to sail to England in
1830. At the time, Roy was an ambassador of the Mughal emperor Akbar II, who conferred on him the title of Raja to lobby the
British government for the welfare of India and to ensure that the Lord
Bentick's regulation banning the practice of sati was not overturned. Roy also
visited France.
Roy died in Britain at Stapleton, Bristol, on 27 September 1833. The cause of his death was meningitis; he was cremated in Arnos Vale Cemetery in southern Bristol.
Personal
Ram Mohan Roy was married three
times. His third wife, Devi Uma, outlived him.[citation
needed]
Roy's political background
influenced his social and religious to reforms of Hinduism. He wrote: "The
present system of Hindus [sic] is not well calculated to promote their political
interests…. It is necessary that some change should take place in their
religion, at least for the sake of their political advantage and social
comfort."
Rammohan Roy's experience working
with the British government taught him that Hindu traditions were often not
respected or thought as credible by Western standards; this affected his religious reforms. He wanted to legitimize Hindu traditions to his European acquaintances by proving that "superstitious practices which deform the Hindu [sic] religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its
dictates! [sic]" The "superstitious practices" Rammohan Roy
objected included sati, caste rigidity, polygamy and child marriages.
Religious
reforms
The religious reforms of Roy
contained in beliefs of the Brahmo Samaj expounded by Rajnarayan Basu are: Brahmos believe that the fundamental doctrines of Brahmoism
are at the basis of every religion, followed by man; Brahmos believe in the
existence of One Supreme God, and worship Him alone. Brahmos believe that
worship of Him needs no fixed place or time.
Social
reforms of Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Roy demanded property
inheritance rights for women and, in 1828, set up the Brahmo Sabha,
which was a movement of reformist Bengali's formed to fight against social evils.
Roy's political background
influenced his social and religious to reforms of Hinduism. He wrote: "The
present system of Hindus [sic] is not well calculated to promote their political
interests…. It is necessary that some change should take place in their
religion, at least for the sake of their political advantage and social comfort."
Rammohan Roy's experience working
with the British government taught him that Hindu traditions were often not
respected or thought as credible by Western standards; this affected his religious reforms. He wanted to legitimize Hindu traditions to his European acquaintances by proving that "superstitious practices which deform the Hindu [sic] religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its
dictates! [sic]" The "superstitious practices" Rammohan Roy
objected included sati, caste rigidity, polygamy and child marriages. These practices were often the reasons British officials
claimed moral
superiority over the Indian nation. Ram Mohan Roy's ideas of religion sought to
create a fair and just society by implementing humanitarian practices similar to Christian ideals and thus legitimize
Hinduism in the modern world.
Educationist
Roy believed education to be an
implement for social reform. In 1817, in collaboration with David
Hare, he set up the Hindu
College at Calcutta. In 1822, Roy founded
the Anglo-Hindu
school, followed four years later by the Vedanta
College, where he insisted that his teachings of monotheistic doctrines be incorporated with "modern, western curriculum";
Vedanta College offered courses as a synthesis of Western and Indian learning. In 1830, he helped Alexander
Duff in establishing the General Assembly's Institution, by providing him the venue vacated by Brahma Sabha
and getting the first batch of students. Roy supported induction of western
learning into Indian education. He advocated the study of English,
science,
western medicine
and technology. He spent his money on a college to promote these studies.
Journalist
Roy published magazines
in English, Hindi, Persian, and Bengali. He published Brahmonical Magazine in
English in 1821. One notable magazine of his was the Sambad Kaumudi, published in 1821. In 1822, Ram Mohan published
Mirat-ul-Akbar in Persian language.
Brahmonical Magazine ceased to exist
after publication of few[weasel words]
issues. But Sambad Kaumudi, a news weekly, covered topics such as freedom of
press, induction of Indians into high ranks of service and separation of the
executive and judiciary. Sambad Kaumudi became bi-weekly in January 1830 and
continued for 33 years.
He published newspaper to register his
protest against the introduction of Press Ordinance of 1823. The ordinance
stated that a license from the Governor General in council would be mandatory
to publish any newspaper. When the English Company censored the press, Rammohan
composed two memorials against this in 1829 and 1830 respectively. Being an
activist, he steadily opposed social atrocities like Sati
and child marriage.
Museum
A museum, on the life and times of
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, stands on Raja Ram Mohan Sarani (Amherst Street), Calcutta,
India, in a mansion built by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The museum is elaborate, very
well documented (in English and Bengali), and well illuminated. Lack of
air-conditioning in the Exhibition Halls make a summer visit avoidable. The
museum is on the west flank of Amherst Street, very close to the junction of
Amherst and Sookea Streets.
Cenotaph
The tomb was built by Dwarkanath Tagore in 1843, 10 years after Rammohan Roy's death in Bristol
on 27 Sep 1833; it is located in the Arnos Vale Cemetery on the outskirts of Bristol. In 1845 Dwarkanath Tagore
arranged for Rammohan's remains to be returned to India through Roy's nephew,
who had accompanied Dwarkanath for this purpose to Britain. Rammohan's relics
were cremated near Kolkata on 28 February 1846 by his family.
In September 2006 representatives of
the Indian High Commission and the mayor of Kolkata came to Bristol to mark the
anniversary of Ram Mohan Roy's death. During the ceremony Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women
sang Sanskrit
prayers of thanks. Following this visit the Mayor of Kolkata, Bikash
Ranjan Bhattacharya, decided to raise funds to restore
the cenotaph, and in June 2007 businessman Aditya Poddar donated £50,000
towards the restoration. In June 2008 the Arnos Vale restorers confirmed that they
could not locate Roy's remains at the site after searching for it by digging.
Thebrahmosamaj.net stated, "To everyone`s surprise the coffin was not to
be seen under the chattri."
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