Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan (also Rammohun) was a sympathetic social reformer who protested against caste system, untouchability, priestly dominance, sati etc. He dreamt about abolishing the social disparity to form a socialistic pattern of society. With the earnest efforts of Ram Mohan , Bentink prohibited Sati by ‘Bengal Sati Regulation – XVII” in 1829 A.D.
At this time the papers like ‘Samachar Darpan”, ‘Sambad Kaumudi’, ‘Bengal Harkara’, Indian Gazette’, ‘Calcutta Journal’, ‘Friend of India’ etc. protested against Sati. To establish the right of women in their paternal property, Ram Mohan quoted the Yajnavalkya Smriti and said that women have rights in their paternal properties.
He is also known as ‘Father of the Bengal Renaissance”. Rabindranath called him ‘Bharat Pathick” and Bipin Chandra Pal called him ‘Constructor of a new era’,
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the ‘Prometheus of India’ and a messenger of renaissance, being enlightened with the western rationalism, found the religious life of Bengal was too conservative and complicated. So to realize the real essence of religion, he read Quran in the Arabic language, the Upanishad and Veda in Sanskrit, New Testament in Greek and Talmud and Old Testament in Hebrew. He gained sufficient proficiency in 12 languages like Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, German, English etc.
Ram Mohan Roy got some clear ideas about the religions by learning of Tantras from Hariharananda Tirtha Swami. He wrote a book, ‘The Percepts of Jesus’ in English. Ram Mohan formed Atmiyasabha in 1815 A.D. along with some of his young followers to make the anti-religious and superstition movement popular.
He formed ‘Calcutta Unitarian Committee’ with the help of his friend William Adam in 1821 A.D. to make the secular ideology popular. He founded ‘Vedanta College in 1825 A.D. to propagate Hindu monotheism. He found ‘British Indian Unitarian Association’ in 1827 A.D. and ‘Brahmo Samaj’ in 1828 A.D. This is known as ‘Brahmo Sabha’.
Ram Mohan Roy said in a lecture in the Town Hall at Calcutta on 15th December, 1829 A.D. that Indians need close proximity with the Europeans for developing their mental make-up. Macaulay the education secretary of Bentink, recommended in a Despatch for expansion of western education in India.
