Social and Religious Reforms – Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833)

Social and Religious Reforms

• In the 19th century India witnessed a strong wave of reformation activities in religion and society.
• These socio-religious reform movements were called as the Indian Renaissance movements.
• The reform movements of nineteenth century in the realm of religion fall under two broad categories: 
  

Reformist movements 

1. Brahmo Samaj
2. Prarthana Samaj 
3. Aligarh Movement

Revivalist movements

1. Arya Samaj, 
2. Ramakrishna Mission 
3. Deoband Movement.
   

Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) 

• Raja Rammohan Roy, the pioneer of reform movement was born in Bengal, 
• He learnt Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian, English, French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages and wrote a number of books in Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Persian and English.
• He joined the service of East India Company in 1805 and continued the same up to 1814.

Brahmo Samaj– 1828

• He founded ‘Atmiya Sabha’ (1815) which later developed into Brahmo Samaj in 1828.
• The Brahmo Samaj believed in a ‘universal religion’ based on the principle of one supreme God.

The Samaj and Raja Rammohan Roy condemned 

• Idol worship, 
• Costly rites and rituals, 
• Caste distinctions, 
• Untouchability
• Practice of sati. 
• Polygamy
• Child marriage 
• Various superstitions 
• Religious ceremonies 
  

The Samaj and Raja Rammohan Roy encouraged 

• Obtain a respectable position for Women in the Indian Society 
• Monotheism  and Anti-idolatry 
• Education for women
• Inter-caste marriage
• Widow Remarriage
• Study of English language and Western Science.

• He witnessed the death of his sister-in-law by Sati when his brother Jeganmohan Roy died and which made deep impact on him.
• He started campaigns and held meetings in various place for abolition of Sati Practice and many youngsters like Radakanth Deb, Bavani Charan Banerjee helped him for that cause.
• Due to Raja Rammohan Roy’s hard work Lord William Bentinck passed Sati Prohibition Act in 1829 in Bengal and extended to Bombay and Madras in 1830.
• The Act declared the practice of sati as an offence, punishable with death sentence.

Books of Raja Rammohan Roy:

• Precepts of Jesus Christ.
• The Guide to Peace and Happiness
• A Conference between an Advocate for and Opponent of the Practice of Burning Widows – a tract written by him.
• He went to England to the cause of the Mughal Emperor Akbar II for an enhanced allowance. He died in 1833 at Bristol.
• He was given title of ‘Raja’ by the Mughal Emperor Akbar II. 
• He was called as ‘Herald of New Age’ in India.

Maharishi Debendranath Tagore

• After the death of Rammohan Roy, Maharishi Debendranath Tagore (Rabindranath Tagore’s father) carried on the work of Brhamo Samaj.

Split in Brahmo Samaj 

• • Debendranath was a moderate reformer but his younger colleagues were for rapid changes and the greatest of these, Keshab Chandra Sen
  • In 1866 a split occurred in the ranks of Brahmo Samaj, Keshab left the Samaj and founded a new organization known as Brhamo Samaj of India.

• As Keshab Chandra Sen said, ‘Our position is not that truths are to be in all religions’, but that all established religions of the World are true”.

• Debendranath’s organization, thereafter, came to be known as Adi Brahmo Samaj. 
• After Keshab had his fourteen-year-old daughter married to an Indian prince, in contravention of the Samaj’s condemnation of child marriages, the opponents of child marriage left the Brahmo Samaj of India and started the Sadharan Samaj, which developed anti-Christian tendencies.

Brahmo Samaj in Tamil Nadu

• In Tamilnadu, Kasi Viswanatha Mudaliar was an adherent of the Samaj and he wrote a play titled Brahmo Samaja Natakam to expound the ideas of the Samaj.
• He also wrote a tract in support of widow remarriage. 
• In 1864, a Tamil journal titled Tathuva Bodhini was started for th e cause of the Brahmo Samaja.