Raja Rammohan Roy and Brahmo Samaj:
- Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) often called the the father of Indian Renaissance and the maker of Modern India, believed in the modern scientific approach and principles of human dignity and social equality.
- He put his faith in monotheism. He wrote Gift to Monotheists (1809) and translated into Bengali the Vedas and the five Upanishads to prove his conviction that ancient Hindu texts support monotheism.
- In 1814, he set up the Atmiya Sabha (or Society of Friends) in Calcutta to propagate the monotheistic ideals of the Vedanta and to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities, meaningless rituals and other social ills.
- Strongly influenced by rationalist ideas, he declared that Vedanta is based on reason and that, if reason demanded it, even a departure from the scriptures is justified.
- In his Precepts of Jesus (1820), he tried to separate the moral and philosophical message of the New Testament, which he praised, from its miracle stories.
- He founded the Brahmo Sabha in August 1828; it was later renamed as Brahmo Samaj which opposed idolatry and meaningless rituals. It laid emphasis on human dignity and criticism of social evils such as sati.
- He started his anti-sati struggle in 1818, His efforts were rewarded by the Government Regulation in 1829 which declared the practice of sati a crime.
- The Brahmo Samaj was committed to “the worship and adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable, Immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe”.
- The long-term agenda of the Brahmo Samaj to purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism was based on the twin pillars of reason and the Vedas and Upanishads.
- Roy’s progressive ideas met with strong opposition from orthodox elements like Raja Radhakant Deb who organised the Dharma Sabha to counter Brahmo Samaj propaganda.
- Roy attacked polygamy and the degraded state of widows and demanded the right of inheritance and property for women.
- Roy condemned the general subjugation of women and opposed prevailing misconceptions which formed the basis of according an inferior social status to women.
- Roy supported David Hare’s efforts to found the Hindu College in 1817, while Roy’s English school taught mechanics and Voltaire’s philosophy.
- In 1825, he established a Vedanta college where courses in both Indian learning and Western social and physical sciences were offered.
- Roy condemned oppressive practices of Bengali zamindars and demanded fixation of maximum rents.
- Roy also demanded abolition of taxes on tax-free lands. He called for a reduction of export duties on Indian goods abroad and abolition of the East India Company’s trading rights.
- Roy demanded the Indianisation of superior services and separation of the executive from the judiciary.
- Roy demanded judicial equality between Indians and Europeans and that trial be held by jury.
- Roy supported the revolutions of Naples and Spanish America and condemned the oppression of Ireland by absentee English landlordism and threatened emigration from the empire if the reform bill was not passed.
The features of Brahmo Samaj:
- it denounced polytheism and idol worship;
- it discarded faith in divine avataras (incarnations);
- it denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason and conscience;
- it took no definite stand on the doctrine of karma and transmigration of soul and left it to individual Brahmos to believe either way;
- it criticised the caste system.
Debendranath Tagore and Brahmo Samaj: