Ram Mohan Roy And Brahmo Samaj - General Knowledge of Modern India

Ram Mohan Roy And Brahmo Samaj - General Knowledge of Modern India

Beginning with the improvement of some aspects of social and religious life, Jagran influenced all aspects of social, economic, cultural and political life of the country over time. In the late 18th century, some European and Indian scholars began to study ancient Indian philosophy, science, religion and literature. Through this study, Indians got acquainted with their ancient Indian knowledge, which instilled in them a sense of pride for their civilization.

Read More History: Regulating Act 1773 - General Knowledge of Modern India

It also helped the reformers in their work of social and religious reforms. He used the knowledge of ancient Indian texts to build public opinion in his struggle against social stereotypes, superstitions and inhuman practices and traditions. While doing so, most of them resorted to logic in place of faith and belief. Therefore, Indian social and religious reformers used their western knowledge on one hand to achieve their objectives and on the other hand also gave importance to ancient Indian ideas.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Rammohan Roy was born, probably in 1772 AD, in a prosperous family of Bengal.  He received traditional Sanskrit education in Banaras and knowledge of Parsi and Arabic in Patna. Later he also learned English, Greek and Hebrew languages. He was also fluent in French and Latin languages. He had made a deep study of not only Hinduism but also Islam, Christianity and Judaism. He wrote many books in Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, Parsi and English languages.

He also brought out two newspapers, one in Bengali language and one in Parsi language. The Mughal rulers gave him the title of 'Raja' and sent him to England as his messenger. He reached England in 1831 AD and died there in 1833. He was a supporter of English education in India and believed that knowledge of English was necessary for the spread of renaissance and for the education of science. He was a strong supporter of the freedom of the press and for this reason he also launched a movement to remove the restrictions on the press.

Raja Rammohan Roy believed that it is necessary to acquaint people with the knowledge of the basic texts of that religion in order to remove the evils that had entered the Hindu religion and for its purification. To achieve this objective, he did the difficult task of publishing the Vedas and Upanishads by translation in Bengali language.

He was a supporter of a universal religion which was based on the principle of one supreme being. He opposed idol-worship and superstitions and hypocrisy.

Brahmo Samaj

His biggest contribution in the field of religious reforms was the establishment of Brahmo Samaj by him in 1928, which was the first important organization established under the religious reform movement. He opposed idol-worship and illogical superstitions and hypocrisy. The members of Brahmo Samaj were against attack on any religion.

The biggest contribution of the Brahmo Samaj under social reforms was the abolition of the practice of Sati in 1829. He had seen how his elder brother's wife was forced to commit Sati. He also had to face intense opposition from orthodox Hindus for opposing the practice of Sati. According to Rammohun Roy, the main reason for the practice of Sati was the very low status of Hindu women. He was against polygamy and was in favor of educating women and giving them the right to inherit ancestral property.

He advocated inter-caste marriage and widow-remarriage and performed many such marriages, opposed the system of purdah and criticized caste-based division. He attacked caste rigidity, started eating food with people of so called Hindu lower castes and other religions, opposed restrictions on food and drink, devoted his whole life to the spread of education and banned sea voyages like Opposed the old Hindu ideas.

This movement inspired many similar reform movements in other parts of the country. But this group's influence grew while other groups, which were not as committed to social reforms as they were, declined.