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| Raja Ram Mohan Roy |
Born :- 22 May 1772, Radhanagore, Bengal
Died :- August 27, 1833, Stapleton, Bristol
Cause of death :- Meningitis
Occupation :- Social reformer
Known for :- Bengal Renaissance, Brahmo Samaj
Spouse(s) :- Uma Devi
Father :- Ramakanta Roy
Mother :- Tarinidevi
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 the "Father of Modern India." He is also regarded as the "Father of the Bengal Renaissance." He, along with Dwarkanath Tagore and other prominent Bengalis of the early 19th century, 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 was described by Rabindranath Tagore as the "Father of Indian Renaissance," and the "Prophet of Indian Nationalism."
Biography
1792- 1920
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.
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| Ram Mohan Roy |
During these overlapping periods, 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 into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the 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 among 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 of improving his arguments for promoting Christianity in a 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 in 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 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. He predicted that around half of the total revenue collected in India was sent out to England, leaving India to pay taxes with the remaining money.
1820–1830
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| Basanta Choudhury playing role of Ram Mohan |
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 treatiseagainst caste, and the previously noticed tract called "Answer of a Hindu to the Question" were 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, a stance which was opposed by the East India Company itself in addition to a large section of the Bengali community. This proposal was eventually rejected.
1830–1833
In 1830, Ram Mohan Roy travelled to England from the Khejuri Port, then the seaport of Bengal, which is currently located in East Midnapore, West Bengal. He was the first educated Indian to sail to England. 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.
At the annual Commemoration for Raja Rammohun Roy on 22 September 2013 at Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol, England, a previously unknown but magnificent miniature ivory portrait bust of Roy by the famous English nineteenth-century ivory carver, Benjamin Cheverton (1796-1876), was unveiled. The commemoration marked the anniversary of the death of Rammohun Roy, in Bristol in September 1833. This exceptionally rare and extremely important ivory bust is raised on a Rosso Antico-type marble plinth, the ivory, including turned socle, is 11 cm (4 21/64 inches) high; 18 cm (7 3/32 inches) high overall including marble plinth. The best and most accurate three-dimensional likeness of Rammohun Roy in existence, this ivory bust was made by the famous nineteenth-century ivory carver Benjamin Cheverton in London in 1832. It is based on a bust of Rammohun Roy modelled from the life in London by the eminent sculptor George Clarke in 1832 and carved in marble by him in 1833. Clarke is the only sculptor to whom Rammohun Roy gave sittings. By use of his famous sculpture reducing machine, and with the sculptor’s agreement, Cheverton translated the exact features of Clarke’s bust to this reduced–size ivory replica. Clarke’s bust of Rammohun Roy is un-located, presumed lost, but a (damaged) plaster cast of it survives in India.
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